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Our Matsqui Village Protest!
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Matsqui Village On Saturday, August 17, we held our fourth protest of the season, this time in the heart of Abbotsford blueberry country, in Matsqui Village, at the corner of Harris Road, and Riverside. Many cannons could be heard booming in the distance.

We set up on all four corners of the intersection, with our protest signs clearly visible to all passersby. This is a very busy intersection, and we got many supportive honks and thumbs up from people passing through town. We also had a few thumbs down, which was to be expected at this location, but cannon supporters tend to see us and move along pretty quickly. Most are too embarassed to admit they support the use of this socially irresponsible practice.

A mother and daughter who lived in the town happened to see us and they approached and thanked us for our efforts. Mom is a long time resident of Matsqui Village and she explained how the cannons have gotten worse and worse every year, and none of our local politicians seem to give a damn. Her comment was that if you don't live in a little condo somewhere along Nelson or Dahlstrom, our municipal politicians don't even know that you exist. How true!

The event was also covered by a media person, which always helps heighten awareness of this issue.

Our Zon Gun The highlight of our protest occurred when one of our most dedicated members rolled up to the meeting place, hopped up into the back of his pickup, and held a zon gun in the air. What a sight. And now that our group is "armed" it was suggested that we hold our next protest at an appropriate early morning location. When the date is finalized we will let you all know, but please remember, we can't fire the cannon before 6:30 AM. We might wake the neighbours. We wouldn't want some frightened person running out of their house just dressed in their BVD's! But we can fire the gun at 6:31!

We stayed at the Matsqui Village site for about two hours and then a few of us headed farther west to the corner of Gladwin and Harris. Blueberry Palace At this corner there are blueberry fields on three of the four corners. One farm nets, and gets a thumbs up from us. One farm has a very small acreage, far less than 2 hectares, and they have a bright yellow zon gun in the middle of it. This should not be allowed!

The third farm was a large acreage, with a fancy house, and with two or three guns firing rapidly while there were pickers in the field. Your webmaster listened for a while and estimated that each gun was firing about once per minute! This location was also interesting because blueberry farmers are always "crying the blues" about how difficult it is to make money in blueberries. They just can't afford netting. Well check out their house and tell me that there isn't money to be made in blueberries!


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Matsqui Village Residents, you have our support!

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