As we fast approach the big tanker rally and flotilla this Sunday October the 17th, the Wilderness Committee's office in Gastown is abuzz with activity. Our motto - ‘an organization that believes in action’ - is truer than ever this week, both in the office and out in the community. Working in times like these is like being in the middle of a whirlwind! Our door-to-door canvassers and our phone call team are telling us that the word on the street is spreading about the rally at Second Beach in Stanley Park this Sunday at 12 noon.

To promote the event, the Wilderness Committee and our friends in the group No Tanks! held a ‘die in’ on English Bay beach. At noon on Thanksgiving Monday, a group of about a dozen young activists walked down Denman street in their swim gear on their way to English Bay. When they got to the beach they covered themselves in molasses and emerged from the ocean to lay on the sand covered in ‘oil’, as if their day at the beach had gone horribly wrong.

We were pleasantly surprised by the amount of interest from the media. My relatives in Toronto saw the story the next day. In fact, that story was picked up by newspapers all across Canada and even as far away as London, England. You can see some of the media coverage on our website. A shocking image, however the reality of an oil spill in our harbour would be far worse.

Most people are surprised to learn that supertankers full of crude oil from the tar sands are putting our Pacific coastline at risk - and this without any public process. As the world is still reels from the impact of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, we need to be vigilant as citizens and show our support in banning these oil tankers now.

We are part of the web of life that is our coast. Already there are two crude oil tankers a week passing through the treacherous Vancouver Harbour - and there are plans to expand that to ten tankers a week. These tankers represent a serious and growing risk - and accidents are a statistical certainty.

Please come celebrate the splendor of the Pacific coast of Canada with the Wilderness Committee and our friends down at Second Beach at Stanley Park next Sunday. If we act now we can stop this threat before its too late. Thanks so much for your support! Without all of us, threats like these would go unchallenged.

Ben West | Healthy Communities Campaigner
Wilderness Committee