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Thread: Two New Announcements

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Two New Announcements

    Two announcements from BCWF at the same time.

    The first is the 2021 AGM and a call for nominations. Clubs need to register to vote and volunteers who want to work on the BCWF Board need to submit their intentions.

    The hunting community is evolving as we run into more and more challenges. The challenges vary from regular conservation challenges through hunting rights, access, firearms and other things I'm forgetting. So far no single organization can address every issue effectively. Different organizations have different strengths and weaknesses. Thankfully, you can multi-task and be active and support more than one organization.

    Some people love BCWF and some people hate BCWF. That's fine and good. One strength BCWF has is a large membership, a good reputation with government and the ability to exert some influence.

    BCWF is a conservation organization made up, in the majority of hunters and anglers, meaning we are predominantly hunting and angling conservationists. BCWF's aim is to protect, enhance and promote the wise use of our environment on behalf of all British Columbians. BCWF advocates for hunters, anglers, outdoor recreationalists, firearms owners and sport shooters. We strive to ensure the long term sound management of BC's fish, wildlife and outdoor recreational resources in the best interests of present and future generations.

    If you would like to get more involved with the BCWF, join us and attend the AGM.

    If you are a member already, make sure you register, make sure your club is registered, and get ready to vote and volunteer. Details are below and anyone can contact me anytime through the forum or at rob@robchipman.net or by telephone at 604-230-4225.

    ********************************************

    The 65th Annual General Meeting will be held virtually via Convene Virtual AGM software, on April 24 & 25 between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. All usual AGM protocol will be followed. Register below – and check back frequently for updates!
    Guiding Documents

    Please click on the links below to be referred to the guiding documents:



    **************************************************

    The second issues is a recent letter from BCWF Firearms Committee champs Doug Bancroft and Gary Mauser. It was not originally addressed to the wider audience, but it's alright to be shared:

    Hello BCWF leaders,
    As you are no doubt aware, governments at all levels are attempting to fix the problem of increasing gang gun violence. Unfortunately, they all seem to be going about this mission using the same ineffective approach of further regulating lawful firearms owners.
    The province introduced Bill-4, the Firearm Violence Prevention Act, into the B.C. Legislature on March 3, 2021. Bill-4 consists of unnecessary restrictions that either duplicate the existing Criminal Code or impose additional and confusing provincial offences with no likelihood of reducing violent crime. Bill-4 will create additional administrative burdens and costs, directly and immediately harm many lawful citizens, and negatively impact Public Safety and Security. Many of the small and mediums size ranges in B.C. that also are used for training Law Enforcement Officers will likely have to close.
    BCWF President Bill Bosch sent an official request to Premier John Horgan to table the legislation. Bosch emphasized, "the government has failed to consult with B.C. First Nations and key stakeholders such as the BCWF or any lawful and responsible firearms organizations this Bill would directly and adversely impact."

    However, the Bill was being rushed through Third Reading and Royal Assent, with no amendments in Committee.

    Your committee chairs have met, and will continue to meet with staff of the B.C Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General and assertively following up with Minister Farnworth and opposition critics. We are insisting that government provide a meaningful opportunity for the BCWF to consult in the regulations that will “operationalise” this legislation.




    How can you help?
    Meet with your MLA, MP and Mayor and Council to talk to them about your concerns. We have prepared background materials that address federal legislation (Bill C-21), including municipal bylaw-driven gun bans, and now, the new provincial Bill-4.
    Ask your members to send letters in opposition to these Bills, using our handy and customizable letter-writing templates. Find all these materials on our campaign page here. To assist in your government advocacy, Jesse Zeman has prepared best practices videos to assist even the shyest member in speaking to government officials. Find the information here.
    Keep in touch; let us know how your meetings go, and if there are any questions raised that the materials we have created have not addressed.
    It's easy to be cynical, and it's harder to stand up for what you believe. We are speaking up for you, and we ask that you take whatever effort you can to oppose legislation that will directly impact all our shooting ranges.
    Thank you, and please don't hesitate to reach out to us for more information and to let us know how your efforts went.
    Sincerely,
    Douglas Bancroft, Chair, BCWF Recreational Sports Shooting Committee
    Gary Mauser, Chair, BCWF Firearms Committee
    Rob Chipman
    "The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders" - Ed Abbey
    "Grown men do not need leaders" - also Ed Abbey

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  3. #2
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    Re: Two New Announcements

    Bump.......................

