Down at the Dock: Derelict Vessels and Green Boating Solutions

Photo by Alan Wilson

Recreational boating is an incredibly attractive pastime - who wouldn’t be attracted to time spent out on the water with family and friends?  Unfortunately, those who have never experienced the reality of owning a boat are more susceptible to being lured into taking a boat that’s offered for free or buying one on the cheap, and the results aren’t always good. Boaters know what I mean when I say that owning a boat is never cheap – in time or money – and the one in my yard in need of some serious TLC is a testament to that!

Unfortunately, if boat upkeep and the associated costs are not borne by the boat owner, the burden is frequently passed along to the community and the environment when that vessel reaches a problem state. It is only a matter of time before trouble comes along, as untended vessels will certainly end up adrift, washed ashore, or possibly even sunk. Unmaintained boats release fuel and other toxins into the marine environment, putting marine life and habitat at risk, not to mention the danger they pose to mariners and beachgoers and the damage they can cause to shoreline facilities.

The biggest challenge we have in mitigating the impacts of problem vessels is the jurisdictional quagmire that surrounds them. You’ll know what I mean should you ever want to contact the proper authorities to notify them of an incident - there’s a good chance you will be bounced around to various agencies such as the Coast Guard, Transport Canada, the Provincial Emergency Program, the Receiver of Wrecks, the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations, the local government, or perhaps even the police. In fact there is such confusion surrounding the issue that BC’s Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations has recently published a very useful 12-page guide, Dealing with Problem Vessels and Structures in BC Waters.

Ryan handing out our Guide to Green Boating
Photo by Michelle Young

The good news is that there are solutions:

• Clean Marine BC is Georgia Strait Alliance’s green boating and marina eco-certification program, and has distributed tens of thousands of our Guide to Green Boating. A clean, well maintained boat is a greener and safer boat, thereby reducing our environmental impacts, as well as helping to ensure that our experience is more enjoyable.
• MP for Nanaimo-Cowichan, Jean Crowder, is proposing legislation designating the Coast Guard as a receiver of wreck and requiring them to take reasonable steps to contact the owner and also to provide for government to make regulations on the removal, disposition or destruction of derelict vessels. The intention is to give the Coast Guard the regulatory power it needs to take action before a derelict vessel becomes a problem.

Bill C-638 is a step in the right direction in dealing with the jurisdictional quagmire surrounding derelict vessels. Please support this bill by writing the Minister of Transportation, Lisa Raitt (lisa.raitt@parl.gc.ca), and by contacting your MP. For more information on Bill C-638, visit http://openparliament.ca/bills/41-2/C-638/ and http://jeancrowder.ndp.ca/derelict-vessels.

It is up to boaters like us to prevent our pastime from becoming someone else’s headache. Let’s keep our boats afloat…Down at the Dock!

Make your voice heard at the upcoming Kinder Morgan hearings

The National Energy Board (NEB), the federal pipeline regulator, is holding online information sessions about public participation in the upcoming review of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion proposal.

You can take part in the sessions online or by phone. The sessions started last week and run till the end of November; dates and instructions for how to register are available here.

Photo by James Fehon

We’re encouraging everyone to join these sessions and find out more about the public participation process. It’s also a good chance to ask some tough questions about why public involvement will  be so limited, and why major impacts associated with the pipeline expansion – such as climate change – won’t be considered in the review.

Due to changes brought in by the federal government as part of last year’s Omnibus Bill C38, the NEB now gets to decide who can – and cannot – take part in the hearings, and what ‘level’ of participation members of the public will be allowed.  You can read more about what we expect from the process in this background briefing, and this presentation by the NEB.

In the application to participate, people will be asked to show either that they are ‘directly affected’, or have ‘relevant information or expertise’. We won’t know exactly how the NEB will interpret these requirements until the process is underway, but it’s a key question to raise in the information sessions. 

  

If you don’t live on the pipeline route, will you be excluded from participating because you are not considered ‘directly affected’? We all have a stake in how our resources are developed, and we will all be directly affected by the impacts of climate change. We believe that everyone who cares about this issue and wants to take the time to get involved should be allowed to have their say – not be potentially excluded by the NEB, or simply put off by an over-complicated, burdensome application process.

Once Kinder Morgan files their application, likely some time in December this year, there will be a very short window of time for the public to apply to participate. We at GSA, alongside many other environmental groups, will be providing information and support to anyone who wants to get involved. But because of the short time-frame, it’s important to prepare now.

