Cynthia Myran protests against the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion project April 14. photo Jennifer Gauthier, Burnaby Now
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has expanded an injunction aimed at preventing protesters from blocking two Trans Mountain pipeline work sites in Burnaby.
Justice Kenneth Affleck says protesters thwarted an existing injunction and frustrated police efforts to make arrests with the order he made in March to prevent blockades within five metres of the construction sites.
Under the previous order, protesters had a 10-minute warning before they could be arrested for violating the injunction, but Trans Mountain lawyer Maureen Killoran says protesters have made an "end run" around that.
Killoran says just before the time runs out, protesters leave, only to be replaced by consecutive groups which each receive 10-minute warnings, with that process being repeated over and over.
While Affleck didn't take away the warnings, he has agreed with a Trans Mountain request to expand the injunction to outside Burnaby where its contractors and subcontractors may be working, and the company is allowed to post warning signs within 10 metres of its work sites.
Affleck says his order also had to be varied because protesters' calculated efforts have frustrated police trying to arrest people who defied the injunction.
