NEWS RELEASE
Monday, July 8, 1996
TWO MORE ENVIRONMENTALISTS JAILED FOR DEFYING COURT ORDER
VANCOUVER, B.C. - This afternoon in the Supreme Court of British Columbia,
Justice Kenneth Smith sentenced two more of the 21 people convicted last
month on criminal contempt charges resulting from a month long stand last
September to prevent International Forest Products from clearcutting
unceded Nuxalk lands at Ista (Fog Creek) near Bella Coola.
Greg Higgs and Bill Joyce, both members of the Forest Action Network
were sentenced to 35 days and 45 days respectively, as well as 2 years
probation. Higgs and Joyce were singled out during the court proceedings
as the most serious of the offenders - for Joyce, it was his second
conviction for contempt of court, while Higgs received special
condemnation for burning of a copy of the court injunction, an act the
judge condemned as "outrageous and gratuitous."
In speaking to sentencing both men were unrepentant, stating that they
believed in what they were doing. Higgs quoted from Gandhi, claiming that
civil disobedience is an "inherent right of a citizen", and that "to put
down civil disobedience is to attempt to imprison conscience." Joyce
pointed out that, for him, the most important point of the case continues
to be the question of who has jurisdiction over unceded Nuxalk Nation
territories - a question the court refused to hear, prompting all of the
defendants to walk out of their originally scheduled trial last December.
For his part, the judge condemned the two men's methods as misdirected,
asserting that the preservation of the environment cannot be achieved
without upholding the rule of law which protects the natural environment
from those who would despoil it. He stated that "it is not a happy thing
to send such idealistic, and otherwise law abiding citizens to jail," but
that it was necessary to stop such organized acts of defiance of the
court's authority.
In a phone-call from the Vancouver Detention Centre, Greg Higgs stated
that, "This is certainly not going to stop me, and it's certainly not
going to stop FAN. There is no price too high to pay to stop the wholesale
liquidation of our ancient rainforests. These forests are an
irreplaceable global treasure, and we will continue to use every non-
violent means possible to oppose the government-sanctioned and
court-protected destruction of the forests by multimillion dollar logging
corporations."
Both men received stiffer sentences than those handed out last month to
the first 16 defendants sentenced. On June 27 Justice Smith gave
suspended sentences and 1 year probation to 13 Nuxalk Nation citizens,
while singling out three non-native defendants as instigators of the
protest. Two of the non-native environmentalists were given 30 days and
two years probation, while a third received 15 days plus $1000 fine.
Three other native defendants still await sentencing on Oct. 18.
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