http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2011/12/would-you-join-a-facebook-style-occupy-social-network.html

Occupy activists are developing their own social network, where friends would be comrades and members might request solidarity.

“I don’t want to say we’re making our own Facebook, but we’re making our own Facebook,” said Ed Knutson, a web and mobile app developer, in a remark carried widely by media.

Knutson is part of a team of tech-savy activists who are building the new social network. Although the site is still in its early stages, activists are drawing up familiar features, such as status updates, and have even pitched names for the network, such as Global Square.

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I read with interest the article in the Comox Valley Echo which announced funding of $323,028.00 for an underground mining program at North Island College.  This is a very strong message that Christy Clark’s government has every intention of approving the Raven Mine, despite telling the public that the Environmental Assessment Process is fair. Ultimately, the people who make the decisions get their orders from the politicians.  Add this to the other evidence we have seen and heard:

Don McRae’s booming silence about the mine, and total lack of support for the thousands of  Comox Valley citizens who are fiercely opposed to the project.
The Environmental Assessment Office has only ever turned down one project, and most projects are approved with NO followup by enforcement staff

Jim O’Rourke, chairman and director of Compliance Energy was given the Order of BC by Christy Clark’s government.

Peter Kent, the Federal Minister of Environment protects The Strait of Georgia from the southern end of Gabriola Island south from mining and gas and oil, but not this area
Christy Clark’s open disdain for people fighting to protect the environment
A refusal by the federal Canadian Environmental Assessment Office to push this project to a joint federal provincial review panel with public hearings, and a  recent gutting of the Federal Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency budget by 40%

A refusal by the Environmental Assessment Office to demand a thorough aquifer study to ensure that the mine does not affect groundwater, and runoff into Baynes Sound
An Environmental Assessment process that has done nothing to ensure that people understand the potential impacts, with no details supplied by Compliance about the project.  The latest Public Comment process was so convoluted and confusing, even people with Master’s Degrees had difficulty trying to respond. Many people gave up in frustration
The BC  government support of coalbed methane extraction in British Columbia, including Vancouver Island

The proposed Raven Coal Mine is the largest threat to the environment that the Comox Valley has ever faced.  Compliance Energy Corporation holds mineral and gas rights to 77,000 acres from Fanny Bay to Campbell River.  If the Raven Mine is approved, then the Bear and Anderson mines which are open pit mines in Cumberland and at the base of Mount Washington, will surely follow without any public consultation.

Compliance Energy Corporation states in its publication to shareholders that they have rights to coalbed methane on Vancouver Island.  Coalbed methane extraction means gas fracking, which means a huge potential threat to our drinking water.  If the Raven mine is permitted, it will poison the environment of this Valley that we hold so dear.  Only a massive public pushback by thousands s to protest this egregious violation of our rights to live in a healthy environment will stop this .

I have spoken to many people about the Raven Mine, and sadly I hear them say things like, “Oh, that is in Fanny Bay, it doesn’t affect me” or “The environmentalists would never let that happen”  Approval of the Raven Mine would affect everyone in the Comox Valley, and people in Port Alberni, as well as the hundreds of thousands of people driving Highway 4 headed to Cathedral Grove and the west coast.

British Columbians have always stood for the environment. How did we get to where we are today with a premier who says our coast belongs to all of Canada, and has no regard for the citizens who love this province and want to preserve something for our children?  Surely, we can find an economic balance without destroying our children’s future.

Lynne Wheeler
Fanny Bay, B.C.