It started as a blockade. Now, B.C.’s Fairy Creek protests are putting old-growth logging, and RCMP enforcement, on the 2021 political agenda

Chain people into the ground to block the logging of old trees.

Repeat.

That’s been the routine in the Fairy Creek valley on southeast Vancouver Island for one year now, in what has become the biggest protest against old-growth logging since the “war in the woods” of 1993, which was Canada’s largest act of civil disobedience and resulted in the protection of a large area of the island’s old growth trees around Clayoquot Sound.

Now, with more than 700 people arrested for the cause of protecting the Fairy Creek watershed from logging by the company Teal Jones — and the RCMP undertaking arrests in areas they had previously left alone — the conflict appears to be boiling over from its spot in the forest, and into the federal election campaign.

“I think that it’s getting harder to ignore us,” says Joshua Wright, one of the people who started the protests at Fairy Creek 12 months ago and says he will not be backing down any time soon.

“When you market yourself as a party that wants to do something about climate change and meanwhile you’re overseeing the arrests of hundreds of land defenders ... you have to be feeling the pressure.”

In general, the Fairy Creek protests target the provincial government of B.C., admonishing Premier John Horgan for reneging on a previously stated commitment to end old-growth logging in the province, and physically blocking logging roads at Fairy Creek to stop trees from being cut in that area.

Teal Jones, which has a licence to log some trees in the Fairy Creek area, has had an injunction against the protesters since May.

But with a federal election called Aug. 15, and RCMP officers dismantling protest camps that have been in place for a whole year, the movement is again coming into the public spotlight.

Two weeks ago, RCMP began arresting protesters at the largest and most accessible protest camps — called “River Camp” and “Fairy Creek HQ.” The enforcements resulted in large numbers of arrests each day, and the dismantling of camp infrastructure such as stores and camp kitchens that have been used as a base for protesters for one year.

Members of the movement, and its supporters, have alleged the enforcement actions have been too heavy handed and militaristic.

Sgt. Chris Manseau, a spokesperson for the RCMP, said that the RCMP’s first priority is everyone’s safety, and that tactics by police have not changed. The fact that the number of arrests has increased, he said, is simply because police are enforcing the injunction in areas where more people are camped out. Those areas are where Teal Jones wants to work, he said.

“As always, the actions of the protesters are what’s indicating the actions of the police,” Manseau said. “It’s a difficult situation, we’re going to continue enforcing the injunction until it expires or there are no people there who are breaching it.”

The conflict has grown enough that it’s getting the attention of federal politicians on the campaign trail.

Jack Harris, an NDP MP for St. John‘s East, penned an open letter to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair on Sunday, calling for an investigation into the RCMP’s actions at Fairy Creek, after reports that pepper spray was used on a peaceful crowd of protesters.

What began as a protest against logging in the Fairy Creek watershed has broadened into a larger political issue, with protesters taking to the streets in cities across the province, and leaders of the movement promising not to stand down until the provincial government commits to banning all old growth logging for good.

“As this movement has gained public support and notoriety worldwide, it’s taken on something that is wider than protecting one watershed,” said Luke Wallace, who joined the blockade camps in May. “In my opinion, this movement is about a provincewide moratorium on old-growth logging.”

With the movement broadening its goals, and Teal Jones applying to have its injunction extended beyond the current expiry date of Sep. 26, it’s likely arrests will continue at Fairy Creek to the point where they exceed those seen in the 1993 showdown.

On Monday, RCMP said they had made 788 arrests, representing 711 distinct protesters.

There was a specific moment in June when the goals of the protests broadened from protecting Fairy Creek to protecting all old growth.

It was then, nine months after a handful of activists started blocking logging roads in the area, the premier announced his government had approved a two-year deferral of old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek and central Walbran.

The move came at the request of the elected and hereditary leaders of three First Nations: the Pacheedaht, the Ditidaht and the Huu-ay-aht, which want to take two years to develop plans to log these areas sustainably with consent from their own community members.

The deferrals cover a total of 2,034 hectares of old-growth forests — meaning those that have not had any recent disturbances from logging or natural disasters and are at least 250 years old. (“Second growth” forests include trees that have grown back after such a disturbance.)

The deferral meant that the area Fairy Creek blockaders initially sought to protect would not be logged for at least two years while the Pacheedaht First Nation forms its own logging plan.

But protesters did not back down then, and are not backing down now.

“We are going to stay there until there is a unilateral end to old growth logging,” Wright said.

Press access to the enforcement areas has also been an issue at Fairy Creek, with Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thompson having decided July 20 that the RCMP was creating too many restrictions to access in the areas where they did their arrests.

For those looking to understand the dispute, here is some of what you need to know.

What is old-growth?

Old growth trees in British Columbia are defined as those that have not been disturbed by logging or forest fires for a very long time. In coastal B.C., that benchmark is 250 years.

How rare is it?

According to the government, 23 per cent of the province’s forested areas are old growth. However, a panel of scientists that released a report on old growth in June of 2020 wrote that only three per cent of the province’s old forests include very large trees — the kind that most people think of when they hear the phrase “old growth.” These very large trees are naturally rare, and only about three per cent of the total land in B.C. could grow them.

How did this current protest begin?

The Fairy Creek protest began in August 2020, when Joshua Wright and a small group of activists set up a blockade camp in the area, hoping to stop logging in what they noticed through satellite images was a pristine watershed. Over time, more people joined the protests, with hundreds of people heading to the Fairy Creek area to more than half a dozen different camps. They still perform blockades, hoping to stop logging trucks from getting through the area, but now the protest at Fairy Creek is also symbolic of a larger effort to stop old-growth logging in the province.

Who is doing the protesting?

There are hundreds of people now protesting at Fairy Creek, or in B.C. cities in support of the cause. Many of the protesters are members of environmental groups, including Green party MPs and MLAs. The de facto leader of the protest is Pacheedaht elder Bill Jones, who wants to see the old growth trees in Pacheedaht traditional territory protected. Indigenous protesters make up part of the protest camp.

What is their ultimate goal?

Initially the goal of the protest was to suspend old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek watershed. Now, the goals of different protesters vary, but movement leaders say they will not stop protesting until B.C. declares an end to all old-growth logging.

Where does the area’s First Nation stand?

The Pacheedaht First Nation council and hereditary chief have repeatedly asked protesters to leave the traditional territory. There are also prominent members of the 300-person Pacheedaht community, such as elder Bill Jones, who oppose old-growth logging in the area. The council has said it will use the next two years to create a plan for forestry in its traditional territory, and has promised to consult with all its members on that plan.

How much money is at stake?

Forestry overall made up 32 per cent of B.C.’s exports in 2018. Old-growth logging is less than one quarter of B.C.’s wood output per year, but it is less automated work than cutting small trees, so it includes more jobs. It also produces, generally, higher-end wood and more lumber.

How do the different political parties see the issue?

In B.C., the Green party supports the protests and wants to see an immediate end to old-growth logging. The NDP government, which previously promised to end old-growth logging, has now adopted a different perspective, saying it wants to develop a sustainable forestry industry with more power for local communities and First Nations. Premier John Horgan has said that in order to truly allow First Nations to have a bigger say in forestry, the provincial government should not ban old-growth logging on their traditional lands outright.