By Camille Bains
VANCOUVER (CP) - An elderly environmentalist who has already spent more than two years in jail for anti-logging protests was handed a 10-month sentence for criminal contempt of court Monday.
Betty Krawczyk was involved in protests last May against highway construction through the Eagleridge Bluffs in West Vancouver, where the road is being upgraded for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown ruled last month that Krawczyk's breach of a court order "was open, continuous and flagrant."
She handed down the sentence while the 78-year-old woman's supporters demonstrated outside because many of them couldn't get into the courtroom after sheriffs insisted on searching everyone.
Ross McKenna, a sheriffs' spokesman, said everyone was asked to clear a security search gate about 30 minutes before Krawczyk's sentencing hearing started.
"Unfortunately people chose not to come in when they were told, they decided to stay outside," McKenna later told reporters.
He refused to say why such a short time was allowed, leaving most media outside the courtroom and unable to hear the judge's reasons for sentencing.
A large cross-section of the young and old, including aboriginal people and environmentalists, turned out to show their support for Krawczyk.
About 120 protesters stood in the rain yelling "shame, shame, shame" and holding signs that read "Free Betty" as police and sheriffs stood watch around the downtown court building.
After the sentencing, about 18 people began holding a sit-in inside the court foyer, where they munched on granola bars and drank bottled water.
Several cases were postponed as up to 100 supporters stood around the sit-in and outside the building.
Two men who took part in the sit-in were later arrested because they refused to leave.
About two dozen sheriffs kept watch and prevented nearly everyone except lawyers from entering the building. Some cases were postponed as a result and even the main floor court registry was closed to the public.
At one point as protesters milled outside the law courts, Attorney General Wally Oppal emerged from the building and got into a cab as people yelled "shame, shame, shame."
Oppal later said from the legislature that he couldn't comment on the sentence because the matter can still be appealed.
Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said Krawczyk had four previous convictions on the same matter.
"When you take into account Ms. Krawczyk's past court history and you take into account all of the principles of sentencing, what the court fashioned in this case was a sentence in the lower range of what the Crown was submitting to the court."
The Crown had asked for nine to 16 months in jail for Krawczyk, he said.
He said the court found the woman was acting in criminal contempt of court rather than civil contempt for each of the five convictions regarding the Eagleridge protest.
"In cases that involve criminal contempt . . . it really comes down to an issue of public confidence in the justice system ensuring that the rule of law is followed."
Ten-year-old Roan Reimer began crying as she took part in the protest outside the law courts.
She was holding a picture of Krawczyk and said she missed school to attend the sentencing with her dad.
"Betty was like a grandmother to me," she said. "I used to go visit her a lot in jail. I just couldn't miss this. It's more important to me than school or anything else."
Adriane Carr, the former leader of the B.C. Green Party, said Krawczyk is just standing up for citizens and should only have been charged with mischief.
She said Krawczyk was not in contempt of court, "she was in contempt of a government that made decisions to allow the destruction of an ecosystem at Eagleridge Bluffs.
"In my opinion this has really brought disrepute and dishonour upon the courts," Carr said. "This is a civil society and in any civil society and in any real democracy the right of citizens to protest in non-violent civil disobedience is a treasured honour."
Momentum is building for more environmental protests because people are looking at this as a line in the sand, she added.
Don Leith was demonstrating with his nine-month-old daughter.
"I'm here because when the government makes an error, when it makes a mistake, we need people who will actually stand up and be counted," he said. "All British Columbians need people who will stand up and be counted. That she is being punished is outrageous."
Kim Hines, with the group Women Helping Women Coalition from Victoria, said the fact that most people couldn't even get into the courtroom "shows the unjustness of the justice system."
"We are seen as a threat to the justice system and we want justice for our grandmothers."
Harriet Nahanee, a 71-year-old aboriginal elder, was sentenced earlier to 14 days in jail for civil contempt.
She contracted pneumonia and died just weeks after her release but was also suffering undiagnosed lung cancer.
The B.C. government's plans to widen the Sea-to-Sky Highway in preparation for the Olympic Games drew heated debate among locals and environmentalists who staged a month-long protest there last year.
They say the area is ecologically sensitive and should be protected.
The protesters' demand that the province improve the highway by tunnelling under the bluffs was discounted by Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon as too expensive and having environmental issues of its own.
The protesters had lost on three counts.
First, when an environmental assessment approved the project; second, when a candidate in last year's provincial election ran and lost on a platform opposing the highway widening and third, when the court issued an injunction against the protesters.
