Clayoquot Protesters were Leaders, says B.C. Minister
Last updated: Friday 29 January 1999
THE VANCOUVER SUN NATIONAL NEWS
Clayoquot protesters were leaders, says B.C. minister
DIRK MEISSNER
VICTORIA (CP) - More than 800 people arrested in Canada's largest act of civil disobedience at Clayoquot Sound were called leaders by a former enemy.
Cathy McGregor, B.C.'s environment minister, said the protesters played a significant role in convincing governments to apply Thursday to have Clayoquot Sound designated an international biosphere reserve.
The pristine area on Vancouver Island was the site of massive environmental protests in the summer of 1993. More than 800 people were arrested as they attempted to stop loggers from harvesting old-growth rainforests in Clayoquot Sound.
The NDP government of former premier Mike Harcourt permitted logging in the sound and was a frequent target of environmentalists. "They (the protesters) were certainly the leaders in getting us to a point where we could make a consensus decision on how to manage the sound," McGregor said.
"I think we ought to acknowledge that they had a very important role in that."
But some of those people say more needs to be done.
Federal, provincial and local governments, including aboriginal nations, officially applied to the Canadian Commission on Thursday for UNESCO to nominate Clayoquot Sound as a biosphere reserve.
A biosphere reserve is an area designated as representative of an important ecosystem. Each reserve is intended to serve as a model for sustaining economic, social and cultural development.
"Most of the rainforests across the globe have disappeared and so rainforests in British Columbia are particularly significant," McGregor said.
"Environmental groups have identified coastal rainforests as one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet." A spokesman for an environmental group involved in the Clayoquot blockades said he accepts McGregor's compliment, but there's work to be done in Clayoquot Sound.
"The vision that those people got arrested for still has not come to fruition," said Sergio Paone, Friends of Clayoquot Sound spokesman.
Areas of Clayoquot Sound that are currently untouched are still susceptible to some logging despite the biosphere reserve designation, he said.
Ucluelet mayor Bill Irving was less complimentary to the environmental protesters. His tiny west coast community has been ravaged by downturns in forestry and the fishery.
The biosphere designation is due less to the protests and more to governments and citizens working together to find a better way to manage the local economy, Irving said.
Adriane Carr, Western Canada Wilderness Committee spokeswoman, said the people arrested at Clayoquot Sound were ahead of their time.
"What it really means is that the concern and passion of those people who did stand on the line in Clayoquot Sound was in fact validated. They saw a need to conserve the incredible beauty," she said.
The biosphere covers 350,000 hectares in the Tofino and Ucluelet areas of Vancouver Island. It includes the boundaries of Pacific Rim National Park.
Canada has six biosphere reserves. Clayoquot Sound would become B.C.'s first such reserve.
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