The Clayoquot protests, also called the War in the Woods, were a series of blockades related to clearcutting in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia. They culminated in mid-1993, when 856 people were arrested. The blockades in the summer of 1993 against logging of the temperate rainforest were the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history until the 2021 Fairy Creek blockades.The Canadian Encyclopedia. Clayoquot Sound. Historica Dominion. Retrieved on: November 8, 2012.
The timber resources of Clayoquot Sound were attracting foreigners, stifling indigenous peoples's access to land and creating displeasure among locals. In the 1980s and the 1990s, government support of private company resource extraction allowed the industry to grow over time and resulted in the presence of logging companies in Clayoquot Sound The differing opinions between those groups led the First Nations to develop lobbying organizations and a series of negotiations over logging practices. In the late 1980s, the situation escalated when the Canadian forestry company MacMillan Bloedel secured a permit to log Meares Island.
From 1980 to 1994, several peaceful protests and blockades of logging roads occurred, with the largest in the mid-1993, when over 800 protesters were arrested and many put on trial. Protesters included local residents of the Sound, the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and Ahousaht First Nation, and environmentalist groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of Clayoquot Sound.
The logging protests and blockades received worldwide mass media attention, creating national support for the environmental movement in British Columbia and fostering strong advocacy for anti-logging campaigns. Media focused on the mass arrests of people engaging in peaceful protests and blockades, aggression, and intimidation from law enforcement, which served to strengthen public support for nonviolent protests.
Background The region had been populated by Indigenous communities for millennia before the arrival of colonial European explorers in the 18th century. In 1774, the first European to arrive in Tofino was Spaniard Juan José Pérez Hernández. Hernández and his crew recognized the potential wealth of the region's resources, such as fish and timber. Afterwards, several trading posts were erected and operated for a little over a century. In 1899, the first Catholic mission was built. Over time, the region's prosperity fluctuated similarly to many other frontier settlements, due to difficulty accessing the region from a lack of roads. In 1959, a logging road was built to Tofino, marking the beginning of the region's commercial exploitation of resources. This allowed the fishing industry to take off and by 1964, four hundred boats were tied up at the Tofino Harbor at once.
On May 4, 1971 an official dedication ceremony created Pacific Rim National Park in Clayoquot Sound. As a result, the originally unpaved logging road built in 1959 was paved in order to access Tofino. However this paving process started earlier on, as "Paving started in the late 1960s and was completed by 1972." Prior to this, logging companies had been investing into the region and with easier access, natural resources could now be exploited on a larger scale. As timber supply in the small operations in the Kennedy Lake and Ucluelet area began to diminish the logging companies' presence near Tofino increased. The new Pacific Rim National Park "was located within unceded Nuu-chah-nulth territory and went around reserve lands, thus denying those First Nations access to resources therein."
Beginning in the 1980s, what was considered 'unrestricted logging' provoked significant public protests. It began when MacMillan Bloedel announced to begin logging on Meares Island. Leaders of the Nuu-chah-nulth tribe rejected this proposal.
History of Indigenous Peoples in the Region The Clayoquot Sound is believed to have been continuously populated by First Nations peoples for over 5,000 years according to carbon dating of discarded clamshells. Currently, the Clayoquot Sound is inhabited by three First Nations: the Ahousaht, Hesquiaht, and the Tla-o-qui-aht. These three tribes are part of the Central Region of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations, and they share many common ancestral themes such as reliance on cedar, salmon, and whales. For Nuu-chah-nulth people, cedar serves as a vital source of heat and light, as well as being a key material in the production of "woven mats, clothing, utensils, longhouses, paddles and canoes." In addition, Cedar trees play a significant spiritual role in the life of the Nuu-chah-nulth.
Ecology and Wildlife of the Clayoquot Sound The Clayoquot biosphere includes a diverse array of ecosystems such as temperate coastal rainforests, rocky coastal shores, and some of the only remaining old-growth forests remaining in British Columbia. About 85% of the land in the region is considered temperate rainforest. The Clayoquot rainforests are predominantly made up of Western Hemlock, Western Red Cedar, Amabilis Fir, Western Yellow Cedar, Sitka Spruce, Pine, Douglas Fir, Yew and Red Alder. The region is home to over 300 vertebrate species such as black bears, cougars, minks, and grey wolves. In addition, endangered and threatened species such as orcas, sea otters, and auklets call the Clayoquot Sound home. According to the Institute for Coastal and Oceans Research at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, "The diversity of the terrain and habitat means that this area can support a denser population of many of these species than would exist in a mono-culture of coniferous forest."
