The Canadian Press
Linda Givetash
VANCOUVER–First Nations’ activists who lost a legal battle to continue protesting at a fish farm off British Columbia’s coast say the decision hasn’t dissuaded them from bringing an end to aquaculture on their territory.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has granted an injunction to Marine Harvest Canada’s Midsummer Island farm, which is located amid a series of islands in the Broughton Archipelago, about 50 km east of Port Hardy on Vancouver Island.
The court’s decision was released online yesterday.
Protesters began occupying the farm in September although Molina Dawson, a protester with the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw Nation, said they scaled back their activity while the legal proceedings were underway.
Justice Peter Voith said in the decision that the protesters’ presence “gives rise to real safety issues,” and he agrees that Marine Harvest will suffer irreparable harm if the occupation of the farm continues.
Marine Harvest issued a statement following the decision, saying the company is pleased the court recognized it has a “legal right to operate without harm, and that its staff may work free of harassment, threats, and intimidation.”
Legal counsel for the protesters, some of whom are indigenous, say the defendants have an aboriginal right to govern the land and waters where the farm is located.
But Voith said in his ruling that the activists sent an eviction notice to the company, among other actions, which extend beyond simply monitoring the farm, and that other unnamed protesters failed to provide any legal justification for their behaviour.
Karissa Glendale with the Namgis First Nation said she anticipated the outcome but is frustrated by the judge’s decision.
“For me personally, I won’t be wasting my time and money with this court system,” she noted.
But Glendale said that doesn’t mean she’s going to stop fighting fish farms on her traditional territory.
