Mounties say 244 protesters have been arrested since enforcement of the court injunction began
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Police say six people were arrested Thursday as they enforced a British Columbia court injunction ordering the removal of blockades aimed at preventing old-growth logging on southwestern Vancouver Island.
The Mounties say 244 people have been arrested since enforcement of the court injunction began to allow workers with the Teal-Jones Group to resume logging in the Fairy Creek watershed near Port Renfrew.
Of the 244 arrested, 197 have been for breaching the injunction (civil contempt of court), 42 for obstruction, four for mischief and one for counselling to resist arrest.
The B.C. government ordered to defer old-growth logging at Fairy Creek and in the Central Walbran valley on June 9, in response to a request made by three First Nations. More than 2,000 hectares of old-growth forest on Vancouver Island will not be logged for at least two years.
Premier John Horgan said the companies that have logging rights in the Walbran and Fairy Creek, Teal-Jones and Western Forest Products, will not be compensated for the deferrals, but he promised the companies, their investors and logging communities that they will benefit from the government’s new approach to the land base.
Horgan had said he hoped the decision to defer would end the protests.
Other First Nations in B.C. have requested logging deferrals, and the premier said more will be coming this summer and over the next two years, as the province implements policies that acknowledge Indigenous rights and title.
— with files from Lisa Cordasco
Six more old-growth logging protesters arrested on Vancouver Island - Vancouver Sun
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