Lions Gate Bridge reopens after short protest
Posted April 6, 2022 8:23 am.
Last Updated April 6, 2022 8:32 am.
The Lions Gate was the latest Lower Mainland bridge to be shut down by protesters this week, though the demonstration was short-lived.
All lanes on the major crossing between Vancouver and the North Shore reopened just moments after several people walked on to block it off.
Protesters are speaking out against old-growth forest logging in B.C.
“Arrests are to be expected,” the group says in a release.
This demonstration comes just days after members of Save Old Growth closed the southbound lanes of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge during the morning rush, to speak out against the same thing. Other blockades were staged in cities across B.C., including Victoria. In total, the group says 13 arrests were made across the varying sites in B.C.
Related article: Ironworkers Memorial Bridge reopens, protesters arrested
Save Old Growth is urging the government to pass legislation to immediately stop all old-growth logging in the province, saying Wednesday’s protest is “part of an ongoing escalation to demand” the practice end.
“Legislative change to ban old growth logging is a no-brainer demand. We’re done being treated like children through meaningless deferral announcements,” said Ian Weber, one of the organizers.
Late last year, the province announced that it was consulting First Nations on deferring the logging of big, ancient, and rare old-growth trees across 26,000 square kilometres of forests in B.C.
The B.C. government says it’s developing, alongside First Nations, a “new approach to sustainable forest management,” noting deferrals are already in place on nearly 1.7 million hectares of old growth.
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