OFLM Name: Norman Fennema Course Name and Number: Environmental History HIST_3991 Name: Panika Saxena Date: December 8, 2024     In the last few years, there has been significant environmental challenges in BC including the contentious issue of old growth logging. On Vancouver Island, Fairy creek watershed has been the biggest issue of debate, where activists protested to prevent the logging of ancient forests. These demonstrations further escalated into one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in Canada with nearly 1000 arrests reported by September 2021. The protesters included both environmentalists and Indigenous leaders. They argued that the old-growth…

Articles: https://bc.ctvnews.ca/judge-rejects-necessity-defence-from-b-c-climate-activists-charged-in-disruptive-protests-1.6925452 https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/05/03/Climate-Change-Activists-Convicted-Civil-Disobedience/ I support the Nanaimo climate protestors and feel that disruptive protests are needed to bring about the transformation required to combat the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. Climate change poses imminent peril to all humanity. However, in this case, Judge Lamperson ruled against the defendants because the threat of climate change is not immediate enough and there are legal alternatives to their chosen methods of protest. The judge accepted that climate change is imminent and an existential threat, however, he disagreed that it prevented the defendants from acting freely. Judge Lamperson noted the defence of necessity…

Civil disobedience plays a noteworthy role in the environmental history of Haida Gwaii, where Indigenous activism joined with environmental efforts to defend the area’s forests from industrial logging. In April 2024, the Haida Nation and the Province of British Columbia signed the Gaayhllxid/Gíihlagalgang “Rising Tide” Haida Title Lands Agreement. This agreement formally acknowledges that the Haida Nation has Aboriginal title over the entirety of Haida Gwaii. The “Rising Tide” is a landmark, historic achievement in the Haida Nation’s long standing struggle for recognition and validation of their Aboriginal title. This agreement renews the legacy of the Haida’s 1985 Lyell Island…

Media: Despite opposition and environmental violations, major B.C. pipeline project nearly complete | CBC NewsAmnesty International calls for Wet’suwet’en chief’s release | CBC News Having relationships on both sides of this conflict has left me with an appreciation for both perspectives – protecting Indigenous rights and economic opportunity for the province and local economies. This project has had many ups and downs, including socio impacts, such as the myriad of white f250s terrorizing Highway 16, the influx of resource workers flooding small towns in the north, environmental degradation, and most notably, the land defender blockades and arrests. Smithers and its…

Exercise 4: Wet’suwet’en struggle to protect their unceded territory/Fairy Creek Blockade The struggle of the Wet’suwet’en people in BC against the Coastal Gas link is a prime example of capitalism plundering the environment and Indigenous rights. While I am a champion of the use of gas as an alternative to coal and oil, in this specific case I am not. The Indigenous peoples have lost everything, and they should not be forced to give in what little they have left. The Wet’suwet’en people non-violent approach to the coastal gas link project was met by violence from the RCMP and the…