The two UNBC graduate students jailed and released in North Dakota are heading for the border today.
Katriona Auerbach and Nicole Schafenacker drove from Prince George to North Dakota to protest the Dakota Access pipeline. Their UNBC research supervisor Dr. Sarah de Leeuw confirmed the girls were caught up in a mass arrest on Thursday.
“They were arrested while sitting in a prayer circle. They were, I mean, I just can’t say this with enough conviction. Neither were participating in any activity that they knowingly understood was criminal or conspiratorial.”
They two were imprisoned in different institutions about 200 kilometers apart. Schafenacker was given her one phone call, Auerbach wasn’t. The two were released on Saturday evening and finally found each other Sunday. They’d shared their Canada-bound plans with de Leeuw via text just before 2:30 PM today.
Auerbach, Schafenacker, nor de Leeuw are sure what charges the students face. The only clues they have stemmed from a conversation with the Cass Country Correctional Institute and a “pre-recorded mechanical voice.” Based on these, de Leeuw believes the charges pertain to trespassing and conspiracy, which she says are “terrifying and worrisome.” Her primary concern is the immediate safety of the two students, her secondary is their futures.
“These two amazing, brilliant, outstanding scholarly women, who were in so many ways following their heart on a series of issues that are close to them, that they’re studying that there might be permanent criminal ramifications for their peaceful protest.
“We all just have to keep out fingers crossed that that isn’t the case.”
Auerbach and Schafenacker were told there shouldn’t be any issues crossing the border, despite the pending charges. The two are testing that advice at a border crossing; de Leeuw was uncertain which one the two are heading for.
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