Jailed 'eco-terrorist' a hit with ecology students Ex-'Most Wanted' is activist hero in B.C. classroom

SID TAFLER

Special to The Globe and Mail

VICTORIA -- To the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States, Tre Arrow is an eco-terrorist. He was on the FBI's Most Wanted list, accused of firebombing and burning logging and gravel trucks in Oregon that caused $250,000 in damage.

But to the children at the Oak and Orca Bioregional School in Victoria, he is a political prisoner and an activist hero.

Mr. Arrow fled to Canada in 2002. He was arrested nearly three years ago and has been in jail in British Columbia while the extradition process winds its way through the legal system.

At the Deep Ecology workshop at the alternative school in an aging house overlooking the city, Mr. Arrow's life of high drama and intrigue is an integral part of the curriculum.

On several occasions, through a telephone call and a speaker phone, he has been a guest lecturer in the class from behind the locked gates and barbed wire at the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre.

On a bright midwinter afternoon recently, the eight children in this mixed-aged class of nine- to 13-year-olds joined in spirited discussion about Mr. Arrow.

"Why are we talking to Tre?" asked teacher Morgan Obendorfer, 28.

"Because he's not guilty."

"Because capitalism owns democracy."

"Because he's going to be strung up if he's sent back to the U.S."

"It'll be a show trial, he'll have three seconds to make his defence."

Like many children their age, some of these students talk out of turn, push each other, or engage in other disruptive behaviour.

They are frequently told to behave, stay on topic and pay attention.

The excitement in the class rose as they gathered around a wooden chair with a phone on the seat and a picture of a smiling, bearded Tre Arrow taped to the back.

"Why is it powerful for a group of kids to be talking to a political prisoner?" Mr. Obendorfer asked.

"Because kids have power."

"Because we're cute and adorable."

"Because kids can't go to jail, they're too young."

A few minutes later, the phone rang and Mr. Arrow's call was amplified to through the speaker phone. He greeted the teacher, who visited him in jail the day before, and asked for all the pupils' names. Then something remarkable happened.

Mr. Arrow spoke for 24 minutes non-stop about his life and work as an environmental activist without a single interruption from the children, who appeared to listen intently despite a weak connection that caused frequent breaks in the monologue.

He described his commitment and "calling" to the environmental movement. "I needed to help expose the damage being done to our Mother Earth. We only have one home, we can't jump to another planet if we destroy this one."

He talked of becoming a tree-sitter at Eagle Creek in Oregon to prevent the logging of an old-growth forest, and of deciding, during a protest in Portland, to climb to a 23-centimetre ledge on a U.S. Forest Service office building, where he stayed for 11 days.

Born Michael Scarpitti, he told the children the decision to change his name to Tre Arrow "came from the spirit of the trees as a gift from my ancestors."

He also told of running for Congress as a Pacific Green Party candidate in 2000, getting more than 15,000 votes in a bid for Oregon's Third Congressional District.

"We had lots of media attention and public support and we ended up getting the Eagle Creek logging sale cancelled."

He said he fled to Canada and lived under an assumed name because he was convinced he couldn't get a fair trial in the United States. And he denied involvement in the arson and firebombing, contending others involved implicated him in return for reduced sentences.

"They're trying to silence me and keep me locked up in a cage for the rest of my life."

He said he was arrested in Canada in 2004, but left out one important detail -- he was picked up in a Victoria store trying to shoplift a pair of bolt-cutters he later said would be used to break into locked dumpsters to scavenge food for the poor.

Last May, Vic Toews, then the federal justice minister, ordered Mr. Arrow extradited to face charges in the United States. Mr. Arrow's lawyers have launched an appeal in the B.C. Court of Appeal, which is expected to be heard in April.

Mr. Arrow has also applied for bail and for refugee status in Canada. The class at Oak and Orca is only one part of his support network in Canada and the United States, which has raised $350,000 in bail sureties.

When the call ended, the students were asked to discuss what they had heard.

"It was very cool to talk to him again."

"It was really inspiring about what he said about his spiritual name."

Then Mr. Obendorfer summed up: "It's pretty paradoxical that someone who cares so much about the earth is locked away in a little cage. Maybe we can make something positive of this. Maybe one day we can bring him here for Deep Ecology."