On a cold February afternoon Amber Bracken is fixing herself a latte in the comfort of her Edmonton home. The award-winning photojournalist then plops down at her office desk to catch up on edits and outstanding work assignments. Nothing about this routine, apart from the journalist sitting at her table to document it, appears out of the ordinary.
But Bracken has just returned from Vancouver after filing a civil lawsuit against one of the most powerful institutions in the country — the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
Bracken, alongside environmental outlet The Narwhal, are suing the RCMP for violating their Charter rights when Bracken was arrested and detained while on assignment for the Narwhal in November of 2021. Bracken had been embedded with Wet’suwet’en land defenders at a Coastal GasLink pipeline resistance camp in so-called Northern B.C. She was arrested alongside filmmaker Michael Toledano — on assignment for the CBC — and Wet’suwet’en land defenders, then driven hundreds of kilometers away and jailed for almost five days.
“You would be naive to not realize that you're the David in a David and Goliath situation,” she muses between sips of coffee.
“They (RCMP) have all the force of the government and all their lawyers and effectively bottomless pockets on their side. But I think we have the truth on our side.”
It's a strange feeling, she says, because she’s not used to the international attention her arrest and subsequent lawsuit has garnered. She prefers to do what she does best, staying behind the camera shooting award-winning photographs for some of the biggest media organizations in the world.
“I’m not a very public person. I'm not given to putting myself (out there), even on social media. I'm uncomfortable with it,” she laughs nervously, before acknowledging that she has a stubborn streak. Suing was what she felt she had to do.
“The Narwhal and I thought long and hard about this. None of us want to be distracted from the work of journalism, none of us want to be dragged into a multi-year, expensive legal battle with the RCMP. But we came to the realization that if this isn’t furthered in the courts, it’s not going to change. And so, (suing) became the only choice.” (more...)
Photojournalist takes on RCMP in fight for press freedom
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