It’s been a year since the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) began enforcing an injunction authorizing the eviction and arrest of protesters blocking logging at Vancouver Island’s Fairy Creek watershed. These protesters want to protect ancient forests. Since then, 403 people have been charged with contempt of court, 49 have pleaded guilty or been convicted and one person has been acquitted.
The figures are based on the latest information provided by RCMP and the British Columbia Prosecution Service.
They arrive as summer approaches, as protest organizers begin to see activists return to the sites to continue their lockdowns, near Port Renfrew. This is the area where, since May 17, 2021, the police have been enforcing a legal injunction obtained by the logging company. Teal Cedar.
Although the RCMP says he still patrols the area to keep logging roads clean, figures show that not all arrests made during blockades lead to cases or litigation.
On December 2, the date when the last arrest took place, the RCMP indicates that there were a total of 1,188, of which the majority (919) were for contempt of court, i.e., non -compliance with the injunction.
In all, 222 people were arrested for obstruction, 22 for mischief, 12 were charged with assaulting a police officer and 10 for violating their conditions of release.
Additionally, one person is charged with counseling to resist arrest, another of causing disorder and the latter with a violation of immigration law.
According to police, 110 people were arrested more than once.
Of the 919 contempt arrests, police recommended cases be filed against 451 people. The Crown said it has reviewed 438 of those cases so far, approving 403 charges.
In British Columbia, the police are not the ones prosecuting themselves; instead, it presents the evidence to the Crown prosecutor who will decide whether to file charges.
So far, a portion of these files have been processed by the judiciary system, i.e., 49.
In all but one of the cases, defendants may plead guilty or be found guilty. Their sentences range from a $ 500 fine to 10 days in jail.
For the only person acquitted in contempt cases to date, the decision is due to the language used by a police officer to inform protesters of the order.
Before making arrests, the police usually inform people of the order and give them the opportunity to leave on their own. If they do not leave, police can enter and arrest the protesters, using tools and heavy equipment if necessary.
Several decisions by Justice Douglas Thompson of the Supreme Court of British Columbia showed that when police made this announcement, they did not have to read the exact text of the order.
In another case, Judge Thompson found that the words were clarified that the defendant was violating the order, when the court record states that he was arrested for parade and drumming, marching between a line of police and a line of demonstrators.
In this case, the police officer said the order asked people to stay away from the barricade, but Judge Douglas Thompson ruled that marching and drumming were not the same as walking. participated in a blockade, and therefore the accused was found not guilty of contempt.
Arrests in the east of the province
Due to the volume of arrests and the mobilization provoked by the movement fairy creekit is considered the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history.
The injunction, which allows officers RCMP to arrest and evict people blocking Fairy Creek’s forest and logging areas, was temporarily suspended, when in September the Supreme Court of British Columbia refused to extend it. This decision was overturned a second time by the Court of Appeal and the injunction was reversed until September 26, 2022.
Separately, on Tuesday, seven people were arrested for obstructing logging operations in an area known as Salisbury Creek50 kilometers north of Kaslo in southeastern British Columbia.
Ang RCMP said officials who enforced the court order granted to the company Cooper Creek Cedar Limited in 2019.
On April 25, police said they first informed protesters blocking the forest service road that they were violating the injunction. He added that agents had twice renewed the warnings.
The eight people were released on Tuesday on condition that they appear in court on July 19, while the others were taken to the Kaslo police station.
With information from Kathryn Marlow and The Canadian Press
Source: Radio-Canada
