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NEWS RELEASE - Friday, September 15, 2000 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
--------- BLACK DAY FOR CANADA ---------

Two Elaho ancient forest defenders jailed for one year for their non-violent peaceful acts of disobedience

WCWC SHOCKED AND DISMAYED BY JUSTICE PARRETT\'S HARSH WORDS AND BARBARIC
JAIL TERMS FOR ELAHO PROTESTERS AND HIS DISREGARD FOR FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA

Western Canada Wilderness Committee is dismayed and shocked at the extremely long sentences and harsh words handed down by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Parrett to those involved in a series of 1999 logging protests against International Forest Products (Interfor) in the Elaho Valley of the proposed Stoltmann National Park. Yesterday, Justice Parrett, who since March 13, 2000, has heard 43 days of testimony with 19 witness and 15 videotapes, found eight people guilty of civil or criminal contempt.

Yesterday Parrett convicted two people, Dennis Porter and Rick McCallion, of civil contempt of court and six people, Barney Kern, Chris Nolan, Christopher Keats, Reasha Wolfe, Justine Paine and Betty Krawczyk of
criminal contempt of court. One person was found not guilty; Camille Willicombe.

Today at 3:30 PM Justice Parrett sentenced Betty Krawczyk and Barney Kern to one year in jail with no time off for good behavior - by far the harshest penalties ever handed out for such an offense in Canada or the
U.S. Resha Wolfe was sentenced to three months; Justine Paine received two months and Christopher Keates received, for compassionate reasons, a
suspended sentence with one year probation. Chris Nolan will be sentenced next week, and Rick McCallion and Dennis Porter will be sentenced after an Appeal Court case regarding earlier convictions of Elaho protesters is
heard.

During the often acrimonious trial Robert Fleming, lawyer for one of the accused, unsuccessfully petitioned Justice Parrett to step down because of his disparaging remarks about the protesters, which he argued indicated the
justices\' bias against the defendants. Yesterday\'s judgment was laced with similar disparaging remarks.

Joe Foy, Western Canada Wilderness Committee Director, who was present in court on Thursday while Justice Parrett read his two hour judgment aloud,
was particularly shocked that Dennis Porter, a young video journalist was found guilty of civil contempt of court, even though his sole reason for being in the Elaho Valley was to video-document the ongoing protest. In his judgment Justice Parrett said he had viewed \"Hoods in the Woods,\" the video about Interfor loggers beating up conservationists in the Elaho Valley that Mr. Porter had helped edit, and said that he believed that the video was not balanced. Parrett reasoned that Mr. Porter was therefore not an independent member of the media - and found Mr. Porter guilty of civil contempt of court.

\"I am really shocked by Justice Parrett\'s reasons for judgement with regard to Mr. Porter. I believe them to be an attack on our Canadian concept of freedom of the media,\" said Foy. \"Just because Mr. Porter is not working for one of the billionaires who now control much of Canada\'s media is no reason to punish him for bravely doing his job documenting the conflict going on in the Elaho Valley. If he\'d been working for the Vancouver Sun
or BCTV I don\'t believe he would have been found guilty,\" said Foy.

\"I also found Mr. Parrett\'s assertion that the environmental protesters were trying to get Interfor\'s workers to overreact and beat them up, to be
particularly offensive and distasteful,\" said Foy. \"No one wants to be beaten up and every one has a right to expect to be protected from violent bullies,\" asserted Foy. \"Such comments from the bench would never be
tolerated regarding race or sexual assaults. They incite disrespect for the courts.\"

Justice Parrett also criticized the RCMP in his oral judgement for failing to properly investigate Interfor in relation to the September 15, 1999 violent attack against conservationists in the Elaho Valley. Parrett recommended an investigation of the RCMP be undertaken by the appropriateauthorities. That attack occurred exactly one year ago at a time when
his court was in session hearing the contempt charges against these logging protesters. WCWC will continue to push for the RCMP to conduct a criminal investigation of Interfor regarding this attack and a series of other
violent attacks on environmental activists in areas where this company and its contractors are logging.

\"I believe the controversy over the fate of the Stoltmann Wilderness and its ancient rainforest will continue to grow until the area is afforded the park protection it so rightly deserves. So it\'s extremely important during this period of conflict that everyone behaves completely non-violently,\"
said Foy.

In response to Justice Parrett\'s comment that the protesters were \"not heroes,\" Foy had this to say. \"The brave women and men who, acting in an honorable and non-violent manner, tried to stop Interfor\'s logging of
thousand-year-old trees in the Elaho Valley will be judged kindly by history. It\'s the likes of Interfor and those who \'aid and abet\' this company in the destruction of the Earth\'s few remaining ancient forests who will be judged harshly by future generations\".

For more information contact WCWC\'s Joe Foy (604) 683-8220 or on his Cell 889-2580

http://www.gov.bc.ca/prem/feed/