Five KM protesters get early release
Good behaviour liberates dissenters
Jean Swanson, a Vancouver city council candidate, was released Sunday from jail after serving partial time for her role in the Kinder Morgan protest.
Swanson, B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Susan Lambert and five others, were sentenced on Wednesday to seven days behind bars after they pleaded guilty to contempt of court for blocking construction at a Kinder Morgan site in Burnaby.
Swanson and Lambert, along with Kathleen Flaherty, Gyoba Sachiko and Heather Martin-McNab, were released early due to good behaviour.
“We were imprisoned because we are opposed to the KM pipeline expansion which poses such a terrible threat to our planet,” read a hand-written statement shared with media by the five individuals.
“Yes, prison conditions are harsh, but we were political prisoners. We are not criminals. We violated the injunction because we are so terribly aware that emissions from fossil fuels are destroying our climate, our planet and our children’s future.”
Approximately 215 people have been arrested to date in front of Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby marine terminal. On Aug. 1, two people were arrested in front of the facility, and four other individuals were arrested on Tuesday.
On Thursday, the RCMP enforced an injunction and began dismantling the protest camp outside the pipeline terminal.
A total of 11 people were removed by police from the site, known as Camp Cloud. Five were arrested but later released.
The protest camp had grown since November to include a twostorey wooden structure, a cabin, an outdoor shower, tents, vehicles and trailers.
Swanson is running in this fall’s Vancouver election with the Coalition of Progressive Electors.