A number of my neighbours and I attended a meeting with officials from a mining company last week.
North America Stone is planning to mine granite 28 kilometres up North Fork Road.
A couple of my neighbours got a little hot under the collar with the mine spokespersons.
Their frustration is similar to that expressed by teachers, the medical profession, public housing advocates, indeed anyone in Canada who has to deal with government or large corporations.
In those situations there is always a clash between expectation and reality. We expect that our concerns will be taken into consideration; the reality is, they won’t be.
We expect that the principles of democratic governance that we were taught in school are reality; alas, they aren’t.
My neighbours have concerns about noise, water pollution, the destruction of wildlife habitat and the loss of a very pleasant recreational area frequented by hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers.
The company is concerned with making money and abiding by the rules and regulations laid out by the government for mining. My neighbours think that their concerns should have as much weight as the concerns of the company, even more weight since they are residents of Canada and the company is Chinese. They don’t.
A representative of the B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines was there, explaining the rules and regulations that apply to the company’s proposal.
As usual, with the current emphasis on de-regulation and promoting the extraction of natural resources throughout Canada, there aren’t very many.
Anyone holding mineral rights to a piece of B.C. can explore for minerals on that property, public or private. Roads can be built, blasting done, and up to 10,000 tons of material extracted without an environmental assessment.
The regulations governing the building of the roads and controlling run-off, etc., are enforced by the mine manager himself. A site inspection may be as frequent as every six months. There is no provision for any individual or group to have any influence on whether or not the project is approved.
If a company has the mineral rights and follows the minimum number of rules and regulations, the government will not, indeed cannot, stop the project.
Therein lies the frustration that leads a variety of groups and associations to anger, confrontation, and civil disobedience.
The B.C. and Canadian governments have effectively isolated themselves from the public. With the only real power in the hands of the premier and a few ministers, and layers and layers of bureaucracy between them and the people, the complaints raised by groups and individuals have little chance of being even heard, let alone acted upon.
North America Stone didn’t even have to have the meeting they did; regulations governing “exploration” don’t require it.
Even when large projects require public “consultation” there is no requirement to actually alter plans based on the wishes of the attendees.
The First Nations have found this out; the teachers and health professionals have as well in their bargaining sessions with their “employers,” the health districts and trustees, all of whom just wait for the real employer, the government, to legislate contracts for them.
The B.C. and Federal governments maintain of course that since their power was granted through a democratic election that every action of theirs is, ipso facto, democratic, and that the public should, ipso facto, forget expectation and accept reality.
– Jim Holtz is WEEKENDER columnist and former reporter for the Grand Forks Gazette.