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Environmental protesters rally outside Surrey mill

Roughly 100 protesters gather at Surrey saw mill Sunday to protest logging old growth forests in B.C.
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Members of Surrey for Future and other groups protest Sunday at Surrey’s Teal Jones sawmill against logging of old growth forests. (Submitted photo)

Roughly 100 protesters gathered outside a Surrey saw mill Sunday afternoon to protest against the logging of old growth forests in B.C., particularly in Vancouver Island’s Fairy Creek watershed, home to 2,000-year-old trees.

“There was good representation from Surrey for sure,” said Allison Richardson, a Surrey resident and leader of Surrey for Future. Protesters came from all over the Lower Mainland, representing climate justice groups like For Our Kids, Force of Nature, Babies for Climate Action among others.

Teal Jones saw mill is at 17897 Trigg Rd. near Surrey Bend park, across from Barnston Island.

“The more the government kind-of ignores the protests, the more people are joining,” she said.

Richardson said she expects protests to also be staged at MLAs’ offices across the province. Surrey for Future was planning Monday to deliver “a demand to introduce an immediate moratorium on old-growth logging” to Surrey-Newton MLA Harry Bains’ constituency office. Bains is B.C.’s minister of labour and was formerly the opposition critic for forests, “so he has some connection to forestry,” Richardson noted.

She said the provincial government is failing to offer support to transition loggers to “more sustainable” employment. “The government is ignoring them too. Either way, the social licence for this kind of activity has expired.”

Marian Hakze, leader of For Our Kids, said climate action is a “parenting skill in this day and age.

“I am simply trying to protect my kids and future generations from climate harm,” she said.



tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com

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About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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