Action Alert Jumbo blockade heats up at Farnham
Wilderness supporters needed in September!
If you can help support this peaceful action, please contact Judy Burns at radio2judy@yahoo.ca or at 250 342-6334 FOR MORE INFORMATION AND DIRECTIONS and to SCHEDULE YOURSELF IN. We need people to sign up for day shifts from 9:00 to 6:00 or overnight shifts from 5:00pm to 3:00 pm.
This will ensure that the blockade is in effect 24 hours a day.
On Thursday July 31 Jumbo Wild supporters were forced to blockade the Farnham Creek road in the Central Purcell Mountains to prevent Glacier Resorts, Ltd. from proceeding with plans to construct a new road and temporary lift on the East Farnham Glacier. This work was planned and construction started without public notice, First Nations consultation, or consultation of adjacent or overlapping stakeholders.
JumboWild quickly learned that Glacier Resorts Ltd. had been given a new tenure in Farnham Creek to replace the existing Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA) tenure that expired in December 2007. Despite the fact that the new tenure increased from the CODA tenure of 240 hectares to over 1400 hectares, and the permitted uses changed from temporary access for athlete use to alpine skiing and sight-seeing with permanent access, THIS NEW TENURE WAS CREATED WITH NO PUBLIC, FIRST NATIONS, OR ADJACENT STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION.
Grant Costello, spokesman for Glacier Resorts, continues to claim that this road and lift is simply for CODA athletes and other amateur athletes, and is a part of the Jumbo Resort Master Plan. However, CODA denies any association with Glacier Resorts in regards to this proposed road and lift, and there is no road access noted in the Jumbo Glacier Resort Master Plan - planned access is from the Jumbo Creek side.
Within days of the blockade going up, Glacier Resorts Ltd. pulled out their road-building equipment, but not before roughing out a road for 800 meters through sensitive alpine tundra, including across a small alpine tarn. A week later, on Wednesday August 13, JumboWild supporters were joined by members of the Ktunaxa Nation for a celebration of success in halting the construction of this lift. Ktunaxa Chief Sophie Pierre welcomed over 100 celebrants to the blockade, stating: "It has to hurt a person’s spirit to see what is being done here. I don't know what has gone wrong in this particular case, where we have a process in place, a process that we, the Ktunaxa Nation has been involved with, and that we thought was honourable. The Ktunaxa nation council has always said that it opposed this proposed development as it was presented. We are concerned with what is happening now, with the proponent, with the complete lack of respect for the process we are involved in."
Wildsight’s Purcell Program Manager Dave Quinn was quick to note that a recent statement by the resort proponent that the road was being put in to provide skiing for Kootenay amateur athletes is a red herring. “This assault on the alpine is not about skiing and is not about children or Kootenay amateur athletes as the Jumbo developers erroneously claim,” he said. “The existing Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA) training camp on the East Farnham Glacier is open for all amateur athletes with coaches to apply for training. The people on the blockade have maintained a positive relationship with CODA and their operations have continued as usual. CODA representatives have stated clearly that this attempt by developers to build a road and a lift are not in support of CODA’s program.”
Quinn said that after nearly 20 years of controversy, JumboWild supporters look forward to the tenure being revoked—“and to the entire ill-conceived proposal being dropped for good.” He cautions that however long the controversy remains, “JumboWild supporters are energized to carry on. It’s time for the Province to kill this ridiculous proposal once and for all.”
Check www.jumbowild.com for more details and for the latest news on the most recent controversy surrounding the proposed Jumbo Glacier Resort.
