Advocacy coalition rolls into Kamloops to speak with Anti-Ajax groups

KAMLOOPS – Advocacy group Kairos is coming to town to meet with the Kamloops Area Preservation Association and its “Stop Ajax Mine” affiliates.

Through an initiative called the Rolling Justice Bus, the group is conducting an eight day tour of British Columbia focusing on environmental and aboriginal justice issues. Kairos will be speaking with advocates in each of its stops, collecting information, compiling video and responding via social media along the way.

Roughly 20 people from social justice organizations and churches will be riding the bus, including members of Amnesty International, the Catholic Church of Canada, the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the United Church of Canada.

Susan Grace Draper, the Kairos B.C. Coordinator, says the proposed Ajax mine is a contentious issue in Kamloops. The goal of the visit is to find a “new way of having the conversation that isn't so polarizing.”

The bus arrives at the Knutsford Community Centre at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, August 25. The bus then travels toward Edith Lake for a tour of the proposed mine and to discuss the impact it will have in the surrounding area including grasslands, ranches and the city itself.

The Kamloops Area Preservation Association has led an online anti-Ajax campaign. The group raised over $25,000 to pay for an independent review of Ajax's enviromental application, set to be submitted late summer or early fall.

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