A judge at the British Columbia Supreme Court called Dr Tim Takaro’s “serious” violation of a court order detaining people from Trans Mountain Pipeline’s workplaces and said a prison sentence was the only way to stop others from ignoring court orders. .
A SFU professor “proved his point” when he broke a court order and sat in a tree on the Burnaby Trans Mountain Pipeline’s work site for three days last year – but now the court has responded.
British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick set the case for Dr. Tim Takaro on Wednesday morning before sentencing a New Westminster resident to 30 days in prison.
TMX order
Takaro pleaded guilty to contempt of court in connection with the events between November 23 and November 26, 2021.
He occupied a tent hanging about 100 feet up a tree inside a work site on the Trans Mountain in the southern corner of the Lougheed and Gaglardi Way highways for three days before being arrested, according to agreed facts presented in court.
Crown prosecutor Ellen Leno said Takaro had violated a Supreme Court order in June 2018 BC by violating a five-meter restricted area around Trans Mountain’s work sites and obstructing TMX’s work.
She called for a 30-day prison sentence, citing the need to discourage others from ignoring court orders.
But defense attorney Neil Chantler says Takaro should be allowed to serve his sentence in the community because he has a heart problem that could cause a heart attack if sent to prison.
Chantler noted that Takaro had no criminal record and had never been charged with contempt before, although he had attended an earlier tree meeting in Burnaby in September, which ended only after police showed up.
Chantler also pointed to Takaro’s early guilty plea.
Chantler proposed a one-month suspended sentence with 24 hours of house arrest, followed by a three-month probation period with 120 hours of community service.
Towards the end of Monday’s sentencing hearing, Takaro made a 15-minute statement detailing his efforts since 2014 to oppose the pipeline’s expansion as a doctor, epidemiologist and toxicologist.
“I have the greatest respect for the court, but here in Canada, we are in deep trouble, problems that the UN Secretary-General calls moral issues, because our fossil energy policies are exactly the opposite of what is required for reducing the number of people who will die from climate change. These environmental professional responsibilities and obligations made me stay on the tree until November 26. “
Rule of law
But Judge Fitzpatrick was not convinced by the picture Takaro had painted of his dilemma – or a lawsuit he cited in support of it.
In a statement, Takaro cited a 1994 Court of Appeals ruling in the case of six people convicted of criminal contempt in connection with the Clayoquot Sound logging protests on Vancouver Island:
“A public and, as far as possible, passive act of resistance to a law that is perceived as unjust, combined with the adoption of an appropriate punishment for the crime, is in accordance with the procedures for democratic change and, when properly understood, shows the highest respect. to the rule of law as a benign and necessary part of the structure of a just and democratic society. ”
However, Fitzpatrick said Takaro did not “accept the appropriate punishment for the crime” as others had done before.
“On the contrary,” said Fitzpatrick, “Dr. Takaro is now seeking a non-custodial sentence so that he can mitigate the sentence by staying in his comfortable home for 30 days with all its conveniences and avoiding imprisonment. “
Fitzpatrick also noted that the decision Takaro cited was a special opinion in the Clayoquot case, which was not approved by the majority.
She quoted the majority:
“The fragility of the rule of law is such that none of us who seek to take advantage of it can receive an anarchic break from his term from time to time, no matter how convincing or convincing the reason may be. anarchy seeks to progress. Furthermore, only through the rule of law can any meaningful, lasting or effective change in the law be made. “
Fitzpatrick called Takaro’s violation “serious,” noting that it was public, intended to cause maximum delays, and occurred three years after the order was first imposed.
She concluded that imprisonment was “the only appropriate way to express the court’s condemnation” of Takaro’s behavior and to deter others who might follow his path.
His health problems were not “the most important consideration” in the case, Fitzpatrick said, as Takaro would have access to prison health care.
She also said that his “so-called serious health problems” had no “visible effect” on his ability to climb 100 feet up a tree while hauling equipment and supplies alone and then surviving in a small tent. for three days, no doubt involving considerable effort and stress. “
Fitzpatrick decided that a sentence of 30 days in prison was appropriate in Takaro’s case.
“Dr. Takaro’s lawyer said that Dr. Takaro” has now expressed his opinion “, but now the court has responded,” she said.
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