Re: Travel for hunting/fishing now non-essential
Originally Posted by
andrew5
A couple of thoughts off the top of my head:
1. the subtext seems to be that there was no way in hell the BCWF had any leverage or negotiation power against the government on this. This seems to be another example of who resident hunters don't have a unified voice or strong position with our elected officials. Common sense says that self sufficient hunting within your home bubble (in a rec site, for example), poses zero risk of spreading Covid. I would have liked a common sense compromise to have prevailed, but I get the impression that there was never going to be a compromise.
To be completely honest it took us by a bit if surprise. We had discussed addressing the disconnect between getting the government to declare hunting and fishing essential, and their subsequent flip flop to "travel for hunting renders it recreational", but that was right before the latest restrictions.
We had thought we were going in the right direction and that this would not be an issue by the fall. The AGM and planning for it also took up some bandwidth.
In short, Dr. Bonnie Henry and Minister Adrian Dix never gave us a heads up on the most recent change and we were surprised by it.
BCWF will be addressing this. Tied into that is the idea that non-Indigenous hunting is merely "recreational" and the use of the term "recreational hunter" or "recreational angler". We passed a resolution at the AGM last weekend for BCWF to stop using that language and to try to get it out of the public conversation.
"Recreational" is increasingly weaponized in order to dismiss the concerns of stakeholders and we need to get rid of it.
Last edited by Rob Chipman; 04-30-2021 at 01:13 PM.
Rob Chipman
"The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders" - Ed Abbey
"Grown men do not need leaders" - also Ed Abbey
