RUNNING ON EMPTY With Ajax as sponsor, Kamloops Marathon’s defending champ has decided to skip the race By Cam Fortems STAFF REPORTER
cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
Kamloops Marathon organizers are backtracking on an email sent to last year’s winner, warning he cannot make political statements about sponsor KGHM-Ajax at the July 27 event. Ryan Day, a Secwepemc runner from the Bonaparate Indian Band, won last year’s Kamloops Marathon clad in a white shirt with the word “Ajax” crossed out with a large X — an illustration of Day’s opposition to the proposed copper and gold
mine south of Aberdeen. “They just asked I refrain from any comments on Ajax,” Day told KTW. However, Christopher Seguin, spokesman for Kamloops Marathon organizer Thompson Rivers University, called the email sent on the weekend by the race director “ill thought-out and regrettable.” Seguin said the message did not come at the behest of the mining company, which is listed as a silver sponsor of the event. “We’d love to have him in the race if he wants to join us, no matter what he’s wearing,” Seguin said. X See SPONSORSHIPS A6
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City wants more info on Ajax process By Andrea Klassen STAFF REPORTER
andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
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Ryan Day won the 2013 Kamloops Marathon while wearing this anti-Ajax shirt. He will not defend his title as he has decided against running a race sponsored by KGHM Ajax. While Kamloops Marathon officials initially invited Day to run for free — a perk often afforded defending champions — he was asked to refrain from speaking against the proposed Ajax mine. Marathon officials later changed their stance and the open invite to Day remains. “We’d love to have him in the race if he wants to join us, no matter what he’s wearing,” said Kamloops Marathon spokesman Christopher Seguin.
Applause filled Kamloops city council chambers twice on Tuesday, July 15, as councillors passed a pair of motions which put pressure on the province to do more consultation on the proposed Ajax copper and gold mine south of Aberdeen. In two unanimous votes, councillors asked the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) to give the public a chance to comment on changes Ajax parent company KGHM has made to its mine layout and design, and to host an open house this year to explain how the project will be assessed. It will be the second time the city has asked the province for a public-information session. Council first asked the EAO to come explain its review process in May, but was told the office would prefer to wait until KGHM submits Ajax’s application for environmental review in 2015.
They’ve blown us off. This is not good enough for the City of Kamloops. – Coun. Ken Christian
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Mayor Peter Milobar said he was “disappointed” by the response because, in previous meetings with the province, he’d been told the city could ask for public-education sessions whenever it wished. “This isn’t really what council wanted,” Milobar said of the EAO’s offer to come to council this fall as a delegation. While Coun. Marg Spina suggested council cut its losses by inviting the EAO to a meeting in a larger venue, where more members of the community could
be present, Milobar said that wouldn’t allow the public to ask questions. Instead, councillors opted to give the EAO and provincial politicians a piece of their minds. “They’ve blown us off,” said Coun. Ken Christian, suggesting the city write to the ministers responsible for the Ajax file as well as local MLAs Terry Lake and Todd Stone. “This is not good enough for the City of Kamloops.” Council’s second Ajax resolution of the day calls on the EAO to accept comments from the public on the application information requirements for the mine — the various issues and impacts it must study for its environmental review. Coun. Donovan Cavers said he chose to put forward the motion in response to changes KGHM has made to its site plan for the mine, which include new locations for many of the waste and tailings facilities and a switch from dry to wet tailings. X See CAVERS A11
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