An Algonquin man is going on trial in Val d’Or in March for blocking logging trucks in the La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve. He faces a possible prison term.
Jacob Wawatie, of Barrière Lake, was charged with public mischief last August when police raided a checkpoint he had helped erect on a logging road.
“It wasn’t a roadblock,” Wawatie said in media reports.
“We have a criteria (under) which vehicles could pass – the public, fishermen, hunters, but not logging trucks.”
Montreal-based Domtar Inc. plans to cut nearly all of the wildlife reserve over the next 25 years, including large areas of virgin old-growth forest.
Two-thirds of the wildlife reserve has already been impacted, said Wawatie, whose community is located inside the reserve.
No environmental-impact study is required for Domtar to clearcut.
