A mining exploration company has withdrawn charges against a group of protesters who disobeyed a court order to stay away from a prospective uranium mining site.
Frontenac Ventures announced in a
Neil Smitheman, legal counsel for Frontenac Ventures, said it didn't make sense to go ahead.
"We're not here to prosecute people," he said. "We're in the business of drilling holes to see if there's a feasibility to do further mining."
At least 100 people packed the courtroom Monday, when the accused were scheduled to face the charges laid last fall in relation to an occupation last summer of a site near
The Algonquins say the site is on their land and they fear that uranium drilling could lead to environmental contamination.
They began the occupation last June 29 and continued it until October, despite court injunctions granted in response to the company's requests that barred the protesters from going near the site.
On Monday, Justice Douglas Cunningham, associate chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, made it clear that despite this batch of charges being dropped, the court injunctions remain in place. That means other protesters could still face charges if they go near the site.
The withdrawing of the charges came less than a week after Lovelace was released from jail after serving just over half of his six-month term.
His lawyer, Christopher Reid, said he believes both events are related to public perception about the situation at
"This has been a public relations disaster for those people responsible for putting Mr. Lovelace in jail," he said. "They've realized that it was a failure. Did they stop the protest? No."
Lovelace and his supporters said they hope the publicity surrounding the case will inspire the
Last summer's occupation ended in October after reaching an agreement with the