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Fairy Creek Old Growth Logging – Livetweet of BC Supreme Court Injunction Hearing

 

This is a live-tweet of a 4-day injunction hearing in BC Supreme Court. If you haven’t heard of Fairy Creek, it’s the last area of old-growth ancient forest on Southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Teal Cedar, a logging company, was given a permit to cut massive ancient trees despite the BC NDP govt having promised to save the tiny amount that remains of old-growth forest after decades of intensive logging in BC. For over a year, forest defenders have camped in the Fairy Creek area in various strategic locations, devising increasingly ingenious tactics to block logging all while staying within the bounds of peaceful civil disobedience. Fairy Creek area or “Ada’itsx” lies on unceded Pacheedaht/Dididaht Indigenous territory. One of the leaders of the forest defenders is Pacheedaht elder Bill Jones, who opposes his elected band council’s assent to cut the old-growth. To understand the position the elected council (a creature of the colonial federal govt) is in, read this.

Here’s the livetweet thread. I have embedded it here because on Twitter the thread may be broken. This is due to the fact that the Supreme Court did not instruct online watchers that screenshots could not be used, but only after the fact asked for tweets containing images be taken down. This is just formula on their part, I believe, as there was nothing sealed in what was shown; all photos and videos shown in court have already been widely circulated – including around the world – on social media as well as in journalism from Teen Vogue to the Guardian to Democracy Now. Anyway, I’ve strung the thread together here. (Someone please resurrect Storify…)

 

Note: correct spelling of lawyer’s name is Steve Kelliher

This is Patrick Canning, lawyer for some of the protesters:

Day 3

Here I have been forced to remove some tweets as they included visuals that weren’t supposed to be tweeted from court (though as I said earlier, we were never advised of this until after the fact). Textual content of tweets that were deleted follows, minus the images.

It’s day 3 of the #FairyCreek injunction hearing in BC Supreme Court in Nanaimo. Various groups & individuals are opposing Teal Cedar’s application to extend its injunction against forest defenders.

They’re currently cueing up video of RCMP overstep…#bcpoli #oldgrowth

Deleted tweet:

‘Teal Jones had a great responsibility when they came to ask for an injunction extension, and they have not lived up to it. And the RCMP have not lived up to it. We are going to show video & photos of the RCMP overstep at #FairyCreek’

We are shown a photo that clearly shows a disallowed thin blue line patch on the chest of an RCMP officer, dressed in a dark blue ballistic vest

‘See this officer? He is not only wearing the thin blue line, widely considered to be racist and disallowed by the RCMP, but he is also not wearing a name badge, his face covered by a covid mask and gloves. If you complain to him, he says talk to the police commissioner.’

‘Here’s another image of an RCMP officer wearing the thin blue line, in the face of an Indigenous woman drumming, a woman who has just also had to witness the discovery of the bodies of their children in unmarked graves at residential “schools”

Indigenous people find this badge racist.’

RCMP officer had given the man 5 minutes to get off the road; was arrested before the 5 minutes were up

Now a photo of a Teal Cedar vehicle arbitrarily removing the belongings of protesters. This isn’t trash, this is their belongings taken away – by industry, not police.

Affidavit #2 Warren Kimmitt, Exhibit A, photo of truck removing possessions

Now lawyer shows the video of the police officer smashing his foot through a guitar he has just grabbed at #FairyCreek

This is an area where people have camped for decades, this is where the Pacheedaht have done their ceremonies here for 1000s of years. This is not a “tree farm”

Affidavit #3 of Geoffrey Pearson Exhibit D
_____

‘Those being violently arrested are just regular people holding onto each other. They’re just like those people who sad down at universities and were pepper sprayed. ‘
Now shows video of cops – including “green men” (ERT?) pulling down woman’s mask. Then another woman’s…

To-be-deleted tweet:

Now we’re watching video of pepper spraying. Media being shoved aside. People being dragged to the ground in front of moving vehicles. ‘These are just regular people m’lord. They are not terrorists, no violence, they’re not armed’
(Horrifying photos – these are all availabe on the Fairy Creek Blockade’s social media accounts)

Later that day, RCMP released this press release, giving their version of the story. What you see in their description is not what you see in the video #FairyCreek

“Update #80 on police enforcement of injunction order in Fairy Creek watershed”
2021/08/21
RCMP: “Police enforcement of the BC Supreme Court injunction order in the Fairy Creek Watershed area continued today, on August 21, 2021, in the same area where officers have been primarily focussing their efforts for the past several days.

Early in the day, police were met by individuals who were blocking the roadway and in locking devices attached to an industry gate. There was pushing and shoving and OC spray was deployed when the crowd failed to comply with police directions and became aggressive. One police officer was injured with a concussion and transported to hospital. One protester was also assessed by EHS and transported form the area. Approximately 30 individuals were arrested for contempt of court, including one minor.”

