Logging Deferred in Clayoquot Sound by B.C. Government for First Time in Colonial History - Friends Of Clayoquot Sound
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Celebrating the Frontlines of Environmental Conservation Movement Building & Actions for 40+ Years!
FREE WINTER NEWS 2021 // www.focs.ca // info@focs.ca // Twitter: @clayoquotfriend // Instagram: @friendsofclayoquotsound // Phone: 250-725-4218
Logging Deferred in Clayoquot Sound
by B.C. Government for First Time in Colonial History
Photo: TJ Watt @tjwatt
During a time of economic hardship, support for reconciliation-based conservation to safeguard First Nations’ communities and the ancient rainforest is critical. Investing in the
protection of the ancient rainforest builds towards reconciliation regionally while guarding against the global threats of climate catastrophes and future pandemics.
L
ast winter, the Government of B.C. Friends of Clayoquot Sound
acknowledged its approach to old
growth forests is broken, ordering
are currently active with the Clayoquot
Sound Conservation Alliance (CSCA) to
WHAT’S UP
in this issue
a comprehensive Old Growth support discussions with regional First
Review. On Friday, September 11th, the Nations about protecting the ancient
government of B.C. released the Old rainforests through securing conservation Canada Mandates Plan for
Growth Review report and announced investment. However, many systemic Removal of Open Net
that for the next two years logging would issues remain as the B.C. Government’s Salmon Farms
be deferred for almost 353,000 hectares outdated forestry system has required the
provincially, including more than 260,000 First Nations’ owned forestry company, Climate Action vs. Pipeline Debt
hectares in Clayoquot Sound. MaMook, to pay hundreds of thousands
for Big Oil Profiteering
“For the first time in history, of dollars in annual fees for Tree Farm
the B.C. Government announced the Licenses to the B.C. Government for the
Single Use, to Systems Change:
deferral of logging in Clayoquot Sound ‘rights to log’.
“For First Nations in Clayoquot
FOCS Joins Call to Action
for the next two years, which is great
and long overdue,” said Michael Mullin, Sound to retain the ‘rights to log’, their
Friends of Clayoquot Sound Co-Founder company MaMook has to log their unsustainable approach to forestry
and current Board Member. “Since the unceded territories to pay for the Tree is a destructive systemic failure
inception of Friends of Clayoquot Sound Farm Licenses annual dues required by that must be reconciled by the B.C.
in 1979, we have utilized a diversity of the B.C. Government and guard against Government during this logging
tactics from multistakeholder boardroom an outside corporation buying up the deferral period by supporting
discussions to frontline direct action ‘rights to log’ from the B.C. Government,” the visions of First Nations for
to protect the ancient rainforests of explains Jeh Custerra, Friends of permanent rainforest protection of
Clayoquot Sound.” Clayoquot Sound Campaigner. “This their unceded territories.”
“No Logging My Nation’s Territory”:
A personal reflection.
Photo: German Ocampo @gocampo.salazar
In August, Friends of Clayoquot Sound accompanied BC EcoNews to show solidarity with grassroots forest defenders from across Vancouver Island and amplify their message stopping
Teal Jones Group from blasting logging roads into the unlogged headwaters of the Fairy Creek watershed in recent months. See the video on YouTube.
H
By Stephenie Charleson
looks like a moonscape out there. Let’s the land. It is still our job to carry on the
ome is where the heart is. not let this happen in our Hesquiaht responsibility of protecting and sharing
Home is where we come from, territory again. I say: “NO TO LOGGING!” the knowledge of our people and where
where our families come from. Our families have protected we come from. Not to rob and strip our
Home is where we have a and cared for these areas for centuries, territory of its resources for little profit.
connection. I have a strong connection lived off the land, only taking what I will continue to do the work
to my home in Hesquiaht territory. we need, not for greed. Money for in our Hesquiaht territory. I will fight to
We have pressure on us to our resources only goes so far, lasts protect our territory. It is important to me
log in our territory, part of a business so long. We can never replace the and my family. Our trees are our breath.
from years ago when they would pristine old growth that they want to Our streams are my life. Water is life.
