SYNC

ON SCREEN TEXT

PRETITLE

Drone trees

UPSYNC FROM PATRICK’S IV

Camchin

British Columbia, Canada

Patrick Michell:

When I was growing up my grandmother used to tell me that we lived here forever.

There’s this collective conscious knowledge that is handed down from generation to generation.

NAME CAPTION:

Patrick Michell

Chief of Kanaka Bar Indian Band

What you do to the land, you to do yourselves, that’s how I was raised.  

But since a child I’ve seen changes in ecosystems, I’ve seen less water, I’ve seen the trees struggling with drought and heat anxiety.

And if you abuse the land, Climate Change is a logical consequence.

This summer Canada endured a heatwave scientists said was impossible without climate change.

Source: World Weather Attribution Network

And this weekend temperature records could be shattered across the province.

A new all time record of 49.5 degrees celsius.

The hotspot of course Lytton British COlumbia.

Caption: Patrick's hometown of Lytton was engulfed by a wildfire.

Archive credit:

2 Rivers Remix

Archive credit:

Sunshine Liliane

Caption: Most Lytton residents have First Nation heritage.  Now they have nowhere to go.

UPSYNC OF DOT AND DAUGHTER

My youngest daughter Keya she’s always asking, “Soo the town’s burnt, Mum?” and I’m like, “Yeah. The town is gone.” She knows that but I don’t think it really clicks in cos she asks this every day.

All you’re left with is memories

Caption: Now the region’s divided.  Some are fighting to end deforestation which increases global warming.

WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE TO;

Now protestors have converged for the biggest environmental protest Canada’s ever seen.

Let’s make some noise for fairy creek

Rainbow eyes: We have fires all around the world which are destroying unprecedented amounts,

All we want to do is protect the old growth

 because we as humanity are on a runaway train of industrialisation and destroying huge amounts of our forest.

Reinforce the line, reinforce the line

Credit: Robin Y

Others want logging to continue.

WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE TO:

Others are fighting to protect their livelihoods.

They’re gonna tell us how forestry should be inBritish Columbia. You’re not from here, go home.

We’re trying to defend our livelihood.

 LIFE AT 50C: The Town that Burnt Down in a Day

GFX TITLE

Johanna at home

Johanna Wagstaffe:

My microphone, my computer. Because of the pandemic CBC set me up with all the gear

Location caption:

Vancouver, Canada

And I connect right to the studio. OK. Hi Ian.

Fellow meteorologists and I saw this potential for a huge heatwave event.

NAME CAPTION:

Johanna Wagstaffe

Meteorologist

Climate change means our summers are hotter and drier.

So the brush and the fuel dries out so much quicker and fires start and spread and get out of control so much faster

Scorching heat engulfs much of Western North America.

Today was the hottest day for much of BC.

And this weekend temperature records could be shattered across the province.

This is Portland, Oregon, at 46.1 Celsius.

And then we saw it park itself over British Columbia.

A big dome of high pressure has built across this part of Northern America trapping the air in place.

This heat dome sat and cooked everything underneath.

The village of Lytton reached 46.6 degrees Celsius yesterday.

The hotspot, Lytton, that broke all time hottest temperature records eventually ended up landing on 49.6 Degrees celsius,

that’s just over 121 degrees Fahrenheit.

And the next day, it went up in flames.

Dot:

As I opened the door it’s smoke everywhere.

Dot Phillips

Lytton First Nation

 It was like a, a big hit of heat, it … everything was orange and grey ash falling.

Dot’s home, shot by landlord Genevieve Bujold.

Dylan:

I felt like we only had minutes, seconds just to grab what we can.

Dylan Phillips

Lytton First Nation

Dot:

As we were like leaving those flames went from here, to as high as trees. Just seeing my home town in flames, all you’re left with is just memories.

Genevieve:

Our house is to the point of almost burning soon, so wish us luck.

Dylan:

I just kept going back into town cos I knew my landlord was still there so I started helping him to fight the fire.

Genevieve:

A helicopter came and dropped a bomb of water on the house, it’s still not safe. We’re literally probably the only ones trying to save our house, everything else around is burned. Finger crossed man.

Dot:

Pretty bad out there.

Dot:

Not even within an hour, everything was gone.

All you’re left with is memories.

Serena in hotel

Serena Michell-Grenier:

We had left the house in minutes before it was on fire.

NAME CAPTION

Serena Michell-Grenier

Lytton First Nation

We basically left with the clothes on our backs.

I was actually 8 months pregnant the day of the fire.

Let’s go.

He’s happy, he’s content.

I cried with relief when I found out we had a hotel that would accept our pets.

We have it secured until October 1st, but every time we renew we still don’t know if we can get it again.

Patrick: Theres a list on the side of the door it says there’s supposed to be 3 mixing bowls.