‘After that video was released later that day on social media, along with other videos, there were protests across BC and actually the country over #policebrutality’

then the RCMP released *another* video saying they’ve pushed over an officer. Let’s look at video again: (video shows officer tripping all on his own as he steps back into a ditch)

More RCMP press release (I can include this as it’s public)

For Immediate Release August 21, 2021
Province-Wide RCMP Stand Down Actions
Monday August 23
1-3 pm Pacific
Where: RCMP detachments and offices across Briish Columbia (and Toronto, as of August 21).
These actions take place on unceded indigenous lands. See locations at bottom of media release.
Grassroots organizers across BC are calling for a province-wide protest against the illegal and violent actions of the RCmP in the ancient forests of Ad’itsx/Fairy Creek.
We gatther to demand that the RCMP stand down immediately.
Wea re witnessing the actions of a police state. During a time of intense national and global connected crises (climate crisis, extinction crisis, overdose crisis, pandemi, housing crisis, and a crisis of almost zero honourable reconcilsation wint Indigenous people as the ‘discovery’ of deaths of residental school children rises into the 6000+ range) the RCP is enabled by our governments to facilitate business s usual for th eprimary benfit of already rich peoplle.

THIS IS A FEDERAL ELECTION ISSUE.

Background:
Since enforcement began at Ad’itsx/Fairy Creek in May, the RCMP have arrested ~700 UNARMED PEACEFUL VOLUNTEERS doing the job Premier John Horgan made an election promise to do: protect the VERY VERY VERY last of the old growth forests in the province (less than 3% of the ecologically important ancient forests). The court injunction the RCMP are enforcing specifically emphasizes the constitutional right of protest in Canada. A second judgment in the BC Supreme Court in July upheld this right and admonished the RCMP for acting illegally.

Deleted tweet:
Next video. ‘This video shows helicopter doing ‘dusting’ on the road, blowing up dust around gathered protesters

Deleted tweet:
Now we’re looking at photos of people being extracted from trenches and other devices. Lawyer says she’s going to go through these photos slowly. #FairyCreek
Photo: huge earthmover machine, one small protester lying in ditch in dirt road

Deleted tweet:
Photos of excavators digging protesters out. ‘There is no ambulance anywhere nearby, in case the protesters are harmed’

‘If the excavator operator makes a mistake, she’ll be crushed. You don’t use big machinery to dig out an arm’
Photos of massive Caterpillar excavator over prone protester

Deleted tweet, with photos from above of massive machine hovering over prone woman, from the affidavit of Warren Kimmitt:
This woman has a massive excavator digging at her. ‘She doesn’t even have a hardhat on. This is designed to terrorize her. Yes, she has buried her arm to buy a few hours. She’s terrified about her future. She’s not going to university or having children; she’s here protecting her future’

Deleted tweets:
Now we’re looking at photos of excavator extracting a protester from a “tripod” across the road. ‘He’s only got one line across that very sharp area of the bucket. Operator says he’s had training in line work and all lines should be doubled’… (lots of complicated info here)

‘This is an older woman, shown terrified in a prior photo, not supported by a proper harness, falling as police bring her down. An elderly woman.’
‘Mr Kimmit says this would be dangerous for even a younger woman. See her slipping through the single strap, in a dangerous posture’

Video of the police cutting the bottom of a tripod causing young men to fall from 15 feet.
Judge: ‘the protesters are using ingenious methods to make extraction difficult, time-consuming, dangerous, in aid of their cause. They’re counting on police to exercise utmost care’

Deleted tweet:
Lawyer: ‘This needs to be dialed down or someone will be seriously hurt or lose their life.
This photo shows a Teal Jones excavator. Not a police excavator operator. That’s significant. (Teal Cedar, the company cutting #FairyCreek and area)

Deleted tweet:
Photos: ‘Here’s a boy being lowered down with a noose tightening around his waist/ribs and his entire body weight on that rope. He’s being lowered from a cherry picker.
‘I would suggest THAT is like another country, M’lord, yet it’s happening in Canada’ #FairyCreek

Deleted tweet:
We are shown video of RCMP officer threatening with a media person: “If you speak, you’re gone”
Also video of live broadcast from CBC, reporter saying that in order to get into #FairyCreek they had to walk 7 km uphill to cover the issue, same at end of day so will have walked 14 km to cover this

Deleted tweet, photos of young woman up a tripod over the road:


Lawyer: ‘M’lord we have a great problem in #FairyCreek.
Eve Green is 17 yo. Yes, she put herself at risk, on a tripod, because she’s frightened for her future. She also has an anxiety disorder, which the RCMP knew. She asked a female police officer to remove her leg chains, who said no…

Lawyer Nygaard for the Attorney-General of Canada /RCMP:

The classic abuser’s excuse:

Then a whole discussion about what constitutes “resisting arrest”

Final deleted tweet – picture of the livestream, but I guess you can’t show that.
old tweet URL
https://twitter.com/Lidsville/status/1438908579868643337

This is what it looks like in BC Supreme Court today – Nanaimo courtroom on the left, Judge Thompson at centre, lawyers calling in from remote on the right (a bottom right that’s Steven Kelliher, lawyer for Saul (Robert) Arbess, one of the complainants. #FairyCreek

I had quoted my own tweet here, but as I’ve had to delete that tweet you won’t see it here. It’s not needed anyway. It just shows the Teen Vogue journalist, along with a CBC journalist.

And I suspect this is why I got kicked off. It’s very odd that not once has the court instructed the audience that any of this is disallowed – an oversight on their part. Because all of the evidence has already been seen widely on social media, and the names of those giving affidavits is not secret, I guess this is purely a procedural rule and has nothing to do with anything being made public that should be sealed or anything.

A delightful interlude from over at the Union of BC Mayors annual conference:

 


Elder drums alongside Fairy Creek defenders outside BC Supreme Court in Nanaimo

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