VIDEO: Old growth protests to pause after month of highway disruptions in Nanaimo

Two people were arrested during Monday’s demonstration which saw one member of the group attempt to superglue his hand to the roadway.

Howard Breen, a 68-year-old Nanaimo man and a 47-year-old Denman Island woman identified only as ‘Octopus’ are facing charges of mischief, intimidation and breach of an undertaking.

One demonstrator attempted to superglue their hand to the roadway, however were stopped by RCMP, during a protest at the Terminal Ave./Commercial St. intersection on Monday, Jan. 31. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

It followed similar sit downs on the Trans Canada Hwy. through January at Milton St., Comox Rd. and Cranberry Ave. in Chase River.

Nanaimo RCMP confirmed nine arrests were made during those incidents. All were later released pending charges.

The group is taking exception to what they say is a broken promise from B.C. Premier John Horgan during the 2020 election campaign.

They say Horgan has failed to fully adopt recommendations from a panel which called for massive changes to how B.C. deals with old growth forest.

In the months since the election, the government has signed logging deferrals for sections of old growth in a bid to buy more time to figure out a long term direction.

Deferrals were included in the panel report, along with 13 other recommendations which included a formalized forest management framework and immediate response to areas deemed at very high risk.

But protesters say it’s not enough.

“They’re still logging, the trees are falling, there’s very few of them,” Brice said. “We need them, we’re in a climate emergency and we need the old growth to help moderate the atmosphere and they’re cutting them down as fast as they can.”

Demonstrations over the last four weeks haven’t brought about the immediate change demanded.

Save Old Growth point to some immediate successes, including what they claim is an increase in support from the general public through a larger social media presence.

Brice said their accounts were “up quite a bit” since the start of the month.

As of Monday, Jan. 31, a combined audience on the group’s social media platforms totalled just nearly 4,700 people primarily from Instagram and TikTok.

The apparent support online is not necessarily mirrored in person during demonstrations in Nanaimo or other locations along the highway from chapters in Victoria, Vancouver or Revelstoke.

Save Old Growth block southbound lanes of Hwy. 1 in Chase River on Thursday, Jan. 27. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

During the group’s highway blockade at Cranberry Ave. on Thursday, Jan. 27, several vehicles shouted aggressively at members on the road, while at least two were seen driving aggressively at or around the protest in the southbound lanes.

“Unfortunately the people we inconvenience here are not happy, I understand that…but the inconvenience the drivers are experiencing is minor compared with what’s going to come at us down the road in the future if we don’t start doing things differently,” Brice said.

Save Old Growth are pausing their actions until mid-March, then they will return with “more gritty” activities according to Brice.

“The bigger the road, the better. It’s all about profile and raising awareness and if we block a side street, we might feel good but it really doesn’t do much.”

The group also said they will use the downtime to recruit and train more volunteers to participate in road blockades in the future.

— with files from Jordan Davidson

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alex@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley

by Alex Rawnsley

VIDEO: Old growth protests to pause after month of highway disruptions in Nanaimo

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