Publishing date: Jun 14, 2022  •  22 minutes ago  •  3 minute read  •  67 Comments Save Old Growth co-founder Zain Haq is warning of a summer of protests. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

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Twenty-one year old Simon Fraser University history student Zain Haq has spent nine days in jail, been arrested numerous times, threatened a hunger strike and now helps lead a band of climate change activists intent on ending the logging of old-growth forests in B.C. by annoying the hell out of people stuck behind their highway blockades.

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“The plan is to keep escalating until the government agrees to a meeting to discuss legislation to stop old growth logging,” said Haq, on the day 14 protesters were arrested and one hurt during the blockade of three major highways. “Every single day we will be disrupting the highways in multiple locations both on the island and in Vancouver. It will be on the scale of today or larger.” Haq was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and said his climate change activism was influenced by deadly flooding and heat waves in the region when he was young. His primary concern is food security. The intense yet amiable young man is also influenced by his history studies, in particular the civil rights movement in the U.S. “We have been looking at history and seeking inspiration from past movements,” Haq said.

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“In the 60s you had the Freedom Riders campaign where people were demanding the desegregation of interstate buses in the south. “They would get on buses, black and white people sitting next to each other, and they would be pulled out and get beaten up by the public, then sent to the hospital and then thrown in prison. “They had to do that for a few months until interstate buses were desegregated in the south.” Haq is one of five coordinators of the Save Old Growth movement – including Sophia Papp and Ian Weber. The movement spun out of Extinction Rebellion, where Haq began his activism as an 18-year-old helping to close the Burrard Bridge. He said the group had decided to focus on one topic – the logging of old growth forest – after a poll by Leger found 82 per cent of recipients in B.C. were opposed to the practice.

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“The idea is that this is a good test, the government must legislate the will of the people and 82 per cent is as broad a consensus as you can get.” On Monday evening following the day’s protests, Save Old Growth members were holding a workshop on non-violent resistance in a Vancouver park. Members of Save Old Growth offer nonviolent education training for anyone wishing to take part in what the group says will be daily blockades of Metro Vancouver roadways, photographed at Jonathan Rogers Park in Vancouver, BC., June 13, 2022. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG “If we disrupt the economy we should expect the public to be more and more hostile and the same with police and government,” said Haq. “We are prepared to suffer the consequences whatever they might be.” Haq, who has already been jailed for his role in the continuing Trans Mountain Pipeline protest and has been arrested at the Fairy Creek logging protest,  took part in another protest at the Supreme Court of B.C. on Monday. On Tuesday, Save Old Growth members targeted B.C. Ferries’ Horseshoe Bay terminal as part of its ongoing campaign. Protesters blocked westbound lanes of the Upper Levels Highway, causing major delays in both directions.

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Three people were arrested, said the group, which vowed to continue disrupting major infrastructure and highways until the government passes legislation to end old-growth logging in B.C. The group was behind the two protesters who ran on to the field at a Canada versus Curaçao soccer match at B.C. Place on June 9, and the dumping of manure in front of B.C. Premier John Horgan’s constituency office. On Monday afternoon, Minister of Forests Katrine Conroy said the B.C. government would continue to allow old-growth forest to be logged. Conroy said there were 11 million hectares of old-growth forest remaining in the province and that stopping old-growth logging would cost 15,000 jobs. Members of Save Old Growth offer nonviolent education training for anyone wishing to take part in what the group says will be daily blockades of Metro Vancouver roadways, photographed at Jonathan Rogers Park in Vancouver, BC., June 13, 2022. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG
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