Heather Conn Blogs

        I urge all B.C. voters to think of the environment—consider climate change—when casting your vote in our May 14 provincial election.

 

            The choice is easy: tankers and toxins, or conservation and care for the planet. If you vote for a Liberal or Progressive Conservative candidate, no matter where you live, you’ll support more liquid natural gas facilities, pipelines, fracking, and oil tankers on our beautiful coast. These practices not only exploit our limited resources and pollute our land and waterways, they add higher and higher levels of greenhouse gases to our atmosphere, helping to speed up our already disturbing rate of climate change and sea-level rise.

 

            I’m not going to tell you to vote NDP or Green. Just don’t vote for a Liberal or Conservative or you’ll prop up polluters and those who refuse to heed the peak-oil warnings. We’re going to run out of oil. We cannot continue on our current economic paths without destroying ourselves.

 

            In the Ecuadorean Amazon, logging and oil and gas companies continue to destroy the rainforest at twice the rate of all previous estimates. Every day, more species are going extinct. In British Columbia, where our rainforests have more species diversity per square kilometre than even in the Amazon, we do not want to become Ecuador of the north. We are home to the last intact coastal temperate rainforest in the world. Are we going to protect it or let industry make it disappear?

 

            Having recently seen Rob Stewart’s wonderful documentary Revolution, which addresses environmental degradation in 15 countries, I feel strangely optimistic about our future. Although his movie highlights the dangers of ocean acidification, and how our lack of eco-awareness is causing food and water shortages, he reveals many youth activists from around the world who are passionate about saving our planet and changing how we grow food, live, and fish.

           

            As long as enough people care about the earth, and are willing to take action to save it, we can have hope. As long as enough people vote tomorrow for those who want to preserve British Columbia’s land and waters rather than exploit them for profit, we can have hope. On May 14, vote to sustain the natural life of this province and our planet. You can’t separate the two.

 

This has been a sad week for some of us on Lower Road in Roberts Creek. Some dear neighbours across the street, a bald eagle pair, lost their home and family due to Wednesday’s storm winds.

 

Their large stick nest, tucked between two vertical branches at the top of a 46-metre (150-foot) dead balsam fir, came crashing down April 10 close to the ocean, just east of Roberts Creek Road. The tree fell victim to northwest winds that gusted as high as 70 km/h; the same storm blew out power for many homes in Vancouver.

                                              — Jane Covernton photo

 The remains of the tree limbs    

Local news of the demise of the nest and its contents—my husband Frank and I had already started watching mamma eagle sit on her eggs—appeared quickly. After email and Facebook notifications came out, visitors and locals alike appeared on Lower Road to take pictures in front of where the nest used to be.

 

After the nest and tree limbs fell to the ground, the two eagles kept circling close to the site of their former home, alighting on a nearby branch. They stayed silent for hours. The following day, both sat next to each other on the same branch for almost the whole day. They were homeless, no longer parents.  

 

Everyone who knew the eagles and the nest was grieving the loss.

 

For more than a decade, I have watched these two eagles build or expand their nest each year and take turns sitting on eggs. Like anxious relatives, my husband and I have waited to see the new youngsters; through a monocular, we gauge their progress. First, their gawky heads poke above the top of the nest. Then they begin to flap their wings and more of them appears. Gradually, they grow big enough to squat on the top of the nest and hop from side to side, while still squawking for food.

 

Often, the eaglets—sometimes there’s only one—spend days or a week perched on the nest, staring down, as if trying to gain the nerve to try and fly. Finally, they lift off and for the first time, catch their own food. It’s exhilarating to witness the slow growth of such vulnerable creatures into self-sufficient, wild beings. From parental care, they’re nurtured into independent freedom.

 

And now the nest and eggs are gone.

 

We hope that the eagles choose to stay in our neighbourhood, where the ocean offers lots of salmon. Perhaps they’ll choose a nearby tree, one that still affords an unobstructed view of Roberts Creek Beach and beyond.

