PRESS RELEASE
New Blockade Reclaims Boreal Forests from Weyerhaueser
For Immediate Release: July 25, 2006
Asserting rights to their traditionall territory, members of the Grassy Narrows First Nation and dozens of supporters today blocked access to trucks hauling logs from clear-cut logging operations north of Kenora, Ontario, to Weyerhaeuser's Trus Joist mill. Research conducted by Rainforest Action Network indicates approximately 2,500 trees are hauled out of clear cuts via English River Road every day despite strenuous objections from the native community. The English River Road blockade is expected to continue for the next few days, signaling the beginning of a reinvigorated era of roving blockades around Grassy Narrows to stop logging companies Weyerhaeuser and Abitibi from further logging without community consent.
The English River blockade is the second protest by the Grassy Narrows community in as many weeks and the latest development in a decade long campaign to end logging without the native community's consent. Supporters from Rainforest Action Network are challenging the "environmentally friendly" reputation of Timberstrand products manufactured at Weyerhaeuser's Kenora mill, most of which supply the booming US housing market.
Last Thursday, July 13th, over 80 supporters blocked traffic on the Transcanada Highway. The following day, Ontario Provicial Police officers established checkpoints on Highway 671, arresting 9 allegedly involved in the protest. Supporters criticized the OPP for jailing and interrogating people of color including several First Nations individuals, while Caucasians among the arrestees were released with a citation. Hearings in the case will take place Sept 18th in Kenora.
"I grew up hunting, fishing and gathering in the Boreal Forest," said Chrissy Swain, one of the blockaders from Grassy Narrows and a young mother. "If the logging continues my young children will never be able to live their traditional culture and way of life. Weyerhaeuser and Abitibi are annihilating our existence as indigenous people and the McGuinty government refuses to take action. I cannot accept this and I will do what it takes to stop it."
"The forest should be protected," said Steve Fobister, Councilor in charge of Forests Portfolio for the Grassy Narrows Council. "Whatever trees we have left should remain for our purposes and our survival as a people. For over a century we have shared the land, but Abitibi and Weyerhaeuser have abused our generosity for too long. The Provincial government must stop abusing our human rights by destroying the Boreal Forest that we depend on."
Grassy Narrows community members have filed official complaints, environmental assessment requests, lawsuits, and engaged in public protest and a blockade of a logging road on their territory now in its fourth year. Logging companies Weyerhaeuser and Abitibi continue to use wood clearcut logged on Grassy Narrows' traditional territory while the McGuinty Provincial government fails to address longstanding Native land rights issues and a growing crisis of mismanagement in the Boreal forest one of the earth's last intact origiinal forest ecosystems.
"Weyerhaeuser is destroying Grassy Narrows' ancient way of life along with the Boreal Forest ecosystem that is vital to our plant's health, while the McGuinty government fails to act to resolve this crisis," said David Sone, Organizer for the 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."
Last month, the Superior Court of Ontario ordered the province to pay legal costs associated with a lawsuit challenging clear-cut logging on Grassy Narrows' 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.
