Karen Smith and I just returned from a week or so in Temagami,
bobbing and diving in Paradise Lagoon, paddling some lovely small turquoise
lakes, mountain biking through the hills, saunaing and swimming under the
full moon, and continuing a hug-fest which a lovely old white pine and I have
been having for years. Pretty relaxing.
One day Karen and I were feeling a bit too mellow, so we thought we'd have
a quick run down the Island Falls and Ragged Chute section of the Temagami
River. Our take-out was to be the bridge just upstream of River Valley,
and while we were heading there, we talked about the strife in the area:
the river-left portage around Island Falls being blocked by felled trees;
Lise Fortin's canoe trailer being pelted with rocks when she drove through
town; Bill McCaffrey being assaulted in what has now become known as "The
Great River Valley French Fry War"; folks from Toronto being bussed up to
Temagami to be chained to heavy equipment, and the equipment operators firing
up their diesels just to watch the protesters vibrate for a few hours.
As we approached the take-out we passed a couple of "Bridge Out" signs.
We rounded the final corner and found ourselves in the midst of several police
cars, with body armored, armed officers coming out of the woods to question
us. The bridge had been blown.
I can't begin to describe my frustration over this sort of nonsense.
So many of us have worked so hard for so long. We have made substantial
gains that have affected logging across the province. Now that the Conservatives
had come to power, environmental protection had been set back a few decades,
but I perceive this to be a call for further efforts to educate the public,
to actively participate in the planning process, and to closely monitor logging
practices, not to blow up public highways.
We need to create solutions through negotiation, and this will never happen
until all parties are willing to listen to each other and to develop some
degree of trust. Bombing will not help. Environmental terrorism
is a blind alley. All it does is force people to take sides; to close
their eyes, ears and hearts to each other. It is wrong.