Monday May 31, 2021 | LANGFORD, BC
by Jalen C Codrington | Island Social Trends
Last Friday, hundreds of protesters of all backgrounds and ages showed up at the Langford-Juan de Fuca constituency office of Premier John Horgan in Langford, calling for an end to old-growth logging of the province’s forests.
The marches on May 28 were part of the greater Fairy Creek protests near Port Renfrew, where hundreds have been resisting the logging of old-growth forests since last summer.
RCMP are now in their third week of enforcement of a BC Supreme Court injunction which ruled the ongoing Fairy Creek blockades are unlawful for disrupting the activities of logging company Teal-Jones. Since RCMP began enforcing the injunction on May 17, at least 137 arrests have been made.
The Rainforest Flying Squad, a grassroots coalition of activists, reported 2,000 people to have attended the protests this past weekend. Many supporters gathered at a police line on Braden forest service road blocking access to the Waterfall Camp. Among the many attendees was elder Bill Jones, and 17-year-old Victor Peters, whom Jones calls the true Pacheedaht First Nation Hereditary Chief.
Jones, to an RCMP liaison, stated “Teal Jones, the government, and western culture have forgotten how to share and they have denied the aboriginal laws to our land.”
Jones eventually cut the yellow police tape, and led hundreds of cheering attendees up the road to retake the Waterfall Camp, which had previously been cleared by the mounties.
In a previous statement signed by Pacheedaht Hereditary Chief Frank Queesto Jones and Chief Councillor Jeff Jones, with whom the Horgan government has worked closely, the First Nation said, “We do not welcome or support unsolicited involvement or interference by others in our territory, including third-party activism.”
Old growth strategic review:
After severing ties with the BC Greens during last fall’s snap election, the Horgan government promised to implement all 14 recommendations in the old-growth strategic review completed in April 2020 by foresters Garry Merkel and Al Gorley, but the premier claims it will take time and consultation.
This promise, however, has turned into a weapon for the NDP’s critics, as none of the recommendations have yet been fully implemented. In fact, an independent study by the Wilderness Committee has suggested that logging of old-growth forests has increased by 43 per cent in the year since the government received these recommendations. The BC government, however, has called into doubt the accuracy of these findings.
Balancing act:
The BC government is faced with a difficult balancing act of protecting valuable ecosystems, respecting the wishes of First Nations groups, and ensuring the viability of the forestry industry which has long-been the backbone of BC’s economy. However, the NDP government has stayed relatively silent on the issue, despite most of the protests being located within the premier’s own electoral riding.
