Topic: Regional News

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. - John 3:20, Bible, New International Version

Why are otherwise responsible officials of the United Church stooping so low as to spread such lies and fear about me throughout the church and media, at such cost and effort? Part of the answer lies in the fact that, when I challenged the church over its illegal sale of First Nations land to its business associates, I was raising a mirror in which we all had to look at our actual, and not imagined, history with aboriginal people on the west coast. - Reverend Kevin D. Annett, Easter Sunday 2002. Brenda Norrell reported January 10, 2010: "Rev. Annett, who for fifteen years has led the campaign to bring to justice the churches and government responsible for genocide in Canada's Indian Residential Schools, made international news in October 2009 when he held the first memorial service for missing native children outside the Vatican in Rome. Rev. Annett, school survivors and native elders have also led high profile protests and occupations of churches in Vancouver and Toronto since 2005, and on many occasions Annett has been threatened by church officials and police. Rev. Annett will be returning to Rome and Europe in April with residential school survivors to confront Pope Benedict over the fate and buried location of thousands of children who died in Catholic Indian schools in Canada."

“The Mayor. The Chief of Police. All the senior press people. Hell, you can’t get into those positions without making a deal with the drug lords who run this town. The days of organized crime as a separate thing are over. It’s all business run and legit now. It’s organized corporate crime now – the drug importers from Asia and the real estate developers and the off shore investors, they’re all part of the same gang. The cops all work for them. And body snatching pays well.” - A retired aboriginal RCMP officer in conversation with Kevin Annett, a community minister, educator and award-winning film maker who lives and works in Vancouver’s downtown eastside

Canada's police involved in sex crimes
Kevin Annett Censored News January 11, 2010

... In October of 1992, when I was still a United Church clergyman, I was approached by a colleague at my first Presbytery meeting in Nanaimo . The topic of child abuse came up, and after a few moments, the other man, a retired minister, smiled and gave me a sort of insider’s look. He lowered his voice and said to me, “It’s easy to get a child in this town.” I must have looked shocked, for his smile faded. “What do you mean?” I said. “Nothing” he replied. “Some people are, you know, interested in that sort of thing.” It all felt like an offer, masked but real, like a sort of masonic handshake: something known to insiders only.

The same man had worked in the United Church ’s Alberni Indian residential school for years, and piloted one of the “mission boats” that visited coastal Indian villages. One of my native parishioners later accused him of raping her as a child, but the RCMP threatened her not to press charges. Later, after I was fired from the church for asking too many questions, I learned of the well-protected child trafficking network that linked the coastal residential schools with wealthy men and clubs in Vancouver . Just how many children disappeared into those clubs and never emerged is unknown; but they are among the more than 50,000 residential school children who cannot be accounted for. “No crime ever disappears; it just adapts” a journalist once told me. And in British Columbia, the crime of abducting people is rampant, on the rise, and very lucrative, since it is part of a deadly international network in human trafficking. ...

Kevin Annett, beaten, exposes role of Canada's police and churches in sex crimes and child trafficking
Brenda Norrell the narcoshphere USA Last updated January 14, 2010

Kevin Annett, human rights activist beaten in Vancouver on Wednesday, released a new article today exposing the role of Canada's police and churches in sex crimes and child trafficking, including the abuse of Native women and children. Kevin Annett, a community minister, was assaulted by two men in Vancouver's downtown eastside on Wednesday, Jan. Jan. 6, 2010, just two days after he published an article on church and government complicity in child trafficking on Canada's west coast. Annett suffered cuts, bruises, and at least one broken rib as a result of the unprovoked beating by two men, one of whom is linked to a downtown church agency. ...

Annett ... released a statement today about the attack.

"I have waited to comment on the attack because of my need to rest and recover, but concerns from many people have prompted me to go public with what happened to me. Last Wednesday, January 6, at around 9 am, I was assisting a woman facing eviction collect her belongings at a rooming house at 566 Powell street in Vancouver's downtown eastside. Two men suddenly burst into the room, and one of them, a tall, strongly built Caucasian man named Dave who apparently is the manager of the building and a former employee of the Union Gospel Mission, began punching and kicking me. I received severe bruises on my neck and back, and a bruised and possibly broken rib because of this attack. At no time did he or his accomplice, another strongly built Caucasian man who witnessed the beating, say why they were attacking me. The woman who I was assisting is a former sex trade worker who is now homeless, and who in the past has provided me with information concerning the disappearance of women in the downtown eastside. This assault occurred just two days after an article I wrote entitled 'Child Trafficking in Beautiful British Columbia' in The Agora newspaper was widely disseminated in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. The article describes the documented complicity of churches, the police and the government in the trafficking of children in protected pedophile networks in B.C. I therefore believe there is a connection between the publicizing of this story and the attack made on me. This incident represents yet another case of repression aimed at community activists by the 2010 Olympic security forces and police, and other unknown parties," Annett said. ...

Related: The mask slips, for those with eyes to see: Preparing for the real pandemic
The Bovine Ontario Canada October 1, 2009

Here’s a fascinating commentary on the current vaccination controversy from Kevin Annett, who you might know from the movie Unrepentant, which was about the sad history of residential schools for natives in Canada. Thanks to Michael for sending this our way. Kevin’s website is hiddenfromhistory.org

“Last week, many of the aboriginal people in the remote west coast village of Ahousaht were innoculated with the tamiflu vaccine. Today, over a hundred of them are sick, and the sickness is spreading. In the same week, body bags were sent to similarly remote native reserves in northern Manitoba that have also received the tamiflu vaccine. On the face of things, it appears that flu vaccinations are causing a sickness that is being deliberately aimed at aboriginal people across Canada, and this sickness will be fatal: a fact acknowledged by the Canadian government by their “routine” sending of body bags to these Indian villages. ...

Canada's Crusade to wipe out indigenous cultures: Two views of Canada's residential schools for aboriginals
Salt Spring News May 31, 2009

Four links. One of those links is:

Fascists have to be constantly on guard: Who knows how great the damage to the cause that can be wreaked by dedicated, passionate pastors?
Salt Spring News April 30, 2008

Nine links, one of them to the 108-mininute documentary Unrepentant: Kevin Annett and Canada's genocide. This documentary was formally released January 2007. Unrepentant was written by Kevin Annett and Louie Lawless, directed by Louie Lawless, and produced by Kevin Annett, Louie Lawless and Lori O'Rorke.

Milk trucker takes a sample for testing and stores it on ice until he can get it to the lab. Photo: Lego, Denmark, by way of The Bovine

Standard milk-testing protocol on Fraser-Valley dairy farms in B.C.
The Bovine Ontairo Canada January 12, 2010

This letter is significant in view of the controversy over non-standard testing practices that seem to have been used by health officials to evaluate milk from “Home on the Range” cowshare. Here’s what he says:

“I  can tell you what my experience has been  with high bacterial count. First of all when I was herdsman for (name removed) farms. We were in the top three herds in B.C for low somatic milk count. Regarding the testing on milk pick up day (every two days) the milk truck driver would take a sample and immediately put it in a cooler with ice. The milk truck driver could refuse to pick up milk over 3 degrees centigrade. With individual cow test program (10 times a year) the sample vial has a preservative in it I believe as the samples are not cooled.

In the last three years there has been instigated a milk safe program in dairy herds. It is now mandatory. Originally there was  a grant to install the equipment . That grant has now finished.  The equipment is around $2000 . What it does is digitally  record the temperatures for start and finish for the wash cycles, of the milking equipment, and the bulk tank. Also it records how quickly the milk is cooled, and how well the cooler keeps the milk cool. There is also an “idiot ” switch to prevent anyone starting the wash cycle without removing the pipe from the milk tank. This is all very good, because I can tell you from personal experience things can go wrong without you knowing ( like a hot water tank failing, or a cooler  developing a fault.) ...

There are so many factors affecting mastitis and  high somatic cell counts. ... It seems we have a double standard going on here, main stream dairy producers do not have their milk tested in the way Home on the Range milk was tested , if it was tested like that , I think there would be some pretty irate producers.”

Mark McAfee (of Organic Pastures in California) on the controversy in British Columbia over raw milk test methods
The Bovine Ontairo Canada January 12, 2010

It’s always interesting to see how Canadian raw milk stories come across to our friends in the U.S. of A. The following is from a comment Mark McAfee posted recently on The Complete Patient blog:

“…I got a call from the Canadian Broadcast [CBC] people in BC last week for a story on raw milk in BC Vancouver. Today I got a call from the cow share owner with 400 members. Wow!! They got a tiger by the tail and they are making serious progress in Canada. The Canadian Radio investigor sent me the bacteria results and tests from seized embargoed raw milk for my opinion. I was impressed. Not bad stuff. Including no pathogens.

What I found alarming was the fact that they seized “old product” and then violated recognized dairy lab standards by temperature mistreatment and then “reported that the milk had living bacteria in it”. In CA all raw milk samples are taken from the dairy and kept on ice just above freezing as it is immediately delivered to the lab for testing. If the samples are above 40 degrees they are rejected. The samples in Canada were above 40 degrees and they were not fresh…they were very old. Bad samples on two accounts. The Canadian dairy inspectors must be from outspace…..of course raw milk has living bacteria in it….that is why people buy it!!! The Canadian dairy inspectors are in the political market battle of their lives and have now resorted to telling stories and testing old raw milk samples. This is low ball gutter politics and it is corrupt and improper science. ...

Gordon Watson writes to Burnaby NOW to set the record straight on raw milk
Gordon Wilson Burnaby Now/The Bovine British Columbia/Ontario Canada January 14, 2010

to the Editor

... Last week the Health Authorities trotted-out some figures showing our milk had “massive amounts of contamination in the products”.  But once we were given copies of the paperwork from the lab tests,  we soon put the boots to that canard.  Turns out that the tests were done days later, with samples not kept properly cold.   Therefore those numbers are irrelevant.  One has to wonder ; how come the experts in food safety did not follow the protocol for testing milk according to the Milk Industry Act.

I’m suspicious that their negligence was no accident.  In June 2008, we’d been operating for a year.  Suddenly our agister received an Order to Cease+Desist “distributing” raw milk.  As part of appealing it in the Supreme Court,   I used the Freedom of Information process to obtain inter-governmental e-mails which showed Health Authority officials knew they needed a complaint to move against us, yet did not have one.  Thus, issuance of that Order was an abuse of process.  To this day, their lawyer refuses to produce the name of the purported “complainant”. Point being : I caught them lying before … why believe them now? ...

Pina Belperio reports: "According to sources, Whistler Blackcomb has issued stop-work orders for the alpine venues since VANOC has failed to pay outstanding invoices. The P1 level of the Creekside Parkade, across from the Olympic downhill venues was closed and turned over to VANOC on Nov. 15, but was quickly reopened by Intrawest to allow for increased public parking and revenues."

Will Canadian government bail out 2010 Olympics?
Pina Belperio rabble.ca Canada January 4, 2010

Reports from New York confirm that talks between the two hedge fund owners, Fortress Investment Group and Davidson Kempner have reached an impasse. With Intrawest late on a $524 million debt payment, it now appears that the Canadian government may need to step in to save the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Not the kind of news that Olympic organizers need with just over a month before the opening ceremonies. On January 3, 2010, the New York Post reported that a lenders' consortium spearheaded by Davidson Kempner had snubbed a proposal from Fortress Investment Group to restructure the debt of Intrawest, a resort company that the Wesley Edens-led hedge fund acquired for $2.75 billion in 2006. Intrawest, which owns ski resort Whistler-Blackcomb in British Columbia, will host the Winter Olympics next month, but has breached covenants on a $524-million debt.

According to the Post, a source familiar with the matter said both sides could be waiting for the Canadian government to step in at the last minute and prevent Intrawest from going into receivership ahead of the Feb. 12 start of the Olympics. Ironically, the federal Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper have suspended (prorogued) Parliament until after the Winter Olympics. I can't imagine that the Canadian government would actually "un-prorogue" parliament to bail out a New York-based firm that manages private equity funds and hedge funds. This is even worse than the American government bailing out banks and domestic auto makers. The Owe-lympics are predicted to cost Canadian taxpayers over $6 billion already. It will be interesting to see what the "real" economic benefits will be from the games. ...

Related: A tale of three Olympic towns
Pina Belperio rabble.ca Canada December 18, 2009

Dec. 15, 2009 marked the last council meeting in Whistler, B.C until March 23, 2010. The Winter Olympics are coming to town and it appears that our elected officials will be too busy to deal with democratic issues. Surely our mayor and council are violating some portion of B.C.'s Community Charters Act, but the meeting came and went, without a peep from local residents. ...

During the games, a number of Whistler's municipal staff will be deployed to Olympic-related positions. 14 new bylaw officers were appointed at this week's council meeting. 13 of those were municipal staff, while the 14th appointee was Dwight Henninger - Vail, Colorado's chief of police. A U.S. police officer seems like a strange choice for a "temporary" municipal bylaw officer, but it makes sense given the rumblings of Denver and Beaver Creek/Vail bidding for the 2018 (or 2022) Winter Olympics. I believe Henninger will be doing what the Vancouver Integrated Security Service (VISU) refers to as "intelligence gathering." ...

An independent reporter's guide to the 2010 Olympics
Mike Small rabble.ca Canada January 4, 2010

As the 2010 Winter Olympic Games approach, tens of thousands of people will flock to Vancouver to take part in the global sports extravaganza. But for those who are there to report on the Games, either as independent accredited media or as citizen journalists or bloggers, there are many rules and restrictions that, if not followed, could turn this once-in-a-lifetime experience into something of a legal nightmare.

The first hurdle for reporters is access -- to events, to celebrations and, most importantly, to information. Monte Paulsen, investigative editor for independent online news site The Tyee, says there are three distinct groups seeking access: "The rights holders, some form of accredited media who aren't rights holders and then everyone else." For each group, there are clear lines drawn in the sand. The rights holders have paid a lot of money for their position as the official media outlets for the Games, and are the only ones with the right to broadcast press conferences and program schedules, and use the Olympic marks when doing so. ... While independent reporters may be frustrated with the lack of access to Olympic events and athletes, story opportunities will abound for those willing to look. ... For independent journalists, reporting on the 2010 Games may feel like an uphill battle, but a thorough review of the guidelines will prepare most, and if you remember a few key things, you should be fairly safe. ...

First, the truth that corporate media dare not speak its name.

Amy Goodman gets brilliant story idea from Canadian border guards
Lalo Espejo Vancouver Observer British Columbia Canada November 27, 2009

Amy Goodman and why her next column is likely to be "The Police State North of the 49th Parallel" (Laugh, cry, but whatever you do, read on.) Visit this page for its embedded links.

Well, it's official. Suspicion of criticizing the 2010 Olympics gets you on a watch list at the Canadian border. Want to come to Canada and discuss the environmental shame that is the tar sands? Go ahead. Want to meddle in Canadian military policy in Afghanistan? Fill your boots. Want to criticize the Government's position on Global Warming? Whatever, dude. But if you cross the border and you've got that look on your face that says “The ice on the luge track might be a bit slushy if El Niño makes its way through,” then watch out! The Canadian Border Services Agency will not tolerate any Olympic dissent! ...

Police state Canada 2010 and the Olympic crackdown
Dana Gabriel Be Your Own Leader USA December 13, 2009

Visit this page for its embedded links.

