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Blockade
In the early 1990s, ancient temperate rainforests on Vancouver Island became the stage for mass blockades against clearcut logging in Nuučaańuł territory. Until the more recent struggles at Fairy Creek, Clayoquot Sound hosted the largest act of civil disobedience in Canada. National news coverage at the time showed mothers with their babies, grandparents, business people, and many other unlikely activists standing on the logging road or locked to makeshift structures, risking arrest to defend these rare, evolved ecosystems. Christine Lowther was arrested in 1992 for lying across the Clayoquot Arm bridge while MacMillan Bloedel fallers tried to drive to work with their chainsaws. Blockade is her gripping, first-hand account of the joys, struggles, and victories of this historic movement.
Drawing from her daily journals recorded at the time, Lowther recounts the vibrant and tense atmosphere of confronting police and loggers with nonviolent civil disobedience. She vividly describes creative direct actions―themed blockades, lock-downs, nighttime barricade building, occupations of ancient trees and government offices. Blockade contemplates the stark realities of the movement, including threats of police violence and the disturbing collusion between the RCMP and extraction corporations. Despite the powderkeg atmosphere, Lowther found wonder by kayaking the inlets and settling down to life in unceded Tlaoquiaht territory where she still gratefully resides.
Blockade is a celebration of resilience and a powerful account of successful environmental activism. It highlights the continuing threat to old-growth forests, with a nod to Fairy Creek, and commends the June 18, 2024 announcement of 76,000 hectares of new conservancies in Clayoquot (Tlaoquiaht) Sound, nearly doubling the protected temperate rainforest within this iconic region.
Thrilling, evocative, and necessary, Christine Lowther’s Blockade showcases the need to defend remnant intact crucial ecosystems hand in hand with the Indigenous peoples whose ancestral gardens these lands are. It is a rallying cry of hope for all those who stand up for the natural world and a roadmap for future generations of defenders.
Drawing from her daily journals recorded at the time, Lowther recounts the vibrant and tense atmosphere of confronting police and loggers with nonviolent civil disobedience. She vividly describes creative direct actions―themed blockades, lock-downs, nighttime barricade building, occupations of ancient trees and government offices. Blockade contemplates the stark realities of the movement, including threats of police violence and the disturbing collusion between the RCMP and extraction corporations. Despite the powderkeg atmosphere, Lowther found wonder by kayaking the inlets and settling down to life in unceded Tlaoquiaht territory where she still gratefully resides.
Blockade is a celebration of resilience and a powerful account of successful environmental activism. It highlights the continuing threat to old-growth forests, with a nod to Fairy Creek, and commends the June 18, 2024 announcement of 76,000 hectares of new conservancies in Clayoquot (Tlaoquiaht) Sound, nearly doubling the protected temperate rainforest within this iconic region.
Thrilling, evocative, and necessary, Christine Lowther’s Blockade showcases the need to defend remnant intact crucial ecosystems hand in hand with the Indigenous peoples whose ancestral gardens these lands are. It is a rallying cry of hope for all those who stand up for the natural world and a roadmap for future generations of defenders.
210 pages, Paperback
Published June 3, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 26, 2026
I met Christine at the Tofino public library the other day. She’s a truly inspiring poet-activist. This book should be read by anyone wanting to visit Clayoquot Sound and even Vancouver Island in general.
April 24, 2026
With the recency of Fairy Creek I wanted to learn more about the tireless forest defence efforts of the 90s. Hearing firsthand accounts from someone who was part of the blockades was inspiring and very eye-opening. Lowther’s prose was beautiful and this was a great read!
December 6, 2025
I was thrilled to see this book on my local library's new releases shelf. As someone who has been fighting for natural spaces locally, it was a very insighful look into the battle save old growth in BC, more specifically on Vancouver Island, in the early 90s. Blockade may not be the most beautifully written book I've ever read but I don't think that's the point. It's an important record of the struggle, of the actions and of the events that surrounded the fight to protect that needed to be protected. It is also a record of the beautiful places that the author was a part of fighting for, that have, heartbreakingly, since been destroyed.
Blockade is an activist's love story for the wild spaces that surround her, without it being overtly romanticized. It was also often a frustrating read because it becomes clear that the colonial system of law enforcement serves the corporate world over Indigenous land rights and environmental protection regulations. More than anything though, this story of the fight to save Old Growth and its biodiversity, is a story of resilience.
With the ongoing protest in Ada'itsx (Fairy Creek), it is clear that the fight against big business, the logging industry and the government is sadly not over. As the author mentions at the end of the book, 'Blockade' is a verb as much as a noun. 'Blocking' destruction can take many forms and we owe it to ourselves and future generations to act accordingly.
Blockade is an activist's love story for the wild spaces that surround her, without it being overtly romanticized. It was also often a frustrating read because it becomes clear that the colonial system of law enforcement serves the corporate world over Indigenous land rights and environmental protection regulations. More than anything though, this story of the fight to save Old Growth and its biodiversity, is a story of resilience.
With the ongoing protest in Ada'itsx (Fairy Creek), it is clear that the fight against big business, the logging industry and the government is sadly not over. As the author mentions at the end of the book, 'Blockade' is a verb as much as a noun. 'Blocking' destruction can take many forms and we owe it to ourselves and future generations to act accordingly.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews