Workers and forest communities are facing the devastating consequences of cascading mill closures as another forest fire season approaches. The answer is not more old-growth logging, but instead to invest in an Indigenous-led just transition to sustainable jobs that will restore land, improve community safety and uphold First Nations Title and Rights.

Advocates from Awi'nakola Foundation, Stand.earth and Wilderness Committee shine a spotlight on the Government of British Columbia’s ongoing failure to make old-growth forests off limits to logging and to implement a wider paradigm shift in forest management. Alongside constituents from across Vancouver Island, they will call on Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar to turn his focus away from meeting with logging industry executives, and to prioritize community-led approaches to protecting what remains of precious old-growth forests.

Stand.earth’s satellite monitoring tool Forest Eye has identified over 38,000 hectares of old-growth forests destroyed by industrial activity like logging and pipelines in recent years, and Wilderness Committee has witnessed this destruction first hand on the ground. There is no more time to waste.

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Photos will be made available here for media use throughout the rally.

For more information, please contact:

Gigame Mak'wala | Chief Rande Cook of Ma'amtigila First Nation and Founder of the Awi'nakola Foundation
+1-250-704-6777, rande@awinakola.com

Tobyn Neame | Forest Campaigner, Wilderness Committee (English)
+1 403-461-5151, tobyn@wildernesscommittee.org

Tegan Hansen | Senior Forest Campaigner, Stand.earth (English, French)
+1 250-354-3302, tegan@stand.earth

Kathryn Semogas | Communications Specialist, Stand.earth (English)
+1 905-536-3800, kathryn.semogas@stand.earth