Engaging MLAs on Old Growth: A 5-Step Guide

We know that targeting local MLAs has been one of the most effective strategies so far to make this issue a priority for the B.C. government, but our work isn’t over yet.

While the B.C. government is acknowledging the scale of the old growth crisis for the first time and indicating significant policy change to address it, in addition to releasing more conservation funding, there still has not been adequate action on the land to keep these critical ecosystems standing and communities safe in the meantime. 

It’s clear that we need to continue to hold B.C. MLAs accountable and with a provincial election on the horizon, it’s a great opportunity to let them know that their constituents are still watching this issue closely.

Click here to commit to having a meeting with your MLA and we’ll be in touch with you to get organized. But you also don’t need to wait for us to get started – this toolkit should provide everything you need to plan your meeting!

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Look up your MLAs information

You can find this information here: www.leg.bc.ca/learn-about-us/members

Step 2: Email your MLA to set up a meeting in person or over Zoom (or the phone!)

You can choose to attend the meeting alone; organize with people in your riding to join the meeting; or invite friends and family members along.

• Usually the staff at your MLA’s office will let you know the date and time your representative is available, but you can request that it be as soon as possible given the long overdue promises regarding this crisis, as well as some time / day slots that work best for you or your group
• Email your MLA to ask for a meeting

Note: Not hearing back from your MLA? Try a phone call, re-sending the email, tagging them on social media and highlighting that you are a constituent or going into the office in person!

Step 3: Prepare for your call

Once you’ve heard back about a date and time that your MLA can meet, it’s time to prepare for your call. If you’re meeting as a group, we suggest that you plan a meeting in advance to prepare and discuss who will speak to what aspects / talking points.

Here are some talking points if that is helpful for you, but please feel free to put them in your own words and add personal perspectives about why this issue is important to you and your community:

• I’m a constituent in your riding who is deeply concerned about ongoing government delays in protecting old growth. I am watching old growth fall with Forest Eye, a public satellite monitoring and alert system developed by Stand.earth that tracks old growth logging in B.C. 
• While I am grateful for the steps forward indicated by the nature agreement and new conservation funding that came out last year, I am deeply concerned that not enough is being done in the interim to address long overdue emergency measures, such as outstanding old growth deferrals, which have been clearly road-mapped for your government. 
• With the recommendations from the Old Growth Strategic Review in 2020, the province has been given a very clear roadmap for protecting old growth forests, and you have every tool to move forward on securing these protections right now. Industry needs to immediately stop logging in the most at-risk old growth forests where there are active cut blocks. At this point, delays in implementing deferrals are unacceptable.
• At the same time, available funds must urgently go to First Nations and local impacted communities to ensure that keeping old growth standing is a viable economic option. Deferring old growth logging in at-risk areas is a critical first step to create space and time for full engagement with First Nations and a just transition for forest communities – while protecting these irreplaceable forests simultaneously. That is precisely why your government agreed to the old growth expert panel timeline, which clearly recommended immediate logging deferrals as an immediate step to be implemented within 6 months. It has now been almost 4 years since your government received the recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review, and logging deferrals have still not been implemented in many candidate old growth deferral areas, leaving them open to logging.
• Of course the work doesn’t end there. As your constituent, it is critical to me that your government honours the intent and commitments in the Declaration of Rights for Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), and respects the inherent Title and Rights of First Nations. Support for economic diversification, including real options to protect critical ecosystems like old growth forests, is part of those commitments. I’m pleased to see recent commitments in partnership with the First Nations Leadership Council and the federal government to provide funding to support Indigenous-led land use planning and protection, and I hope to see more leadership from your government, including an active implementation plan. 
  • We would like to see BC take a stronger stance in moving forward much needed legislative changes to uphold First Nations’ decision-making authority, including more substantive changes to the Land Act and more.
    
• With another election approaching this year, it is integral that the BC NDP begin rebuilding public trust by immediately halting old growth logging in the most at-risk forests where there are active cut blocks or imminent logging plans – and be transparent and honest in how it is or is not doing so. We will be able to hold the government accountable and make sure this is happening with the Satnd.earth public monitoring tool, Forest Eye. 
• It is also important that the paradigm shift in forestry does not include false solutions like the forest biomass industry for large scale energy. It has been proven that this industry is now using logged, whole trees – in some cases from critical ecosystems like old growth and primary forests – to grind into wood pellets and ship overseas to power massive coal-retrofitted power plants, like Drax in the UK and Japan, under the guise of clean energy. 
• Keeping old growth standing is an integral climate mitigation measure. Last year, residents of BC experienced the worst fire season on record by far. With the lack of snow and rain this winter, watershed experts are warning of intensified summer drought, which will only increase the scale of fires in 2024. Old forests are one of our best protections against climate emergencies; adversely, logging them emits more carbon than any other industry in BC – it’s just not counted because of the accounting loopholes. 

