Monthly Archives: December 2009

Photo by E Wayne in NowPublic.

“Inside the Olympics” reacts to “After the 2010 Riot”
December 20, 2008

Jeff Lee is an opinion writer over at the Vancouver Sun, and he’s all upset by that After the 2010 Riot article.

Lee writes:

It’s Friday, Dec. 19, 2008, right?

We’ll all agree this blog item was posted at that time, around 7:30 a.m.?
That’s good, because I’m sitting here early in the morning nursing a cup of coffee and starting a few days off for the holidays, and an interesting piece of fiction has just popped up on the net.

It’s one of those pieces where you surely must think one of two things: either I am seriously off my meds or the other person is lost in the Twilight Zone and will never find their way back.

I’m talking about the post this morning on Guerilla (sic) News Network by someone called Zoe Blunt. …

(Damn, I’m sorry I confused Jeff about what year it is. I had intended to include a disclaimer in the article pointing out that it’s creative non-fiction, not a news report. Note to self: next time, dumb it down for the dim bulbs.)

It’s Blunt’s wish list for what she’d like to have happen in 2010, I suspect, since after all the Games haven’t been held and to my knowledge “armed troops” haven’t been unleashed on society since the October crisis nearly 40 years ago.

Well …

Thousands of Canadian troops are committed to security for the Games – as Jeff may have heard, since he’s an award-winning journalist and all. The exact number is classified, but it will be up to 16,000 troops, according to the linked report. Plus 12,350 police, RCMP, and private security. (Blackwater? Who knows? Maybe Jeff can tell us, since he’s Mr. Inside the Olympics.) I’m pretty sure the soldiers and police will be armed with real weapons. But maybe Jeff knows something we don’t? Maybe the troops will be carrying Olympic mascot dolls and balloons for the kiddies. Or maybe they will all be hiding in underground caverns and not in the street at all.

Of course, I have to point out that the 2010 Riot article isn’t a “wish list” – it’s one of many possible scenarios, based on recent events, news reports, and leaks about Olympic security budgets. What I describe is a police riot against peaceful protestors, not people attacking the police.

To be fair, old Jeff is a CanWest Global corporate Olympic sponsor’s cheerleader champion of truth, completely independent of his employer’s revenue-based affiliations,* so it’s understandable he would be unhinged by my imaginative description of the 2010 bread-and-circuses-and-riot-squads-festival.

Jeff notes that I’m “associated with Earth First!” and suggests that people like me “spend their lives looking for confrontations.” He asks, “when people get hurt, who will she blame? The rest of us?”

No, Jeff, I will blame myself. I confess: I created the 2010 Riot meme that’s peppered the city with graffiti, stickers, and posters for the last three years. I engineered the social conditions that pissed off so many citizens. It’s my fault.

Please, don’t bother your readers with issues like police violence, greedy developers, economic pressure, homelessness, poverty, racism and the failures of capitalism. Those things don’t cause social unrest. No, just blame me and a “small but radicalized group” for pointing out the elephants in the room.

Only Magazine’s (defunct) Riot Vancouver 2010 Countdown Clock

Or you could blame Only Magazine. After all, they did!

Riot 2010

it will be our fault.

To celebrate, and to make absolutely clear where the blame will rest should anything go wrong during the 2010 Winter Olympics, Only Magazine has officially named our Olympic Clock, the 2010 Riot Clock.

But Only Magazine’s Riot Clock is offline, and the country needs a scapegoat. Well, here we go! And while we’re at it, let me admit responsibility for the global economic collapse and Vancouver’s 1994 Stanley Cup riot. (I caused the Canucks to lose. Sorry about that.)

A commenter on Jeff’s blog suggests it’s not too late for me to “get inspired by the Olympic spirit.” True enough. It’s never too late for redemption! Perhaps I’ll be visited by an Olympic Spirit on Christmas Eve — the Ghost of Olympics Past. Brrrr.

In the meantime, let’s all focus on the positive!

(*edited after Jeff complained about being called a cheerleader.)

Report back from the Olympic resistance in Vancouver

A letter from the future

The 2010 Olympics are over, and we’re told that everything is back to normal. Wrong. Vancouver will never be the same.

Never mind what the news jockeys said about the thrilling celebration of our nation’s proud heritage, showcasing our city, hosting the admiring elite of the world, promoting our youth, and attracting new business and tourism. It’s all bullshit. For us here at ground zero, the Olympics turned the Lower Mainland into a nightmare landscape of security zones, armed troops, and police traps. And guess what? The nightmare didn’t end when the circus left town.

