Blockade forces layoffs

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The logging blockade in northern Saskatchewan has forced one forest-related business to lay off all 40 of its employees because protesters won't allow company trucks into the area for cutting.

"We tried to talk to (the protesters) to let us go in and they told us 'nobody goes in'," said Lamont Heppner, president of Heppner and Sons Pulp Ltd., a pulp delivery contractor for Mistik Management.

"We only get paid for the wood that is delivered. I still have wood in that area."

Heppner said the layoffs are temporary. All of the company's employes live in or nearby Meadow Lake.

The blockade on Highway 903, about 65 km north of Meadow Lake, was put up more than two months ago by members from three communities.

The protesters fear clear-cut logging in the region could damage the environment and want to stop timber harvesting practices they say limit employment opportunities.

Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki paid a recent visit to the blockade, which stayed up despite an armed police attempt to break up the protest and about 30 trespassing arrests.

"I don't need to tell you as a scientist this is wrong. You don't treat Mother Earth like this," the Vancouver-based biologist and broadcaster said after a two-hour tour of cutting sites.

"The problem is economics must subsume everything else. Because of economics we are driven to destroy the earth. But what about the quality of air, the earth, the soil - how does that fit into economics?"

Meadow Lake Tribal Council vice-president Oneill Gladue blasted the environmentalist's visit, saying problems between the council and band members should be settled internally.

"I think it's really none of his business. I think we can settle this among ourselves," he said.

"Because he's a national celebrity he has other ideas. Anyway, I understand that was a way of promoting his book."

Negotiations between the protesters and the tribal council, which is a part-owner of Mistik Management, have not led to an agreement.

Gladue has said the council doesn't want to negotiate with members of the blockade.

He said the council is currently negotiating to create management committees in each of the nine member communities.