Mounties resume enforcement against B.C. old-growth logging activists
CTV
Mounties are resuming their enforcement of a court injunction against old-growth logging protesters in the Fairy Creek watershed on southern Vancouver Island.
Mounties are resuming their enforcement of a court injunction against old-growth logging protesters in the Fairy Creek watershed on southern Vancouver Island.
The B.C. RCMP said officers returned to the area Tuesday morning, where environmental activists have blockaded logging roads and interfered with the forestry operations of Teal Cedar Products since the summer of 2020.
"Over the past several weeks, the company has reported numerous violations of persons obstructing, impeding and interfering with their ability to perform work in the area," the Mounties said in a statement Tuesday.
"There have also been reports from company employees of being harassed or intimidated, and their equipment and corporate vehicles vandalized on a forestry road outside of Port Renfrew."
The RCMP says it has maintained a presence in the area to monitor the activities of the protesters but will now actively enforce the injunction against the blockaders at the request of the company.
The renewed enforcement effort comes less than a week after Canada's highest court refused to hear an appeal of a British Columbia Supreme Court decision to acquit a Fairy Creek protester of criminal contempt for participating in the blockades.
The Supreme Court of Canada decision dismissed the appeal from the B.C. Crown and awarded costs to the demonstrator. In turn, the B.C. Prosecution Service dropped 146 remaining cases against Fairy Creek protesters as the likelihood of securing convictions was in doubt.
