Indigenous leaders and protesters of old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek watershed marked one year since the establishment of blockades with a rousing demonstration attended by roughly 300 people at the B.C. Legislature on Monday afternoon.
Following an earlier delivery to the legislature of a petition calling for a halt to old-growth logging, participants gathered at the Law Courts building at 2 p.m. and marched in a procession along downtown streets, arriving in a celebratory mood at the legislatureB次元官网网址檚 front lawn.
RELATED STORY:
David Mungo Knox and Rande Cook, both KwakwakaB次元官网网址檞akw Nations hereditary chiefs, and Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones danced and sang traditional songs in the name of celebration, victory and remembrance.
Cook spoke of his sorrow at the current state of their traditional territories.
B次元官网网址淚t literally breaks my heart when I go back to my traditional homeland and thereB次元官网网址檚 nothing to be seen,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淭he truth today is that industry is wiping out our entire existence and our connection to our land. Climate change is hitting us hard B次元官网网址� we know sustainability. We lived in it. We have worked for tens of thousands of years to look after it.B次元官网网址�
Cook added that Indigenous peoples have never stopped caring for their land.
B次元官网网址淲e never gave it up, we never left it, weB次元官网网址檙e still fighting today. The government is passing laws to make this opaque resource extraction okay B次元官网网址� We need to stand back and oppose a system that isnB次元官网网址檛 going to do the right thing.B次元官网网址�
The anniversary event coincided with the United NationsB次元官网网址� International Day of the WorldB次元官网网址檚 Indigenous Peoples.
A block-long column of advocates for the old growth at Fairy Creek have begun their march down Blanshard Street to the B.C. Legislative Building. More to come
B次元官网网址� Kiernan Green (@kiernang19)
READ MORE:
In between speakers Black Press Media chatted with Lisa Small, an organizer with anti-old-growth-logging group Rainforest Flying Squad. She gave a different perspective on the fight to end old growth logging in the Fairy Creek watershed and elsewhere in B.C.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e been blocking the road up to the Fairy Creek headwaters (and) weB次元官网网址檝e stopped Teal-Jones logging operations there for a whole year,B次元官网网址� she said.
Despite more than 500 arrests of protesters on site since a provincial injunction was handed down in May B次元官网网址� some people have been arrested more than once B次元官网网址� Small said momentum at their woodland protests is growing.
B次元官网网址淲ith COVID protocols loosening up a bit and with some of the travel bans lifting in B.C., more people have joined from around the province, which is amazing,B次元官网网址� she said.
Additional anti-logging protests have recently been initiated around the province, she added, including the Old Growth Revy-lution in Revelstoke. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 intense to be interacting with police day in and day out B次元官网网址� but thereB次元官网网址檚 also so much community, great energy, song and ceremony on the front line, too.B次元官网网址�
Victoria police announced Monday morning that CCTV cameras near the courthouse and legislature would be temporarily deployed throughout the day. During the event, VicPD could be seen from the LegislatureB次元官网网址檚 top story surveying the assembly with binoculars.
READ MORE:
Do you have a story tip? Email: vnc.editorial@blackpress.ca.
Follow us on and and like us on
