Fairy Creek Comes to the BC Legislature: All-Day Vigil; Sit-in & Speak Out

 All-Day Vigil; Sit-in & Speak Out

All-Day Vigil: Sit-in & Speak-out

For the endangered ancient forests, climate justice, biodiversity, for an end to the endless talk and log, for Indigenous rights and landback!

Doors of the BC Legislature

Monday, October 4th, Beginning of the Fall Legislative session

8:30 am- 6:30 pm ( Stay for the whole day or drop-in when you can)

N.B. At 5:30 pm, community members who cannot make it during the work day are being asked to join the sit-in at the NDP west wing of the building to form a circle of hundreds of people joining hands (by strips of fabric) around the entire building in a prayerful statement of collective strength and unity for the protection of the old-growth forests, once and for all. Please bring a strip of coloured fabric!

Facebook event link https://fb.me/e/2bp7fY97l

 

 

 

Please come to the Legislature on October 4th for an all-day vigil and sit-in at the doorstep of the provincial government to keep the pressure on the BCNDP to finally uphold its promise to protect at-risk old growth forests across the unceded, unsurrendered and stolen lands of this province and to truly uphold Indigenous rights.

On Tuesday, we all celebrated a huge victory: Justice Thompson denied Teal Jones’ application to extend the injunction against forest defenders at Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek)!

In June, the B.C. NDP formalized a new technical panel on old growth with leading scientists at the table to map out what areas should be deferred from logging across the entirety of B.C. The government now has all the information they need to implement deferrals, and yet they still didn’t meet their self-imposed end-of-summer deadline to do so. The insincerity can be felt in the bones.

Ain't nothing wrong with patience, but not when 800 year old trees are falling all over B.C ( Bloody Clearcuts) and there is only 3% of that big tree forest, the ancestral forests of the Indigenous people-- left standing!

Politicians are back in session at the Legislature on Monday and the ball is in their court now. We need to build on the momentum from this recent ruling to demand that MLAs across the province continue advocating internally for the government to stop the 'talk and log' laying waste to the equivalent of 34 soccer fields per day of irreplaceable ancient temperate rainforests on Vancouver island alone!

This is not a rally, but a vigil and sit-in, where we will quietly, prayerfully and intently hold space with song and ceremony if need be, to deliver a message to government that enough is enough, the time is now to respect the rights of the many Indigenous title-holders calling for logging moratoriums on their sovereign lands and to safeguard a liveable climate future for this and future generations as we are running out of time and all signs are pointing to the urgency of bold and transformative change

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A Brief Background:

Over the past five months more than 1100 people have been arrested in taxpayer-funded, often unconstitutional and violent militarized police operations in the 13 month Ada'itsx/Fairy creek blockades. Black and Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) have been disproportionately targeted by police; and journalists, legal observers, people exercising their legal rights as invited guests on Pacheedaht territory, have been targeted with arrests--three hundred people who have been arrested unlawfully and released without charges.

Forest protectors have deployed a wide variety of bold, creative, and often high-risk hard block tactics . These actions have been effective in partially and temporarily disrupting the destructive status quo of widespread industrial deforestation. A small 2-year logging deferral in the headwaters of Fairy creek and in Kax:iks/ Central Walbran valley was requested by the Dididaht, Huy-ay-aht and Pacheedaht First Nations and passed by the Province. Elsewhere on TFL 46 and all over the unceded, un surrendered and stolen lands we call BC, industrial road-building and the clearcut logging of irreplaceable ancient forests continues unabated without free, prior and informed consent of the rightful Indigenous title-holders of the land.

On September 28th, Justice Thompson ruled against an application by Teal Cedar to extend their injunction on the grounds that the enforcement operations of the RCMP had committed "substantial infringement of civil liberties" and had tarnished the reputation of the court. This significant court victory would not have been possible without the resiliency, peacefulness and dedication of a strong community of bold forest defenders and supporters who continue to stand for the last stands being logged in the extended Fairy Creek Rainforest.

The judge wrote about the blockaders: “They are respectful, intelligent, and peaceable by nature. They are good citizens in that they care intensely about the common good. The videos and other evidence shows them to be disciplined and patient adherents to standards of non-violent disobedience.”

Thousands of people have sacrificed work, family time and the normalcy of life to take a stand at Fairy creek --for all old-growth forests everywhere. Now, the onus is on government to end the destructive legacy of colonial resource extractive violence on land and people, threatening our collective future.

The time is now to bring this frontline struggle to the Legislature!

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Please come together in solidarity with the Ada'itsx/Fairy creek blockades, with the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) calling for an immediate moratorium on old-growth logging and with the many coastal nations asking for logging deferrals on their territories and who are being ignored by government.

We will peacefully greet MLAs ( almost all who have been MIA in responding to the civil rights disaster that has unfolded at Fairy creek) when they return to work for the new legislative session, calling on them to have the courage of frontline forest protectors and do the right thing and take bold climate action for a just transition for workers and communities that ends old-growth logging once and for all!.

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What to Bring
Chairs
Foamies
Warm clothes
Blankets
Rain gear and/or umbrellas, if needed
Food ( extra to share)
Water
Placards and banners
Covid Masks and hand sanitizer

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Host Protocols

We are angry at the continuation of injustice, destruction and oppression on these lands we all call home and the priority that elected leaders put on corporate profit over social and environmental justice.

We also respectfully acknowledge that we are accountable to the host nations of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples on whose territories we live and to the laws of Naatsamat- unity " being as one"- that require us to conduct ourselves peacefully and respectfully as relative newcomers and people seeking to heal and overcome damaging power relationships on these sacred lands.

Please refrain from :
-shaming
-physical or verbal provocation
-escalation
-vandalism

We will respect the sanctity of the 215+ Children Memorial.

We will strive to maintain a discipline of quiet, calm and solemnity for those who have been harmed by police in their work defending the land and for the daily loss of critical living ancient forest habitats.

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