The past two months have seen chaos and repression so secret that we’re still trying to piece together the whole story. It’s ironic, because we’ve been trying to expose this sort of abuse for years – part of the campaign to keep our city livable, support human rights and end police persecution of everyone who’s poor, native, or critical of government priorities. When we witnessed what was happening with the latest round of evictions and brutality, we felt compelled to get the story out. Then, of course, we became targets too.

Even after all the discussions and predictions, we weren’t prepared for the scale of the crackdown. It went like this: dozens of arrests the week before the Games started, forced removal of homeless people for the duration, indigenous people targeted and independent journalists singled out – as many as they could get their hands on, anyway. Before the Olympics even started, a bunch of us were pre-emptively – arbitrarily, illegally – detained under the new security orders. Doors were kicked in, cameras, videos, and computers were seized, and people were taken away and disappeared. Without so much as a peep from the major newspapers, TV, and radio stations.

And yet, we pulled ourselves together and carried on. That’s what we need to do now – seize the moment, hang on to our experiences and analyze what happened, if only to bring some perspective to the chaos. Let’s start with the successes.

The huge throngs of people at the public protests in and around the “free speech cage” were amazing to behold. Apparently the Homes Not Games message hit a nerve. That nerve was pretty sore already after the bank collapses and thousands of layoffs, plus the revelations about secret budgets, high-profile scandals, more evictions, and, of course, the ever-swelling Olympic deficit that our children will still be paying off in thirty years. Then came the massive, never-ending traffic gridlock and the troops in the streets. The hubris of it all added up to a whole lot of pissed-off citizens. So naturally, the protests spilled over into the streets.

Not just protests, either. Months of planning focused on empowering people to start building the kind of society we need. Like Food Not Bombs, the Homes Not Games actions were organized by people who found ways to fill those needs themselves, rather than waiting around hoping the authorities would give a hand-out. These decentralized non-organizations stymied the police – with no headquarters for them to raid and no leaders to arrest, they didn’t know how to stop the movement. Several individuals in the network got busted the week before the Games, but they had the good sense to keep their mouths shut about their fellow activists.

The affinity groups were also tight – people took their safety and security very seriously. The scene was so heavy that anyone who was not 100% committed to the goal stayed home. After the first wave of raids and arrests, no one needed a reminder of what was at stake.

The folks who set up the legal defense fund in advance of the Olympics deserve a huge shout-out, along with the lawyers who are working for free or for reduced rates. Hundreds of people are facing charges – anti-poverty activists, indigenous people, tree huggers, indy journalists, and dozens more who were probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The people who went missing have been found, some of them in jails fifty or a hundred miles away. Some might get time served or a few weeks if convicted, others are looking at “terrorism enhancements” of many years behind bars, even though there was clearly no intention to hurt anyone.

The civil liberties advocates are hoping to push back the trend of police brutality and Charter rights violations. The criminal trials will be going on for months, and believe me, they’re educational (and open to the public!)

The media collectives and solo journalists deserve awards for extreme bravery in documenting dozens of cases of police attacks and human rights abuses with hundreds of hours of video – and getting away with the footage! Of course, the major media didn’t run those videos, but the web streams went around the world to millions of viewers. And the hot new “instant documentary” is coming any day now – the video posse is working round the clock putting it together. There’s dozens of clips online already, and a whole pile of new material that the cops are really going to hate – especially when the lawyers show the evidence to the judge and get our friends’ charges dropped.

We learned some things about playing to our strengths and their weaknesses. We outwitted the enemy a couple times. We outran them too. We are quicker, smarter, and more versatile than the crowd-control units. We know the terrain. We can switch to Plan B in an instant. They need orders. They’re weighed down by riot shields and command structures. Except when they get wound up in their adrenaline and testosterone frenzy, and start beating on people at random. All I can say is thank god for the street medics.

The street medics are fucking heroes. They waded into clouds of tear gas to help people who were blinded and panicked and disoriented and walked them out of there. They patched people up in the middle of the night and kept it quiet. Of course, a lot of people who were near the front lines – including the medics! – are still nursing injuries and pepper-spray after-effects. Plus, we are all suffering from “post traumatic activist stress disorder” – weeks later, some folks are still traumatized and in shock. No one expects this shit to happen to them. But people are taking care of each other and reaching out to each other.

