Here’s How the Town Fought Back 

By Brian Vincent @ Quillette.com, Dec. 20

[....] I came here from the United States nearly 20 years ago, one stop on an epic three-and-a-half-year rock-climbing road trip [....] At the time, Squamish was regarded by urbanites as little more than a whistle stop on the way to Whistler [....] Throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, Squamish got hit by an economic downturn, an upsurge in domestic violence and other forms of crime, and hard drugs [....]

On July 2nd, 2003, the International Olympic Committee awarded Vancouver the 2010 Winter Olympics bid. And as part of the associated infrastructural investments, the province of British Columbia invested C$600 million to upgrade the narrow, winding Sea to Sky highway that linked Squamish with points south and north. The announcement set off a real-estate gold rush [....]

Families looking to escape Vancouver’s soaring housing prices—some of the highest in the world—began fleeing to Squamish for more affordable options, which of course had the effect of making Squamish unaffordable for many of the people who’d spent their lives there. As a result, old timers, along with their children in many cases, have been leaving in droves. Their lots were claimed by a new breed of Lululemon mom and Patagonia dad. And though we didn’t know it at the time, they also would attract a small but very noisy clique of politically correct authoritarians who didn’t have much taste for we unenlightened common folk.

When George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer seven months ago, Canadians were justifiably horrified [.....]