Old-growth protesters in Walbran Valley stay put as BC Supreme Court approves injunction

The ancient forests near Fairy Creek, where the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history took place in 2021, have been fairly silent for nearly four years. But as logging in Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests picks up, protesters have returned to protect these ancient trees.

On Friday, BC Supreme Court judge Amy Francis rendered her decision to approve an injunction requested by Tsawak-qin Forestry Inc.—co-owned by Western Forest Products and the Huu-ay-aht First Nations—after two days of hearings in Vancouver last week.

Those named in the injunction—including Elder Bill Jones, who has been at the centre of old-growth protests on Pacheedaht lands for the last five years—are banned from blocking the logging company’s access to old-growth forests in the Tree Farm License 44 area.

On Aug. 25, a 15-foot-tall cougar sculpture was erected by an anonymous group of activists (it’s not clear whether they are directly linked to the Rainforest Flying Squad, an ad-hoc group of protesters who led the 2021 blockades at Fairy Creek) on a logging road to the Upper Walbran Valley, about 12 km from the site of the Fairy Creek protests.

The Walbran Valley was ground zero for the “War in the Woods” protests of the 1980s and 1990s, which extended to Clayoquot Sound. Those protests led to the protection of some areas, but patches within this zone are still open for logging.

Only 5,500 of the valley’s 13,000 hectares are protected. The Upper Walbran was never included in the BC government's temporary deferrals enacted in the central part of the valley in 2021.

The group has stated that it had the blessing of several local elders to block the province-approved—and First-Nation-approved—logging of old-growth.

The removal of the sculpture and the people protesting could happen at any time. Today, blockaders at Cougar Camp—named for the sculpture blocking the logging road— said they were ready and waiting to be arrested while protecting Upper Walbran.

If arrests happen, it will be the first time in the valley since early 2022, when the last of more than 1K arrests took place.

Policing expected to be different this time

While the injunction has been in effect since Friday and can be enforced at any time, police do not have the same unlimited power as the 2021 Fairy Creek Blockade. Francis expressed her concern about seeing a repeat of the police brutality that occurred during those protests.

She included language in her decision that the injunction must not infringe on media access. Exclusion zones created by the RCMP prevented media from covering the clashes between blockaders and police—and led to the arrest of Victoria photojournalist and Capital Daily contributor Colin Smith—despite charter rights preventing restriction on press and a BC court decision from the summer of 2021 (a case that Capital Daily was part of) that found RCMP did not have the power to prevent press access.

She also declined Tsawak-qin Forestry Inc.’s request to authorize preventative policing at the blockade.

“If enforcement becomes a problem, it is open to the plaintiff or the RCMP to come back to court to have the injunction varied,” she said.

Ben Isitt, former Victoria city councillor and lawyer for many of the 2021 blockade leaders, says the Supreme Court has placed “disproportionate emphasis on the commercial interests of the private logging company.

“However, we are heartened by the fact that Justice Francis refused to give the RCMP preventative policing powers, agreeing with us that to do so could lead to serious police enforcement overreach, as we saw at Fairy Creek,” Isitt said in a statement.

Pacheedaht leaders tell protesters to leave

Last week, Pacheedaht’s chief and council released a directive for the protesters to leave.

Chief Councillor Arliss Daniels said in a release that blockaders have previously left garbage in the area and she worries about damage to the land.

She says the blockade is an “unlawful obstruction, directly interfering with lawful forestry operations that the government of BC and Pacheedaht have authorized.”

Daniels says the Pacheedaht Nation has developed resource management and harvesting plans based on its community values, priorities, and stewardship principles.

“These plans ensure the protection of cultural sites, old growth, biodiversity, and the balance of ecological and economic interests,” she said. “All forestry operations within our territory will continue under these Indigenous-led and community-driven directives."

The nation says forestry is a cornerstone of its economy and is essential for community growth.

Five Southern Nuu-chah-nulth Nations—including Ditidaht, Hupacasath, Huu-ay-aht, Tseshaht and Uchucklesaht—gave their "unequivocal support" to Pacheedaht First Nation in a statement issued last week.

Elder Bill Jones taking his own nation to court

While the injunction hearings continued last week, Jones, the 85-year-old residential-school survivor who has called for the blockades, filed a federal court application for judicial review against his nation’s approval of old-growth logging, which he says has been done without consultation with him and other Pacheedaht members.

Jones told Ricochet Media that he doesn’t view the Indian Act-elected Pacheedaht band council as legitimate, instead viewing it as a forced colonial system—and an extension of the Canadian government—to control Indigenous people.

He believes in the traditional hereditary governance systems removed by colonialism, a polarizing belief within the Pacheedaht community.

“I’m very sad—my people are now in the thick of destroying our land. I’m disappointed the judge prioritized the logging company’s interests over my rights and the health of the forest,” Jones said in response to the injunction.

Five years since old-growth review

It's been five years since BC promised to change old-growth logging methods in the province, a goal that was meant to be achieved in 2023.

Conservationists have accused the province of not moving fast enough to address the 14 recommendations laid out by the Old Growth Strategic Review, an independent review led by professional foresters.

Recommendations included deferring logging in old-growth forests while a new management plan is made; monitoring the health of old-growth and expanding mapping of these areas; developing harvesting alternatives to clear-cutting, and supporting forest workers and communities while they adapt to changes in forest management.

Since the release of the Old Growth Strategic Review, conservationists say the government has made little headway with the recommendations. In the years since its release, environmental organizations have done an annual check-in on the progress—the province has received a failing grade each year.

BC says it has protected 9M ha of the 11.1M ha of old growth in the province and has several projects underway to respond to each recommendation.