Saying he’s done his part to move the political needle a little and that it is time to accept the demands of loved ones, Nanaimo’s Howard Breen has ended his hunger strike on Day 31.
Breen, 68, a member of the group Save Old Growth, started fasting in order to pressure Forests Minister Katrine Conroy into a public meeting on protecting the province’s old-growth forests.
The meeting didn’t happen but Conroy did call Breen for a short conversation.
“I think we met our demand. Not so much in terms of the minister having the public meeting, but actually better than that, because I think we drew the minister out, well, the whole cabinet out on what they were prepared to do,” said Breen, noting the cabinet seemed willing to put his life and that of fellow hunger striker Brent Eichler at “death’s door” rather than commit to having a public meeting.
“As somebody that’s worked in the (non-governmental organization) field and had lots of ministerial meetings, we actually achieved very little compared to the resource lobbyists,” said Breen. “But we actually got more than we bargained for because by putting us at death’s door I think the minister has become such a liability for the Horgan government’s re-election.”
Breen said the strike and the pressure on government was all about getting to the truth.
“And the truth of the matter is there is no truth coming out of this cabinet,” he said. “My hunger for truthful political action is truly much greater than my hunger for food, and I think a lot of the constituents in NDP ridings feel much the same way.”
Breen ended his strike after experiencing cognitive decline and losing nearly 40 pounds. He was previously hospitalized after withdrawing from fluids on Earth Day.
Eichler, from Vancouver, ended his hunger strike after 33 days.
But the mantle has been picked up by Nanaimo’s Vic Brice, 68, who on Sunday was on Day 8 of his fast.
“I did it just to support (Breen and Eichler), to give us hopefully some critical mass. Actually, the real reason I did it was because Minister Conroy basically blew them off and that really disappointed me,” said Brice, who is on a diet of fluids and electrolytes. “And then she has the affrontery to go and have a great big meeting with the Council of Forest Industries. That pretty much shows where her priorities lie, when she won’t talk to regular constituents, but she’s happy to hob-knob with the forest people who are basically destroying our forests.”
Brice said he can only hope to have an effect.
“We’re running out of time so I’m willing to try it just because we’re running out of options,” he said, adding he may be putting his life on the line but it beats the alternative. “If we don’t change course our lives are all on the line. Six hundred people died in the heat dome last year. How many is it going be this year?
“So I’m going to do what I can to try and raise awareness of the fact that business as usual is not an option at this point. I’m willing to take a few risks to try and hopefully right the ship here.”
As for Breen, who is facing 12 charges and remains under house arrest, he intends to keep working to advance a climate-necessity defence for all non-violent climate and forest activists in the province.
Breen was most recently taken into custody after he super-glued himself to the doors of Royal Bank of Canada doors in Nanaimo, an action related to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project in northern B.C. He spent about a week in jail and is now under house arrest and $30,000 in bail conditions.
He was also one of three individuals who stood at the end of the driveway of the premier’s home in 2020, intending to make a citizen’s arrest to keep John Horgan from a budget announcement. Horgan wasn’t home at the time, and his wife was reportedly terrified. For the next few weeks, the premier denounced the demonstrators as crossing the line.
Members of Save Old Growth are among the about 1,000 people who have been arrested in the Fairy Creek watershed near Port Renfrew for allegedly violating an injunction against blockades.
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