Serena: Oh yeah i was going to tell you you took too much stuff with you

Patrick:

 we lost our home, living with me at the time, was my daughter, Serena

were able to get a hotel room in Abbotsford

and we’ve been there ever since

NAME CAPTION:

Patrick Michell

Chief of Kanaka Bar Indian Band

Patrick Michell:

So what’s your plan for dinner?

Serena:

I’m just going to order in, I was going to cook but I’m really pooped, exhausted.

CAPTION:

Lytton has been an exclusion zone, but now Patrick has permission to visit his home for the first time since the fire.

Patrick Michell:

This is Judith and Ross Erckhart’s their house. There the former principal, lost her home.

This is the Lytton hotel. It’s fire escapes stayed up, as did it’s chimney.

The doctor’s office, the hospital, all to the right. Gone.

To the left we have St Barnabas Church, its rectory and a memorial parish hall, that survived, so somehow the fire did not get those three buildings. 

Okay.

So this is 167 (unclear) Road, 25 years we've been working in this property, one board at a time. 

One of the greatest memories of every one of my six kids and 16 grandchildren is this, and I don’t know if it's gonna live.  

Thought I'd lost all my tools. 

Hoh, a drill made it.  My sabre saw made it.  It's good to see you guys.  [LAUGHS]  I'm pretty sure the battery’s gone on this one. 

Some blame the fire on the  cargo train that ran past Lytton despite tinder-box conditions.

Source: on location info and news sites

REFERENCES IN HIGHLIGHTED SECTION BELOW ARE FROM DAISY’S DV 02 45 TO 0305

PATRICK: The people who’d been suffering got together.  And maybe some of them wanted to be angry.   Some of them wanted to protest.

(footage of protests beside the railway line).

NEW CAPTION;

An investigation found the train was not responsible for the fire.

Source: Transportation Safety Board

Patrick: (from DV)

It wasn’t the train that burnt my house down.  It was a byproduct of climate change.  HEat, drought, wind, created conditions that took one spark.  That one spark occurred and we lost our town.

GFX MAP LYTTON TO FAIRY CREEK

MAP TRANSITION LYTTON TO FAIRY CREEK

NEW CAPTION:

Protestors have converged on Vancouver Island this summer for Canada's biggest ever environmental protest.

Source: CBC and other news reports

Archive:

activists remain in Fairy Creek ready to be arrested in their fight to save old growth trees

UGC of protestors pushing against police:

‘hold the line’

UGC:

This was a fucking 1000 year old beech tree

UGC protestor on platform

Fly eagle fly

Chanting

Rainbow Eyes:

What’s happening in Fairy Creek is people of all backgrounds have come together to protect some of the last remaining old-growth on Vancouver Island, and not just Vancouver Island, the planet.

Name caption:

Rainbow Eyes

Anti-logging protestor

Old-growth logging protester

Fairy Creek is Pacheedaht First Nation territory; some members oppose the logging, but their leaders permit it.

Chanting: Thank you for helping us teach the police

25th June 2021

Rainbow Eyes was arrested for breaching an injunction against

Impeding logging activities.

everybody at Fairy Creek has been there long term

we know we’re doing the right thing,

Rainbow Eyes:

This past summer has been one that everybody’s talking about. My parents don’t remember it being this hot. Everybody’s comparing it down to Arizona, to the Southern states. We’re not used to seeing this kind of heat.

We must risk everything.  We must, there’s no sacrifice too great right now to save our planet.

Name Caption:

Rainbow Eyes

Indigenous forest defender

SYNC: look at that tree growing right out

Rainbow Eyes:

This summer in British Columbia has been one of the worst fire seasons.

PLACE CAPTION:

Cathedral Grove

Protected old-growth forest

Rainbow Eyes in forest:

The pathway’s right there.

An entire town burnt down and this is a whole section of forest that’s gone. I feel like it’s connected with the fact that we have zero respect for the trees.

We dont see cedars that big any more, like how often dou see firs with that kind of bark.

Rainbow Eyes:

I’m a member of the Da'naxda'xw-Awaetlala First Nation.

There are stories that when our people decided to cut down a cedar tree they would dance around the tree like years before they needed to harvest the tree. That would loosen the roots and prepare the tree to be fallen, eventually for a canoe or for their home.

That’s how much preparation went into it.

 And now we just like cut them down you know in a matter of minutes.

New caption:

Old-growth forests help fight climate change; they store carbon and keep areas cool.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whatonearth/why-old-growth-forests-are-an-ally-in-fighting-climate-change-1.6088794

Source: Canadian Forest Service

We know our forests help us clean our air and it’s an exchange. We know that the old-growth trees help on a bigger scale, we know that their roots go deeper into the ground. They help the trees around them. 

140,000 hectares of old-growth forests are logged each year in British Columbia. 

Source: British Columbia Government

NEWS READER

The company that holds the logging rights for that area is speaking out.

