One morning in March, a 74-year-old Langley grandmother woke up and decided she had to do something to demonstrate her opposition to the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
So Fatidjah Nestman from Brookswood got on a bus, went to the protest site in Burnaby and got herself arrested.
There were three reasons for her actions, Nestman said.
One was the potential harm she believes the pipeline poses to the B.C. coastline.
“I think it’s really unhealthy. It’s bad for the environment.”
A second reason was to show solidarity with the indigenous groups opposing the project.
The third was her five grandsons.
Nestman said she enjoys walking by the ocean, and worries about the impact an oil tanker spill would have.
“I want them (my grandsons) to have what I had.”
In March, the B.C. Supreme Court granted injunctions to keep anti-pipeline activists from protesting construction at the two terminals in Burnaby, then ordered protesters to stay at least five metres away from two work sites for the project.
Shortly after that, Green Party leader Elizabeth May and New Democrat MP Kennedy Stewart were arrested.
Nestman calls the process leading up to her arrest and removal from the scene “fascinating.”
Police started by reading the injunction aloud to the protesters, then gave them a copy, then left for a few minutes to give the demonstrators time to think about it before asking them if they intended to remain.
If the answer was yes, the officers would make arrests.
Nestman was one of the last to be taken into police custody that day, so she had plenty of time to observe the officers in action.
“They’ve been really well trained to be polite, to be non-confrontational,” she said.
She recalls asking the two officers who escorted her away if they had children, and when one said they did, she had a question.
“How can you go home at night when you are arresting grandmas during the day?”
They did not react, she said.
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She was under the impression from the police that she would likely be facing a fine for civil contempt, but when she went to court, she said she learned she was facing a more serious charge of criminal contempt.
“That was a big shock,” Nestman said.
“I woke up the next day and said, ‘What have I done?’ I was freaking out.”
On May 8, she took a plea deal and became one of the first 11 protesters to plead guilty. She was given a choice between a fine and 25 hours of community service.
She took the service, 25 hours of community work.
It was the first time she was ever ordered to report to a probation officer.
Her family, she said, has been mostly supportive.
“I have relatives in Alberta who are not so much.”
“I don’t regret having done it.”
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For the last two weeks, Nestman has been attending the trial of some other protesters.
She said there has been an escalation of penalties as the protests drag on.
“People who are getting fined now are getting (as much as) $5,000.”
She was there on Monday when nine pipeline protesters were found guilty of criminal contempt.
Reports suggest the protesters are facing fines of up to $3,000 or 150 hours of community service.
dan.ferguson@langleytimes.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
