Susan Bibbings is breathless. She came down the mountain on southwest Vancouver Island with fear in her stomach. She has bad blood for a young woman known by the nickname Orca who was left behind in the old growth forest of Fairy Creek to stand up to the logging company Teal-Jones.
Orca had become attached to a piece of metal embedded in the forest path, preventing loggers from accessing trees that are 250 years old, or even more than 2,000 years old. She held on until the police dislodged her with “threats” and “insults,” says Susan Bibbings at the side of the road north of Port Renfrew, where dozens of people opposed to the exploitation. old-growth forests have established their base camp. “I had promised to watch over her,” says the woman with brown hair. Tears of shame and anger roll down her cheeks.
It didn’t take much longer to convince five people to take their turn on the front lines of the largest civil disobedience movement in Canadian history. They hope to find Orca there. The duty followed them.
If you just sit 20 or 30 in front of an excavator, they can’t move
To confuse the issue, the four men – Prince, Void, Chicoutimi and Atlantique – and the only woman – Squirrel – refer to each other by nicknames (we use altered nicknames to preserve the anonymity of some protesters who feared reprisals) and cover their faces before advancing towards the entrance to the logging road, where Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers stand guard. They have made some 1,000 arrests since the British Columbia Supreme Court’s injunction not to interfere with the “legal activities” of Teal-Jones and its contractors. In sight of the activists, an agent pulls out the catalog of people banned from access. Prince turns around, followed by the others. “The police did not verify our identity until today,” said the activist, looking concerned. The officers confined themselves to inspecting the contents of the backpacks for instruments that could disrupt the activities of the logging company: rope, chain, padlock, cement, etc. “If they find any in my bag, I will say, ‘It’s not cement powder, it’s my mother’s ashes, and she was obese!’ Squirrel says, wearing a purple dress.
Members of the group bypass the police blockade. They take the bed of a dry stream, gripping berries and flattening ferns in their path. The climbers cross 5 kilometers dotted with the battlefields of the past year; where barricades or trenches temporarily deprived Teal-Jones of the cypress, cedar, and other giant trees she wanted to cut down. They meet other followers of nonviolent direct action, like Renard, with whom they exchange the latest news from the top and bottom of the mountain. “The police destroyed everything we had built. We have to set up a new camp tonight, ”says Renard, before continuing on his way to base camp.
The silhouette of a young woman is silhouetted on the horizon. Prince frowns, then lets out a sigh of relief. It’s Orca. The 18-year-old calmly recounts getting attached to a metal structure on the road at the start of the day “to protect the trees”. The vehicles of the logging company and those of the police surrounded it. “The police told me that I had been brainwashed,” recounts the activist, wearing a Patagonia raincoat. They managed to convince her to let go by telling her, wrongly, that trees were cut and will be cut, by her fault, to create a way around it. “I was crying hot tears. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, ”she explains, while clutching her dented metal gourd.
His testimony galvanizes the five climbers. “I’m ready to do anything, even dig trenches tonight … if it’s necessary,” said Atlantic.
When voting is not enough
A few days before the federal election, they confront, in the heart of the rainforest of the west coast, their visions on the exercise of the right to vote: “I will not be part of the system”, “We must do everything to prevent the Conservatives to win ”,“ The NDP is no different. Look, it’s an NDP government [provincial] who gave the logging permits here. The darkness engulfs the mountain.
The opponents’ camp appears after a series of lumberjack machines and police trucks. After escaping the prying eyes of the agents, the climbers ask how they can make themselves useful. “You would make me happy if you found batteries for walkies-talkies ! Raven exclaims. Members of the Rainforest Flying Squad emerge from the tarpaulin-covered dormitory. They’re looking for new ways to keep loggers away from this rare old, untapped valley on Vancouver Island. “If you just sit 20 or 30 in front of an excavator, they can’t move forward,” suggests a woman at the foot of giant trees.
The duty begins its descent under the starry sky. Within hours, rocks appeared on the logging road, forcing the police to stop their SUVs and remove the bulky ones.
A head emerges from a trench dug in the belly of the road. Mossy Roche swallows a soup there as if nothing had happened. “Our cause goes beyond the trees,” she argues, adding that she is at war with colonial capitalism.
Headlamp lights flicker from time to time in the forest. The route Teal-Jones takes to access the ancient trees of Fairy Creek will continue to be fraught with pitfalls.
The trees invite themselves into the countryside
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