During final day of hearings, RCMP seeks search and access powers at Fairy Creek to safely enforce injunction
CBC
The RCMP says it needs more powers to search and exclude people at an old-growth logging protest area on Vancouver Island where over 1,000 arrests have been made since mid-May.
Donnaree Nygard, Attorney General of Canada lawyer, told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thompson that the Mounties need more space to safely enforce a court injunction blocking old-growth logging access in the Fairy Creek watershed area north of Port Renfrew.
"Unless the RCMP has the ability to control access to the roads to do very difficult work, and to stem the flow of the material being used to breach the injunction, the situation will remain unworkable," she argued, adding that there's often only one way in and out for police to do their work.
Nygard said police are also seeking the power to search those who wish to enter the injunction area, along with searching their vehicles, and to deny access to those who refuse to be searched.
On Tuesday, British Columbia forestry company Teal Cedar Products Ltd. applied to the court to extend the injunction order against protest blockades by one year.
Friday marked the fourth consecutive and final day of hearings related to RCMP enforcement at the blockades.
Nygard said that she'd made her argument for increased police powers knowing the injunction is set to expire on Sept. 26, but could be extended.