PRESS RELEASE
Grassy Narrows Activists Blocking Trans-Canada Highway to Stop Weyerhaeuser Destruction
For Immediate Release:
July 13, 2006
100+ Indigenous community members and supporters block logs leaving Grassy Narrows Traditional Territory headed for Weyerhaeuser's Kenora Mill
Contacts: David Sone, Rainforest Action Network (RAN), (On site): 416-452-4199 Leah Henderson, (On Site): 647-883-5983 Brianna Cayo Cotter, RAN: 415-305-1943 Joe B. Fobister (Grassy Narrows Spokesperson): work: 807 925 2071, home: 807 925 2745
KENORA, ONTARIO – This morning, more than 100 Grassy Narrows community members and supporters from across North America shut down the Trans-Canada Highway in Northern Ontario to halt clear-cut logging by Weyerhaeuser (NYSE: WY) and Abitibi Consolidated (NYSE: ABY) on Grassy Narrows’ traditional land in the Boreal forest.
Supporters erected a 30-foot tall tripod on the highway and perched on the top, while others locked themselves to cement filled oil drums and the axle of a Weyerhaeuser logging truck. The action stopped trucks carrying hardwood trees logged on Grassy Narrows land on their way to the Weyerhaeuser Trus Joist Timberstrand mill in Kenora. Banners read “Save Grassy Narrows’ Boreal Forest,” “Wake up Weyerhaeuser, Defend Native Rights, Defend Ancient Forests,” “Freedom for Grassy Narrows; No logging without consent.”
For more than a decade, the Grassy Narrows community has worked to end clear-cut logging on their Traditional Territory. The Ontario McGuinty government, Weyerhaeuser and Abitibi failed to respond to years of official complaints, environmental assessment requests, negotiations, and public protest which gave rise to a blockade that has continued for more than three years. This action by the Rainforest Action Network, Grassy Narrows community members, supporters from other Native communities, and other supporters of social and ecological justice from across North America marks the latest development in the growing international response to a call to action issued by Grassy Narrows community leaders in late February, 2006.
“Weyerhaeuser is destroying an ancient way of life and an ecosystem vital to our plant’s health while the McGuinty government fails to act to resolve this crisis,” said David Sone, an Organizer for Rainforest Action Network’s Old Growth campaign. “We stand proudly with the people of Grassy Narrows and will continue to help protect the Boreal Forest and defend their Traditional Territory.”
“The clear-cutting of the land is an attack on our people,” said Roberta Keesick, a Grassy Narrows blockader, grandmother and trapper. “The land is the basis of who we are. Our culture is a land-based culture, and the destruction of the land is the destruction of our culture. Weyerhaeuser and the McGuinty government don't want us on the land, they want us out of the way so they can take the resources. We can't allow them to carry on with this cultural genocide."
Last month, the Superior Court of Ontario ordered the province to pay legal costs associated with a lawsuit challenging clear-cut logging on the community’s traditional lands. However, proceedings for the three- year old legal action will not be heard until late 2008. Meanwhile, clearcutting continues unabated. In a recent submission to the United Nations, Amnesty International argued that current logging on Grassy Narrows’ traditional land violates the community’s indigenous rights to self- determination and culture and fails to meet international standards of “free prior and informed consent” for development on traditional Indigenous lands.
For more information go to FreeGrassy.org
