Latest Updates
Mount Polley mine: Could it happen in Clayoquot?
An environmental disaster is unfolding at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley copper-gold mine, located about 100 km northeast of Williams Lake in BC’s interior. On 4 Aug., an earthen dam that enclosed a tailings pond gave way, releasing about 10 million cubic metres of toxic mine effluent into the Quesnel River system. Effluent from copper-gold mining can contain harmful heavy metals, and chemicals such as arsenic, mercury and sulphur. A complete ban on water consumption, cooking and swimming has...
Summer 2014 newsletter
The summer 2014 edition of our twice-yearly newsletter is out, with articles including: Tribal Parks: 30 years and counting Are there forests in your fashion? Lacklustre legacy of gold mining Gentle giants: endangered basking sharks plus updates on our campaigns, and action items for you to take forward. Take a read and please share! Click the cover image at right to download (PDF, 875k), or find print copies at many outlets in Tofino and around BC. Contact us if you are interested in helping...
Ha-Shilth-Sa: Tribal Parks rededication
The Nuu-chah-nulth newspaper Ha-Shilth-Sa ran an enthusiastic article on the return of Weeping Cedar Woman, and the associated celebration of Tribal Parks, on Easter Sunday. It's a great read, with many first-hand memories from several who were there. The April 22 article, by Shayne Morrow, gives some moving perspectives on that time in Clayoquot Sound. Some excerpts: Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation celebrated the 30th anniversary of its declaration of a Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Park on Meares Island...
Fandora mining update
Here's a 2-page update on the aquatic impacts of a potential Fandora gold mine in south Clayoquot Sound. In short: possible Acid Mine Drainage and heavy metals leaching, with significant deleterious effects on marine life for decades or centuries after the mine has been exhausted and the company has decamped. All in all, a bad bargain! Click to download (PDF, 2.5M).
Weeping Cedar Woman carving
Support Updated 30-Sep-2014 -- This project has been discussed by various parties for over ten years, and it's thrilling to finally bring it to fruition! The budget for purchase, preparation, transport and installation was just $25,000 -- very reasonable for a piece of public art of this size and significance. Fundraising for reburbishment and purchase is complete, and Weeping Cedar Woman now stands temporarily beside Tofino Community Hall, waiting on council's decision as to her final...
No salmon farm expansion in Clayoquot (but entrenchment)
In 2011 the Canadian government ordered a moratorium on all new fish farm expansions in BC that "would result in a significant increase in environmental footprint" while the Cohen Commission into the Decline of Fraser River Sockeye was in progress. But last fall, a year after the Cohen Commission reported, the federal government very quietly lifted the ban in all BC locations except the Discovery Islands, which are directly on the migratory route of Fraser sockeye. You can read the full story...
Fandora gold mine exploration looms and dispatches from the sound.
Winter 2013-2014 News-letter now out!
Our latest news letter is out! Available here for download and available in print on news stands across the island. Find out what we have been up to, get the latest on environmental issues in Clayoquot Sound and learn about what you can do to help! Winter 2013-2014 News Letter
Clayoquot Wild weekend 8-10 August
Remember Clayoquot Summer 1993? Were you here? It was a heady time, and it changed the world. This year is the 20th anniversary, and we're planning a party! Twenty years ago thousands rushed to join Friends of Clayoquot Sound to peacefully protest and blockade the bridge that allowed MacMillan Bloedel to devastate clayoquot's forests. Their action turned into the largest act of peaceful civil disobedience in Canadian history and continues to influence the Canadian environmental movement today....
Summer 2013 newsletter
Our latest newsletter is now on newsstands and has gone out in the mail, with updates on mining and salmon farms tsunami debris and this year's 20th anniversary celebration of Clayoquot Summer 1993 Click here or on the cover image to download your PDF copy.
FOCS “talks to the money” at Imperial Metals AGM
A vigorous rally outside Imperial Metals' AGM on 29 May brought the message loud and clear to the company's shareholders: People do not want a mine in Clayoquot Sound. With speakers from Ahousat First Nation, Neskonlith Secwepmce First Nation, Wilderness Committee, FOCS and Clayoquot Action made strong points against mining in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and on unceded native territory. FOCS board member Eileen Floody read a statement to shareholders to the crowd on the sidewalk, then as a...
Imperial Metals AGM rally, Wed. 29 May!
Imperial Metals is planning two mining projects in Clayoquot Sound. Catface Mountain copper-molybdenum mine is a mountain-top removal scheme that must be stopped before it is submitted to the environmental review process. Fandora, a potential gold mine, would be at the head of Tranquil Valley, on Tla-o-qui-aht territory, for which the provincial government is currently reviewing an application for exploration. Friends of Clayoquot Sound, along with allies Wilderness Committee, Tla-o-qui-aht...
Comment: 1993’s Clayoquot Summer was a game-changer
Twenty years ago today, about 30 residents of Tofino were driving up and down the highway by Long Beach, communicating via handheld radios, tracking a helicopter carrying B.C.’s premier of the day and select media. A local guy listening in on emergency, aviation and boat communications was transmitting the play-by-play, while the helicopter sought a quiet landing spot where the premier could make a “contained” statement about the fate of Clayoquot Sound’s forests. Nothing that followed,...
Media release: new salmon farm
Controversial new feedlot starts up Plover Point stocks Atlantic salmon 26 March 2013 — Tofino BC — Mainstream Canada, a subsidiary of Norwegian-owned Cermaq, has begun farming Atlantic salmon at its controversial new feedlot in Clayoquot Sound. The Plover Point open net-cage feedlot is located close along the shore of Meares Island Tribal Park, in the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The feedlot was approved last fall, although it is opposed by Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, who...
Job posting: campaigner (CLOSED)
>>NOTE: This job posting is now closed. FOCS is looking for a new Campaigner -- a motivated, creative, resourceful strategic thinker to help us build public education and advocacy campaigns to protect Clayoquot Sound from industrial activities. The Campaigner works independently within a small organization and with our coalition allies. A degree in environment, conservation or ecology would be an asset, along with understanding of Clayoquot Sound communities and issues, and experience...
