March 29, 2017

Ms. Madeline Maley
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister
Integrated Resource Operations Division
Room 248, Parliament Buildings
Victoria BC
V8V 1X4

By Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dear Ms. Maley,

Thank you for your email of March 20, 2017 with reference no. 227925.

I am writing to advise you that my organization, Garibaldi Park 2020, has written to Honourable Suzanne Anton in her capacity as Attorney General of British Columbia on the matter of the public nuisance created by Whistler Blackcomb. It is our position that under the Canadian common law doctrine of dedication and acceptance, public rights-of-way created in the manner I have described in my earlier correspondence with Mr. Norman Lee, Executive Director, Mountain Resorts Branch result in the public at large acquiring legally enforceable rights to use and enjoy the highways. Section 23 of British Columbia's Land Title Act defines a highway to include "a public street, path, walkway, trail, lane, bridge, road, thoroughfare and any other public way." We rely for our understanding of the doctrine on an article entitled Highways, Parks and the Public Trust Doctrine, by Andrew Gage of West Coast Environmental Law in the Journal of Environmental Law and Practice, October 2007 published by Thomson Canada Limited.

To abate the public nuisance created by Whistler Blackcomb resort, we respectfully requested Madame Attorney General,

1. Enjoin Whistler Blackcomb to remove the gates on both public roads up Fitzsimmons Creek and to restore and maintain the public right-of-way and parking lot on the south side of Fitzsimmons Creek.
2. Compel Mountain Resorts Branch to honour its own policy to act in the public interest and follow through with its obligation to facilitate private vehicle access up Fitzsimmons Creek roads as required by Canadian common law and indeed, the explicit dedication of the public access road 20 meters in width and park access right-of-way dating to 1982.
3. Furthermore, we note that the resort must fully comply with its legal obligations before it can proceed with further mountain development phases or its so-called $345 million Renaissance project. We have respectfully requested Madame Attorney General to place an injunction on further mountain development until the public nuisance is fully abated.

Had the Singing Pass Working Group been willing at the round table discussion last April 26th to work in good faith with the Federation of Mountain Clubs of B.C. (FMCBC) and Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) to resolve the issue at hand our request of Madame Attorney General would in all likelihood have not been necessary. At that time, Ms. Tori Meeks, Acting Senior Manager, Major Projects, Mountain Resorts Branch stated that the stakeholders, which did not include the FMCBC, ACC nor any other public interest group, had unilaterally provided only two options for the FMCBC or Alpine Club of Canada to respond to. Neither option was acceptable to either group as they did not include what the public is legally entitled to, namely private vehicle access to the park boundary as asserted in Canadian common law. Ms. Meeks also stated that neither group, the FMCBC nor ACC, was permitted to bring up the option of private vehicle access along the public roads.

It is my understanding there is a proposal being developed by one of the public interest groups our organization works with that would see a paved or gravel public road extending up the north side of Fitzsimmons Creek to a parking facility adjacent the Innergex head pond. A 200 car or larger parking lot would be constructed, a new bridge across Fitzsimmons Creek and improvement of the overgrown access road to connect with the road on the south side of the creek. The road on the south side would have further improvement to stabilize the landslip and provide vehicular access. The Singing Pass Working Group is well aware that this type of proposal will satisfy the public interest. It is time the working group, your ministry and Whistler Blackcomb find constructive and collaborative solutions along the lines of this forthcoming proposal.

Sincerely,

[name withheld], co-founder, Garibaldi Park 2020

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