In advance of the 2010 Winter Olympics, critics of the Games have been subjected to surveillance, harassment, along with other intimidation tactics. Voicing opposition to the Olympics appears to be all that is needed for one to be labeled as a security threat. There are concerns over the negative impacts associated with holding the Games, as well as concerted efforts to stifle anti-Olympic expression. As the Coca-Cola/RBC corporate torch relay nears its final destination, the opening ceremonies in Vancouver on February 12, 2010, more protests are expected. The Olympics are providing the perfect cover for many police state measures with ramifications that could leave a lasting legacy.

In a recent report, the Civil Liberties Advisory Committee (CLAC), an Olympic watchdog group issued a series of recommendations aimed at ensuring that rights and freedoms are respected during the Winter Games. The group strongly believes that protesters have a right to gather anywhere on public property, provided that they do not break the law. In regards to safe protest zones, CLAC favors that they be defined by painted lines on sidewalks or streets and not by fences or security barriers. This gives the perception that protesters are a threat. The watchdog group proposed that the Vancouver Police Department (VDP) be given the lead role in dealing with Olympic protests. This is due to concerns over mistrust of the RCMP in the province of BC as well as out of town police officers being, “unfamiliar with the groups and practices associated with peaceful protests here." CLAC also recommended that, “the Integrated Security Unit issue a public assurance that plain-clothes police officers or other plain-clothes agents will not actively participate in protests during the Olympics.” There are fears that police could infiltrate anti-Olympic groups, in order to stage events which would justify a crackdown during the 2010 Winter Games.

At the Vancouver International Security Conference held from November 30 - December 1, 2009, Victoria police Chief Jamie Graham described how an undercover police officer posing as a bus driver, infiltrated a group of anti-Olympic activists. The group was on its way to Victoria to protest the start of the Olympic torch relay in late October of this year. In his article Police spying demands explanation, Paul Willcocks lays out the scenario, “based on what Graham told the conference, police secretly found out what bus company a group from the Lower Mainland was going to use. Then they approached the company and convinced the manager to pull the regular driver and let an undercover officer drive.” He goes on to say, “And then the officer drove the bus, keeping watch on the passengers in the rearview mirror, presumably eavesdropping and making notes on peoples' names and what they said.” Graham has so far refused to further elaborate on his comments, and it is unclear if the operation was approved by the police board or another agency. Willcocks also emphasized that, “These aren't terrorists. They hadn't done anything wrong. (And there were no arrests at the protests that day.) No court had approved surveillance. They were Canadian citizens on a bus going to a legitimate public protest.” Apparently, not everyone saw the protesters as people exercising their rights as [Campbell coalition] MLA Harry Bloy labeled them as terrorists with a limited intellect. This sort of thinking is part of a dangerous pattern of equating free speech and protests with terrorism. Another recent disturbing incident occurred when Marla Renn, a member of the Olympic Resistance Network was en route to Portland, Oregon to give a speech on the negative impacts of the 2010 Games. She was interrogated by U.S. border guards regarding her anti-Olympic activities and was denied entry. Later, she faced more questions from Canadian officials. This further illustrates the level of coordination of shared intelligence by American and Canadian agencies and how Olympic critics are being targeted as potential security threats on both sides of the border. Renn stated that, “Continued harassment of peaceful organizers and speakers by the police and border guards show that their real objective is to silence dissent and not to protect the public.” This dovetails with award-winning journalist Amy Goodman being detained and interrogated at the Canadian border. This was over concerns that while on her trip to promote her new book, she might criticize the 2010 Winter Games. Border guards repeatedly asked if she planned to discuss the Olympics and demanded that she provide notes on topics she would cover. It is becoming increasingly clear that this type of behavior is not the work of border agents or police officers acting alone, but part of directives coming form the top with the purpose to intimidate and curb any perceived anti-Olympic sentiments. ...

In a bit of good news, due to intense public pressure, a controversial sign bylaw has been rewritten. Olympic critics charged that it would have infringed on the right to free expression by giving police the power to enter homes without consent or a court order and seize protest signs. This did not stop the city of Vancouver from ordering the removal of an anti-Olympic mural under its graffiti bylaw. The picture was hanging outside a Downtown Eastside gallery and characterized a set of black Olympic rings, four as sad faces and one with a smile. The rights and freedoms of those who wish to celebrate the Olympics should be no different than those who choose to dissent. The giant security apparatus being assembled for the Games has translated into many police state measures which are being used to suppress free speech. There is no doubt that the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games must provide a safe and secure environment for athletes, spectators, officials, local residents and all others involved. This should not be at the expense of those who seek to engage in anti-Olympic protests or other forms of peaceful activism and they should be free to do so without intimidation and fear.

Civil rights advocates in Vancouver score three big victories this week
Chris Shaw Vancouver Observer British Columbia Canada November 27, 2009

Anti-Olympic organizers in Vancouver scored a hat trick over the last seven days, beginning with a declaration from the “Security Games” forum issued after last weekend’s meeting at the Simon Fraser Harbour Centre campus. The opening panel on Friday morning on privacy and security in 2010 (Nov. 20th) saw presentations by the deputy Information Commissioner for Canada, Chantal Bernier, B.C’s information commissioner, David Loukidelis, BCCLA policy director, Micheal Vonn, and this writer. The two information commissioners spoke about the more theoretical aspects of information and privacy legislation and how it should work. Vonn and I dealt with the realities: CCTV cameras -likely to be a permanent fixture after the Games – invading public spaces and the dichotomy a situation where security services can, and do, obtain information about individuals and groups with little or no real oversight while being able to hide behind the legislation to conceal information from the public.

The hat trick occurred last night at the IOCC forum on 2010 that featured ISU chief Bud Mercer, Deputy VPD chief Steve Sweeney, City Councilor Geoff Meggs, PIVOT lawyer Laura Track, BCCLA director David Eby, and anti-Games activist Alissa Westergard-Thorpe. The event, also at SFU Harbour Centre was hosted by IOCC director Am Johal. After some typical messages from Mercer and Sweeney about securing the Games and respecting Charter rights, Eby left the room in disgust according to observers. The highlight of the evening was Westergard-Thorpe’s rendition of the past histories of both Mercer and Sweeney, not as police willing and able to uphold the Charter, but two men with significant track records doing everything possible to quell dissent. Overall, a good week: ISU still has their billion dollar security budget, the City still has its brain focused on commercial agreements with the IOC and “showcasing Vancouver before the world,” but those who oppose the Games won on points.

Related: "Dream on, dream on teenage queen.... Now this story has some more...." (Johnny Cash, 1958). Dream on, dream on Olympic keens.... We're sure your story will hold some horror.

B.C. hopes for Olympic afterglow
CBC News British Columbia Canada December 12, 2009

What should be the Olympic dream season at Whistler, B.C., is turning into a bust for hoteliers in the tony ski village. Despite a record snowfall in November that opened the slopes two weeks early, hotels and resorts in the coastal mountain range are struggling to fill their rooms. And it’s not just the economy that is getting them down. Roger Soane, general manager at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, has a simple explanation: “Olympic aversion.” International and corporate travellers are shying away from the ski resort this year out of fears their plans will be overrun by the 2010 Games. Remarkably, the Fairmont Chateau Whistler still has rooms available during the 17 days of the Games — despite the Vancouver Organizing Committee taking 80% of the hotel’s inventory for its delegates for the period. ... This doesn’t mean the Olympics will be an economic failure. An estimated 250,000 people are expected to attend the Games. But expectations have certainly been pared down since the initial bid. Even VANOC narrowed the window it asked its hotel partners to hold rooms for delegates. ... Still, the tourism industry — and British Columbia business in general — remains upbeat about the legacy of the Games, the so-called “halo effect” of the Olympics. ... “That’s what it’s all about,” said James Chase, chief executive, B.C. Hotel Association. “It’s the legacy.” ...

The bet in B.C., as with most Olympic hosts, is that the halo effect of the Games will help cover the cost of much of the infrastructure built for the event. But there is a big risk to that bet, said Harry Arne Solberg, a professor at Norway’s Trondheim Business School, who studies the impact of such large-scale sporting events. While there is certainly evidence to support that such events can attract substantial tourism, host cities and nations have a propensity for overestimating the long-term benefits and underestimating the costs involved in hosting them, the professor said. ... “The economic benefits for the region and for the host nation tend to be exaggerated. It doesn’t meet with the expectations of the consultancy reports of those who want the sporting event,” he said in an interview. Moreover, there is no guarantee that Vancouver and B.C. will ever see a legacy from the games — particularly if violent protests or other unforeseen events occur, said Harry Hiller, a professor at the University of Calgary, who also tracks the impact of the Olympics. “There’s only a halo effect if everything is wonderful, and that’s the issue,” he said. “There are people in Vancouver who don’t want to make it so wonderful and want to use it as an opportunity to protest. You never know. Look what happened in Munich. People were killed. The media still hasn’t forgiven Atlanta for the fact that its transportation network was screwed up.”

The tab is running and the long-term payoff of the Games have much to cover. Already the construction of the Olympic venues is about $110-million over the original budget. The security budget alone has spiralled to $900-million from the original estimate of $175-million. The B.C. auditor-general has concluded that the province’s share of the full cost of the Olympics is “considerably higher” than the $600-million figure often quoted, and B.C.’s original estimate of $470-million during the bidding process. The total cost estimated is closer $2.5-billion, the auditor-general said in a 2006 report. That includes the cost of Sea-to-Sky highway and part of the Canada Line, a tunnel link from the airport to downtown. ...

Giggle. Tiny airport on Salt Spring Island gets full security clearance courtesy of Harper gov't. Sorry, Steve. Even this hardware/recognition can't overcome the hard fact of having tiny Gary Lunn as our Member of Parliament.

Ottawa accused of playing politics with Olympic flights
CBC News Canada December 13, 2009

The federal government is playing politics over airplane flights during the upcoming Olympic Games, small airlines and regional airports in the B.C. Interior say. Regional airports have to set up special security measures during the Vancouver Olympics or divert their flights to an airport that can provide the high-tech equipment needed to meet federal requirements. For the two months bracketing the Games in February, all flights entering Vancouver will need to have passed a stringent security check, including machine screening of baggage and individual passengers. The regional airports, many of which don't have the necessary equipment, have been lobbying for months to get the federal government to help with security to no avail. Few said they were shocked, however, when the tiny airport on Salt Spring Island, off southern Vancouver Island, got full security courtesy of the federal government. Alan Stanley, who helps run the airport in Trail, said there's only one reason: "Political influence. That is about the only thing we can come up with. It was announced Salt Spring was going to get security clearance after everything was set, and that was it." Salt Spring Island, part of the Gulf Islands, is represented by Gary Lunn, the minister of sport in the Conservative federal government. ...

Security measures at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games will be an indication of what to expect at other upcoming events scheduled for Canada in 2010.

Police state Canada 2010 and the dark side of the Olympics
Dana Gabriel NAUresistance.org USA October 12, 2009

Visit this page for its embedded links.

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, from February 12-28.  It will be the largest security operation in Canadian history.  Military planners will undoubtedly use it as a template for securing future high profile events.  Canadian security officials continue to work closely with their American counterparts in preparation for the test that the Games will pose to the security of its shared border.  Integration of Canada’s security and military structures with the U.S. have already been advanced through the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), NORTHCOM, the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), the Bi-National Planning Group, the Civil Assistance Plan, as well as other initiatives.  Training and security provisions for the Olympics might be used to further accelerate the merging of U.S-Canada command structures and the militarization of North America.  The 2010 Olympics will be a hellhole of police state measures with far-reaching effects that could remain in place long after the Games are finished. ...
 
Security planners have followed a graduated process in preparation for the 2010 Olympic Games.  This includes the Olympic Integrated Exercise Program which “is designed to ensure coordinated responses are sufficiently tested in preparation for incidents that might arise during the 2010 Winter Games.  The program has three key components.”  Exercise Bronze was held in November 2008. It brought together all agencies involved with security for the games and examined security structures.  Exercise Silver was held in February of 2009 and “focused on information-sharing across government and non-governmental agencies” as well as providing “safety and security participants with hands-on experience.”  Exercise Gold is scheduled for November of this year and will confirm readiness for the Games.  There has been questions whether Exercise Gold would involve American forces.  The Canadian Defense Department has responded, “Yes.  NORAD is a bi-national command that includes both Canadian and American personnel and equipment.  NORAD will be participating in exercise Gold.  Various US military headquarters and operations centres will be exercising with Canada Command during exercise Gold, through exercise Determined Dragon (a Canadian Forces exercise) and exercise Vigilant Shield (a US military exercise).  In addition, a small number of US military liaison officers will be participating with Joint Task Force Games.”
 
In September of 2008, the 2010 Winter Olympics security preparations spending bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.  This included funding for construction of the Olympic Coordination Center in Bellingham, Washington.  Members of the 2010 Olympic Security Planning Committee have stated that, “The 2010 Olympics Security Coordination Center will coordinate the security efforts for over 40 federal, state and local agencies on the U.S. side of the U.S. – Canadian border.  This facility will provide a strategic response platform to facilitate critical response efforts during the Olympic Games and beyond”.  In September of this year, NORAD conducted Exercise Fabric Virgo, which involved CF-18 fighter jets flying at low altitudes and escorting civilian-looking aircraft.  This exercise was designed to familiarize NORAD personnel with operations in the Vancouver area.  There are numerous other drills and exercises which are planned before the Games begin or have already taken place.  Some have not been made public.  Training for the Olympics and the actual security operation could be used as a pretext for the further militarization of North America.  It could also advance the merging of U.S.-Canada military and security structures.  As part of the SPP, there were calls for a North American security perimeter.

The entire security operation for 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games is being overseen by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).  This will include over 5000 RCMP officers, along with an additional 1800 other police from municipal, regional and provincial units from across the country.  Canadian Forces will provide maritime security, logistical support and surveillance.  This could include the use of unmanned drones which are now being used along the U.S.-Canada border.  Some 4500 Canadian soldiers will also be deployed for various security purposes.  This is twice the number of troops that Canada has in Afghanistan.  The U.S. is set to contribute Coast Guard and Navy vessels.  NORAD will be a key player in Games security.  They will patrol the skies and monitor the airspace over the Olympics.  In addition to police and military, there will be up to 5000 private security personnel.  Olympic venues will be designated as special security zones.  This will include electronically monitored fencing and other measures similar to security screening at airports.  Surveillance cameras will also monitor venues and public areas using face-recognition technology.  Some residents of Whistler, B.C., which will host skiing and other events, have complained that it feels like they are already living in a security zone.  The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is working with the RCMP and other federal agencies in evaluating and monitoring security threats and have warned of the potential for violence by anti-Olympic activists. ...
 
Related: Murray, Larsen announce $4.5 million for 2010 Olympics security passes House, heads to Senate
Rick Larsen, 2nd Congressional District Washington State Rick Larsen's Online Office USA September 24, 2008

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that $4.5 million she has included in a critical spending bill for 2010 Winter Olympics security preparations has passed the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) applauded the resources for Olympics security, which he has also worked to support.  The funding will go toward construction of an Olympic Coordination Center in Bellingham as well as training exercises for first responders. 

“The Olympic Games are right around the corner and this is a big step toward ensuring that we are beginning preparations today,” said Senator Murray. “For Whatcom County communities and the millions that will cross our northern border in 2010, we can’t be too safe and we can’t begin preparing too soon. Homeland security officials at the federal, state and local levels have all identified the funding in this bill as critical to protecting Washington state communities and travelers during the 2010 Olympics.”

