Old growth protesters say activist injured after driver snaps support beam

Photo: Contributed

An activist blocking northbound lanes of the Pat Bay Highway near the Swartz Bay ferry terminal early Monday was taken to hospital after a confrontation with a driver, say protesters who were rallying against logging of old-growth forests.

Organizer Sophia Papp says a “frustrated” driver snapped a support beam to a platform holding a protester. “It was 12 feet high, so that person fell on his head and was taken to Victoria General Hospital,” she said. Sidney-North Saanich RCMP were at the scene and could not be reached for comment.

The man protesters say snapped the support beam left the scene, but his licence plate was recorded and video of the event was taken, said Papp. Police have not confirmed the event.

Save Old Growth blocked northbound traffic on the highway at 5:45 a.m. in their ongoing effort to push for legislation to immediately end all old-growth logging in the province.

“I’m deeply saddened and extremely upset,” said Papp. “I understand the frustration of people stuck in traffic, but compared to climate change destruction, it’s paltry,” she said.

Papp pointed to the more than 600 people who died in B.C. in last summer’s heat dome and the animals killed as a result of last year’s flooding, the result of climate change.

She said road disruptions will continue until the provincial government promises or passes legislation to protect old-growth forests across B.C.

“I don’t want to be here,” she said from the blockade. “I want the protection of our old-growth forests and I will leave here.”

At the blockade, two people were locked into a vehicle through piping into the trunk, while on another part of the road, one person’s arm was in a tube through an oil drum filled with cement. At 7:30 a.m., one protester was sitting in a police car.

At 7:40 a.m., DriveBC warned drivers to expect major delays between Exit 28 at Beacon Avenue in Sidney and Exit 31 in North Saanich.

In April, Forests Minister Katrine Conroy said the British Columbia government has worked with First Nations to defer logging across more than a million hectares of old-growth forests at risk of permanent loss.

Logging of a further 619,000 hectares of old growth has been deferred at the request of First Nations to protect wildlife habitat, at-risk species, salmon populations and cultural practices, Conroy said.

The minister said over 80 per cent of old-growth forests identified as at risk of irreversible loss are not currently threatened by logging, either because they were deferred, they were already set aside, or they’re not economically viable to harvest.