Beloved 'Eco-Granny' Hit Hard

Yesterday, beloved Vancouver environmental activist Betty Krawczyk received her seventh conviction for environmental protest. Krawczyk was hit with a 10-month sentence for returning three times to protest the Sea-to-Sky Improvement Project at Eagle Ridge Bluffs in breach of a court order.

Krawczyk is 78 years old.

She was charged with criminal contempt of court, a severe sentence for civil disobedience in the minds of many.

According to deputy Green Party leader Adriane Carr, mischief would have been a more appropriate charge.

"This is a civil society and in any civil society and in any real democracy the right of citizens to protest in non-violent civil disobedience is a treasured honour, " Carr is quoted as saying in the The Globe and Mail. (Please forgive the Globe's headline typo...they're trying.)

Hear, hear!

Although I had wanted to attend the sentencing, a heavy workload prevented me from making my way down to the B.C. Supreme Court. Apparently, the scene at the court house was one of complete chaos. There was a heavy police presence and visitors to the court had to go through myriad security checks to gain entry to the courtroom. Many supporters were held up in security and never managed to enter the courtroom.

Betty's sentence comes hot on the heals of the death of native elder Harriet Nahanee. Harriet was sent to jail for 14 days for protesting the Sea-to-Sky project. The court meted out this draconian punishment to a 71-year-old who was already in poor health for her unwillingness to apologize for committing contempt of court. While at the dismal Surrey Pretrial Centre, Nahanee developed pneumonia and quickly succumbed to the illness.

In reporting on Betty's sentence, a number of local news outlets, including 24 Hours (this story is not available online) and Metro Vancouver (also not up online), have published sentence comparisons, comparing the sentences recently doled out for peaceful civil disobedience to those handed down in recent years for offenses ranging from sexual interference with minors to hit and run killings. It's both striking and horrifying to see how heavy handed the government has become in punishing dissent.

Betty was maintaining a blog about environmental concerns and the Olympics, but I'm guessing it won't be updated in the near future. Her last entry was written the evening before her sentencing.

Rafe Mair has written a good piece in The Tyee that highlights many of Krawczyk and Nahanee's concerns.

In only semi-related news, someone has stolen the Olympic flag from in front of city hall. This comes as the International Olympic Committee has descended upon Vancouver to evaluate the city's preparation for the Games. You can read more about the mysterious theft here.

The photo of Betty K. comes courtesy of Seanthecon3000.