An organization protesting against logging in the Argenta area at the north end of Kootenay Lake may be forced to identify its social media managers, if requests by the logging company are accepted by a judge.
The protesters were trying to stop the logging of 6,200 hectares of forest on the Argenta-Johnsons Landing Face, on the northeast shore of Kootenay Lake whenin May. The Autonomous Sinixt and Lower Kootenay Bands have also called for a halt to the logging and for environmental protection for the area. However, the logging of five cutblocks went ahead and is scheduled to be completed by the end of this month.
“It’s a fairly unusual order, to give up the identity of an anonymous Facebook or Instagram account,” says Ross. “They’re saying wrongdoing was done to them, but they are conversely not pursuing charges against anyone who was arrested, whose identity they know already.Ross says all Last Stand West Kootenay did was invite people to come to the site and witness the protest. He says he argued that the application shouldn’t be granted unless there is evidence of wrongdoing.