clearcut our territory. Our coasts have take out of our territory along streams One heartbeat, it is all connected. There
seen slides and destruction to salmon and creeks. Our grandchildren will are other ways to bring more economic
habitats -- ocean side and streams and never know what it was like if we let opportunities to the community. We
creeks, lakes -- the horrible effects of the logging company go in there and have to work on that. Focus on other
logging already done in the area. It will take what they want. Our streams and ways and ideas. Tourism. New clean
take the rest of my life to do the repair creeks will suffer more unrepairable energy. Restoration.
work. I am doing it so my children will damage that will take the rest of our Nuuchahnulth territory. All
see the importance of our territory. lives to repair and rebuild. stolen land. Our Chiefs territory. Our
Why should we log more? I know because I have resources. Our knowledge. Our history.
More destruction to our coasts -- walked our streams and creeks, lakes, Lets change the future. Protect what
pristine ecosystems, beautiful ancient coastlines, our territory. Our forests are is ours. All that is left. Let’s take back
rainforests, seafood that is no more, medicine. Our territories are medicine our land. For our future, our children,
salmon habitat, polluted freshwater and knowledge. We need to share our grandchildren. “NO LOGGING IN
-- our children’s future! I see all the more knowledge with our children so HESQUIAT FIRST NATIONS TERRITORY!”
logging trucks loaded with ancient they are connected to the area. Our
trees and it breaks my heart to see elders and those before us held the
our lands in the area being stripped. It knowledge, protected and lived off
2 P R O T E C T W H AT Y O U L O V E !
Cohen Deadline Passes for
Removal of 18 Salmon Farms
Islands (94% surprising as no salmon farming
infected). Sea lice region in the world has been able
outbreaks on salmon to control sea lice. No other salmon
farms this spring farming region in the world still has
Photo: Marnie Recker @marniereckerphoto
resulted in unnatural commercially viable stocks of wild
infestations on salmonids, either.
outmigrating smolts, The Canadian government
• particularly in the already promised to act upon the
Discovery Islands: recommendations of the 2012 Cohen
99% of sockeye Commission of Inquiry into the Decline
salmon were of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River.
The Nuuchahnulth Salmon Alliance led a wild salmon solidarity flotilla on Saturday,
September 26 in the Tofino/Nachiks harbour. Here Tsimka Martin speaks to the flotilla infected with an One of the recommendations of the
about the September 30, 2020 deadline for recommendations from the Cohen
commission to be implemented. • average of 9 lice Cohen Commission outlined the
I
per fish; removal of 18 salmon farms in the
ndependent biologists have proven 90% of pink and chum salmon were Discovery Islands by Sept 30 2020. The
the risk posed by salmon farms infected with an average of 5 lice per fish. $30 million dollar Cohen inquiry also
impacts migrating wild salmon. In Infestations at these levels are recommended that the Department
2020, axreas where salmon farms lethal and no regulatory or therapeutic of Fisheries and Oceans resolve the
exceeded the Department of Fisheries measure employed by the Department conflict of interest of DFO’s current
and Oceans’ (DFO) sea lice limits include of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) or the mandate of managing wild salmon
Clayoquot Sound (72% infected), Nootka salmon farming industry have been conservation while simultaneously
Sound (87% infected) and Discovery effective to control sea lice. This is not promoting and regulating the salmon
farming industry.
Canada Mandates Plan for
Removal of Open Net Salmon Farms
A
total of 101 B.C. First Nations, vanished, leaving the phrasing open to Have your say about the
tourism operators, and interpretation. future of salmon farming in Canada
commercial and sport fishing This summer in Clayoquot through DFO’s consultation online:
groups have united in a show Sound, Cermaq introduced an https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/
of solidarity to demand the federal experimental Semi-Closed Cage System aquaculture/act-loi/index-eng.html
government take immediate action on for salmon farming that the Norwegian
the collapse of Fraser River salmon stocks corporation intends
by ordering the removal of open-net fish to operate at
farms near Campbell River. Millar Channel.
