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Friends of Strathcona Park

Newsletter - Fall 2017Box 3404, Courtenay, B.C. V9N 5N5

www.friendsofstrathcona.org

Ruth Jessie Masters

May 7 1920-November 7 2017

by Marlene Smith

Ruth Jessie Masters was one of the firstbabies born at St. Joseph’s Hospital inComox on May 7, 1920. She passedaway peacefully at the new North IslandHospital in Courtenay on November 7,2017 with her loving caregiver Yolandaby her side.

Ruth's life was so full of adventure that ittakes a book to describe it! She served in theCanadian Air Force in London Englandduring WW 2. She was a legal secretary inCourtenay for many years.

She was an inspiration to all of us who carefor the wilderness, protected areas, parks,and wildlife. She was an ongoing inspirationto many of us standing on guard for thesethings.

Ruth was introduced to the outdoors by herparents and made her first hike up Mt.Becher when she was just 13. The familyhiked up from their little cabin onPowerhouse Road to the Bevan town sitewhere they crossed the Puntledge River on afloating bridge. Ruth says she and hermother wore cotton dresses and carryingtheir goodies in a potato sack her mothermodified into a backpack. She first climbedthe Comox Glacier with Kathryn Capes andthe CDMC at 18.

I first met Ruth in 1986; she was a well-seasoned parks protector, while I was just

taking over Jim Bouldings’ job protectingStrathcona Park. She became my mentor. She wasalways ready to make signs, and show up at a

rally or ablockade. Irememberdoing “fieldwork” withRuth,cleaning upthe park fromthe metalmining stakesleft behind orpurposelyplanted byCreamSilver,whackingthrough thebush straightuphill fromthe Price

Ruth and Sid Williams somewhere on the Plateau

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Creek trail to remove flagging tape, being directedby Ruth. At the (in)famous Strathcona blockade in1988, she was there daily, sleeping in her red truckplastered with signs (“Quit Looting the Park”). Oneday she participated in the morning briefing takingplace in a shelter made with a big tarp. EnoSchaffer, the owner of Courtenay Bakery, hadbrought us some fresh hot cross buns. Ruth(politely) kept her hand with the bun outside thetent, right in front of our big dog Rastus’ nose. Hegently relieved her from the bun; much to Ruth’samazement about the gentle way re took it from herhand! She blew “Oh Canada..” on her faithfulharmonica at almost every arrest during the 3months standoff in Strathcona Park in the middle ofthe winter.

She was a “master” sign maker, these found theirways into the Park as directional signs as well as inthe numerous protest marches and blockades! Sheput her body between bears and trophy hunters orthe RCMP when a bear was trapped in the bushes inCourtenay . She was on the beaches in Tofino toclean up the oil left behind by the Exonn Valdez oilspill. She was there with Melda to prevent the eaglechicks being taken from their nests to provide the

An early Ruth Masters biffy in 1945 atMariwood Lake. No Park Use Permit

needed as it was before this area becamepart of Strathcona Park.

At Croteau Lake in 1939

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U.S. with new eagles after they killed off theirown. She was found carving up road kill to betaken to the wild life rescue centres inParksville and Merville to feed the injuredeagles. She was seen in front of the chainsawsto protect what is now MacDonald woodstogether with Melda and Carol Neufeld. Shedonated 15 acres of her parent’s land (whichshe had inherited) for the Masters' Greenwayfor wild life along the Puntledge River. Born“church mouse poor” she lived a modest lifeand gave generously to environmentalorganisations, wild life protection agencies and

the SPCA.

Not to mention the numerous trail signsand miles of trail building she did orparticipated in. I remember the argumentRuth and Melda had over a little treeright in the spot Melda had decided thetrail should go. “ I don’t like kinks andsags in MY trails!” I heard Ruthdefending her position. How does oneresolve this conflict between two of yourmost cherished elders?

She was an environmentalist andrecycled garbage before the word ortrend was even invented! She is anexample and inspiration of how we canlive on this earth and leave it in a betterway than we found it. She was our elder,our “spooned” hero! We all will missyou Ruth and will continue your workuntil the day we can join you and Melda.We will pass on this care for the planetto the next and next generations tocome. Thank you Ruth for lighting upour path.

