Climate action open houses closed in Nelson due to safety concerns

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A series of open houses that were expected to explain the Kootenay Central Regional District’s Climate Action Plan have been canceled due to fears for the safety of attendees, the RDCK reported Thursday.

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Stuart Horn, RDCK’s Managing Director, said “security concerns for event attendees” led to his decision.

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“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but postponing open houses is the responsible course of action at this time,” Horn said.

The series of 17 open houses was scheduled to take place from May 23 to July 5.

“Our primary goal is to create a safe and respectful environment for all participants to share constructive feedback. We value input from the public and want to ensure that all members of the community have the opportunity to participate without fear of intimidation.”

As a result, the RDCK board will not adopt the RDCK climate action plan in August 2023.

Horn did not provide details about the perceived threats to the planned open houses, but the RDCK issued a statement explaining that it was not going to adopt the concept of 15-minute cities in its plan.

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“This is an opportunity to correct some of the misinformation that has been circulating in the public and on social media,” the statement read.

“It has come to the attention of the RDCK that inaccurate information has been shared, which has caused confusion and misunderstanding among the public.

“To clarify, this is a guidance plan, not a regulatory plan… The concept of 15-minute cities is not included in this plan. The RDCK is not planning 15-minute cities.”

The concept of 15-minute cities aims to have neighborhoods with all amenities within a quarter of an hour by bike or on foot.

However, it has also been embroiled in disputes over driving versus other forms of transportation, and has spawned conspiracy theories, with some believing it will lead to requirements for inter-neighborhood access passes in modern ghettoized cities.

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Some of the criticisms go beyond what is actually proposed. Basically, conspiracy theories take hold when the suggestion of 15-minute cities (you can get what you need nearby) becomes an imagined mandate (you can’t leave your neighborhood). In Edmonton, critics recently claimed that such a proposal would ban people from traveling to certain parts of the city and would be forced to spend “90 percent of their lives” within their own borough, while controlling carbon emissions.

This is the second time an event in Nelson has been canceled this year due to a protest.

In March, the Nelson Police Department investigated a series of possible hate crimes after a Drag Story Time event at the public library was cancelled.

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— with National Post archives

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