The extreme level of police coercion stunned everyone. Even long-time activists who felt psychologically prepared for police violence told me how surreal it felt, suddenly finding themselves looking down a line of automatic weapons aimed at their heads and robocops barking incomprehensible orders. Everything slows way down and gets very bright and sharp. Impossible to forget, even if you want to. Many of our comrades from the past few weeks won’t be returning to the movement – they’re burned out.

Our public events were infiltrated by police informants and many of us were monitored for months before the Games. The cops pulled all kinds of petty stunts – faking people’s identities online, sending messages to try and start conflicts, playing on the divisions within the group like race and class and gender. Fortunately, it seems like the various affinity groups were quick to catch on, although a few out there are probably still figuring it out.

Surveillance cameras and face-recognition software made it easy for the cops to look out for possible “domestic threats.” (Threats to what? We’d like to know!) They watched for certain individuals and pounced on them when they approached the security perimeters. Obviously, you can fool the software with a bandanna, but they also arrested anyone with their face covered.

We weren’t expecting the total blackout on dissent for the duration of the Games, or the crushing media backlash after the party ended and the guests went home. Obviously we didn’t think corporate Olympic sponsors would give indy journalists free air time – but we thought at least we’d have access to our own blogs and independent media sites! A lot of those sites suddenly went off-line (or off-limits) in early February. A lot of cell phones stopped working, and some folks swore they were being recorded. We had to keep figuring out ways to work around these obstacles.

The radicals were isolated, thanks in part to intimidation and pressure on our more moderate allies. That was no surprise – we figured the mainstream groups would cave if the authorities leaned on them, and that’s what happened. They cooperated with the detectives and cut their ties with us. So we were basically left out in the cold, surrounded by hostile forces. Several of our demonstrations were outnumbered by the pro-Olympics cheerleaders and sports fans; there were lots of vocal threats and even a few violent incidents as they lashed out at the groups of peaceful protestors.

By the time it was over, there was a backlash from all sides against the people who were trying, against all odds, to get a message out to the world, to speak to the conscience of a nation against racism and brutality and homelessness and injustice.

And we won. We got the message out, and we all came together, and that was what they really feared, above all. Not just that we would loudly and publicly dissent for the world to see, but that we might actually join forces and work for common goals, like hastening the fall of this corrupt and unjust system.

It started for me when one of us asked – what sort of position do we want to be in, after the Games? How do we survive, evade, and resist the occupation? The TV cameras have packed up and left. The soldiers are back at their bases. We’re still here. What next?

September 19, 2008

For almost two years, we’ve documented and publicized the impact of resort development on wetlands, rare species, watercourses, recreation sites and First Nations heritage. As a result, land-use decisions on southern Vancouver Island, BC face greater demands for due diligence on environmental preservation and democratic accountability, among other long-term effects of the campaign. The fallout is still coming down on the interchange, First Nations sites, and future resort development.

In August, Langford residents reported on changes to the city’s plans for the Bear Mountain Interchange (also known as the Spencer Road Interchange). Construction of the interchange connecting the Trans Canada Highway and Bear Mountain Resort commenced and then stalled for lack of funding. The project is now going forward (with TD Bank’s funding, which has angered many), but it appears to be scaled back drastically. The overpass will be built, but cloverleaf on-ramps are on hold until the second phase of construction, beginning at an unknown date in the future. It is still possible that some of the groves of Garry Oaks and wetland habitat for Red-Legged Frogs may be spared, depending on the municipality’s future direction on environmental policy.

It seems clear that well-documented public outrage, coupled with financial agencies’ concerns about Langford’s process and diligence, contributed to the downsizing of the interchange.

Meanwhile, a movement to strengthen First Nations heritage protection has led to a historic agreement in the Gulf Islands. The agreement may eventually extend to places like Langford, where Bear Mountain development and interchange construction irreparably damaged Langford Lake Cave and Spaet Cave, despite legislation and government agencies dedicated to preserving cultural sites. The loss of the two caves and nearby indigenous burial grounds shocked the conscience of the community and especially angered First Nations people across British Columbia.

Now, according to the Victoria Times Colonist:

The Islands Trust council has approved in principle a protocol developed with the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group that goes far beyond the protections offered in the provincial Heritage Conservation Act and could become a template for similar agreements all over B.C., according to archeologist Eric McLay.

The protocol creates a consultation and dispute-resolution framework and will allow the Hul’qumi’num to designate “spiritual places” not protected by provincial legislation.

Such an agreement could have prevented the destruction of spirit caves at Bear Mountain resort.

Our report The Langford Rebellion recounts how municipal plans to pave over the caves and heritage sites triggered a groundswell of criticism that grew to include a wide range of other public policy and environmental issues.

