The idea that justice is blind and that everyone is equal before the law reminds me of a traditional story that I have heard over the years, in which Coyote tries to convince a band of ducks that he had their best interest at heart.
   ~ Thomas King, The Inconvenient Indian, (Random House, Canada, 2012);  Mr. King is a Cherokee activist, teacher, and writer.        

The rich people have their lobbyists and the poor people have their feet.
   ~ Nathalie Des Rosiers, General Counsel, Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

Historians offer evidence that some extra-legal activity always has had to be, and always will have to be, accepted by the legal system. Philosophers provide us with a rather uncomfortable insight that many brands of intentionally disobedient conduct may be justifiable and there is no bright line to help lawyers and Courts, who … actually have to make decisions.
   ~ Professors Judy Fudge and Harry Glasbeek, “Civil Disobedience, Civil Liberties and Civil Resistance: Law’s Role and Limits,” (2003) 41 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 165 at 172.

I have written this paper to inform you of your rights when dealing with the police at public demonstrations.  It is designed to help you exercise your right to engage in non-violent protests and civil disobedience, and to avoid committing any criminal offence.  It is also designed to assist you in the event you are arrested."

- Leo McGrady, Introduction to Cedar as Sister: Indigenous Law and the Common Law of Protests - A Guide to the Law of Protests

One of BC’s premier labour & civil rights lawyers, Leo McGrady, put on a free workshop detailing your rights in a protest and the laws around civil disobedience July 26th, 2014. He has been doing these workshops for over a decade, recently traveling by request to a series of First Nation and northern BC communities in the path of proposed Enbridge/Kinder-Morgan pipelines.

He has been kind enough to not only share the guide with us, he encourages everyone to spread this information freely! 

To download the guide provided at the workshop click here: Cedar as Sister: Indigenous Law and the Common Law of Protests - A Guide to the Law of Protests (TSSU Workshop July 26-14)