A Celebration of Ruth’s Life will beheld on December 10th at the FlorenceFilberg Centre in Courtenay.

Ruth Masters Hero Spoon Award

This fall the first "Ruth Master's Hero SpoonAward" was presented to North Island Collegestudent Jade Denbigh-Mongkolsute whobegan her courses in environmental studiesthis fall. Jade was thrilled to be honoured withthis bursary and she hopes that her studies willgive the background to continue the legacy ofenvironmental work championed by our goodfriend Ruth Masters. This award will giveencouragement to a new generation of youngpeople. It is our hope Ruth's lifetime

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commitment will be carried forward and herwork will continue in perpetuity through theNorth Island College Foundation. Additionaldonations will enhance this fund allowingmore awards to be made in future.

The Friends, among others, contributed toRuth's award and the target of $12,000 wasreached. With Ruth's passing topping up herscholarship fund has become a new goal.Many of you will have already donated eitherlast year or at Ruth's Celebration of Life. Ifyou didn't get a chance and would like tohelp out you can donate through North IslandCollege, Personal donations of $25 andmore are eligible to receive charitable taxreceipts through North Island CollegeFoundation (890505043RR0001). Acharitable tax receipt for 2017 tax year willbe mailed to you at the address provided on/with your cheque. Please don't donatethrough the FOSP, rather directly to NIC,

SPPAC Update

The Strathcona Park Public AdvisoryCommittee last met in August. There was tobe another meeting held at the beginning of

November, but it has beenpostponed to a later date. Some ofthe news from the August meetingfollows.

There have been 30 new parkpositions created Provincially withone being local, beginning inSeptember. New CommunityLiaison Officers will be hired foreach region with the local onebased in Parksville. These used tobe called Extension Officers andwill be working with local groupswanting to volunteer with B.C.Parks.

Nyrstar Myra Falls mine was toreopen last August. There are more detailselsewhere in this newsletter. Returning to fulloperations will take some time. There will besome hauling on the Jim Mitchell Lake Roadwhich is a concern as it may impact publicaccess to that part of the Park. Materials will bestockpiled for concentration at a later date andnew drilling applications will be applied for.There are discussions taking place aboutrelocating the Arnica Lake trailhead, moving theexplosives shed and relocating the parking lot.

Upgrades are being done at the Ralph Rivercampground and progress is being made on anew group campground at Croteau Lake. A yurtwill be constructed at this group campgroundwhich will reservable for a gathering place, butnot for accomodation. A dock will beconstructed at Croteau Lake to make drinkingwater more accessible. The group campgroundshould alleviate pressure at the Kwai Lakecampground.

The dock at Battleship Lake was extendedfurther out into the lake. This dock has been

Jade Denbigh-Mongkolsute, Ruth Masters HeroSpoon Scholarship Winner, with Judy Hagen and

Leroy McFarlane

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paid for by a fishing group.

The cable car on the Della Falls trail needsrepairing as does the bridge over MargaretCreek and the dock at the end of Great CentralLake.

The Gold Lake Trail is inaccessible due todeterioration in the logging roads so nobodygoes there any more.

The Bedwell Lake trail needs work, but nonewill be done until funding is available. TheBedwell River Trail on the west coast side ofthe Park is being worked on by the Ahousaht aspart of their tourism plan. They are followingthe old road bed which is CWR's original planwhen some people think the Friends trail on theother side of the valley is a superior choice.

SPPAC is still looking for new members,especially females as they are underrepresentedon the Committee. Contact Andy Smith atAndy.Smith@gov.bc.ca or Philip Stone atpstone@quadraisland.ca if you are interested.For more information check out B.C. Parkswebpage for SPPAC at

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/strath/strathwk.html

Transitioning to the new Societies Act

From a pragmatic point of view, the transitionwill require FOSP to take two provisions out ofour Constitution and move them to our by-laws. Under the new Act, the constitution of anorganization can only have the name andpurposes of the organization and cannot contain“unalterable provisions”. The two “previouslyunalterable” provisions that need to be movedaddress 1) disposition of assets, should thesociety be wound up, which is a provision thatis broadly stated and which we might want toamend in the future in any event, and 2) astatement that the society is to be carried on

“without gain to its members”, a principlealready enshrined in the Societies Act.

