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RCMP arrest three individuals in relation to logging demonstration near Meadow Creek

Nelson Daily Staff
By Nelson Daily Staff
March 2nd, 2019

RCMP officers in the Central Kootenay confirmed in a media release Friday the arrest of three individuals earlier this week after they allegedly obstructed vehicles entering a worksite north of Kaslo near Meadow Creek.

RCMP said on February 26, 2019 just before 7 a.m. Kaslo RCMP were conducting pro-active patrols on the Deception Fire Service Road near Meadow Creek, when they observed a large line-up of logging and light trucks, stopped on the roadway near the two-kilometre mark.

Police said at the front of the lineup, officers allegedly located a wooden blockade which was obstructing the trucks entry into a logging site.

“A 42-year-old woman from Balfour, a 36-year-old man from Meadow Creek and a 66-year-old man from Argenta, were arrested for Intimidation after allegedly refusing to remove the blockade,” the RCMP media release said. “All three have since been released from custody and are expected to appear in court at a later date.”

The trio was part of a group of citizens concerned about the impacts of logging on caribou habitat and watersheds whichg re-establish a protest camp on the Deception Creek FSR in Meadow Creek, BC (Saturday) Feburary 23.

The citizens, part of a group staging protests to protect Kootenay watersheds for the past six months, were responding to the work of Licensee Cooper Creek Cedar Ltd (CP 408 FL 
A30171) in the Greyhorse Creek area.

“Mass clearcutting of our bio-diverse, climate stabilizing forest reduces our community’s ability to combat climate crisis through carbon sequestration,” said Jessica Ogden, Water Is Life Event Coordinator in a media release.

Odgen said other protesters are acting to uphold the interest and address the risks to the environment as well as present and future stakeholders.

“We request a forestry reform to a more long-term, ecologically based forestry practice with more community involvement that will feed vitality back into our region.” 

The RCMP would like to remind demonstrators that they have a right to lawful, peaceful and safe protest and that companies have a right to complete their work. The RCMP is working hard to ensure that these rights are respected, and everyone is kept safe.

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