CTV reports, “Volunteers broke out their tool bets Saturday to add wooden huts to a protest camp set up to prevent the construction of a new, four-lane highway through suburban Vancouver. …Robert Ages of the Council of Canadians said the new wooden structures will come in handy should protestors’ roughly 15 tents get pummeled by stormy weather over the summer. ‘We’re here to make some structures that will hold up a bit better because we’re here until we win,’ he said.”
“The (South Fraser Protection) camp, set up last week in Delta, B.C., has become a rallying point for those concerned about the potential threat the billion-dollar Gateway Program poses to the ecology and archeology of the area.”
“Opponents raise several issues with the Gateway project, claiming it’s a waste of billions of dollars that will contribute to global warming and destroy ancient indigenous sites. Among them is amateur archeologist Tony Hardie, who has been collecting aboriginal artifacts from the area for years and fears B.C.’s archeological branch isn’t working fast enough to save the riches from the 10,000-year-old site. ‘The finds have never been there to properly excavate,’ Hardie said. ‘Are they going to have the time and the funds to do it before they pave over it forever?’ Others say the construction has destroyed farmland and will disrupt salmon-bearing streams.”
A Tweet from the camp from about midnight on Saturday, “A very peaceful night at the camp tonight after a busy work party today.”
“The provincial government plans to have the project, including the planned South Fraser Perimeter Road, completed by 2013…”
The CTV report is at http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110430/bc_gateway_project_110430/20110430?hub=BritishColumbiaHome. For more news and updates on the campaign against the South Fraser Perimeter Road, please go to http://canadians.org and click on the top tab – South Fraser Protection Camp.
