Indigenous youth block access to Western Forest Products road in qathet region

Indigenous youth Jegajimouxw (whose English name is Ta’Kaiya Blaney) and Thich’ala (whose English name is Ace Harry) set up a blockade at the Western Forest Products (WFP) access road on Stillwater Mainline in the qathet region in solidarity with land defenders resisting old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek area.

Thich’ala and Jegajimouxw set up the blockade early on Wednesday, June 23, and were joined throughout the day by Tla’amin Nation citizens and elders, as well as non-Indigenous qathet residents.

“This is first and foremost a solidarity action,” Jegajimouxw told the Peak. “We stand with Nuu-chah-nulth land defenders whose territories are being encroached upon by Western Forest Products, and their old-growth ancestral forests are being removed without the free, prior and informed consent of the collective nation.”

The BC government recently announced a two-year deferral on old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek watershed and Central Walbran, but advocates say old-growth trees around those areas and elsewhere remain unprotected. WFP holds tree farm licence 44, which includes areas adjacent to the Fairy Creek area.

Jegajimouxw said WFP also has a history of operations in Tla’amin territory.

“As Tla’amin youth, we are unable to access the forest that our elders talk about, and were able to harvest from and have a relationship with when they were our age, and that is the direct result of the legacy of corporations like WFP and forestry based economies that have been such a driving force of colonization in Tla’amin territories,” added Jegajimouxw. “Not only are we standing in solidarity with other Indigenous nations, which WFP is not abiding by their consent, but we’re also calling into question the practices of WFP on our own lands, because our people have never been able to engage with its economy in a way that hasn’t been coercive.”

Jegajimouxw said the plan was to maintain the blockade for all of Wednesday, and hopes the action will foster a sense of empowerment among Indigenous youth.

“This applies beyond forestry,” said Jegajimouxw. “Any industry that is operating on Indigenous territories needs to be obtaining free, prior and informed consent of the nation whose land they’re operating on.”

Band council approval of resource extraction projects, said Jegajimouxw, does not amount to consent if there are community members who feel silenced by the elected leadership or excluded from the negotiation process.

“We would like to remind Canadians that the colonially imposed systems of government that Canada brings to the negotiation table, they’re imposed by Canada, so they don’t always work in the favour of the best interests of our people and of our land,” said Jegajimouxw.

Thich’ala said legislation such as the Indian Act serves as a tool to divide Indigenous peoples and undermine traditional systems of accountability.

“It was only possible first of all after biological warfare was used to reduce the numbers,” said Thich’ala. “After that point [settlers] were then able to move onto separate reserves and begin separating us from our relatives, and separating us from our family units, which are integral to Indigenous culture, because our cultures were based on systems of accountability that were very effective, but those systems don’t work if you don’t have the relationships that are the foundation of those.”

Blockade responses vary

The blockade, said Jegajimouxw, has been met with mixed responses by forestry workers, with some expressing respect and curiosity, and others acting more aggressively. RCMP members briefly stopped by to ask how long they planned on maintaining the blockade, but did not seem concerned, she added.

The blockade has received support from community members, with some bringing food and chairs.

“We’ve had quite a good response overall, because we really just want to focus on lifting our people up at the end of the day, and as for those who are frustrated, we never intend to attack workers,” explained Jegajimouxw. “We take measures like this because we’ve never been listened to historically, and it’s important for it to be said that this is our land, and we have jurisdiction and we have power here.”

Jegajimouxw said resource companies must change how they operate regardless of whether settlers support the cause.

“It’s not just about our continued existence, culturally or even physically on these territories; it’s about the land itself,” she added.

In a statement sent to the Peak, WFP stated: “Western is working to understand the concerns of the protesters and have been in contact with the leadership of the Tla’amin Nation. We will be in a position to provide more information once we understand the nature of the issue and the interests of the Tla’amin Nation more specifically.

“In the interim, we are working to ensure the safety and security of the protesters and our contractors and crews.”