Region Archives: Canada West

One of the people arrested at the Fairy Creek blockades on Vancouver Island in 2021 has been sentenced to seven days in jail, less a day served — because a judge says he put police at risk with his actions.   When considering the sentence, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Douglas W. Thompson said Jonaven Moore⁠ — a 42-year-old carpenter and University of Victoria student who lives in the community of East Sooke⁠ — is a “good and caring citizen” who was trying to bring attention to the climate crisis.   Justice Thompson also pointed out that Moore admitted guilt, and was a first-time offender. He said first-time offenders rarely receive jail sentences.   Ultimately, the judge said the manner in which Moore was blockaded meant he deserved a stronger sentence.  Like many Fairy Creek protesters, Moore blockaded himself on a logging road in Crown land licensed to logging company Teal-Jones.

A company hoping to start logging in the Argenta area north of Nelson in May will rely on a three-year old court injunction to remove members of the group Last Stand West Kootenay, who have blocked the logging road for the past week.  The injunction, issued for Cooper Creek Cedar in B.C. Supreme Court in Nelson on Aug. 27, 2019, names four specific people “and persons unknown,” and “anyone else having knowledge of this order.” It orders them not to block the road.  The company’s woodlands manager Bill Kestell says he believes the injunction is still valid, even though the people on this year’s blockade may be different people from those on the road in 2019.  Kestell says the company plans to start logging as soon as possible, but it can’t do that until the RCMP enforces the injunction by removing or arresting those blocking it, which he expects will happen soon.

Howard Breen

Saying he’s done his part to move the political needle a little and that it is time to accept the demands of loved ones, Nanaimo’s Howard Breen has ended his hunger strike on Day 31. Breen, 68, a member of the group Save Old Growth, started fasting in order to pressure Forests Minister Katrine Conroy into a public meeting on protecting the province’s old-growth forests. The meeting didn’t happen but Conroy did call Breen for a short conversation. …Breen ended his strike after experiencing cognitive decline and losing nearly 40 pounds. …Eichler, from Vancouver, ended his hunger strike after 33 days. But the mantle has been picked up by Nanaimo’s Vic Brice, 68, who on Sunday was on Day 8 of his fast.

Additional coverage in the Tyee: What is gained, and forfeited, when pushing the limits of compassionate coercion to the edge of death?

Vernon, B.C. — Tolko welcomes the British Columbia government’s announcement that it will increase the amount of forestry revenues that will be shared with First Nations across the province. This is a step in the right direction in terms of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. It is meaningful action with real commitment to the government’s stated intentions to modernize provincial forest policy, including as it relates to the participation of First Nations in the forestry industry. While there are a number of significant challenges facing BC’s forestry industry — most notably around fibre availability and cost — we have always been optimistic that a modern, thriving, and sustainable industry is achievable. As a company, we are very eager to play a leadership role in building that future and working to ensure a more prominent role and position for First Nations in BC forestry.

After years of planning and collaboration between the Village of Pemberton (VOP), Lil’wat Nation and the province, the new Spelkúmtn Community Forest (SCF) management plan was finally unveiled at a community information session on April 21. The SCF, which consists of a total of 17,727 hectares of forest land, is a partnership between the VOP and Lil’wat Nation designed to promote reconciliation, increase community benefits from local resources and amplify local voices in regards to the management of the surrounding forest. …According to the Community Forest Agreement (CFA), signed by Richman and Lil’wat Nation Chief Dean Nelson in 2020, some core values of the SCF include environmental stewardship, wildlife conservation and habitat enhancement, community relationships, watershed protection and economic viability, among others. …the SCF also has a list of 14 key objectives, one of which is maintaining an ecologically sustainable perpetual timber harvest rate of 11,000 cubic metres, or approximately 20 to 22 ha per year.

Katrine Conroy

Save Old Growth, a protest group that has been blocking B.C. roadways in an effort to push the government to end all old-growth logging, denies doxxing forests minster, Katrine Conroy.  In an interview with Global News, Conroy said members of Save Old Growth published her home phone number, leading to harassing messages toward her and her family.   …Zain Haq, a spokesperson for Save Old Growth, said the group does not endorse the harassment or doxxing of politicians.  “We want to talk to Minister Conroy in a respectful manner. It just wouldn’t be in our interest to publish her number. We are disrupting highways and we are doing hunger strikes, but the point of that is to get the government’s attention to negotiate, not to harass people. We don’t condone that at all.”

A B.C. company that helps make sense of satellite data says it has found a correlation between the 2021 wildfires and several bridges and sections of highway washed away during last fall’s catastrophic floods.  … But in some of its latest work, the team of geospatial analysts has turned its expertise to problems closer to home.  “There was fire here. There was flood here,” said Sparksgeo’s James Banting, referring to highway damage some say could add up to $7.5 billion.  “We’re saying that something is there.”  That something emerged after the team of data scientists mapped out last year’s wildfires, record November rainfall and 36 sections of highway damaged by the ensuing flooding and landslides. …The three-dimensional digital terrain map flies you through burn-scarred valleys, where bridges sea-sawed into the Coldwater River and sections of road crumbled under the weight of landslides

The District of Sechelt will be receiving $525,890 from 2021 Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) operations. Announcement of the fund transfers was made at SCCF 2022 Annual General Meeting on April 25.  All dividends paid by the Sunshine Coast Community Forest go into the Sunshine Coast Community Forest Legacy Fund for projects that benefit the community.  SCCF manages the Legacy Fund program and has a committee that reviews and makes recommendations to Sechelt Council on awards to qualified projects. … “Once the Community Forest had more substantial profits the board began to consider free cash annually, and pay an extraordinary dividend, as opposed to the regular dividend, based on the cash position and forecast at the time.” …In 2021, SCCF’s sales of timber netted $2.9 million from harvesting of 18,500 cubic metres logged on the Coast. Three quarters of that timber was sold off-Coast, with the rest purchased by local interests. All harvesting was done by Coast-based contractors.

