CN Rail the new owners of a gift given to them by the Province of BC (BC Rail) is in the Honorable Judge W. Rodgers courtroom in North Van Court today . They are apparently there to finally enter a plea to 5 counts for spilling waste into the Cheakamus River north of Squamish on August 5th 2005.
August 5th 2005? This trial is taking almost as long as the BC Rail trial in the Supreme court.
What's the problem? The train was too long. CN didn't utilize the experienced BC Rail staff. The bloody train derailed. Toxic chemicals were introduced into the environment. CN attempted, I allege, to cover up the carnage wasting hours before notifying the Hazmat boys or the RCMP.
A rail line was blocked. Chemicals were spilled into a fish bearing river. Wells were polluted and no one was notified for hours. And more than a Half Million Fish were destroyed. Initially CN claimed only a few thousand. I say one fish lost is too many under these circumstances.
More than a Half Million Fish
Now it's not just the fish. Others rely on them as well. There's the Natives. The sport fishermen. Bears, otters, seals, Eagles. Have you ever been to Squamish and seen the Eagles nesting there? They are American Bald Eagles and the population is arguably greater there than in all of the United States.
In my younger days I fished these rivers. The fishing was great. In September 2006 there were virtually no fish running the Cheakamus. That's a Half million fish that the saltwater fishermen couldn't catch.
All this caused by the negligence of a company seeking to give their shareholders a higher dividend on their shares.
So here we are today more than 46 months just to get these bastards to enter a plea in Provincial Court. And they say the court system isn't broken. Maybe not. Maybe it's just government pandering to big business?
Oh, did I mention that they weren't charged until the Squamish Band started legal proceedings just before the deadline for the governments to charge them expired.
So we await with baited breath for the outcome of todays court. And as Koot and Mary have pointed out the new online court BS has been moved to Stonewalleys' site at the government propaganda site. So we may not be able to followup today. Unless there are any concerned citizens in North Van who are able to make the courtroom.
4 comments:
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Gary E.,
I have only a slim idea of what the Cheakamus Canyon meant to you, and the devastation you felt when the old BCRail was the cause of killing an estimated 500,000 fish.
I wish I had words of comfort. All I can say is that some of us can't accept the way BC is being treated. We'll keep pushing. You will, too, I think. What else can we do?
I'll be thinking of you.
.
Thanks Mary
It's not just the Canyon as you mention. I suppose it's the way the province is being destroyed.
I have fished all over this province from the ocean to the smallest of lakes. I've fished the Yukon and Ontario and Quebec. Some of it with my father and brothers.I've been half way around the world. But never have I seen the devastation of natural resources as I have witnessed in BC. The reason I chose to live here in the first place is because it has everything that I have seen at any other place I've been on the globe. Now it is being destroyed by big business and a puppet in Victoria.
The biggest disappointment was witnessing the complete lack of caring by about half the population of this province.
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Gary,
You've just explained why the May 12, 2009 provincial election was different from any other election. It was our last chance to stop the damage, even at this late date.
You've explained why losing this election felt 1,000 times worse than losing any other election. Why it's been more like grieving the death of a loved one, for which there is no solace.
I think we owe it to ourselves to grieve, to rest, and to remember that we put up a damn good effort to "preserve and protect" the rivers, lakes, oceans, forests, as best we could. And after a while, we'll take up the battle again.
A mentor of mine had a saying: "So soon old, so late smart," she'd say ... and we'd laugh.
Being old & smart ain't so bad either, Gary.
Meantime, how's the broken hand coming along? How about a little catch-up story on Mackenzie, and the homestead, and your projects ... I've missed those reports lately.
.
P.S. Thinking about what you (and many others) say about the "complete lack of caring by about half the population of this province" ...
... and thinking about how young and naive I was when that mentor decided I could learn a thing or two ...
We all start somewhere, to understand the real world. My guess is that there's a huge population of young people in B.C. who haven't learned how to assess the real world yet.
There are immigrants who haven't grown up with camp-outs under the cedars and the smell of warm rain on the branches.
There's the urban population which has never seen the magnificent rivers like the one you named your daughter after, and I named mine after.
Then there was Bill 42 which refused to let 5% of the population vote.
Here's an insight I've kept from university studies, to help us understand what's happening when we begin to blame ourselves: One of the characteristics of an Oppressed People is that they will turn against one another when they realize that the enemy is too powerful to fight. That's us, if we're not careful. We didn't fail. So take that as a clue to what's happening to B.C., as well ... the province is under an oppressive regime, with powerful forces (CanWest, Public Affairs Bureau) keeping the population believing it's A Golden Era.
Don't get me started ... not yet, a while, anyway.
All the best, Gary.
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