B.C. Appeal Court extends injunction against protests at Fairy Creek until September

VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s Court of Appeal has overturned a lower-court ruling and extended an injunction against old-growth logging protests until September on Vancouver Island.

A panel of three judges granted the appeal by forestry company Teal Cedar Products Ltd. of an earlier B.C. Supreme Court decision that denied the company’s application to extend the injunction by one year. 

More than 1,100 people have been arrested at protests in the Fairy Creek area near Port Renfrew. 

Justice Douglas Thompson of the B.C. Supreme Court refused to extend the injunction last September, saying police enforcement led to serious infringements of civil liberties including freedom of the press.

But Teal Cedar appealed the decision, arguing the company has the right to defend its economic interests while facing an organized protest campaign that disrupts its legal right to harvest timber in the area.

A temporary injunction preventing protests against logging activities in the area has been in place since September.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2022.

The Canadian Press