We have done much more than shine a light on conservation concerns. We have contributed to public policy changes that will reverberate far beyond Langford for many years to come. Thank you for speaking out, and stay strong – there is so much more to do!

Thomas Malenfant (center) interfering with Canadian Armed Forces recruiters at the University of Victoria earlier this year.

August 16, 2008

The Beijing Olympics are in full swing, and Vancouver is warming up for the 2010 Winter Games. Local activists warn that along with the coming crackdown on street people (and everyone else), we should get ready for intrusive security, surveillance and pre-emptive detentions. Meanwhile, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and folks in BC are showing off their anti-Olympic spirit.

Last week, I took a call from Public Eye Online editor Sean Holman about the upcoming Wild Earth eco-conference in Bella Coola. Holman suggested it wasn’t “appropriate” to invite anti-poverty activist Thomas Malenfant to host a workshop on Resisting the Olympics at a gathering focused on discussing non-violent activism.

Referring to Malenfant’s arrest last year for symbolically evicting the Premier from his Vancouver office, Holman asked why a “convicted criminal” was on the schedule for Wild Earth.

I reminded him that a convicted criminal is running the province. Premier Gordon Campbell was convicted two years ago of drunk driving while on vacation in Maui. So I had to ask Holman what kind of double standard he is trying to invoke?

Malenfant’s actions at Gordon Campbell’s office stemmed from the principle of holding government officials to account when they ignore the public interest — in this case, the crisis of homelessness. He will be discussing that principle and much more at the week-long campout August 25-31.

Malenfant notes that Vancouver police officers don’t always act within the law, but they get a free pass from Holman and others in the media.

“The Vancouver Police Department carries out far more vulgar illegal evictions on a monthly basis as part of their committment to social cleansing in the lead-up to the Olympic games,” Malenfant says. “The difference here that makes what I did ‘criminal’ is that it was in a West End office instead of an east side apartment and we weren’t wearing uniforms.”

Holman’s article went on to smear Malenfant’s motives. Holman quotes two other reporters who quote VPD Constable Howard Chow saying, “These aren’t activists, they’re not protesters, these are people intent on coming to events, to offices, to people’s residences, and they’re intent on breaking the law.”

Excuse me, but who granted Chow the power to discern who is an activist? It’s obvious that Malenfant’s actions were political. What does Chow hope to gain by pretending otherwise? It seems that the local police are nervous about social and environmental justice advocates joining forces at Wild Earth. Native and non-native activists are also finding common cause at the gathering. Police officers and certain journalists may try to slam the conference and its presenters, but as long as the government remains blind to injustice and inequality, people like Thomas Malenfant will keep ramping up the pressure on the officials responsible.

I should really be thanking Holman for the free publicity. We couldn’t buy that kind of placement on BC’s most prominent political blog. Not to mention the coverage of my snappy response (scroll down) that ran the following week.

So hey, corporate journalists – bring on the controversy! Sure, most of you are assholes, but if you bring me a pony, I’ll go for a ride.

Bear Mountain. Photo: Karen Wonders

July 15, 2008

For a couple months, I’ve been grinding away on a collaborative project about the Vancouver Island resort development that destroyed two sacred caves and divided a community.

Those who have been following this blog may remember some of the highlights of the Bear Mountain campaign. Back in February, the city of Langford deployed as many as 300 Mounties with assault rifles and dogs to evict a handful of tree-sitters. It was brutal – but fortunately, the charges against our friends were dropped, and the mayor’s threats to sue me (and everyone else who tried to defend the area) never materialized.

We’re still half-expecting to get served, though! Last week, after hundreds of hours of research and editing, we finally released The Langford Rebellion: Public Opinion, Development, and Bear Mountain. The report is based on over 800 public comments and letters to the editor. Many stated that people in Langford are tired of being bullied by an aggressively pro-development council. A couple excerpts:

Langford’s reluctance to engage in discourse or acknowledge complaints has been noted by many residents. Municipal officials’ ability to threaten and insult their challengers was on display throughout the controversy, with no apologies.

Langford’s mayor and council have amassed a formidable history of dismissing questions, complaints, and petitions from the public. Their policies and statements were seen by many as self-contradicting and self-serving. And when Langford finally did launch a public relations initiative to defend the interchange, it chose the time-honoured but alienating strategy of maligning the opposition.

