Beneficiary: Citizens Stewardship Coalition of Port Alberni, $5,000 award

"My faith in people and democracy was lifted and renewed."

Port Alberni, British Columbia, is not the sweetest-smelling town on Vancouver Island, but its citizens know when they've had enough. Fifty years of belching forest-product mills had made the town's bad air a joke, until a welcome legislated cleanup took place a decade ago.

Imagine, then, the response when B.C. Hydro announced its plan, in November 2000, to build a $300 million gas-fired generating plant alongside the town's largest shopping mall. A meeker citizenry might have adapted to yet another assault on their quality of life. In Port Alberni, however, first they got mad — and then they got organized.

With city council poised to rubber-stamp the proposal, the Citizens Stewardship Coalition gathered thousands of signatures, created a newsletter and organized meetings. While the campaign also relied on environmental and medical expertise, it was the people who ultimately made the difference. Townsfolk swarmed city council's rezoning hearings, and over five sessions, 300 citizens voiced opposition, including nurses who had witnessed the devastation of air quality on 22 children who had died in Port Alberni. "I have never seen anything so inspiring," notes coalition member Maggie Paquet.

The project committee within the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office subsequently recommended a rigorous Stage 2 environmental review. Facing such scrutiny, B.C. Hydro promptly withdrew its proposal.