A 70-year-old grandmother from 108 Mile was sentenced Tuesday to seven days behind bars in relation to a string of protests outside the Kinder Morgan Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby.
Laurie Embree received her sentence from a B.C. Supreme Court judge after pleading guilty in Vancouver.
Embree was arrested on June 19 after she broke a court injunction to stay out of terminal area.
Activist group Protect the Inlet said Crown had argued for 14 days in custody, but questioned the “drive to punish those standing for climate justice and Indigenous rights.”
In her statement before sentencing, Embree said she has lived 70 years obeying the law, but that laws have historically supported injustices that others need to stand up to.
“This law sir, that you have created, and that I, and many others are peacefully challenging, is unjust,” she said.
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Embree was one of nine people arrested who appeared in court Tuesday. The eight others, including former president of the BC Teachers’ Federation Susan Lambert, each made their first appearance.
The eight are set to be sentenced on Aug. 15, and face a maximum of seven days in custody and $5,000 in fines.
Kinder Morgan is set to ramp up its construction of the now-federally owned Trans Mountain expansion in August, which will twin the current pipeline between Alberta and B.C.
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