 

Thankfully, the limbs that landed in our neighbours’ yard damaged only part of their garden, not them, their home or car.

For past posts about these eagles, see “The fear of risk: Eagles wait to soar” or “Goo-goo ga-ga: Raptors make great neighbours.”

 

As North Korea pushes for war, and scientists newly predict the worst-yet impact of climate change, it would be easy to adopt a fear of the apocalypse. But no need to watch Waterworld again just yet (if you survived Kevin Costner’s acting the first time).

 

One thing that we can be grateful for, despite Stephen Harper’s best efforts to silence federal scientists, is that we even know the results of an influential report, Approaching a state shift in Earth’s biosphere, which recently appeared in the scientific journal Nature.

 

In this new study, scientists have revealed that when you add variables such as population growth, over-consumption, agriculture, and extinctions to climate change, our entire ecological system can collapse within decades, as if destroyed by an epidemic. They call it “global state change,” and estimate that this disastrous state could start as early as 2050—if we continue on our current path.

 

“It’s the point of no return,” Dr. Arne Mooers, an evolutionary biologist at Simon Fraser University and one of the study’s co-authors, told the Vancouver Observer. “If something changes like the temperature, it could then cause a topsy-turvy, upside-downness that causes a new earth.” He adds: “We don’t know how fast the transition would be.”

 

We already know the dire effects of carbon dioxide on rising global temperatures, but this new report predicts that once humans have weakened enough of the planet’s ecosystems, the earth could quickly and irreversibly initiate a devastating chain reaction.

 

A group of paleontologists, computer modellers, mathematicians, biologists, and ecologists have combined existing data to create a model of changing systems that can reach rapid “tipping points” on a global scale. According to the report, simple systems require only a 58-per-cent change before they reach their tipping point.

 

“The earth may become a much more hostile place for everyone,” Mooers says. “The chances are that this transition would not only be extremely problematic to human society, but the new state might not be conducive to human society at all.”

 

Some decriers still insist that human activity creates only a minor blip in the fate of the planet. But the study says that human efforts to convert the earth act like a sledgehammer: agribusiness, industry, carbon emissions, habitat destruction, and population growth all combine to become “global-scale forcing mechanisms.” We humans have already converted 43 per cent of the planet for our use, the study says, through farming, industry, and cities.

 

The report states: “Planetary-scale critical transitions have occurred previously in the biosphere, albeit rarely, and . . . humans are now forcing another such transition, with the potential to transform Earth rapidly and irreversibly into a state unknown in human experience.”

 

We might not like what this study is saying, but at least we’re aware of these findings because they’ve been made public. Knowledge is power.

 

When you celebrate Earth Day on April 22 this year, remember the sobering facts of this study, based on real science. What are three things you can do to lessen your impact on the earth? Start them now.

 

Many thanks to independent media like Vancouver Observer for their exclusive local coverage. The Nature article about this ground-breaking study appeared in time for this year’s Earth Summit or United Nations International Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro.

Click here to read the full article in the Vancouver Observer about this report.

     — Heather Conn photo

Theresa Jeffries with Sunshine Coast NDP MLA Nicholas Simons at last year’s Defend Our Coast rally in Davis Bay, BC.

 

I was deeply saddened by the recent death of sishalh elder Theresa Jeffries (sxixaxy) at age 81.  I had met her at events such as Defend Our Coast in Davis Bay and interviewed her for a documentary that I’ve written, produced, and directed called A New Way: An Organic Garden Changes Lives.

 

Theresa was indeed a special woman, full of grace and humour—her native name translates to “Laughing Princess.” Through public appearances and educational work, she shared her desire to ensure that as many people as possible, both First Nations and non-native, knew the destructive impact of residential schools and how much value one’s heritage holds. (The first sishalh to graduate from grade 12, Theresa entered residential school at age seven, remaining until grade seven.) She received the Queens Diamond Jubilee for her advocacy work and revitalized the sishalh language by helping to create a dictionary and curriculum development.

