Environmental group Save Old Growth is defending its reputation after a member claimed she was “emotionally manipulated” into participating in protests and a judge likened its tactics to “using people as cannon fodder.”
Olivia Mary Howe, a 19-year-old University of British Columbia student, pleaded guilty on Aug. 24 to mischief in relation to protests near the Vancouver International Airport last fall, and one on the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge earlier this year.
Her lawyer, James Wu, told the court Howe was “emotionally manipulated” into participating, has since left UBC’s forestry faculty, and cut off ties with both Save Old Growth and Extinction Rebellion.
She and Wu declined an interview, but Wu confirmed his client expressed her remorse in court.
“I just wanted to say that I regret my ignorance and naïveté in this situation, and picking a group to find support with that was so radical when there are so many amazing groups I could find — that would have been a lot different of an outcome for me,” she stated.
Howe received a conditional discharge and 18 months’ probation. The Crown had also indicated in court that she faced “internal pressure” to be on the frontlines of Oct. 25, 2021, and Jan. 31 blockades in order to be embraced by the group, according to Wu.
In an interview, Save Old Growth recruitment organizer Ben Holt said he doesn’t know Howe and is not familiar with her case, but her experience “certainly doesn’t align” with his own.
“I’ve been arrested twice now and it was very much a ‘Do you want to do this? These are the implications and this is how it will work.’ It seemed like a very caring, very thought-out process,” he said.
Save Old Growth, a civilian resistance group, has blocked bridges and highways throughout southwestern B.C., stalling traffic for hours on end, which has led to the arrest of peaceful protesters. The tactic is meant to pressure the B.C. government to put an end to old-growth logging.
Those comments come less than two months after a provincial court judge likened Save Old Growth’s tactics to “using people as cannon fodder,” as it is “generally not the strategists that are on the frontline.”
In a June sentencing decision, Justice Laura Bakan said protester Ian Schortinghuis “appears to be the type of person these groups entice and basically use as sacrificial lambs for their causes.”
“I find this conduct reprehensible as they hide behind the persons who have come before me — good people and people such as Mr. Schortinghuis, who says that he was given a sense of purpose and belonging by these groups,” she said.
Schortinghuis, 30, pleaded guilty to three counts of mischief and two counts of breaching an undertaking not to impede traffic during protests in Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond between April and June. He received a conditional discharge.
Bakan noted that Schortinghuis has “mental health issues and ADHD.” She said she took his remorse as genuine, and is someone whose “personal attributes are easily preyed on by organizations such as the one he was protesting on behalf of.”
Holt disagreed with Bakan’s characterization of Save Old Growth’s strategies, noting that he and others with lead roles have been arrested as well, and have upcoming court dates.
“This isn’t a situation where anyone is sitting back and sending people off to be cannon fodder or anything like that,” he said.
“What the judge had to say was, I think, speculation or editorializing. It was not related to the evidence in the sentencing hearing. It certainly doesn’t reflect the way our organization operates.”
Holt said everyone who volunteers to be “arrestable” at a protest is briefed on the risks and consequences of their actions. Schortinghuis, whom he knows personally, “was certainly aware and made his own decision on that,” Holt added.
Holt said Schortinghuis is a smart and articulate person who is “concerned about old-growth logging and the climate crisis in general,” and continues to be an active member of their community.
Save Old Growth understands it may be “thrown under the bus” by members defending themselves in court, but accepts the “unfortunate” reality, he explained.
“A defence lawyer is going to do what they have to do to get a good outcome for their client,” he said.
“We’ve talked about it. We know that’s going to be a defence that some people are going to use. It’s unfortunate, but we also have concerns about how people’s outcomes are, so we’re willing to accept that’s what might happen.”
After months of traffic-snarling protests in Metro Vancouver, Save Old Growth announced at the end of June that it would “de-escalate disruptive actions on critical transportation infrastructure.”
Holt said the decision was made when there were “things going on at the political level that we had reason to believe might turn out well,” but they didn’t pan out. He couldn’t elaborate on the specifics, he added.
Meanwhile, he said the organization will continue its traffic disruptions while old-growth logging persists.
“We’re very confident in the systems that we have in how we onboard people, how we make sure they’re aware of the decisions they’re making and the outcomes of that,” he said.
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