In August of 2020, a core group of land defenders ("Rainforest Flying Squad") took matters into their own hands and started what is now known as the "Fairy Creek Blockades" as a means of protecting some of the last remaining intact Old Growth Forest ecosystems on Southern Vancouver Island.
The blockades, which were erected on unceded Pacheedaht and Diddidat territories maintained a presence along various areas of logging roads, creating encampments, and blocking access to sections of the Caycuse, Central Walbran, and Fairy Creek watersheds. Over many long winter months forest defenders "held the line" until April of 2021, when Teal Jones was granted an injunction by the BC Courts. At this time, that core group of land defenders expanded into the hundreds of people who now also hold a firm place in Fairy Creek's history.
Crowds of people united as allies with local indigenous land defenders to put their bodies on the line and defend irreplaceable 2000 year old stands of old growth Cedar and Douglas Fir. Many new camps were established, and an impressive network of infrastructure was built.
My first weekend up at the blockades was April 30th, a few weeks after this first major "rush." What I found, was a community like I had never seen before. And a sense of purpose far larger than myself.
RCMP began enforcement in May.
Folks from my community on Salt Spring Island maintained a constant presence at the blockades throughout the summer.
Working two jobs during the week, I was unable to spend monday-friday at the blockades, and instead chose to become a "weekend warrior" - often arriving late on a friday evening, hiking for hours into the night, carrying in supplies, and helping to support land-defenders at front-line camps. Folks there knew me by the name Pipsqueak, and I could often be found reorganizing food donations and kitchen set ups, cooking meals, transporting goods, and doing what I could to help build "hard-blocks" - creatively engineered strategies to lock oneself into the road, and physically block industry from further road development, or logging activities.
From May to late August hard-blocks became the main non-violent tactic for many land-defenders, slowing enforcement down, and attempting to create enough pressure on the system to advance forestry protections.
On June 26 2021 I was extracted from one such device.
I was among the first 300 land-defenders arrested. The tally, which now surpases 1100 arrests, earmarks this demonstration as the largest act of civil disobedience in Canada's history.
My arrest was conducted without incident.
I was non-violent, as were the police, and undoubtedly my white skin, young face, and small stature played into the dynamics in which my safety and security were protected. Nevertheless, I was subjected to an illegal exclusion line, in which any and all legal observers were pushed over 200m away from witnessing my arrest. It was mid heat-wave, and I was denied a shade structure or water, as police worked to extract me from the device over the course of about 4 hours. A media person who tried to capture the scene (while hiding in the woods) was arrested, and their footage destroyed in exchange for their release.
There are many many incidences of police misconduct that have been recorded since the blockades began, particularly targeting BIPOC land defenders, and many illegal "catch and release" arrests in which police have harassed, intimidated, and assaulted land defenders without recourse.
In the months since my arrest, the blockades have significantly changed. On the 1 year anniversary of the blockades (August 9th) headquarters was raided for the first time, and the pressure to remove land defenders led to an increasing intensity of police violence. The indiscriminate use of pepper spray, unsafe hard-block extractions, incidences of sexual and physical assault against land defenders, cracked ribs, racist confrontations; these are just the tip of the iceberg.
In late September a BC Supreme Court actually denied Teal Jones's request to extend the injunction due to the poor behaviour of these RCMP in enforcing it. Unfortunately, another judge later heard Teal Jones's appeal and overturned the earlier ruling.
Active logging has been taking place since October, and continues to this day in a number of areas of Fairy Creek, while a dwindling presence has made direct action more and more difficult.
And all the while, the courts have been working to process the hundreds of arrests that have occured to date.
A few things have become clear to me:
1. This demonstration is about far more than just the trees within the Fairy Creek watershed. It's about all old growth logging, and extractive resource development. It's about taking the power back, about disrupting "business as usual" and showing that we truly can work to defend that which is both sacred and irreplaceable in this world.
2. There is a lot of hope for the future. There are hundreds and hundreds of people who care and who are willing to do absolutely incredible things (if only the opportunity should arise). I watched people pickaxe gravel roads while being swarmed by flies, from 1am to 5am without rest, in order to create the most creative of hard-blocks, that would undoubtedly be destroyed and yet again rebuilt the following night. I watched people hike over 10kms with heavy concrete on their backs, only to turn around after dropping it at camp in order to get more. I saw camps torn down and rebuilt day after day, resilience of body and spirit beyond what I had ever previously witnessed. And for all its chaos and madness, I saw hundreds of people working together without any one leader, in pursuit of a greater good for all. These things bring me hope, even as we bear witness to ancient trees as they fall.
3. Our systems are corrupt. Any system in which Indigenous sovereignty is not respected, in which resource development comes at the cost of entire ecosystems, in which police protect corporate interests over human lives - is broken and in need of repair. Empty political promises, toothless deferrals, ineffective species at risk protections, these are all huge problems I hope to see change within my lifetime.
I am proud of the role I was able to play in being a presence at the blockades, and I am proud of all those who took part in this fight, and continue to take part in it from wherever they may be.
I am posting this fundraiser as I have officially entered my guilty plea for my arrest and am now facing up to a $3000 penalty. Perhaps you'd like to contribute to this cause, as a means of supporting this broader movement.
I will donate any and all excess funds to other land defenders facing multiple arrests, folks who sacrificed far more than I and who will undoubtedly need more support as the court cases move forward. I appreciate you taking the time to read this account of my time up at the blockades, and thank you for sharing and contributing to this cause.
all photos are my own.
