As Creatively United’s media person, I have spent a large part of the past year learning about all things old-growth and Fairy Creek. I follow all the essential accounts (see @fairycreekblockade and @rainforestflyingsquad for on-the-ground updates), I have gathered and consolidated information about old-growth logging and the Indigenous relations in the area and I have been keeping up on all of the news regarding NDP government announcements, legal cases and new arrests from Fairy Creek. I have gotten the chance to attend some solidarity protests in “Vancouver” and “Victoria”. Despite all this, I have been feeling like an outsider to what is going on, and this makes me question how I can properly report on what is happening if I have not seen it for myself. That all changed this week, and what follows are my reflections from a few days spent up at Fairy Creek.
On Wednesday afternoon, my friend and I pulled up to roadside and I began to take in my surroundings. The very first thing we did was help move firewood from point A to point B to keep it dry and ready for use. We were greeted with smiling faces and many thanks for showing up. Protestors especially lit up when I said that it was my first time at camp – they were always happy to have new supporters.
The next three days went by in what I can only describe as a daze. Our goal while being there for the short time we could be there was to be as helpful as possible. Unfortunately, our time constraints made it challenging for us to contribute to our fullest, but we managed to find some tasks to do – night watch, clean up/movers, and media – that seemed to be important work.
I’ll be honest, the pouring rain had a big influence on my experience. The second day we were there, we had to wait for a long period of time in the rain for certain core people to show up to lead the hike up the mountain and the actions for the weekend that would follow. As someone who is used to schedules and predictability, I found it challenging to wait around to participate in an unknown action. Waiting in the rain made matters more difficult because we had not even left for the hike yet and we were already drenched. After scavenging for garbage bags to cover every inch of our gear and bodies and waiting around some more, I realized that in the state I was in I would not be much help with the action once we got up the mountain. That night my friend and I ended up doing night watch of a camp not too far away from roadside. Here we met some lovely people, made s’mores, discussed politics and ways of knowing, and warmed up by a fire. It felt almost wrong to have such a lovely time knowing that a bit further up the mountain some serious action was taking place, but we were assured that our contributions as night watch were appreciated and needed.
The next day, we helped move gear between the camps, packed up our belongings and got ready to hike up the mountain to join the action. By the time we were ready to join, the hard blocks were already established, but we were hoping to spend the night up there in case more actions would take place and still wanted to show our support when the police came by standing with the protestors. Things did not work out the way we intended. After a 1.5 hour hike up the mountain, when we were just ten minutes away from the blocks, we saw a fleet of RCMP vehicles and extraction tools zip past us. We knew we might be too late, but we started to pick up our speed and got to the frontlines as quickly as we could. When we arrived, they had just set up the yellow tape and so we negotiated with the officers to let us in as media. There is strict separation between the protestor and media exclusion zones, and I was warned by an RCMP officer that if we were to leave our media zone and cross-over to really become protestors, it “wouldn’t look good” for us. So there we were, shivering, taking as many photos and videos as we could to try to do something to help. The second extraction went past the time it got dark and realizing that we were too cold to wait through the entirety of the second extraction (the fire was in the protestor zone, far from us), and knowing we had to leave early the next morning, we decided to change our plan and hike back down the mountain. When we got to the bottom we gave updates to those who asked us, made some hot food and left behind some food and donations, slept in our car, and the next morning we headed back to Victoria.
Evaluating my experience as a whole, a few words come to mind: beautiful, troubling, and organized chaos.
The people and the forest are beautiful. Being up at camp gave me so much hope in humanity. Everyone shared everything. The camps were overflowing with donations from the community. People who come up have open minds and open hearts, to each other and to whatever they might experience. I heard the words “I love you” uttered more times there than I have heard in years. I was reminded throughout this experience of the meaning of kinship. And these people are extremely resilient. The creativity that goes into the actions they take and the camps they set up are incredible. They are dedicated to the cause. Many are willing to put everything on the line – their bodies, minds and spirits are invested in this space. I have endless amounts of respect for the many protestors who have been up at Fairy Creek for months on end.
The forest is absolutely breathtaking. At several moments I was overwhelmed by the sensation of fresh air and cool mist. When we hiked up the mountain, the rain on my skin felt impossibly good. I was definitely cold (also mostly my fault for not having proper gear) but I also felt refreshed. Overlooking thousands of trees also put everything into perspective. This forest is so valuable, and we need to keep doing everything we can to protect it.
The experience was also troubling. It is terrifying sneaking around the RCMP and when they do talk to you, while some are quite nice and try to be reasonable, others are condescending and intimidating. It was much more difficult than it should have been to get to access the frontlines as media. Even when we were provided with a zone closer to the extraction, it was still too far to see things in detail and the RCMP would often stand directly in front of where we were trying to take photos and videos. I doubt that this was unintentional. It was also troubling hearing about some protestors’ experiences. Unlawful arrests. Uncertainty with what would happen to them after their court dates. Infections and exhaustion. Failed missions. Feeling guilty when they did take time off. If it wasn’t clear to me before, it certainly is clear now that being up at Fairy Creek right now is no utopia.
Finally I would describe my time there as organized and chaotic. I say this because I do believe that there was more planning that took place between the core protestors than what was communicated to us, for safety reasons and because it’s hard to predict exactly what will be needed day to day there. What I would advise for anyone going up for a shorter amount of time is to be open to doing whatever is needed, whenever it is needed. Of course, this is harder for some than others depending on priorities like having a family, school, or job that limits what you can do, but even in those cases there is a place for everyone to contribute at Fairy Creek, and even if you cannot be on the frontline and getting arrested, whatever you can do will be appreciated.
Whether you have been up to Fairy Creek for a day, week, month or several months, we invite you to share your experience on our community blog. Tell us your story and share your photos and videos (but remember to avoid sharing anything that has people’s faces in it unless they have consented to you posting the content).
If you are able, I urge you to go up to Fairy Creek even if it’s just for a day – and Monday, November 15th is a day they will need lots of bodies as many core members of the frontlines will be in court that day. If you are unable to make it to Fairy Creek, you can support protestors by going to our resource page, where you can find emails and phone numbers for MLA’s and MP’s to contact.
