Editor, The Times:
This is a special message to Prime Minister Harper and Christy Clark and to the new Minister of the Environment, Terry Lake.
On World Water Day, March 22, allies and supporters of the Tsilhqot’in National Government would like you to take action to protect Teztan Biny - Fish Lake.
I am telling the federal and provincial governments that I still stand with the Tsilhqot’in communities in opposition to the Prosperity Mine proposed by Taseko Mines Ltd.
Mr. Lake, please do not approve the project. This project must be permanently stopped. Taseko Mines must be told to stop trying to impose this flawed project on Tsilhqot’in communities and the fragile ecosystems they rely on.
The future of this earth depends on the actions that happen at this very time in history and you are the ones who are tasked with making those decisions.
Surely some of you have grandchildren. Think of them for a brief moment. Look into their eyes and ask them if they would rather have a new electronic gadget or food in their bellies and water in a cup? I think that if you were to really ask them and listen to their answers that they would rather have Life.
So, what about you? You have the responsibility to speak up for their rights but can you? Will you? Will you do it now?
We are intelligent beings and we can change. We do not have to do what we have always done - ending up with what we always get (less and less water in the rivers and creeks, more and more pollution, landfills leaching into aquifers ... I can go on and on).
I agree that there are some hard decisions to be made. However, the path currently being traveled is not working. We have to change, right now.
Look around you! Get out of your comfortable ‘boxes’. Involve the people you were elected to represent; we can help you solve this, if we work together! Have the nerve to think of the future of people, plants, animals - indeed Life on this planet. Have the nerve to involve all the people and then work towards what they suggest.
No means no! Put an end to the Prosperity Mine proposal.
Cheryl Thomas
Clearwater, B.C.