By Roy L Hales
There was a staggered protest against BC’s old growth logging practises in front of MLA Michele Babchuk’s office in Campbell River yesterday.
Between fifteen and twenty people, many of them members of Sierra Quadra or the Campbell River Chapter of the Council of Canadians, came out in the wind and rain.
To conform to COVID-19 regulations, the protesters came in shifts of no more than six at a time.
One of the organizers, Geraldine Kenny, explained that the protest began at 10 a.m. and there was supposed to be a shift change every hour.
Click on illustration above to access the report. Photo courtesy of the BC Government.
“You showed up when you could and left when you were cold wet and miserable," said fellow Quadra Island resident Rod Burns.
Burns stayed for an hour and a half, then left at 1:30 p.m.
Given that there were '40 knot winds coming down the channel, and heavy periods of rain, he said he would not be surprised if people left before the 5 p.m. finish time.
When asked what the protest accomplished, Burns said, “if one honk is worth a thousand votes, we got a lot of votes today.
In particular, he mentioned a woman who came over to just say “thank-you, so very much.”
Kenny pointed out that while the provinces Old Growth Strategic Review and Public Enquiry report was published last September, none of the recommendations have been implemented.
She mentioned the logging blockade at Fairy Creek, near Port Renfrew.
“These cedars are as old as Magna Carta. They are the legacy of nature at work. To cut them down is, in my opinion, ecocide. That our government permits — not only permits, but actively promotes — the industrial destruction of our old growth forest, in my mind, is a criminal activity,” said Kenny.
Burns added that dozens, possibly hundreds, of people have been manning the anti-old growth logging blockades for five or six months “in the snow, the wind, the rain, the miserableness.”
Neither of them were aware that the BC Supreme Court has just granted a three week reprieve for their colleagues attempting to stop forestry company Teal Jones from obtaining to injunction to remove the blockades at Fairy Creek, near Port Renfrew.
The defence team are seeking more time to assemble materials.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Power said that as the blockade started last August, she did not think the delay would be problematic.
The hearing is now scheduled to begin on March 25, and conclude the following day.
Protesters in front of MLA Michele Babchuk's office on March 4. They staged demonstrations against BC's old growth logging practises in Campbell River. Photo courtesy of Geraldine Kenny.
Kenny said that when she and the protesters assembled outside Babchuk’s office, the door was locked.
After our interview, she emailed, “the ONLY, the ONLY storefront in Campbell River that locked its doors to people was/is my elected representative in the Legislature in Victoria. The MLA is my representative in parliament, I am her constituent and I am banned from visiting her office!”
“I am outraged, memories of the GDR (formerly East Germany) flooded my mind……I am shut out of THIS, HORGAN’S pathetic attempt at democracy," she continued. "Folks, wake up this is a very dangerous situation, this is our government’s elected official’s abdication of their responsibilities towards the electorate. I am contacting Civil Liberties.”
Other protests are being held around the province.
Megan Ardyche participated in the Campbell River event and is one of the organizers for a protest in Comox today (March 5).
Kenny mentioned a province wide Ancient forest protest planned for March 19.
This program was published March 5 and some edits made March 6, 2021.
Links of interest
- (Gov of BC) A Strategic Review of How British Columbia Manages for Old Forests Within its Ancient Ecosystems
- (Cortes Currents) articles about old growth forests
- (Cortes Currents) articles about the Fairy Creek Logging Blockade
- (Cortes Currents) articles about sustainable forestry
- (Cortes Currents) articles mentioning Sierra Quadra
- (Cortes Currents) articles mentioning the Council of Canadians
- (Cortes Currents) articles mentioning Geraldine Kenny
- (Cortes Currents) articles mentioning or written by Rod Burns