Squamish-based Black Mount Logging has been granted an injunction against Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF), which has been preventing the company from cutting timber on cutblock A93884, known as the Clack Creek Forest, since Jan. 12.
The granting of the injunction followed a protest on Friday, Jan. 24 at the intersection of Highway 101 and the B&K logging road that drew more than 100 people.
In another protest on Thursday, Jan. 30, about 50 ELF supporters gathered before dawn to walk up to the blockade, which remained in place. The march was led by people carrying a giant heart-shaped banner reading, “We need a change of heart.”
ELF’s Laurie Bloom told the crowd she was prepared to be arrested if necessary and advised others who wanted to take their civil disobedience to that level that ELF would support them through its legal defence fund.
There was no sign of the logging company or RCMP presence, but ELF’s Ross Muirhead said RCMP visited the blockade Wednesday.
BC Timber Sales awarded Black Mount the cutting rights in block A93884 last year. ELF lost a court challenge to have the cutblock auction stopped, and has so far failed to get the province to agree to its proposal to have the company granted cutting rights to another block instead.
Black Mount’s injunction petition claimed ELF members and supporters “illegally blocked, obstructed and prevented the access of Black Mount and its fallers to the site … [and] the blockaders, and in particular defendant Muirhead, stated they would be there ‘for the duration.’”
The company claimed it suffered financial losses as a result of the ELF actions and in supplementary papers filed after its initial petition, the company estimated the stumpage owing, which it would have to pay “despite not being able to sell any timber,” at more than $2 million.
As well, the company said its workers “would also be adversely impacted flowing from loss of pay, with limited or no alternate sources of work, if Black Mount is unable to proceed with its anticipated harvest.”
ELF argued in court that because long-standing concerns about logging in that area have not been addressed by the province, they “find themselves with no recourse to protect the important ecological values of the Clack Creek Forest… They have found it necessary to take personal action to prevent logging from proceeding.”
They also contend that the area where the roadblock was set up is “on a public highway not controlled by the plaintiff” and members of the public shouldn’t be prevented from gathering there “for the purpose of non-obstructively protesting and observing.”
ELF said in the lead-up to the Jan. 24 protest that it was expecting the courts would side with BC Timber Sales and the logging company.
“You know how this scenario works. The police show up and the company shows up and possibly BC Timber Sales and then we might have one last chance to express our disapproval of the logging and then it’s business as usual – it comes down,” Muirhead told Coast Reporter during the demonstration.
The last major protest and attempted blockade against logging on Mount Elphinstone, in September of 2016, ended with six arrests, including one woman who had chained herself to an excavator with a bicycle lock.
“[Arrests] could happen – we don’t want to make any predictions about that, but we know that there are people strongly opposed,” Hans Penner of ELF said.
“After the 2016 arrests at Twist and Shout [Forest] we were actually approached by BC Timber Sales with the idea of having meetings and coming to an understanding about protecting the connectivity between the three parks and having some certainty for logging sales – and we agreed with that approach,” Penner said.
“We had three or four meetings along those lines, then all of a sudden that whole approach was abandoned.”
“We’re disappointed in the government,” said Muirhead, “and also the BC Timber Sales senior staff level that they didn’t see what came out of that last protest, that they would then sit back and think about how do we provide certainty to the industry and community.”
ELF’s efforts to stop the logging prompted the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development to release a “fact sheet” on Mount Elphinstone and Clack Creek resource management last December.
It said, among other things, that “BCTS has consistently worked with local stakeholders to meet community concerns.”
The fact sheet also reinforced the government’s position that “there are no provincial plans to expand the existing provincial park” and said the province “is cognizant of aspirations of the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) and some community groups to enhance protection in the Mount Elphinstone area.”
A Supreme Court decision handed down Nov. 22, 2019 rejected ELF’s petition to stop the cutblock auction. It called the fact “the chief and council of the shíshálh Nation have confirmed their support for the harvesting” significant.
During the Jan. 24 protest, Muirhead told the crowd that BC Timber Sales put “undue pressure” on the current chief and council, after a previous chief and council “made a clear declaration that they support the protection of the Clack Creek Forest.”
The SCRD board’s position has not changed, said Roberts Creek director Andreas Tize, who also participated in the Jan. 24 demonstration.
“I believe that as a board we are behind our community’s interest and we have made it loud and clear to the provincial government that the SCRD wishes to preserve this area as part of a park,” Tize said.
“I’m very sure that the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resources and Rural Development is very aware of the Sunshine Coast Regional District’s position.”