True to form, as soon as the report was out, deputy mayor Denise Blackwell labeled it a load of rubbish and suggested it was “not truthful.” (Since Blackwell had not yet read the report, we should note she wasn’t merely being malicious – she was also plain ignorant.)

The 46-page report is a fast and fascinating read, with 16 pages of commentary from people on all sides of the issue — local environmentalists, tradespeople, schoolchildren, seniors, and government officials. A narrative of events, eight pages of political analysis, and a news index provide a thoroughly-researched picture of the sprawling resort and its impact on the community. A Langford blogger gives the report two thumbs up and favourably compares it to the CBC documentary “Canada: A People’s History.”

Read or download The Langford Rebellion

Read more about forest defense on Vancouver Island.

Launching the Bear Mountain boycott at Bear Mountain’s sales office in Langford. Photo: Pete Rockwell

April 16, 2008

Stew Young, the blustery mayor of Langford, BC, hates to hear the word “no.” When the Municipal Finance Authority declined to finance his pet project, a controversial and environmentally destructive highway interchange, he was furious. Now the city is trying to get the cash from TD Bank (formerly Toronto Dominion.) Not only that, but the city is pulling all its accounts from the provincial authority and seeking to transfer them to the private bank.

Stew makes it sound like a done deal, but that’s because he hasn’t felt the full force of the paper monkeywrench. TD Bank knows what I’m talking about, though. Rainforest Action Network has been pressuring the bank for ten years to stop funding environmentally destructive projects. “TD Destroys Rainforests” was the rallying cry. They plastered stickers on ATM machines and picketed at AGMs. Six months ago, the bank gave in and signed a comprehensive Environmental Policy and Environmental Management Framework endorsed by RAN and ForestEthics.

So, what are the odds the bank will go ahead and fund the Bear Mountain Interchange, given this history and the horrific damage the project is already inflicting on rare species and sacred caves and the landslide of bad publicity the Bear Mountain Resort gets every week? Anyone want to make a bet?

Below is some background from today’s Times Colonist, followed by my letter to TD Bank’s Enviromental Affairs manager.

Langford Pulls Plug on Municipal Finance Authority

Still smarting from what Langford Mayor Stew Young calls “appalling” treatment from the Municipal Finance Authority, Langford has refinanced its existing $11.4-million municipal debt with the MFA, placing it instead with a chartered bank.

Langford had sought permission to borrow up to $25 million on behalf of five developers in connection with the interchange under construction near Spencer Road at the Trans-Canada Highway. The proposed move sparked a mock counter-petition protest that gathered more than 2,250 signatures of Langford residents who believed they should have been consulted.

The plan was for the municipality to borrow the money from the MFA at a preferred rate, with the loan guaranteed through the developers’ property in the area, worth about $135 million. But when the province asked the MFA to comment on the proposed borrowing, the MFA said it would categorize the loan as “non-traditional” and would want a letter of credit from the developers — something that would push up borrowing costs.

That incensed Young.

“When you look at it from a bank’s point of view, I’m a customer. When you look at it from the MFA’s point of view, I’m a customer. Who craps on their customer?”

City Council voted last week to take their business to TD Bank – as usual, without consulting anyone else. It’s worth noting this council faces re-election in November. Anyone want to give odds that they’ll survive?

The Paper Monkeywrench (or Full Disclosure in the Public Interest)

Lillian Ranalli

Senior Manager, Corporate Environmental Affairs

Government and Community Relations

TD Bank Financial Group

66 Wellington Street West, 10th floor

Toronto, ON M5K 1A2

April 15, 2008

Dear Ms. Ranalli,

We are writing to advise you on the environmental and social risks of approving a credit application by the City of Langford on behalf of Bear Mountain developers and the proposed Spencer Road Interchange (also known as Bear Mountain Interchange.)

We would like to commend TD Bank on its community-based environmental initiatives, and for committing to “take reasonable care to prevent or avoid environmental incidents associated with our operations.” Due to mounting public concern over loss of First Nations cultural sites and environmental degradation in Langford, we are obliged to disclose that the interchange project contradicts many of TD Bank’s commitments as outlined in its Environmental Policy and Environmental Management Framework. Therefore, we strongly recommend that TD Bank implement enhanced due diligence when assessing the Langford application.

We ask you to consider the following risks and liabilities inherent in this project.

· The interchange project is wiping out irreplaceable First Nations heritage sites. The highway interchange will damage or destroy a significant cave used by First Nations for hundreds of generations. A second sacred cave was demolished at Bear Mountain Resort last year.

