Last month, pop superstar Miley Cyrus injected herself into the debate over B.C.’s annual grizzly bear hunts when she visited our province to speak against the practice.

Tomorrow (October 9), another celebrity will find themselves at the centre of those conversations, though this time not by choice.

Clayton Stoner, a Canadian hockey player with the Anaheim Ducks, is scheduled to appear in a Vancouver courtroom for charges related to illegally killing a B.C. grizzly bear in 2013.

The 30 year old has maintained he received a licence to hunt the animal through the province’s annual lottery system. However, he now faces five charges related to the animal killed.

Those include knowingly making false claims to obtain a licence, hunting without a licence, and unlawful possession of dead wildlife.

The charges were laid after photographs surfaced of Stoner posing with a dead grizzly bear. Those images were found by conservation activists and subsequently circulated online.

Stoner is originally from Port McNeill on Vancouver Island, and grew up on the North Shore.

A protest has been organized to coincide with his scheduled court appearance.

According to a Facebook event, people are asked to gather on Friday, October 9, at 9 a.m. outside courtroom 101 at the Robson Square Provincial Court building.

It is possible Stoner will not appear in court himself but rather will send a lawyer to argue his case or enter a plea.

The event is organized by Barb Murray, director of Bears Matter, a non-profit organization that calls for an end to B.C.’s grizzly bear hunts.

“Poachers and hunters who break the law must be treated with the utmost severity in our courts,” Murray said quoted in a media release. “So long as the province condones the killing of animals for trophies in our province – a practice the clear majority of residents oppose – we can expect this kind of disregard for our wildlife.”

In April 2015, the Straight reported that every year in B.C., the government permits hunters to kill an average of 262 grizzly bears and 3,965 black bears.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark recently responded to Cyrus’s criticism of the hunts by dismissing her as an entertainer. Clark argued the hunt was well-managed on the basis of science.