When a group of seniors travelled by bus to the Fairy Creek area near Port Renfrew in mid-June, they planned to peacefully protest old-growth logging without blocking industry from getting through.
They say it’s something the injunction granted by the court to forestry company Teal-Jones Group allows them to do, but they were stopped by police and barred from continuing down the road to join fellow protesters where police were making arrests.
The court order prohibits anyone from blocking access to any road in a large area of southwest Vancouver Island, and affirms the right to “peaceful, lawful and safe protest” as long as the terms of the order are followed.
The group, Elders for Ancient Trees, is asking the court to clarify the scope of police discretion in enforcing the injunction with an amendment that would explicitly state that no one, including the police and Teal-Jones, is allowed to block access to the public.
Lawyer Matthew Nefstead, who is representing the group in the application, said it seems clear based on the wording of the order and from the comments made in court by Justice Frits Verhoeven that the intent of the injunction was to ensure access to the area for the public and for peaceful protest while clearing the way for industry.
“This was just focused on breaking up the blockades and stopping people from doing things that are illegal. And so we have people who want to visit the area to participate in lawful protest who aren’t intending to violate the injunction, and they’re not being allowed to enter,” he said.
The application is expected to be filed today and heard in court in the next two weeks, Nefstead said.
Jackie Larkin, a member of Elders for Ancient Trees, said the amendment would mean people concerned about old-growth logging would be able to show solidarity with those willing to be arrested and meaningfully protest.
“If you go up there on a bus and you’re told, you know, all you can do is stand here in the middle of a logging road with a line of police, it’s hardly an exercise of your democratic rights,” she said.
Larkin was one of several speakers at an event held by the group outside the legislature Monday, where about 50 seniors gathered under the shade of a large tree to learn about plans to ask the court to clarify the terms of the court injunction.
B.C. Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau attended the event, saying she was there “in solidarity with saving the last of the ancient forests that we have in this province.”
The Green Party is calling for the province to immediately implement all the recommendations in an old-growth strategic review released last year, which includes logging deferrals in old forests where ecosystems are at very high risk of irreversible biodiversity loss. Premier John Horgan has said he is committed to implementing the recommendations.
“I think actions is what should be measured here, not words,” Furstenau said. “They can say anything they want. If their actions are producing the outcomes of seeing these forests being logged, then that’s what we measure.”
