SECHELT COMMUNITY FOREST – May 26th, 2008

 

 

URGENT & IMPORTANT

 

 

This coming weekend that Sechelt Community Forest will be hosting the annual conference & AGM for the British Columbia Community Forest Association. (BCCFA)

 

This is an opportunity for the Coast Residents to attend a rally planned for Saturday, May 31st, 2008 where we need to bring to the BCCFA’s attention that our CF does not have an open & transparent governance process where members of the public are allowed to attend CF board meetings.

 

The CF is owned by the District of Sechelt (as the sole shareholder) and has such is very much a public asset operating on Provincial public forestlands.

 

We need to have the BCCFA, along with our own CF board of directors, realize that it is not acceptable to the community to have the Sechelt community forest operate behind closed doors, essentially in-camera for the past two years.

 

This community deserves better and now is the perfect time and opportunity to deliver this message to the BCCFA executive at their AGM.

 

Incidentally, the operations manager for the Sechelt CF is also the Vice-President of the BCCFA, and in this capacity, this individual should be supporting the BCCFA’s own principle of transparency outlined in their handbook on how to set up a community forest.

 

So on short notice, please ask your friends, neighbors, and other family members, to once more, again, come out in force and stand up for our communities right to have our CF operate in a completely transparent mode unlike the present closed-door policy.

 

There are too many important and sensitive area located with the CF tenure area (Chapman Creek & Grey Creek, our drinking watersheds for example). To not be able to hear and understand what plans the CF have for these important areas is not acceptable. A very important area to protect is Hidden Grove, but there are other areas that deserve our protection from industrial activities.

 

There will be two opportunities on Saturday, May 31st, 2008; to present our messages to the attendee’s of the conference.

 

The 1st opportunity will be Saturday morning, starting at 8:00am when delegates will begin to arrive for the morning plenary session at Chatelech Secondary School, which is scheduled to begin at 8:30am.

 

The 2nd opportunity will be Saturday afternnon, starting at 12:30pm when delegates will attend the afternoon session starting at 1:00pm same location, Chatelech Secondary School.

 

Both of these sessions include topics relating to community participation and managing conflict.

 

Your presence will provide us with an opportunity to engage the delegates and hopefully communicate a positive message for change towards open & transparent governance structure for our own CF.

 

So please try to come out and support us in getting this message across to the BCCFA attendee’s and hopefully together we can make a difference.

 

It is our intent to have an open and positive dialogue with the delegates and on that note; nobody should feel that we are asking anybody to behave in a negative manner.

 

Our rally will be positive and peaceful and we want to show that while we support our CF in some recent movement towards transparency by the CF board, the actions to date do not go far enough and that the community expects and requires complete transparency by the CF board.

 

So please mark on your calendar Saturday, May 31st, 2008 either 8:00am or 12:30 pm and we expect each event will last for 1-1/12 hours while we present our message, etc

 

If you can attend both times, this would be awesome, but if you can only come out for one session, please choose the time that best suits your own personal schedule, but please come out, we will be very grateful for you support and attendance.

 

If you feel like making up a sign to express your own thoughts and feelings regarding the CF, we would like to suggest that the your messages center around principle of transparency and the need for the CF to allow more community involvement in the operations of the Sechelt CF.

 

Regards

 

John Bebbington

 

PS I have attached a copy of the BCCFA schedule for the entire conference, which describes some of the topics the attendees will be discussing during their stay on the Sunshine Coast