Old-growth supporters in BC say they plan to cut back on “disruptive actions” along busy transportation routes and instead turn their attention to other tactics, including public outreach and events.
“Major traffic disruptions will end today,” Save Old Growth said Wednesday.
“Other strategies will be used that won’t stop traffic,” the activist group explained, noting its members will continue to push the BC government to protect the province’s remaining old-growth forests.
The announcement follows numerous road blockades organized by Save Old Growth across Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, including some that left traffic backed up for hours and led to arrests.
In April, tensions were high along the Trans-Canada Highway after old-growth demonstrators blocked lanes leading to the Malahat. Video footage showed fed-up commuters attempting to remove a barrel blocking the road.
Flash forward to mid-June, another blockade sent an old-growth supporter to hospital with a “life-changing” injury following a 20-foot fall from a ladder erected above the Pat Bay Highway, moments after a commuter snapped a support beam.
At the time, Save Old Growth said it was committed to “opening the eyes of the public to the crisis facing humanity” and vowed to blockade roads “until the BC NDP passes legislation to end the logging of old-growth forests in BC.”
Another incident in May saw old-growth supporters dump manure outside Premier John Horgan’s constituency office in Langford, before “wheat-pasting” the Ministry of Forests, Land and Resources Victoria office just last week.
