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Still young enough to protest Duo invokes power of the baby boom generationLaura Busch Northern News Services Published Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012
A handful of Yellowknife residents who cut their teeth during the social movements of the 1960s and '70s have formed a group called the Raging Boomers to voice their concerns about the direction the federal government is steering the country. Last week, when cabinet minister and Treasury Board president Tony Clement visited Yellowknife to announce arts funding for the territory on behalf of the federal government, two middle-aged residents staged a protest to ensure the federal government "didn't get a free ride." "It was fairly small and muted," Peter Redvers said of his protest in front of The Explorer Hotel on July 31, adding he and fellow activist Nancy Vail did not find out where and when Clement's closed media event would be held until the middle of the day. The pair shared their message with passersby in front of the building, including a chat with Arctic Air star Adam Beach, who was staying in the hotel, Redvers said. The protesters also spoke with media after the press conference, but Clement exited through a side door, so they did not have a chance to share their criticisms with the minister. "We didn't want to interfere with the presentation. We certainly support cultural funding for the Northwest Territories," Redvers said. "But we can't let these kinds of public relations events – and that's what it is from the Conservative perspective – override the fact that there are these major things going on that are fundamentally altering the shape of this country and our future." Vail shares Redvers' sense of urgency. "It's really come down to the future of this planet," she said. Redvers describes the Raging Boomers as a loose-knit network of middle-aged Canadians who are getting back into protesting. He said he was an active protester beginning in the late 1960s. Prior to moving to the NWT 37 years ago, Redvers was involved in demonstrations in Vancouver opposing the Vietnam war, the private acquisition of park lands and supporting aboriginal rights. In Yellowknife, Redvers also put in time opposing the Berger inquiry – the initial proposition and the eventual rejection of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. His story is similar to the life stories of the group of about half-a-dozen members who make up the core of the Yellowknife-based Raging Boomers, he said. "There really is a push to get back into the kinds of things we did when we were teens and in our 20s and 30s and realize that there are still groups in our society who want to pull us backwards," said Redvers. The group was formed last spring when Bill C-10 (the Omnibus Crime Bill) and Bill C-38 (another omnibus bill) were debated in Ottawa, which Vail said erode civil liberties and water down the environmental review process, respectively. "I think one of the biggest things is that (the change is) not slow, it's very quick," said Vail. "People worked really hard to bring attention to the environment, and just like that with one person in a very short time everything is being cut out." True to its counter-culture roots, the group is loosely managed, said Redvers. "It's not a hard and fast organization, it's a loose collective," he said. "It's a sixties organization, which means that we don't have registration or fundraising. We are whoever shows up for a certain event and whomever gets together online. We are a nebulous, free-flowing kind of a group." The Raging Boomers use a Facebook page to distribute information and organize events. The page is fairly active and as of press time had 67 "likes." The next Yellowknife event the group is planning is part of a national protest against the federal government on Sept. 17 called Holding Hands Across the Land for Democracy.
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