JACK GARDNER | TEAL JONES

Over 70% of the province’s old-growth is protected

CARL SWEET | B.C. FORESTRY ALLIANCE

Forestry is a huge contributor to our economy, 32 billion for the GDP.

Archive Source:

CTV News

Tamara Meggitt

They’re going to tell us how forestry should be in British COlumbia. You’re not from here, go home.

Archive Source:

CHEK NEWS

NEW CAPTION;

Forestry provides 100,000 jobs in British Columbia. Old growth trees are the most valuable timber.

Source: B.C. Council of Forestry Industries

Patrick and his wife Tina have now been in temporary housing for over three months. They’re now in a campsite.

Patrick:

We’re all Lytton evacuees.

PATRICK AND TINA AT CAMPSITE

We're all Lytton evacuees.  And so we weren’t sure this camp ground would have nobody.  We’d hoped that the owner would allow us to stay after October 1st but they said no because I think it’ll cost him a lot to keep the water and the septic and everything going. 

Tina Grenier:

It didn’t have to come to this.  Like I said, even after the fire I didn’t feel homeless, I'm houseless, yes, I don’t have a house.  But I never felt homeless because we were always together.  Patrick and I and the babies, cos we had – had each other.  But after yesterday and after the conversation about having to leave by October 1st I'm like ‘Ok’, you know, it hit, we are homeless.

What about our friends?  What's Kaz gonna do, what's Ellie and Erin gonna do? 

TO FAIRY CREEK

GV of Fairy Creek

Location caption:

Fairy Creek

Vancouver Island

The protesters are in breach of a court injunction that prohibits interference with logging activities.

Night shots

Overnight, protestors have blockaded a logging road.

You think I can get some air.

DAY TIME LOGGING BLOCKADE

Protester:

So this is called a Lorax, and it’s a log with a hole drilled in it and an anchor at the bottom, and my wrist is chained to the anchor. The log is covered in nails to make it harder to chainsaw.

The intention is to stop the logging of the last old-growth forests left on Vancouver Island, and some of the last left in B.C. I mean you can see around us we’re in a cutblock right now. And you can see across the valley what a forest should look like. And we’ve been trying everything else you know, we’ve voted, we’ve written letters, we’ve made phone calls, none of its worked. Something needs to be done.

Loggers are now staging their own protests.

This Saturday rally at Masachi Lake was supposed to be a peaceful sharing of information.

We’re trying to defend our livelihoods.

Turn your camera off.

It’s starting to boil over, over Fairy Creek.

CHEK News

Moved section

Loggers say activists threaten their safety.

Activists allege police brutality.

VANCOUVER PROTEST

Rainbow Eyes

Let’s make some noise for Fairy Creek.

Fairy Creek, Fairy Creek.

Vancouver, City Centre

For Fairy Creek, industry is the logging companies who are coming into territory and cutting down trees.

Police:

We order you to leave now and comply with direction from police officers. Failure to do so will result in arrest.

I myself have been arrested four times  and now the judge has told me I can’t go south of Nanaimo and I have a probation officer to keep me away from Fairy Creek. All we want to do is protect the old growth.

Protestors say they won't leave Fairy Creek until logging of old forests ends.

Logging company Teal Jones says it will donate timber for 50 new homes in Lytton. 

TO LYTTON

PATRICK BUYING RV

Patrick Michell:

Okay, this is all the first time Ed, I've never done this before, just so you know. 

I've relied on humour and hard work all my life. 

Oops.  [LAUGHS]  Steps in an RV. 

I took pride as a man and as a husband and as a father and a grandfather of meeting the needs of my family.

It's expanding. 

This is the next step in the transition back to home.

Talk about decadence, my bedroom slides in and out of the wall. 

I usually live pay cheque to pay cheque.

This is a thousand dollars a month, so 15 years to pay this off.  It's not what we wanted but we’ll be okay. 

PATRICK BACK IN LYTTON

My sense of place went up in a puff of smoke on June 30th.  I’m gonna rebuild that sense of place. 

So we're building a home for not just my wife and I today, but for my great grandchildren who I've yet to see. 

My plan was to move from the campsite when they have the power and water hooked up, I'm hoping that I'll be able to put my RV right here.  And spend the next couple years rebuilding my home. 

It’s really hard in my heart knowing that everything we’re experiencing was the result of our action.

17:27:36

 if you continue to take too many trees there is going to become a reckoning, if you continue to damage the land through mining and, and other forms of economic development there was going to become a reckoning.

We can elect people who have the courage to say no, I’m not going to continue the status quo.

We need to leave the fossil fuels in the ground.  We need to invest in homes that are designed to be cool in the summer, stay warm in the winter. I’m not scared of what’s coming. At the moment the sun is setting on Lytton, but tomorrow the sun will rise on Lytton.

END