The controversial project just outside Victoria, British Columbia has drawn sharp criticism for a number of reasons: The initial land purchase deal, tainted by perceptions of conflicts of interest regarding "gifted" crown land; a city councillor who made more than a million dollars on the deal, (and stands to gain millions more) failing to recuse himself on at least one crucial green-lighting vote; environmental impact assessments that failed to note a network of karst cave structures running below the proposed route of the highway; failure to adequately consult with local First Nations bands on cultural and historical issues at the site; and, shoddy archeological studies; Bear Mountain has become the poster-child of wrong-headed development.

As if to amplify the greed and stupidity of the Langford city mayor and council, the RCMP ride to the rescue in overwhelming force sets a startling new tone for contentious land use issues on Vancouver Island, of which there are many. Kelanu, one of three sitters up on the platforms in the canopy when the raid occurred, described between fifty and seventy police, many armed with assault rifles, "bean bag" shotguns, and accompanied by snarling police dogs, aiming their weapons at him, warning his safety could not be guaranteed if he did not exit the tree.

The sitters had liaised with local RCMP several times before the assault and had made clear theirs was a strictly non-violent protest. They reassured the police there were no weapons in the camp, but that meant little to the planners of a police production that must be worth several hundreds of thousands of dollars. Officers from up island and the mainland were brought in to join the Westshore detachment, and a police spokesperson told the press they would continue on at Langford to ensure security for an unspecified period yet. That bill will likely be picked up by the tax-payers of Langford, as will the costs for continued police oversight of the final destruction of the forest and sub-alpine meadows the tree-sitters had protected for nearly a year.

As of writing, the entire area is a cordoned and flagged "red zone" against protest, or "trespass"; anyone caught there is subject to arrest. Much as the Republican regime of George W. Bush in the south has done with pesky policy protesters, the RCMP conceded a tiny, gravel patched area away from the clear-cutting going on in the woods as an "O.K." protest corral.

Meeting in Victoria tonight, a group of forty or fifty activists planned strategy. While the loss of the woods is tragic, the real battle is for what remains of the wild lands surrounding the city and slated next for destruction. And if today's scene is any indication, the game plan of ex-NHLer Len Barry and his consortium of developers is to destroy everything worth saving first, and leave it to the "greenies" to cry about the despoiling while he and his investors cash in on the last of the wilderness lands on southern Vancouver Island.