Reporters are supposed to report the news. Reporters aren’t supposed to be the news. That’s exactly what happened last week when The Squamish Chief reported Woodfibre LNG (WLNG) had hired a manager of community relations to start work on Jan. 26.
After being one of the people delivering and analyzing the news in the pages of The Squamish Chief for the past few months, I became the big news item of the day in Squamish on Monday, Jan. 12. Thankfully, by Wednesday, interest shifted over to news coming out of the Environmental Assessment Office.
Many of my friends, including some opposed to the WLNG proposal to ship liquefied natural gas overseas, sent me notes congratulating me on the appointment. Predictably, some folks reacted negatively. One person declared I was scum, while another person encouraged Squamish residents to spit on me.
Some people opposed to increased use of fossil fuels to power our vehicles, factories and homes are passionate enough about the topic to truly believe spitting on someone is a legitimate form of protest.
This is my last opportunity to plead with readers to refrain from spitting on me and to acknowledge the bright future Squamish has. As a reader of The Squamish Chief I invite you to put aside your feelings about me and your judgments about my journalistic ethics (or lack of such, if you feel I no longer have any).
I am grateful for those who gave me the opportunity to work for The Squamish Chief while continuing to report news on the radio.
Anyone who has followed my career dating back to 1990 will know my passion for my community has powered me through to where I am today.
I’m thankful that readers of The Squamish Chief and my supporters at Glacier Media have given me the privilege of sharing the stories of our community.
I look forward to watching this paper and its readers hold our political and business leaders accountable as we create the future of Squamish together.
Note: John French's last day working for The Squamish Chief was Jan. 15.
