Kevin “Bear” Henry, an indigenous environmental protester who identifies as two-spirited, was located on Wednesday after being missing for weeks in a remote wooded area of Canada’s Vancouver Island.
The 37-year-old last made contact with their family on 27 November, before their van got stock in a secluded wooded area near Port Renfrew, British Columbia.
They had been heading to the Fairy Creek logging protests, an attempt to block the logging of old-growth forest that has grown into the largest civil disobedience in Canadian history, where more than 880 people have been arrested.
Henry survived on canned food and melted snow for weeks, before hiking up to a remote road and coming into contact with a pair of loggers, their family told CTV News in a statement.
“Bear lived on beans and snow and while they’ve lost some weight, they were looking energetic and happy to have been found,” the family said. “Bear and their family are ecstatic that Bear is home and are asking for privacy over the next few days.”
In a Facebook video shared by Fairy Creek demonstrators, Henry can be heard recounting their shock at learning how long they had been stranded in the wilderness.
“These two joggers came randomly. I heard their trucks start. I flagged them down,” they said. “I was like ‘wait what, what day is it?...What month is it?’”
The loggers offered the missing demonstrator money for food and a ride to a local Tim Hortons franchise, bringing to an end a massive search effort that had involved community members, TikTokers, helicopters, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
“We understand there are many questions with respect to how and where the individual survived,” the RCMP said in a statement. “The RCMP is now working to determine more specific details but will leave it to the missing person to determine how, or if those details are shared publicly.”
Henry’s family did not alert the police they were missing until 11 December, following months of hostile interactions and mistrust between Fairy Creek demonstrators and the RCMP.
In late 2021, the Supreme Court of British Columbia found that while the protestors had caused “irreparable harm” to logging companies’ ability to operate in the area, the RCMP had committed “serious and substantial infringement of civil liberties.”
The police reportedly ripped off people’s Covid masks before pepper spraying them, removed their names and other forms of ID from their uniforms, and wore banned “Thin Blue Line” patches.
Protestors have been battling the Teal-Jones logging company for months, seeking to stop the harvesting of ancient trees in the area, which they argue regional officials had vowed to protect, though other First Nations groups, including the Ditidaht, Huu-ay-aht, and Pacheedaht First Nation, have insisted they are the proper stewards of the land and asked the demonstrators to leave.
