Fairy Creek: Court Decision and Demonstration in Montreal

Report on current status of ongoing State repression against forest defenders at Fairy Creek. Originally posted to Contrepoints Media.

photo: Fairy Creek Blockade

On November 15th, the British Columbia Court of Appeal will decide whether or not to extend the injunction against the Ada’itsx blockade, better known as Fairy Creek, located on the unceded territories of the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht Nations on Vancouver Island. The injunction gives the RCMP the right to forcibly remove protesters who are blocking Teal Jones’ logging operations.The Fairy Creek blockade is supported by Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones. Since August 9th, 2020, protesters have been blocking access to Teal Jones employees in an effort to prevent logging from continuing in the ancient forest. The Fairy Creek Headwaters are home to some of the world’s last remaining old-growth coastal temperate rain forest, an invaluable source of biodiversity, where some of the largest and oldest trees on Earth form canopies described as resembling immense prehistoric cathedrals. With only 2.7% of the province’s old-growth forests remaining, its fragile and complex ecosystem is also an important carbon sink, and its preservation contributes directly to the fight against climate change. More than 1,100 people have already been arrested at Fairy Creek since the blockade began, making this action the largest civil disobedience movement in Canadian history.

This week, in a last bid to save the ancient forest, Elder Bill Jones called on his supporters in Montreal, where PM Justin Trudeau and Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault are based, to pressure the federal government to intervene on behalf of the protesters in this case.

A demonstration is therefore co-organized by the Québec Alliance in Support of Fairy Creek and Extinction Rebellion Québec, today at 11 am, at place Émilie-Gamelin, to demand that the government put an end to the logging of old-growth forest at Fairy Creek and in Canada, along with all forms of violence towards their defenders.

As COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, draws to a close, they demand:

Perpetual protection of Canada’s old-growth forests; irrevocable respect for the sovereignty of the Indigenous peoples who defend them; and, where necessary, incentive-based conservation programs to compensate First Nations who depend on the revenues from old-growth logging for their survival.

While “a vast majority of Canadians believe in climate change and support climate change policies across the country,” and “76.8% of Québecois agree that it is important for the government to take action to address climate change, even if it impacts the economy,” it is for them imperative that the government take a stand in support of the Fairy Creek blockade and support the non-renewal of the injunction.

For more information on injunctions and how they are deployed to unjustly control Indigenous peoples in Canada, visit:
https://hashilthsa.com/…/injunction-temporarily-back…
https://www.firstpeopleslaw.com/…/injunctions-as-a-tool…

For more information on the Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek) blockade, visit:
https://laststandforforests.com/
https://www.facebook.com/FairyCreekBlockade  or
https://linktr.ee/TheRainforestFlyingSquad

Petition in support of Fairy Creek, signed by over 17,000 people:
https://www.leadnow.ca/BC-last-trees/

COP26 Declaration on Forest Protection and Land Use, signed by Canada:
https://ukcop26.org/glasgow-leaders-declaration-on-forests-and-land-use/