Friends of Strathcona Park

Home

SPPAC Recommendations Ignored
Fall 2011 Newsletter
Peaceful Direct Action Coalition
Bedwell Centennial Trail

SPPAC Recommendations Ignored

Over twenty years ago a very high profile protest in Strathcona Park saw the first Canadians ever arrested and charged for defending a park. In response a Master Plan was developed and a Government appointed Advisory Committee struck to safeguard that plan.

In 1988 the threat came from mining. But today as a member of the Strathcona Park Public Advisory Committee (SPPAC) I observe a strange state of affairs. Now it seems, the pre-exisiting mining company operating in Strathcona appears to be the only organization that actually takes the advice of SPPAC seriously. BC Parks has lost sight of why SPPAC was created in the first place: to avoid conflict by providing a substantive opportunity for the public to review and comment on management decisions.

For example, earlier this year, after a grossly-flawed public input process, the Minister of Environment, ignored overwhelming public opposition and the advice of its own advisory committee and approved a park use permit for Clayoquot Wilderness Resort to operate commercial backcountry horse tours in Strathcona Park. The advice of SPPAC was that, despite loose wording, the intent of the Master Plan did not permit horse riding. This was brushed aside and an amendment was made to the Master Plan in direct conflict with the position of the public body charged with safeguarding it.

Adding insult to injury, an inordinate amount of BC Parks staff time and therefore money was allocated to facilitate this application at a time when park infrastructure is rapidly decaying and is neglected due to budget cuts.

Once drafted, the terms of the permit were provided to the Strathcona Park Public Advisory Committee for comment and ‘advice’. Despite providing valid and reasonable suggestions to modify these terms, for example that the length of the initial permit be reduced from an overly-generous twenty years to ten, the Regional Manager to whom SPPAC ‘advises’ simply rejected every recommendation. This is a worrying breach of BC Parks’ own mission statement that commits to managing our provincial parks in the public trust.

I think, as a committee member representing the public on matters concerning Strathcona Park, that it is important for everyone to know, that it is glaringly apparent that the public has no input whatsoever into the management of our Provincial parks, and that in the case of our oldest park their representation through SPPAC is systematically minimized, short-changed and flat out ignored.

This should come as little surprise as indicated by Premier Clark shrugging off the recommendations of the Strathcona Centennial Expedition: that the Government reaffirm its commitment to manage parks in the public interest.

As the centennial year of BC Parks, 2011, draws to a close it is shameful to report that the glorious legacy left for us one hundred years ago is under direct attack from the very Government responsible for protecting it. I urge readers who value our parks to communicate to our MLA in the strongest terms that they wish their voices to be heard and heeded where conservation and protection is being called for.

-Philip Stone

The Fall 2011 issue of our newsletter is out! In it you will find…

A First Hand Account of Last Summer’s Trail Building, by Ken Van de Burgt
Additional comments on the trail project, by Karl Stevenson
The Strathcona Wilderness Festival, by Carol Hunter
Update on Clayoquot Wilderness Resort Park Use Permit, by Kel Kelly
Peaceful Direct Action Coalition update, by Kel Kelly
T-shirt Sales
An Appeal
How can we get a higher profile for our parks?, by Marlene Smith
FOSP and the OCCUPY MOVEMENT, by Jack Welsh
FOSP Membership Form

Read it here in pdf format…

Peaceful Direct Action Coalition

PDAC website

July 7, 2011 – PRESS RELEASE

Comox Valley coalition to focus on education for peaceful direct action as a democratic responsibility.

We perceive our Comox Valley community, the communities of British Columbia and the communities of the nation of Canada to be in grave danger. The danger threatens our long term economic, social and environmental health, the three pillars of sustainability:

The danger comes in the form of eroding economic equality, devastated social programs, attacks on working peoples’ rights and unfettered environmental damage. It comes in the form of privatization of public resources, diminished civil rights, a lack of accountability to the citizenry and an ever-deepening corporate /government partnership that is moving our elected officials farther and farther away from serving community interests.

There is a new mythology that is emerging as a result of decades of effort, and that mythology is being perceived as being true. It includes such myths as:

“If it’s legal, it’s okay”
“As long as we ‘mitigate’, we can do as we please”
“Pretending to hear the people is the same as listening to what they are saying”
“The economy is the cornerstone of everything”
“Citizen input comes only from special interest groups”
“Peaceful direct action is terrorism”

There are many more myths that are being manufactured to support the agenda of our governments and corporations, and like all of those listed above, a moment of serious reflection reveals that they are not true.

According to Socrates, the original democratic thinker, only just laws are deemed worthy of compliance; otherwise, he said, the citizen has a duty to obey a higher authority. Disobedience of the law, he stated, is justified by appealing to the principle of necessity.

