“Today, I don’t own my own land – a free miner does,” says local resident Rob Westie, frustration at both the provincial and federal governments.Westie, together with co-founder Kurt Yakelashek of the B.C. Land Owners Rights group, were at a public meeting to discuss the issue at the Village Green Inn on Saturday. More than 70 people attended, including Nelson Creston MLA Corky Evans.Westie described the meeting as, “a fabulous, marvelous success,” with people attending from around the province.
In anticipation of the meeting, an e-mail from Minister of State for Mining, Kevin Krueger, to 
the BCLOR, stated that the government was introducing an amendment to the Mineral Tenure and Coal Act, “that will require people who explore for minerals to provide notice, in a prescribed way, to private land owners and people holding Crown and leases or grants before entering the property to commence any mining activity.”In his e-mail Krueger asked members of the community to support the Bill but Westie said there was a vote to clearly tell the government, “to take your Bill and ‘bleep’ it.”Westie said Krueger had promised to send a government representative, but to Westie’s knowledge, that promise was not kept.
the BCLOR, stated that the government was introducing an amendment to the Mineral Tenure and Coal Act, “that will require people who explore for minerals to provide notice, in a prescribed way, to private land owners and people holding Crown and leases or grants before entering the property to commence any mining activity.”In his e-mail Krueger asked members of the community to support the Bill but Westie said there was a vote to clearly tell the government, “to take your Bill and ‘bleep’ it.”Westie said Krueger had promised to send a government representative, but to Westie’s knowledge, that promise was not kept.Westie, like many other Okanagan residents, is waking up to the fact that valuable uranium or other mineral deposits may lie beneath their back yards, and if someone wants to dig it up, there is little homeowners can do to stop it. Westie had first hand experience of this issue when he found a miner on his land at 5 a.m. one morning last July.Westie claims that B.C. residents have been sold out by the Campbell government. He referred to Bill 54, which passed through the Provincial Legislature in May 2002. He said it had a clause tucked in the middle of it’s 45 pages which removed the obligation of the miner to concern himself with the land owner’s right to enjoyment or use of the property. In addition, the Bill took away the owner’s rights to mediation and arbitration. “It destroyed every right a landowner has on his property and their right of appeal,” said Westie. He believes the clauses slipped through unnoticed – in part due to the close ties between the Campbell government and the mining industry.
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