your voice at the Enbrige hearings

[Shea Sinnott]

Hey all,

As I said last week, I'm giving an oral statement at the Enbrige / Northern Gateway Hearing next Thursday the 31st. I'm trying to crowdsource my presentation – mainly because I'd like to bring more voices in with me and break the mould of this stupid, closed process – and so would love to hear from you. Please send me your words, I'd really appreciate the support! Questions for you (first one is more for me):

Where were you born/did you grow up? Do you consider BC to be your home? Do you feel any particular connection to the coast or to the Pacific Northwest more broadly?   

Why do you oppose the Enbrige pipeline project?*

One word you'd use to describe the pipeline project?

Feel free to answer in line, or not answer these questions at all. Write as much or as little as you like...or we can talk in person on Monday and I'll be your tape recorder.

Please send me your thoughts, preferably before end of day Sunday. Again, I'd really appreciate your support in this NUppers :)

Thank you,  

- Shea

Shea Sinnott

@sheasinnott | 604-785-0791 

*I'm assuming you oppose the project, but if you don't, I still want to hear from you! 

[Scott Baker]

Shea - this is great.  Answers inline.  I wrote this pretty stream of consciousness. Pull some or none of it as it fits.

Thanks for reppin' us dude!

On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 10:49 PM, Shea Sinnott <sheas...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey all,

As I said last week, I'm giving an oral statement at the Enbrige / Northern Gateway Hearing next Thursday the 31st. I'm trying to crowdsource my presentation – mainly because I'd like to bring more voices in with me and break the mould of this stupid, closed process – and so would love to hear from you. Please send me your words, I'd really appreciate the support! Questions for you (first one is more for me):

Where were you born/did you grow up?

Victoria, BC. Steps from the beach. 

 

Do you consider BC to be your home?

Very much.

Do you feel any particular connection to the coast or to the Pacific Northwest more broadly?

It is challenging to express in a stuffy hotel conference room. I spent every summer on the water, sailing with my parents up and down the inside passage.  I have so much nostalgia and curiosity tied up on these coasts, and my father, who worked his entire life for the provincial government working for Parks and then various resource management departments, imbued a strong appreciation for not only the intrinsic value of these ecosystems, but also the complicated nuances of there relationship with our society and economy. Perhaps my most stark realization about the inherent importance of this area to me was the first time i visited Nootka Island.  I hadn't been anywhere that remote on Vancouver Island before, hiking along those beautiful amphitheatre beaches really humbled me. I had an overwhelming sense that I was a visitor, not a dominant species, the way I often felt sitting on the beach in victoria with the city haze above, and the massive steel tankers passing by a few kilometers offshore.  I felt blessed to be there, and it earned a sort of respect that is truly unique.  I remember hearing stories of Ray, the patriarch of the last Nuu-chah-nulth family that lives in Yuquot, after the rest of the village left to work, and then be laid off at the now mostly decommissioned the Gold River mill. Ray told us stories of the whales they used to harpoon for the white folks, the hundreds of beasts that were brought onto the beach, rendered for fat, then left to rot. How it decimated the population in order to light up London's lamps.  

  

Why do you oppose the Enbrige pipeline project?*

Ray's story made me quite sad, and that sadness turns to fear as I consider its connections to the dilemma we currently face as we ponder the Northern Gateway. The story is the same, but the stakes are so much higher.  We can't afford a spill of bitumen. We can't afford to continue hitching our economy to the boom/bust cycle of resource extractiong and primary exports. We can't afford to put that carbon in the atmosphere, and we can't keep fuelling this economic development that is providing the world such marginal gains in utility, while putting the future of our children, and the current reality of the global south in such peril. I think it is shortsighted, greedy, and arrogant. I can't in good conscience stand by and let you fuck it up for the rest of us.  

One word you'd use to describe the pipeline project?

foolhardy. 

Feel free to answer in line, or not answer these questions at all. Write as much or as little as you like...or we can talk in person on Monday and I'll be your tape recorder.

Please send me your thoughts, preferably before end of day Sunday. Again, I'd really appreciate your support in this NUppers :)

Thank you,  

- Shea

Shea Sinnott

@sheasinnott | 604-785-0791 

*I'm assuming you oppose the project, but if you don't, I still want to hear from you!

Ha ha ha. 

 

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Scott Baker 

c. 604.440.0498

[Shea Sinnott]

A wee reminder to send me your thoughts! I've only heard from a few of you and would love to bring as many voices in with me as possible on Thursday. Feel free to send me something, I'm presenting Thursday afternoon so as late as Thursday morning will do. Thank you :)

xx! 

- Shea

Shea Sinnott

@sheasinnott | 604-785-0791 

On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 10:49 PM, Shea Sinnott <sheas...@gmail.com> wrote: