Editor:
At first, the Telus musical theatre camp article sounded good. Upon re-reading, however, it smacks of a disingenuous PR campaign.
They pitch themselves as altruistic. However, why would Telus spend $25 million for 24 “marginalized” kids (or more kids over time) to attend theatre camp? Telus’s chief communications officer says they “…give where we live” and create local jobs, but none of the Coast theatre people I know even knew about this camp. How many infrastructure jobs are worth the changes they will bring to that low-traffic area?
Environmentally, what are the impacts of the 5G infrastructure and how is boating/flying in goods for a handful of lucky students (and executives) putting resources in the right place? Why pour money into developing the marina and building camps that could easily be run on the Coast itself? A biology camp studying ecosystems or for First Nations youth healing with their ancestors might benefit from being deeper up the Inlet and might tread lightly on that earth. This is musical theatre – which we have on the Coast, along with plenty of nature.
If altruistic, why not simply create bursaries in local theatre/dance schools that already exist and use them as a framework to build upon (which don’t require development into the wilderness, or buying property to own and control, or 5G)? I promise you there are experienced professionals right here who work tirelessly for this cause.
Telus is effective at using the rhetoric the public wants to hear, but let’s call a spade a spade. This article was no more than a PR campaign of distraction. While they are holding up the “Kids Camp” card for all to see, what is in the rest of the deck?
In Gratitude,
Shannon Rody, Halfmoon Bay