Blockades and protests In 1984, the first opposition to logging companies in the Sound occurred, when members of Friends of Clayoquot Sound and First Nations groups set up blockades on the logging roads leading to Meares Island. The island was important to First Nations communities because it contained main sources of drinking water for the area. On Meares Island, "drinking water is sourced from reservoirs that receive an abundance of rain water filtered through the surrounding watershed." Then, the water is treated, stored, and delivered to the residents and businesses of Tofino.
Environmental groups like Friends of Clayoquot Sound and the First Nations communities were concerned with the logging companies' approach to resource management. The First Nations did not completely oppose all logging in the Sound; in fact, they acknowledged that their people had depended on the land's resources for centuries. Rather, they opposed the fact that the companies were pursuing short-term profits by extracting resources at maximum efficiency rates, with little interference from the British Columbia government.
When Macmillan-Bloedel workers arrived at Meares Island in 1984, they encountered a bigger blockade that included members of the Nuu-chah-nulth tribe, local environmental groups, and other supporters of their cause. To prevent logging operations from continuing, protesters declared the island a Tribal Park. Joe Martin, a Clayoquot band council member said of this protest: "It's the first time the whites and natives have gotten together on anything that's worthwhile." MacMillan Bloedel attempted to override this action with a court injunction, succeeding in their aims. However, in 1985 the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations acquired their own injunction to halt logging on the island, at least until the Nuu-chah-nulth's concerns had been addressed in the form of a treaty. This consequential 1985 injunction was granted in a 3 to 2 decision by a British Columbia Appeals Court. In the decision, Justice Peter D. Seaton stated, "It has...been suggested that a decision favourable to the Indians will cast a huge doubt on the tenure that is the basis for the huge investment that has been made and is being made. There is a problem about tenure that has not been attended to in the past. We are being asked to ignore the problem as [the province of British Columbia has] ignored it. I am not willing to do that." Justice MacFarlane echoed this sentiment and went even further, arguing for increased treaty deliberations: "The fact that there is an issue between the Indians and the province based on Aboriginal claims should not come as a surprise to anyone. Those claims have been advanced by the Indians for many years. They were advanced in [the Calder case] and half the court thought they had some substance... I think it is fair to say that, in the end, the public anticipates that the claims will be resolved by negotiations and by settlement. This judicial proceeding is but a small part of the whole process which will ultimately find its solutions in a reasonable exchange between governments and the Indian nations."
Throughout the 1980s animosity continued between these groups due to each side's respective injunctions, which were in contradiction with one another over the use of the land.
In 1992, Friends of Clayoquot Sound set up another blockade. In mid-1993, the most significant protests occurred. Introduction of the Clayoquot Sound Land Use Plan by Mike Harcourt's New Democratic government — which had campaigned on protections for Clayoquot and BC old-growth forests — sparked outrage among environmentalists and the Nuu-chah-nulth people alike. Environmental groups debated the amount and type of land that had been divided, but the First Nations, who composed almost the entire population of the Sound, were concerned that the plan did not consider their spatial, environmental, or economic practices.
In March 1993, initially-peaceful protesters gathered on the lawn of the BC Legislature in Victoria, calling on the NDP government not to allow clearcut logging in Clayoquot Sound. When the assembled officials entered the legislature and attempted to close the doors, however, protesters forced their way in; in the process, an elderly security guard was knocked down and injured his hip. The protesters then swarmed into the foyer chanting slogans, and attempted to force open the inner doors separating the foyer from the Chamber, pounding on the doors and walls and chanting slogans, leading to the breakage of an historic stained glass window. Staff and MLAs successfully barricaded the doors. Victoria Police Department officers eventually arrived and cleared the protesters out; as the protest dispersed, organizers passed the hat to gather donations to cover repair of the broken window.
During the mid-1993, nearly 11,000 people came to Clayoquot Sound to take part in the protests. Activists eventually gained the support of major organizations such as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club.Great Wilds Spaces: Clayoquot Sound; Flores and Vargas Island Provincial Parks, http://www.greatwildspaces.org/clayoquot.html In addition, "Tofino doctors, lawyers, business owners and town councillors joined forces with Nuu-chah-nulth leaders and nature-loving drifters like a Greenpeace campaigner known as 'Seattle Steve.' Money and legal aid started flowing in. So did supporters from Haida Gwaii and California, and media from all over the country." Every day for three months, protesters would gather and blockade a remote logging road, preventing vehicles carrying workers from reaching their sites. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police would then read a court injunction and carry or drag protesters into a bus, which would transport them to the police station in Ucluelet to be charged and released. By the middle of the year, the sheer number of people that had been arrested made it one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in Canadian history.