  4. #3
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    Re: Two New Announcements

    Is it just me, or was the BCWF late to the dance?

  5. #4
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    Re: Two New Announcements

    Late to which dance? If you expand I'll try to answer.
    Rob Chipman
    "The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders" - Ed Abbey
    "Grown men do not need leaders" - also Ed Abbey

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2020
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    22

    Re: Two New Announcements

    Hi Rob,

    I think the BCWF is doing a fantastic job and it’s always easy to complain from a second line. Thanks first of all for your fantastic work...

    There are two strategic topics that however concern me to a certain degree at the moment. In the context of the current anti hunting movements (“trophy hunting”) and the counter-strategy of both the BCWF and BCWSS.

    Firstly, there is a lot of activity via social media and e-mail newsletters, which is great. When taking the demographics of hunters and the portion of rural hunters into consideration, I think it’s not a huge surprise that only 8% of BC hunters have signed so far.

    Secondly and more importantly, the anti hunting movements are very successfully activating a large opinionless population, instead of only instrumentalizing their inner core, which would be a pendant to our strategy.

    Example; let’s say there is a young uninformed person in downtown Vancouver, reading about the violent hunters, of course that person quickly clicks on signing that populist petition, as it is effortless and seemingly the right thing to do. Our organizations are yet not able to produce scalable campaigns like the Antis do, because there is no approach toward larger non-hunting audiences. I think a scalable, non-hunter addressed campaign needs to be created, to cope with these higher numbers the antis achieve.

  7. #6
    Join Date
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    Re: Two New Announcements

    Had BCWF no inkling Bill 4 was in the works?

  8. #7
    Join Date
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    Re: Two New Announcements

    Quote Originally Posted by BowsUp View Post
    Had BCWF no inkling Bill 4 was in the works?
    BCWF had an inkling that Bill 4 was in the works. In fact, I was able to speak to members of the government team that were working on this "common sense" gun legislation pre-Covid and got a very good idea of what their worldview is. I don't do the firearms work and my conversation with the government employees working on this was a one off, but you won't be surprised to learn that they didn't strike me as well informed policy makers.


    BCWF has some well informed volunteers working on this file, but there are only so many hours in the day and there is a lack of volunteers for a lot of this stuff. Those volunteers meet with government, but other people meet with government as well, and on top of that the current NDP government is (and I know I'm going out on a limb here) probably pretty pro-firearm restriction in general.

    Government responds to what voters demand. If the BCWF president sends a letter to the Premier it helps, but if that letter is backed up by more letters from regular people then our claim to be a 43,000 member drive grassroots organization carries way more weight.

    - Meet with your MLA and your MP. Tell them what you care about. Let me know that you've done that. If it's a Zoom call take a screen shot of the call.
    - Send them a letter. If you don't feel comfortable writing your own, use our template and edit it to make it personal. Let me know that you've done that.
    - If you're well informed about firearms volunteer your services. We need more help. Like I said in the OP -If you would like to get more involved with the BCWF, join us and attend the AGM..
    Rob Chipman
    "The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders" - Ed Abbey
    "Grown men do not need leaders" - also Ed Abbey

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    4,368

    Re: Two New Announcements

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Chipman View Post




    Government responds to what voters demand. If the BCWF president sends a letter to the Premier it helps, but if that letter is backed up by more letters from regular people then our claim to be a 43,000 member drive grassroots organization carries way more weight.
    This^^^^^^^^^

    When the elected official is made to believe this will be an election issue for them, the'll take notice. If they can simply dismiss it and tow the party line, they will. Inundate them with letters, emails and phone calls voicing your concerns as a member and voter.

    Unfortunately, I believe that the majority of members of organizations like BCWF/CCFR do no more than submit their annual membership fees.
    Last edited by Ron.C; 04-07-2021 at 10:50 AM.