The Liberal Party’s campaign Does the removal
platform said a re-elected Trudeau of the “closed
Photo: Marnie Recker @marniereckerphoto
government “will work with the containment”
province [B.C.] to develop a responsible phrasing in the
plan to transition from open net pen Fisheries Minister’s
salmon farming in coastal waters mandate letter
to closed containment systems by from Prime Minister
2025.” But when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signal
Trudeau issued mandate letters for a move to semi-
his ministers to the new Fisheries closed containment Many of the speakers at the recent wild salmon flotilla including Tsimka Martin,
Gisele Martin, Skookum John, and FOCS organizer German Ocampo highlighted the fact
Minister Bernadette Jordan, all mention for the salmon that the same impacts and sickness from salmon farming on wild salmon exist here in the
Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht lands and waters, known as Clayoquot Sound.
of closed containment systems had farming industry?
P R O T E C T W H AT Y O U L O V E ! 3
Climate Action vs.
Pipeline Debt for Big Oil Profiteering
Finance to prepare an annual report
about key measures taken to manage
the Government’s financial risks and
opportunities related to climate
change.
Just two weeks following
this announcement, the Canada
Energy Regulator reported that the
Government owned Trans Mountain
(TMX) tar sands pipeline, and the
Government approved Keystone XL tar
sands pipeline, would be unnecessary
liabilities if climate emissions reduction
are required in Canada. Tar sands oil
is amongst the most carbon intensive
FOCS.
oil on Earth. Despite initially being told
At the gates of Kinder Morgan’s oil tank farm in Burnaby unceded Coast Salish territories. Friends of Clayoquot Sound oppose the
construction of fossil fuel pipelines as humanity is only at the beginning of the climate emergency threatening all life on Earth. the investment would be a $2 billion
I
loan, taxpayers will now be paying
n November, the Government of federal governments to set binding $17 billion to own the TMX pipeline.
Canada’s Environment and Climate climate targets to get Canada to net-zero Taxpayers cannot afford for the
Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson carbon emissions by 2050. In addition Government of Canada to subsidize Big
tabled Bill C-12 -- a new legislation to public participation and assessment, Oil profiteering for a doomed industry
that would force current and future the bill would require the Minister of at the expense of our collective future.
Global Green New Deal vs. Extractivist Capitalism
A
uthors Arundhati Roy and Roy notes that justice based Our only recourse is to
Naomi Klein took part in a movements are challenging “the world amplify the calls for justice ringing
virtual conversation to help to redefine the meaning of progress, from every corner of the globe. The
launch a Global Green New to redefine the meaning of civilization, time to build the future we deserve
Deal project to foster internationalism to redefine the meaning of happiness. is now, and international solidarity
and visualize possibilities for a new and Do you really need to treat the Earth is the tool we need to begin its
better world for people and the planet. like a resource in order to call yourself construction. A Global Green New
“The violence of a capitalist civilized?” Deal for People and Planet can help
system is rooted in an extractivist logic us move from crisis to justice.
that treats the Earth itself, individual
places, and entire groups of people
as disposable -- a logic of endless
extraction... that really cherishes nothing
and no one,” said Klein.
Before the virus struck, the
effect of climate catastrophe and
obscene inequality meant that millions
were already living in multiple crises.
Now, as the pandemic wreaks an untold
Global Green New Deal.
impact, we know that it is those who are
most vulnerable—whether from their
inability to access healthcare, or because
of their economic precarity—who bear
the heaviest burden.
4 P R O T E C T W H AT Y O U L O V E !
Understanding Systemic Racism through
the History of Policing in Canada
to serve the interests of well as the criminalization of those
colonial expansion and who participated in ceremonies
Photo: Wet’suwet’en Checkpoint @wetsuweten_checkpoint
colonial rule. such as Potlatching and the Sun
“The RCMP Dance;
is a racist institution. • Removing Indigenous children from
What we’re seeing their families and forcing them into
aren’t decisions from abusive residential schools to “take
a random, bad apple. the Indian out of the child”;
This is decision making • Facilitating the apprehension of
within the institution, children during the Sixties scoop.
