The rising cost of our Earth’s destruction
I’m outraged at the millions of tax payer’s dollars being spent to take down the last remnants of old growth forest in B.C. You’d think the old growth was a heinous criminal ring of drug lords with the funds being spent. You’d think we weren’t in the midst of a global climate crisis where these monster carbon sinks were redundant. You’d think we weren’t in the midst of a global pandemic where only essential travel is allowed by the rest of us but 50-plus RCMP officers from far and wide are spending a month being housed and fed at a rental facility driving all over the back country seven days a week and often not following provincial health and safety requirements for COVID. Several helicopters flying out of Mesachie Lake day after day to simply pluck one tree hugger at a time dangerously from its crown. Think about it, an irreplaceable thousand year old tree cut down for lumber. Gone forever with our premier’s broken promises to save the old growth and our failure to protect that which is sacred and necessary on our planet for our own species survival!
Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones captured my attention and utmost respect when he stopped a line of 30 RCMP officers today and kindly took the time to educate them when he said: “Pretender Chief Frank Jones and elected Chief Jeff Jones are not the final authority here. They are acting out of their own pretentions. They are not being guided by our hereditary or cultural laws. You are invading the territories of our Hereditary Chief. You are the trespassers. We are the people. The citizens of this territory. We have guests up there. We have friends up there who want to protect and care for our great Mother. Whereas you are representing a Reaper. A grim Reaper who wants to destroy all mankind’s hope of any sensitivity at all on this earth.”
The time to do better is about to run out — what account will you have to share with your grandchildren?
Contact Premier Horgan and your MLA and demand that the remaining 2.7 per cent of old growth in our province is protected NOW. It was an election promise and he MUST keep this one.
The clock is running and so are the saws…
Dr Brenda Bernhardt
Cowichan Valley