Question Period Note: Anti-Logging Blockades on Vancouver Island

Continuation of blockades despite a BC Supreme Court injunction.

• We are mindful of the opposition to the Fairy Creek logging operation on Vancouver Island, and the RCMP is responding to the related protests and blockades.

• The RCMP respects and protects the right to peaceful demonstrations as guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and remains committed to dialogue and de-escalation towards peaceful resolutions.

• The RCMP is employing a measured approach that begins with proactive engagement, communication, and facilitation measures by police to support lawful and peaceful protest in an environment safe for protesters and members of the public, while seeking to protect the fundamental freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression.

• Law enforcement agencies, including the RCMP, are responsible for protecting the public, maintaining peace and order, as well as enforcing applicable laws under the Criminal Code of Canada. As a police service provider in British Columbia, the RCMP is obliged to implement court injunctions that have been granted.

• The RCMP will continue to work with all stakeholders towards resolution or mitigation of the situation.

• The RCMP will continue to prioritize the preservation of community and officer safety, as well as maintaining peace and order.

The Fairy Creek Watershed falls within the traditional lands of the Pacheedaht and Dididaht First Nations (PFN and DFN), and the logging of the watershed’s old growth timber is the protesters’ focus. The Province of BC worked with the PFN and DFN to determine which portions of the watershed could be harvested. The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development granted Teal Cedar Ltd. exclusive rights to harvest Crown timber within the area under Tree Farm License 46. The Government has also worked with industry and both the PFN and DFN to develop a Forest Stewardship Plan on their traditional territories. One PFN councilor is reported to be unsatisfied with the business arrangement, and a community elder, who is not a part of the PFN Council, is aligned with the protest groups and has been featured in their communications. Since August 2020, protesters numbering between 80-200 began to establish blockades.

On April 1, 2021, the British Columbia Supreme Court (BCSC) granted an injunction, inclusive of a police enforcement clause, to private industry to restrict protestors from interfering with industry operations (Teal Cedar) in old growth forest cut blocks within the Fairy Creek Watershed. RCMP enforcement of the injunction began on May 17, 2021, and the order extended to September 26, 2021.

As of September 11, 2021 there were three blockade camps established in the jurisdictions of Granite, Edinburgh, and Hatton. The blockades are organized by a group calling itself the “Rainforest Flying Squad” and the collective protest is generally referred to as the “Fairy Creek Blockade”. The protest groups are supported by a broad coalition of environmental groups, including the Wilderness Committee. These groups are generally well-organized, able to mobilize significant support, and are sophisticated with regard to their communications and advertising. To date, their communications strategy has highlighted images of the Fairy Creek Watershed and its old growth trees. Proponents of the logging project have highlighted what they describe as a robust and lengthy regulatory process that included direct PFN approvals. The resulting Tree Farm License is said to restrict harvest to areas well-above and outside the watershed of Fairy Creek itself, contrary to what is featured in the media. The divergence in the opposing groups’ perspectives and/or understanding of the planned harvest makes achieving a compromise challenging.

Protests and blockades at Fairy Creek have been frequent and recurring. The RCMP sought to enforce the injunction with a measured and professional approach in the face of daily attempts by protestors to blockade roadways to prevent industry and police access into the injunction area. Between April 1 and September 26, 2021, over 1,100 arrests were made and hundreds of charges laid.

A number of applications were filed to the BCSC requesting variations of the Injunction Order including: an application by Teal Cedar for an extension of the injunction until September 26, 2022; applications brought by various protesters with respect to the enforcement of the order; and an application by the RCMP seeking to vary the Injunction Order to clarify the powers available to the RCMP to enforce the order (i.e., to include a clause confirming the police may use their common law ancillary powers to enforce the Injunction Order).

On September 28, 2021, the BCSC decided not to extend the injunction. The Court also dismissed, for mootness reason, the applications to vary the injunction order made by the RCMP and other parties. Teal Cedar applied on an urgent basis to reinstate its interim injunction pending a full appeal of the BCSC’s decision of September 28, 2021. As a result, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) reinstated the Injunction Order. The injunction will be in place, pending results of the Appeal, which will be heard on November 15-16, 2021.

The RCMP resumed daily enforcement of the injunction on October 18, 2021, after the injunction was reinstated on October 8, 2021. The RCMP will continue to provide enhanced service and support in the Fairy Creek area, responding to all calls for service and enforcing the applicable statutes. These responses will be carefully documented, along with the response from the British Columbia Prosecution Service on any charge approval. The British Columbia Prosecution Service has now approved 169 criminal contempt charges and three Criminal Code charges against anti-logging protesters arrested at the Fairy Creek blockades. Teal Cedar continues their logging operation in the injunction area. The RCMP has opened the areas required to conduct the logging and is maintaining a proactive presence in the area.

Local Indigenous leaders have asked, more than once, that protestors leave the Fairy Creek Watershed and their traditional lands, but their calls have largely been ignored. Although the lands of the neighbouring Huu-ay-aht Nation do not lie within the protest area, they have applied as interveners to Teal-Jones Group’s BCCA application to highlight their interest in ensuring First Nations peoples can “effectively manage and meaningfully participate in decision making about lands and forests in which [they have] Treaty rights and interests” and can “rely upon the Courts in situations where First Nations want to enforce their laws or rights with respect to land and resource use within their Territories.” Their Indigenous voice may be an effective—if previously unheard—one in assisting the Court with its decision. All RCMP members working in the injunction area have been issued with tags to be worn on the outside of their uniform that identifies each member with a unique number issued to all RCMP employees.

The British Columbia RCMP is actively engaged in dialogue with all stakeholders to ensure best efforts are made to resolve or mitigate the situation, provide information on the police role regarding injunctions and the measured approach to protests. In planning for the enforcement of the Injunction, the Community-Industry Response Group, a group of RCMP members that use a measured approach to facilitate the peaceful resolution of public disorder issues, has taken several factors into account including COVID-19 limitations, the remote location of the injunction area, industry and protesters’ intentions, and will help ensure that appropriate resources will be present to keep the peace and ensure everyone’s safety.

The RCMP preserves the peace and maintains public safety. Those who unlawfully interfere with or threaten the safety of any person or property will be investigated in accordance with legislated responsibilities. The RCMP may have a uniformed presence at demonstrations/protests. The RCMP will strive, at all times, to balance the need to maintain the peace with the democratic right to hold peaceful demonstrations. The level of intervention will be applied in the context of a careful assessment of risk, taking into account the likelihood and extent of loss of life, injury, and damage to property as a result of the intervention, and will use only the level of intervention necessary to ensure the safety of all citizens and to maintain peace, order, and security. Police intervention is maintained as a last resort.

None