Members of the group Last Stand West Kootenay<\/a> had a camp set up since April on private property, and had also been blocking the nearby Salisbury Creek Forest Service Road with the intention of stopping the logging. The injunction states<\/a> that anyone impeding the progress of Cooper Creek Cedar is in contempt of court, which gives RCMP grounds to arrest them.<\/p>\n RCMP had been visiting the camp and road to warn the people blockading they would be arrested. They warned they would move in on Tuesday May 17.<\/p>\n A person who goes by the name \"Fox,\" who's a member of Last Stand West Kootenay, has experience at protests and was the designated spokesperson. She wasn\u2019t planning to be arrested. At eight o\u2019clock on May 17 RCMP arrived.<\/p>\n \u201cThey barged in, they played a recording that cited that there was an injunction, but never actually read the injunction,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n Fox told the RCMP she was going to step aside and let people know to stand aside if they didn't want to be arrested.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when they arrested Fox and the legal recorders who were there to take notes on the side of the road.<\/p>\n There was no discussion when the RCMP arrived and no one designated to communicate what their enforcement plan was, which allows people to leave if they want, in Fox\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n According to Fox, the RCMP told the group during their prior visits if anyone wanted to peacefully protest on the side of the road, they would not be arrested.<\/p>\n Miguel Pasteur beside the Nelson Courthouse on July 19 after his first appearance. Photo by Meagan Deuling.<\/p><\/div>\n Miguel Pasteur told his parents he was going to support a friend who planned to blockade the road to prevent the company from logging the trees it has a permit for.<\/p>\n Pasteur wasn't planning on getting arrested. The 17-year-old says he was standing on the side of the road, explaining that to two RCMP when they each grabbed one of his shoulders and dragged him away.<\/p>\n Tom Babbitt was there: \u201cThey came in just in a big swoop and arrested absolutely everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Not everyone. Babbitt didn\u2019t get arrested, which was strictly a matter of where he was, he contends. He managed to walk up the road to get away, and saw others disappear into the trees.<\/p>\n Gary Diers, a farmer who lives in Argenta, went to the forest service road a little after six in the morning with his partner and two elderly neighbours. They were there to \u201cbear witness,\u201d Diers said, because it is a rural area, and he is aware of how RCMP arrested people who were protested logging at Fairy Creek protests on Vancouver Island.<\/p>\n Diers was standing a distance away on the side of the road at eight when the RCMP arrived. He saw Fox get arrested right off the bat.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was saying quite loudly and clearly, \u2018I am not on the road, I am not on the road,\u2019 just repeating herself.\u201d Diers said.<\/p>\n Then Diers heard that the two legal recorders got arrested, and a local 70-year-old woman who was leaving the area to make a doctor appointment.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when I realized, they are just going to come and arrest everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Diers and his group walked down the forest and along the beach. They circled around the long way home to avoid the police cars driving up and down the main road.<\/p>\n Everyone present at the protest who StokeFM spoke with said there were members of an RCMP police services group there called the \"community-industry response group,\" or CIRG.<\/p>\n Babbitt knew it was CIRG because, \u201cthey identified themselves as part of the resource team brought in for this.\u201d<\/p>\n RCMP gathered on the Salisbury Creek Forest Service Road on May 17 after arresting 17 people. Photo by Breanne Hope.<\/p><\/div>\n According to the RCMP website<\/a>, CIRG was created in 2017. \u201c\u2026to provide strategic oversight addressing energy industry incidents and related public order, national security and crime issues.\u201d<\/p>\n After the road was clear, people who were staying at the camp say the RCMP came in and dismantled it, destroying and discarding personal property including camping equipment and cash.<\/p>\n The Kaslo RCMP hasn\u2019t responded to StokeFM\u2019s request for more information on CIRG, and their perspective on the arrests. Nor has Sgt. Chris Manseau, the division media relations officer for the B.C. RCMP Communication Services.<\/p>\n A crowd of about 50 mulled in front of the Nelson Courthouse the morning of July 19 before the 19 people arrested in Argenta appeared at 10 a.m. before the Supreme Court of B.C. Photo by Meagan Deuling.<\/p><\/div>\n People arrested in Argenta started to gather outside the Nelson courthouse on July 19 early in the morning, along with members of Last Stand West Kootenay and other supporters. There were about 50 people there.<\/p>\n The court proceeding was brief. It was standing room only, and Sinixt Matriarch Marilyn James was present to smudge the room with sage before Justice Lindsay Lyster took the stand.<\/p>\n Noah Ross is representing 17 of the 19 people arrested, he was present from Vancouver Island via video. Matt Scheffelmeier was present, he is counsel for Cooper Creek Cedar limited.<\/p>\n His application to ask Justice Lyster to invite the crown counsel, also known as the B.C. Prosecution Services, to investigate whether the people arrested should be found criminally contempt of course, is a more severe punishment than the original charges of civil contempt.<\/p>\n If the crown decides to investigate, the logging company will be out of the mix and will not have to pay legal fees, according to Ross in a phone call after court was adjourned.<\/p>\n Despite the name, a charge of criminal contempt is a civil matter and doesn\u2019t come with a criminal record. Punishments range from community service, to fines, to jail time.<\/p>\n StokeFM has reached out to Bill Kestell, the Cooper Creek Cedar woodlands manager, and hasn\u2019t heard back from him. The Argenta-Johnson's Landing Face is an area of ancient larch trees adjacent to the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy provincial park<\/a>, and locals have been trying for a long time to get the Argenta face protected in that area too. 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