Susan Clairmont: Land defender Skyler Williams target of sexual misconduct accusation
Land defender Skyler Williams has been called out in a controversy about sexual conduct.
The well-known spokesperson for Indigenous land claims in Caledonia says he will temporarily step back from his leadership role in response to being challenged on social media by a woman who says she exchanged explicit" messages and images with him not knowing he is already in a relationship.
They essentially agree on the facts of their brief connection, including the fact they have never met in person. How each perceived their connection is less clear.
Over the past year, I have written dozens of stories about sexual misconduct.
It is a quagmire.
There are legal issues to consider. And ethics.
Are my facts solid? Are they corroborated? Have I given everyone involved the opportunity to share their side? Are the sources credible? Have I used the proper language? Is the reporting fair? Is it in the public's interest to tell the story at all?
Those are questions I grapple with as a journalist, alongside my editors.
In the end, sometimes we publish a story. Other times, we do not.
In the case of Williams, it has been a tough call.
Williams is the high-profile, indefatigable and controversial public face of 1492 Land Back Lane, the Indigenous-led occupation of a now-cancelled subdivision in Caledonia.
To some he is a hero, a land defender leading reclamation efforts and standing proud and strong for Indigenous rights.
To others, he is a scofflaw who has been arrested about a dozen times in connection with his activism and defiance of court orders in relation to Land Back Lane.
To a woman known as Charlie" on social media, he is a man who used his power" to gain sexually explicit messages and photos from her while failing to immediately tell her he is already in a relationship with another woman.
Late last month she posted a video about it.
Then a podcast ran with it. So did a newspaper.
Eventually, Williams himself weighed in on Facebook. He felt the buzz was loud enough and the accusations serious enough that he should address them publicly.
So does all of that attention make it a story?
Not automatically, no.
I was asked to look into it. After watching Charlie's video and interviewing her (her full name is Charlie Cruise), reading Williams' post and interviewing him, listening to the podcast called Red Truth and White Lies" and reading a story in The Two Row Times, I was left well ... unsure.
It seems like Charlie consented to their exchanges. In fact, she and Williams agree she initiated them.
Yet Charlie clearly feels violated. She calls it betrayal trauma."
Charlie is 30, lives in Ontario and says she is a sex worker who produces pornographic online content to trick people into learning about political issues."
I reached out to Williams in October for permission on an action in support of Wet'suwet'en. I hosted a protest at Union Station."
Wet'suwet'en is traditional territory in British Columbia and the site of an ongoing protest against pipeline drilling.
Charlie messaged Williams on Instagram and says she made a sexual joke. She says Williams told her he had seen her videos.
It progressed quickly from there."
When I talked to Williams, 38, he told me the same thing.
They both say their sexual banter and image exchanges went on for a week.
I complimented," explains Williams. I encouraged. But I omitted the fact I had a partner. And when I did, she got quite upset."
That too lines up with Charlie's account of events.
I am only looking for my soulmate," she tells me.
A few days after Williams' disclosure, she posted her video to TikTok.
Things blew up from there.
Williams acknowledges that Charlie believes he used his power" as a public figure to coerce her into a virtual sexual relationship.
Because people have been kind of talking about (the TikTok video)," Williams too turned to social media to make a public statement. It was at first available to everyone to see on his Facebook page, but later he made it private.
In it, he apologized to his family and those I've hurt."
He admitted to having cheated on partners in the past.
I have been dishonest with them and hurt people who care about me," he wrote. For this, I apologize."
This kind of behaviour is not OK. I will be taking steps over the short term to make amends to those I've hurt."
In an interview with me, Williams says: I made poor choices around women. My (Facebook) post owned up to that."
Supporters deserve to have an answer from me," he says. They need to know I'm willing to stand behind the decisions I've made in my life."
He says he is upset" but not surprised by Charlie's video.
This is the way these things go," he says.
I asked if he is concerned the scandal will affect the public's opinion about Land Back Lane. I hope not," he says, adding he is stepping back from being the protest's spokesperson. At least for now.
I've spent my life standing behind our people, and I'm willing to spend the rest of my life standing behind our people."
It is a messy story. I can't pack it up into a tidy little parcel. To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of it all. All I can do is be accurate and fair. It is public and has been made so by the very people at the heart of it, one of whom is a person of considerable note.
It can't be ignored.
Susan Clairmont is a justice columnist at The Spectator. sclairmont@thespec.com