Appeal for end to improper police actions at Fairy Creek

I have sent the following email to 

BC Premier John Horgan    premier [at] gov [dot] bc [dot] ca

BC Minister of Public Safety  Mike Farnworth  PSSGMinister [at] gov [dot] bc [dot] ca

Federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair  ps [dot] psmcu-spucm [dot] sp [at] ps-sp [dot] gc [dot] ca

BC Minister of Mental Health & Addictions Sheila Malcolmson (through her constituency office)  Malcolmson.MLA, Sheila <Sheila [dot] Malcolmson [dot] mla [at] leg [dot] bc [dot] ca>

Our MLA Adam Walker  Adam [dot] Walker [dot] MLA [at] leg [dot] bc [dot] ca

If you agree and think it's a good idea, please send a similar (or the same text) email to whichever officials you think might be helpful in stopping the erosion of trust and confidence in the RCMP, and their improper and inappropriate actions at Fairy Creek.   Please ask me if you have questions or suggestions.  Peter

At a small gathering last Thursday with Hilary and Shoshonah, who have been very much present at Fairy Creek, I learned that the RCMP operations there were being orchestrated and led by a special squad of officers, the Community- Industry Response Group.  The not-very-accurate account of them on the RCMP web site is at   https://bc-cb.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=23&languageId=1&...

Despite the assertions that the C-IRB is consistent and impartial, and uses a measured approach in facilitating the peaceful resolution of public disorder issues, it is well documented that they have been aggressive, violent and using what appear to be improper and illegal tactics to oppose the demonstrators and to support the logging company.

The publicly documented behaviour of the police, and the refusal of provincial officials to take any action  to investigate the allegations, and stop the missbehaviour are bringing the administration of justice in BC into wide disrepute, and I fear that this will have profound and long-lasting effects.

The RCMP are going way beyond the court's injunction, and have been told this by the court, but they continue to exceed their authority. Their use of exclusion zones is improper. They exclude and control the media, presumably so that they can act as they want, with less public scrutiny and awareness of what they are doing. They arrest people and then release them somewhere without charge, a practice known as "catch and release". They have towed demonstrators' and supporters' vehicles and left them in undisclosed locations. They have used excessive and unnecessary violence on peaceful (though uncooperative) demonstrators and also observers and supporters who have been offering little or no resistance and have not been contravening the court injunction.

RCMP have at least colluded with others and allowed, if not perpetrated, the destruction of camp sites and personal belongings (tents, sleeping bags, camping equipment and supplies, clothes, personal posesions, etc.) of demonstrators and supporters. When demonstrators have chosen not to cooperate when arrested, or when the police are attempting to extricate them so they can be arrested, peaceful demonstrators have been mistreated, assaulted and occasionally injured by police officers. Certainly and repeatedly, the police have been treating people harshly, disrespectfully, and apparently illegally. 

All of this is bringing the administration of justice in BC into disrepute. The inaction of officials and government, and their continuing refusal to acknowledge that anything is wrong, is furthering the disrepute.

It is critically important that our governments stop the illegal and illegitimate actions that the police are perpetrating at Fairy Creek, and make a full investigation into what has been going on.  Ordinary people around the province, and especially on Vancouver Island, are quickly losing respect for the RCMP, and for the officials that are supposed to oversee them. It is critically important that the police and officials appear to be consistent and impartial, and to use measured approaches that are respectful and peaceful.  That they are so obviously not is certain to lead to decreasing respect from the public, and a greater likelihood that open, peaceful opposition to logging and pipeline construction and other public projects will be supplemented or superseded by covert and violent opposition.

Please don't let this continue.

Peter Johnston   Lasqueti Island, BC    V0R 2J0    250-333-8785