A "Conspiracy of Love" To Protect The Sacred
Logging company Teal Cedar sues Ada'itsx/Fairy Creek forest protectors
Donna Clark (she/her) is a third-generation Scottish and Irish cis-settler and hag, born and living on the lands of the unsurrendered Hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ & Skwxwú7mesh-speaking people. She does photography, writing, video and dishwashing in solidarity. Donna is a mostly-retired highschool art teacher.
One of 16, Donna is being sued by Teal Cedar, the logging company behind the ongoing battle at Fairy Creek.
One of the last intact watersheds on Vancouver Island with some of the remaining 3% of old growth trees left in the province, Fairy Creek, known by its ancestral name “Ada’istx” is unsurrendered Pacheedaht and Ditidaht territory.
This is her first-person account.
It was heartening to show up to a packed courtroom of support in Snuneymuxw (Nanaimo, BC), Douglas-treaty lands, and be surrounded by the warmth of human community, as well as the memory of our old-growth ancestors who, back in 1890, gave their lives to construct the courtroom itself.
When the BC Government promised to implement the 14 recommendations as laid out in the Old Growth Strategic Review three years ago, I was hopeful that the trees, and the ecosystem they support, would be protected—and that the First Nations would be compensated for loss of revenue.
But as the Government’s official deadline for themselves passed in September, they still have not fully implemented a single recommendation, including “to immediately defer [logging] on all at-risk old growth.”
Today I’m one of the defendants in a lawsuit by Teal Cedar (TC) against 16 Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek) forest protectors for conspiracy to allegedly economically damage TC through “blockading” and/or offering “blockade support” at Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek) between August 2020 and 2023.
Some of the defendants include Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones, Atleo Air—a Tofino seaplane company, Rainbow Eyes—a trained Indigenous Guardian from Da’naxda / Awaetlala Nation, “John and Jane Doe,” and me.
By including “John and Jane Doe'' as one of the defendants, this allows TC to add more forest protectors to the lawsuit at any time.
To date, over 1,200 forest protectors have been arrested and charged at Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek) while more than 100,000 people have been involved in supporting the blockade since its inception.
Who might be added next, of the 100,000 who “blockaded” and/or offered “blockade support?”
To file this suit, Teal Cedar submitted an Amended Notice of Civil Claim (ANOCC) that casts a wide net. Anyone having contributed in any way to the blockades, even those who donated money, could be included in the suit for conspiracy.
The question remains: What “conspiracy” did us 16 forest protectors, specifically, get together to undertake against TC’s economic interests?
TC didn’t have to cut old growth at Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek). They could have simply taken second growth. Instead, TC cut into 200 hectares of the pristine ecosystem being protected by forest defenders (after the defenders were forcibly removed).
Additionally, since TC has a four-year period to make their quota, there’s been no financial harm to them. Other than the millions of dollars they spent hiring rent-a-cops (private security) which seems redundant considering the paramilitary response, RCMP-C-IRG, sent in by the province.
Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones is unequivocal in his defense of the old-growth forests on his unceded lands, stating,
We cannot keep cutting our Mother Earth like this. Once these great forests are gone, they are gone forever… The government refuses to change their forestry policies, and Teal Cedar has stated in their ‘stewardship’ plan that they will harvest every last old-growth tree available to them.
The loss of every tree is an affront to my Indigenous rights, sovereignty and title, as it is to every Indigenous person. It is also a loss to all peoples, as we are as one, and we must learn to stand together as one.
Elder Bill has told the court that he visited his nation’s ancestral territory at Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek) throughout his long life for spiritual solace. He says, for him, the forest is like a cathedral.
Advocating for its protection has seemingly put him at odds with the Pacheedaht elected Chief and Council who have sold TC the rights to cut down the trees. The same elected Pacheedaht members who requested that the forest defenders leave their land.
This is a story too familiar to those of us on the ground.
Shawna Knight (Secwepemc), a forest protector, a ULRG (Unceded Law Response Group) Associate Commissioner, and Dzunukwa Society Board Member explains,
There continues to be a divisive narrative between elected Indian Act/Church Chiefs vs. Traditional-Hereditary leadership at Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek. The lack of community consultation and profit-sharing agreements have left Indigenous (people) powerless to fulfill their traditional responsibilities to the land and financially dependent on logging with no other options offered but to cut.