From interrupting classes to die-ins and hunger strikes, new climate activism group Save Old Growth’s activity on UBC’s campus has sparked both support and ire from the UBC community.  Save Old Growth was formed six months ago. It’s geared towards demanding the preservation of BC old growth forests, which are huge carbon sinks vital for ecological survival. Whether you stayed up to date on the protests at Fairy Creek last summer, saw green and yellow stickers stuck to walls around campus, or stood in backlogged traffic before you drove by people-blocked intersections and bridges, chances are you have already heard of Save Old Growth.  “It’s in the name of it,” said UBC graduate Ian Weber, a central coordinator for the organization. “We are demanding an end to all old growth logging in British Columbia through legislative change immediately…We want to do this through [nonviolent] civil resistance.”

Officials in Ottawa are failing to protect Canada’s at-risk migratory birds, according to several groups behind a lawsuit directed at the federal government.  The suit claims that the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change needs to do more to protect the habitats of certain species, Vancouver-based firm Ecojustice said in a statement Thursday.  Filed on behalf of the environmental advocacy groups Sierra Club B.C. and Wilderness Committee, the suit alleges Minister Steven Guilbeault is “failing to meet his statutory duties” to ensure these habitats are protected.   …As an example, the plaintiffs used the marbled murrelet, a seabird that relies on coastal old-growth forests in B.C. The logging of these forests have been the subject of protests across the province for months. The group took issue with a protection statement from the ministry issued last month explaining how the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act can be applied to protect the habitats of some species. 

Katrine Conroy

First Nations in B.C. will receive a $63 million increase in forestry income this year under the development of a new revenue-sharing model that Indigenous leaders say is an encouraging move toward even higher shares in the future. The increase was the first step toward a new forestry revenue deal consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Forests Minister Katrine Conroy said Wednesday. The extra funds are the result of an increase in revenue-sharing rates from three, four or five per cent, to eight, nine or 10 per cent. …“While the increase is not what some may say is sufficient, it does help close the socio-economic gap and demonstrates the provincial government’s commitment to reconciliation,” said Chief Nicole Rempel of Vancouver Island’s K’omoks First Nation. Susan Yurkovich said the industry supports the increase.

See Council of Forest Industries Release: COFI welcomes resource revenue sharing increase as a positive step towards supporting First Nations

B.C. Indigenous communities received $58 million in Crown forest harvest revenues in 2021 and that could go as high as $130 million this year under the terms of a new revenue sharing formula, Forests Minister Katrine Conroy said Wednesday. The province’s current formula of a three to five per cent share has been doubled to up to 10 per cent for 2022 as the B.C. government works on a new system to recognize aboriginal title to their traditional territories. …Indigenous Relations Minister Murray Rankin said the government’s goal is to have a comprehensive resource revenue sharing agreement, including timber, within two years. “We are moving away from the short-term transactional approach of the past toward a new fiscal framework that recognizes, respects and supports Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination,” Rankin said. Chief Murphy Abraham of the Lake Babine Nation said the interim increase is welcome, but he expects it to increase in the years to come.

Addition coverage in BC Government press release: B.C. increases forest revenue sharing with First Nations in step toward new fiscal relationship

Protesters set up stocks to symbolize an old-fashioned ‘punishment’ for their continued criticisms of B.C.’s forest policy.  Extinction Rebellion protesters and supporters demonstrated in front of Nanaimo MLA Sheila Malcolmson’s office on Dunsmuir Street downtown on Wednesday, April 27.  Extinction Rebellion Nanaimo spokesman Vic Brice was the one in the stocks.  “I’m guilty of attempting to show the government’s true face and their intransigence in dealing with the climate crisis that is unfolding in front of us,” he said. “They speak with a lot of weasel words, but their actions speak louder.”  Brice recently started a hunger strike in solidarity with fellow Save Old Growth protesters Howard Breen and Brent Eichler.  …Conroy posted on social media on Friday, April 22, that she had “meaningful conversations” with the hunger-striking protesters.

Katrine Conroy

Following a phone meeting with the Minister of Forests, old-growth protesters publicly shared the minister’s home phone number which has resulted in her receiving harassing phone calls. Katrine Conroy was asked in a news conference if her home phone number was shared with the public, and she said it has. …The phone number was shared on the Fairy Creek Blockade’s Facebook account after a phone meeting with Conroy. …However, days earlier, Breen said activists were planning a “citizens’ arrest” of Conroy at an upcoming Council of Forest Industries conference in Vancouver. Premier John Horgan could also be targeted as part of the group’s efforts to stop all old-growth logging, what they consider “crimes against humanity and nature,” he told The Canadian Press.

The Manitoba government has announced $1.6 million to help upgrade the province’s water bomber fleet ahead of forest fire season. The money will be used in part to put new radios in three bombers to help connect to next-generation networks, while four other bombers will see new warning systems and corrosion protection installed. The province says it is also building a pair of 12-person bunkhouses at the Wekusko Falls base to help keep staff closer to where they’re needed. “Investing in our provincial water bomber fleet is essential as it plays an important role in our government’s climate resiliency strategy,” said Natural Resources and Northern Development Minister Scott Fielding.