Complaints Commission finds RCMP C-IRG exclusion zones and checkpoints at Fairy Creek were unreasonable
Photo from EJ Atlas by Mike Graeme www.mikegraeme.ca.
The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC) has issued a statement today that highlights it has “published a summary of its final report on the RCMP’s handling of a public complaint regarding enforcement of a civil injunction covering the Fairy Creek area in British Columbia.”
Notably, “the CRCC found that the broad exclusion zones and checkpoints used by members of the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) were unreasonable. The review determined that the RCMP’s demand to search the complainant [who is not named in the report] at a checkpoint on a public road was unfounded, and his arrest, after refusing to agree to the search, was groundless.”
The 16-page summary of the report released today can be read here.
The summary report notes that while RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme (who has held this role since May 2023) agreed with some of the CRCC’s findings, he “did not fully support the Commission’s recommendation about developing national policy about the enforcement of civil injunctions that is consistent with the prevailing jurisprudence. The RCMP Commissioner stated that he supported developing a policy along these lines, but he objected to the Commission’s statement that the policy should reflect the courts’ cautions about police claiming invasive ancillary police powers that are preventative in nature and not exercised in responding to or investigating a past and ongoing crime.”
Photo: RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme.
The protests against Teal-Jones logging of old-growth forest at Fairy Creek led to about 1,100 arrests and 464 charges laid by the RCMP over the months of May to August 2021. The B.C. Prosecution Service approved 464 charges, mostly for contempt of court (relating to the injunction noted above), against 413 people.
Systemic investigation
The statement also notes: “The CRCC is also completing a separate systemic investigation of the activities and operations of the C-IRG in British Columbia.”
That investigation was launched after the CRCC had received nearly 500 formal complaints about the RCMP C-IRG. As CBC has reported: “More than 100 grievances accepted for investigation contain allegations of excessive force, illegal tactics, unprofessional behaviour, racism, discrimination and charter violations by the force’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG).”
The investigation was launched 18 months ago and at this point the CRCC “cannot speculate on when it will conclude.”
We continue to follow that process.
Further reading: RCMP enforcement of Fairy Creek logging protesters ‘unreasonable,’ says federal complaints agency (The Province, September 11, 2024)
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