Pacific Free Press was launched in March 2007 by Dutch-Canadian Richard
Kastelein of V.O.F. Expathos, in the Netherlands along with Chris Cook- CFUV radio journalist and Editor in Chief of Pacific Free Press. Cook is based in , Victoria, British Columbia.
The site is a sister to Atlantic Free Press and Brick Ogden an American Expatriate in Amsterdam has been a key supporter of this project.
The mission of Pacific Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from
the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried
public discourse today. Pacific Free Press provides a new venue for
disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the
harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.
Police Assault Langford Tree-Sit
by C. L. Cook
Word came early this morning: Royal Canadian Mounted Police tactical teams and support officers from the Westshore detachment, moved in on a half-dozen protesters occupying a tree-sit in a small forested area slated for destruction to make way for a highway overpass.
Three arrests were made and there are, as yet unconfirmed, reports of injuries sustained by the arrestees. The tree-sit has been continuously occupied since April of last year in efforts to raise public awareness and bring pressure to bear against what the activists say is the needless destruction of an area of unique geological and environmental importance and cultural significance to First Nations.
The proposed highway is meant to alleviate traffic congestion created
by the sprawling ex-urban development known as Bear Mountain, but is
recognized as the necessary gateway for a redoubling of development on
Spaet Mountain, (renamed Bear Mountain for the Jack Nicklaus-designed
center-piece golf course the upscale housing project surrounds).
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.
Writings 
Word came early this morning: Royal Canadian Mounted Police tactical teams and support officers from the Westshore detachment, moved in on a half-dozen protesters occupying a tree-sit in a small forested area slated for destruction to make way for a highway overpass. 
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