B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau on Tuesday, in response to B.C. Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thompson’s ruling against extending the injunction at Fairy Creek, said: “With over 1,000 arrests, Fairy Creek is the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, and I am relieved to see the court reject the request to extend the injunction.”
“This ruling does not solve the crisis of leadership we are facing in B.C. The province has not done its job and now the courts have stepped in. The increasing violence at Fairy Creek has been extremely troubling and this government has failed to keep the police from overstepping their authority.”
Furstenau added: “We are in a climate crisis, and seeing a devastating loss of biodiversity, and this moment demands true leadership. The BC NDP government needs to step up and put solutions on the table to protect old growth and people. They need to ensure that there are long-term sustainable and conservation-oriented economic solutions for First Nations. This includes following through on the promise for more deferrals in old-growth logging, which Premier [John] Horgan had assured us would be in place by the end of summer.”
Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, said: “I am pleased that the B.C. Supreme Court consequently rejected the application by the Attorney General of Canada to give the RCMP greater access control and search powers. There have been hundreds of instances of police conflict and violence at Fairy Creek, and the RCMP continue to overstep their jurisdiction by restricting media. This is a small step towards mitigating the extreme tension between police and land defenders, and ultimately protecting people from physical, emotional, and mental harm.”