Letter Omitted Details?

Nick Russell has written that "Mr. Scarfe lives next door to the cruise-ship docks, and has been campaigning against them for years," thereby implying (as GVHA and others have also done) that my report: "Victoria as a Port of-Call: the Costs and Benefits of Cruise Ship Visits", lacks objectivity.

Both parts of his statement are false.  While I am a James Bay resident, I do not live next door to the cruise ship docks; in fact, my residence is quite sheltered from cruise ship impacts.  While I have been working on cruise ship issues on behalf of the James Bay community for about 2.5 years, I have not been running a campaign against them.

I do note that the 573 respondents to the 2009 James Bay residents survey clearly demonstrated the extent of community feeling about the major socio-environmental costs associated with cruise tourism.  The full survey results, along with my report, are available on the JBNA web-site, .

A good journalist would have taken the time and trouble to read my detailed, data-based, and objective report, and to assess it appropriately, rather than dismissing it as a "skewed" document.

Brian Scarfe