(VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA) Friday, February 12, 1999 --- A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has given six members of the Nuxalk First Nation suspended jail sentences and two years probation for their efforts in preventing International Forest Products from clearcutting an ancient rainforest valley in the Great Bear Rainforest. The defendants, including Hereditary Chief Qwatsinas (Ed Moody), stood on a logging road for 19 days along with members of Greenpeace, the Forest Action Network and other environmental groups during a 1997 protest which stopped logging crews from entering the Nuxalk's sacred valley of "Ista".
Elders and Chiefs at courthouse, Feb. 12, 1999
British Columbia Supreme Court Justice David Vickers handed down the sentence today after the court heard a speech from Head Hereditary Chief Nuximlayc about Ista's importance to the Nuxalk culture. After hearing the story of Ista, Justice Vickers stated, "Perhaps the tragedy of all our lives is that we haven't shared these stories except in courtrooms."
The sentence comes at time when the government of BC has seriously weakened environmental protection regulations in the Provincial Forest Practices Code and has failed to enact Endangered Species Legislation even though the government's own scientists admit one in ten plant and animal species in B.C. are at risk of extinction.
"I am charged with contempt of court," Chief Qwatsinas told Justice Vickers. "Yet there is continuous contempt of our culture, our heritage, our lands and our rights. Logging companies coming to our land without our consent show contempt of our laws, our land, our people."
The six Nuxalk Nation members sentenced today are part of a group of 24 who participated in the June, 1997 Ista protest. In April of 1998 a trial was held for 18 non-Nuxalk activists who helped to stop the clearcutting of Ista at the invitation of the Nuxalk Hereditary Chiefs. Four of those individuals from Germany, Ireland, Belgium and Canada received 21 days in jail and the remaining 14 were given suspended sentences.
Ista, located on King Island near the central coast community of Bella Coola, is sacred to the Nuxalk people who believe it is the place from which all life began. Despite repeated protests by the Nuxalk First Nation and the environmental community, Ista continues to be clearcut by the logging corporation, International Forest Products.
Because 80 per cent of BC's rainforest valleys have already been impacted by logging, Greenpeace is campaigning in B.C. and internationally for a moratorium on the remaining intact rainforest valleys on the central mainland coast. Two logging companies hold the majority of licenses to log the last valleys of the Great Bear Rainforest ; Interfor and Western Forest Products.
"Someday the world will look back and wonder why people had to risk arrest and face jail terms for trying to protect these rare, ancient and endangered places," said Greenpeace forest specialist Catherine Stewart. "Until that day, Greenpeace will stand with the Nuxalk people and the ancient forests they have never relinquished."
Forest Action Network spokesperson Gavin Edwards noted that "It is outrageous that as we approach the end of the millenium the B.C. Government and the logging industry are still attempting to criminalize First Nations people for fulfilling their responsibilities to protect their lands and forests."
Note to Editors:
Chief Qwatsinas was sentenced to 45 days in jail and the sentence was suspended. Warren Snow, Harry Schooner, Emily Johnny, Collette Schooner and Ernie Tallio were sentenced to 21 days in jail, sentence suspended. All defendants received two years probation and must sign an undertaking to keep the peace.