“It is critical that our region's security needs are met in time for the 2010 Olympic Games,” said Larsen, co-chair of the 2010 Olympics Task Force. “Local, state, and federal leaders must continue to work together as the clock ticks closer to February 12, 2010, when Opening Ceremonies begin. This funding is essential to meet our security needs, and I thank Senator Murray for her leadership to help keep Whatcom County safe for the Olympics and beyond.” 

“Lessons learned from numerous high-profile events show that to successfully combine the efforts of large numbers of agencies that operations should be conducted from a single command center with a unified command,” Major General Tim Lowenberg and FBI Special-Agent-in-Charge Laura Laughlin, co-chairs of the 2010 Olympic Security Planning Committee said earlier this summer. “The 2010 Olympics Security Coordination Center will coordinate the security efforts for over 40 federal, state and local agencies on the U.S. side of the U.S. – Canadian border.  This facility will provide a strategic response platform to facilitate critical response efforts during the Olympic Games and beyond”.

Noted:

MLA Harry Bloy wearing his Scout uniform in the British Columbia legislature, February 19, 2009

" . . that 200-odd group of terrorists who came to Victoria from across Canada to interrupt the games. Anyone who could support this group should be ashamed of themselves.

. . . They do not understand, these terrorists, the potential goodwill and economic benefits that come from these games, because they have a limited intellect and do not understand how the world truly operates."

Falling down on the job
Norman Farell Northern Insights British Columbia Canada November 3, 2009

Visit this page for its embedded links.

Jonathon Narvey at the Vancouver Sun website asks, "What are the Olympics Protests Really About?" His main point, a good one, is that coverage of protests aimed at VANOC is unbalanced. He points to an incomplete report published, he says, in the Ottawa Citizen after rent-a-crowd demonstrators behaved badly during the Victoria Torch Relay:

Isn't the traditional media falling down on the job here in terms of probing the protesters with basic questions?

. . . we're treated to a story in which Olympics protesters are mostly made to look like incoherent lunatics bent on little more than venting anarchic rage against the cops (which undoubtedly some members are -- but all of them?).

Narvey is s a freelance journalist so I presume Sun Editors are allowing a little gentle self-criticism without turning one regular Canwest staffer against another. Perhaps the possibility of internal tension is why Narvey blamed the distant Ottawa Citizen for the weak article even though it originated at the Victoria Times Colonist. That might have been hitting too close to home.


Long Range Acoustic Device mounted on NYPD vehicle, Republican National Convention, New York City, 2004. LRAD will be deployed at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.

Sonic warfare erupts in Pittsburgh, Honduras
David Hambling Wired Magazine, Danger Room blog USA September 25, 2009

Includes video. Visit this page for its embedded links.

Police in Pittsburgh are using sound blasters and other non-lethal weaponry to ward off protesters at the G-20 summit. The sonic weapon is the LRAD or Long Range Acoustic Device, a super loud-hailer deployed by U.S. forces and famously used to fight off pirates. According to the Guardian, LRAD is being used in two ways: as a megaphone to order protesters to disperse, and, when they disobey, as an “ear-splitting siren” to drive them away. This has happened repeatedly, with the crowd assembling again a few streets away. It’s one of a number of controversial tactics being employed in the city; check out this video of a seeming “snatch-and-grab” arrest in the middle of a demonstration.

The sonic weaponry appears to be having a much greater effect thousands of miles from Pittsburgh, in Honduras. A siege situation has developed in the capital Tegucigalpa, where ousted President Manuel Zelaya is holed up in the Brazilian Embassy. The security forces can’t launch an assault, but they are stepping up the pressure with sound blasters and psychological warfare tactics. ...

LRAD no weapon
Robert Putnam Pittsburgh Tribune-Review USA October 27, 2009

Putnam works in media and investor relations for LRAD manufacturer American Technology Corp. of San Diego.

In response to Joseph Sabino Mistick's column "Achtung!" (Oct. 18 and TribLIVE.com): American Technology Corp.'s Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) is not a weapon, military or otherwise; it is an effective long-range communications device used to clearly broadcast critical information, instructions and warnings. LRAD creates standoff and safety zones, supports the resolution of uncertain situations and potentially prevents the use of deadly force. We believe this is highly preferable to the real instances that happen almost every day around the world where officials use guns and other lethal and nonlethal weapons to disperse protesters or end SWAT situations. ...

Guantanamo's history of sound thrashings strikes a sour note for musicians
Michael Posner Globe and Mail Canada October 31, 2009

... In the recent Iraq war, notes New York University music professor Suzanne Cusick, "acoustic bombardment" became a routine part of the battlefield arsenal. During the 2004 siege of Fallujah, for example, the U.S. military serenaded the city with works by Metallica and other bands using a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). Talk about a wall of sound. The LRAD is capable of projecting a 75-centimetre-wide beam of sound to a distance of 1,000 metres at an average of 120 dB - louder than a sandblaster or a rock concert. The premise is that the enemy, desperate to escape a relentless avalanche of noise, will flee its positions and expose itself to more conventional attack. At that level of intensity, it's no longer really music; it's just noise. Which is why battlefield commanders typically left decisions about which tracks to play up to soldiers in the field. As Prof. Cusick notes: "The use of music [is] incidental to the use of sound's ability to affect a person's spatial orientation, sense of balance, and physical co-ordination." ...

American Technology announces $1.6 million follow-on LRAD(R) order from U.S. Army Reserves
CNNMoney.com USA November 10, 2009

American Technology Corporation (ATC) (NASDAQ: ATCO), the innovator and distributor of the Long Range Acoustic Device(TM) (LRAD®) product line, announced today it has received a follow-on LRAD 500X(TM) order totaling approximately $1.6 million from the U.S. Army Reserves. ATC announced the initial order last month (http://www.atcsd.com/site/content/view/310/55/). Both orders are scheduled to ship this quarter. The LRAD 500X can be mounted on a variety of military vehicles including the HMMWV, LMTV, FMTV and MRAP, providing soldiers the critical capability of clearly broadcasting information, instructions and warnings to distances in excess of 2,000 meters from within their vehicles.

"We continue to support our armed services in their peacekeeping missions around the world through increasing LRAD shipments," remarked ATC president and CEO, Tom Brown. "With further LRAD orders expected from the U.S. Military and other organizations and agencies this quarter, we're off to a strong start in fiscal 2010." ATC's proprietary LRAD directed sound systems enable military forces to communicate clearly and determine the intent of potential threats at safe distances, providing time and distance to employ a measured response to a threat's actions. Through the use of focused multi-lingual voice commands and deterrent tones, LRAD creates increased standoff and safety zones, supports conflict resolution, and potentially saves lives on both sides of the device. ...

The Strait of Georgia near center, the Strait of Juan de Fuca below, Puget Sound at the lower-right, Johnstone Strait at the extreme upper-left, Pacific Ocean at lower left. Sediment from the Fraser River clearly visible.

Salish Sea
Wikipedia Last modified November 1, 2009

The term Salish Sea is a neologism and proposed official name for complex of inland waterways stretching from Tumwater, Washington at the south end of Puget Sound to Desolation Sound at the northern end of the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia. Its first known use was in 1988: marine biologist Bert Webber from Bellingham, Washington, proposed that U.S. and Canadian authorities officially apply this name to what its proponents describe as a large, dilute, estuarial inland sea but is really a series of interconnected straits, sounds and inlets focussed on Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and adjoining waterbodies, plus the Strait of Juan de Fuca which connects the Georgia-Puget Basin to the Pacific Ocean. ...

The Coast Salish are a grouping of indigenous peoples who live in Southwestern British Columbia, and northeastern Washington state. For most of their collective histories (which date back to 8,000 B.C.E.), there was no single term to describe these people who share a common linguistic and cultural origin. However, after anthropological contact with the Salish of the interior of Washington and Idaho, the rest of the tribes and nations were grouped together as part of the same linguistic grouping, and eventually the name "Salish" applied to coastal peoples as well for the first time. The term "Salish" is not from any of the native languages or cultures of the region, and refers to the Selisch people of Montana and Idaho, who were the first group encountered speaking what has become called after them the Salishan language family. "Salish" was later supplemented by the terms Coast Salish and Interior Salish, referring to two distinct linguistic groupings of the languages within them. The name Salish Sea was in fact unofficially coined only in the late 20th century. There is no overarching title for this area or even a commonly shared name for any of the waterbodies in any of the Coast Salish languages.

The region encompassing these waterways is known variously as the Georgia-Puget or Puget-Georgia Basin, or in the singular as the Georgia Depression, the Georgia Basin or Puget Sound et al. The Canadian half of the region is regularly referred to as the Gulf of Georgia, a term which encompasses the Strait of Georgia and all other waters peripheral to it, as well as to the communities lining its shores or on its islands; like the term "Puget Sound," the terms "Georgia Strait" and "Gulf of Georgia" describe the general region as well as the body of water. ...

CBC Radio: The Current
CBC Radio One Canada November 2, 2009

The Salish Sea documentary. Salt Spring Island is front and center in this documentary. The ecology of the rock outcroppings known as the islands of the San Juan Archipelago is as endangered as is the settler culture and its peoples' dignity.

Unless you live on the West Coast, you have probably never heard of the Salish Sea. But it's very possible that you'll soon be finding that name on every new map of Canada. Unofficially, the Salish Sea refers to the waters between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island ...stretching down to Seattle that included the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca as well as Puget Sound.

The British Columbia office of the Geographic Names Board of Canada has already endorsed the name - on the condition that it's also endorsed by both the State of Washington and the US federal government. On Friday afternoon, the first hurdle was cleared when the State of Washington approved the name.

Now it's up to the US government to make it official. That decision will be made later this year. If the new name does get full approval, those old names will remain. The Salish Sea would be a collective name ... in the same way that The Great Lakes refers to five separate bodies of water.

On the face of it, it doesn't seem like a big deal. It's a new name and it's not taking away any old ones. But as freelance documentary producer Paolo Pietropaolo discovered, there's a lot of power in a name. His documentary is called, "The Sound and The Sea".

You can listen to the approximately 30-minute documentary from this link.

Ex-unit commander questions government's commitment to "meaningful" illegal gaming investigations
Seon Holman Public Eye British Columbia Canada October 21, 2009

Visit this page for its embedded links.

The former commander of British Columbia's now-defunct integrated illegal gaming enforcement team is questioning the provincial government's commitment to "meaningful" illegal gaming investigations. Speaking exclusively with Public Eye, Fred Pinnock also described the RCMP's senior management in British Columbia as demonstrating "willful blindness" when it comes to the connection between illegal gaming and organized crime. And he said his provincially-funded RCMP team should have been expanded - not shutdown. Mr. Pinnock, who retired as a staff sergeant in September 2008 after 29 years with the force, acknowledged airing his concerns will make him "unpopular with some of my former colleagues." But he felt compelled to do so - in part, because he believes his team should have been keeping tabs on what happens inside legal gaming facilities rather than just cracking down on illegal gaming outside those facilities. "For the police not to have well-resourced law enforcement units dedicated to casino environments is very short-sighted in my opinion," he explained.

Mr. Pinnock, now a managing partner with Lions Gate Investigations Group Inc., said the Ontario Provincial Police have three casino intelligence units that monitor, anticipate and prevent organized crime from becoming involved in that province's gaming facilities. But he said there's nothing comparable in British Columbia - even though "other than correctional institutions, casinos have the highest density of organized crime figures anywhere." ... As for illegal gaming, Mr. Pinnock said, during his two-and-a-half years as the enforcement team's commander, he had the impression government was more concerned about "the appearance of doing something" rather than "meaningful results." "It seemed the way to remain in favour with government was simply to maintain a statistical, check-the-box-type, radar gun-level of enforcement and not meaningful targeting that would disrupt significant criminal activity," he explained. ...

Seeing no evil
Seon Holman Public Eye British Columbia Canada October 22, 2009

Contains four minute, 42 second video.

The minister responsible for British Columbia Lotteries Corp. doesn't think there's a "ton of criminal activity" being conducted at the province's casinos. In an exclusive interview with Public Eye, the former commander of British Columbia's integrated illegal gaming enforcement team Fred Pinnock also said BC Lotteries security and the government's gaming inspectors don't appear to be having much of an impact on those activities. But, speaking with reporters today, Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman said, "I totally disagree with him, actually." ...

What hideous mischief is this?
BC Mary The Legislature Raids British Columbia Canada October 16, 2009

Yesterday's front page of the Victoria Times Colonist was plastered with another surge of talk about former Chief Constable Paul Battershill of the Victoria Police Department. At first glance, a reader might think this Battershill guy had done something terrible ... and I suggest that this is precisely what we're expected to think.

But a second, closer look reveals something quite different. CanWest may be on the brink of bankruptcy, but they found enough loose cash in their budget to send a reporter to Cache Creek territory with nothing but this question: "Did you KNOW about Chief Battershill's reputation BEFORE he came to Loon Lake?" It's the world's oldest game of black propaganda.

Anybody looking for mischief could ask around anywhere, anytime, about anybody, and leave behind a cloud of suspicion. ... This is what unfolded at Cache Creek and Loon Lake, B.C., at the hands of a CanWest journalist. Why would the Editor-in-Chief of the Victoria Times Colonist play around with such a hideous game of mischief? Against a good cop? And this wasn't just mere dabbling, it was featured on the TC's front page. Here's how it unfolded ...

Harper’s CPC government behind the latest attempt to extinguish the lights on a distinctly Canadian vocation

It is said, by proponents of the destaffing program that the lighthouses are automated with the latest technology. This is misleading. For example, many of the stations are currently without operating fog horns. Mariners and aviators must rely on calling the keepers of these light stations to ask about fog. Equipment has already been cut back, is mostly antique, and people using these lights rely on their keepers more than ever. - Greg Hewett

Lightkeepers oppose automation
George T. Baker Prince Rupert Daily News British Columbia Canada September 10, 2009

There are currently 27 staffed light stations on the West Coast. [All that remain after a decades-long effort to de-staff these vital institutions. The greater danger resulting has been measured but continues to be ignored.] The Coast Guard wants to de-staff them and the remaining nine on the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador. The union that represents Canada’s lighthouse keepers says that the B.C. coast would become more dangerous for Mariners if the Canadian Coast Guard goes ahead with a plan to automate all lighthouses. According to the President of the BC Lightkeepers Local 20232 PSAC, Steve Bergh, lighthouse keepers learned about the plan to automate lighthouses last week after being told earlier in the summer that this wouldn’t be happening. “No lighthouse is fully automated. There is staff on site to watch and monitor weather information equipment to ensure that it is in operation and that they are prepared to maintain all the dwellings to make sure all the equipment lighthouses use are in good working condition,” said Bergh. ... He claimed that the Assistant Commissioner of Coast Guard, by continuing to refer to these stations as ‘automated’, is potentially leading the public to believe that the stations being de-staffed are automated already and that it is only a matter of removing the lightkeepers. “Automated weather sites quite often do not work or they are really inaccurate. There is absolutely no way to replace a trained weather observer with an automated weather station,” said Bergh. The lighthouse keepers union wants a public consultation before moving forward with any plan to de-staff. “They are going down a fairly fast track. They are not asking for public consultation, which in my mind means that they have made up their minds and they are going to do what they are going to do, but the public has yet to speak their voice on this,” said Bergh.

