Editor:
I’m uplifted to see Tk’emlups te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir taking no guff from the bogus professional protestors harassing staff at the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion worksite on Tk’emlups turf (‘Tk’emlups First Nation says it does not support protests against Trans Mountain pipeline project,’ Oct. 19).
Never mind that when I was in short pants, we were celebrating the then-new pipeline as an engineering marvel and means of powering our vehicles with our own petrol products — which it’s still doing without exploding every week.
Who told the virtue-signalling protesters they were entitled to speak for anybody? If they truly believe the Tk’emlups band council, and other First Nations band councils that support the project, have been “bought off,” why aren’t they at the courthouse or nearest RCMP detachment, asking that charges be laid?
Doing so might force the protesters to divulge who is bankrolling them.
My impression is that Casimir is one of the last people on Earth with whom one would want to tangle.
The Tk’emlups First Nation has been a shrewd and successful business concern in the Thompson Valley for as long as I can remember.
The now-prestigious Thompson Rivers University began its existence on Tk’emlups’ unceded land as Cariboo College. World-class businesses have taken flight from the band’s Mount Paul Industrial Park.
Tk’emlups is an essential component of the richness of the Thompson Valley and a troupe of travelling protesters presumes to speak for the band?
I want to thank Casimir for putting the lie to them. And thanks to Kamloops This Week for telling it straight up, no ice.
That took guts.
Guy Plecash
Calgary
(NorKam secondary grad of 1971)
