May Offers Gwaii Haanas Book to Canadians - MP Hopes Citizens Will Be Inspired to Fight for Nature Once Again

OTTAWA – On the 25th anniversary of the creation of Gwaii Haanas (South Moresby) National Park Reserve, British Columbia, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, MP Saanich-Gulf Islands, today announced she is offering her book on the subject to Canadians as a free download.


The book, entitled Paradise Won: The Struggle for South Moresby was written in 1990 after an epic 12-year struggle to stop logging in a unique global ecosystem – referred to as "Canada's Galapagos" – which stretches 90 km and includes 138 islands and is steeped in thousands of years of Haida culture.


“I wrote this book to celebrate the creation of Gwaii Haanas which was a major achievement for the Haida Nation as they asserted their sovereign rights and the environmentalists who worked selflessly with them,” explained May.  “After their courageous blockades and other forms of civil protest, it took the leadership of former prime minister Brian Mulroney to make this extraordinary conservation dream a reality.”


Paradise Won: The Struggle for South Moresby is now on the Elizabeth May MP website (www.elizabethmaymp.ca). Originally, published by McClelland and Stewart, the copyright has now reverted to the author and is no longer in publication.


 "As Canadians face the most anti-nature prime minister in our history, I think it is important to revisit this historic triumph,” May said.  “The strategies and tactics that worked to save Gwaii Haanas from the chainsaw are needed once again to fight climate change and to protect fragile ecosystems from coast to coast to coast.  


“This book is a gift to all Canadians with the hope that it will entertain, inspire, and spur people to action.”


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Contact Information:
Debra Eindiguer
debrae1@rogers.blackberry.net
c: 613.240.8921