Not racism, police brutality, or elections.
Logging.
“A string of protests against old-growth logging in western Canada have become the biggest act of civil disobedience in the country’s history,” with hundreds of protesters arrested, the Guardian reported on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 (read story here).
“At stake … are swaths of old growth forest on the south-western watersheds of Vancouver Island. These trees – towering western red cedar, Douglas fir and Sitka spruce – are often hundreds of years old, and are the few remaining pockets of original old growth forest,” the Guardian said, adding, “Most have been logged.”
The local indigenous community is divided over the logging and protests, in part because of royalty income they receive from loggers.
“The bitter fight over … Vancouver Island’s diminishing ancient forests” between activists and police has led to “the beating, dragging and pepper-spraying [of] demonstrators,” the Guardian said, adding, “Police have also come under fire for wearing ‘thin blue line’ patches, obscuring their faces, not wearing name badges – and for their attempts to bar media from reporting on the long-running protests.”
A B.C. judge has ruled the cops’ efforts to bar the media from the area is illegal under Canadian law.
Photo below: Clayoquot Sound, B.C., is a major target of loggers, and a focal point of anti-logging protests.
