Federal Green Leader and Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Elizabeth May was arrested and charged during a Kinder Morgan pipeline protest in Burnaby.
May was led down the road by RCMP officers, taken into a tent to have her rights read to her, and be formally charged.
The MP told reporters what charge she faces:
" I'm charged with civil contempt for blocking the road. So it's not a criminal charge, it's a civil contempt charge. But should I not show up for court on June 14, of course at that point they could issue a warrant for my arrest. So I will be complying of course with the undertaking I have signed."
May describes her arrest as “emotional”, noting she is a former practising lawyer and has never had more than a traffic ticket in her life.
The MP doesn't know if her action will accomplish anything. But she reasons the things that she's done that should matter -- like intervening in front of the National Energy Board against the Kinder Morgan pipeline using evidence and science-based arguments -- ultimately did not matter because the facts weren't considered in the decision-making. She also says the federal government promised an evidence-based review of the project during the election, then reneged on that promise.
May says unfortunately when your government doesn't listen and breaks it's word, sometimes you are forced into acts of civil disobedience.
NDP MP for Burnaby-South, Kennedy Stewart, was also arrested and released on a promise to appear.