Economic rights are not unlimited, the Court of Appeals hears in the case of cutting down old trees in BC

Teal Cedar Products Ltd. is appealing a decision by a lower court judge that denied an extension of a court order against protest blockades in the area for a year.

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An attorney representing protesters opposing the logging of old trees in southern Vancouver Island told a British Columbia Court of Appeal hearing that there are limits to a business’s private and economic rights.

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Malcolm Funt says that BC Teal Cedar Products Ltd.’s forestry company has the right to defend its economic interests, but others also have the right to legal protests and freedom of expression and movement.

Teal Cedar Products Ltd. is appealing a decision by a lower court judge that denied an extension of a court order against protest blockades in the area for a year.

Teal Cedar’s attorney, Dean Dalke, told the Court of Appeals panel Monday that the company wants the court to uphold the rule of law at protest sites near Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island, where more than 1,100 people have been arrested in ongoing protests.

The court order remains in effect after another judge granted a temporary stay last month to allow Teal Cedar to appeal the BC Supreme Court’s decision.

Funt faced several questions Tuesday from the judges of the Court of Appeals about the lower court’s reasons for not granting the extension of the injunction, especially the suggestion that the reputation of the court was damaged by the conduct of the police during the arrests of protesters.

Reference-vancouversun.com

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