Hot Docs joins with the Documentary Organization of Canada and Canadian Association of Journalists, among many others, in voicing our concern over the arrest by RCMP of award-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Toledano, along with photojournalist Amber Bracken, while covering the ongoing conflict in Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia.
For the past three years, Toledano has resided in the Wet’suwet’en territory filming the documentary Yintah, which looks at the decade-long struggle by Wet’suwet’en members to stop pipelines from crossing their lands. On Friday he was arrested while embedded in a resistance camp and taken into custody, and was released yesterday.
The rights of journalists and documentarians to be present and conduct their work in situations of conflict and protest has been affirmed by the courts and is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Hot Docs stands with all documentarians and journalists and their right to cover these stories without interference, and supports Michael Tolendano’s continuing efforts to document this important story for Canadians.