May is here. Does that mean spring is here too? Or, like April, will May be confused?
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I thought I knew a fair bit about Greenpeace, but Friday’s film club offering How to Change the World proved me wrong. The Greenpeace story told from the inside was of course a bit different than the outside-looking-in version. In 1971, the original Greenpeacers set out in the Phyllis Kormak to protest a U.S. atomic bomb test in Alaska. They didn’t stop the test, but they did start a global movement that is still going strong. A march by local school students (Williams Lake’s first protest event?) marked the occasion here. It startled the adult community.
Rod Marining, a founder of Greenpeace and a member of the Phyllis Kormak crew, was the special guest Friday evening. He has never stopped being an activist for both Green and Peace.
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Site C protesters are travelling with a large white elephant, a symbol of the likely future of the dam.
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I voted on Saturday along with a goodly number of early birders. I haven’t seen Sunday’s stats, but 1,073 voters turned up at Cariboo Chilcotin advance poll. Is that a record?
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Lots of fuss over defence minister Harjit Sajjan’s having overstated his military role in Afghanistan. He has stellar war record — why did he embroider it? Did he just jump on the wagon with so many of today’s politicians who, to quote Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer, “have a loose relationship with the facts.” It seems to be the popular thing to do. At least he apologized. Most haven’t. The opposition has pounced on it, of course, demanding his resignation, maybe rightly so, but the real issue is why the Trudeau government is taking so long to deliver its promises.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.