  10. #9
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    Re: Two New Announcements

    Quote Originally Posted by dany View Post
    Hi Rob,

    I think the BCWF is doing a fantastic job and it’s always easy to complain from a second line. Thanks first of all for your fantastic work...

    There are two strategic topics that however concern me to a certain degree at the moment. In the context of the current anti hunting movements (“trophy hunting”) and the counter-strategy of both the BCWF and BCWSS.

    Firstly, there is a lot of activity via social media and e-mail newsletters, which is great. When taking the demographics of hunters and the portion of rural hunters into consideration, I think it’s not a huge surprise that only 8% of BC hunters have signed so far.

    Secondly and more importantly, the anti hunting movements are very successfully activating a large opinionless population, instead of only instrumentalizing their inner core, which would be a pendant to our strategy.

    Example; let’s say there is a young uninformed person in downtown Vancouver, reading about the violent hunters, of course that person quickly clicks on signing that populist petition, as it is effortless and seemingly the right thing to do. Our organizations are yet not able to produce scalable campaigns like the Antis do, because there is no approach toward larger non-hunting audiences. I think a scalable, non-hunter addressed campaign needs to be created, to cope with these higher numbers the antis achieve.

    Thanks for the kind words.

    We understand that BCWF needs to up our game. This isn't lost on anyone, but, in fact, the whole hunting community needs to up it's game. Again, the regular refrain - helps us. Volunteer. We can provide a list of things that need to be done.

    That said, I think it's clear to most of us (and has been for a long time) that there is a minority of hunters (say, 10% of the population) and a minority of anti-hunters (again, let's say 10%) and a wide 80% of voters who are ambivalent. Most of us understand that they are the real target and your recommendation that we produce scalable campaigns like anti-hunting organizations do is a no-brainer. What's the obstacle?

    Again, the first obstacle is a lack of hands on deck, especially people with professional management experience who understand how to get things done.

    Second, is agreement on what the message should be. We're still at the stage, as a community, where we haven't agreed on that message. We know that most non-hunters are generally supportive of hunters who hunt for meat. We also know that most non-hunters don't like the idea of trophy hunting. We just witnessed a stand off (and by no means a nasty one, but still) between Weatherby Fan and KodiakHntr over exactly that issue, and let's be honest - both make good points, meaning the conclusion is: we haven't agreed on the message yet. We have some serious team building work to get completed before we create a scalable message.

    There are lots of details to be expanded on that subject. BCWF is trying to address it. We can talk about it on the forum but the real way to make a difference and get traction is to volunteer and put a shoulder to the wheel. (That also means a lot of guys need to let bygones be bygones. Some of our most scvage battles are between ourselves).
    Rob Chipman
    "The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders" - Ed Abbey
    "Grown men do not need leaders" - also Ed Abbey

  11. #10
    Join Date
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    Re: Two New Announcements

    Great points Rob. Last year I wrote a few different letters to both my MP and MLA about logging old growth forests, dfo's mismanagement of salmon stocks, increasing funding for wildlife mgt, asinine gun control policies etc. And the only replies I received were the "auto reply" saying they received my letters and that's it. I've called both their offices and still have not been able to get a hold of either.

    And to add insult to injury they both got re-elected with even bigger margins than last time (Ravi Khalon and Carla Although) and that's part of the problem - some of us live in NDP/Liberal bastions and highly unlikely that the BC Liberal or Conservative candidates will unseat these incumbents. So why the heck would they show any interest in addressing my concerns?

    Requesting a meeting over zoom is a very interesting idea. However I don't know how to conduct a zoom meeting as I don't have a webcam; guess I could use the camera on my phone? And that's another problem we have - many hunters aren't technologically savvy enough to know how to even conduct zoom meetings. Maybe the BCWF could dedicate a webpage or send out a letter to members explaining specifically how to conduct zoom meetings with their elected officials?

    What do you recommend for situations like mine where my MP and MLA couldn't care less about my concerns about habitat/fish/wildlife mgt etc. and most likely won't lose their seats any time soon?
    "It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority." - Benjamin Franklin

    "The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it" - George Orwell

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