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LETTER: Protests cost money

There was a legal injunction against the protestors that mandated RCMP enforcement…
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To the Editor,

RE: Police enforcement at Fairy Creek cost Canadians more than $10M, Jan. 26

A more accurate headline would be, “Unlawful protest at Fairy Creek cost Canadians more than $10M for enforcement.”

This would reflect that there was a legal injunction against the protestors that mandated RCMP enforcement, the cost of which is simply the cost of upholding the rule of law in a democratic country.

It would also reflect the fact that enforcement of the injunction is also enforcing the concept of Indigenous self-determination; the logging operation has the support of the First Nations whose land this is. To not allow local First Nations the potential to realize economic opportunity on their own land is to support the colonialist system when it suits your personal environmental perspective.

Derek Dunbar,

Port Alberni