Saguenay, QC — Greenpeace activists climbed the mooring lines of the freighter Jaeger Arrow on September 14 in an …
Saguenay, QC — Greenpeace activists climbed the mooring lines of the freighter Jaeger Arrow on September 14 in an attempt to block the export of wood pulp. The blockade was launched from the Greenpeace ship Artic Sunrise on the Saguenay River at the port of Saint-Fulgence, near Chicoutimi, QC. The Jaeger Arrow was carrying about 6,500 tonnes of pulp from the Saint-Felicien mill of SFK Pulp Fund to a Stora Enso plant in Germany. The environmental group was protesting what it claims are destructive logging practices in the Canadian boreal forest.
The eight activists were taken into police custody about nine hours after the action began and charged with criminal mischief. Nelson Wyatt of the Canadian Press quotes Greenpeace spokesman Richard Brooks: “When the blockade started, they stopped loading the ship with pulp. We managed to delay them for a whole day.” Greenpeace wanted to draw Canadian and international attention to the issue of the boreal forest and their contention that this logging threatens the habitat of woodland caribou. Brooks claimed victory despite the arrests.
Louis Leblanc, an SKF vice-president, said the Quebec-based company follows proper standards and would not give in, the Canadian Press reports. “The forestry industry is in crisis now and we don’t need this kind of action.” He noted that SFK does not have woodland operations but was targeted because it gets its supply from Abitibi-Consolidated and Bowater, which do have forest operations.
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