 

Sechelt chief Garry Feschuk reminded us at Theresa’s Celebration of Life ceremony on March 25: “Theresa lives in all of us. True love lasts forever.” He gestured to the crowd in the Sechelt band hall, filled to capacity with about three hundred of Theresa’s relatives and friends, plus elders, and people in two overflow tents outside, and said: “She was a very, very rich woman. These are her treasures.”

 

Garry told us that three days before she died, Theresa had appeared to him in a dream, surrounded by a herd of bighorn sheep. In honour of the memory of “our auntie,” as many referred to her during the ceremony, a procession of First Nations drummers carried a bentwood box to the front of the hall. It was made from a 750-year-old cedar from her home community.

 

I hope to receive Garry’s permission to dedicate the documentary A New Way to the memory of Theresa. She appears in the video, wearing her button blanket and ceremonial headdress, with Aaron Joe, CEO of Salish Soils. She expresses her pride and satisfaction in seeing the success of Aaron’s composting company and his long-term vision for the demonstration garden on Sechelt band land. She describes the negative impact of residential schools and how her people used to grow their own food and fruit.

 

Both Ivy Miller, who shot and edited the footage for A New Way, and I felt honoured to have met Theresa and experience her influence in the community and beyond. She was a treasure, indeed, and we will carry her in our hearts.

Read “A remarkable woman,” a tribute to Theresa Jeffries in The Coast Reporter.

Watch for upcoming information regarding the public release and screening of A New Day.

 

 

While we Canadians protest the creation or expansion of pipelines, fracking, and liquid natural gas facilities, U.S. activists are planning the biggest climate rally in their nation’s history.

 

Thousands will gather this Sunday, Feb. 17, at the National Mall in Washington, DC to demand strong governmental action in response to climate change. They want to stop expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline and are targeting Canada—home to the ever-growing Alberta tar sands—as one of our planet’s worst polluters. (The rally is to be held from noon to 4 p.m. Participants are asked to gather by 11:30 a.m. at the northeast corner of the Washington Monument.)

 

To think that Canada was once a global environmental leader. . . Now, thanks to prime minister Stephen Harper and his pro-oil cronies and deals, Canada is one of the top 10 polluting nations in the world. But thankfully, more people in Canada and the U.S. are waking up to the deadly results that high-carbon-emission industrial activity is having. The resulting ozone depletion and sea-level rise has brought the impact of climate change into people’s homes and neighbourhoods. They’re suffering extreme conditions like Superstorm Sandy, devastating wildfires, drought, floods, and wildly fluctuating temperatures. Friends, neighbours, and family are dying.

 

What will it take before climate change becomes a higher priority than the economy? How long will it take for politicians at all levels to see that the destruction and clean-up costs involved with cataclysmic weather due to climate change will drain our economy?

 

Obama gets it. Harper sure doesn’t.

 

Recent data shows that more than three-quarters of Americans want government action on climate change. They’re demanding strong climate action from president Obama, who delayed the Keystone XL expansion, but still has made no commitment to an environmental agenda over an economic one. Yes, he sounded promising in his second inaugural address, but still needs to back up his words with concrete changes that make the environment a priority: “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that failure to do so would betray our children and future generations . . . [N]o one can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms.”*

 

Here in Canada, 61 per cent of respondents in an Ipsos Reid poll in December 2012 said that they think the Harper government is doing a poor job of protecting the environment. Besides Harper’s two recent omnibus bills, which eliminate or hobble any laws that protect species, habitat, and waterways, the Keystone XL project blatantly shows the prime minister’s willingness to forego the well-being of future generations, today’s public, and the environment, for the sake of economic development at any cost.

 

“It’s the [federal] government’s plan to annihilate our lands and our future,” says Allan Adam, chief of the Athabasca Fort Chipewyan First Nation in Alberta. After hearing of the federal government’s plan to balance tar sands production with environmental protection, Adam said: “There are no commitments to our people and no protection of our lands and rights. We thought we were working towards a partnership with this government, but this plan does not reflect that.” 

