C/D Blocks Social and Environmental Sciences - Today you're with Young in 115. A not so long time ago in a location not so far away...12,000 people showed up on the remote coast of Vancouver Island in the summer of 1993 for the Clayoquot Sound blockades. It was one of the largest acts of mass civil disobedience in Canadian history, with almost 1,000 people arrested in what would become known as the War in the Woods.
From the History of Social Change...
Tzeporah Berman is the former co-director of Greenpeace International’s Global Climate and Energy Program, Executive Director and Co-founder of PowerUp Canada and Co-founder and Campaign Director of ForestEthics. One of Canada’s most prominent environmental activists, Berman first rose to fame as coordinator of one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in Canada’s history, the logging blockades in Clayoquot Sound of 1993.
Valerie Langer co-founded Friends of Clayoquot Sound in 1979 ‘If we weren’t fearful, we could make change’
About 95 per cent of BC’s 55 million hectares of diverse forests are publicly owned. Priorities for the use of these Crown forest lands are developed through community based strategic land and resource management planning. The foundation of sustainable forest management in BC is the timber supply review through which BC’s independent chief forester is required by law to determine how much wood can be harvested from each of the province’s 70 management units. This process involves a detailed analysis of 200 year fibre supply projections, public comment and consideration of non-timber values, and it ensures that the harvest level is based on the latest information, practices and policies – economic, environmental and social. About 22 million hectares comprise the timber harvesting land base.
According to the B.C. government, 55 per cent of the province's 3.2 million hectares of old-growth forests — or 1.78 million hectares — are protected in parks and wilderness areas. On Vancouver Island, that amounts to about 520,000 hectares of forest that will never be logged. But much of what's left over falls into the timber harvesting land base (THLB) — forests that can be logged in B.C. At the moment, old growth makes up about half of what's logged on the B.C. coast and Vancouver Island.
Of course here we are again...
So, we've looked at creating awareness campaigns, we've looked at engaging stakeholders in discussions, and we've looked at voting. To start this week, I want to remind you about civil disobedience and protest. American abolitionist/author/philosopher Henry David Thoreau lectured on "The Rights and Duties of the Individual in relation to Government" from which came the idea of civil disobedience. His belief was that as a citizen you do have an obligation not to commit injustice and not to give injustice your practical support. According to Thoreau, this means that if a law is unjust, and the legislative process is not designed to quickly get rid of it, then the law deserves no respect and it should be broken hence being civilly disobedient.
So, for us a modern day example may be the Coastal GasLink Pipeline project (Gidimt'en Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation) or the Teal Cedar Products Tree Farm License (TFL) 46 and the Rainforest Flying Squad (RFS) protestors at the Fairy Creek old growth forest logging blockade. The Canadian chapter of the Sierra Club recently put an online poll on their website, to which about 1900 supporters responded. About nine in 10 felt “the climate crisis is so urgent that traditional legal campaigns are no longer sufficient.” They have chosen, however, not to practice civil disobedience. Should they?
From Janet Keeping in Civil Disobedience, Environmental Protest and the Rule of Law
The history of civil disobedience shows it has been used to advance some of the most pressing public policy issues of the day – for example, the right of women to vote, desegregation of the American South and the need to end Apartheid in South Africa. When legal measures – such as petitioning, legal marches and political campaigns – have been exhausted, people convinced their cause is just may resort to violation of the law to try to move the consciences of their fellow citizens. Currently, many Canadians believe the environmental crisis is so severe they are prepared to break the law to prevent further degradation, for example, by obstructing the construction of additional pipelines, or at least to support those willing to do so.
In “Almost Everything Is Black and White,” Greta Thunberg addresses the arguments
surrounding school strikes. She asserts,
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules. Because the rules have to be changed . . . It is now time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel
Your question to discuss, research and answer in a thoughtful manner is:
What does it take to make big societal changes come about? What are effective methods of showing “disobedience” to powerful people or organizations and should civil disobedience be used to protect old growth forests here in BC? If not, then how do you think we should draw attention to the intrinsic value and importance of old growth forests?
To end the day, we'll watch the Striking Balance Clayoquot Sound episode from the Knowledge Network - which a provides a nice overview of the War in the Forest (1990's and oddly enough today at Fairy Creek).
A Block Legal Studies - We'll continue with our trial procedure work today. There are basically seven steps in every criminal trial:
1. The case is called.
2. The trial begins.
3. The judge makes the “exclusion of witness order” if asked by either the Crown or Defense.
4. The Crown prosecutor presents the Crown’s case. Defense may cross-examine (question) each witness called by the prosecutor.
5. Defense presents their case by calling witnesses and possibly the defendant speaking themselves. The prosecutor can cross-examine Defense witnesses.
6. Both Defense and the prosecutor make closing submissions to the judge.
7. The judge makes a decision.
Witnesses must answer all questions put to them unless it is considered privileged. Privileged information includes:
i) discussions between a client and his or her lawyer in situations when the lawyer was acting in a professional capacity,
ii) any information tending to reveal the identity of a confidential police informant, unless disclosure is the only way to establish the innocence of the accused, and
iii) communication between spouses.
A witness is required either to swear an oath or to solemnly affirm that he or she will tell the truth. Section 16(3) of the Canada Evidence Act permits a witness who is able to communicate the evidence, but does not understand the nature of an oath or a solemn affirmation due to age (under 14 years) or insufficient mental capacity, to testify – as long as he or she promises to tell the truth.
The judge decides whether to admit or exclude evidence, as governed by the laws of evidence, case law, the Charter, the BC Evidence Act, the Canada Evidence Act, and the statute creating the offence. Evidence must be relevant to the facts in issue. The facts in issue are those that go to establishing the essential elements of the offence and any legal defence to that offence. Evidence may be presented with respect to other issues as well, such as the credibility of a witness, provided that the evidence does not offend the collateral evidence rule.
You'll need to work on questions 2 & 4 from page 200; questions 1 & 2 from page 207; and questions 2, 3, & 4 from page 211 of the All About Law textbook.
B Block Human Geography - Football (not soccer)
Not a Fan of Galaxy but the video below is a great example of how different countries announce and view football...and yes, Zlatan, I was entertained
Today's Fit...
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