· Interchange construction is already eradicating endangered ecosystems and vulnerable species. Chainsaws and bulldozers have leveled several groves of Garry Oaks, which represent the rarest ecosystem in Canada, and degraded pond habitat for Red-Legged Frogs, a federal and provincial Species at Risk.

· Litigation to address First Nations rights and remediate environmental damage is under consideration. Court-ordered environmental remediation could potentially cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

· Langford’s proposal to borrow money for the project is strongly opposed by over two thousand Langford voters and by the majority of Vancouver Island residents. The city has exempted the loan from the usual referendum vote.

· The financing request was previously rejected by the Municipal Finance Authority, which noted the irregularity of the city acting on behalf of private developers and also expressed concern about financial risk and credit capacity.

First Nations sites destroyed

The destruction of the Spaet Cave has ruptured relationships with First Nations. The area of Spaet (Skirt) Mountain is a shared place for ritual going back hundreds of generations. The Tsartlip First Nation, one of the bands with a claim and treaty rights to the area, has been shut out of negotiations with the province and the developer. Two neighbouring bands signed an agreement to allow construction on the mountaintop to proceed in exchange for compensation. Meanwhile, the Tsartlip First Nation rejected the deal, and was subsequently – and illegally – locked out of official meetings. (“Tsartlip veto Skirt Mtn. cave deal,” Times Colonist, Dec. 20, 2006). The only remaining remedy is a potentially costly and disruptive court battle.

After the agreement was signed, the cave was demolished. The underground pool was drained and the cavern was filled with truck tires and stumps while blasting took place. The roof of the cave was removed and the surrounding area bulldozed. The stumps and tires were later removed but the cave was never rebuilt.

A second cave, also identified as a shared cultural site for local bands, is located in the path of the Bear Mountain Interchange near the Trans-Canada Highway. It has been permanently damaged by the blasting and excavation splitting open underground caverns connected to the main cave. The City of Langford promised to “protect” the cave, but instead city workers drilled and welded a rebar grate over the entrance and piled tons of broken rock on top of the rebar earlier this year. The cave is no longer useable by speleologists (cave experts), First Nations, local schoolchildren and recreationists. The closing of the cave precluded any assessment by the provincial Archaeology Branch, which has failed to act in keeping with BC’s Heritage Conservation Act to protect First Nations sites. Village sites excavated along the Bear Mountain Parkway were also destroyed without any assessment or oversight. (See attached article, “Heritage Conservation Act or Heritage Destruction Act?” and press release.)

The geology of the interchange area is dominated by karst, a limestone-based rock characterized by underground watercourses and caverns. Experts warn that blasting in karst areas without proper assessments can cause widespread contamination through underground channels. Karst areas may also be subject to sinkholes and collapses, especially when aquifers are altered. The interchange site is literally on shaky ground, and yet the city has failed in its due diligence and carried out no karst assessments.

Environmental damage

At the site of the Bear Mountain Interchange, the project is moving forward with little regard for mitigating environmental damage . Construction has proceeded without formal approvals for watercourse diversions from BC’s Ministry of the Environment. Runoff from bulldozed and excavated watercourses at the site has contaminated wetlands and nearby Spencer’s Pond. At the time of writing, mud and silt are suffocating Pacific Tree Frogs and Red-Legged Frogs, a provincially and federally-listed Species at Risk. (“Work Begins, Permits be Damned,” Monday Magazine, March 19 2007.)

Downstream from the construction zone at Bear Mountain Resort, an unidentified orange sludge is leaching into Florence Lake. (See attached photos.) A mass die-off of amphibians in the lake has been observed, coinciding with the the start of construction 18 months ago and the first appearance of the sludge. Preliminary lab tests of the sludge show the substance contains 1000 times the background level of manganese, as well as elevated levels of barium and cobalt. (Enkon Environmental report, February 2007. 2008 results pending.) The results are consistent with the drilling fluid often used in mass quantities for rock drilling and road construction. If, as we believe, the underground water channels are contaminated with drilling mud, the sludge will continue to seep into local creeks and lakes for years to come. Clean up and remediation of underground sites may be technically feasible but it would be prohibitively expensive. And yet, the only recourse for landowners affected by the runoff may be to seek a court order demanding such remediation. (See attached legal letter to the city of Langford.)

Residents are calling for a halt before the further damage occurs. They demand a moratorium on development at least until water diversion permits and mitigation measures are in place.

