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conviction
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from first page
"The beating of protestors in September 1999 infuriated me. That
80 to 100 loggers, with the tacit support of Interfor [logging
company International Forest Products], could harass peaceful
protesters, tear up their belongings and beat three of them so
badly that they required treatment in hospital, that this should
occur in British Columbia…! I was very upset and organised a non-violent
protest of my own.
It makes me so angry that people can be arrested just for being
in forests. My crime was stepping out on a logging road in Elaho
Valley to stop the logging trucks of Interfor. Not only does Interfor
get it all for free, aside from the mere pittance they grudgingly
pay the government for the right to liquidate our ancient forests,
but taxpayers have to pay for cleaning up the mess Interfor leaves
behind in the forests and the salmon streams.
I represent myself in court because judges have a harder time
with a citizen. If you're not afraid of jail, you can take advantage
of court rules to speak your mind. I was able to cross examine
their witnesses, and bring witnesses of my own. I tried to leap
over the courtroom system and fly into the arms of the public,
because they are my only recourse.
I thought I would get six months. A year was a bit much. At the
end of four months I appealed and Greenpeace helped publicise
the case. There were three judges and they just let me go with
a warning to me that it's going to get rougher down the road.
How much rougher can it get? I was treated with respect by inmates.
Many of the young women saw me as a mother figure; they would
tell me their problems sometimes.
It bothered me a great deal being separated from my family. The
adults could come to see me, but my little grandchildren - it
was too problematic. The small ones, I preferred actually they
didn't come, so I didn't see them for the entire time I was in
prison. They didn't understand. They just knew it had something
to do with trees."
<<Back
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1998-9:
Wood buyers cancel contracts with suppliers of wood from forest companies that clearcut Canada's west coast rainforests
1999-00:
Six companies agree to a moratorium on loggin intact coastal valleys and a solutions process with environmental groups including Greenpeace. Interior and West Fraser later withdraw from process
2000-2001:
Greenpeace re-launches market campaigns. Many international wood buyers stop buying wood from Interior
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