Melanie Murray (right, seated) and Howard Breen (lying down) during the Jan. 31, 2022 'Save Old Growth' protests on Terminal Ave. in Nanaimo. Both were found guilty on May 3, 2024 of multiple mischief charges related to protests from late 2021 into early 2022. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

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Environmental activists will be sentenced for roles in Nanaimo Hwy. blockades and protests

May 3, 2024 | 4:15 PM

NANAIMO — A judge disagreed with the defence arguments from two environmental activists, who said they had no choice but to break the law to draw attention to the dangers of climate change.

Judge Ronald Lamperson rejected the arguments in cases involving Howard Gerald Breen, 70, and Melanie Joy Murray, 48, who were indicted on multiple charges related to highway blockades and other protests in Nanaimo from late 2021 to early 2022.

During the Friday, May 3 ruling in Nanaimo provincial court, Lamperson said he disagreed with the ‘defence of necessity’ argument, with the defendants claiming their actions were justified due to the severe threat of climate change.

“Whether human and other life on earth survives the perils caused by climate change is not dependent on the actions taken by the defendants, whether the defendants did anything legal or illegal.”

He said he disagreed with the defence’s analogy the defendants were like a hiker lost in the mountains, who breaks into a remote cabin in order to survive.

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“The freezing alpinist in a snowstorm had only one apparent option to save their own life, that was to commit a criminal offence by breaking into the house immediately. In contrast, the defendants had many choices to make when responding to the peril caused by climate change. In fact…they freely exercised their choices in a number of ways.”

Breen was convicted on six mischief charges and one breach of an undertaking, while Murray was convicted on two mischief charges in relation to their participation in the protests, charges both Crown and defence agreed they did commit.

Other related charges were stayed as the judge considered them duplicates of the mischief charges.

The charges are related to several incidents across the mid-Island starting on June 22, 2021, when Breen swam to a logging freighter docked at the Nanaimo Assembly Wharf in an attempt to inconvenience their operations.

On Oct. 25, 2021, Breen, co-founder of the environmental activism group Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island, walked onto the Nanaimo Airport tarmac carrying one of their flags.

Protests continued into 2022 when activists shifted their focus to blocking major roadways using paper banners to bring attention to the logging of old-growth forests, including blocking the southbound lanes of Hwy. 1 in Chase River on Jan. 27.

In another incident, Breen and Murray refused to move out of the Commercial St. and Terminal Ave. intersection on Jan 31, 2022, with Breen attempting to superglue his hand to the pavement.

On April 7, 2022, about a dozen demonstrators with Extinction Rebellion attended while Breen and one other glued themselves to the main entrance door of the RBC Royal Bank branch at Brooks Landing, to protest the bank’s involvement with funding the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

He also staged a hunger strike in April to draw the attention of the Ministry of Forests related to the government’s strategy for old-growth forests.

The pair tried to have their case thrown out in May 2023, citing violations of their Charter Rights of expression and assembly, but their bid was unsuccessful.

Save Old Growth protestors decided in July to move away from those disruptive demonstrations and to try and address governments directly.

Speaking outside the courtroom following the Judge’s ruling, defence lawyer Joey Doyle said the decision was “disappointing, but not surprising.”

“They [the courts] are very, very dismissive of this type of activity as a response to climate change as we heard, and the Judge made a finding essentially that climate change poses the largest existential threat to human life in all of human existence, and yet that’s still not enough to justify action.”

He said the ruling showed the “limitations of the law”, and people like Breen and Murray now know the proper way to conduct themselves in the future related to any future climate-related protests.

Dates for sentencing have yet to be set, but will likely be sometime in July or August.

Melanie Joy Murray and Howard Gerald Breen leaving the Nanaimo courthouse on Monday, May 1, 2023. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow