A BC court has allowed an appeal from Rainbow Eyes, the NWT’s Green Party candidate in this month’s federal election, but she still faces jail time.
Rainbow Eyes, also known as Angela Davidson, is the federal Green Party’s deputy leader and one of four candidates to be the NWT’s next Member of Parliament.
She had appealed a 60-day jail sentence, imposed in April 2024, for her part in the 2021 Fairy Creek protests against old-growth logging.
She was convicted on seven counts of criminal contempt after the British Columbia Supreme Court found in January 2024 that she repeatedly violated an injunction prohibiting some forms of protest at the site.
On Wednesday, a three-judge panel from the Court of Appeal for British Columbia agreed with Rainbow Eyes that her original sentence had been too harsh because the sentencing judge had misapplied the “step-up principle.”
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That sentencing principle suggests subsequent sentences should only be increased in moderate steps to avoid discouraging an offender’s rehabilitation.
However, the effect of the appeal court’s verdict was only to reduce her sentence by nine days to 51. The appeal court rejected Rainbow Eyes’ request that she be given a conditional sentence involving house arrest.
With 12 days’ credit for time spent in pre-sentence custody, Rainbow Eyes will have a jail term of 39 days.
“For purposes of calculating the amount of custodial time the appellant has left to serve and any earned remission, correctional authorities are directed to account for the fact that before being released on bail pending appeal, the appellant served six days of the 39 days in custody,” Wednesday’s decision stated, suggesting she could be released a little earlier.
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Rainbow Eyes was also sentenced to serve 75 hours’ community service and will be on probation for 18 months.
Her lawyer, Benjamin Isitt, told Cabin Radio that while they “welcome” the reduced sentence, Rainbow Eyes has filed a notice of appeal of the 51-day sentence with the Supreme Court of Canada.
Isitt said he expects Rainbow Eyes will be released on bail on Thursday with “minimal disruption” to her candidacy for the role of NWT MP. (Elections Canada has been approached for clarification regarding the rules that relate to candidates and incarceration.)
Ahead of the sentencing decision, Rainbow Eyes told CBC North’s Trailbreaker the case would affect her plans to travel to the NWT during her election campaign. She said she was following Indigenous laws and Elder Bill Jones at the Fairy Creek blockade.
“As we see, the system has made it a crime to care for Mother Earth because we go against industry, corporations, greed, and this is also part of a fight that so many of us are fighting and standing for,” she told the broadcaster.
Cabin Radio has approached the Green Party and Rainbow Eyes for comment.
Correction: April 16, 2025 – 13:32 MT. This story initially stated Rainbow Eyes’ sentence would begin on beginning on April 24, 2025. In fact, she began serving her sentence on April 24, 2025.
