Make the Sunshine Coast Community Forest accountable
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.
December 4, 2012 at 10:36 pm Comments (3)