 

Please spread the word about Sunday’s rally. Check out #forwardonclimate on Twitter and Forward on Climate for more information.

* In his State of the Union speech tonight, Obama confirmed: “We must do more on climate change.” He challenged Congress that in this area, he will follow science and “act before it’s too late.” He announced that he’s seeking a “bi-partisan, market-based solution” to climate change. But what will that look like in the U.S.? Obama sounds as if he’s trying to appease both business and environmentalists. He wants to speed up the permit process for oil and gas exploration and he supports natural gas; that’s all old-paradigm stuff. At the same time, he wants to hasten the transition to more sustainable types of energy like wind power. He supports new research into alternative energy that will get vehicles off oil for good.

I’ll be curious to see how this vision unfolds. It sounds as if Obama is willing to make executive decisions to move forward on climate change, even if Congress tries to block any initiatives. He needs support for that.

— Heather Conn photos

As dozens and dozens of aboriginal drums reverberated in unison outside the Sechelt band office, people thrust “Idle No More” signs upwards. A few woven cedar hats bobbed. About 20 male shishalh band members drummed in a circle, some young, some old. They sang, joined by shishalh women who stood in a smaller circle beside them. In traditional-style dress—button blankets, cedar leggings and headbands, fringed shoulder covers—they all drummed and sang, as supportive local non-aboriginals drummed around them.

More than 500 residents on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, led by shishalh members, marched Jan. 4 across Highway 101 as part of a nation-wide Idle No More initiative. They gathered by a ceremonial fire across from Sechelt’s Raven’s Cry Theatre to show support for Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence of northern Ontario and to condemn prime minister Stephen Harper’s omnibus bill C-45. (Spence has been on a hunger strike for 29 days, demanding a meeting with Harper to discuss treaty issues and conditions on her reserve. The prime minister has since agreed to meet with the Assembly of First Nations and chiefs on Jan. 11.)

Bill C-45 reduces the number of waterways protected by the Navigable Waters Protection Act from three million to 96. It also weakens or removes industry requirements to protect fish habitat or compensate for its loss or damage. Besides directly attacking the heritage and livelihood of Canada’s First Nations communities, the bill ignores treaties signed by our European and Aboriginal ancestors. It will also serve to destroy land, water, soil, and ecosystems. It eliminates legislation that would have otherwise slowed down or prevented the building of pipelines such as Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project.

“Bill C-45 is going to affect everybody,” shishalh member Robert Joe told the group through a megaphone. “It gives free rein to come into our territories and take our resources. We need to protect our fresh water.”

Donna Shugar, Sunshine Coast Regional District director

Throughout last Friday’s event, shishalh nation members reinforced that their vision of Canada’s Idle No More movement was inclusive, equally welcoming non-natives, environmentalists, First Nations, and anyone opposed to Harper’s dismantling of Canada’s democratic process and structures.

shishalh elder Barb Higgins (Xwu’p’a’lich)

“Let’s all join together and show Canada that we are one,” said shishalh elder Barb Higgins (Xwu’p’a’lich), to cheering and drumming. Locally, Higgins has condemned destruction of forests on the Sunshine Coast and was recently arrested for trying to save 27 hectares of trees and habitat in Wilson Creek.

“We have got to stand up for our rights,” said shishalh chief Garry Feschuk. “This omnibus bill is destructive of our issues in every community across Canada. There has been no consultation. It’s the law to consult with First Nations.”

This last comment brought applause and supportive drumming. Feschuk said that Canada’s current Idle No More rallies, part of a grassroots movement, are only a beginning. Although Harper has agreed to meet with chiefs, Feschuk said: “It’s got to be more than words. Things will escalate if there’s no action behind those words.”

shishalh ancestral chief Calvin Craigan said that the First Nations struggle to achieve rights and recognition in Canada has continued for 200 years. “Finally, nations are going to stand together,” he told the group around the fire. “We’re going to continue until the suppression is no longer.”

