A group calling for the protection of old-growth forests in B.C. is ramping up its campaign with a hunger strike and plans for more highway blockades next week.
On Friday, six more people joined Save Old Growth’s hunger strike on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, joining a supporter who has not eaten since March 25.
Two hunger strikers will be on the grounds of the B.C. legislature from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. most days, although they’re not expected to camp overnight. One plans to be in front of MLA Sheila Malcolmson’s constituency office in downtown Nanaimo, while the rest will be at Trout Lake Park in Vancouver.
The hunger strikers say they will only start eating after the group gets a public meeting with Forests Minister Katrine Conroy about the protection of the province’s old-growth forests.
Save Old Growth also says it plans to resume blocking the Trans-Canada Highway at various locations in the province on Monday. The group was responsible for staging five blockades in Victoria and Nanaimo in February.
The Rainforest Flying Squad group has also announced on Twitter the reopening of its camps at Fairy Creek near Port Renfrew to protest old-growth logging. More than 1,000 people have been arrested in the last year for violating an injunction against blocking access to logging in the area.
