Daily Miner & News

Grassy trio travel to Seattle for Weyerhaeuser protest

March 17, 2007 BY MIKE AIKEN

Three Grassy residents took their message to Weyerhaeuser headquarters in Washington State last week.

Maria Swain, Gloria Kejick and Warren Ashopenace joined environmentalists from the Rainforest Action Network, as they took over a model home near Seattle Wednesday.

"Enough is enough," Swain said in a press release, issued by the Rainforest Action Network. "Because of the clear-cuts, we can no longer hunt, fish, trap, or gather medicine or berries like we used to," said Swain, who traveled over 3,000 miles to be part of the demonstration.

The California-based group was also part of roadblocks in the Kenora area last summer. The activists say hardwoods taken from the Whiskey Jack forest are used in the local iLevel plant. Materials from the mill are then used as building materials for Quadrant Homes, a housing development near Seattle.

Organizers of the sit-in brought along a banner, which said "Weyerhaeuser: We'll Leave Your Home When You Leave Ours."

The press release said the demonstrators wouldn't leave, until the company cancelled contracts for wood coming from Grassy Narrows.

"Weyerhaeuser, the largest lumber company in the world, has the ability and the responsibility to stop the destruction of Grassy Narrows," said Brant Olson, spokesman Rainforest Action Network, in Wednesday's press release.

Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay said last week he was in close contact with Treaty 3 negotiators, as they worked to resolve issues surrounding wood rights in the area, which are also related to plans for the expansion of the Kenora Forest Products mill.

Weyerhaeuser officials have consistently said they are following provincial regulations, negotiations with First Nations should be conducted on a government-to-government basis and the company does not manage the Whiskey Jack Forest.

The wood rights currently belong to Abitibi.

The iLevel mill recently laid off 100 workers in January, as executives continued to deliver dismal forecasts for the American housing market for the next 18 months.

Three Grassy Narrows residents are scheduled to go to trial in Kenora in July, after they were charged in connection with last summer's protests. As part of their defence, the accused are claiming the court doesn't have jurisdiction.