tracing back hundreds The RCMP’s history is fraught
of years…” with military-style campaigns against
The RCMP’s tactical invasion of Unist’ot’en Camp in 2020 forcibly removed Wet’suwet’en
- Elizabeth May Indigenous people protecting their
people in ceremony outside their Healing Centre to make way for the Coastal GasLink
pipeline. One of the latest examples showing how little has changed. Historically, the homeland. Some of these police
C
RCMP acted as the operations which used lethal force
anada’s first prime minister, enforcement arm of for the Government took place at Red River, Batoche,
John A. Macdonald, created of Canada’s relationship to Indigenous Cut Knife, Oka, Gustafsen Lake, and
what is known today as the people responsible for: Ipperwash. In 2020, even when there is
Royal Canadian Mounted Police • Forcing Indigenous people off their still no consent from entire Indigenous
(RCMP). His model was the Royal Irish land and onto reserves; Nations, the RCMP intervene in land
Constabulary, a paramilitary force the • Enforcing Canada’s Indian Act policy,
conflicts on behalf of corporations
British created to keep the Irish under including the Reserve Pass System that profiteering from extraction of what
control. Police in Canada were established controlled who could go off-reserve as the market deems capital -- trees, fish,
oil, gas, and minerals.
How Defunding The Police Can Create
Healthier Communities
A
Learn more @ defundthepolice.org access to healthcare, education, and gap for mental health services.
ccording to recent polls, only environmental health are key social Re-allocating taxpayer funds from
15% of Canadians believe determinants. A holistic approach to increased policing, militarization,
that the RCMP does not have health centers social justice as a unifying criminalization, and incarceration
a problem with systemic solution. to clean water, housing, and health
racism. Indigenous peoples account for “When people are in crisis, we services could help to create
approximately 5% of the population know that what they need is care, not more livable, healthy, and caring
in Canada, yet -- as the Globe and Mail confrontation with an armed communities.
found -- over a 10-year period, more officer. We know that the threat
than 36% of RCMP killings involved of violence exacerbates distress.
Indigenous people. The need for change We know that care should take
is felt locally by the recent killing of the form of de-escalation, crisis
26-year-old Chantel Moore of the Tia-o- counseling, and connection
qui-aht First Nation, who was shot five to resources.” - Doctors For
times during a wellness check by police Defunding the Police TO REINFORCE AND
in Edmundston, N.B. The RCMP’s Gross TO ERADICATE TO EMPOWER YOUNG ENCOURAGE THE KINDS TO ASSIST FAMILIES, THE
HOMELESSNESS AND FOLKS AND PROVIDE THEM OF COMMUNITIES HOMELESS, AND OTHERS
WE ENVISION
Indigenous men account for Spending for 2019-2020 equals GENTRIFICATION WITH TOOLS TO THRIVE STRUGGLING
30% of federal inmates incarcerated $5.1 billion, with 60% spent on
Rising Tide @risingtidena
and Indigenous women account Indigenous policing. Meanwhile,
TO BRING TRUE HEALING, TO PROVIDE EXPERTS TO CULTIVATE DEMOCRATIC
for 42%. Experts note that poverty, the Canadian Medical ACCOUNTABILITY, AND TRAINED IN DE-ESCALATION WORKPLACES, CREATE TO SUPPORT LEADERSHIP
socioeconomic status, abuse, Association Journal estimates JUSTICE FOR SURVIVORS AND AND AN ALTERNATIVE STABLE JOBS, AND PROVIDE BY AND FOR PEOPLE
PERPETRATORS OF HARM TO MILITARIZED POLICE RESOURCES COMMUNITIES IN OUR COMMUNITIES
violence, housing, mental health, a $3.1 billion annual funding RESPONSE ACTUALLY NEED
P R O T E C T W H AT Y O U L O V E ! 5
Pebble Mine Construction Denied in U.S.
as Engineers Face Discipline in Canada
headwaters of their life-giving salmon
rivers! Yes!!!