Slavery, residential schools, apartheid, military invasions, voting rights only for men, head taxes, DDT, the Vietnam war, the use of chemical weapons, discrimination based on gender, skin colour or sexual orientation were all legal in their day. That does not mean they were ever just or fair. Most of these “legal” abominations were overcome by careful, considerate, peaceful means, including the practice of peaceful direct action.

British Columbia can claim a proud history of successful direct action campaigns. From Ginger Goodwin and his work for miners’ rights in Cumberland to the suffragette movement, to the century-long struggle of the Doukhobors, to the Critical Mass bicycle protests on the streets of Vancouver today, British Columbians have spoken out and acted repeatedly against unjust laws.

In the environmental movement, the arrest and detention of 64 brave souls in Strathcona Park in 1988 led to the creation of statute parks in the province. The arrest and detention of more than 800 people in the “Clayoquot Summer” of 1993 ultimately brought a measure of environmental sanity and some “peace in the woods” for a prolonged period of time.

Over the last 20 years governments and corporations, working together, have methodically clawed back these victories and made significant efforts to turn our society away from genuine citizen participation and input. These days, once again, citizens and their opinions, are seen as obstacles to progress, and barriers to unfettered economic growth. The other two pillars of sustainability – social and environmental considerations – are once again being ignored. Therefore, once again, we believe it is time to mobilize the citizenry of British Columbia to take a strong, peaceful stand against the imbalanced and unfair practices of our governments.

Three coal mines in our beautiful community make no sense. A new gas station in the heart of our estuary makes no sense. The gutting of social programs for our most vulnerable citizens makes no sense. Turning our provincial park system over to private corporations makes no sense. Yet, despite every effort by our community to work within “the system” to prevent these things, they are all proceeding anyway.

Countless thousands of volunteer hours have been spent preparing briefs, doing research, attending meetings, participating at open houses, forums and public hearings. We can never be accused of not having worked hard within “the system”. Most of this input has been ignored or overruled. We believe that the only thing left to us is to follow Socrates direction to fulfill our democratic duty to work against unfair and unjust laws and practices.

We will work as a coalition to provide education on peaceful direct action in our Comox Valley community. We hope to mobilize hundreds of citizens to relearn that peaceful direct action is a fundamental democratic right, to remember that when governments are ignoring the will of the people, it is our responsibility to react strongly, collectively and peacefully.

We know that we are far from alone. We are well aware that many others in our community and across British Columbia are also at the end of their patience. We invite other Comox Valley groups, organizations and individual citizens to join us and encourage other communities across the province to organize similar coalitions of their own.

It is time for us to stand up, and stand up together.

Friends of Strathcona Park
Comox Valley Water Watch
Sierra Club Comox Valley
Council of Canadians
nocoalmine.net
World Community Development Education Society
Coal Watch Comox Valley Society
Comox Valley Peace Group

Bedwell Centennial Trail

GPS track of the trail/route from Bedwell Lake trailhead to Bedwell Inlet (approx 34 km).

The Bedwell Valley Trail, or Bedwell Centennail Trail as we call it to mark the 100th anniversary of Strathcona Park, runs from Bedwell Lake in the alpine to the head of Bedwell Inlet, a distance of 28 kms. The original trail was constructed by the Friends in the early 1990′s, and generally followed a logging road dating from the 1960′s when the valley was logged. The road has now been washed away in many places, and a critical bridge over the Bedwell River (the Living Bridge) has been condemned by BC Parks, resulting in the trail being closed for the past few years.

In 2009, the Friends embarked on a multi-year project to re-open the trail.

Phase I: In October 2009, the Gayle McGee swing bridge was re-anchored and re-tensioned.
Phase II: In August 2010, 4.5 km of new trail was brushed out from the Living Bridge to Sam Craig Creek.
Phase III: In August 2011, 11 km of old trail was refurbushed from Bedwell Lake to Ashwood Creek.
Phase IV: In 2012, to complete the trail, the 5 km route between Sam Craig and Ashwood Creeks, and the old road from the swing bridge to the Living Bridge, would need to be brushed out.

For reasons best known to BC Parks, we were not allowed to brush out the route from Sam Craig to Ashwood Creeks in Phase III. However 10 of us did the entire trip from the Bedwell Lake trailhead on Jim Mitchell Lake Road to Bedwell Inlet, and then on to Tofino via water taxi. The whole trail/route is well flagged, and could easily be done in 3 days. WARNING This is a seasonal trip only, best done in July through September when water levels are low. If heavy rain is encountered enroute, you may be stranded between impassable streams for a day or two. There are logs over most streams, but they can also be waded when conditions warrant.

View a video of last summer’s trail building (Phase II)…
View a video of repairing the Gail McGee Bridge (Phase I)…

Big Interior Mtn from Bedwell Lake