West Kootenay EcoSociety takes Jumbo Wild fight into the courts
By Bruce Fuhr
It’s a huge undertaking, but watching the provincial government fast forward the incorporation of the Jumbo Ski Hill expansion as a mountain resort municipality is something the West Kootenay EcoSociety felt it could not in good conscience stand by and let happen.
Monday, at the Nelson Courthouse, West Kootenay EcoSociety Executive Director David Reid and lawyer Judah Harrison submitted application for a Judicial Review to challenge Jumbo Glacier Mountain Resort Municipality near Invermere.
“We deliberated very hard whether to file this decision and for our board of directors and advisors it came down to we simply couldn’t let this perversion of democracy go unchallenged,” Reid told reporters outside the Nelson Courthouse.
For 20-plus years environmental organizations like the West Kootenay EcoSociety have been leading the charge to keep Jumbo Wild.
In November 2012, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development Bill Bennett brought the project closer to a reality with the announcement that Cabinet approved the incorporation of Jumbo as a mountain resort municipality.
Bennett then appointed a municipal council — Greg Deck, Nancy Hugunin and Steve Ostrander — for a term ending Nov. 30, 2014, and an interim corporate officer — Phil Taylor — to serve until the first council meeting, which just happens to be Tuesday in Radium.
The municipal approval came on the heels of the Jumbo Glacier Resort’s Master Development Agreement was approved in March 2012.
“It’s happened before where the province has created a municipality where no one lived but because no one challenged it that (decision) stood,” Reid explained.
“So we said we’re not going to be the one that lets this roll by especially for a proposal we feel so strongly about.
“So we said even though there are some risks to our society and this is a huge investment of time and energy the risk is well worth it for the benefit for the clear stand of democracy and for our constitution.”
Monday’s application sets in motion a challenge that could quite possibly bankrupt the West Kootenay EcoSociety.
The local organization knows this is a David versus Goliath challenge, what the EcoSociety facing the government’s high-priced lawyers and advisors.
“Our risk is much greater than theirs but nevertheless the benefit of taking a stand on this issue far out weighed the risk,” Reid said.
“This is an opportunity for us, the society and our members and supporters to take specific legal action to try to put a roadblock in front of this project instead of reacting to what the province is doing.”
The application filing Monday starts that process.
The government has 21 days to respond to the application.
Other parties wanting to intervene must do so within a month.
Harrison said the government might apply to have some evidence stuck from the case for various reasons.
Written arguments follow over a two month period before the parties meet in front of a judge in about four to five months — hopefully in Nelson, said Harrison.
“We look for support from our community to basically pay the legal fees of moving this project forward and are also confident that our huge Jumbo Wild community will have our backs on this issue to make sure that we can continue to take a stand on behalf of all of us,” said Reid.
“We’re taking action to say this is the right thing to reverse this decision and get rid of the so-called municipality,” he adds.
Jumbo has been on the books for more than 20 years to create a Whistler-style ski resort and village with hotels, about 55 kilometres from the town of Invermere.
Former NDP premier Mike Harcourt first endorsed the original concept in the early 1990s.
The resort location is in the Purcell Mountains on the site of an old sawmill.
The resort plan calls for 6300 beds including hotels and private residences; more than 20 ski lifts, with over 2500 visitors per day in the winter.
The proposed land tenure includes approximately 6500 hectares and sits in the middle of area populated with grizzly bears and other wildlife.
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