After the event, sishalh band council member Ashley Joe wrote: “My heart is so happy to see our people unite for such an important cause. . . Let’s pray that Harper listens to our voices and meets with our leaders in good faith, [in a] Nation-to-Nation manner to address our concerns. We are a powerful people and must be reckoned with.”

The Idle No More movement began when four women in Saskatchewan, indigenous and non-indigenous, organized teach-ins to educate people about the impact of Bill C-45. Since then, indigenous communities across Canada have embraced it as a grassroots initiative and held related roadblocks, protests, flash mobs, and more.

How can you help?

• Stay informed by reading grassroots websites such as idlenomore1.blogspot.ca/
• Join Idle No More rallies and demonstrations
• Write to your local MP
• Contact Stephen Harper at pm@pm.gc.ca or 613-992-4211
• Write to the Governor-General of Canada, Rideau Hall, 1 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A1
• Join your local Idle No More Facebook page
• Join Twitter @IdleNoMore4 or Idle No More

Think of new, engaging ways to bring these issues to a broader audience in a respectful, peaceful way.

 

I was truly impressed by the eco-friendly ornaments on the real Christmas tree at Langdale Ferry Terminal on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast.

The Langdale shore crew used items from their onsite recycling bin and upcycled them to create at least a dozen tree decorations. Among their artistry, they created plastic strips to make white garlands, transformed drink containers into snowmen, and displayed paper birds’ nests, formed from shredded paper.

As the imaginative workers wrote on a sign beside the tree, 90 percent or more of the items on the tree were recycled. The only exceptions were two dozen small plastic baubles retrieved from an attic, which otherwise would have ended up in the landfill.

I applaud such an environmentally aware approach to seasonal decorating. Thank you for taking the initiative to promote fun, “green” activities and for sharing your creations with the public. I hope that this will inspire others to do the same next year. You’ve made trash beautiful.

As the Wilson Creek forest falls to logging, I am reminded of the simple message: “Never give up.” Otherwise, a person loses heart, a community crumbles, dreams disappear. When it seems like no one is listening and no one cares, don’t despair. There will always be people who care. And those who truly care take action.

 

About 130 such people showed up last Wednesday in front of the District of Sechelt office. Environmentalist George Smith, who was instrumental in protecting the Tetrahedron region and transforming it into a provincial park, said: “It [Sunshine Coast Community Forest] is not a community forest. It’s never been a community forest. The good old boys are running this [community forest].”

 

Smith noted that the Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF), in its current form, was structured over the objections of the local community, the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association, the Sunshine Coast Regional District, and most community associations in the area. The B.C. Liberal government put it in place because they wanted to log our watershed, he added. “Get out of our watersheds and make sure that eco-forestry is practiced.”

George Smith addresses the group

Smith urged all those present to write to provincial New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix—presumably B.C.’s next premier in May 2013—to have him revisit the structure and role of community forests. “B.C. Timber Sales should be giving their land a real community forest,” Smith said. “We should have an appropriate ecosystem and a decent forest in which we can recreate.” Listeners applauded.

Starwalker: “Let’s stay positive”

Starwalker, one of the protesters recently arrested in the Wilson Creek forest peace camp, told the group: “Let’s stay positive.” Last Friday, he appeared in a Vancouver courthouse with three other protesters. On Dec. 12, he filed a small claims court lawsuit against the RCMP and B.C. solicitor-general for not returning his food and possessions, which were confiscated when he and others received a 10-minute notice to pack up the camp or face arrest.

Barb Higgins: “It’s the same old story”

Another of the arrestees, sishalh elder Barb Higgins (Xwu’p'a’lich), told the crowd: “It’s so long since we’ve seen justice. It’s the same old story except more people are becoming aware that they are being manipulated by politicians.” She will face a judge Jan. 14 in Vernon, BC.

Within about 10 minutes, during two pass-the-hat sessions, the group donated a total of $1,000 to help with expenses related to the arrestees’ court appearances.

Event organizer Pat Ridgway addresses the group, with Barb Higgins to her right.

