B.C. logging injunction at Fairy Creek extension denied by judge

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has denied a forest company's application to extend an injunction against blockades by people opposed to the logging of old-growth trees.

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has denied a forest company’s application to extend an injunction against blockades by people opposed to the logging of old-growth trees in a remote area of southern Vancouver Island.

Justice Douglas Thompson says in a written decision that the factors in favour of extending the injunction at Fairy Creek north of Port Renfrew do not outweigh the public interest in protecting the court’s reputation.

Thompson’s ruling also lifted the injunction on Tuesday afternoon.

“In the current circumstances, I am not persuaded that the balance of convenience favours extending the injunction,” Thompson writes in his 32-page decision. “The factors weighing in favour of the injunction do not outweigh the public interest in protecting the court from the risk of further depreciation of its reputation.”

There have been more than 1,000 arrests at Fairy Creek since the original injunction went into effect in April.

Forest company Teal Cedar Products Ltd. applied for a one-year extension of the injunction during court hearings in Nanaimo earlier this month, arguing protests were impeding the company’s legal rights to harvest timber.

During the hearings, the court heard from lawyers representing the protesters who argued that people from all walks of life with environmental concerns were being treated like terrorists.

Thompson says in his ruling the methods of enforcement of the court’s order at the protest site have led to the serious and substantial infringement of civil liberties.