We will address the required transition at ournext AGM. The model bylaws under the newAct are workable for our purposes.

Another change in the new Societies Act thatmay impact FOSP is increased ability to useelectronic methods for notice requirementsand for receiving votes.

Other new provisions seem to lean towardsless responsibility for directors, lowernumbers required for incorporation andgreater flexibility in making decisions. Whilethese provisions may pave the way forsocieties to take decisive action, one couldfeel concern that closely held societies withsmall memberships wield great power to sellcommunity assets without legal censure. As acommunity we need to be vigilant in joiningand being active members in local societies tokeep boards responsive to the needs ofcommunities.

Nyrstar Myra Falls – Closure costing

We have been corresponding with DianeHowe, B.C. Deputy Chief Inspector of Mines,Reclamation and Permitting Ministry ofEnergy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, inorder to obtain information about theestimated closure costs of Nyrstar Myra Fallsmine. In the December 2016 NyrstarAddendum to their Interim Closure andReclamation plan “closure costing” is cited asbeing submitted to MEM as a separateconfidential report. We are not obtaining therequested estimated closure costs andunderstand that we will not until the permit isissued.

Our concern is this. The Auditor General in

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her report of May 2016, found that closurebonds for BC mines were inadequate to a tuneof 1.2 Billion dollars. She found “ that $730million of the total under-funded liability($1.2 billion) is for mines that will requirewater treatment. This is contrary to MEM’spolicy requiring full security on mines thatrequire long-term water treatment.” Myra fallsis in this category and their bond of $78.25million (at the time of the audit), was stated tobe underfunded by 40.51 million.

It is clear that closure methodology is intendednot just to clean-up (we can hardly say putback in original state!) the environment, butalso to save the public costs of clean-up ofenvironmental harm beyond the boundaries ofthe mine. The closure costs are backed by thebond and if underfunded the obviousconclusion is that the closure will be done “ona shoestring” and the likelihood ofenvironmental discharges and damage beyondthe mine area will increase. By the time thepermit is issued, it is too late for publicattention and action.

Lets not create another Britannia Beach, wheretaxpayers paid an estimated 46 million toremediate the site, with an ongoing 3 millionper year for running the continuing watertreatment plant.

Heathens Prevail

BY Jack E. Welsh

Three members of the Heathens' ClimbingClub were each sentenced to a one dollar finefor admitting to an infraction of illegalcamping in a hearing held in Campbell RiverCourthouse on June 29th, last.

The hearing took place before Judicial JusticeGordon via videoconference and it is from the

transcript of that hearing that this story istaken.

While his worship was there, via video, todecide whether or not to accept a pleaarrangement made between B.C. Parks and thethree Heathens facing trial, he was well awarethat the charges arose because of theobjections to the volunteer agreement.Representing the Heathens in the hearingroom was Chris Barner, the Heathens' leader.Mr. Barner's lawyer, W.J. Havelaar, assistedthe Court with a complete, but concise reviewof the history of the dispute between theHeathens and Parks B.C., emphasising,however, that while the volunteer agreementwas the root of the issue, they were not thereto decide who was right or what the agreementshould say.

It was clear that while the charge of illegalcamping was the only charge being dealt with,the real issue was the requirement of B.C.Parks that each and every volunteer workingin Strathcona Park had to sign a formalagreement imposing many conditions uponvolunteers that the Heathens as a group feltwere uncalled for and in some casesconstituted a reduction in their civil rights ascitizens.

One clear example was the requirement of"silence". No volunteer would be allowed tospeak of anything he learned or observedduring his work in the Park. While ChrisBarner tended to joke about this code ofsilence, saying there were so few parksemployees around he and the Heathens had noopportunity to learn anything of the workingsin the park. They were off on their own,minding their own business and there was noneed for silence. But again, there was nocompromise. It was sign the agreement or hit

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the highway.

Justice Gordon had no difficulty with theVolunteer Agreement. He said in his reasonsfor judgement that "...as a lawyerpreviously...I have always railed against whatI call standard form agreements, and if thereis something unique about some situation,and it seems to be a government type ofthing, ..." and with possible changes to astandard form that would still allow bothsides to be reasonably satisfied, the changesshould be made.

His Worship Gordon spoke to the officers ofthe Court, Barner's lawyer, Havelaar, andPauwels, who played prosecutor and whonever did identify himself to the Court,except to announce his name, and show offhis uniform. Justice Gordon told them thathe hoped they would continue to worktoward settling the dispute "...because it didstrike me that, at the moment anyway, theB.C. Parks and the public have lost thebenefit of the good works that the Heathenshave been doing and presumably wouldcontinue to do if they could, to the benefitnot only of the public, but presumably thepurse of the B.C. Parks, because theHeathens are doing some work that is notcoming out of the pocket of the governmentcoffers."

By the time the Court gave his sentencingremarks, he had already heard Pauwels whodespite having reached a total agreement onthe offences to be charged, and stayed andthe amount of the penalty, asked for anopportunity to address the Court. Permissionwas granted and Pauwels proceeded to thankthe Court for patience in listening to twowitnesses one morning and three quarters ofan hour of submissions on a second day.

Pauwels then went on to say that Parks wasnot concerned about the amount of the

penalty in these matters, but certainly wereconcerned about the waste of time prosecuting,and how Parks wanted to prevent it happeningagain. He went on to say that, "(t)heinvestigation of last summer and putting thereports together and our attendance and thecourt's time, that has been very costly in terms ofmanpower and in terms of money. And, ofcourse, all of that is coming out of the taxpayer'spocket. And in terms of our time and B.C.Parks' time, that's the time that we could havespent out there protecting the fish and wildliferesources and managing the resources for the benefitof - of everybody. So, yeah, we really -- we reallydon't want to see that happen again."

Pauwels went on to argue the agreements werenecessary to protect the Parks from liabilityclaims for injuries to volunteers and others, butdidn't separate out those clauses objected to thathave nothing to do with liability for injuries, orother insurable matters. Not knowing, as yet, theopinion of the Court concerning standard boilerplate contracts, Pauwels went on in hissubmissions to say, "these volunteer agreementsare a fact of life. And the one at issue in thiscase is a standard form agreement that is used allover B.C. for all different types of volunteergroups and all types of groups are working underthis agreement."

While Pauwels touched on "...a bit of a tone ofcontempt and -- well, bordering on contemptwith some disrespect for the efforts ofB.C.Parks..", in the dealings Parks had had withMr. Barner, he completed his almostlachrymatory lament by complaining that the"...B.C. Parks staff are sometimes presented asbeing bureaucrats that don't know how to buildtrails or they don't know the business end of ashovel or whatever."

With squared shoulders and taut tummy musclesPauwels delivered his crowning defence of

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Parks' staff saying, "I'm here to tell you thatthe B.C Parks staff in this case, they arehardworking civil servants that are doing thebest they can in a very challenging job;managing multiple parks ... you know, forthe benefit of everyone...".

Despite the diligent efforts of this reporter inscanning every word in the transcript of thiscase, several times, I could not find anyassertion by Pauwels or by any member ofParks' staff that they did know which end ofthe shovel was the working end, nor hasanyone in Parks come forward todemonstrate that they do know how to buildtrails.

But finally, Pauwels ended his speech,saying, "...but we are hopeful that the partiescan put all ... behind them. ... "And B.C.Parks is definitely prepared to let bygonesbe bygones and meet them halfway orwhatever needs to be done to work togetherand prevent this from happening again. So

that is why we have agreed to this -- to thissettlement, if you will. And we are glad to see itend this way on a positive note. "

In checking with Chris Barner to see what if anyprogress had been made in resolving the issue ofthe volunteer agreement, I was not surprised tolearn that no contact has been made by Parkswhatsoever over the past 5 months. Nothing.

I asked Chris about the condition of the climbingarea at Crest Creek, and learned that years of hardwork are being lost and have been lost over thelast year that saw only sporadic work being done,but not sufficient to keep the climbing area as safeas usual, or as attractive.

It's ironic, isn't it, that the well paid, pensiongrowing bureaucrats are creating unsafeconditions in our parks by consenting to workshort handed, under budget, and with not enoughshovels to do the job. And it crosses my mindthat maybe they really don't know which end ofthe shovel works.

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send to: Friends of Strathcona Park, P.O. Box 3404, Courtenay, B.C. V9N 5N5