Public opinion and publicity

The interchange project faces widespread community opposition in the City of Langford and across Vancouver Island. Much of the controversy is fueled by the fact that Langford’s aggressively pro-development council has sidestepped the usual voter referendum on capital projects. BC’s Local Governance Act gives municipalities a great deal of latitude in development and finance decisions, and in this case, Langford designated the highway project part of a Local Service Area agreement, which required only the consent of the developers. Over 2250 local residents signed a petition demanding the city put the interchange loan to a vote. Langford dismissed the petition and one councillor suggested voters did not understand what they were signing. (“Blackwell Balks at Petition Result,” Monday Magazine, Feb. 13 2008.)

News stories about the interchange, Langford City Council, and protestors have dominated local and regional television reports and news radio for weeks at a time. More than a hundred stories and letters appeared in Victoria’s newspapers and journals in February and March 2008. The Globe and Mail and the Report on Business have recently published unflattering reports of environmental damage and the First Nations blockade. (See “The Bull and the Bear,” Report on Business, March 28 2008.) Public awareness about problems with the interchange has reached hundreds of thousands of consumers, and web polls show the majority opinion is at least two to one against the interchange. (“Do you support the construction of the Bear Mountain interchange?” CFAX poll, Jan. 12, 2008.)

“Non-traditional” financing

Normally, city road-building projects are funded by the Municipal Finance Authority. In this case, the City of Langford acknowledges that the road primarily benefits the Bear Mountain Resort, a private company. The city is applying for credit on behalf of the developers. This has led to a widespread perception that Langford is improperly conferring a benefit on a corporation, a charge that Langford mayor Stew Young denies. Observers note that building permits and variances in Langford are routinely granted by council in as little as 48 hours, allowing no time for public input or due diligence.

The MFA found cause for concern in Langford’s initial loan application earlier this year. It considered the application to be “non-traditional” since it was backed by five developers and not by public funds. In order to protect its triple-A credit rating, the agency said it would require a letter of credit from the developers and that additional costs would apply, and also noted the terms of the loan would come close to maxing out the municipality’s credit limit. (MFA president Frank Leonard, as quoted in the Victoria Times Colonist, March 19, 2008.)

Langford council then abandoned its funding application to the MFA, declaring it would seek better terms from a bank. On Monday, April 7, 2008, Langford council instructed staff to prepare an application to TD Bank for $9.75 million in interchange financing, plus a request to transfer $11,414,000 in interim financing for sewers, trails, and land purchases to TD Bank © an unprecedented move in our district. (City of Langford staff report, April 7, 2008.)

Dialogue

We are aware that TD Bank is changing its public image to reflect its new Environmental Policy and Framework for Environmental Management. We would prefer a private dialogue with decision-makers, although our time-frame is very short as construction grinds on through sensitive ecosystems. For that reason, we request a response within two weeks of receiving this advisory.

We ask that you carefully review the enclosed documents relating to First Nations cultural sites, environmental liability, and geological rarities in the area. Local experts on First Nations traditions, archeology, caves, geology, and endangered species are available for consultation. We encourage TD Bank to take the necessary steps to fully review the risks and liabilities associated with Langford’s loan request, and we will provide as much information as needed to facilitate your assessments.

Thank you very much for you time and attention, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely yours,

Zoe Blunt

Zoe Blunt, Vancouver Island Community Forest Action Network

cc: W. Edmund Clark President and CEO, TD Bank Financial Group
Mark Newman. Managing Director, Credit Process Review Group
Scott Mullin, Vice President, Government and Community Relations

Attachments:

Save SPAET Our Sacred Mountain, online petition

Cheryl Bryce: “Heritage Conservation Act or Heritage Destruction Act?”

Adrian Duncan: “City of Langford – Spencer Road Interchange,” BC Speleological Federation

Adolf Ceska: “Environmental review missed many rare plants”

Robin Gage: Legal letter to Langford City Council

Lyle Jenish: “The Bull and the Bear,” Report on Business, March 28, 2008.

Jason Youmans: “Blackwell Balks at Petition Results,” Monday Magazine, Feb. 13, 2008

Bill Cleverley: “ Loan plan for interchange abandoned,” Times Colonist, March 13 2008.

Photo of orange sludge, March 2008

Ride along with Len Barrie in his white Cadillac Escalade SUV as the Vancouver Island mega-developer puts the hammer down on First Nations, environmentalists, and local government. Required reading.

The Bull and the Bear

Lyle Jenish
Report on Business Magazine
Globe and Mail, March 28, 2008

In his quest to build the massive Bear Mountain resort—the largest planned development in Vancouver Island history—former NHLer Len Barrie has elbowed past the opposition. He’s also made a mountain of money for his investors, including an all-star roster of his hockey pals.

