Editor’s note: This letter was sent to My Sea to Sky and No to LNG and copied to The Chief regarding the article “Aligned Collective receives $5,000 from Woodfibre LNG” published Jan. 11.
As you attack and deface a non-profit in this community with ads, emails, and derogatory libel, I wish to help you with understanding the people and the projects who work hard to support and grow a diverse local economy, which includes organizations who use corporate grant funding to provide opportunities for children.
All of the not-for-profits (NFP) that apply for grants work hard to solve and resolve community issues outside of taxation, and outside of begging for after tax, hard earned personal finances.
Our homeless shelter, our high school computer programs, our minor hockey leagues, our cadets, all who serve our children or offer programs are affected by rapid community growth and lack of financial resources. I would love to assist you with your question of conflict of interest in order for you to see a balanced viewpoint.
Most municipal politicians are involved in not-for-profit organizations.
Our involvement in charity and our communities is often why we are elected to politics. I hope many of us who have the capacity to do so, do so without the slander and abuse that has been undertaken over the last week on social media. I also have hopes that 2018 will move forward with less alternative facts, and more positive dialogue.
The NFP groups in Squamish are facing unprecedented community growth and unaffordability. Aligned Collective was created to address deficient spaces for small business and provides opportunities for non-profits to host meetings, workshops & events. The need for an accelerator was stated in no less than three community committees on economic development by the public.
When another committee was suggested, we decided to move forward on the recommendations made by our community, research and build an accelerator as an MBA project for Simon Fraser University. As someone that has benefited from not-for-profit services in my lifetime, we collectively decided that the model that benefits community the most was one that gave back as a mandate. [www.alignedcollective.ca/about].
I am not receiving gifts, or personal financial remuneration from WLNG, nor Aligned Collective. I am in no way obligated by contract, promise or otherwise to WLNG by Aligned Collective writing grants, and being successful. It was hard work for our small board, and took months to achieve financial benefit from any of our grant successes. It was not handed to us as a gift.
All funding allows Aligned Collective to succeed with a mandate to program our space for the Squamish community. We are, alongside other community groups, helping youth in this community with innovative and cognitive programing.
I appreciate the passion you bring to the protection of our environment. Your effort to bring one project to sustainability is recognized, and appreciated. I look forward to having a public dialogue in the future, at Aligned Collective. We can debate, as it should have always been done. Face to face. In public. With respect, science, and moderation.
Coun. Susan Chapelle.
Squamish