FOCS continue in our effort to
uphold the mining bans of the Ahousaht
and Tla-o-qui-aht Nations to prevent
mining by Imperial Metals in Clayoquot
Sound. Imperial Metals is the Canadian
mining corporation responsible for
the Mount Polley Mine tailings pond
disaster which flooded 25 billion litres
of toxic tailings into the Fraser River
watershed in Secwepemc Territory in
Photo : Mark Titus
2014. Imperial Metals’ engineers have
been bidding to design and build the
tailings pond for the Pebble Mine at
Friends of Clayoquot helped curate a screening of Mark Titus’ latest film “The Wild” as part of our Clayoquot Salmon
Festival collaboration with Salmon Nation’s Festival of What Works. As panelists, we spoke to the importance of stopping Bristol Bay which would destroy beautiful
the Pebble Mine alongside Lindsay Layland -- of the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, Anna Hoover -- a Unangan filmmaker, salmon runs. Meanwhile three engineers
Linda Behnken -- founder of the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, and former Alaska Senate President Rick Halford.
I
hired by Imperial Metals faced charges
n November, the U.S. Army Corps of solidarity to the Yupik; Dena’ina and of professional misconduct from the
Engineers denied the Pebble Mine’s Aleutian People -- and all residents Engineering and Geoscientists of British
permit to proceed with construction of Bristol Bay who have fought for Columbia. Imperial Metals or executives
near Bristol Bay, Alaska. Friends of 3 decades to keep Pebble’s toxic are yet to be charged or fined for the
Clayoquot Sound raise our hands in low-grade-sulphur mine out of the Mount Polley Mine tailings pond disaster.
Clayoquot Salmon Festival Partners with
Salmon Nation for 2020 Festival of What Works
S
almon play an integral role in 40 online events to celebrate salmon upon and build an active appreciation
coastal livelihoods, cultures, and and what is working to protect the for the irreplaceable value of salmon in
ecosystems on the west coast. greater salmon bioregion. Clayoquot Sound and across the salmon
And they lead incredible lives, The Clayoquot Salmon bioregion. Thanks to everyone who
starting in freshwater then migrating to Festival X Festival of What Works sponsored, contributed, and participated!
the ocean. Celebrating the backbone of collaboration streamed
the west coast is what inspires Friends live from Sunday,
of Clayoquot Sound to organize the November 15 - Sunday,
annual Clayoquot Salmon Festival based November, 22, with each
out of Tofino. But as COVID remains day of the Festival having
a major issue for in-person events, a different theme. By
Friends of Clayoquot Sound took the taking Clayoquot Salmon
2020 Clayoquot Salmon Festival online Festival online, we aim
teaming up with Salmon Nation’s Festival to provide a broader
of What Works as part of a week of over opportunity to reflect
FOCS Archives.
You can watch the recorded Clayoquot Salmon Festival curated
events archived @ www.fb.com/clayoquotsalmonfestival as well as FOCS Organizer German Ocampo moderates a panel -- featuring Indigenous
‘
‘ ‘ Don Svanvik and Dúqvaís a William Housty, as well as biologist
i
leaders Homiskanis
all the Festival of What Works events @ www.fb.com/salmonnation Anne Shaffer -- for the Clayoquot Salmon Festival curated event “Salmon Warrior:
An End to Engineered Fish” as part of the Festival of What Works.
6 P R O T E C T W H AT Y O U L O V E !
Single Use, to Systems Change:
FOCS Joins Call to Action
FOCS.
FOCS joins members of Surfrider Pacific Rim and Ocean Legacy at our annual collaborative Hands Across the Sand action to call on the Canadian and B.C. governments to
#ENDFOSSILFUELSUBSIDIES to stop the proliferation of single use plastic at the source.
H
umanity produces 2 billion ever produced has been recycled, and a care of forest and marine ecosystems to
tonnes of waste each year mere 4% of that has been recycled back enable a circular economy supported
and this figure is projected into products of the same quality as the by closed-loop regenerative economics.
to increase by 70% by original. When it ends up in oceans or
2050. Single use products are a key scattered on land, plastic waste breaks
We call on all relevant bodies to:
contributor to this: when not effectively down into microplastics, infinitely • Re-direct: public and private funds
recycled, they are burned, sent to tiny toxic pieces that are ingested by to support the start-up and scale-up
dumpsites or landfills, or simply left to species of all kinds, including humans, of systems that support reusable
degrade Earth’s ecosystems and poison with untold health consequences. Both products and circularity, and
Earth’s oceans. paper and plastics manufacturing are disincentivize continuation of single
Of the 300 million tonnes chemically intensive, energy-intensive, use commodities by increasing levies
of plastic produced each year, half and require large amounts of water - and and taxes on those products and the
of that goes into single use products the reality is, eliminating the majority systems that prop them up.
