LandKeepers News Archive
Environmentalists renew calls against development in Clayoquot Sound
August 02 2008 | News Articles | The Canadian Press
TOFINO, B.C. — Some of B.C.‘s best-known environmentalists and their supporters gathered Saturday to protest against future development plans for Vancouver Island’s Clayoquot Sound. But aboriginal leaders said their people should have the right to decide about the future of their traditional territories.
Federal Green Party deputy leader Adriane Carr and the Watershed Watch Salmon Society’s Vicky Husband said logging, mining and hydroelectric power plans for the virtually untouched wilderness are wrong.
The two sides squared off at the rally in Tofino on Vancouver Island Saturday. About 150 people attended.
“Is this what we want in our pristine valleys of Clayoquot Sound?” asked Ms. Husband. “I would say no. I would absolutely say no. So, I think we have to oppose all of these projects.”
Evening approaches in Clayoquot Sound, B.C., in July, 2002.
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Evening approaches in Clayoquot Sound, B.C., in July, 2002. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)
The Globe and Mail
Only Ahousaht First Nation deputy chief councillor John Frank openly challenged the environmentalists’ calls.
He said aboriginals should have the right to make a living.
Environmental groups have threatened blockades if cutting continues in the northern reaches of Clayoquot Sound, and say any resolution of the impasse must address conservation and First Nations economic development.
Clayoquot Sound was ground zero for the logging protests of the 1990s, which saw blockades, confrontations and mass arrests on both sides.
It was the first major victory for anti-logging protesters.
Currently, Coulson Forest Products, of Port Alberni, and First-Nations owned MaMook Natural Resources Ltd. have plans to log an untouched watershed north of Tofino.
As well, Selkirk Metals Corp. and the Ahousaht First Nation are exploring Catface Mountain, located 13 kilometres northwest of Tofino, for copper.
And, Synex Energy Resources Ltd., of Vancouver, plans to apply for a licence of occupation for a water project on Bulson Creek, located northeast of Tofino.
Mr. Frank said until a treaty is settled, Ahousaht’s traditional territory still belongs to the hereditary chiefs.
“I never go to Europe. I never go to the Queen and tell her how to be in her territory. What gives the right of any other society to come here and say that to me and my chiefs?”
“Give us a chance to do what we need to do on our own,” Mr. Frank said.
And, while Ms. Carr and Ms. Husband support aboriginal rights and title in the area, Ms. Carr said if development must take place in the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, it must respect nature.
Holding up a photo of a clearcut near Hesquiat Point Creek, Ms. Carr questioned current logging practices.
“This is not world-class forestry standards,” she said. “This is a clearcut, like the old-fashioned clearcuts that everybody knew would destroy watersheds, would lead to erosion, would lead to the siltation in our oceans, in our rivers.”
“Those precious places like Clayoquot Sound are getting fewer and fewer.”
Ms. Husband said runoff from acid rock collected in large tailing ponds should the Catface mine go ahead could leach into and poison rivers.
And she called Synex Energy Resources Ltd.‘s hydroelectric plans “scary,” and said they were part of a larger plan to privatize rivers.
“We need to find better ways of looking for economic development that doesn’t threaten the natural beauty of Clayoquot Sound, the ecosystems of Clayoquot Sound, the salmon of Clayoquot Sound,” Ms. Husband said.
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