Keepers of the Light
M.J. Murphy The Mark Canada September 16, 2009

Every couple of years since the late 1980s, whatever government is in power floats a plan to save money by automating Canada's remaining manned lighthouses. Harper's Tories are behind the latest attempt to send Canada’s last few dozen lighthouse keepers into retirement. There are economic arguments to be made on the government's side; You don't have to pay wages to an automated lighthouse, nor do you have to be concerned with the safety issues, which lighthouse keepers do – except that, in an emergency, a real human being can be much more useful than a flashing light.

Important to keep staffed lighthouses
Greg Hewett Comox Valley Echo Vancouver Island, British Columbia Canada September 22, 2009

Nearly a hundred years ago 4 men were swept to their deaths off of surf pounded rocks in the Hecate Straits, risking their lives to build a lighthouse. They are among many in a life saving tradition on the BC coast. They built this lighthouse with cement walls 18 inches thick, intending for it to last forever. It likely won't if you don't write to your government representatives demanding that lighthouses continue to be staffed. This is being proposed to cut costs. To put the cost issue in perspective, lighthouse keepers are among the lowest paid federal employees. It costs less for the government to keep a single prisoner in jail than it does to pay a lighthouse keeper. Full time light keepers give an unbelievable portion of their lives to their work, they are on duty 24/7 watching for mariners in distress, monitering radios, providing weather reports including special ones. They have been designated as an essential service by the federal government, the same government who is proposing to destaff four stations in the next two months, and continue with a destaffing program for all the remaining light stations.

The last time destaffing of Canadian west coast lighthouses was announced to the world, four freighters full of smuggled illegal migrants attempted to land in the isolated areas of the west coast of Vancouver Island. On this coast, where many areas are uninhabited, it is in the best interests of national security to have a significant nonmilitary government presence there such as what light keepers can provide. If tanker traffic should ever be allowed in the inside waters, such as your federal and provincial government is planning to allow in the near future, along with tankers carrying natural gas, such as what is being proposed for Texada Island, every possible precaution must be taken to avoid irreparable damage to our coast, such as oil spills and mega ton natural gas explosions could cause. In this time of a changing climate, weather patterns have been erratic and less predictable, therefore, current observation and special reports are often needed. Light keepers are an important source of accurate, scientific, daily records of weather collected along the BC coast for Environment Canada, something needed when everything depends on understanding the effects of climate change. ...

Tofino Council briefs
Westerly News Vancouver Island, British Columbia Canada September 24, 2009

... Tofino council doesn't want to see lighthouses on B.C.'s coast de-staffed and voted Tuesday to send a letter to the Canadian Coast Guard commissioner to express opposition to the government's cost-cutting method. Their letter is meant to voice support for a resolution the Strathcona Regional District will vote on today. The SRD will then present its resolute support for keeping lighthouse staff in B.C. lighthouses at the upcoming Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention in October. The resolution calls on Prime Minister Stephen Harper "to cease all efforts to de-staff light stations and instead commit to maintaining light station staffing levels indefinitely" to ensure safety and the growth of the coastal economy. ...

Ucluelet Council briefs
Westerly News Vancouver Island, British Columbia Canada September 24, 2009

... Ucluelet council received a letter from the president of the BC Lightkeepers union, asking it to support their stance that lighthouses in B.C. should be staffed. Recently the federal government has said it intends to de-staff lighthouses on coasts across Canada in an effort to save money. Council voted to receive the letter for information only, stating they had already sent a letter to the Canadian Coast Guard on the matter. ...

Related: Captain served lighthouses 40 years
T.W. Paterson Duncan Citizen Vancouver Island, British Columbia Canada September 16, 2009

... After 80 years' faithful service, the Canadian Coast Guard Ship and lighthouse tender Estevan, B.C.'s grand old lady of the sea, retired. On Nov. 28, 1969, she completed her last official voyage, a four-hour farewell cruise, with former officers, crew members and their wives. That afternoon, Capt. Robert Engelson brought the venerable workhorse, pennants flying, into her berth at the foot of the Johnson Street bridge for the last time. Thousands, the length of the B.C. coast, would miss her familiar red and white form, particularly in Victoria, home port throughout her busy career. It was estimated that, in over half a century, almost every Victorian had a relative or a friend who'd served aboard her at one time. ... For 56 years she faithfully serviced B.C. lighthouses, buoys and beacons, helping to keep an oft-times treacherous coast safe for shipping. During those busy years she became a familiar "face" in virtually every "nook and corner of the province," earning the respect and affection of thousands, at sea and ashore. Asked if Estevan had been kept busy during his years aboard her, Capt. Ormiston replied: "Oh, yes, we were constantly busy, building beacons, establishing new positions for buoys and so forth, packing supplies around as frequently as we could to the lighthouses, packing the lightkeepers back and forth..." Vancouver Island formed Estevan's tour of duty in those days, with a visit to Prince Rupert in summer to haul out larger buoys beyond the capabilities of other ships in the fleet, a duty she performed up to the end. ...

Update, October 1, 2009: Fisheries minister stops lighthouse automation in BC, Nfld., pending review
Steve Mertl Canadian Press Canada October 1, 2009

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Fisheries Minister Gail Shea has ordered a review of Canadian Coast Guard plans to automate lighthouses in British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador. It's the second time in two decades a strong backlash has stalled the coast guard's effort to de-staff light stations along the west and northeast coasts. In a statement released Wednesday, Shea said safety concerns have been raised by a number of parties over the gradual de-staffing of light stations in the two provinces, so no more automation will take place until the review is complete. ...

Yesterday we posted some links reviewing some old challenges facing BC's First Nations and some new challenges to the integrity of their homelands, Go slowly but go; goodbye friend: BC First Nations have not given up the fight for respect of their traditional territories. Those items did not deal with the gift to the province's mining explorers and developers announced this week when the Campbell and Harper government's collaborated on a multi-million dollar gift to the mining industry and the continental integrators. First some intro and then a look at native peoples and Canadian mining in Argentina.

Intro: News release, British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, September 16, 2009

PROVINCIAL AND FEDERAL PARTNERSHIP TO ELECTRIFY THE NORTH

VICTORIA – The Northwest Transmission Line will now go ahead with the announcement of $130 million committed by the Government of Canada through the Green Infrastructure Fund, announced Blair Lekstrom, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. “We are pleased that the federal government has recognized the importance of the Northwest Transmission Line and we are pushing ahead with the $404 million NTL that will open mining and energy opportunities in the northern part of the province,” said Lekstrom. “NTL will help communities in the region transition away from diesel generation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” This is an important step towards building a powerline that has the potential to generate billions of dollars in capital investment, create thousands of new jobs and open economic opportunities on a global scale in the Northwest.

The Province has already invested $10 million to support the environmental assessment and First Nations consultation process. The new 287-kilovolt line will extend 335 km from Terrace to Meziadin Junction and north to Bob Quinn Lake, providing access to the electricity grid for customers while supporting the economic diversification of the area. The project could support the development of a number of new mines, take advantage of the vast mineral potential in that region and help realize the potential of the Prince Rupert Fairview Container Terminal. It will also support the development of clean, renewable electricity projects in the region. Expanding transmission along highway 37 could stimulate thousands of jobs and billions of dollars worth of economic activity for British Columbia. B.C. is recognized as a clean energy powerhouse and this project will help British Columbia to reach its goal of curbing greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020.

Related: The Northwest Transmission Line: Did Campbell green light an all too familiar boondoggle?
Christopher Pollon TheTyee.ca British Columbia Canada September 21, 2009

Visit this page for its embedded links.

... Fast-forward more than 30 years: on Sept. 16, Stephen Harper announced that the federal government would invest $130 million to extend the electrical grid far into the northwest of B.C., restating Bennett's intention to connect B.C. to Alaska. With the past forgotten and a single gesture of taxpayer-funded largesse, the elusive dream of opening the North to industrial development was back on. Up until last week, the Northwest Transmission Line (NTL) was facing grave uncertainty. The NTL was originally conceived to accompany the ill-fated Galore Creek mine north-east of Stewart; the plan, including the grid extension, was abandoned in 2007 when development costs spiralled out of control. Premier Gordon Campbell revived the NTL, which was planned to connect Bob Quinn Lake to the existing grid terminus at Meziadin Junction, in September of 2008 -- with a provincial investment of $10 million to kick-start the environmental assessment (EA) process. At the time, Campbell justified the expenditure based on a private lobby group's report that projected the line would generate $15 billion investment dollars and 10,000 jobs. No clear timeline for such benefits was put forward. The crash of economy and commodity prices saw private mining and energy companies increasingly reluctant to commit funds to the $250 million the province had already pledged -- a major stumbling block to building the line, or so it seemed. Reached by phone the day of the announcement last week, B.C.'s Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Blair Lekstrom confirmed the project would move forward, and that the province was prepared to go it alone. "We made it clear, once we reached this agreement (for federal money) we will move forward on this project," he said. The plan now is to move forward quickly -- Lekstrom said an application to the B.C. environmental assessment office will be made this fall, possibly to be completed within 180 days. Ground could be broken as early as next year, with a fully operational 287 kilovolt (KV) transmission line in place by 2012. ...

What is likely to come into development sooner are a number of open-pit copper mines and at least one coal mine in the Stikine watershed, as environmentalists were quick to point out after the prime minister's announcement. "Stephen Harper is trying to greenwash a project that has more to do with stimulating major mining projects than it does with bringing 'green energy' to northwest communities," said Merran Smith, climate director with Forest Ethics on Sept. 18. "This transmission line is anything but green." Major mining projects include the Mount Klappan coal mine at the head of the Klappan River, proposed by Ontario-based Fortune Minerals. The nearby Red Chris open-pit copper mine near Iskut, being planned by Imperial Metals Corporation of Vancouver, is another of the closest mines to becoming a reality, and one that needs grid power to be economically viable. Red Chris is currently stalled amid a legal action initiated by Mining Watch Canada, which should be resolved by early 2010. And then there are the Tahltan First Nations, centred around three northwest communities claiming about 150,000 km of mineral rich land, including much of the Stikine River watershed. They are currently divided on how wind, copper, coal and coalbed methane should proceed on their land -- particularly in the ecologically fragile area encompassing the collective headwaters of the Skeena, Stikine and Nass rivers. ...

Alumbrera is Argentina's oldest and largest open pit mine. Photo: Alejandro Olivera. Huge Canadian-backed mine's name means 'illuminator'. But there's a dark side. Alumbrera is being investigated for environmental crimes, smuggling and corruption.

Alumbrera, Producer of riches, poison and corruption
Cole Robertson TheTyee.ca British Columbia Canada September 18, 2009

We are sitting at the kitchen table of a quiet adobe house in the desert just above the town of Andalgalá in remote Catamarca, north-western Argentina. Seventy kilometres to the west, Alumbrera mine is in full operation, digging into the ground 24 hours a day. Alumbrera, from the Spanish alumbrar -- to illuminate -- was sold to the people of Andalgalá on the promise of bringing light to the little village. There would be modernisation: new hospitals, schools, jobs and even a farfetched town-wide WiFi network. In one man's words the people were promised "paradise." But it never came. Across the table from me is Marcos Pastrana, one of the many villagers who are fighting the mine. The lifelong resident of Andalgalá is a member of the United Citizen's Assemblies (UAC), a country-wide activist organisation. Pastrana tells me the jobs are less than promised. Instead of a new hospital there's been one new ambulance. And the ground water in the traditionally farming-based community is being used and contaminated. How else has the mine and its new money affected the village? There are three new brothels and twelve new pharmacies. And, say residents of Andalgalá, poison is in the air.

At the tourist office in Andalgalá you will find the walls covered in faded posters promoting tours of the old, hand-dug tunnel mines that once sought pink rhodochrosite and other semi-precious stones. But Alumbrera is a mine without tunnels now. It's an open pit. Open pit mining allows for extraction of very low ore grades. Because the method digs out so much rock to get a small amount of metal, it produces huge amounts of waste -- 20 tonnes of rock for every gold ring. Extracting minerals at these low ratios requires the use of extremely harsh chemicals -- cyanide in the case of gold and sulphuric acid in the case of copper. The unwanted mud slurry, now contaminated, is discarded in a "tailings pond", which will go on leaching chemicals into the ground for hundreds of thousands of years. Alumbrera is a joint operation between owner Xstrata, Canadian shareholders Goldcorp and Northern Orion Resources, and Argentine state-run company Mineral Deposits of the Waters of Dionysius (YMAD). It is the oldest and largest open-pit mine in Argentina and one of the most profitable in the world. It consumes 87 per cent of the electricity in the province of Catamarca, and uses 60 to 100 million litres of water every day. In the pit, 314,000 tonnes of rock are extracted daily, throwing lime and sulphite dust into the air, which residents say has affected air quality over the last ten years. Alumbrera consists of more than just the pit. "Bajo Alumbrera", as it is called in its entirety, is a string of operations stretching across five river basins for nearly 1,000 kilometres. ...

Alumbrera consumes so much water that it is causing desertification. Farmers in the already arid zone are finding it harder and harder to raise their crops. In 2007, a farmer from nearby Santa María told La Nación, "For the last five years we've seen nothing of the water that we used to use from the Santa María River... In the best of times, these lands could grow peppers, tomatoes, corn and alfalfa, but now, look what it's like. Our family is leaving because we can't work... we have the tools to work, but not the water." ... The bills that govern mining in Argentina were enacted by President Carlos Menem in the mid 1990s, creating a number of mining-friendly tax and fiscal policies, as well as industry-specific environmental regulations. The environmental regulations are toothless. ...

The September oil and gas rights sale resulted in over $8.7 million in bonus bids, bringing the calendar year to date total to $330.6 million. The Sept. 16 sale offered 34 parcels covering 15,885 hectares, and sold 34 parcels covering 15,885 hectares. The average price per hectare was $549. Drilling licences provide the exclusive right to explore for petroleum and natural gas by drilling wells. They are acquired by the successful bidder at the Crown sale, and primary terms are three, four or five years, depending on location. Leases provide the exclusive right to produce petroleum and natural gas and are acquired by the successful bidder at the Crown sale or selected from permits and drilling licences. Primary terms are five or 10 years, depending on location. The next sale is scheduled for Oct. 21, 2009, and will offer 62 parcels covering 66,837 hectares.

Item: News release, British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, September 21, 2009

OIL AND GAS WEEK CELEBRATES A VIBRANT INDUSTRY
 
VICTORIA – In recognition of the valuable and essential contribution the oil and gas industry makes to the economy and people of British Columbian, the Province is proclaiming Sept. 20-26 as Oil and Gas Week, announced Blair Lekstrom, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. “This is our opportunity to celebrate and recognize the important role that the oil and gas industry plays in creating jobs, encouraging investment and making B.C. more competitive,” said Lekstrom. “The oil and gas industry brings billions of dollars of investment to our province, creates thousands of jobs and provides revenues that help fund health care, education and infrastructure for all residents of B.C.”
 
The oil and gas industry generates over $2 billion in Crown revenues annually. Through innovative royalty programs and the recently announced Oil and Gas Stimulus Package, the Province is attracting new investment and making the oil and gas industry one of the fastest growing sectors in the province. Since 2001, the oil and gas industry has invested $37.8 billion in British Columbia. “The potential for natural gas development in this province is growing almost daily,” added Lekstrom. “I am proud to see that our natural resources are being managed in such a co-operative and environmentally-sensitive manner.”

