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LETTER: MLA should speak out for Ymir watershed

From reader Toni Hayward
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In the last week of January, I called MLA Michelle Mungall’s office to make an appointment to see her. I wanted to take in letters from the children of our community of Ymir to speak out for them in protecting their water and their home. I was told that I would be hearing back for her office. I did not.

On Feb. 7, I took the letters in. There were letters from kids from six months to 13 years old. Many of these children were born in Ymir. Out of our town of approximately 400 people, about half are children, three of whom are my grandchildren. When I went in to deliver these letters, the door was locked and there was no one there. Michelle Mungall decided it was easier not to face the people camped outside her office protesting the invasion of First Nations territory in Smithers to push through a pipeline they have not agreed to. So how convenient for her that she was not there to answer to us, the people who voted her in.

The logging of the Ymir watershed will threaten the town’s very existence. A town cannot exist without water. Each of us has an investment in this town, personally, financially and emotionally. Is BC Timber Sales and the provincial government going to compensate us if our town loses its water supply? How do you compensate people for their very lives? We have created a thriving community. We love our home. We are a huge extended family.

We voted for Michelle Mungall. She is there because of us. She should find some courage and speak out for us. Her government is going to be responsible if we lose our water supply. And looking at what happened in Grand Forks last year, flooding and landslides are very serious issue as well. Forestry practices need to change now, before our children lose their homes.

Toni Hayward

Ymir