Forest City urged to join fight over old growth forest in B.C.
A rally in Victoria Park called on Londoners to voice opposition to logging inside an ancient forest on the west coast of Canada.
People have been camped out in the Fairy Creek watershed since last August to defend what they describe as the last unprotected old growth forest on southern Vancouver Island.
London-native Jamie Ranney has just returned from the front lines.
“The thing that touched me the most being there was just reconnecting with nature because you can get so disconnected in the city,” Ranney tells CTV News London.
Ranney joined members of Climate Action London outside the entrance to Ribfest on Friday to educate Londoners about the protest occurring half a country away.
And that the Forest City has an interest in the health of forests in B.C.
“We have seen already this year all the smoke that arrived here from the forest fires across Canada,” says Mary Ann Hodge of Climate Action London.
Logging company Teal Jones holds the license for the watershed, and has previously stated a belief that 200 hectares of the 1,200 hectares are harvestable.
Ranney says the old growth forest in the Fairy Creek watershed took a thousand years to grow, storing carbon from the atmosphere.
“The carbon that these forests store is unlike any forest we have in Canada, and certainly nothing like a replanted forest,” she says.
Tensions heated up this spring when a court injunction forbid protestors from preventing access.
The RCMP have made more than 400 arrests.
Climate Action London says concerned people in our region should contact their member of parliament.
Ranney hopes her hometown will step up.
“Getting the word out, telling friends and family about this is going to help our fight.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.
Humanist group threatening to sue Vancouver over council prayers
The B.C. Humanist Association has threatened legal action against the City of Vancouver for allowing prayers at council, following a similar warning issued earlier this month to a smaller community on Vancouver Island.
LHSC performs a Canadian first in robot-assisted direct lateral spine surgery
Spine surgery may never be the same for people with chronic back pain and other physical ailments.