Incident
Court orders RCMP to stop restricting press access at Fairy Creek logging blockades
A British Columbia court found the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had failed to justify wide exclusion zones that kept journalists away from its enforcement of a logging injunction at the Fairy Creek old-growth blockades, and ordered police to keep the media's role in a free society in mind when deciding whether to remove or arrest reporters.1
What happened
Through the summer of 2021, journalists covering the RCMP's enforcement of a court injunction against old-growth logging protesters at Fairy Creek, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, said police required them to check in at set times and remain escorted rather than observe arrests directly, restricting their ability to independently document the operation. A coalition of Canadian news organizations went to court, and on July 20, 2021, Justice Douglas Thompson found the RCMP had not justified the extensive exclusion zones it had imposed on media access. The judge ordered that future enforcement decisions be made with an explicit reminder of the media's role in a free and democratic society and the need to avoid unnecessary interference with journalism. The RCMP had defended the restrictions as reasonably necessary given hazardous terrain, limited space for enforcement and poor cell coverage.123
What reason was given
Stated justificationThe RCMP said the restrictions were "reasonably necessary" because of hazardous terrain, limited space to safely conduct enforcement, and poor cell phone coverage at the blockade sites.2
What changed for reporting
Journalists had been kept at a distance from arrests and enforcement actions for weeks under an escort system that limited independent verification of how the operation was being conducted, before the court intervened.123
Timeline
2021
Who acted
| Name | Role in this incident | Office at the time |
|---|---|---|
| John Horgan | other | Premier of British Columbia, 2017-2022 |
| Royal Canadian Mounted Police | enforced | Canada's federal police, contracted for provincial policing in British Columbia |
Sources
Claims and evidence
Each numbered claim quotes the source it rests on.
- The judge ordered the RCMP to keep the media's role in a free society in mind when making enforcement decisions affecting journalists.
the RCMP will be reminded by the presence of this additional language to keep in mind the media's special role in a free and democratic society, and the necessity of avoiding undue and unnecessary interference with the journalistic function.
RCMP treatment of media at Fairy Creek blockades: court case takeaways, The Narwhal, 2021-07-21.Claim 471, checked 2026-09-22. - The RCMP said its restrictions on media access were reasonably necessary given hazardous terrain and safety concerns.
reasonably necessary
RCMP treatment of media at Fairy Creek blockades: court case takeaways, The Narwhal, 2021-07-21.Claim 472, checked 2026-09-22. - The Canadian Association of Journalists' president called the ruling a strong affirmation that the public's right to know was worth defending.
It's sort of a strong affirmation [of] what we've been saying all along amongst this [media] group that the public's right to know is worth fighting for and that democracy demands freedom of the press.
RCMP treatment of media at Fairy Creek blockades: court case takeaways, The Narwhal, 2021-07-21.Claim 473, checked 2026-09-22.