Oil and Gas week will end with the B.C. Energy Conference, which is taking place in Dawson Creek Sept. 24-25. Lekstrom will be in attendance, and will be giving a keynote presentation Friday morning. To view a message from the Minister, for more information on oil and gas rights sales, or for additional statistics on oil and gas, please visit the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources website: http://www.gov.bc.ca/empr/.

Related: Energy Development in British Columbia
Alison Cretney, Ellen Francis, Josha MacNab, Karen Campbell, Matt Horne, Ian Picketts, Katie Laufenberg Pembina Institute Canada March 23, 2007

56-page PDF. This discussion paper offers information to First Nations in British Columbia about the way energy development can affect traditional territories. It addresses the environmental issues associated with different energy developments, including fossil fuels such as oil, gas or coalbed methane, and renewable sources such as wind or run-of-river hydro power. From the Executive Summary:

... This discussion paper is intended to provide leaders and community members with the background and technical information they need to make decisions about future energy development — decisions that encourage healthy ecosystems for generations to come. British Columbia can support energy projects that provide economic benefit to its communities while also respecting the land.

Oil and Gas in British Columbia
Pembina Institute Canada n.d,

The Pembina Institute works directly with communities, First Nations, companies, governments, schools and the public to create sustainable energy solutions and minimize the impacts of fossil fuel-based energy projects. The Institute has undertaken community-based consulting projects in British Columbia for nearly a decade; and more recently, has expanded its public and community outreach work. This page has multiple links to news items, publications of the Institute and more.

Alah mika chahko! Chinook expression of surprise: "Ah, you've come!" From Oregon to Alaska, there exists a long history of international, mutually-beneficial trade. The coming of the Europeans did not initially change that. In the 20th Century things began to change. The negative aspects of change are intensifying in the neo-fascist climate of the early 21st Century.

Minnesota State University's eMuseum website says: The homelands of the Chinook are on the [United States'] Northwest Pacific Coast along the lower Columbian River. They were famous for their extensive trading. They traded over thousands of miles with many different peoples. Being river dwellers their livelihood greatly depended on fish. Salmon was a major source of trade. Other valuable trade items included canoes, slaves and shells. They communicated with other groups through a spoken trade language. This trade language was recognized and spoken by many other peoples. It was a combination of Chinook, Nootka, English and French. It was widely used along the coast from California to Alaska. The Journal Royal Geographical Society of London, vol. xi., 1841 contains these two paragraphs:

The origin of this Jargon, a conventional language similar to the Lingua
Franca of the Mediterranean, the Negro-English-Dutch of Surinam, the
Pigeon English of China, and several other mixed tongues, dates back to
the fur droguers of the last century. Those mariners whose enterprise in
the fifteen years preceding 1800, explored the intricacies of the
northwest coast of America, picked up at their general rendezvous, Nootka
Sound, various native words useful in barter, and thence transplanted
them, with additions from the English, to the shores of Oregon. Even
before their day, the coasting trade and warlike expeditions of the
northern tribes, themselves a sea-faring race, had opened up a partial
understanding of each other's speech; for when, in 1792, Vancouver's
officers visited Gray's Harbor, they found that the natives, though
speaking a different language, understood many words of the Nootka.

On the arrival of Lewis and Clarke at the mouth of the Columbia, in 1806,
the new language, from the sentences given by them, had evidently attained
some form. It was with the arrival of Astor's party, however, that the
Jargon received its principal impulse. Many more words of English were
then brought in, and for the first time the French, or rather the Canadian
and Missouri patois of the French, was introduced.

Klatawa klahwa. Klahowya sikhs. Chinook admonition and salutation: "Go slowly. Goodbye, friend."


North West and North Central British Columbia. Image scanned from Alcan publication "Alcan British Columbia - Performance Report 2004" a public access information brochure distributed to employees, retirees and available to the public.

Intro: Cheslatta Nation goes to court over Kemano
First Nations Drum Canada Fall 1998

Members of the Cheslatta Carrier Nation along with a group of Elders have filed a Statement of Claim with the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Prince George challenging all agreements and licenses granted to the Aluminum Company of Canada (Alcan) by the Canadian and British Columbian governments. These agreements and licenses allowed Alcan to construct and operate the highly controversial series of hydro-electric facilities and an aluminum smelter, known as the Kemano Projects, in north-central BC. "We have run out of options. The only way to get Alcan Canada and B.C. to account for their actions is through the justice system," said Chief Marvin Charlie. "We were not consulted in the 1950’s (Kemano I), we were not consulted in 1987 (Kemano II) and we weren’t consulted in 1997, which we now call Kemano III. Nobody was consulted – the farmers, the trappers, the municipalities, the commercial fishermen – nobody! Now we are expected to live with this forever – I don’t think so!"

The Kemano I Project resulted in the flooding of 120,000 acres of the Upper-Nechako Watershed, all within the Cheslatta Traditional Territory, and eventually removed approximately three-quarters of the natural flow of the Nechako River. The Nechako River is the largest tributary to the largest salmon-producing river in the world. The Kemano II Project, an expansion of the first, was allowed to proceed when B.C. and Canada signed the infamous 1987 Settlement Agreement. In 1990, Kemano II became the first project in Canadian history to be granted an exemption from a federal environmental review process; an action later to be found illegal by a Senate-Commons Committee. Kemano II construction was subsequently halted by Alcan in 1997 who cited poor aluminum markets. In January of 1995, B.C. canceled the Kemano II project citing poor economic projections on behalf of the company. Last August, under legal threats from Alcan, the B.C. government granted unprecedented rights and privileges to Alcan by signing the 1997 B.C./Alcan Agreement, which is now referred to as Kemano III. The B.C. government declared the Kemano II Project history. Cheslatta claims that Kemano II is alive and well. With the 1997 Agreement, Alcan, who announced net profits for 1997 at $641,000,000, got everything they wanted and more. "Alcan is not obligated to spend a penny in the rehabilitation of the Nechako or the Cheslatta system. If Canada and B.C. is not committed, then Alcan is home free," says Chief Charlie. ...

The Dogwood Initiative speaks to its motivation:

... BC is a special place; full of incredible beauty, diverse ecosystems and vast natural resources. 96% of BC is public land - yet large timber, mining and oil companies control over 88% of that land. Their operations can ravage the environment and impoverish local communities. We want to ensure that BC residents have the right to make their own decisions about how the land they live on is used. Our work enables people to safeguard their communities for their children and their children's children. Our choice is clear: either we allow government and corporations to continue to destroy the province, or we stand up and ensure that land-use decisions are made by those who live on the land. ...

Underwater treasure: The Cheslatta resurface as economic force
Heather Ramsay Northword Magazine Canada Winter 2005/06

By taking advantage of unique opportunities like underwater logging, not only is the Cheslatta Nation back from the brink, they may also be poised to help kick start an eco-wood economy in northern B.C. Fifty years ago, the Cheslatta people were given four days’ notice that Alcan’s new dam would raise the water level, flooding their villages on Cheslatta Lake southeast of Vanderhoof forever. With little other choice, confused and angry family members gathered what possessions they could manage and walked to higher ground. Those who had been out hunting or on the trapline, returned to find their homes destroyed and their people gone. Today these same families, now settled at Grassy Plains above Ootsa Lake, are successfully dredging value out of their murky past. An incredible, new remote-controlled submarine known as the Sawfish, and a progressive logging company called Triton, are part of this new reality. It was a long, hard struggle, says Cheslatta’s economic development officer Mike Robertson, but the tiny nation, with a scant 120 members on reserve, is now the largest employer in the southside area of Francois Lake. The band has been instrumental in partnering with the local community and industry in projects, a community health centre, a water system, a forestry company and a sawmill. Now they are poised to reclaim an underwater treasure, once thought to be lost, as diverse as the only aboriginal-owned community forest in B.C. ...

Items: British Columbia offshore oil and gas
Salt Spring News May 13, 2009

Six links.

China makes bold move into Canada's tar sands: Washington not pleased, northern British Columbia corporatists all atwitter
Salt Spring News September 1, 2009

Ten links. China is providing the impetus for the first east-west pipelines from Alberta's tar sands to BC coastal harbors and from the BC coast harbors to Alberta's exploitation facilities. Enbridge Inc. could apply late this year for federal approval of a new oil pipeline connecting Edmonton to a new marine terminal in Kitimat, B. C., Scotiabank said after the China announcement. "With a new cabinet in place, the provincial government must focus on a Northern Decade to create jobs and spur population growth in northern British Columbia" wrote Tim McEwan, president & chief executive officer of Initiatives Prince George Development Corp., June 18, 2009.

Enbridge's bad week
Dogwood Initiative British Columbia Canada September 4, 2009

A $100 million slush fund can buy you a lot of things, but it doesn’t look like it can buy Enbridge support for its Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker project in northern BC. This week municipal and First Nation voices joined the growing choir of opposition. The result, the future of the tanker-pipeline project is more uncertainty than ever. Enbridge CEO Daniel Patrick told Dogwood Initiative staff a few months ago that if the majority of the people affected didn’t support their pipeline-tanker project, then Enbridge would cancel it. They better start getting ready. Enbridge likes to point to it's industry funded "Gateway Alliance" as evidence of support for it project, but do northerners really support Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline? A recent on-line poll by the Terrace Standard shows that 63% of the respondents voted to “Flat out reject oil tankers on the West Coast and stop all oil pipeline discussions.” Only 16% supported “Enbridge's Community Advisory Boards to address concerns and minimize environmental impacts” and 7% of respondents “Demand a Federal public inquiry such as was performed by Berger on the Mackenzie proposal” Three First nations whose lands and waters would be affected by the proposed pipelines and oil tankers are starting to rattle their sabers. The Haisla, Carrier Sekani and Haida all voiced opposition to the project this week. ...

British Columbians remember the people of Hartley Bay as the heroes who risked their lives in the first half hour after midnight on March 22, 2006 to rescue the survivors of the sinking BC Ferries vessel Queen of the North. After the fact there was wide-spred sentiment in the province to have the new replacement vessel named "Spirit of Hartley Bay" following in the long-tradition of christening BC ferries after communities and places in the province. Little did we know at the time that the recently privatized BC Ferry Corporation intended to abandon that tradition and adopt a corporatist Disneyesque naming policy. The replacement vessel was christened (apparently with no corporate sense of irony) M/V Northern Adventure. With the proposed Endbridge project, the people of Hartley Bay are once again being asked to accept all the risk with no benefits.


A Spirit Bear stands watchful and ready over Gitga’at Territory. Photo courtesy the Gitga’at people. The Kermode Bear (Ursus americanus kermodei), also known as the "spirit bear", is a subspecies of the American Black Bear. It is only found in three small, isolated, pockets on the Pacific coast of British Columbia. The Gitga'at are members of the Tsimshian cultural group. In the Tsimshian language, these bears are known as Moksgm'ol.

Welcome to Hartley Bay, home of the Gitga'at First Nation

From the beginning of time, the Gitga’at people have existed in their Territory on what is now British Columbia's northwest coast. The wellbeing of their people is intricately related to the health of their lands, waters, and resources, and the community continues to work to sustain their abundance and richness. Gitga’at culture is strengthening, and traditional practices continue to shape day to day life in the village. ...

Gitga'at give Enbridge execs chilly reception
Media advisory Gitga'at First Nation/thegreenpages - British Columbia Canada September 18, 2009

The Enbridge proposal to ship oil from Alberta's tarsands through the pristine territory of the Gitga'at First Nation has received another setback. During recent discussions, Enbridge president Pat Daniel and Northern Gateway Pipelines president John Carruthers heard a clear, candid and consistent message from the Gitga'at: "NO" and "NEVER". Hereditary Chief, Ernie Hill Jr.  told the CEOs, "You are welcome in our Territory as individuals, but your project is not".

Carruthers made it clear they are in the pipeline business, not shipping. In other words, when a spill happens they are not responsible and don't look to them for any fixes. Vessels ranging from cruise ship size to supertanker would be negotiating the treacherous waters where the Queen of the North went to the bottom. The Gitga'at are living with upwelling of hydrocarbons from the sunken ferry and worse is to come as the ship and vehicles decay within her, releasing toxic substances near traditional food gathering areas. Mrs. Helen Clifton, Matriarch, said, "History has a way of repeating itself. Our experience with BC Ferries taught us many things - among the lessons, corporations do not act honourably. They put their responsibilities to care for the planet far behind their greed for profit. We must be vigilant". Gitga'at spokesman Cam Hill says of the pipeline and shipping project, "It's all about risks and benefits. For the Gitga'at it's all risk and no benefits, and for Enbridge it's all benefits and no risk". ...

Cheslatta Carrier Nation concerned with Huckleberry Mine’s flow into Tahtsa Reach
Rebecca Billard Burns Lake District News British Columbia Canada August 25, 2009

The crystal clear aqua green glacial fed waters of Blue Creek approximately one kilometre from the Huckleberry Mine Ltd. discharge point in Tahtsa Reach are a treasure to be preserved for future generations according to Cheslatta Carrier Nation. Tucked away in a quiet inlet the cool waters are a haven for fish and other marine life that can clearly be seen swimming below. Cheslatta Carrier Nation’s Chief Corrina Leween is hoping that these precious waters will remain untouched. Photo: Burns Lake District News

Members of the Cheslatta Carrier Nation (CCN) are concerned about something that they are calling ‘Huckleberry Soup,’ in reference to the discharge that Huckleberry Mine Ltd. (HML) is permitted to flow into Tahtsa Reach. According to CCN the mine sits directly on its traditional territory. Bill Mracek, HML’s mine manager said that the mining company purchased the land from the Crown, and it was sold as Crown land. “Any claims for traditional territory beyond that purchase would have to be taken up with the Government,” he said, adding that he was aware of several First Nations groups that have claimed the land as their traditional territory, including the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, the Skin Tyee Band and the Cheslatta Carrier Nation.

In October 2005, HML applied for an amendment in order to change mining operations from a fully contained open pit mine, to a mining operation that would be allowed to discharge supernatant [the clear liquid that lies above a sediment or precipitate] from a tailings pond known as TMF-2 directly into Tahtsa Reach, an arm of Ootsa Lake. According to CCN the amendment conditions or permit never proposed any treatment of the supernatant before it was to be discharged into Tahtsa Reach. “They [HML] just flung a big pipe over the side of the mountain to drain the tailings pond directly into the waters of Tahtsa Reach, the effluent from the TMF-2 tailings pond is not even treated before it hits the water,” said Mike Robertson, CCN’s senior policy advisor. ...

Photo: Olympia Oyster (Ostreola conchaphila), dime is for scale. Credit, Olympia Oyster Company (established 1878), Totten Inlet, Washington State. Jim comment: Consider the oyster, its slippery, gelatinous texture; the salty, seawater taste. Its raw and wet and completely unprocessed. When I first hit the West Coast of North America, I fell in love with the Olympia oyster. I've harvested and/or eaten oysters also along the east coast, in Europe and Asia but the Oly is my favorite. This little oyster is slightly creamy, mildly salty, and sweet wtih a slight mineral long-lasting finish. A joy! The larger, introduced Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas native to Japan/west coast of Asia) prevelant in the wild along our coast and the basis of the BC shell-farming indusry is OK—and, depending on the waters it grows in, can be much better than OK. But it lacks the grace and nuance of the native.

