Submitted letter to the RCMP from their website (link no longer valid).
Sent copy to Dear Minister for Public Safety, Peter Van Loan.
Response received from the RCMP is at 2008-11-09 Encana Dawson Creek: Reply from RCMP. Rule of law? Jane Jacobs.
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THE LETTER SENT
Please pass this along to the anti-terrorism squad:
Regarding the Encana Pipeline incidents near Dawson Creek, in the area where Wiebo Ludwig, on the other side of the border attracted earlier attention.
The variables for violence have been put in place by the Government. An RCMP anti-terrorist squad will achieve very little because it addresses a SYMPTOM (sabotage of a pipeline), not the cause.
The cause is the failure of the Government to regulate industry, to serve the public interest, to protect the Commons (water, air, land) upon which we are all dependent for survival.
This third incident at the Encana pipeline is as predictable as the current economic crisis in the United States was.
Sour gas is a very toxic substance. It poisons, and in the longer term, kills people.
It is right for people to protect their children against sour gas and other poisons, and every bit as honourable as the work of Canadian soldiers who fight overseas under various calls-to-arm. More so, depending upon your point-of-view.
As I understand the situation,
– whether in the Dawson Creek area or
– in Fort Chipewyan (down river from the Tar Sands with tragic consequences for this town of 1200 people), or
– in other areas of Canada where poisoning of local environments and populations by large corporations proceeds without restraint,
it is inevitable that there will be resistance.
It seems to me to be a no-brainer: if the means of seeking remedy to the problems have been fruitless, if the problems continue to escalate, then the
means of addressing the problem will change.
Lobbying, meeting, writing letters, the formation of citizen groups, letters-to-the-editor … little achieved in the effort to obtain justice. Soo … what next? People are resourceful, especially when their families are at high risk and visibly so.
An anti-terrorist squad is money and people assigned to the wrong place. A parallel example would be the Atlantic cod fishery. More money, more money and in the end the fishery collapsed. That was 15 or 20 years ago. There are no signs today that it will ever recover. The Government applied the WRONG remedy to dwindling resources. They addressed a SYMPTOM (declining catches) and not the CAUSE (over-fishing).
We are now repeating exactly the same mistake with Encana. Incidents along the pipeline tell you something is wrong (declining catches told the Government that something was wrong).
The response is to assign an anti-terrorist squad to a symptom. As I say, you can predict with certainty that things will only continue to deteriorate because the cause of the incidents is not being addressed.
The Government has one job: to protect the public interest, the Commons, that upon which we are all dependent for survival. In order to do that it has to regulate industry. Citizens pay the Government to do that.
When the Government serves the corporate interest by turning a blind eye, by failing to enforce regulations, when people’s children are being poisoned – predictably, and beyond doubt there will be further deterioration. There will be incidents in the Tar Sands. That’s a no-brainer. The cod fishery no longer exists. Democracy no longer exists.
I ask the RCMP to join Canadians in demanding that the Government assume it’s assigned role in a democracy.
You are looking in the wrong place for terrorists.
Thank-you for your consideration.
Best wishes,
Sandra Finley
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Response received from the RCMP is at 2008-11-09 Encana Dawson Creek: Reply from RCMP. Rule of law? Jane Jacobs.