Wednesday June 9, 2021 | VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC [Updated June 10, 2021]
by Jalen Codrington | Island Social Trends
The BC Government has agreed to defer old-growth logging for two years in the Fairy Creek and Central Walbran areas while the local First Nations develop stewardship plans.
The request to defer about 2,000 hectares of old-growth forest was delivered to the provincial government on Saturday, June 5 by the Ditidaht, Huu-ay-aht, and Pacheedaht First Nations. The deferral was approved on Wednesday afternoon.
“We are doing things differently in British Columbia,” said Premier Horgan. “This is not your grandparents’ forestry industry. It is your grandchildren’s forestry industry if we do this properly.”
The nations announced on Monday June 7 that they have signed a declaration to take back sovereignty over their ḥahahuułi (traditional territories). Jeff Jones, chief councillor of the Pacheedaht First Nation, said the bands have had enough of outside visitors trying to direct the “thoughts of the nation.”
The announcement comes as the number of protesters arrested has skyrocketed to over 180. The court injunction prohibiting hindering the operations of logging company Teal-Jones, issued on April 1, 2021, will not expire until midnight of September 26, 2021. RCMP are expected to continue enforcing the order until then.
Teal-Jones, however, has said it will adhere to the First Nations’ decision to defer operations. “Teal-Jones acknowledges the ancestral territories of all First Nations on which we operate and is committed to reconciliation,” wrote the company.
In April, the Pacheedaht First Nation expressed their discontent with protestor activities, saying “We do not welcome or support --unsolicited involvement or interference by others in our territory, including third-party activism.” The First Nation has had an agreement in place with the government to receive a percentage of revenue from all timber harvested on their territory. Horgan and the NDP have repeatedly justified the logging of the Fairy Creek region by saying operations are endorsed by the local band councils.
Despite the announcement, logging will continue in the Caycuse Watershed, Camper Creek, the Upper Walbran, Bugaboo Creek, on Edinburgh Mountain, and possibly along the 2000 Road, Granite Creek, and parts of the Central Walbran. The Nations ask that while this work is underway, all parties allow forestry operations in other parts of their land to continue without disruption. “Anyone who requests permission to enter our ḥahahuułi is welcome provided they conduct themselves in accordance with our sacred principles,” wrote the Nations. “That includes safe, peaceful, and lawful protest that does not interfere with legally authorized forestry operations.”
Activists, however, are far from appeased. The Rainforest Flying Squad (RFS), the coalition which has spearheaded most of the protests, wrote in a statement, “While it’s a welcome step in the right direction, we, and Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones, remain concerned that it allows for the status quo of old growth logging to continue unabated across the territory.”
It’s unlikely that this announcement will spell the end of the protests, which have been ongoing since the summer of 2020. “It’s a good deferral,” said Saul Arbess, a member of the RFS. “however it falls short of the deferrals required to pause logging in all of the critically endangered areas currently being defended, for generations to come.”
BC Green Party Leader Adam Olsen says the Fairy Creek issue is not just a flashpoint, but symbolic of what’s happening in ancient forests across BC.