A 'staggering' 7,500+ favour Peel plan

Preliminary numbers show more than 7,500 people threw their support behind the Peel’s final recommended plan during the recent round of public consultations, says CPAWS-Yukon.

That’s “a staggering figure” compared to earlier phases of the watershed's land use planning process, said executive director Gill Cracknell in a news release.

And the numbers are likely much higher since these are only based on CPAWS' records.

“The sheer volume of individuals speaking up in favour of the final recommended plan should send a strong message to the Yukon government. We expect this represents just a fraction of the total public contribution,” said Cracknell in the release.

“It is gratifying to see how important this issue is to the public - that thousands empowered themselves and engaged in the process through letters, emails and petitions.”

The public comment period closed on Feb. 25. That’s more than two weeks ago and the government still hasn’t released any numbers or posted any submissions on its website, as it had promised to do.

It won’t say why it’s taking so long or when it plans to share all the information it gathered.

However, a government spokesperson did say this week that all the submissions have been forwarded to a “third-party contractor” who is using them to prepare a “What We Heard” report.

There’s some speculation the government plans to sit on the results for as long as possible because it doesn’t like the story they tell.

Based on the CPAWS' numbers and public meeting response, it looks like most people support the commisison's plan which protects 80 per cent of the watershed from industrial development.

The final recommended plan was released by the Peel commission in July, 2011 after six years and $1.5 million of work. 

It was prepared based the feedback received when an earlier version - the recommended plan - underwent a full round of public consultation in 2010.

Unlike this round, those consultations were designed and conducted jointly by the Yukon and four affected First Nation governments.

Public comments were posted to a Peel consultation website as soon as they were received. Community meetings were recorded and transcriptions of all that was said were put online shortly thereafter.

This time the government cut First Nations out of the loop entirely, even though land use planning is a central component of the Yukon's modern-day treaty.

It also refused to put any comments on its website until after the Feb. 25 deadline had passed. Its meetings were not recorded and transcribed – officials simply jotted down a few notes when people spoke..

And instead of limiting the consultation to the commission's plan, the government threw a new plan into the mix in an attempt to move public sentiment away from large-scale protection.

Many found that extremely confusing, and others viewed it as illegal - a gross violation of the land use planning process agreed to under the treaty.