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GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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>> GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL DENOUNCES CLAYOQUOT SENTENCING
Global outcry will follow, Executive Director warns
(AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS) October 14, 1993 (GP) The sentences
handed out to 44 individuals arrested for protesting the logging
of Clayoquot Sound are "excessive" and an abuse of the court, the
Executive Director of Greenpeace International said today. Paul
Gilding, speaking from the organization's head office in
Amsterdam, called on the Canadian government to initiate a
federal review of conflict of interest created by the provincial
government's purchase of shares in MacMillan Bloedel and the
conduct of the Crown through the court process.
Two weeks before the decision to allow logging in Clayoquot Sound
was announced, it was revealed that the government of British
Columbia had purchased $51-million worth of shares in MacMillan
Bloedel, one of the companies which have been logging the Sound
throughout the summer and fall. Since the decision, 793 people
have been arrested: the sentences passed down today include 45-60
days in jail, along with fines from between $1,500 and $3,000.
"These sentences highlight the conflict of interest so apparent
in this instance," said Mr Gilding. "It is clearly a case of
using the courts to suppress legitimate political expression in
defense of nature and sadly confirms Canada's growing status as
an international environmental outlaw."
The vast majority of the 44 people convicted and sentenced are
first-time offenders. By contrast, MacMillan Bloedel has over the
years been convicted of 25 charges of environmental violations
and currently has 50 charges pending. No MacMillan Bloedel
official has ever been arrested or given a jail sentence.
"Canada now holds the record globally for having the highest
number of environmental political prisoners," said Greenpeace
Canada forest campaigner Karen Mahon, in Clayoquot Sound. "It is
outrageous that these individuals are going to jail, when even
the government's own Minister of the Environment acknowledges
forest practices in B.C. are unsustainable."
Two weeks ago, Minister Moe Sihota told a Chamber of Commerce
gathering that "...the provincial government has allowed for a
system of sympathetic administration, in which they turn a blind
eye to some of these terrible behaviours and practices in the
forest industry. Even when poor forest practices are exposed, the
penalties that are imposed are either weak, inadequate or do not
serve to act as a deterrent."
In the coming weeks, it will be a top priority of Greenpeace
International to ensure that buyers of Canadian forest products
are informed of the high environmental and social costs
associated with these products. Greenpeace has offices in 30
countries and more than 5-million members worldwide.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Karen Mahon or Patrick Anderson (604) 725-4218 or 725-2600