One of the protesters arrested at Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project pleaded guilty Monday to criminal contempt of court. Ian Angus, who was among 55 protesters taken into custody March 24 for violating a court-ordered injunction at the Burnaby work site, had been scheduled to go on trial October 1 with his co-accused but became the first protester to enter a guilty plea before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Affleck.
In sentencing submissions, Crown counsel Monte Rattan told the judge that the aggravating factors in the case included that the protesters had deliberately breached an injunction to obtain publicity for an environmental cause and had had no insight or concern about the harm they had caused.
He noted that the mitigating factors for Angus personally included that he was a first-time offender and an otherwise upstanding member of the community and had purged his contempt by acknowledging the contempt at an early stage of the proceedings. Rattan called for a $500 fine for Angus.
Angus, a retired professor at Simon Fraser University, said that even though he was breaking a court injunction, he wasn’t expressing disrespect for the law in general.
“I have lived for the last 26 years with my wife and daughter beside the Burrard Inlet. It is of great concern to me that this beautiful and fecund place be preserved for our children and grandchildren,” Angus said.
After determining that Angus could afford to pay the fine, the judge imposed the $500 fine on him sought by the Crown.
About 175 people have been arrested so far at the Kinder Morgan site. A number of other protesters are expected to enter guilty pleas Tuesday.
Earlier Monday, a protester who was arrested March 22 pleaded guilty to civil contempt of court, but the plea was not accepted by the judge after Rattan argued that her contempt, due to its public nature, was criminal in nature.
Several times during Monday’s proceedings the protesters packed into the Vancouver courtroom clapped loudly in support of arguments being made on their behalf. The judge warned them that if they continued in their behaviour he would have no choice but to summon the sheriffs and have them arrested and removed from the courtroom.
Due to scheduling conflicts, a number of lawyers for the protesters applied for and were granted adjournments until later in October for trials being held for their clients.
The judge told the protesters that he wasn’t going to be particularly sympathetic to adjournment applications and rejected several other applications to delay trials.
The first, four-day trial, dealing with several dozen protesters who were arrested March 17, is set for June 11-14. The last trial, for more than 50 protesters arrested March 24, is scheduled for October 1-12.
The judge warned one protester who was arrested a third time on the weekend to abide by a court undertaking not to return to the protest site or risk being held in custody.
“I recommend you do not get arrested again,” he told the protester.
Eight protesters who were arrested April 28 made their first court appearances Monday. The judge said they would be free to go if they agreed to sign the undertaking.
