Save Old Growth Movement Ends Road Blockades in British Columbia

In the In recent months, the group Save Old Growth has repeatedly paralyzed traffic on busy roads during rush hour, including Patricia Bay Road on Vancouver Island.

The Save Old Growth ancient forest protection movement in British Columbia announces that it is ending the obstruction of roads as a method of making its voice heard. Instead, the organization wants to turn to other tactics, such as raising public awareness of its cause.

Major traffic disruptions will end today, the Save Old Growth Board wrote in a short statement on Wednesday.

Other strategies will be used that do not x27;will not stop traffic. We continue to call on the government to take urgent action to permanently protect BC's remaining old-growth forests, it also says.

In recent months, the group has repeatedly paralyzed traffic on busy roads during rush hour in Greater Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo and Revelstoke.

These actions resulted in dozens of arrests and disputes with motorists.

A few weeks ago, the group even warned that traffic disruptions would continue until logging of old-growth forests ceases in the province.

On Wednesday, a Save Old Growth spokesperson said the group would not provide further information on the decision.

Torrance Coste, the Wilderness national campaign manager Committee, a group dedicated to the preservation of the forest and ecosystems, welcomes the desired new direction of the movement.

This is a time when everyone's participation is required and to hear that they're moving on to awareness, that's a good thing, he thinks.

The Wilderness Committee does not participate in or organize acts of civil disobedience, but does campaign to empower communities to lobby governments.

Torrance Coste nevertheless believes that it would not be surprising if civil disobedience continued in other forms on the issue of ancient forests.

The professor of political science at Simon Fraser University Stewart Perst believes that movements like Save Old Growth must have the support of large numbers of people to achieve the policy changes they want.

According to him, either the organization judges that the blockages have been successful in bringing more public attention to old-growth forest issues in the province, or the group has found that& #x27;it was alienating the population.

With information from Chad Paws on