An oyster to fight for: Bringing BC's native Olympia back from the brink and on to the table
Jeff Nield TheTyee.ca British Columbia Canada August 6, 2009

Olympia oysters ready for slupring. Species restoration projects for the Olympia oyster funded by the U.S. Government are active in Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay.

... Until about 1913, any oyster I ate on the coast from at least northern B.C. to southern California would have been an Olympia -- making the "Oly" (as it's known to its fans) a potent symbol of our historical relationship to the sea. Today the Olympia oyster has largely vanished both from our shores and our collective memory. "Although there was such a large Native population here and I think they had fished them down a bit, the real kiss of death was black liquor pulp mills,” explains Brian Kingzett of the Centre for Shellfish Research at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo. The region's first kraft pulp mill, in Puget Sound, began dumping the toxic liquor into the inside waters in 1927. Within a year, the oyster industry there had disappeared, and the Olympia oyster was fast becoming one of a long list of marine species to crash under pressure from human activities. Threats to the Oly over the past 150 years have ranged from overharvesting and pollution to habitat loss and the introduction of non-native parasites and predators, according to a new Department of Fisheries and Oceans report. Add the oysters' natural sensitivity to temperature extremes and a relatively low reproductive rate, and it's a wonder there are any Olympias left in B.C. at all. The DFO designates them a species of "special concern," with a population that "appears to be stable at low levels relative to historic accounts."

...Though small, Olys are famously flavourful. Because they are a different genus from the introduced Pacific oysters, they taste completely different. "People wax on about how French Bélon oysters are the best oyster. Well, the Olympia oyster is related to those," says Kingzett. "A little tiny Olympia oyster that only has a tablespoon of meat in it will actually have as much flavour to it as a cup of the Pacific oyster." In his book Consider The Oyster, chef and champion shucker Patrick McMurray writes that "a classic Oly tastes of sea salt to start, sweet cream, seaweed, earth, fresh-cut grass -- a taste unique among oysters. Its dry metallic finish will last for up to 15 minutes, if you let it." To me, it tastes like nothing I've ever experienced. The flavour is primal, and it suddenly seems as though the sea is lapping gently at the edge of the table. "This is a thinking man's oyster, to be eaten without condiments," writes McMurray, and I find myself nodding in agreement. Then again, they also taste sensational with a dash of local blackberry vinegar or a drop of good gin.

The salty-sweet taste of the Olympia oyster may not be so elusive for long. In 2003, Slow Food USA added the Oly to its Ark of Taste, a catalog of "delicious foods in danger of extinction." Meanwhile, the efforts of the Puget Sound Restoration Fund are growing. "It's one of those iconic native species along the west coast. It co-evolved with other native species in this area," says Fund executive director Betsy Peabody. "It's great to have a native a species that has been pushed down to such a critical level but still maintains a foothold. There's an underdog quality to this oyster that makes people want to fight for it." At long last, there are also moves in B.C. toward restoration of our native oyster. The Centre for Shellfish Research is partnering with the university's culinary program to link ecological restoration with the explosive interest in local foods. The centre's Deep Bay Field Station will work to raise and possibly farm the oysters, while the school's teaching kitchen will figure out great ways to serve and promote them. "The gastronomic connection is what really drives it home," says Kingzett. "I can bring people out on our boat and show them the marine ecology, show them healthy salmon streams that go across the oyster bed, pick some of those oysters, take them up and teach them how to cook them. When you start feeding people, that cements the image." Olys have a long way to come back, and some question whether it is worth the effort, says Kingzett. Though Olympias settle in habitats that other oysters don't use, creating a unique habitat for other species, introduced oysters and other shellfish play similar ecological roles to the Olys. "Having said that, these things were very abundant and now they're not," adds Kingzett. "If we can restore them even in a limited area, what we're doing is proving that we can maintain some high levels of ecological integrity from an indicator species." There is also, among fans of the Oly, a sense that the restoration of the original oyster would have symbolic weight -- an acknowledgement of past errors and of a commitment to live more wisely on the landscape that sustains us. ...

There have been six bomb attacks on EnCana pipelines in the region, dating back to mid-October 2008, when an explosion ripped out a two-metre crater under a pipeline near the hamlet of Tomslake, about 30 kilometres south of Dawson Creek. No injuries have been reported so far. Subsequent bomb attacks have drawn ever closer to populated areas around Tomslake. The most recent blast took place near the community of Pouce Coupe, B.C., just south of Dawson Creek. The RCMP have called the bombings "domestic terrorism," and police say they are concerned someone might be injured or killed in an attack. - Bradley Bouzane, Mayor doubts extra police will stop bomber, July 18, 2009. The Hamlet of Tomslake is located along Highway 2, on the Old Edmonton Highway, 28 km south of Dawson Creek, British Columbia near the Alberta-BC border. In 1947, when the residents of the Tate Creek were trying to get their first post office, the Postal Authorities informed the name "Tate Creek" was already used by another community and could not be used. "Tomslake" was accepted. At that time Tomslake was a small lake at the north end of the settlement, which was named after Tom the Trapper who resided there. The lake was very shallow and eventually dried up.

What happens when governments which are supposed to protect the individual's right make policy decisions which allow corporations to infringe on the countryside's peace and quiet and on the quality of the lives of ordinary citizens?

In these times of deeping crises within capitalism, at home and globally, a complex dynamic is about to take shape within what has passed for capitalist democracy (democracies) as well, with complex security agendas in play, as well as, doubtless, going forward, a gathering resistance to the US Empire/Corporate domination over of the country, our economy and resources. And all against a backdrop of worsening conditions for our citizenry, no less in rural and Native areas than in the big cities. Worse in many ways. The emergence of a widespread rage amongst growing social and class strata is a given, you have to know that. - 'coyoteman' in a comment appended to Greg Amos' story

Pacificists everywhere remain concerned about violence in our society. Basic principles of justice state we address violence where it is most prevalent. In the past ten years, unfortunately, state violence has increased dramatically. We have seen a huge increase in military invasions of other countries, with Harper cheerleading the US and sending Canada's young men to die. The RCMP, plagued by scandal and corrupt leadership, has been encouraged to become more violent. And lets not forget CSIS, which has also jumped into the torture and violence game. The list goes on. Coercion and state violence at the Provincial level has also increased. We have a unilateral, undemocratic Liberal government dictating its demands inspite of objection by the majority of citizens. The 2010 Olympics have blasted and destroyed their way through forests and lands; BC's rivers are being dammed and destroyed; BC's wild salmon are being wiped out; BC's poor and disdvantaged citizens are denied health care and access to societies wealth; homelessness in increaseing exponentially. All of these are clearly violent acts and have a deep impact on citizens. Amazingly, there is almost NO violence from non-elites. Most citizens are deeply pacifistic, reasonable and tolerant. This of course has the unintended consequence of encouraging state violence. - 'Jeffrey J.' in a comment appended to Greg Amos' story

... violence begets violence, and I'll offer this quote of Gandi's. "An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind". But then I'll quibble that the Peace River bomber has destroyed only property in return for what he could logically argue is destruction of his own property. So, who is beholden to be the first to stop? ... What good does it do to vote for politicians who put expediency before obligations to their constituents? Why vote for politicians like Campbell who promise to do one thing, and when elected do the opposite? And what good is the vote anyway, when the issues are not clearly understood because of a biased media that either misinforms or does not inform at all? And what to do about the average voter who is either bummed out on politics, is stupified by TV, or remains satisfied as long as the toys are provided - by anybody. The stage is then set for the terrorist who says "So you don't want to listen? Well, maybe THIS will get your attention" - 'ME2'in a comment appended to Greg Amos' story

... “the bomber is at least giving us a bit of a voice.” -Unidentified women speaking to RCMP Staff Sgt. Stephen Grant at a public meeting in Tomslake last week, reported by Nathan Vanderklippe

Northern BC's 'sour' relationship with oil & gas industry heats up
Warrior Publications Canada Oct 2008

A collection of articles on the oil & gas industry in northern BC, including recent protests by the Kelly Lake band and a recent series of bombings of EnCana gas pipelines. Despite at first claiming any rupture of the pipelines would release toxic clouds of gas endangering anyone in the vicinity, the third bombing did breach a pipe and released sour gas, drawing little response from emergency services. Many residents of the area, located near Dawson Creek, including Natives, are opposed to the pipelines and industrial destruction. ...

It's the question on everyone's lips here in this remote northern B.C. town: Who's waging war on the oil industry? In less than a week, two explosive devices have erupted under sour-gas pipelines owned by EnCana outside the town, 590 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. In both cases, the pipelines did not rupture and no one was injured, but the level of violence involved - and the wording of threatening letters sent to local news outlets last week - has everyone in the region on edge. "This scares the hell out of me and my family," said Eric Kuenzl, a resident of neighbouring Tomslake, which is about 30 kilometres south of Dawson's Creek. He and six other residents of the town protested the development of a sour-gas well site in their area in June. Sour gas is natural gas tainted with toxic hydrogen sulphide. Many in the area believe sour-gas wells pose a risk to human and livestock health. ...

Kelly Lake, B.C. - Curtis Belcourt picks a beer can out of the ditch in front of his house and gives his grandson a hug. Behind them, a tanker truck throws up a cloud of dust on the gravel road before it turns to pavement. This once sleepy aboriginal community, 20 kilometres south of last week's oilfield bombings, is now criss-crossed by pipelines and main street has turned into a highway. There are five well sites within the two kilometre-square community and a sour gas separating plant just four kilometres north. "They came and raped our community, that's how I feel because all our traplines are destroyed," says Curtis Belcourt, a former trapper who works for the band's contracting company. Then he regrets his choice of words and says he doesn't want to sound too angry. ... There's frustration here. Community members can no longer trap, use the local fresh water spring and must search hard for moose, a dietary staple. They live on oil and gas contracts instead - building roads, staffing medical vehicles and supplying labour. The band-owned contractor, Kiyanaw Development Corp., reports an average annual revenue of $5 million. EnCana's Steeprock plant, referenced in the handwritten bomb threat sent to local media days before recent pipeline bombs, sits just four kilometres north. The band set up a two-day roadblock last summer demanding better safety practices for the oil industry. After the bombings, many non-native residents around Dawson Creek started looking south with suspicion, but no one from the band had anything to do with it, Belcourt says. "That's our bread and butter in our community," adds his wife, Barb Belcourt. "Nobody here is fool enough to do something that dangerous." The Kelly Lake band has always fled from development. Chief Cliff Calliou traces his ancestry back about nine generations to Louis Calliou, an Iroquois from the Montreal area who more than 200 years ago canoed to Fort Edmonton to work for the Hudson's Bay Company. After a few years, he quit, joined several other families moving west from Manitoba, and returned to living off the land. They settled for a time in the Grande Prairie area, trapping and travelling as far south as Jasper to trade for supplies, but when the settlers started developing Grande Prairie in the early 1900s, it was time to move again. Their horses loaded down with supplies, they walked west toward the mountains until they reached Kelly Lake - a whitecapped haven for northern pike surrounded by miles of roadless forest on the edge of the foothills. Here, trapping was good in the winter, and American hunters paid well for guides during summer. ...

Kelly Lake Cree Nation denounces pipeline bombings
Oil Sands Truth Canada October 2008

... Hydrogen sulfide occurs naturally in the environment as well as in our bodies, so it’s harmless under normal circumstances. However, too much exposure to the toxic compound can prove fatal. Its effect on the human body resembles that of Hydrogen cyanide, which, as you may already know, is listed as one of the world’s chemical warfare agents. Low level exposure to Hydrogen sulfide can result in nausea, shortness of breath, eye irritation and fluid in the lungs. Exposure to high concentrations can cause death. The compound essentially deprives the human body of its ability to process oxygen — and it does so quietly. That said, EnCana is undoubtedly monitoring the levels of Hydrogen sulfide around the pipeline. If the levels begin to climb (or skyrocket as a result of an explosion) an emergency evacuation procedure would be set in motion.

There’s a lot of ’speculation’ coming from non-natives and the media about who’s behind these incidents. For the most part they are blaming the easy red target, the Kelly Lake Cree. It’s true that the First Nation has been protesting against the company over a number of concerns, including matters of financial compensation and health and safety issues. However, by the same logic and reasoning non-natives could just as well be responsible for it. After all, there were non-natives taking part in the protests too! Furthermore, all the protests have been peaceful. Even when Kelly Lake members set up a roadblock last June, and were faced with “angry and dangerous” non-native Canadians who “blasted through” with their cars, nearly running over four people—the First Nation remained peaceful. Adding more fuel to blame the Cree Nation, an ‘unrecognized band’ according to the federal Government, there was an anonymous letter sent out before the first bomb went off. The letter warned the company to shut down its operation and leave the region, stating in part: “We will not negotiate with terrorists, which you are as you keep on endangering our families with crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our homelands.” The statement clearly implicates someone from the Kelly Lake Cree — but, again, it could have just as easily been authored by a non-native....

Located next to the Tomslake Sudeten Museum is a carin. The monuments stands in honor of the Sudeten refugees who came to Canada in 1939. They fled from Hitler's Nazi Germany and a fate of persecution, imprisonment, torture and possible death in the Nazi-concentration camps of the Third Reich. They escaped and found asylum in Canada and joined with the settlers of Tomslake/Tupper to make a new way of life. The immigration of 518 settlers was impressive.

Search narrows for pipeline bomber
Greg Amos TheTyee.ca British Columbia Canada July 17, 2009

The investigation related to the six northeast B.C. pipeline infrastructure bombings is narrowing in on a small community near the Alberta border, where bloodlines lead back to Sudeten Germans expelled from western Czechoslovakia after World War Two. RCMP believe the person responsible for the bombings dating back to last October likely lives near Tomslake, an area south of Dawson Creek that was settled in the 1940s by Sudetens intent on becoming farmers after being expelled from their European homeland. The investigation's focus is being sharpened by a second threatening handwritten letter sent from Spirit River, Alberta on Tuesday and received by the daily newspaper in Dawson Creek on Wednesday. The letter gives oil and gas company EnCana just three months to cease operations and unroll a public commitment towards green energy alternatives, while placing a five-year deadline on the removal of all oil and gas facilities "established over the last 8 years in our territories of the Tomslake and Kelly Lake districts."

"We know that the Tomslake area was once referred to, especially after World War Two, as the Sudeten Homeland, and the word territory was also included," said RCMP Sgt. Tim Shields said at a press conference held in Dawson Creek on Thursday afternoon. "It is a term that was used in the past." The Kelly Lake Cree Nation also resides within the area of the bombings, but has not figured prominently in statements made by the RCMP, who are carrying out the investigation with help from their Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET). ...

The Sudetens became allied with Nazi Germany in the late 1930s as a means of escaping from Czechoslovakian oppression, though many faced persecution from the Nazis themselves over the course of the Second World War. As a result of the Potsdam Conference in 1945, Sudetens were expelled from their traditional homeland. Some came to Canada, and a group of about 500 chose to live in the South Peace, in what is now Tomslake. Their descendants may again be feeling as though they are under siege, as shale gas development carried out by EnCana and about a dozen other companies mean the formerly pastoral area has become a maze of roads, pipelines, wellheads, and compressor stations. Sour gas flares burn day and night, and while the industry is welcomed by many for its well-paying jobs, some fear the acute and long term risks associated with the hydraulic fracturing of rock and with the possible release of toxic hydrogen sulphide from the operations. Making matters worse is the ongoing RCMP investigation -- nine months long and counting -- that has brought forth several allegations of police harassment. The six bombings thus far have caused significant damage to gas infrastructure. While no one has been injured, the risk involved with repairing damaged infrastructure are significant. "Don't press the issue in your pride and greed and force worse things to happen," wrote the letter's author, presumed to be a person connected with the bombings, all of which have targeted EnCana infrastructure. ...