Lawyers representing 8 of the 16 forest defenders submitted applications to have their clients removed from the suit on the basis that there is insufficient detail on why they are being sued, stating that the ANOCC consists of a fishing expedition to obtain information about forest defenders in order to sue them.
This case appears to be a classic Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) suit. According to the US-based Public Participation Project, which also accurately describes the same problem in Canada, “SLAPPs are used to silence and harass critics by forcing them to spend money to defend these baseless suits.”
SLAPPS are solely intended to intimidate defendants by taking years in court at great financial expense. Defendants in these types of cases are often pitted against each other as they are required to individually plead their cases. To prevent or end SLAPPS, defenders of public interest often agree to silence themselves.
Although we in this province supposedly won a B.C. Protection of Public Participation case against SLAPPS on March 25, 2019, we are obviously still dealing with them.
A recent, local example of how SLAPPS work was the case of BC Hydro’s Site C lawsuit. Defendants were followed on social media, silenced and intimidated.
Ironically, this lawsuit has brought so many incredible people into my life.
Up until now, I didn't know most of the other defendants in this case. During our two days of court in Nanaimo, several of us stayed in someone’s home to cut costs and be together. We ate our meals and went to court together. This case seems to be creating bonds of kinship that wouldn’t have happened otherwise but may last a lifetime.
Angela Davidson, a.k.a. Rainbow Eyes, says it well,
We are braiding Natural Law with Colonial Law by standing up and protecting Mother Earth together. We heard the call of the forest. We know there is no price too high to protect the sacred old growth. So besides making music and art to touch and awaken hearts...into the courtrooms, political world and jail cells we go!
We do take this SLAPP suit seriously. And I wouldn’t go so far as to thank TC for bringing us together, but there certainly are upsides—particularly in a larger colonial and capitalist world that tries to isolate us all as individuals at every turn, including with this case. This particular SLAPP seems to be having some opposite of intended effects on us as humans.
Lie & log: where is the B.C. Government in all this?
In February 2023, 200-plus organizations across British Columbia, including the BC Union of Indian Chiefs, issued a declaration called United We Stand for Old-Growth Forests, calling on Premier David Eby and his government to fulfill their commitments on protecting old-growth.
In July, Stand Earth announced they detected the continued logging of old growth despite the lip service, or we could say “lies,” from the BC Government. Even since March 2023 alone they report that, “more than 3000 hectares of old-growth forest…have been identified as logged, with no sign that the destruction is slowing.”
While Sierra Club of BC reports that, “The double whammy of industrial logging and climate impact means that intact forests are shrinking faster… The survival of forests is in doubt in these areas, making it even more urgent and critical to save what’s left of primary and old-growth forest landscapes.”
One can’t help but wonder if this TC civil suit—a SLAPP suit—could have been avoided if the government had followed through with its promises in the first place.
As of October 1st, we await Judge Thompson’s decision on whether or not Teal Cedar can proceed with the suit on these terms.
Meanwhile, TC’s injunction ran out on September 26th at midnight so we’re also waiting to see if TC gets their injunction renewed and if RCMP-C-IRG presence on-the-ground continues.
It remains an honour to do this work on behalf of Mother Earth and alongside so many other forest protectors, particularly Indigenous land protectors who have so disproportionately done this caretaking work since time out of mind and currently on behalf of all of us.
In the words of Shawna Knight, “To uphold and honour Indigenous rights and be engaged in Aboriginal land issues is not ‘eco-extremism.’ We are not enemies of progress, we are warriors that understand the responsibility we have to the next 7 generations.”
And as Elder Bill says, with hopeful confidence: “We will have our conspiracy of love transformed into a court victory.”
It is a “conspiracy of love” because we forest defenders actively protect and care for those who we love and respect so much: ancient trees and all our relations who depend on their well-being and existence.
Prayers up. Teal/Cedar down. All my relations.
Follow Kati @mr.georgejim on Instagram to learn more about the Indian Act Chief and Council system, and to keep eyes on their ongoing tree-sit. Stay up to date by following @fairycreekblockade @abolishcirg @aunty_rainboweyez @bmorinstories @stand.earth @sierraclubbc @decolonialsolidarityvancouver and Donna.
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It's not easy to read about this ludicrous law suit but I'm so glad that there are connections being made through the process that help those involved feel supported. Do we know when the next court date is? I can try to come to the courthouse and show my support. Big love to all the forest defenders <3