“We want the community put back into the community forest,” said event organizer Pat Ridgway, who asked the assembled group to direct positive energy towards the District of Sechelt building and its decision-makers. Many of the group’s placards read: “Who cut you and me out of the community forest?”

 

Local activist Scott Avery stood on a rock and directed his voice at the building, as if speaking directly to Sechelt Mayor John Henderson. “We are all members of community,” he said. “Community, to me, involves everyone.” The crowd repeated his sentences in call-and-response style, a format popular with the Occupy movement.

David Quinn (Popois)

David Quinn or Popois of the sishalt nation, a nephew of elder Theresa Jeffries and another arrestee, said: “No corporation, no society, has a right to occupy Indian and without a purchase.” (The Wilson Creek Forest is part of the sishalh’s traditional territory.) “Thank you for standing behind our elders.”

 

So far, neither Henderson nor SCCF chair Glen Bonderud has responded publicly to the protesters, nor to their letters. Not surprisingly, those seeking a more inclusive community forest board have said that Henderson and the SCCF are not listening to them. Last week’s Coast Reporter quoted the mayor as saying that “We’re not listening” truly means “We’re not agreeing.”

 

Last Thursday, CBC-TV made the Wilson Creek forest logging and arrests their top story for the 11 p.m. news. They acknowledged that the current ordeal on the Sunshine Coast is but a microcosm of what is occurring across the province. As part of this newscast, Bonderud, contacted by phone, said that our region needs jobs. In his view, logging underway in Wilson Creek provides jobs.

 

In response, Avery points out on Facebook: “Ninety-five percent of logs get shipped offshore whole this year. That means three loggers; an operational manager plus secretary; perhaps four truckers and their truck owners; perhaps four scalers and their management; perhaps four longshoremen and their management; ship crew if it is Canadian.” That leaves only log brokers and the financial markets as the “inflated beneficiaries,” he says. Avery said that overall, local forestry is operating at an excruciatingly long-term loss, especially when factoring in 60 years of non-timber forestry losses plus the social losses.

 

At a recent public meeting at Sechelt City Hall, local resident Rolef Ohlrogge stood up and asked Henderson: “Could you tell me your definition of a tree farm and a forest?” Someone at the event said that the mayor looked away, paused for a few seconds, then said, “Well, you know, things grow.”

 

Last week, I was feeling discouraged by the lack of respect and response that Henderson, Bonderud, and others have shown towards those who want to preserve our local forest and have a say in how it is managed.

 

Then, last night, I watched Anne Wheeler’s CTV movie The Horses of McBride. Based on a true story, it addressed how one caring young woman didn’t want to see two starved, abandoned horses, marooned in deep snow high in the mountains in northern B.C., die. While others, including a veterinarian, urged her to forget the animals and have them put to sleep, she refused.

 

The horse enthusiast soon won over her father to her cause. In minus-30-degree-Celsius weather, he helped her start to dig a two-metre trench in the snow, to create a pathway to lead the horses out to a road. Soon, local snowmobilers and those from neighbouring provinces appeared to provide their support. Within four days, a trench more than a kilometre long was completed, and the horses were led to warmth and safety.

 

This show reinforced to me what one person’s determination and the positive spirit of a community can do. It all starts with caring, then action. Never give up.

 

As Shannon Woode, a concerned mother who helped organize an educational walk in the Wilson Creek forest, says within a poem:

 

“May the Wilson Creek Forest become a legacy that moves us to a new beginning. May our leaders follow with open heart. May this be the last forest of awe to be slashed from history.”

 

Never give up.

I have sent the following letter to Glen Bonderud, chair of the Sunshine Coast Community Forest. Copies have gone to Sechelt Mayor John Henderson; Steve Thomson, B.C. Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations; Nicholas Simons, MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast; The Local; and The Coast Reporter.

