LandKeepers News Archive
Case against Tahltan protestor dismissed
January 27 2009 | News Articles | Terrace Standard
Case against Tahltan protestor dismissed
Terrace Standard
Published: January 27, 2009 11:00 PM
A CONTEMPT of court case against an outspoken Tahltan who protested a mining development on traditional Tahltan territory has been thrown out of court.
Lillian Moyer was first arrested in Sept. 2006 after she decided to be the only person to defy a B.C. Supreme Court order to take down a blockade preventing the bcMetals mining company from moving heavy equipment to its planned Red Chris copper mine development.
She has made various court appearances since then, becoming a public figure for those opposed to industrial development in Tahltan territory and, specifically, the Klappan area which is also called the Sacred Headwaters. Moyer was also given a nickname, Tiger Lil.
An application for a stay of proceedings in the case against was approved by Madame Justice Catherine Bruce in B.C. Supreme Court here Jan. 19.
Moyer’s defence laywer, Jason Gratl of Vancouver, said it was no longer in the public interest to prosecute Moyer because of her advanced age, her failing health, the extended amount of time that passed since the court proceedings were initiated and the disinterest of the civil complainant, Imperial Metals (who bought bcMetals in 2007), in prosecuting Moyer.
Gratl also said Madame Justice Bruce described the “nominal nature of the contempt,” meaning that Moyer never engaged in any express attack on the legitimacy of the judiciary or the court order.
Instead, her attack was aimed at the environmental and social destruction wrought by Red Chris on Tahltan traditional territory, Gratl said.
“It’s over,” Moyer said, ecstatically outside the courtroom afterward. She took turns hugging Gratl and the many supporters on hand.
“I appreciate Mr. Gratl taking this case on, I couldn’t get any other lawyer in [this] area, It was a blessing when he did,” she said, adding he was the reason she had her freedom back.
Moyer, 69, who lives in Dease Lake, was with a Tahltan group called the Klabona Keepers at the Sept. 2006 blockade just off Hwy 37 North south of Iskut, which had prevented bcMetals from hauling drilling equipment adjacent to its planned Red Chris copper and gold mine.
bcMetals had received a B.C. Supreme Court injunction ordering the blockade to be taken down and then an enforcement order empowering the RCMP to arrest those who remained at the blockade was issued.
While sitting in court last week, Moyer said she had “just such a beautiful feeling” and a feeling of “peace.”
“I felt that it would be all right now,” Moyer said after court.
Moyer said she stood up to the mining company not just for her nation but all nations.
“I honour that [1910 Declaration of the Tahltan] because great chief Nanok was a real warrior chief. He fought with blood for that area which is Klappan. It is a spiritual place. I felt power and I’ve seen ancestors and it’s just such a beautiful and powerful feeling for my eyes to see, That’s the way I see things,” she said after court.
“I don’t think the BC government should be giving out tenders without [the] whole nation [and] consulting the elders. They should make a trip in and sit at our table and ask what we want,” she said.
This wasn’t Moyer’s first time protesting companies coming into Tahltan territory.
In 2005, a group of Tahltan and others put up a blockade at the same location to prevent Fortune Minerals from gaining access to its anthracite coal deposits in the Klappan area.
Nearly 15 people were arrested in September 2005 but court proceedings were subsequently abandoned.
The two blockades were organized by a group of Tahltan worried about the scope and size of planned mining and other projects on their traditional territory.
In particular, they are worried about the Klappan area which is reached via the Ealue Lake Road as it is regarded as a highly sensitive area by the Tahltan for its environment and history.
Moyer is one of a group of Tahltan people who began to take an increasingly active role three years ago in how their leaders made resource use and government decisions.
She was one of a group of people who occupied the offices of the Tahltan band in Telegraph Creek for months in 2005.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/terracestandard/news/38385494.html
This Entry is Not Tagged. Click here to Add Tags