Columnist Walt Cobb writes in the Williams Lake Tribune today that, “I have heard the Council of Canadians, the Sierra Club, and MiningWatch from Ontario have funded and possibly accompanied the First Nations groups to travel to Ottawa to make their case for preventing the Prosperity mine from going forward.”
Yes, that’s true. For campaign blogs relating to this work, please go to http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=2902 and http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=2892.
But Cobb rallies those supporting the mine and the destruction of Fish Lake by writing, “The hearings are coming up and those of us who need work had better be prepared to take a little time from work to ensure there is ‘work’ in the future. The hearings are scheduled to start in March and are starting in midday. For those of us who need to work, own business or depend on mining for a living will have a problem attending at that time. The rest will not. Maybe the business community be it, retail, service, industrial or whoever is dependent on generating revenue should close down their business for that time period and have their staff attend the hearings in support of the project. …Time to be counted. Be there.”
The truth is that the jobs created from this mine are limited and certainly not as permanent as the destruction of Fish Lake.
The Council of Canadians intends to be at the public hearing in Williams Lake on Monday March 22 – World Water Day – to make the argument that Fish Lake should not be destroyed for the profit of a mining corporation, Taseko Mines Ltd.
For more information on the upcoming public hearings, please go to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency public notice at http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/document-eng.cfm?document=40802. More details on our interventions at these hearings will follow.
In the meantime, we encourage you to sign the on-line petition to protect the lake at http://www.protectfishlake.ca/petition.php.
