Sarah Higgins

Two people living in Squamish recently returned from the Walbran blockade on Vancouver Island, hopeful for meaningful change to prevent old growth logging in B.C. Sarah Higgins was inspired to take action while finishing her undergraduate degree in international studies at Simon Fraser University. “It felt so wrong to just sit there and write an essay about it, and then close my laptop and walk away, and then I saw on the news that this blockade was ongoing on Vancouver Island. And that was kind of all the motivation I needed,” she said. …Joel Gillman arrived at the blockade in December after RCMP enforcement dismantled the cougar camp, a camp where blockaders created a giant wooden sculpture of a cougar. …As an outdoor recreationalist, he believes these forests should be protected for benefit beyond economics. The two were there on invitation from Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones, whose traditional territory is being logged.