A host of legal applications related to the controversial Fairy Creek fairy blockades are advancing in the British Columbia Supreme Court this week as the protest becomes one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in Canada.
Nearly 1,000 advocates for older people have been arrested in the year-long protest in South Vancouver Island as of Saturday night. according to RCMP.
The number now exceeds the arrests made during the historic Clayoquot Sound Forest War protests over clear logging on the island’s west coast that saw 856 people arrested before it concluded in the early 1990s.
The Fairy Creek arrests are the result of the RCMP’s enforcement of a warrant won by the Teal-Jones lumber company in April after protesters with the Rainforest Flying Squad (RFS) blocked forestry crews’ access to various old plant stands at Tree Estate License (TFL) 46 near Port Renfrew.
On Tuesday, court proceedings will begin to address a variety of court requests, including one by Teal-Jones to extend the injunction for a year, RFS spokeswoman Kathleen Code said Monday, adding that the group’s defendants activist plan to challenge the request.
“Teal-Jones is asking for a one-year extension, which seems pretty incredible,” Code said.
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“Precautionary measures are usually a rare and temporary type of remedy, so it seems quite excessive.”
RSF’s legal counsel plans to argue that the extension request should be denied on the grounds that Teal-Jones and the RCMP acted illegally and did not follow aspects of the court order, Code said.
Saul Arbess, a spokesman for RSF and one of a trio of applicants involved in the upcoming court requests, said the environmental group wants a court order outlawing the use of no-go zones by the RCMP after July 20.
The group also seeks to find the RCMP in contempt of court due to continued violations of the original court order issued on April 1.
The RCMP continues to use unnecessary large exclusion zones to carry out its duties of arrest and removal safely, contrary to a July Supreme Court ruling in British Columbia that made such exclusion zones, checkpoints or barricades illegal, RCMP records and media restrictions, Arbess said.
Senior activists at #FairyCreek are petitioning a British Columbia court to restrict the powers of the RCMP. The Mounties are asking the court to expand them. Here’s how a host of legal applications could shape the Fairy Creek protests this week.
The lawsuit also alleges that the RCMP has used excessive force, including the “unbridled” use of pepper spray, as well as members who refuse to identify themselves to persons subject to law enforcement and illegally seize personal possessions and vehicles. of people who do not contravene the law. mandate.
In turn, the RCMP, represented by the Attorney General of Canada, is requesting the court to change the court order to allow force greater powers, including the right to control access to areas in the court order zone where the application is running and any routes in or out of those areas.
Otherwise, the RCMP wants to search people, bags or vehicles for supplies that can support protest efforts in the wide area of injunctions, even at night or outside the immediate time frame of enforcement action.
If people decline a search or officers find any suspicious material, RCMP can deny entry to the warrant zone, or TFL 46, a large geographic area wedged between Lake Cowichan and Port Renfrew.
The court’s limitation of access control points and temporary exclusion zones near law enforcement areas allows protesters to overwhelm or surround police, as requested by the RCMP.
Protesters are using more sophisticated devices to thwart officers, who also observe the transport of materials to reinforce the blockades, the RCMP added.
If the RCMP does not ensure changes to the precautionary measures, the force “will have to reevaluate its ability to continue carrying out enforcement operations,” the court document says.
It is absurd that the RCMP, which is already violating the court order, is requesting to further increase its powers to legalize its illegal acts, Arbess said.
“It has already been outlawed by Judge (Douglas) Thompson, but they are looking to reverse it,” he said.
Judge Thompson is scheduled to hear arguments from all parties involved until the end of Friday.
However, dozens of people arrested in the blockades, and facing possible criminal charges and jail time, had their court dates postponed until November 15.
The concern is that if the RCMP is given greater powers to contain unsupervised activists, there will be more violence and illegal activity by its members, and the freedom of movement of people and the right to protest peacefully will be reduced. Arbess said.
“The problem is that he would give free rein to the police, without witnesses, to carry out his arrests,” he said.
“We have the right to observe and the right to support the blockers.”
Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada National Observer
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com