Dear Editor,

I am writing this letter to add my voice to the growing opposition to the decision of the B.C. government to reduce my family’s hunting opportunities by increasing the opportunities for foreign big game trophy hunters and foreign-owned guide outfitters.

Not all guide outfitter companies are foreign-owned, but a growing number are because the rest of the world has seen that the province of B.C.’s wildlife is for sale.

My family is now entering the fifth generation of hunters. My grandson will experience his first hunting trip this fall accompanied by his father and grandfather.

This is a family experience which has included uncles, nephews and friends on different trips and has been an annual ritual to gather sustenance for our families for generations.

This is the elders’ opportunities to teach the young men and women stewardship of the land and fair play.

The opportunities to have these family experiences is about to be reduced by this horrible decision to reduce resident hunting opportunities while increasing foreign hunter opportunities.

Instead of looking after the very people who cherish this resource, the very people who pay to conserve the resource, the taxpayers and voters of this province, this government has chosen to give away our wildlife and hunting opportunities to foreign-owned guide outfitters, using foreign-hired guides and foreign trophy hunters.

Instead, this B.C. government or any B.C. government that follows should be legislating against foreign ownership.

No sale of guide outfitting areas should be allowed to any foreign owner and the owner must be a B.C. resident and must operate the guide company personally to curtail subletting to foreigners, which is also a common practice now.

Guides and their clients should not be entitled to any more than 10 per cent of any resource in this province.

We have foreign owners now buying up huge tracks of land and denying access to residents.

This government and successive governments must reverse this trend and give our province back to the residents.

Gordon Mitchell

Logan Lake