Green Party deputy leader released pending appeal of jail sentence for Fairy Creek protests
British Columbia's highest court has ordered the Green Party of Canada's deputy leader to be released from custody pending her appeal of a 60-day jail sentence for her role in old-growth logging protests on Vancouver Island.
Angela Davidson, also known as Rainbow Eyes, was convicted earlier this year of seven counts of criminal contempt for breaching a court injunction blocking protesters from disrupting logging activities in the Fairy Creek watershed.
Davidson, who was named the deputy leader of the federal Green Party in February, was arrested the first time at Fairy Creek in May 2021 for breaching the inunction granted to timber company Teal Cedar Products.
She was subsequently arrested six more times in 2021 and 2022, including for breaching her bail conditions, when she returned to the old-growth logging blockade near Port Renfrew, on southwestern Vancouver Island.
The deputy leader was sentenced on April 24 to spend 60 days in jail, less 12 days for time already served.
Davidson filed an appeal of her sentence two days later, and was ordered released on bail Monday pending the appeal hearing, according to the B.C. Appeal Court and the B.C. Prosecution Service.
A spokesperson for the court said the Crown did not oppose granting Davidson leave for appeal, nor did it oppose granting her release from custody pending the appeal hearing.
Davidson issued a statement Monday, saying her efforts to "braid the laws" of the Crown and Indigenous communities will continue.
"We are in a time of reconciliation and action, raising awareness about our collective history and duties in the face of the ecological and humanitarian crises in our world," the statement said.
Bill Jones, an elder of the Pacheedaht First Nation in Port Renfrew, testified at Davidson's trial that he invited her and others to come to the area to defend the old-growth forests from logging.
"Rainbow Eyes was and is faithful to that cause and continues to show strength and dedication in her resolve in the protection of our great mother’s gift to us," Jones said in a statement.
Davidson had been incarcerated at the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women in Maple Ridge, B.C., since her sentencing last week.
Under the terms of her release, Davidson must surrender to authorities on Nov. 25 unless an appeal hearing date has been set by that time, in which case she must surrender into custody on the day the appeal judgment is delivered, according to the prosecution service.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Latest updates on the major wildfires burning in Canada
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
Veteran TSN sportscaster Darren Dutchyshen has died
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57. His family says 'he passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones.'
Toronto man killed his mother and decapitated her — but it wasn't murder, lawyers argue
A ‘lifetime of abuse’ led Dallas Ly to snap and repeatedly stab his mother inside their Leslieville apartment in 2022 but he never intended to kill her, his defence lawyers argued during at his murder trial in Toronto on Thursday.
He had dreams of running for Canada in the Olympics, then he learned his family would be deported
A burgeoning track star says his dream of going to the Olympics is being derailed by a deportation order after Immigration officials rejected his family’s claim for asylum
Kidnapped by her father and kept in a crawl space: Court documents reveal Montreal horror story
A Montreal father who kidnapped his daughter who has autism and lied to police when they asked where she was should serve three years in prison, a Crown prosecutor said.
Loblaw agrees to sign grocery code of conduct after months of negotiations
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. said Thursday it's ready to sign on to the grocery code of conduct, paving the way for an agreement that's been years in the making.
Teen died from eating a spicy chip as part of social media challenge, autopsy report concludes
A medical examiner says a Massachusetts teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge died from ingesting a substance 'with a high capsaicin concentration.'
Pierre Poilievre presses Justin Trudeau for summer pause on carbon and fuel taxes
To give Canadians a break on their summer road trips, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to suspend all gas and diesel taxes from Victoria Day to Labour Day.
Canada sanctions four Israeli 'extremist settlers' accused of attacking Palestinians
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is imposing sanctions on Israelis she accuses of 'extremist settler violence' in the West Bank, three months after pledging to do so.