Four days of evidence-hearing has concluded in Nanaimo, where Teal Jones has applied for an extension to its court injunction against old-growth logging blockades in Fairy Creek.
A BC Supreme Court justice is deciding if extending the injunction that runs out Sept. 26 will serve the public good.
Teal Jones is asking for an extension to complete the harvest of trees in the area being fought over.
But lawyers for the protesters warned against the extension being granted, saying “there’s going to be serious injury or loss of life, with the anger and extremity. We can see it coming. There is no way out.”
Protesters offered a solution to another extension: let the province mediate.
According to protesters’ lawyers, Pacheedaht elder Bill Jones will ask people to stand down from Fairy Creek and let Teal Jones harvest what’s on the ground when mediation begins.
Court heard that fundraising is nearly complete to offer millions of dollars to conserve the old growth instead of cutting it and an environmental protection fund would be created for the Pacheedaht First Nation.
The Justice has decided to leave the status quo in place until his ruling can be delivered, which is expected well past Sept. 26 when this current injunction runs out.
A day earlier in court, the RCMP said it needed more powers to search and exclude people at the Fairy Creek blockades, where 1,000 arrests have already been made.
A federal government lawyer representing the RCMP told the judge Mounties also need more space to safely enforce the court injunction.
Lawyer Donnaree Nygard said she was making her argument in favour of increased police powers knowing the injunction is set to expire within days and aware Judge Douglas Thompson has said he will consider options to the court order.
READ MORE: Ongoing protests, arrests at Fairy Creek over logging ‘not working,’ says judge
British Columbia forest company Teal Cedar Products Ltd. has applied to the court to extend by one year the injunction order against protest blockades.
Arrests have been ongoing in the Fairy Creek area since May, when the RCMP started to enforce an earlier B.C. Supreme Court injunction against blockades erected in several areas near logging sites.
Thompson asked lawyers arguing for and against a lengthened injunction to consider options other than the extension application because the current situation of protests and arrests is not working.
With files from The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
