The Forest is the Frontline: Indigenous Youth Resistance to Industrial Forestry in the Pacific Northwest

Our forests along the Pacific Northwest Coast of so-called Canada have protected and provided for Indigenous Nations since time immemorial.

Our peoples have found community in their canopies, safety below their stumps and solace within their root systems. Building upon thousands of years of trust, care and respect for our rooted relatives, we see them braided along our bodies, carrying us in canoes, and sheltering our governance.

Canadian settler-colonialism enacts unprecedented devastation of Indigenous Coastal Temperate Rainforests through Industrial forestry practices that collapse Indigenous economies and turn living beings into commodities. Now, upcoming generations of Indigenous youth confront the last grab for our living forests.

This panel discussion is hosted by Indigenous youth land defenders who find themselves among the first generations unable to fulfill their cultural responsibilities of reciprocity and stewardship.

Panelists Ace Harry, Ta’Kaiya Blaney, Aya Clappis, Willo Prince, Denzel Sutherland-Wilson and Vienna Timothy will offer informed perspectives that address the root of industrial forestry and demystify BC old-growth activism, Indigenous sovereignty, and Indigenous futures for forests.

The event will run between 11:00AM-12:00PM December 11th, 2022 at ESPACE GÉNÉRATION VIVANTES Chaufferie (CO-R700) du pavillon Cœur des sciences 175, avenue du Président-Kennedy Montréal (Québec) H2X3P2.