Have you ever noticed that the propaganda this government spits out about the Peel watershed always depicts exquisitely gorgeous images of pristine rivers flowing through majestic mountain-rimmed valleys?
There may even be a tent or a canoe or a hiker somewhere in the scene, just to help give you a warm fuzzy, as you picture yourself there, immersed in the magic and the mystery of it all.
But buyer beware! How about the real picture, the more honest portrayal, the one that includes at least some of what this government so strongly advocates for?
Once-wild lands bisected by roads and bridges, mining camps and oil rigs, airstrips and big machines. Only then would a reader like myself, whom unsuspectingly opens up the Friday edition of both the Yukon News and the Whitehorse Star, to find a four-page insert, a full-colour spread tumble out onto their lap, not be so confused.
The title? The Peel Watershed - A Balanced Plan For The Yukon.
And for the wow factor? No surprise! A two-page double spread of Duo Lakes, rimmed by soaring peaks and the Snake River and its valley, stretching away to infinity. Pure paradise!
Heck, with an image like that you almost feel “balanced.” You can virtually taste the silence, and you have a pervading sense that all is OK with the world - just knowing that there are places like this out there, and that they’ll be there forever.
I mean, how could they not be? Who would ever purposely set out to destroy, or in any way mar, something so incredibly precious?
But then you read on. You read the words that your so-called elected officials (not that most Yukoners elected them, but they seem to keep forgetting that) are spewing out about balance, and respect, about strong vision and protection. Knowing full well that what they are proposing for the region spells a death sentence - death by a thousand cuts.
The more you read the more despairing you feel. The warm fuzzies are long gone, along with the trust, and most alarmingly the hope that sense and justice will prevail.
Jill Pangman
Whitehorse