2024 was also the costliest season, coming in at $817 million to fight the fires and many millions more in insured losses. Therefore, protecting forests is also one of the most cost-effective ways we can defend our communities from these megafires, rather than subsidizing disastrous logging practices while the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness is left paying millions in reactive costs. It is critical that the BC NDP follow through on its promises and be proactive before another egregious summer, and utilizes resources from the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness to do so. 

Step 4: Your meeting

We’ve drafted an outline to host and share a meeting with your MLA, but feel free to add in your own personal touch:

During your meeting

• If you’re meeting as a group, whether in person or over zoom, circle up with your group 10 minutes before start time;
• Introduce every person, making it clear that you are a constituent and name any groups you are a part of in the community. If it feels good for you, you can say that you are a part of the Stand.earth community, an environmental organization representing tens of thousands of constituents across the province;
• Review your talking points and demands;
• You / your group may want to have time to hear immediate responses from your MLA. They may just recite government talking points, but it can be helpful to know their framing to inform our collective advocacy; 
• Take notes to share back with your extended network and us!

Script

Hi everyone! Welcome – can everyone test their mic (mute, un-mute) and turn their video on if you are comfortable with that.

During the meeting, please keep yourself muted to minimize background noise, unless it’s your turn to speak.

We would like to start with a round of introductions. Please introduce yourself, any organization you are a part of, why you care about protecting old growth forests in B.C. and any other important information you’d like to share. 

Talk about your concerns

We want to review our key concerns. You can use the above talking points to help guide this section or any others you / your group came up with.

Wrap up with your demands

To ensure that you walk away with a tangible commitment from your MLA, you can directly ask them to:

1. Immediately implement all proposed logging deferrals, including the full area mapped by the Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel, especially where logging and road building is continuing, as well as additional areas that meet the criteria for at-risk old growth and any areas identified by First Nations;
2. Provide full and urgent financial support to First Nations – including by leveraging the Tripartite Nature Agreement – to ensure deferrals are economically viable, especially compensation for revenue-sharing agreements and employment;
3. Direct staff to immediately improve transparency in government announcements, reporting, and monitoring to make information about forests and logging accessible and current – including by releasing updated maps and data showing where recent, ongoing and planned logging overlaps with old growth – and ensure full compliance of all decisions with Free, Prior and Informed Consent and the rights of Title holders.

And then you should plan to schedule a time to follow-up and ask how that engagement went, and to have another meeting to discuss it, as well as the next steps.

Group photo
Take a photo if you’re in person with whoever feels comfortable to do so or a screenshot of your Zoom call. Not sure how to do this? Ask someone in the meeting with you. On a MAC you can take a screenshot by using Command, Shift, 3.

Use social media to amplify your meeting with active “yes” consent from participants to do so; tag the candidates and use the hashtag #bcpoli and #OldGrowth. You can also tag @standearth on Facebook, or @stand.earth on Instagram and we will reshare your post.

Thanks and Goodbye!

Thank you so much [MLA name] for your time and for committing to [insert commitment if they made one].

After your meeting

Organize a time directly after or in the near future to debrief. 

• What went well?
• What didn’t go well?
• What was the MLA’s response like? What were some of their key talking points?
• What do you want to do next?

Step 5: Send a report

Thank you for being an advocate for old growth! You can send a report of your meeting to desiree@stand.earth 

More Resources:

1) Forest Eye website 

2) Tall Talk, November 2023 report from Forest Eye findings

3) Stand.earth’s response to the 2023 tripartite Nature Agreement 

4) UBCIC press releases since 2020 (some joint releases with Stand.earth):

• 160+ organizations call on BC to follow through on old-growth commitments
• New forest surveillance system exposes ongoing old growth logging in British Columbia, amid ongoing calls for transparency
• B.C. government misleading public about old growth
• First Nations and TAP Member Demand Faster Action and Adequate Resources to Protect Old-Growth Forests
• FNLC News Release: BC’s Hot Potato Handling of Old Growth Stonewalls Indigenous Decision-Making and Lacks Fulsome Supports for First Nations
• Wildfires, Logging, and Climate Change Jeopardize Old Growth: UBCIC Advances Protect Our Elder Trees Declaration

5) United We Stand for Old Growth Forests Declaration