Even six years after retiring from the NHL, Len Barrie still sports the hockey do—his shaggy blond hair is just long enough to peek out from under the back of a helmet. And though he’s now the developer behind the largest planned community in Western Canada, he still has a fondness for locker-room couture: Barrie strolls into his regular Tuesday meeting on a recent morning in flip-flops, cargo shorts and a Lululemon T-shirt, his hair still wet from a post-workout shower.

As he takes his place at the head of the table, he exchanges barbs with his lieutenants.

“We dug up a bunch of arrowheads for you,” one engineer shoots back.

Then it’s down to business. As Barrie slumps in his chair, Les Bjola, his development manager and de facto deputy, launches into an update of a proposed interchange for the Trans-Canada Highway that will lead to Barrie’s Whistler-esque Bear Mountain resort, 20 minutes northwest of Victoria. The company is waiting on an environmental and archeological assessment that will determine whether the new road is feasible—there’s concern it will upset the local ecology and plow through sacred First Nations sites (hence the arrowhead jab). To protest the proposed new interchange, activists have been occupying tree-borne platforms along the route since April, 2007.

This is just the latest showdown in Bear Mountain’s six-year history. When it’s finally complete, Barrie’s $2.4-billion complex will encompass 1,300 acres and include more than 5,000 residential units (a mix of single-family homes, condos and townhouses), more than 600,000 square feet of commercial space, plus two golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus.

So far, the former NHLer — and the project’s majority shareholder — has sold more than half a billion dollars worth of real estate. (Residential prices range from $250,000 for a 5,500-square-foot lot to $2.5 million for a two-acre estate, sans house.) Meanwhile, Bear Mountain Village is filling up with bars, restaurants and hotels. The winding approach to the 156-room Westin Bear Mountain Victoria Golf Resort & Spa is lined with a high-end sushi bar, the Jack’s Place pub (named in honour of Nicklaus), the as-yet-to-be-completed Bear Mountain Village Market, and a spindly collection of construction cranes.

All of which makes Barrie’s investors, including a roster of NHL players past and present, very happy (they’ve put $230 million into the project). “It’s the most audacious development on Vancouver Island,” says builder Fraser McColl. “I mean, how can you not be impressed by what has happened?” McColl, who moved to Bear Mountain during the early development phase, is building the Stonehaven, a four-storey condo complex on the Mountain golf course. “Most people love it or hate it,” he says. As for Barrie himself, McColl has this to say: “Obviously Len is the guiding spirit, and no one else could have pulled off what he has. Most people thought it would never happen. Give Barrie credit: He didn’t listen to anyone else.”

To his fans, Barrie is among the vanguard of Western Canada’s brash and belligerent new bourgeoisie: Success is the only option; opposition be damned. To his opponents, he’s the Beelzebub of Bear Mountain, a man bent on laying waste to the island’s pristine wilderness, spreading the brimstone of condos, fairways and big-box plazas.

“The bear has come over the mountain, and look what he has done,” says Vicky Husband, the grande dame of Canada’s conservation movement and a 40-year resident of the tiny Highlands district into which Bear Mountain is expanding. Husband says Barrie has stopped at nothing to move the development forward. “It has split the community asunder,” she says.

This is not the only developer-versus-conservationist battle that’s being waged in B.C., but it’s by far the largest. Since 2002, when Barrie started knocking down trees in the hills northwest of Victoria, he has enraged environmentalists, town councillors, local residents and aboriginal groups—and done it with a certain amount of glee. “What you see is what you get,” says Barrie. “I call a spade a spade, and if you don’t like it, who cares? I have lots of friends.”

Now, Barrie is embarking on his second project. In mid-2007, he paid $2.1 million for a chunk of oceanfront property (including a marina) near Mill Bay, 40 kilometres north of Victoria. “The Victoria International Airport is right across the Saanich Inlet,” says Barrie, standing on the pebbly foreshore of Mill Bay, pointing east. “We’ll also expand the marina, which means Americans can dock here and easily fly out.”

The transformation of this leafy hillside sprinkled with dowdy houses into a hopping condo development is bound to cause trouble—especially if Barrie uses the same tactics he took to Bear Mountain. “Generally, a business must look out for its shareholders,” says Bob McMinn, a Highlands resident and one of Barrie’s most vocal opponents. “They do this with the soft soap or with the hammer. Bear Mountain brought the hammer.”

Read the rest here.
(Four more pages)