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Mountain Resorts Branch dictates terms of Singing Pass public access

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April 5, 2016

Mountain Resorts Branch dictates terms of Singing Pass public access to the 2020 team

Summary of comments made by MRB to the organization Garibaldi Park 2020.

  • The Whistler master plan of 2013 (phase 15, 16, 17 expansion) has not been approved by Mountain Resorts Branch. They expect it will be in the coming months.
  • MRB will be presenting two options to the FMCBC and ACC Whistler at an April meeting neither of which is what is being asked for - restoration of public vehicular access to the park boundary.
  • MRB dismissed the provisions in the 1982 Whistler MDA by stating that the obligation to restore the public vehicular access to the Singing Pass trailhead can simply be written away by a subsequent MDA or master plan.
  • We asked whether MRB was sure of the legality of that statement. The reply was that the lawyers have been all over it.
  • MRB said the tenure holders and other stakeholders had the momentum now and were ready to solve the access problem. The only problem is that the stakeholders that really matter weren't there - the FMCBC and ACC Whistler. The tenure and stakeholders that MRB referred to are organizations such as Whistler-Blackcomb, Whistler village, Innergex, First Nations, BC Parks etc.
  • MRB tossed out a figure that the road upgrade to allow public vehicle access to the park boundary might cost around $150,000. It may just be hyperbole.

2020 said there should be third option. Whistler-Blackcomb should pay the $150,000 to upgrade the road not the provincial government. We said that Mountain Resorts Branch should withhold approval of the W-B master plan (phases 15, 16, 17) until they agree to do so. This is by way of ensuring W-B complies with its legal obligations under the 1982 MDA.

It is a novel presumption that an obligation can somehow be simply written away by a subsequent MDA. Perhaps we're wrong. The colonialists tried to do that with First Nations. Your land is now our land. Look where that got us. It is our strongly held belief that in our legal system, the 1982 MDA is a contractual agreement. It enshrines the obligation to maintain public vehicular access to the Singing Pass trailhead at the park boundary. Perhaps a court case is required clear up the interpretation.

 

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