AN OPEN LETTER TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

Your Majesty,

I am writing to you, with all due respect, as a grandmother and Canadian citizen who has been concerned about the terrible deforestation of my province, British Columbian, for many years. In the past our provincial governments heave done little to curtail this rapid destruction of our public forests and watersheds, but never before have we citizens been faced with the refusal of our pronvicical government to sit in the legislature at all. Premier Gordon Campbell has arbitrarily canceled the fall sitting of our people's legislature.

We citizens pay for our provincial government. We pay our politician's salaries, including those of the premier, and for the operation and upkeep of the parliment buildings, but if the legislature does not sit to hear the people's concerns then we, in effect, have no government. Gordon Campbell has canceled the government of British Columbia at his disposal. And this lack of provincial government comes at a time when we have faced, and are still facing, weather related crises due to climate change that has in part been exacerbated by the rapid deforestation in Canada, particularly in Brisish ncolumbia. As the offices of Your Majesty, that is, your representatives here in Canada play the most important role of facilitating the smooth transition of Prime Ministers and offices of state at election time so that there is no time in Canada when government is not in place, would you please, as titular head of Canada, intervene in this situation in British Columbia and assume the reins of provincial government until an electin can be called to restore our provincial government? I, along with countless others, would be most grateful.
Sincerely yours,
Betty Krawczyk
Phone: 604-255-4427

THE RAZOR'S EDGE

The title of this classic book hovered around the edges of my mind as my daughter lay in a hospital bed in Victoria last week fighting for her life. On a rainy morning on her way to Port Alberni from her home on the West Coast she was struck by a car as it hydroplaned across the middle line. Two men died in the accident but my daughter lives and will be restored to us. My daughter and one of the men who died are from the same island community. Both are well known for their work in the community. The community member who died was buried yesterday and at his funeral I felt an overwhelming rush of love and appreciaton for the connections of community, the connections that bind us together in life and in death.

Nobody understands, really, the meaning of The Razor's Edge, why some live and some die. But I am sure of one thing...it is in community that we all live and move and have our beings and it is in communities that we must take our stands against injustice, against the forces that would destroy the very foundations of life. The concept that it is only the individual who counts most in the scheme of things and that one's own individual advancement is all that matters is a lie. Without our communities of family, friends, co-workers and neighbours who are with us on the path of life and and death and evolution that we experience on this earth we are nothing.

I believe that the love of community is hard wired into brains. And it is strong. Strong enough to sustain us through our environmental struggles, the court systems, and the political indifference. And we WILL overcome because there is nothing to fear. Betty Krawczyk