With contributions by Anastasia Avvakumova
RCMP attempts to enforce the court injunction against logging protests at Fairy Creek ramped up on Aug. 9.
In a press release issued later that day, the RCMP confirmed there were 33 arrests. There were another 23 more on Tuesday, Aug. 10 and 17 on Wednesday, Aug.11. The total number of arrests, since the police action began last summer, was cited as 597.
It has been a little over a year since Fairy Creek was identified as the last unlogged old growth valley on Vancouver Island. (The Ancient Forest Alliance would add 'southern Vancouver Island' and 'outside of parks.') On Aug. 9, 2020, thirty activists came up from Victoria, informed the Pacheedaht Nation of their intention to protest, and threw up their first blockade. 82-year-old Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones joined them and became a spiritual leader of the movement.
This July, the company seeking to log Fairy Creek, the Teal-Jones Group, asked the BC attorney general to consider criminal contempt charges against the protesters, or "forest defenders" as they identify.
“The continued existence of the blockades, and the utter disdain for the injunction that they demonstrate, undermines the Court’s authority and undermines the respect for rule of law in B.C.,” Teal Jones stated in its Notice of Application, according to the Times Colonist.
Most of the forest defenders were in Victoria, celebrating their first year of resistance, when this latest RCMP action began Aug. 9.
That same day, BC Supreme Court Judge Thompson released his findings that, "the RCMP has not shown that their exclusion zones and associated checkpoints are reasonably necessary to carry out their enforcement duties. In short, these RCMP blockades are unlawful."
One of the RCMP vans where arrested protesters were allegedly locked up for six hours during a heat wave, prior to being driven off to Lake Cowichan. Photo couresty of the Raincoast Flying Squad Facebook page.
The use of vehicles to block roadways is not only a breach of the court-ordered injunction, but creates serious difficulties for the local Fire Department to access those roadways in the event of a forest fire,
stated Chief Superintendent John Brewer, Gold Commander of the Community-Industry Response Group.
Finally, the RCMP stated that the priority, in escalating the force being exerted at Fairy Creek, was “to provide members of the Pacheedaht elected and hereditary leadership access to their territory, which they have not been able to in the year since protesters have set up their encampments in these areas," in the press release Aug. 9.
But Fairy Creek is not inside the Pacheedaht Reserve, where the elected council holds sway. And there are questions as about the Hereditary Chief, whose rights the RCMP are asserting, and his right to that title.
In a statment made April 21, Jones said that the claim to Hereditary Chief was "false."
“Frank Jones claiming himself as a Hereditary Chief is false. He is not eligible to make the claim for the Jones family line, and is not informed by the hereditary system amongst our peoples. In fact, the Jones family is not originally from the territory, and have no chief rights to the San Juan Valley," Jones stated.
Jones claims that 19-year-old Victor Peter, whose family have been the governing authority responsible for the valley for generations, is the Hereditary Chief of the Pacheedaht Nation.
The forest defenders are in Fairy Creek at the invitation of Jones and with the approval of Victor Peter.
Complaints of police violence
Over the last year at the blockade, there have been numerous complaints of police violence during the push to take control of Fairy Creek.
At the forest defenders press conference Friday (Aug. 13), Rainforest Flying Squad Spokesperson Rani Earnhart said a dozen complaints have been lodged against the RCMP.
Wet’suwet’en elder Marlene Hale said she has reported the RCMP’s alleged misconduct to the United Nations and a preliminary investigation is underway.
In one of the alleged incidents, someone named Jason was pulled by the bandana around his neck until he lost consciousness and then kicked in the head. Another forest defender was reported to be in the hospital with a concussion. Car windows are said to have been smashed; personal possessions and identification removed.
“We will use only the level of force necessary to ensure the safety of all citizens, enforce laws and to maintain peace, order and security,” RCMP Staff Sgt. Janelle Shoihet, senior media relations officer, said in an email to CKTZ News. “We can also add that there have been no public complaints made to local detachments or the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC), which is available to any member of the public if they have concerns about their interactions with police.”
Vehicles blocking the road at Fairy Creek in August. Photo courtesy of the RCMP.
One of the Cortes Island residents at Fairy Creek, Reid Westcott, said he saw RCMP vans remain on site for six hours during the midst of last week’s heat wave. The occupants were not allowed out to go to the bathroom and, consequently, someone defecated. Some of the forest defenders appear to have been affected by the heat and when the doors of one van opened, Westcott observed some of the occupants emerge to throw up. Passing through Cowichan Lake on his return to Cortes, Wesicott saw two of the people transferred from the vans to ambulances.
Earnhard reported that some of the cars parked alongside the highway, far from the site, were towed away and the owners told they will have to pay $2,500 to get them back.
The RCMP responded to the concerns about car removals.
“All vehicles that are found obstructing the travel portions of the roads, are removed at the decision of Industry. The vehicles are then transported to a secure compound where the owners can make arrangements to have them released," Shoihet wrote.
There may have been more RCMP arrests throughout the week and over the weekend (Aug. 12 to today), when the protesters attempted to retake the valley, but the RCMP have yet to confirm the information.