Forestry protesters tried smoke on the water as they attempted to disrupt industry on Nanaimo含羞草研究社檚 waterfront this week.

Extinction Rebellion Nanaimo held a protest at the Port of Nanaimo wharf and Port Drive on Tuesday, June 22. XR member Howard Breen, accompanied by kayakers, swam out to the log booms next to a cargo ship being loaded with raw logs, set off a smoke bomb, and tried to disrupt the loading of the vessel by super-gluing himself to one of the logs next to the ship. Protesters on land, meanwhile, blocked traffic on 1 Port Drive.

含羞草研究社淲hat we wanted to do is clearly show our concern about the larger issue of exporting B.C. jobs and connecting that to the old-growth strategy,含羞草研究社� Breen said.

He questioned the provincial government含羞草研究社檚 intentions to try to modernize the forestry industry.

含羞草研究社淗ow do you do that without addressing raw logs?含羞草研究社� Breen asked. 含羞草研究社淲e含羞草研究社檝e heard a lot of talk about that over the years. Do we have to wait for our forests to burn before we begin to realize that our carbon sinks have to be treasured far more than they currently are?含羞草研究社�

Capt. Satinder Singh, Port of Nanaimo vice-president of marine operations and harbour master, said that while the incident ended up having a negligible impact on operations, but had the potential of 含羞草研究社渃ompromising the trade objectives of Canada.含羞草研究社�

He said in a statement that the port engaged the RCMP and 含羞草研究社渨ith combined effort and timely response, the individual involved was removed from the NPA waters and property subsequently.含羞草研究社� B.C. Ambulance Services was also on scene to provide treatment to the protester.

Const. Gary O含羞草研究社橞rien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, said an officer used nail polish remover to get the protester unstuck from the log. The protester was arrested and released on a promise to appear in court at a later date to face a charge of mischief.

Leah Morgan, Extinction Rebellion Nanaimo coordinator, was one of the kayakers participating in the protest. She said in the release that the B.C. government should expect 含羞草研究社渁n escalation in our disruptions含羞草研究社� unless it bans all exports of raw logs from old-growth forests, imposes higher taxes on log exports from second-growth forests and introduces policies to 含羞草研究社渄ecolonize含羞草研究社� B.C. forestry and accelerate the return of decision-making to First Nations.

The province, earlier this month, announced that it would honour the request of the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations and defer old-growth harvesting in the Fairy Creek watershed.

The province has also committed to adopting all recommendations from an old-growth review panel report last year.

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