RCMP scout locales in hunt for bomber
Nathan Vanderklippe Globe and Mail Canada July 17, 2009

RCMP in northern British Columbia have begun scouting for sites to set up a new, temporary detachment in the small town of Tomslake, where they suspect the area's oil and gas bomber resides. ... “What I want is basically a full service police station out here,” Staff Sgt. Stephen Grant told about thirty people gathered for a Rural Crime Watch meeting last night. Mr. Grant is the commander of the 27-member Dawson Creek detachment. ... Current plans call for the small satellite detachment to be maintained for six months, or until the bomber is caught, although Mr. Grant expressed hope that it could be continued beyond that time. ...

The RCMP bid to catch whoever is responsible for the bombings has damaged relations with some in the area, as people have been tailed, subjected to hostile questioning, watched in their own homes and, in one case, accused in a public restaurant of being the bomber. Mr. Grant acknowledged those tactics have not always gone over well. “We all know how this initial investigation was conducted,” he told the Tomslake group. “It did not leave a good taste in people's mouths.” But he hopes the new detachment, even if it is temporary, will help mend some of those issues. “We've always been too distant from the community here,” he said. “So the connection we have with the people isn't as strong as it should be. I believe by having a base here within the community we're going to be more responsive, we'll have a better connection with people. I think it's going to be positive all around.” RCMP are also bringing in additional gunpower, including a six-month posting to the area for a long-serving member of the force who has trained as a sniper and worked with U.S. and Canadian army bomb patrols in Afghanistan. Police must contend, however, with substantial elements of the community that believe the bomber is doing them a service. ...

Destroyed emails adds twist to BC Rail trial
Ian Austin with files from Shannon Kari Canwest News Service/National Post Canada July 17, 2009

The lengthy BC Rail corruption trial took a turn for the worse for Premier Gordon Campbell's Liberal government yesterday with revelations that emails from the Premier may have been destroyed during the provincial election campaign in May. Rosemarie Hayes, the B. C. government's manager in charge of information services, said that at the beginning of May, her department was told to erase backup tapes of emails prior to May 2004. They had been sent to a company called EDS Advanced Solutions. Such an order would have destroyed crucial executive branch emails, including exchanges between the Premier and his closest staff. ... The BC Rail sale to CN Rail was the subject of a raid on the legislature in 2003, and has remained a black mark on Mr. Campbell's record through two successful re-election campaigns. The $1-billion sale was finalized in July 2004, despite a pre-election pledge by Mr. Campbell ... that BC Rail would not be privatized. ... The case, one of the lengthiest corruption prosecutions in British Columbia history, began nearly seven years ago as a major RCMP investigation dubbed Project Everywhichway, targeting an alleged marijuana and cocaine trafficking ring. It eventually veered into a probe of political aides, and 18 months after it began, the RCMP and Victoria police executed search warrants on offices in the B. C. legislature on Dec. 28, 2003. ...

Time for Campbell & Co. to come clean
Jon Ferry The Province Vancouver Canada July 16, 2009

The time for stonewalling is over. The political stench is just too great. The Campbell government must come clean with British Columbians over yesterday's bombshell revelation that cabinet e-mails from the time of the so-called raid on the B.C. legislature in 2003 were ordered destroyed as recently as this May, during the provincial election campaign. It should also release the full details of the divisive deal, finalized in 2004, to sell publicly owned B.C. Rail to CN Rail, despite a pledge not to privatize it. ...

But for years now, let's face it, Campbell & Co. have been using the B.C. Supreme Court trial as a smokescreen, praying it won't interfere with their re-election plans -- and hoping the whole stinking mess will eventually just go away. They can be forgiven for their optimism in this regard. The apparently interminable legal proceedings have already managed to become a poster boy for delays in B.C.'s criminal-friendly justice system. No, we're not just talking about a little bit of sleaze here. The so-called Vasigate scandal involves the entire machinery of government, at its highest level. ...

Opening up health care to the private for-profit sector; getting rid of that damned moratorium on off-shore drilling and exploration; enabling dangerous-cargo-tanker-traffic through the Inside Passage—just a few of the urgent priorities for the Campbell coalition in this destructive term of office. Big tasks ahead but there are friends who will help if the people can be made to bear the risks and subsidize the costs. The Canada Health Act was adopted in 1984. The moratorium on offshore oil and gas and tanker traffic has been protecting British Columbia’s northern coast since 1972. For how much longer will these two survive in a corporatist British Columbia, given the same ideology now prevails in Ottawa too?

Every time I go back through the TLR archives of this BC Rail case, I am surprised to see certain things leap off the page with new significance. Almost as if I hadn't seen them before. Like this line: OmniTRAX president and real estate developer, Patrick Broe ... A real estate developer? Others undoubtedly saw that line and took in its full meaning. But I had focused on Broe as president of a U.S. railway company, OmniTRAX, who was bidding for BCRail. And who, rumour says, was offered a substantial consolation prize for losing out. Or being pushed out. Or something. - BC Mary

Kevin Falcon, British Columbia's new Health Minister, believes patients should be able to use their own money to buy expedited health care in the private sector. ... "I do not have any objection to people using their own money just as they do for dental care or sending their kids to private school," Mr. Falcon said. "I think choice is a good thing and reducing it is not a good thing." - Pamela Fayerman reporting, B.C. Health Minister supports private care, June 25, 2009

A full debate on health care is welcome. But it's hard to see how the public can have confidence on a government-appointed health authority board chair who doesn't support the most basic principle of Canadian health care. Paul Willcocks, July 14, 2009

It boggles the mind to think how many goodies could trade hands here. Real estate, energy and transportation. Real estate...medical office buildings managed by a physician focused management firm...retirement holdings, senior housing communities, residential and assisted living services, personalized health services. Imagine that. Who needs 40km's of rail road track when you can get your foot in the door at ground level, for some of the government goodies to be handed out to private investors/contractors in the healthcare fields. It's coming - count on it. - Leah, in a comment appended to BC Mary's post below

Pat Broe
The Broe Group USA n.d.

Pat Broe founded his namesake company in 1972 as a Denver-based real estate asset management firm. Beginning with small residential and commercial rehabilitations, he soon began to accumulate a portfolio of properties. He began trading land, assembling development sites and repositioning commercial properties, primarily in the central business district of Denver. These activities provided the base from which The Broe Group grew and diversified into its present form. Over the course of four decades, Mr. Broe has built a diversified private equity investment enterprise with a multi-billion dollar asset base with investments spanning a wide range of industries, including commercial and residential real estate, medical office buildings and assisted living communities, diverse transportation-based companies, medical devices, agricultural investments as well as energy ventures such as oil and gas exploration and production and coal mining. Mr. Broe focuses on the strategic direction of the company, investment policy and financing activities, and the identification of attractive assets for acquisition.

Give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above ... don't fence me in, let me ride through the wide-open country that I love, don't fence us in
BC Mary The Legislature Raids British Columbia Canada July 14, 2009

... Gordon Campbell, the Vancouver real estate developer, formed the BC government in 2001 and immediately began talking about selling BCRail. Pat Broe must have zeroed in very quickly. Then Erik Bornman enters the scene by registering with Gordo's B.C. government as a consultant lobbyist representing the Broe Companies. Bornman busies himself looking for B.C. investment opportunities in economic development and trade, such as rail transportation. Soon Pat Broe, Dwight Johnson are having dinner with the B.C. Minister of Finance, Gary Collins. For some reason, police wanted to know what those men were discussing. There were RCMP inside the Villa del Lupa restaurant as well as outside, making videos of that meeting. Thank goodness. Today is July 14, 2009 when various spectacular BC Rail properties can be scooped by CN for $1. Or so we hear. I think that maybe Collins, Broe, and Johnson were talking, in a roundabout way, about land, lots and lotsa land to be had for 1/10th the cost of the Hudson Bay Railway plus Port of Churchill. Pat Broe is a real estate developer. ...

Related: The preamble of the Canada Health Act states that the objective of Canadian Health Care policy is "that continued access to quality health care without financial or other barriers will be critical to maintaining and improving the health and well-being of Canadians." The primary objective of the Act is "to protect, promote and restore the physical and mental well-being of residents of Canada and to facilitate reasonable access to health services without financial or other barriers." (Section 3).

Kevin Falcon vs. the Status Quo
Pamela Fayerman and Jonathan Fowlie Vancouver Sun British Columbia Canada July 8, 2009

As B.C.'s government struggles to keep its spending in check, the man now responsible for government's most expensive ministry is declaring a war on the status quo. "There's no correlation between better outcomes, or better care, and more money," Health Minister Kevin Falcon said recently, adding the time has now come to spend smarter, not larger. "We have to think about how we do things better," he added. "I think we have to challenge the status-quo people ... I think we have to push back." ...

Falcon defends possible downgrade of Mission ER
Jeff Nagel Mission City Record British Columbia Canada Last updated July 8, 2009

Health minister Kevin Falcon is confirming Mission Memorial Hospital's ER may be downgraded and limited to giving more basic treatment but he denies the aim is to cut costs. ... Falcon would not say how much money the change in Mission would save. "This is not a decision driven by saving money," he said, adding the aim is to make the best use of the region's resources. NDP leader Carole James accused the province of covering up planned cuts to health care during the provincial election campaign. "The premier must be up front about what other health care services are on the chopping block province-wide and which communities will pay the price," she said. Mission residents have staged rallies calling for existing hospital service to be maintained. Fraser Health faces a possible $160 million budget deficit unless it gets more money from the province or finds savings in its $2.4-billion budget. Word of an array of possible health service cuts – including the Mission ER downgrade, reduced diabetic clinics and cuts to surgery and acute care beds – came last month when a list of measures under consideration was leaked to the NDP. ...

IHA chair thinks two-tier care just fine
Paul Willcocks Paying Attention British Columbia Canada July 14, 2009

The Interior Health Authority chair, responsible for an organization delivering care to 720,000 British Columbians, believes two-tier care should be allowed in Canada. And he doesn't see why the health care system should be providing residential care for frail seniors who can't live on their own any longer. You have to admire Norm Embree's candour in raising such radical positions. And he made it clear he was expressing his personal opinions. But it's hard to see how most people living in the interior could feel comfortable with Embree as the health authority chair. There are some big challenges ahead for all the health authorities. Provincial funding isn't enough to meet the care needs. The five regional authorities have to cut $320 million. Embree's comments raise doubts about his commitment to the basic values and functions of our health care system. His opinions are legitimate, if extreme, contributions to the discussion on health care. But they raise questions, coming from a B.C. health care leader.

In an interview with Don Plant of the Kelowna Daily Courier, Embree said it might be time to abandon the principles of medicare and allow people to pay for faster, better care. "We're already multi-tier - we already go to Washington for private care - why not have it here,'' he asked. Embree, to his credit, took the same position a few days later in an interview with Robert Koopman of the Kamloops Daily News when the issue of two-tier care came up. "I have no problem with it. We've had two tiers for years, but nobody wants to admit it," he said, citing the ability of patients to the U.S. for speedier treatment. Not every could afford that, Embree acknowledged. "That's the nature of two tier - if you can, you do it. If you can't you hang in there," he said. ... The Canadian view, expressed in the Canada Health Act and B.C.'s Medicare Protection Act, has been that your income shouldn't determine the kind of health care you receive. If two little girls are sick, each should get the same care. The fact that one had poor parents wouldn't put her at greater risk. Embree's approach would see the poor child "just hang in there." Embree's views on residential care for seniors raise as many questions. "The Canada Health Act doesn't say anything about providing housing for everyone," he said. "Now everyone expects the health-care system to provide a room and a place." It's true. The Canada Health Act doesn't include residential care and intermediate level nursing home care in the category of covered services. But more than 5,500 Interior residents are in residential care or assisted living beds. If providing that care is not considered part of the health system, how are they to afford the $4,500 a month for a private care home? Pensions are a fraction of that amount and savings would quickly be exhausted. ...

It seems the Winter Olympics are being used as a convenient cover to do more damage to the health care system by cutting services and further undermining people's confidence. Come on, people. It is not the public system that is the major problem. It is the governments that administer the public system.

Surgeries slashed because of Games
Ian Austin The Province Vancouver Canada July 15, 2009

The cash-strapped Fraser Health Authority plans to cut 2,000 surgeries next year when the 2010 Olympics come to town -- saying it needs the beds for a possible "major emergency." In a memo obtained by The Province, staff were told of a 35-per-cent cut in elective surgeries, but assured that "65 per cent of elective surgeries will continue as usual." The announcement comes just a month after The Province revealed that the FHA was facing a $160-million funding shortfall and was considering moves such as closing the Mission Memorial Hospital emergency ward and cutting surgeries by seven per cent. The Olympic initiative moves the FHA well toward that surgical goal in one fell swoop, "representing slightly more than three per cent of the total surgeries performed each year across Fraser Health," states the memo. "Additionally, it will provide some cost savings in these difficult economic times."

Arden Krystal, vice-president of the FHA acute network, said that saving money is one of the goals, along with freeing up beds for an anticipated surge in winter illnesses and allowing staff to answer the call for 1,750 Olympic medical volunteers. "There are definitely some synergies," said Krystal, who is in charge of acute-care services at 12 FHA hospitals. "We will have to look at this current budget challenge. "Obviously, we want to impact patient care as little as possible." The memo follows an earlier announcement that Vancouver Coastal Health will cut elective surgeries by 30 per cent during the Winter Olympics. "Both Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health will reduce elective surgeries coinciding with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, which is predicted to increase traffic gridlock, affecting patients and care providers," states the memo. "The reductions provide additional flexibility in our region to respond to a major emergency during the Winter Olympics." The memo does not say what would constitute a major emergency. ...

Press Release Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner British Columbia Canada July 13, 2009

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons and the British Columbia Medical Association have released a joint toolkit, the BC Physician Privacy Toolkit, to assist physicians in managing the many privacy issues associated with the collection, use, disclosure, retention and protection of sensitive personal health information.

The updated BC Physician Privacy Toolkit provides physicians with information to help them comply with their legal duty, under the Personal Information Protection Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, to protect personal health information.

Highlights from the toolkit include: how to protect patient information, privacy and security considerations for electronic medical record implementation, responding to privacy breaches, electronic medical records and role-based access and secure destruction of personal information.

The privacy toolkit is available on the websites of the Commissioner, the BCMA and the College:

Commissioner: www.oipc.bc.ca
BCMA: www.bcma.org/bcma-home-page
College: www.cpsbc.ca/

...

Victoria golf resort attracts Islamic investors
The Canadian Press/CTV News Canada July 10, 2009

Bear Mountain Resort in British Columbia has launched the first major corporate "sukuk" in Canada after attracting international investment from Dubai. Resort president Len Barrie said the $350-million investment from Siraj Capital (Dubai) Ltd. will help keep up the pace of construction at the resort, located just north of Victoria. He said the money will be used to pay off bank debt, pay out investors and for working capital over the next five years. "The real advantage is just to be able to keep the big construction going," said Barrie, a former NHL hockey player who also co-owns the Tampa Bay Lightning. "To have the access to be able to do these large projects is really an exciting thing."

