A Spallumcheen group promoting water quality questions why it’s considered a threat.
The Ministry of Environment made the RCMP aware of a public meeting April 14 about high nitrate levels in the Hullcar aquifer.
Al Price, with the Save Hullcar Aquifer Team, says the ministry was concerned the meeting might get heated.
“As those who attended will attest, voices were raised on occasion as the ministries obfuscated and deflected our concerns, but questions were asked with respect,” he said in an e-mail.
“Our MLA, Greg Kyllo, asked Environment Minister Mary Polak and Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick about this, and Polak said her ministry has had some threats from other areas of the province in the last while, so alerting the RCMP has become standard operating procedure.”
RCMP officers did not show up at the meeting but contacted Price for an update on the session.
“A most polite officer from Enderby agreed that it wasn’t likely a crowd of mainly seniors would get out of hand, and they signed off,” he said.
“There’s no sense making a big deal of it, but it seems a real waste of the RCMP’s valuable time, even just filling out a report.”
The Ministry of Environment defends its actions.
“Out of an abundance of caution, staff alerted RCMP prior to the community meeting to advise a meeting would be occurring April 14 regarding a contentious issue in the community,” the ministry states.
“This is a standard, precautionary measure government takes.”
