Eva Durance’s letter to the editor was a great display of the level of misinformation floating around regarding Parks Canada and the scheduled meetings for Tuesday Feb. 12.
The South Okanagan Similkameen Preservation Society (SOSPS) had been in negotiations with Parks Canada for three weeks prior. Parks Canada confirmed only five days before the meeting on Thursday, Feb. 7. Late in the day on Feb. 8, they emailed that the meeting had to be limited to only 50 stakeholders per group (150 total), but our invitations to members had already gone out a day prior.
The cancellation, contrary to Ms. Durance’s suggestion, was due to the fact that senior management from Park’s Canada wanted to attend the meeting. There was no advertising as suggested, just passionate locals that thought they finally had a chance to ask their questions about the park in their neigbourhood.
One item that Eva Durance got correct was that the meeting was rescheduled. The rescheduled meeting with Parks Canada occurred Feb. 25, but they limited the meeting to only five people per stakeholder group. So we went from 150 to 15 people as part of the process of “consultation.”
“Disrespect” indeed.
One must ask why Parks Canada, and some of the pro-park community. are so afraid of speaking publicly about the merits of a National Park Reserve? The people that we speak to in the South Okanagan and Similkameen, they just want to hear (in person) their questions answered.
Limiting the debate and controlling the narrative like what Parks Canada is doing presently will go further to fracture and divide the community. Our public polling done in December proves that people want a say in the park process, and if Parks Canada denies this, it just creates animosity and contempt for the proposal.
Lionel Trudel
SOSPS Director