Citizens, Land Keepers, and COAP Push Back
Citizen's Oversight and Accountability Project - Holding Local Governments accountable update
Hello Community,
We have been a little slow in uploading our visits to council as the paper has been a full-time work of love, and now we are preparing for a Podcast…. But, we have continued to go to multiple local governments to speak on behalf of our concerned members.
Those of you who have followed the flooding of farmland in Cowichan Bay for almost a year will know that this is an ongoing saga that is still unfolding. As the pushback has grown, the latest development had Nature Trust ask the CVRD to send their request to the Agricultural Land Committee for approval to flood the farmland, a move which should have been done since the beginning before starting on this project. Tractors filled the streets around the CVRD, and citizens packed the front of the building and chambers.
If you are not familiar with this story, it is similar to those happening all over the world in the name of ‘rewilding’ , here are a few articles to bring you up to date:
https://wwind.ca/land-keepers-cowichan-bay-estuary/
John Rustad’s speech at the Ledge: https://wwind.ca/debate-future-of-estuary-and-farmland-in-bc/
This month's update and release of FOIAs: https://wwind.ca/the-continuing-saga-of-the-cowichan-bay-estuary/
Some speeches from us and other groups and citizens :
The son of the woman who sold the farm:
Adrienne:
Joyce:
Everyone who spoke including Land Keepers and other concerned citizens:
Another local happening was when a developer was denied his building near the new hospital after new ‘growth containment boundaries’ were changed arbitrarily.
You can read the story here: https://wwind.ca/north-cowichan-rejects-new-development-near-hospital-despite-community-support/
The owner of the proposed development:
Joseph schools council on their duties:
Adrienne speaks on multiple agenda items - the first being on a property owner who bought the property with 4 bedrooms in the main house and 2 bedrooms in a suite above the garage for their grown kids - the suite was not recognized by the muni, and the staff suggested it be rejected as a suite. The second topic was West Vista Terrace as spoken to above.
We also visited Duncan Council (to come) and so much more! If you are on our YouTube you can see the pushback in North Cowichan on their budget, and the CVRD (still to come).
Get involved, speak out, and become active!
Thank you for all your support, and we hope to see you in council!
- Sincerely, Team COAP