1989-1990

 

One of the most contentious Canadian environmental protests in the 1990s revolved around the expansion of the Red Squirrel Logging Road into the Temagami region, which was home to 48% of Canada’s remaining old growth red and white pine forest. The section of forest slated for logging in 1998 is and has been the homeland of the Teme-Augama Anishnabai for over six thousand years. Logging has been allowed in the region –in moderation- for decades. The logging practices historically used in Temagami were selective, leaving undergrowth and younger trees, ensuring the swift recovery of the forest. The proposed new logging road, and the new techniques of clear-cutting would have destroyed the forest. Indigenous and environmental groups alike were outraged. 

 

Protest actions in Temagami, which included protesters blocking roads and chaining themselves to trees, were supported and encouraged by actions in solidarity from other areas across the province. In Kingston, protests took the form of local civil disobedience tactics targeting the member of provincial parliament representing Kingston and the Islands [1]. One of the most prominent pieces of action was the two-week long occupation of the office of the MPP from September 29th to October 12th, which led to twenty-nine arrests. [2]

 

This occupation was followed on February 22nd, 1990, by a rather novel form of protest. Kingston residents awoke to find notices in their mailboxes. These notices, written on official Ministry of Natural Resources letterhead, announced that a new logging initiative was coming not to the wilderness of Temagami, but to the streets of Kingston [3]. Nearly every sizable tree in their neighbourhoods was marked for removal with fluorescent tape [1]. Concerned residents were invited to call a number at the bottom of the letter, which directed them to the MPP [3]. Protesters again staged a sit-in at the MPP’s office, this time while the phones rang off the hook with calls from furious citizens [1]. 

 

Many of the protests led by the Kingston Temagami Action Group in those years formed the basis for larger, more widespread action in future rounds of protests. The infamous flyer hoax of 1990 was repeated, albeit on a much larger scale, on September 18th, 1996 [4]. This time, in addition to Kingston, these letters were pushed through mail slots in Guelph and Peterborough [4]. Kingston’s City Hall alone received approximately 500 calls the day the leaflets went out and The Ministry of Natural Resources, which was the number provided on the letter, was reportedly flooded [4]. While no group took official credit at the time, the actions were later attributed to the Kingston Temagami Action Group with the assistance of OPIRG Kingston. 

 

1. Anon. “The Municipal Logging Hoax” Retrieved from https://sniggle.net/tem.php

2. Lea, Michel. 1989. “Temagami Protest Ends,” The Kingston Whig-Standard.

3. Church, Elizabeth. 1990. “Tree Cutting Hoax Alarms Residents,” The Kingston Whig-Standard.

4. Outhlt, Jeff. 1996. “Area Environmentalists Recycle Tree Hoax,” The Kingston Whig-Standard.