Caribou Recovery Program Has Been a Controversial Issue for Months

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LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Arlilof BRITISH COLUMBIA

March 28, 2019 Hon. Doug Donaldson Minister of Forest, Lands, Natural Resource Operations, & Rural Development RM 248, Parliament Buildings Dan Davies, MLA Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 Peace River North Dear Minister, The Caribou Recovery Program has been a controversial issue for months. Time and time again the communities in the North Peace have been asking for engagement, only to be let down with continued cancelled meetings. We have now been informed that there will be Caribou Engagement sessions starting on April 1, 2019. Five days' notice for such an important and controversial subject hardly seems adequate. Why were the people of the North Peace not notified earlier about these meetings?

The Caribou Recovery Program affects a large number of our community members and industry. Everyone wants a chance to be heard and deserves the time and consideration to have their thoughts and ideas taken into consideration. By only allowing feedback on both agreements between March 21 and April 26, 2019 seriously limits the amount of responses that will be able to come in due to the lack of notice and short time frame. There should be a minimum of 60 days for people to be able to express their thoughts on the program. Many people in this area are gone working for weeks at a time, only returning home for a small portion. The people up here do not work 9-5 Monday to Friday. We have people out in the oil patch and for the farmers it is calving season; their voices matter too.

I implore you to increase the engagement process to 60 days to allow everyone a chance to have their voices heard. I would also strongly encourage you to do 2 separate engagement sessions during this time for those who did not get enough notice to be able to attend the ones starting next week.

I am sure we can work together to make sure that this process is a fair and properly organized engagement.

Sincerely,

Dan Davies, MLA Peace River North

Peace River North Constituency Office Legislative Office 10104 100 St. Room 201 Parliament Buildings Fort St. John BC V1J 3Y7 Victoria BC V8V 1X4 T 250-263-0101 F 250-263-0104 [email protected] April 11, 2019 CA-3

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY mit of BRITISH COLUMBIA CC: (By email)

Bob Zimmer, MP Mike Bernier, MLA John Rustad, MLA Donna Barnett, MLA Dan Davies, MLA Peace River Regional District Peace River North NE Stakeholders (Ackerman/Little) Concerned Citizens for Caribou