A Facebook post that reported the Village of Burns Lake as having ‘served notice’ that local business owner Gwyndolyn Nicholas may have to remove a ‘No Enbridge’ sign from her store’s prominent exterior wall quickly generated a viral online response.
On July 18, 2013 The Dogwood Initiative - a Victoria-based conservationist group - made a Facebook post of a photo of Nicholas’s Burns Lake building and sign along with a caption reading, “The business owner has been served notice to take it down by a bylaw officer and is making an appeal to the village council.”
Confusion arose as some took the post to mean that the Village of Burns Lake had asked for the sign’s immediate removal.
Emma Gilchrist, Dogwood communications director, reports that the page had reached 121,000 individual page views as of July 22, 2013.
The Dogwood Initiative wasn’t the only place where social media helped to quickly raise the profile of the issue.
The Lakes District Clean Water Coalition’s (LDCWC) own Facebook page was reported to have received over 4000 views of its related post. The CBC and other regional media picked the story up as well.
The Village of Burns Lake office received some abusive phone calls and email. The village posted its own statement to clarify its position
The July 19 statement said that the village had never asked for the sign to be immediately removed and that village by-law enforcement was responding to two issues: the lack of a permit to change the sign, and two complaints from members of the public who found the sign offensive.
As of July 19, Village of Burns Lake Chief Administrative Officer Sheryl Worthing reported that 14 letters or emails had been received in support of the sign. She said that the village staff had received two verbal threats over the phone as well as one by email.
The Dogwood Initiative and the LDCWC both expressed dismay at the actions of a few angry - and misinformed - individuals.
The Dogwood Initiative post read: “We are saddened and disappointed to hear village staff have received some inappropriate comments on this issue and would never condone such activity. Such actions only hinder the cause."
Prior to hearing about the troubles at the village office, Nicholas said that she had found the discussion surrounding the sign to be largely constructive, even with locals who support the Enbridge project.
“I’m really disappointed to hear that it’s gone to a completely inappropriate format,” Nicholas said after she learned of the abusive phone calls.
Local coverage of the issue in the July 17 Lakes District News did not fail to observe that the sign was free to remain in place until council consider the sign’s fate during a late August council meeting.
Nicholas has until Aug. 9 to submit her defence against accusations that the sign is offensive. Village council is expected to decide the issue during the regularly scheduled Aug. 20, 2013 meeting of council, where previously made public submissions will also be taken into consideration.