 

“In light of the recent logging in Wilson Creek Forest and resulting protests and arrests, I was wondering if you and the Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) are willing to consider the following changes:

 

• Having SCCF meetings open to the public. Currently, the SCCF holds all of its meeting in camera. This does not meet the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization’s definition of a community forest as “any situation which intimately involves local people in a forestry activity.” A consistent policy of closed meetings, even with minutes made public, helps create an atmosphere of distrust, no dialogue, and of ignoring the broader public interest.

 

• In lieu of logging some hectares of local forest, receiving payment from the community in the same amount that you would otherwise receive for the trees. Some community members have already considered this option and were interested in discussing it with the SCCF. Enough local people feel so passionately about having a say in how their “community forest” is managed, that they are willing to use personal monies and public fund-raising for this purpose.

 

• An attitudinal shift in how you view those who seek to preserve our forests. Local people of all ages care about our forests. When denied access to decision-makers and a consultative process, some, out of frustration, feel compelled to resort to more high-profile action. These people are not harassers, ne’er-do-wells, and anti-B.C.ers. Many are not against logging per se; instead, as public stakeholders, they merely seek an inclusive form of forest management that considers long-term options beyond immediate clearcuts. Remember: In expressing themselves publicly, they are exercising their democratic rights.

 

• A willingness to participate in a Local Resource Use Plan or Land and Resource Management Plan that engages a broad section of the local community and considers their input regarding past, current, and future forestry practices on the Sunshine Coast. Currently, only about three percent of our region’s land base is protected. That’s one of the lowest ratios in the province. Across B.C., 14 percent of the land base is parks, says Dylan Eyers, BC Parks’ area supervisor for the Sunshine Coast. Our current record of forest destruction needs rethinking; we are a vulnerable area that hopes to receive revenues in tourism and recreation over the long term; existing forests, not just tree farms, are a key component of that future.

 

• A willingness to broaden the stakeholder role of the SCCF. If the current membership more accurately represented a cross-section of community members, allowing for a wider range of viewpoints, any resulting decisions would better reflect the diverse views regarding forestry in this region. This would also lend the decision-making process more credibility.

 

• Having logs, now cut on the Sunshine Coast, processed in B.C., rather than sent offshore. This would demonstrate a long-term commitment to the economy and sustainability of our own region and province rather than a vision of short-term gain.

 

Your foresight and proactive response now to any or all of these issues would introduce a true community forest on the Sunshine Coast. It would reflect admirable leadership in sustainability, creating community-wide participation, and growth. Logging and revenues would continue and parks could be made. But choices, made collaboratively, of where, when, and how much to cut, would undoubtedly change current policies. This could bring positive global attention to our region. Sweden has demonstrated this approach effectively; why can’t you?

 

Otherwise, if current trends continue, we will undoubtedly see what has happened in other B.C. regions, from Clayoquot Sound to Saltspring Island. Ultimately, adversarial, closed-door politics do not benefit anyone; they only lead to entrenched thinking on both sides, disrespect and resentment, needless stress, and unnecessary expense. Will local citizens have to resort to organizing global boycotts on wood logged on the Sunshine Coast before they, and these issues, receive respect and attention? I hope not.

 

If you’re wondering, I am writing this on my own initiative, not representing any organization or input from anyone else. I am one voice, a concerned citizen who despairs at the lack of public, transparent process in the handling of one of our greatest resources, our local forests and their accompanying ecology. There are lots of us here.”

A one-hour, peaceful demonstration will be held Dec. 12 at 10:30 a.m. at the office of the Mayor of Sechelt. It is aimed at Sunshine Coast citizens who want to show their concern over logging in the Wilson Creek Forest and the lack of a true, community voice in local Forestry issues.

 

Today’s protest gathering in front of the District of Sechelt offices.

 

It could have been called Occupy District of Sechelt.

 

About 80 local people gathered today outside the Sechelt mayor’s office as a peaceful show of support for the beleaguered Wilson Creek forest.