A sukuk is a hybrid between a share and a conventional bond and is used by Islamic investors to avoid the payment of interest, which is forbidden in Islam. Barrie said the investment has a higher interest rate than traditional banks, but called the sukuk "a sensible investment for informed investors who are wary of coming back into the conventional bond market." The $2.5-billion Bear Mountain Resort will include about 3,500 residences built over the next decade or so.

"The Bear Mountain Resort sukuk will mark the true beginning of sukuk as an asset class in North America", Siraj Capital's CEO Ibrahim Mardam-Bey said in a statement. "This is extremely significant for us as we have a pipeline of potential opportunity in the U.S. and Canada." Barrie said Bear Mountain has sold 100 condos and 50 lots in the past 17 weeks, "and 200 sales is not an unrealistic goal for 2009." Siraj Capital is a merchant investment company regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

Sukuk
Investopedia USA n.d.

What Does Sukuk Mean?

An Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond in Western finance, that complies with Sharia, Islamic religious law. Because the traditional Western interest paying bond structure is not permissible, the issuer of a sukuk sells an investor group the certificate, who then rents it back to the issuer for a predetermined rental fee. The issuer also makes a contractual promise to buy back the bonds at a future date at par value.

Investopedia explains Sukuk

Sukuks must be able to link the returns and cash flows of the financing to the assets purchased, or the returns generated from an asset purchased. This is because trading in debt is prohibited under Sharia. As such, financing must only be raised for identifiable assets.

Related: Sukuk defaults seen rising as global slowdown weighs
Thomson Reuters Canada/UK July 8, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 (Reuters) - A default on Islamic bonds by Kuwaiti firm Investment Dar is just the tip of the iceberg, with more failures expected as the weak global economy hits issuers, industry experts warned on Wednesday. Unlike traditional banking, the $1 trillion Islamic finance industry has just begun to feel the chill of the global downturn, with practitioners and analysts trying to assess the extent of the fallout on the sector. Investment Dar (TIDK.KW) said in May it had defaulted on a $100 million Islamic bond, the first such default for a major, public Islamic instrument in the Gulf. Troubled Saudi conglomerates Saad Group [SAADG.UL] and Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Bros, are restructuring their debt, triggering concerns of a spillover effect on the Islamic finance industry.

Neale Downes, a Bahrain-based lawyer at Trowers & Hamlins, estimated that 5-8 percent of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, in the market are susceptible to default as many were raised for real estate projects which have been hurt by the slowdown. "A lot of the issuers are ultimately really sovereign or quasi sovereign so they will probably be able to draw on government support either directly or behind the scenes," Downes said on the sidelines of an Islamic banking conference in Kuala Lumpur. The value of sukuk issued in 2008 dropped by more than 56 percent compared with 2007 to $14.9 billion, due mainly to the global credit crunch, according to Standard & Poor's. It expects the market to recover in the second half of 2009 or early 2010. "The longer the global recession goes, the higher the likelihood of default," said Mohammad Faiz Azmi, global Islamic finance leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers. ...

US interest in the sukuk market raises new hopes for its future
Mohammed Dawood Financial Times/Gulf News UK/United Arab Emirates July 10, 2009

Dubai: The sukuk, or Islamic bond market, has been severely tested over the past 18 months. After five years of growth in issuance, size and investor appetite, last year saw a contraction of 50 per cent in the value of sukuk issued. The second half of 2008 and the first quarter of this year saw the market effectively closed. While governments and investment-grade corporates in North America, Europe and Asia were issuing record amounts of bonds in the first and second quarters of this year, their Middle Eastern counterparts were also issuing - but in the conventional markets, not the sukuk market. A well-publicised criticism of the mudaraba sukuk structure made by Shaikh Taqi Usmani, a prominent Sharia scholar, in February 2008, is often blamed for the drying up of the market. Of more impact, though, was the global credit crunch that struck shortly afterwards. But recent months have seen developments that indicate a significant shift in the market, and which have profound implications. New buyers and sellers have emerged, at the same time as traditional participants have rediscovered their appetite for Islamic debt. ...

The US is not the only new investor sector to have emerged: Islamic private bank investors have also become significant, with 10 per cent of the Bahrain issue being subscribed by this segment. Perhaps it is not surprising that such investors see the attractions of sukuk, given the volatility of other asset classes, but like the US investor base, demand has suddenly appeared. The most visible result of these new investors entering the market has been the level of subscriptions. Bahrain's $750 millions offer was five times subscribed; Indonesia's was seven times subscribed, receiving commitments of $4.6 billion. In both cases, this strong interest allowed the borrower to issue at pricing tighter than guidance, and, in the case of Bahrain, to increase the issue from $500 million to $750 million. The SEC issue was even more popular, receiving commitments of more than $5.3 billion.

So what can we conclude from these developments, and how do we see the market developing? First, more sukuk will be issued under 144A regulations, the documentation and transparency levels of which will boost demand across geographies and investor types. Second, the US will become a leading target for sukuk issuers, and as familiarity with the asset class increases, the investor base will broaden. Finally, the emergence of private banking investors will open another investor segment that will require its own marketing and approach. Overall, these developments mean the sukuk market has made a strong comeback.

Is it true, as someone has commented: "“What we have is a Provincial regime that has surrendered, or attempted to surrender, BOTH the sovereignty and the authority of Canadian laws and the Canadian constitution, the sovereignty of the Parliament and Courts of Canada, as well as the Courts of British Columbia…to an American company. ..."

From the "BC Rail Transaction Agreement":

ARTICLE 5
CONDITIONS OF CLOSING
5.1 Mutual Conditions

The obligation of the Vendors to complete the sale of the Purchased Interests contemplated by this Agreement and of the Purchaser to complete the purchase of the Purchased Interests as contemplated by this Agreement is subject to fulfillment of the conditions on or before the Closing Date:

(a) No Order or Proceedings: No injunction, declaration, restraining order or judgment of a court or administrative tribunal of competent jurisdiction will be in effect which, directly or indirectly, restricts or prohibits the transactions contemplated by this Agreement and no action or proceeding will have been instituted and remain pending before any such court or administrative tribunal to restrict or prohibit any of the transactions contemplated hereby.

(f) Legislation: The Legislature of the Province shall have passed such amendments to the British Columbia Railway Act, and any other applicable laws which may be required to authorize and permit the consummation of the transaction contemplated in this Agreement and the other documents to be executed and delivered pursuant hereto.

...

Something isn't adding up!
Leah The Legislature Raids British Columbia Canada July 11, 2009

So, what is the real reason for selling BC Rail…and is it a sale? Or is it a lease? According to a confidential memorandum from CIBC World Markets (downloadable from the Legislature Library):

"After (or in conjunction with) completion of the restructuring steps, the Transaction will occur and be structured as a sale by BCRC and BCR Properties Ltd. (snip)…The Province intends that legislation be passed in the fall to facilitate and support the Transaction." What were some of the “positives” that CIBCWM liked about BC Rail? What made it such an attractive purchase? Again, from the “highly confidential” memorandum:

• Attractive revenue sources from a range of forest, and agricultural products commodities for a potential operator.
  
• Modern, High Quality Assets because of substantial capital expenditures for 5 years prior to sale.
  
• BC Rail provides enhanced operating flexibility and efficiency.
  
• Attractive Operating Ratio with further opportunities for improvement. In reality, it compared favorably to ratios enjoyed by Class 1 railroads, due to management’s success in controlling maintenance and operations expenses.
  
• The year 2003 operating ratio met or exceeded the full year outlook by the end of the first quarter, once again in line with other Class 1 railroads.
  
• 2.05 billion dollars in tax pools, at the end of 2002.
  
• Pension Surplus of 151.7 Million dollars, giving its new owner a contribution holiday for a number of years.
  

That’s already more than the one billion dollars paid – and we haven’t taken the machinery or other assets into account yet! Yet the Campbell government insists that it was a losing venture that absolutely had to be sold? Who do you believe?

More importantly, why is the BC Rail Transaction Agreement the most heavily redacted agreement I found while looking through numbers of documents from the Legislature Library? If one was hoping to find the truth about the conditions of the sale – they’re in for a rude surprise. Entire schedules, some with rather large numbers of pages are completely redacted, as well as segments on so many pages that it renders the entire document worthless to the citizens who owned this asset. Yet, the Campbell government appears to believe by placing in the Library in that condition, that this is “good enough” for us. His disdain for the citizens of the Province is so palpable; it’s almost painful. ...

Jim comment: It has been brought to my attention that there is some legal question surrounding 5.1 (a). Is the completion date July 14, 2004? Or is the completion of sale of 'the Purchased Interests' contingent on the legal fulfillment of the July 14, 2009 obligations? I'm not a lawyer—and as so much of the deal remains secret—I don't know. I'm leaving this post up as it does suggest more than one legal interpretation can be argued. Is there a public champion, a barrister Zinedine Zidane out there? It is not likely to happen in time but it seems to me that a courtroom could create a pitch for an intense legal match were arguments to be put into play and defended against. Pity. That's 'Court TV' I would watch. Could be as exciting as a FIFA World Cup match. Certainly the stakes are high.

Olympic security force of 16,500 prepares
Damian Inwood Canwest News Service Canada July 8, 2009

Local, national and international groups are planning “criminal protests” during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, says the Games’ top cop. And RCMP assistant commissioner Bud Mercer, head of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, raised the spectre Tuesday of the violent clashes that rocked World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle and Quebec City. “I can assure council as I stand before you here today, that locally, provincially, nationally and internationally, there are groups that are considering or planning to engage in criminal protests during the 2010 Games,” Mercer told Vancouver city council. “North America and Canada is not a stranger to criminal protests during major events — the 1999 Seattle WTO, 2001 in Quebec City or the Stanley Cup riot. There are things that will happen during a major event that we have a responsibility to plan and prepare for.” ... Mercer told council 2010 security plans include:

• More than 900 cameras to guard the perimeters of Olympic venues.
  
• “Free speech” zones where protesters can legally demonstrate.
  
• A 2010 security force of 7,000 police, 5,000 private security officers and 4,500 members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
  

Civil libertarians wary of RCMP’s plans for 2010 Olympic Games
Carlito Pablo Georgia Straight Vancouver Canada July 9, 2009

... “If it’s lawful today, it will be lawful in 2010,” Mercer, head of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, told council. But he also said that the security force is preparing to deal with “criminal protests”.

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said that Mercer’s presentation left unanswered a number of questions that Olympic watchdogs have wanted the ISU to address for some time. “These assurances are great, but we want to see some concrete plans on how protests are going to be accommodated,” Eby told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. For one, according to the civil liberties lawyer, the ISU hasn’t identified the extent of security perimeters around Olympic venues or where and how many designated protest zones are going to be established. “If the security perimeter happens to be a block in every direction, this means the protesters are practically invisible to people who are coming into the venue,” Eby said. Mercer told council that the ISU will command a total of 7,000 police officers, 5,000 private security personnel, and 4,500 members of the Canadian Forces. But Eby claimed that there is no “unified” mechanism in place to deal with civilian complaints “in a timely manner during the Olympics rather than months after”. Eby also wants to know what use-of-force policy will be in place, as the ISU is a composite of law-enforcement agencies that have different guidelines. One area Eby is particularly concerned about is the use of tasers.

Mercer told council that some 900 closed-circuit television cameras will monitor public activities in Olympic venues, but that these will be removed after the Games. Eby noted, “We don’t know who has access to security-camera footage, how long it will be stored, how it will be stored.” Mercer said his agents will continue to approach people who may be planning protests during the Olympics, even though activists have threatened to sue the ISU if this practice isn’t stopped. As the assistant commissioner told council that local, provincial, national, and international groups are planning “criminal protests”, his on-screen presentation displayed two distinctly Vancouver-related photos. One was a picture of three hooded figures standing behind the giant Olympic flag that was stolen from the grounds of City Hall in March 2007. The other shot showed a banner reading Riot 2010, which was unfurled by the Olympic Resistance Network in Chinatown last November as Games organizers hosted foreign media representatives. Mercer also said that, just before addressing members of council, he was able to download from Web sites images like Olympic mascots holding Molotov cocktails and Olympic flags with Nazi swastikas. In a phone interview, Olympics critic and ORN member Chris Shaw said Mercer is “badly misrepresenting the diversity of opinion and feelings within the anti-Olympics community”. “He cherry-picks things off the Web site,” Shaw told the Straight. “If I wanted to convince the world that the RCMP are a bunch of dangerous maniacs, I could show pictures of Robert Dziekanski being killed.” ...

Mayor slams 'Orwellian' limits on free comment: 'Vancouver is a free-speech zone'
Damian Inwood The Province Vancouver Canada July 10, 2009

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson says he's concerned about the intimidation of activists by Olympic security cops. And he's hitting out at the "Orwellian" label of "free-speech zones" for protesters during the 2010 Winter Games. "I am concerned about the intimidation that the activists have felt, related to the [Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit's] activity and questioning," Robertson said at a city council meeting yesterday. "I think there are more appropriate ways to conduct those conversations and communications." Council voted to write letters to senior levels of government, Vancouver 2010 and the ISU, asking they "publicly reaffirm their commitment to the security of the person and freedom of expression in light of recent concerns about intimidation" during the lead-up to the Olympics. The move follows complaints from 20 people who claim they were approached by plainclothes police at home, at work and on the street, and whose neighbours were questioned about them. "I think there are more appropriate ways to conduct those conversations and communications," said Robertson. "We do need to be vigilant that civil liberties are guaranteed throughout." Robertson supports concerns over ISU plans to set up "free-speech zones" for Olympic protesters. Calling it an "Orwellian" label, he said: "Vancouver is a free-speech zone and we will ensure . . . that we maintain that status and work closely with the ISU to make sure that they are not overstepping bounds." Chris Shaw, spokesman for 2010 Watch, accused council of passing a "wishy-washy, motherhood-and-apple-pie" motion supporting the Charter of Rights. He said council should be telling, not asking, city police what they'll do during the Games. SU officials couldn't be reached for comment.

Sometimes our protesters do protest too much
Jon Ferry The Province Vancouver Canada July 10, 2009

... In any case, compared to those in many cities, regular Vancouver cops appear reasonably tolerant towards such protesters as the Critical Mass bike riders, the Downtown Eastside malcontents and other cause-mongerers. They've obviously come to recognize that, in any democracy, folks should be able to hurl a slogan or hoist a placard without winding up in a jail cell. That's why the shifty steps taken recently by the RCMP and other Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit types to control Olympic protesters have struck such a false note. They smack of police paranoia, or 1984. Now, we all know there's a big budget to justify. But handling such anti-Olympians as mild-mannered North Vancouver author Chris Shaw by ambushing them on the street or quizzing their neighbours is, as my Province colleague Gord Clark points out, so un-Canadian. The RCMP's proposal for Olympic "free-speech" zones is also laughable. If free speech means anything in Canada, which I sometimes doubt, it means the freedom to speak out freely virtually anywhere. That's provided you don't break the law or have zero consideration for others. The problem we have in Vancouver, of course, is that so often protesters don't think of anybody but themselves. And the same folks who sound off so loudly about their selfless dedication to human rights are often the most selfish when it comes to respecting the rights of others down the road. ...