Feature story - July 26, 2009
Two teams of Greenpeace activists have been arrested for blockading the offices of the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources today to protest against the ministry’s approval of the destruction of the last remaining intact forest areas in the province.
Greenpeace activists block the front doors of the Ministry of Natural Resources which oversees destructive logging in the province.
The first group of eight activists blockaded the offices at 5 a.m. Some chained themselves to the front doors, others set up a banner reading “Boreal Forest: the Destruction Starts Here.” They also dumped a load of lumber made by AbitibiBowater, the biggest and most destructive logging company in Quebec, at the entrance to the building. This group was arrested at 1:30 p.m.
As the first group was being arrested, a second team of eight activists blockaded the two entrances of the building‘s parking garage. They locked themselves together with metal tubes around their arms. The eight were arrested at around 3:30 p.m.
‘‘For many years Greenpeace has asked the Minister of Natural Resources to take significant action to protect the Boreal Forest in Quebec,‘‘ said Nicolas Mainville, Greenpeace forest campaigner.‘‘ Instead of doing this, the Charest government has put forward a new forestry law (Bill 57) that, in its current form, will mean the further degradation of these forests and the eventual disappearance of woodland caribou.”
The blockade at the ministry offices has had an effect. Greenpeace will meet with Minister Nathalie Normandeau on Wednesday at her offices in Montreal.
‘We hope the Minister will commit to changing the law and preventing further destruction of the Boreal Forest by companies such as AbitibiBowater,” said Mainville.‘
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