Editor:
As the debate over Banff’s pedestrian zone heats up, I thought a brief history lesson might be in order.
It is no coincidence that national parks and natural reserves were established around the world in the late 19th century. By this time, the scale of environmental and social destruction caused by empire and industrialized resource extraction had become evident to a global population.
National parks were knowingly created to protect pockets of the earth’s ecosystem from capitalism’s incessant need for consumption, production and profits.
The Town of Banff’s incorporation in 1990 was – and is – a deliberate and systematic attack against this preservationist approach.
Now, a third of a century since incorporating, Banff’s upcoming pedestrian zone referendum question brings this strategy into stark relief: corporate profit or park preservation?
That is the real question Banff residents must answer.
Your community decision will have powerful and permanent repercussions that extend to all Canadians.
Max Wilkie,
North Vancouver, BC
