A Sign of Things to Come?

Somebody blasted twenty .22 gauge rifle shells at David Beers' sign in Kent County, New Brunswick. [Photo: D. Beers}

Spent shells lay on the highway for days before RCMP responded. [Photo: D. Beers}

By Dennis Beers aka Abu Zainab

With the news of SWN's emminent return, my family and I tasted a bit of what we feel is to come this summer if the Alward government insists on allowing the Shale Gas Industry to set up shop here in Kent County.

Our property was targeted by an unknown gun man, who sent over 20 pieces of lead our way.

My family and I have been residents of Kent County, New Brunswick for generations, and the announcement that SWN would be returning to our area to drill four shale gas test wells has left us wondering what the summer of 2014 will be like. We are still astounded by the events that took place last summer, with the daily protests, the tense stand offs in the back woods of Kent County, the blockade on Highway 134, SWN's lawsuits of our neighbours, the violent crack down on protesters and land protectors, hundreds of riot-geared RCMP, snipers with assault weapons, vicious police dogs, and over a hundred arrests of people I have known only as neighbours who are concerned for the beautiful land in which we all live.

Since our livelihood is and has always been farming, my family are dependent upon having clean water, as water is the foundation of life. Be it a crop of wheat, a herd of cattle, or healthy soil, there is no farming without clean water. There is no life without clean water.

Since we are intimately aware of this reality, we have been opposed to the Shale Gas industry and it's practice of fracking since day one. We have attended protests, town halls, and have tried in all ways that we can to show our support for the opposition efforts, especially for those of the First Nations who are struggling with every fibre of their being against this industry.

We were given the Mi'kmaq and Warrior flags to fly, and we have a large commercial sign on our property on which we post messages of support for the anti-shale gas protests.

It was this sign and it's message that was the target of the shooting. Near the end of last summer's protests, my father decided to put the following phrase on the sign: "Got Land - Thank a Native".

This was more than a mere slogan to us, since our family owes everything to the First Nations, especially the Mi'kmaq. To give a little a background, all of my family, parents, siblings, and relations, on both my mother's and father's sides have lived and remain living in Kent County. We have lived in this area of New Brunswick since our ancestors were forced to leave our homelands of Scotland and Ireland, first in the Highland Clearances, when the English Crown decided the expansion of it's agricultural industry was more important than our right to live in our native home, and secondly during the Great Starvation of Ireland, when our English overlords decided that it was more lucrative to export Irish-grown crops than to allow the native population a share in it.

We know our history and what the Crown, the Government of the Crown, and it's chosen industry does to people and to their lands, so SWN's appearance all seems to be a sort of horrifying deja vu.

When our ancestors were sent across the Atlantic, never to see our homeland again, half starved, half dying, it was the Mi'kmaq who accepted us into their lands. We have known nothing but generosity and kindness from the Mi'kmaq, and for that, a phrase like "Got Land - Thank a Native" is nowhere near enough.

They gave us a home when ours was brutally snatched away.

That simple sentence of gratitude remained on the sign throughout the winter unscathed, but with spring's first hints and SWN's first voiced intentions to return, someone decided to send us a message of their own.

Someone stood on the side of highway 116, and opened fire on our sign with a .22 rifle. Not once, not twice did they fire, but over twenty times. This is meters away from our house and the houses of our neighbours. We also have animals in the immediate vicinity. Someone could have been seriously injured or killed.

We called the RCMP, and they said they would be out to investigate. A day went by, and we heard nothing. The next day, we called again, and the receptionist receiving our call just laughed as if we had just told her some cute joke. Later on that day, an RCMP member from Moncton called us back and said that someone would be out in a day or two.

This concerned us, since all of the shell casings were still laying on the side of the road (the RCMP were informed of this during the initial call) and any finger prints and associated evidence, we felt, could be compromised if left exposed to the elements for too long.

Time went by.

Eventually, a very apologetic officer made the long journey from Richibucto (which would have been about a 15 minute drive) to see what had happened and collect the casings. He said he would get back to us.

It has been over a week.

This violent, racist, hateful act hasn't changed our opinion on the matter of Shale Gas, and it has only gone to further show why we do not want such an industry here. This industry is not good for communities on any level, be it economically or socially. So while we brace ourselves for SWN's return and what we fear will be a much more nasty, mean, and dangerous summer, I am left with one question for the Alward government:

What needs to happen before you listen to the concerns of the people you claim to represent? Whatever does happen, it will be on your hands.

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