 

They slammed the arrest this week of nine who stood in opposition to the logging of 27 hectares of this Sunshine Coast forest, which has already begun. (The previous total of 25 arrested, a figure widely distributed on Facebook, was not accurate.) They criticized the RCMP’s heavy-handed approach to the arrests, which involved eight police cruisers, minor injuries to one protester, and the towing away of the self-named forest-guardians’ vehicles. (Before making the arrests, the RCMP had given the inhabitants at the well-established trailhead peace camp only 10 minutes to pack up and leave — a clearly impossible task.)

 

Outside the Sechelt government office, various concerned community members spontaneously took turns addressing the leaderless group, standing on a rock on the lawn in the same impromptu style that has characterized the global Occupy movement.

Hans Penner addresses the crowd

“We have to call for a suspension of the licence of the [Sunshine Coast] Community Forest, its sales and operation,” Hans Penner, co-founder of Elphinstone Logging Forest, said to applause and appreciative drumming.

 

Since it began, the current Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) group, which has the licence to log Wilson Creek Forest’s cutblock EW002, has not held one public meeting, Penner said. Its nine directors, seven of whom are from the logging/forestry sector, must comply with a gag order not to share any critical information with the public, he added. (Click here to see the minutes of their board meetings.)

 

How’s that for public consultation? Really puts the “community” into Community Forest, doesn’t it? As one man commented to the group, “It’s basically the Sechelt Council Logging Company.”

 

Although logging in this cutblock halted temporarily last week and this morning, loggers and the RCMP have since disregarded a formal request by sishalh elders to stop trespassing on the Wilson Creek Forest. This land is part of their ancestral territory, which has never been negotiated away, said Penner.

 

sishalh elder Barb Higgins (Xwu’p'a’lich)

As sishalh elder Barb Higgins (Xwu’p'a’lich), one of the arrestees, told the group: “This land is the bones of my people.” The 79-year-old organized everyone into a large circle, while remaining in the centre, then asked them to open their hearts and connect with the spirits of all peoples who are working to protect the earth.

Pat Ridgway talks to the group

Pat Ridgway, who organized today’s gathering, said that the original Community Forest concept, voiced on the Sunshine Coast in 2004, was inclusive, with a strong preservation theme. Since then, members of the forestry industry have co-opted the vision with a drive to log rather than conserve.

 

“There is no community in the Community Forest,” she said. “The [Sechelt] mayor and the Sunshine Coast Community Forest are making decisions and not listening to us. We have to hold a vision of what we want.” She reinforced that those who oppose the logging want a peaceful resolution.

 

Scott Avery, who chaired an informal meeting Sunday in Roberts Creek that included peaceful protesters and SCCF operations manager Dave Lasser and his wife, said that Sechelt mayor John Henderson, a former SCCF director, and the Community Forest group are not acting with mindfulness or a holistic viewpoint.

 

“They’re not evolving,” he told the group. “We need to evolve to appreciate each other for what we are and are not. We can all live by example every day. We can try not to create adversaries and appreciate the person on the top and on the bottom, not abuse anybody.”

Higgins talks to local media

Several dozen of the group moved to the RCMP building next door to demand the release of the five people arrested and taken to Vernon. Others broke into small groups, discussing strategy. One man thought that the group is “fighting for the scraps” of the forest; he felt that a broader, coast-wide initiative, beyond just protecting Wilson Creek forest, is needed. He wanted a clear mandate: “What is the vision?”

 

A community source has noted that the SCCF, RCMP, and District of Sechelt are anticipating an escalation of protest and will respond accordingly, based on their “play book.” This could even involve having their own camouflaged commandos waiting in the forest for protesters who might flee into the woods, hoping to avoid arrest. Be warned.

 

Anyone who seeks to protect what’s left of the Wilson Creek forest is urged to contact Sechelt mayor John Henderson, write to the local media, and to contact SCCF directors directly at their home, office (604) 885-7809 or by email at scpi@telus.net. Click here to see the names and bios of the directors. The most important one to contact is chair and president Glen Bonderud.

We need to make Sechelt mayor John Henderson and the SCCF truly accountable to the community.