Protester superglued hand to Trans-Canada Highway in B.C. old-growth logging protest

A protester superglued their hand to the surface of Highway 1 during a protest against old-growth logging in West Vancouver, B.C.

A group gathered on the stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway leading to the ferry terminal in West Vancouver Wednesday morning, including the activist who used glue to make their point.

Most held yellow and black signs with the message, "Save Old Growth."

One person was taken into police custody before the demonstration was broken up and the highway reopened.

Co-ordinator Ian Weber told CTV News that the goal of these protests is to permanently end all old-growth logging in the province.

"We're just ordinary people who are terrified about our future. We want a habitable planet and we've seen, this past year, so many tragedies," he said in an interview in West Vancouver.

He listed the heat dome, a climate phenomenon that claimed hundreds of lives in British Columbia over the summer, as well as destructive flooding in November that left some of the province's highways closed for weeks.

"This is going to happen naturally, so we're trying to wake people up, to have them try to save old-growth, and more."

In a news release later in the morning, police confirmed a single arrest out of 10 protesters who were on the highway near Caulfeild.

"After being asked to disperse by officers, all but one woman moved off the highway," the West Vancouver Police Department said in a statement.

"This woman was arrested for obstructing the roadway and transported to cells where she is awaiting a bail hearing."

All told, according to police, westbound traffic was only blocked for about 10 minutes.

The protest was one of several in recent days and weeks in B.C., and according to those behind the efforts, "the frequency and scale of actions will escalate until all old-growth logging is stopped."

The protest was one of several in recent days and weeks in B.C., and according to those behind the efforts, "the frequency and scale of actions will escalate until all old-growth logging is stopped."

Weber said, "We'll end with a big bang on (Jan. 31)" then, after some time off, the group will "come back at you with even more" in March.

Organizers said in a news release ahead of the protest that the efforts are geared towards the provincial government.

"The government has an option to fulfill its election promises or send non-violent people on the motorways to jail," they wrote.

Wednesday's was not the first protest involving superglue. A similar tactic was used on another stretch of the Trans-Canada during a protest last week.

"This is our last resort. We are scared of sitting down on the road, but will keep doing it until the government throws us in prison or keep their promise to save old growth," organizer Zain Haq said in a news release.

Several members were arrested during a similar demonstration in Victoria on Monday, and more were taken into custody last week in Vancouver and Nanaimo.

Over the weekend, the B.C. government announced a deal between Western Forest Products and four First Nations to defer logging of rare, ancient and priority old-growth trees across 25 square kilometres of land on Vancouver Island for the next two years.

The province has promised to defer logging on 2.6 million hectares of old-growth forest in total.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Jim Fong in West Vancouver, and Andrew Weichel