June 7, 2021

By Rita Wong

 I was honoured to visit Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek watershed recently, spending time with the ancient forests and their defenders on unceded Pacheedaht & Dididaht territory. People from all four directions are converging there in solidarity with Elder Bill Jones and hereditary chief Victor Peter’s call to protect the land for current and future generations.

I responded to this call because all people who live on unceded Indigenous territories have a responsibility to uphold Indigenous law, whether or not they understand this. The base line, as I understand it, is to protect life and biodiversity for future generations. No government—colonial or otherwise—has a right to destroy the land that nourishes life and biodiversity, including thousand-year old trees that are an incredible inheritance and gift to the world.

I have felt sickened by John Horgan’s claim that implementing a moratorium or at least a deferral on clear-cutting old-growth forest “would be a return to the colonialism that we have so graphically been brought back to this week by the discovery [of mass burial sites of children who died in residential schools] in Kamloops.”

It is gross to ignore the fact that destroying what few ancient forests remain is the ultimate colonial violence, and to try to spin this by hiding behind the Pacheedaht Band Council is reprehensible. But don’t take my word for it; this analysis by Bill Jones’ niece, Kati George-Jim, nails it. As she puts it, “John Horgan has not grown up out of being a white boy who has no clue about what it means to interact with Indigenous power and Indigenous sovereignty. He is irresponsible.”

Historically, band councils were a colonially imposed structure designed to weaken the original Indigenous cultures and enforce the dominance of the federal government of Canada. To see Horgan using colonial divide-and-conquer tactics so blatantly has resulted in calls for his resignation, like this one.

Before band councils were imposed on Indigenous peoples by colonial power structures, hereditary and cultural laws already existed, and they continue to be upheld despite colonial attempts to destroy them.  This is clearly articulated by Elder Bill Jones, when he tells the RCMP that “You are invading the territories of our hereditary chief." As I understand it, Indigenous hereditary leadership is responsible for the entire area, not only the reserve, and this leadership demonstrates cultural revitalization and due diligence by taking the time and space needed for meaningful collective decision-making. For this process to be effective and have integrity, for there to be the space to heal colonial divides and systemic violence against the land and the people, logging must stop immediately, and First Nations should not suffer the cost of this. It should be borne by the provincial government, which has thrown billions of dollars at the Site C dam disaster, and should be allocating billions to protect irreplaceable biodiversity.

The announcement on Monday that the Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht and Pacheedaht First Nations are giving the provincial government notice that they want to defer old-growth logging for two years is an important step in the right direction, but the details need to be confirmed as to what this actually means on the ground.

If what is being discussed is already destroyed by the time the consultation concludes, then consultation is meaningless colonial violence yet again. Forestry Minister Katrine Conroy’s nice-sounding but vague words say that no harvesting will happen but RCMP have continued to arrest land defenders and to prevent people supporting the hereditary leadership from being on those lands. If no harvesting is happening, the RCMP can go home and save billions of dollars from being wasted; so, why is the walk so different from the talk? Why are arbitrary, industry-biased RCMP exclusion zones popping up against land defenders, causing the BC Civil Liberties Association and legal observers to condemn RCMP violation of Indigenous rights and Charter rights?

If the provincial government had actually implemented the recommendations made by the Old Growth Strategic Review Panel’s report last year, I and thousands of other people would not have to put our bodies on the line for the ancient forests. It’s clear to me that the solution is to immediately financially compensate the First Nations for lost revenue from logging-- this could come from government or be crowd sourced (more than half a million has already been raised by the latter).

With 185 arrests so far and counting, people are reconnecting with the land and enacting the principle of reciprocity that is integral to our humanity (see for a comparable example, the Free, Prior and Informed Consent Protocol for Secwepemc territories).

Some of the land defenders have spectacular, athletic skills; see for instance, this video of the tree sitter, Panda. Others are sunbathers, mothers, and musicians. Everyone is dedicated and passionate.

When I arrived, I thought I would get arrested on Monday, but was saved from this by Mother Earth, who felled three large trees in a storm, effectively blocking the road that we otherwise would have blocked. Tuesday, a large group of people held off RCMP, who arrested five people and towed two vehicles away, in order to proceed the equivalent of one city block down a road. Each day brings new surprises, and new waves of people, who understand how crucial it is to protect old growth forests and uphold hereditary Indigenous leadership and sovereignty. I would like to ask the RCMP officers who have been deployed to Ada’itsx if they understand that they also have a responsibility to protect the land, not destroy it.

It was very hard to leave Ada’itsx, and I plan to return when I can. Now is the time to visit these forests if you have any capacity for this. This incredible place and community is a crash course in ethics, healing, and walking the talk of respect through collective action as people from all walks of life uphold the responsibilities that the provincial/colonial government has so far failed at. Each of us carries different gifts that we can contribute to the land and to future generations, be it a song, a meal, an arrest, or whatever skills you want to offer. See the Rainforest Flying Squad’s website for information if you go. And be prepared to be inspired by everyday people’s courage and wisdom.