Copyright © 2007 Canadian Press
VANCOUVER (CP) - An elderly environmentalist who has already spent more than two years in jail for anti-logging protests was handed a 10-month sentence for criminal contempt of court Monday.
Betty Krawczyk was involved in protests last May against highway construction through the Eagleridge Bluffs in West Vancouver, where the road is being upgraded for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown ruled last month that Krawczyk's breach of a court order "was open, continuous and flagrant."
She handed down the sentence while the 78-year-old woman's supporters demonstrated outside because many of them couldn't get into the courtroom after sheriffs insisted on searching everyone.
Ross McKenna, a sheriffs' spokesman, said everyone was asked to clear a security search gate about 30 minutes before Krawczyk's sentencing hearing started.
"Unfortunately people chose not to come in when they were told, they decided to stay outside," McKenna later told reporters.
He refused to say why such a short time was allowed, leaving most media outside the courtroom and unable to hear the judge's reasons for sentencing.
A large cross-section of the young and old, including aboriginal people and environmentalists, turned out to show their support for Krawczyk.
About 120 protesters stood in the rain yelling "shame, shame, shame" and holding signs that read "Free Betty" as police and sheriffs stood watch around the downtown court building.
After the sentencing, about 18 people began holding a sit-in inside the court foyer, where they munched on granola bars and drank bottled water.
Several cases were postponed as up to 100 supporters stood around the sit-in and outside the building.
Two men who took part in the sit-in were later arrested because they refused to leave.
About two dozen sheriffs kept watch and prevented nearly everyone except lawyers from entering the building. Some cases were postponed as a result and even the main floor court registry was closed to the public.
At one point as protesters milled outside the law courts, Attorney General Wally Oppal emerged from the building and got into a cab as people yelled "shame, shame, shame."
Oppal later said from the legislature that he couldn't comment on the sentence because the matter can still be appealed.
Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said Krawczyk had four previous convictions on the same matter.
"When you take into account Ms. Krawczyk's past court history and you take into account all of the principles of sentencing, what the court fashioned in this case was a sentence in the lower range of what the Crown was submitting to the court."
The Crown had asked for nine to 16 months in jail for Krawczyk, he said.
He said the court found the woman was acting in criminal contempt of court rather than civil contempt for each of the five convictions regarding the Eagleridge protest.
"In cases that involve criminal contempt . . . it really comes down to an issue of public confidence in the justice system ensuring that the rule of law is followed."
Ten-year-old Roan Reimer began crying as she took part in the protest outside the law courts.
She was holding a picture of Krawczyk and said she missed school to attend the sentencing with her dad.
"Betty was like a grandmother to me," she said. "I used to go visit her a lot in jail. I just couldn't miss this. It's more important to me than school or anything else."
Adriane Carr, the former leader of the B.C. Green Party, said Krawczyk is just standing up for citizens and should only have been charged with mischief.
She said Krawczyk was not in contempt of court, "she was in contempt of a government that made decisions to allow the destruction of an ecosystem at Eagleridge Bluffs.
"In my opinion this has really brought disrepute and dishonour upon the courts," Carr said. "This is a civil society and in any civil society and in any real democracy the right of citizens to protest in non-violent civil disobedience is a treasured honour."
Momentum is building for more environmental protests because people are looking at this as a line in the sand, she added.
Don Leith was demonstrating with his nine-month-old daughter.
"I'm here because when the government makes an error, when it makes a mistake, we need people who will actually stand up and be counted," he said. "All British Columbians need people who will stand up and be counted. That she is being punished is outrageous."
Kim Hines, with the group Women Helping Women Coalition from Victoria, said the fact that most people couldn't even get into the courtroom "shows the unjustness of the justice system."
"We are seen as a threat to the justice system and we want justice for our grandmothers."
Harriet Nahanee, a 71-year-old aboriginal elder, was sentenced earlier to 14 days in jail for civil contempt.
She contracted pneumonia and died just weeks after her release but was also suffering undiagnosed lung cancer.
The B.C. government's plans to widen the Sea-to-Sky Highway in preparation for the Olympic Games drew heated debate among locals and environmentalists who staged a month-long protest there last year.
They say the area is ecologically sensitive and should be protected.
The protesters' demand that the province improve the highway by tunnelling under the bluffs was discounted by Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon as too expensive and having environmental issues of its own.
The protesters had lost on three counts.
First, when an environmental assessment approved the project; second, when a candidate in last year's provincial election ran and lost on a platform opposing the highway widening and third, when the court issued an injunction against the protesters.
Copyright © 2007 Canadian Press
