A Vancouver Island group is refusing to sign a volunteer agreement with B.C. Parks that it says infringes on personal rights.
Heathens Mountaineering Club says the agreement would prevent members from speaking about anything in the park they might object to and includes a needlessly broad conflict-of-interest clause.
“I thought it was egregious, it was absolutely unsignable at first glance,” said president Chris Barner.
It also asks for volunteers’ personal information, he said.
The dispute, which has been ongoing since the club was presented with the new agreement in 2013, has landed in a Campbell River court.
Members are challenging $3,000 in fines they received last summer for camping in the park in protest, which Barner claims was a targeted punishment.
A spokesman for B.C. Parks said no one will comment on the agreement, since the matter is before the courts and an election campaign is underway.
The club began volunteering in Strathcona Park in 1982 and formed a formal relationship with B.C. Parks in 1995.
In January 2016, B.C. Parks sent a letter to Heathens saying members were no longer permitted to work in the park without an agreement.
“As you [are] aware, it is not B.C. Parks’ desire to put obstacles in the way of volunteers, particularly a group of volunteers who have been active in a park for so long and have contributed significantly to the park visitor experience,” it said. “However, ultimately all activities that occur in parks must comply with the Park Act.”
Barner said the group has invested almost $3 million over 27 years to improve the park, including maintaining trails and the Crest Creek Crags climbing area. The group will leave the park before signing the agreement, he said.
Members of another volunteer group, Friends of Strathcona Park, were among about 65 people who showed up to the courthouse in April with protest signs, in support of the Heathens club.
Jack Welsh, president of the Friends of Strathcona Park and a retired lawyer, said the agreement goes too far in its restrictions on volunteers.
“[B.C. Parks] wants control over everyone who lifts a stick and cuts a branch in the park,” he said.
Welsh said his group’s goal is to protect the park’s wilderness. If it is restricted in reporting, for example, a fracking truck in the park, then it could be limited in that goal.
A sample agreement posted to the B.C. Parks website includes the following: “I agree to disclose to the Province any interest I have that might be construed as being in real, potential, or apparent conflict with the Province’s interest, responsibilities and duties in the project for which I am providing the volunteer services.”
And: “I agree that I will at all times maintain the confidentiality of information received in the course of my services under this Agreement.”
Not all volunteer groups have had a problem with the agreement.
Joe Lumsdon, president of the Comox District Mountaineering Club, said: “It works for us and Parks.”