and applications. Plastic is derived of single use products immediately will • Re-design to support:
from fossil fuel extraction and help conserve irreplaceable resources. - Responsible material lifecycles
manufacturing; its very production To achieve the goals set out in the Paris - Responsible and clean production
contributes to greenhouse gas Agreement and the Aichi Biodiversity - Responsible consumption
emissions. The life cycle of paper-based Targets, and in recognition of universal • Reward innovation: to help scale-up
single use products derived from trees human rights, there needs to be a lasting solutions.
is similarly devastating, and yet often collective shift in the way we design and • Reparation for damage, in particular,
under-estimated. Carbon released in manufacture products to avoid waste. to Indigenous peoples and
the logging process contributes to We, therefore, call for an end to people of colour, who are often
greenhouse gas emissions, and the single use, throwaway commodities, and disproportionately affected by
removal of ancient forests eliminates call for transformational change to our modern extractive and pollutive
the ability of those forests to continue production, consumption and end-of- industries.
to mitigate against the worst impacts use systems to enable a truly circular • Restore: degraded natural habitats
of climate change. Each year, three economy. This will require commitments that have been impacted as a result
billion trees are cut down to make and effective collaboration from of the production and disposal of
paper packaging, and that’s projected government, business, financial products and packaging, whilst
to increase by 20% over the next five institutions and investors, the nonprofit- recognizing the important role that
years. sector, and civil society. Collectively we local and Indigenous communities
Less than 10% of all the plastics can protect and promote sustainable play in conservation and restoration.
P R O T E C T W H AT Y O U L O V E ! 7
Protect What You Love!
Friends of Clayoquot Sound is a
grassroots organization advocating
protection for the ancient temperate
rainforest ecosystems of Clayoquot Sound.
We are part of an international movement
calling for a shift of consciousness in the way
humans relate to the Earth. We need your support
to continue to educate and inspire people.
Please send in your donation today to help protect
one of the most spectacular places on Earth.
Visit our website to find more ways to help: www.focs.ca
Send your donation to:
Friends of Clayoquot Sound
Box 489, Tofino, BC,
Canada V0R 2Z0
Phone: 250-725-4218
Office: 1160 Pacific Rim Hwy, Tofino
Email: info@focs.ca // Twitter: @clayoquotfriend // Instagram: @friendsofclayqouotsound
Remembering Jotin the FOCS Coast Action Team by becoming a monthly donor!
Nancy Powis Includes annual membership.
Monthly donation: $10 $40 $100 Other
Printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. 06/20 Design: German Ocampo Editors: Jeh Custerra, Eileen Floody, Christine Lowther, Maryjka Mychajlowycz
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You can also donate by credit card on our website: www.focs.ca
Become a Friends of Clayoquot Sound supporter!
March 31, 1958 – June 10, 2020 Name:
It is with deep sorrow that we said Address:
goodbye to our dear friend, Nancy Powis,
who left us too early, after a long and Phone: Email:
brave fight with cancer. She fell in love
Annual donation: $20 $100 $1000 Other
with Clayoquot Sound, and moved to
Tofino from Toronto in 2010. Almost from All members receive the informative Friends of Clayoquot Sound newsletter hot off the press!
day one, she supported, and donated to Check here if you prefer to receive the newsletter by email.
the Friends of Clayoquot Sound, and was
involved in all our activities. Her artistic VISA or MASTERCARD
abilities were put to great use making
/
protest signs, and she was always willing
CARD NUMBER EXPIRY
to stand up and be counted. Nancy loved
all of nature, the colour purple, her Tofino C V V NUMBER (3-digit number on back of card)
home and the many friends she made.
Please make a donation in her memory – SIGNATURE DATE
Nancy would be very grateful.
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