Category Archives: Protest

Lawyers for the Grassy Narrows First Nation have filed their appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada.

The appeal is concerning the recent Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision that the province has authority to issue logging permits on all public lands and forests in the province, including First Nations’ traditional lands.

“Grassy Narrows is determined to protect its treaty rights and to protect the integrity of our lands. (The lower court judge) made the right decision when she held the governments to the agreement they made with our people in 1873. We were gravely disappointed when the Court of Appeal disagreed. We hope that the Supreme Court of Canada will agree to hear our appeal and restore the trial judgment,” said Simon Fobister, the chief of Grassy Narrows.

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Grassy Narrows First Nation will be appealing the recent Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision that the province has authority to issue logging permits on all public lands and forests in the province, including First Nations’ traditional lands.

Grassy Narrows Chief Simon Fobister said the band’s lawyer is in the process of submitting their appeal.  The details and grounds for the appeal will be publicly released in a day or two.

The appeal will be submitted to the Supreme Court of Canada.

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The Government of Ontario has won their appeal over the Grassy Narrows First Nation traditional territory.

The Ontario Court of Appeal released their decision today ruling that the province has the authority to issue logging permits on all public lands and forests in the province, including First Nations’ traditional lands.

This ruling overturns the 2011 Superior Court decision that sided with Grassy Narrows.

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Today Island Timberlands was to start logging an area known locally as the “Hump” near on Highway 4 between the Cameron Connector and Alberni Summit, east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island.

Many residents of the area are opposed to the logging saying it will ruin the visual appeal of the area while travelling on Highway 4, a tourism corridor for the area.

Alberni-Pacific Rim NDP MLA Scott Fraser said the clearcut will destroy the views and make a mockery of Port Alberni’s efforts to be an eco-tourism centre.

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Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), will be in New York City tomorrow to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline.

Coles will be part of a panel discussion on the role of trade unions in confronting the climate crisis organized by the Worker Institute at Cornell and the Joseph S. Murphy Institute at City University of New York (CUNY).

“As Canada’s largest energy union, CEP has always believed strongly that the climate crisis must be addressed in the most pressing terms,” said Coles. “It is why we oppose export pipelines such as Keystone XL that sell off our oil resources and kill jobs in the process.”

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Greenpeace is calling for a halt to logging in 5 areas of the boreal forest they call “endangered”.

The areas are:

• Quebec – Broadback Valley forest
• Quebec – Montagnes Blanches forest
• Ontario – Kenogami-Ogoki forest
• Ontario – Trout Lake-Caribou forest
• Manitoba – Boreal Gem

“These Endangered Forest Areas are critical for maintaining healthy woodland caribou and biodiversity and are at immediate risk of destruction,” says Catharine Grant, Greenpeace Canada forest campaigner. “Without an effective vehicle for Boreal forest protection, these areas are open to logging with little or no protection yet are of significant social and cultural value.”

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Save the Ontario Ranger Program – Help Us Help Youth Rally
Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario – January 4, 2013 @ 1:30 p.m.

Today marks the beginning of the new year and for many people in Ontario and around the world this means a fresh start or making resolutions for 2013. For the youth of Ontario, the coming of 2013 means the end of a 68-year-old legacy. Normally, January 1st is the deadline for applications to be submitted to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources’ Ontario Ranger Program. This year the 17-year-old youth of Ontario will miss a chance to apply to experience this historical program because the Ontario government has decided that it is not worth it.

Started in 1944, the Ontario Ranger Program has been providing youth with a work and education experience like no other. With 13 work camps spread across the province, thousands of youth have had the opportunity to live and work with their peers, learn about sustainable resource management, gain important life lessons and employable skills, and truly have a summer that they will never forget. With the Ontario government’s decision to close the Ontario Ranger camps, this important youth opportunity will be no more. This means the loss of hundreds of jobs for youth and an economic loss for the small communities close to where the camps were based. Most importantly, this means the loss of thousands of hours of work done for community groups and organizations that do not have the people power to complete them, which could mean a loss of services to the communities nearby.

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Island Timberlands is temporarily withdrawing its crews from Cortes Island in British Columbia.

A week ago, protesters gathered on the island to block Island Timberlands from moving in logging equipment to harvest the company’s privately owned and managed forest.

The protectors said they have tried for years to work with the company to develop an ecosystem-based approach to forestry, but feel they have not been successful.

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For the third straight day, Island Timberlands was unable to log on Cortes Island due to a blockade of protesters.

Cortes Island is located in British Columbia, between Vancouver Island and the mainland.

The protesters are environmentalists and residents of Cortes Island including a growing number of children.

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In light of today’s protest by members of the Algonquin First Nations in front of Resolute Forest Products‘ headquarters in Montreal, Resolute Forest Products wishes to provide clarity about its ongoing woodlands operations in the Barrière Lake area located in the Outaouais region of Quebec.

The wood volume allocation near Barrière Lake was granted to Resolute by the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife (QMNRW) under the terms of the Forest Act of the province of Quebec. This wood allocation supplies the company’s sawmill located in Maniwaki.

As per rulings issued by the Supreme Court of Canada, the QMNRW has developed and implemented a consultation process with First Nations communities that must be completed before any cutting permit can be authorized. Resolute’s right to harvest in the area has been approved by the QMNRW, following appropriate consultation with the Barrière Lake Algonquin band council.

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