So please do sign up for one of the NEB information sessions, and let us know what you think – and how we can help you claim your right to have your voice heard.

Holding the torch high - together

On December 26, 2012, Rebecca Tarbotton died in a freak accident while on holiday with her family in Mexico. From everything I've read about Rebecca in the media reports that followed, she was a passionate, intelligent, committed and funny person, loved by those who knew her and respected by many more – even those against whom she battled. The Vancouver native’s passing at the age of 39 was tragic and as Executive Director of the Rainforest Action Network, her loss reverberated beyond her organization to the worldwide environmental movement. We lost one of our brightest leaders, someone who had made an incredible difference in our world. One can only imagine what other great things she would have done had she had the chance.

I didn't know Rebecca, but her passing has been on my mind a lot in the last few months. Like so many of us who have chosen environmental advocacy and social change as our professions, Rebecca struck me as someone who believed that her hard work today was going to create a better, healthier world for everyone. The motivation of an ‘environmental activist’ is unselfish: to speak for those who cannot take action, against those who are driven by self-interest.

Photo: Bryan Nichols

Just before I sat down to write this, I read a Guardian article on how the Canadian government is now using taxpayers’ money – yours and mine – to spy on organizations they describe as “enemies of the state”. These groups only want to ensure that the health of future generations is factored into government decision making, yet their peaceful marches and expressions of opposition are labelled “terrorism”. How exactly did we get to this point?

Somehow the PR machine of our democratically elected federal government has decided that the same groups whose work resulted in the banning of toxins such as DDT and PCBs and the protection of waters and lands across this country – all of which benefit individuals in the government as well as other Canadians – are now to be viewed as impeding what is best­­­­­ for our citizenry.

This is scary enough, but what concerns me more is the power and influence of the vocal minority who openly agree with this assessment. When did ensuring we had clean air and water become a negative? At one not-so-distant time in history, Presidents, Prime Ministers and even industry leaders stood up for the protection of forests and rivers and oceans – and they were lauded for it. Today, in Canada, these are deemed as impediments to “progress” and those that want their protection are “the enemy”.

Our country is at an important crossroad. The damage that the energy and mining sectors, with the help of our federal government, are doing to our environment will have heavy ramifications for generations to come. The vilification of environmental advocates, along with efforts to silence them through media attacks and threats to their charitable status, will give added strength to those efforts to destroy what we citizens have spent decades trying to protect.

In the face of these forces, silence is not an option, and the great news is you haven’t been silent at all.  You have signed petitions, attended events and made what you value clear to our leaders. Beyond this, many of you have made the important decision to support groups like GSA, so that we can be an even stronger voice for you. In 2012, GSA’s membership jumped by an incredible 36%, at a time when so many people’s budgets are tight. We can’t thank you enough for your support, as it tells us we’re on the right track - and puts us in a great position to do even more.

Since there is “strength in numbers” – and the challenges facing us require a great deal of strength - we hope you will help us build our community of donors even more in the coming year. You have made the decision to support GSA because you believe in what we do. We’re certain there are many in your network who feel the same, so why not invite a friend or colleague to become part of the GSA family? They can make a donation online or by mail and when they do, they will be helping us grow even stronger. 

The coming year promises to be very exciting and in the coming months we look forward to sharing more ways for you to be involved. Being a part of this great and growing community is inspiring.

Now, whenever I read about another attack on our environment or on environmental groups, I will think about Rebecca Tarbotton – and about how more and more of us are coming together to build on the amazing work she did.  We are growing, and we will hold high the torch she handed us.

Times They Are a-Changin'

How many times have those words from Bob Dylan's 1964 song been used to describe a current situation? Who knows for sure, but I do know that those words are as true today as they were back then. Indeed I believe we are on the cusp of tremendous change. Some good, Some not so good.

Throughout the world we are seeing and hearing about dramatic changes in political stability, economic viability and environmental health. We are seeing record breaking climatic events every week and the emergence of movements like Idle No More and Defend our Coast. We are hearing about a public, here and in other countries that is dismayed by the actions (or inactions) of their leaders. People are standing up for what they believe is right and it seems that enough is finally enough.

Whilst I do not profess to have the answers to why or how much of this is happening, I do suspect much of it has to do with economic and social models based on continuous growth. Anyone who has studied ecology understands that ecosystems have resource and energy limits and can only adapt to change at a certain rate before they start to collapse. And like it or not, humans and our sometimes weird ways are part of those ecosystems and part of the ecosystem of the whole planet.

Once that is understood by more of our politicians and our business leaders, perhaps some of the conflicts we are seeing now will be unnecessary as we evolve to live in a more harmonious way with our home and each other. We cannot continue to use up all the resources of our planet. We cannot continue to poison our planet and we cannot continue to support a lifestyle that we in so called developed counties seem to believe is our right and that now is desired by less developed nations. With around 7 billion people on this fragile third planet from the sun something really has to change if we are are to survive as a species long term.  Let the changes happen. Support them happening. Lets make our own changes even though they can be scary and lets change to a more sustainable world.

The year of the radical

If at the beginning of 2012 you had asked me to list a few words to describe myself, I might have chosen words like “wife”, “aunt”, “godmother”, “environmental advocate”, “news junkie” and “theatre lover”, to name a few.  But I can tell you that nowhere on this list would you ever have seen this one word – “radical”.

But come the end of January that was the word being attached to my work as an environmental advocate, and to all those who work tirelessly to ensure that protection of our air and water isn’t an afterthought, but is a foundation of our social and economic health.  We were also being called “enemies of the state” for our views, another descriptor you would not have found on my list.

As I look back on this year and see the devastation left behind by a federal government that sees the environment – and its protection – as an impediment to an economy they believe should be solely built on resource extraction, I’m left wondering – who exactly are the radicals here?

Canadians have consistently indicated that they place a high priority on the protection of our environment.  From a commitment to parks to tackling climate change, Canadians value a healthy environment and see it as fundamental to our identity.  Most recently, an Ipsos Reid poll found that over 4 in 5 Canadians (85%) say federal laws protecting species at risk are crucial to the diversity and abundance of wildlife.

Yet today, environmental assessment has been weakened and our oceans and rivers – and all the creatures that call them home – have less protection than ever before.  And we all know the carnage isn’t over.  It seems that our government is out of sync with Canadians and it is they who are acting in a radical way.

Now, the de-regulation of environmental protection in Canada is frightening enough, but that those who would disagree with government policy become the target of inflammatory attacks from a democratically elected government should all give us pause.  The government's decision to provide Canada Revenue Agency with additional funding to audit charities at a time when cuts to scientific research and environmental monitoring have been slashed underscores this strange reality we live in.  The current environment is so concerning that Pen Canada, an organization who works with others to defend freedom of expression as a basic human right, at home and abroad, has voiced its concerns.  This is an organization that is often flagging human rights violations in countries with few democratic rights, which says a lot about what they see happening in Canada.

Through all this, what I have found even more mind-boggling is the accusation that environmental groups have a secret agenda.  That sounds scary until you realize that our agenda is quite transparent, it’s just that it is beyond the understanding of our government and its supporters.  What we want is to build a different world than the one the oil and gas industry has decided we should live in.  We care about our communities and strongly believe we can have strong environmental health and a strong economy – we just have to start doing things differently.

This has been a year like no other in my time at Georgia Strait Alliance, but I’m actually feeling quite hopeful because I see a lot of good has come out of this “annus horribilis”.  What heartens me most is that these attacks have resulted in a more galvanized and cohesive social justice community.  Charities of all types have come out in support of environmental groups and voiced loudly their concern about a government that believes disagreement should be quashed.  In effect, the results have been not a quieting of opposition but a more thoughtful and emboldened movement because when you are being attacked for your right to speak out, this is not time to be silent.  And I can assure you as we go into 2013, we will not be.

Thanks to all of you who have supported Georgia Strait Alliance and other environmental groups during this past year.  We are your voice in these terrible times and by making a charitable donation, you allow our voice to be stronger – as we will need to be in the year ahead.  

Cohen said...

It seems everyone has found quotes in the final report from the Cohen commission to back up their established position on open net cage salmon farms. The industry claims that he found no problem with the farms and people who have been concerned about the farms for years are calling for their immediate removal.

Who’s right? What’s the real story? What does this report really say?

The report is quite daunting, 1100+ pages of testimony and documentation. Judge Cohen did a remarkable and thorough job of investigation and sifting of information to come up with 75 recommendations regarding a number of factors that seem to be impacting the health and well being of the Fraser River Sockeye.

From the very beginning of the Inquiry, salmon aquaculture has taken centre stage and continues to do so. British Columbians long for this issue to be resolved. We care deeply about this amazing fish and have little tolerance for threats to its well being.

Here’s my summary interpretation of Judge Cohen’s assessment of the part that salmon aquaculture has played in the decline of Fraser River Sockeye:
• Disease from the open net pen farms appears to be a major and potentially irreversible risk to Fraser River Sockeye.
• The data required to actually verify the degree of risk was not collected or interpreted adequately by DFO.
• This lack of transparent verifiable information is a result of DFO’s conflicting mandate to promote the industry.
• Siting criteria for open net farms should include proximity to migrating Fraser River Sockeye and farms not adhering to these criteria should be removed.
• The Discovery Island area open net pen farms are in the migration path of the Fraser River Sockeye.
• Production increases in the Discovery Island must not be permitted unless risk can be proven to be minimal.
• Fraser River salmon are important enough to British Columbians that we will not accept anything more than a minimal risk to them.
• DFO has to prove that there is no more than a minimal risk in order for the farms to continue after 2020 and they can only act on this once the conflicting mandate is removed.

This is what I understand, but I suggest you look for yourself. The whole report might be daunting, but the summary is manageable and a good read and Judge Cohen made some interesting comments and observations about our care and protection of this beloved BC fish. I highly recommend you read it and tell us what you think!
For more interpretation of the Cohen recommendations see our website:  http://www.georgiastrait.org/?q=node/1090 and http://www.georgiastrait.org/?q=node/56

Time to Turn the Tide on Fossil Fuels

Tammy, Rebecca and Georgia ( mermaid) at the GSA booth.

When it comes to a possible increase in fossil fuel oil tanker traffic in the Georgia Strait– whether in the form of the deadly tar sands bitumen or other forms of fossil fuels, we find ourselves in a debate of values.  Do we value our environment enough to turn the tide and live with less fossil fuel - and less products made from them?  Do we value our natural capital enough that we as societies and individuals will make the changes necessary to support this transition?  

We say, YES - and the sooner we get started on a full public debate about how we can transition our society away from carbon-based fossil fuels the better.  We at GSA are excited to be a part of this change and we have been advocating for individual and collective solutions for this region’s marine environment for over 20 years.  Recognizing that the transition away from fossil fuels will take some time, we need to ensure that current fossil fuel and crude oil tanker traffic in Georgia Strait has the absolute least possible risk of spills of any size and that we in BC have the capacity to respond should one occur.

Shane Philips play at No Tankers Ball

This weekend GSA attended the No Tankers Ball music festival at Providence Farm in Duncan -  a celebration of the community of people who have stood up for Canada's West Coast to keep it pristine, alive and tanker free.  The small and interconnected community of the Northwest Coast has come together in its unity of opposing the Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker traffic and we acknowledge and applaud their activism.  

While Georgia Strait Alliance focuses our attention on ensuring there are is no increase in crude oil tanker traffic in the Georgia Strait, no tankers carrying diluted tar sands bitumen and no new infrastructure that materially increases tanker traffic carrying diluted bitumen in Georgia Strait, we are inspired and moved by the work of our coastal neighbours and allied groups.  We joined with them to spread our local message, to celebrate the incredible efforts being made to keep this area pristine - and to dance!

People made signs at the event.

It was a lovely event, with the sun coming out just as we got our tent set up - ahhh - nothing like a sunny September day!  GSA staff and volunteers who attended the event Donna, Tammy, Rebecca, and myself, all had a wonderful time speaking with the people who came by our tent!

 We handed out our Oil Tankers in the Strait of Georgia Fact Sheet, gathered lots of signatures on our petition, gave out free GSA memberships, as well as having a free draw for a package of home-made cleaning products!  

We made a sign too!

We listened to wonderful music - Clover Point Drifters, Shane Philip, Shred Kelly, Kytami, and Kikeyambay!  We heard inspiring words from First Nations leaders, including Ta'Kaiya Blaney – just 11 years old, she had returned from speaking at the Rio Earth Summit and has won many awards and accolades  for eloquently speaking about the rights and power of all people to make positive change.  We also heard from Guujaaw, the powerful President of the Haida Nation about his communities' work to take back the environment from corporate and government interests, via Skype link.  

Every one of us can make a difference – for our beautiful coastal home and for future generations.  We can make our voices heard.  Sign up for our E-newsletter Strait Up for more information. 

Hitting the BBQ circuit – and taking back what seems lost

On June 19^th of this year, our federal Parliament passed Bill C-38, or what has become known as “the omnibus budget”. 

I’m not sure about you, but when that happened, I felt like all the air went out of the room.

This ‘budget’ of over 400 pages was devastating both in its scope and in the minimal due process followed in its creation.  Changes to environmental protection laws that once involved consultation with communities, scientists and thought leaders, were instead made by politicians with little regard for ecology and what is necessary to create and protect healthy land and water. 

It’s been a few weeks since that horrible day, and in that time, I’ve had the chance to speak to a lot of people. Consistently I’ve been met with two strong reactions: anger at a government that has abandoned its role as environmental protector and despair at a perceived feeling that we have no ability to influence what our country looks like.

I understand that feeling.  The actions of this government have left many of us wondering when they stopped being our representatives and started representing the oil and gas industry.  Something is seriously wrong here.

But regardless of how dark it might feel, the truth is we still have the ability to ensure that the values that so many of us hold dear are not lost due to the action – or inaction - of our government.  Decisions in Ottawa will have an impact our our communities here in BC, and in the end, we have the final say in how we want our communities to be.  Now is the time to let our elected officials know just that.

Summer may seem like the wrong time to be giving voice to our collective anger, but when it comes to the accountability of our Members of Parliament, there is no better time.  During the next few months, your federal representative will be back in your riding, on the so-called “BBQ circuit”, and as a Canadian, it is your right to speak to your MP, and ask him or her to explain their actions.  Not sure what to say?  Our colleagues at West Coast Environmental Law have offered a guide, through their “Six questions to ask your MP about Bill C38”.

In the coming months, find out where your MP will be (if you don’t know who your MP is, click here) and go to their website to see where you can find them out and about.  Take a moment to let them know of your concerns – eye to eye – and have no doubt that if enough of us do that, the message will be heard.  This keeps being said, but we cannot be silent – because if we are silent, we are supporting those who wish to change our country in ways we have only begun to see.

And remember these words by Tim DeChristoper:

“We think we have no power, but we have more than enough power. Right now we have a big enough movement to win this battle; we just need to start acting like it.'

Take Heart

After a very severe cardiac arrest in January (see Crossing The Strait of Georgia - A Very Personal Journey), it has taken many months to get back to a semblance of normal (as in before my cardiac arrest) life.
After almost five months and a number of complications I was finally given the all clear to start a cardiac rehabilitation program called "Take Heart" run at the North Ridge Fitness Centre in Nanaimo twice a week. It's a fantastic supervised physical program that will last 3 months in total and is aimed at increasing my cardiovascular capacity and giving me more confidence to resume a normal life.

At the moment one of the activities is to spend time on a treadmill walking at a steadily increasing but still slow pace. While walking I have time to look out the window and contemplate what is happening in the world. Indeed, because I have had a great deal of time resting over the last few months, I've had plenty of opportunity to read and see and hear lots of news, so have much to contemplate.

Maybe it's just my perspective but it appears to me that there has been an inordinate amount of reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet. From extreme weather to oil spills to bill C-38 and more, there seems much to be concerned about at this point in time. More than usual maybe.

There also seems little hope that the concerns of those who care about the long term health of this region and the planet will ever be listened to by big oil and pipeline companies, shipping interests or our federal and provincial governments. Indeed we have been branded as "radicals" on the assumption that's a bad thing, and our access to meager funding gets more hampered every day because of what they say. It seems like science and common sense and a truly healthy planet are no longer valued by these people and short term profits and growth are the only way. Sigh...and I continue plodding on my treadmill!

I suppose if I want to make parallels I could look at the all those environmental threats to our region, such as sewage,pulp and other pollution, habitat destruction, unnecessary resource development and fish farming as being similar to angina (pay attention now!) while Bill C38 is like a heart attack (almost the end!) for our environment.

Fortunately the treadmill has a view. Beyond the roads and the housing developments, the snow capped Coast Mountains are a backdrop to a beautiful blue of Georgia Strait, glistening in the afternoon sun. A lone sailboat slowly glides along near the shoreline making it's way to adventures unknown and further out a tug and barge make its way towards it's southerly destination. Out another window a BC ferry is leaving a wake on it's journey to Horseshoe Bay on the mainland. And maybe, just maybe, I can see the tiny splashes of a pod of Orcas playing in the sun.

As I lookout on the Strait I remember all my own adventures on and around this amazing body of water. Of all the magical encounters with wildlife and the wild places still to be found by most. Of secluded coves and magical beaches. Of the enormous variety of plants and creatures above and below the water. Of rivers and streams that course down from spectacular mountains. Of an energy that changes with the changing moods of the Strait.

I also remember the hundreds, maybe thousands of wonderful people I have met during my years working to protect Georgia Strait and know how they care deeply about this very special part of our planet. And also of the hundreds of thousands of others who I have not met but know also care very deeply.

As I stare out on this biologically, spiritually and economically rich body of water, I know deep in my heart (which beats strongly now)that all is not lost. That there are many people who do care and who do get it. That commonsense and reverence and respect for the natural world has not disappeared. That, in fact, there is plenty of reason for me and everyone to be positive. That the Strait, Canada and the planet can get better, fitter, stronger, and more healthy! It will take some time and some bumps along the way but with determination and patience, anything is possible.

Now as I continue my rehabilitation, my program does more than give me hope for my own physical well being. It enables me to truly "Take Heart" for now and for the future.

Down at the Dock: Maple Bay Marina Wooden Boat Festival

Clean Marine BC eco-certification flag

flying at Maple Bay Marina

Photo: Michelle Young

Maple Bay Marina’s Wooden Boat Festival took place last weekend at one of GSA’s seven Clean Marine BC eco-rated marinas. The first thing I saw as I arrived was thousands of juvenile salmon in the bay; what a fitting way to start the festival. It seemed a testament to the fact that we can coexist in harmony with nature if we respect the marine environment and allow ecosystems to thrive as we strive to minimize our impact. That is exactly what Clean Marine BC is all about!

I arrived early so I had a wander around the docks. Few things make me happier than the ocean and boats, so it was a great pleasure to see the many well cared for wooden boats entered into the festival. Meeting Carol and Dave Messier of Maple Bay Marina was also special, as they are fantastic hosts and make every effort to employ environmental best practices at their marina, and to share green boating information with their guests.

Wooden Boats at Maple Bay Marina
Photo: Michelle Young

Many people who stopped by our booth were interested in learning about the sewage vessel regulations that came into effect earlier in May. Some expressed frustration that the government is targeting recreational boaters while the capital of our province, Victoria, continues to pump raw sewage into the ocean. We couldn’t agree more about Victoria, which will have treatment within about six years, however each individual can make a difference and it is critical as we utilize our waters that we take the greatest care to minimize any harm we might cause. Others were concerned that they would like to comply with the regulations, however there are not enough pump out facilities available, making it an extreme inconvenience, or even worse, requiring them to burn extra fuel to make it to one of the few pump outs.

The loophole of being allowed to pump within 3 miles of shore, or within 1 mile in certain circumstances, is a necessary step towards full protection of our waters, as it will help protect near-shore habitat and the coves and bays that boaters love to anchor in. However it is critical that the necessary infrastructure be put in place to allow boaters to pump out without having to go too far out of our way while doing our part for the environment we love so much.

Visit our website to learn more about the new sewage vessel regulations. You can also find out more about our Clean Marine BC marina eco-rating and green boating program. Happy and green boating!

June 4th: Silence is not an option

And the bad news just keeps coming.

First came the outright attacks on environmental groups, trying to marginalize their efforts to give voice to citizens’ concerns over oil and gas development projects

Then came the omnibus budget, which is pushing through massive de-regulations of environmental protection laws, without proper consultation or discussion, or using sound scientific reasoning for proposing the changes.  That budget also included money specifically targeting environmental charities and their ability to engage in advocacy.

Then the announcements: closure of the federal oil response centre in Vancouver, closure of the Coast Guards Station in Kitsilano, and closure of the marine pollution research unit at the Institute of Ocean Sciences, including letting go the government’s leading killer whale toxicologist.

If there was any doubt that the federal government was abandoning its role as steward of the environment, those doubts are gone.  What is clear now is that to this government, our rivers, oceans, lands and the wildlife that call them home are simply impediments to resource development, and they must be removed.

The government uses words like ‘modernization’ and ‘efficiency’, however, the truth is each of these actions is making it easier for oil, gas and mining development to happen quickly, leaving decisions in the hands of politicians, not the scientists and experts who really have the knowledge to make reasoned decisions.  And some of the impacts of these rushed and reckless decisions will be left to future generations to clean up.

In recent memory, there has never been such an open attack by our federal government on our environment and the civil society that is its voice.  And that is why there has never been a more important time for us to speak up.  So on June 4th Georgia Strait Alliance is joining organizations, businesses, unions, bloggers and individuals from across the country to “Black Out, Speak Out”.

On that day, when you visit our website, you won’t have access to the hundreds of pages of information to help you understand the threats to the Strait, and the solutions we are working on to protect our waters.  On that day, our online voice will be silenced, but your voice will not. 

Our land, water and air are all threatened by the latest federal budget.

All our voices are at risk.

Silence is not an option.

For more information on how you can take part and take action, please visit www.blackoutspeakout.ca

No time to be silent

It’s an unfortunate fact that when you are an advocate for improved environmental health and literacy, being in disagreement with government leaders frequently comes with the territory. As challenging as that can feel, the focus of disagreement generally tends to be about the issue at hand—and not about our right to hold certain views, or represent others who do.

So I found it more than a bit shocking when this year began with a visible and intense outpouring, in just about every media outlet in the country, of vitriol, anger and outright lies about environmental groups. Although the context for the attacks was the review process on the proposed Enbridge pipeline in northern BC, the tremors were felt throughout Canada’s environmental movement and in much of our broader civil society.

These inflammatory attacks have been disturbing on many levels. Some of them revealed that all you need is a conspiracy theory and a website in order to undermine the civil engagement that is at the root of our democratic process—ironically, at the same time as most of the world, including Canada, has been expressing justifiable outrage about the trampling of democratic rights in Syria. More worrisome attacks, coming from our Prime Minister and some of his Cabinet, took aim at the financial support that makes advocacy work possible and even hinted at possibly stripping environmental groups of their charitable status.

But in all the misguided conspiracy theories and hyperbolic diatribes, what disturbed me the most was this: that we were told that the opinion of you, Mr. or Ms. Average Canadian, does not matter when it comes to what our shared future looks like—and that the person who said this was one of our federal government’s highest officials.

In his Open Letter, the Honorable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, clearly discounted the opinions of the approximately 4500 individuals who wished to speak at the Enbridge hearings—while overvaluing the opinions of oil industry representatives.

Regardless of how or why each person signed up to speak, each of them clearly cares enough about the issue to take the time to attend and address the hearings. That many of the speakers may have a similar message is not a reason to discount that message—in fact, it’s a reason to pay closer attention. These passionate voices share a common vision for what they want our future to look like: a world free of fossil fuels and the risks that come with them, where renewable energy lights our way.

It’s also worth reminding Mr. Oliver and our other leaders that each of these speakers represents thousands more who, for whatever reason, will not be at the hearings, so their message needs to be taken into consideration by the panel and the government that appointed them.

These are frightening times when it comes to the protection of our most important resources: clean air, clean water and healthy ecosystems on land and water. Over the last many decades, big industry has increasingly had the ear of our elected representatives, while ordinary citizens are only valued at election time.

Today, as we await the release of the federal budget which may include dramatic deregulation of environmental protection laws, the ability to protect our natural environment could become even more difficult. We are at risk of seeing the weakening of the very pillars that Canadians have relied on for generations to ensure that the natural environment we value so dearly is protected, including the Fisheries Act, Species at Risk Act, Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Migratory Birds Convention Act and Canadian Environmental Protection Act -

Ironically the result of the targeted attacks on our environmental protection laws and on the very groups who work every day to ensure Canadian values are not lost in a rush for short term economic profit, has been a renewed commitment among environmental groups to work even harder on behalf of the communities we represent. We have also seen a renewed commitment of individuals to provide the needed financial support so groups like ours can continue this vital work.

If we have learned anything so far this year, it is that those citizens who might disagree with our federal leaders’ views on the environment need the help of advocates now more than ever. Georgia Strait Alliance will continue to speak out and work on behalf of our many members and supporters, advocating for our region’s future to be one with healthy communities, rich salmon runs, growing orca populations and sustainable economies. That is our promise to you.