iN PHOTOS: Residents wear their support and opposition at Ajax town hall meeting
KAMLOOPS – The warning sign at the entrance of the conference room was clear: no signs or placards allowed, but that didn't stop creative residents from literally wearing their support on their sleeves at last night's town hall meeting on the proposed Ajax mine.
A sea of neon green shirts donned by Ajax supporters dominated the crowd of about 500 residents. Not to be outdone, anti-Ajax folks wore blue shirts to represent a code blue hospital emergency. Peppered in the mix were a few creative homemade shirts.
SLR Consulting presented their assessment of KGHM's Ajax mine application at the meeting last night, June 19, at the Coast Hotel and Conference Centre. At the end of the presentation, people were given a chance to ask the consulting company about the assessment process.
Several residents took that as an opportunity to argue a stance or ask questions about other mining situations that were not in the scope of the presentation.
Deputy mayor Arjun Singh was strict and stopped several people who were not asking clear questions and just arguing a point. There was no applause, jeering, or any audience response allowed and Singh threatened to cut the question period short after one bout of applause.
Chris Becker was wearing a code blue shirt.
"It means we are concerned about the health of the people of Kamloops. We want the best for people who live here now," he says.
For him, there are still looming questions left from the last town hall meeting.
"They've resolved some of the points and uncertainties from last time. But so far it's very much the same as the last one," Becker says.
The presentations were long and at times heavily filled with terminology. The answers during the question period followed the same pattern and people started filtering out slowly around 8 p.m.
However, Kamloops resident Goetz Kopf didn't take issue with the content or structure of the meeting.
"It's pretty straightforward to me and English is my second language," Kopf says.
Kopf was wearing a neon Ajax support shirt.
"What I don't understand is, regardless of any other impacts, mining was a foundation in terms of industry in Kamloops. It was good enough to build Kamloops, now all of a sudden it isn't good enough?"
Members of Kamloops city council will have their chance to ask SLR Consulting about the assessment process at a special council meeting on June 22 at 9 a.m. in council chambers. The meeting is open to the public but due to the limited seating, Singh suggested that anyone interested in the meeting watch via online live stream on the City's website.
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