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Hi there,
This week, I was on Lewis Street to witness the start of North Cowichan’s effort to dismantle the encampment there and relocate around 75 residents to three different sites throughout the municipality.
I spoke with legal observers from the Cowichan Community Care Network, who told me they were concerned that the relocation will increase residents’ risk of violence and overdose, and that the new sites lacked adequate services or safe conditions.
You can read more about what happened on that day — and what the decampment means for residents who have nowhere else to go — here.
I was also at a packed special North Cowichan Council meeting. I mentioned it early this week in Tuesday’s Council Corner, but in case you missed it, council was voting on a staff report outlining three recommendations for resuming harvesting in the municipal forest reserve — something critics warned could jeopardise years of work with the Quw'utsun Nation on a forest co-management framework.
It was one of the most exciting council meetings I’ve attended in a long time, complete with a last-minute surprise motion and some impassioned speeches by councillors.
In the end, council voted unanimously to adopt recommendation one of the report, which stated the municipality reaffirm its commitment to the co-management framework and continue developing it with Quw'utsun Nation prior to reconsidering forest harvesting as a strategic priority.
For now, you can check out this press release from North Cowichan for more details, and keep an eye out for our reporting on this next week.
Have a great weekend!
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