The following comes from a public event on Facebook. SPN will not print private posts or content from private groups from social media, unless the author’s specific authorization is requested and granted. 

Protect our Coast – Celebration of Light Gathering (view the Event here)

Highlights:

• 21 December at 16:00–17:00
• Edward Milne Rd, Sooke, BC V9Z, Canada

Bring a light (candle or flashlight), a sign (optional) and your resilient spirit (essential) as we stand together in support of our still unspoiled marine environment. We’ll gather outside Edward Milne Community School and intend to get started at 4 p.m. sharp.

It’s a peaceful yet resolute response to Ottawa’s recent approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and the rising tide of supertankers in the Strait of Juan de Fuca that will result.

The event marks the winter solstice. Several guest speakers will share their thoughts. We’ll pass the open mic to whoever wishes to speak. Then we’ll move alongside the Sooke Road with lights, signs and positive energy so as to share our concerns with homeward-bound traffic.

The expanded Kinder Morgan pipeline will channel raw bitumen (aka dilbit) from the Alberta tar sands to supertankers in the Port of Vancouver. From there, massive tankers will sail under the Second Narrows Bridge and out into the Salish Sea, travelling past Victoria and then into the Strait of Juan de Fuca en route to the far east.

Local emergency response measures will be significantly improved if the pipeline goes ahead. Yet a growing body of evidence suggests that, unlike conventional light oil, bitumen behaves unpredictably and has a tendency to sink, thus becoming impossible to recover.

No matter the skills of emergency workers, a single human error by a tanker captain in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (famously known as the Graveyard of the Pacific) could prove to be a calamity for our precious ocean and inter-tidal zones — devastating the richly diverse marine ecosystem and causing untold harm to businesses that rely on the ocean, our region’s tourism appeal, local real estate values and the overall quality of life in this magnficent part of the world.

The Protect Our Coast solstice rally is organized by the Sooke chapter of the Dogwood Initiative. Please join us!