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2nd December 2018
EDITOR
Continued from Part one...

There have been projects set up for a number of years...yet here we still sit with logging going on in our drinking watersheds unabated...destroying the environment for everything that live in these areas as well as destroying the water sources themselves. Your letter specifically deals with Crown Lands...and although this is an issue for us as well, you and all other Ministries involved knew we were there on behalf of Vancouver Island. You also know that most if not all of our watersheds on the Island from Victoria North and West are on private lands.. so while Crown land legislation is a problem, the Private Land legislation is an even larger problem..which brings us to our next point;

You can have the very best Water Sustainability Act in the world......BUT...as long as the Forestry Acts...all of them....and the Mining Act remain as they are, they all supersede any efforts a Water Act may want to cover. Is this understood by all involved?
The only place you have addressed the Forestry issues is in the Professional Reliance section of your letter and we are sorry to say, this is not good enough. The Forestry Acts...again all of them, including and most specifically the Private Managed Forest Act must be amended to give WATER the precedence it must have. We are asking that you and your peers relook at this piece please and provide some kind of timeline for response. WATER IS LIFE for everything on this earth and if not given a higher precedent in your work, we as humans are surely doomed. You have Governors and mayors from the USA writing to this government to stop the logging and yet..it continues in our province unabated. Why is there no response to our Forest Acts requests?

A very major issue for our group is the fact that industrial activity of any kind is even allowed within our drinking watersheds! Your section in your letter on Mining, clearly states our worst fears..yet no remedies are provided. AMEND THE ACT so that mining shall not occur in our drinking watersheds! THIS is the only solution in our view.

On the Professional Reliance matter.......the changes that have been recommended are long overdue! When will the recommendations be implemented?

Engaging Indigenous Nations - When will the framework you refer to in your letter come into fruitation? Where is the testing on this framework being conducted?

We have attempted to cover the major questions your letter has raised for us. Our concerns, like the logging, go unabated and really do require more answers from all of you who have been sent this e-mail.Our questions, for the most part, have been bolded for your convenience in response.
Hopefully we will not have to wait another five months for response.

I have bcc’d others and other groups with this letter.

Thank you once again, for your response, although it is not what we require at this critical point for our environment and our drinking water watersheds.

Sincerely,
June Ross
Chair- Vancouver Island Water Watch Coalition and on behalf of all member groups
Editor – www.vancouverislandwaterwatchcoalition.ca


3.
Reference: 333566i

October 19, 2018

June Ross, Chair
Vancouver Island Water Watch Coalition
Email: jross12telus.net

Dear Ms. Ross:

Thank you for your email of September 27, 2018, regarding proposed amendments to regulations for the protection of drinking water watersheds.

This response is to let you know your correspondence has been received at our office and to assure you that we intend to provide you with a further response to your enquiry as soon as possible. Your enquiry also falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. Staff from both ministries will need to review and consult on the issues you have raised, which may result in a delay.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,
Office of the Minister
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy