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• Read
the Winnipeg Free Press article from February 11 on
logging in provincial parks
Click
here to read the article about the devastation
currently happening in our provincial parks. |
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• Expedition
encounters devastation in provincial park
Click
here to read about a Wilderness Committee trip
to Nopiming Provincial Park |
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• Read
a letter written to the Leader about the East Shore
Wilderness Area.
Click
here to read the January 11, 2008 Lac du Bonnet
Leader article |
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• A new
Wilderness Committee educational report released:
Western Canada’s Provincial Parks: How does
Manitoba measure up?
Click
here to read the educational report. |
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• Read
an exceptional Free Press article on how Manitoba
Provincial Parks measure up to others in Canada.
Click
here to read the November 27, 2007 Winnipeg Free
Press article |
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• Wilderness
Committee refused answers at Tembec's public consultation
Open House
In October of 2007 Tembec
held an Open House in Winnipeg, a required public
consultation component for their Forest Management
License. The Wilderness Committee attended the event
in order to ask Tembec questions about their plan.
What we discovered was that Tembec refused to answer
any questions for us.
Click
here read about the analysis of Tembec's 20-year
clearcut logging plan for Nopiming Provincial Park
and Forest Management License 1 |
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• Implement
Amnesty International Recommendations on Indigenous
peoples, urges Wilderness Committee
The Wilderness Committee
is asking the Ontario government to abide by an Amnesty
International recommendation to halt logging on the
traditional territory of Asubpeeshoseewagong Netum
Anishinaabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation) in northwestern
Ontario. Grassy Narrows have been asking that clearcut
logging in their traditional territory be halted,
and have been maintaining a protest blockade of a
logging road since 2002. Logging corporations Abitibi
Consolidated and Weyerhaueser are continuing their
industrial operations with approval from the Ontario
government.
Amnesty International released a preliminary report
on September 20 about the ongoing concerns with human
rights violations against indigenous peoples of Canada.
The report centered on Asubpeeshoseewagong Netum Anishinaabek,
but stated that the situation with Grassy Narrows
was by no means unique in Canada.
The first recommendation for the Ontario government
in this report was: "Respect the wishes of the people
of Grassy Narrows and implement an immediate moratorium
on logging and other industrial development in the
traditional territory unless and until, free, prior
and informed consent has been given."
As mentioned in the Amnesty International report,
Supreme Court of Canada decisions make it clear that
no activities shall continue on disputed lands until
conflict resolution is achieved.
Amnesty International is a well-respected non-partisan
organization known for protecting human rights in
developing countries. This is only the second time
Amnesty International has had to issue a report about
human rights violations in Canada.
"This is a clear situation of the Ontario government
allowing profit-driven corporations to devastate the
traditional territories of the Grassy River First
Nation, against the wishes of the Grassy Narrows people,"
said Eric Reder, Wilderness Committee Campaign Director
in Manitoba. "This is a black mark on Canada, and
we must respect international conventions on human
rights and put an end to unauthorized clearcut logging
of their home territory."
Click
here to visit the Amnesty International Canada
site and view the report: The
law of the land: Amnesty International Canada's position
on the conflict over logging at Grassy Narrows |
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• Manitoba
Hydro announces transmission line to be built down
west side of province
The Manitoba government
is to be commended for a strong stance towards protecting
our environment and the East Side Wilderness Area.
On Tuesday, September 25, Manitoba Hydro announced
they would be building Bipole III, their third major
transmission line running from northern Manitoba,
down the west side of the province rather than through
the East Side Wilderness Area. In news interviews,
Manitoba Hydro lamented that they couldn’t build
down the East Side because the provincial government
would not approve the plan.
The East Side Wilderness Area
is a global treasure right here in Manitoba. It
is the largest intact forest left in the northern
hemisphere, and the second-largest intact forest
left on the planet. This boreal region has been
nominated as a United Nations World Heritage site
because of its natural and cultural significance.
Recently scientists from around the world asked
that at least half of all remaining boreal forests
in Canada be preserved. The boreal forest is the
largest source of fresh water on earth, provides
us with clean air, and helps regulate our climate.
Preventing a major hydro transmission
line from bisecting this pristine boreal area is
a positive action from the Manitoba government.
Now we need the resources put in place so that permanent
interconnected protected areas can be established
on the East Side.
Act Now
If you have not taken the time to do so, please
click
here and send an electronic mailer to government
expressing your opinion about the East Side Wilderness
Area.
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• News
conference introduces new educational report on Fisher
Bay
Along with CPAWS and the
Fisher River Cree Nation, the Wilderness Committee
held a press conference August 29 to introduce a new
educational report, Ochiwasahow: the Fisher Bay area.
Many news outlets were on hand, and Manitoba Conservation
Minister Stan Struthers attended the event as a guest
speaker.
Said Minister Struthers:
“I’m very much looking forward, through
our provincial government, [to] working toward the
permanent protection of the Fisher Bay park reserve.”
Click
here to see images from the News Conference.
Click
here to see Ochiwasahow:
the Fisher Bay area educational
report online |
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• Read The Metro article
from August 16 on clearcut logging in Manitoba's provincial
parks
Click
here to read the article.
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• Read the Winnipeg
Free Press article on the release of the Wilderness
Committee’s Whiteshell provincial park clearcut
logging map
Click
here to read the article.
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• Wilderness
Committee releases map of logging clearcuts and forest
cover in Whiteshell Provincial Park.
After months of requests
to government, the Wilderness Committee in Manitoba
finally received some maps detailing recent logging
clearcuts in Whiteshell Provincial Park. With this
information the Wilderness Committee compiled a map
showing the logging clearcuts and the remaining forests
in the park. The new map shows exactly how few old-growth
forests remain in Whiteshell, and how many old-growth
forests have been fragmented by clearcuts.
Click
here to see the map. |
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• Read the Lac du Bonnet
Leader article about the Clearcut Provincial Park
action in Nopiming Provincial Park.
Click
here to read the article.
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• Read the Winnipeg
Free Press article on the launch of the Wilderness
Committee’s "Welcome to Clearcut Provincial
Park" direct action campaign
Click
here to read the article.
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• "Welcome
to Clearcut Provincial Park" direct action campaign
Beginning on the May long weekend,
the Wilderness Committee Manitoba will be
ramping up the campaign to stop logging in Manitoba’s
cherished provincial parks.
Through the rest of the summer at entrances to provincial
parks, the Wilderness
Committee will have information booths set up, explaining
the devastation being allowed
in our provincial parks, and what the citizens of
Manitoba can do to end the destruction.
Click
here to read more. |
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• Step It Up! on climate
change, urges Wilderness Committee Manitoba
| This Saturday,
April 14th, is an international day of action
on climate change, and the Wilderness Committee
is asking people in Manitoba to do their part.
Step It Up 2007
is the result of a groundswell of grassroots
public concern about climate change. In over
1,300 places across North America, people
are stepping up to tell governments that ordinary
citizens want real action on global warming.
Click
here to read more...
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• Read the Letter to
the Editor written in response to the Leader article
on Tembec's Lac du Bonnet Open House
Click
here to read the letter. |
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• Tembec Divisional
Forester in Washington Post article, boasting that
Tembec is protecting forest areas, lowering emissions
from Pine Falls plant.
The Washington Post charges
hundreds of dollars even for a non-profit organization
to reprint their articles. You can find the February
22 article entitled “In Far North, Peril and
Promise” online at washingtonpost.com.
Click
here to read the Letter to the Editor in response
to this article. |
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• Read the Eco-Journal
article on Forest Stewardship Council, Tembec, and
Nopiming Provincial Park
Click
here to read the article. |
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• Logging
Corporation Tembec pressures government to abandon
Wildlife Guidelines, threatening wildlife in Nopiming
Park
Wilderness Committee News
Release—February 15, 2007
Click
here to read the news release |
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• Read
the Leader article on the Tembec Open House in Lac
du Bonnet
Click
here to read the article.
Click
here to read the Letter to the Editor written
in response, published on March 2
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• Read
the Winnipeg Free Press article on the Wilderness
Committee / Tembec Open House
Click
here to read the article.
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• Wilderness Committee
confronts Tembec on logging provincial parks at
Tembec's Open House
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Manitoba
Director Eric Reder (left) waits in vain for
Tembec's Divisional Forester to explain Tembec's
outrageous plans to clearcut log in Nopiming
Provincial Park, in a proposed Ecological Reserve,
along the Manigotagan River, and in woodland
caribou habitat, while CBC television films. |
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Click
here to read more about the event. |
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| • Wilderness Committee
Manitoba on UMFM radio show on January 22, asking
for protection of our provincial parks. |
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• Success! Park reserve
protections extended on December 14.
With the help of the Wilderness
Committee, Goose Islands,
Grand Island,
Kinwow Bay,
Pelican Islands,
Pemmican Island,
and Sturgeon Bay Park
Reserves were protected
for another five years!
Click
here to learn more. |
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| • Wilderness Committee
Manitoba on CBC Radio 990 November 22, asking government
to protect park reserves. |
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| • New Wilderness Committee
Manitoba website goes live in November 2006.
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