Infrastructure in Remote Communities

The Tofino General Hospital (TGH) was built in 1954 to service a regional population of 400 people, according to the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Since then, the region’s population has grown to around 10,000, with visitation levels reaching an estimated 600,000 people per year in 2018, the chamber added.

In a letter addressed to Health Minister Adrian Dix on March 28, the chamber urgently stressed the need to replace the hospital to accommodate this growth.

When Ahousaht began debt reduction measures nearly a decade ago, one of the largest contributors to the financial burden, Ahousaht’s sea bus, was sold, to the dismay of many residents.

Nine years after Ahousaht hired Certified Financial Accountant Rob Bullock, the nation has greatly improved its financial status.

The financial situation was so bad, that the nation would have faced harsh consequences through Indigenous Services Canada if things were not turned around.

“We could have gone into third-party management,” said Chief Councillor Greg Louie.

That would have meant that control of Ahousaht’s finances would be temporarily transferred to another body.

Ahousaht people have blessed the ground that will soon be home to their very own healing center. The ceremony took place on March 28 adjacent to the site of the former Ahousaht Residential School, said Elected Chief Greg Louie.

Louie said that there are members willing to go to a treatment centre for addictions, but barrier exist in the long wait and endless requirements needed to get in.

“Many give up and we thought there has to be a better way,” said Louie.

Gold River, a small village municipality nestled in the mountains, has a separate waterfront 12 kilometres down Highway 28 at Muchalat Bay.

The unusual degree of separation stems from another era and a resource development boom in B.C., when Tahsis Company built the town to house employees for its pulp mill located in the river delta at the head of Muchalat Arm.

Despite a stormy winter that brought disastrous rains in various parts of the province and heavy snowfall for Vancouver Island, work on the Bamfield road is on schedule, with an improved surface due for completion by the fall.

In October the physical work to improve the 76-kilometre stretch of road south of Port Alberni began with the collection of gravel to build shoulders and ditches. So far 250,000 cubic metres of gravel has been packed, as well as culvert repairs and the installation of new roadside barriers and signs.

After more than three years of long travel delays on Highway 4 to the west coast communities, residents will be pleased to know the end is in sight for the Kennedy Hill road improvement zone.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure made the announcement Feb. 16, saying the Kennedy Hill project has reached a milestone as extended daytime closures will end on March 11.

The new traffic schedule, beginning March 11, will look like this:

* On weekdays, traffic queues will be released at the top of the hour between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Tsaxana’s “gathering garden” is growing a lot more than vegetables as it enters a third season.

Also known as Sara’s Garden, the community resource represents an old idea given fresh impetus during the pandemic, a means of building greater food security and self-sufficiency for the Mowachaht/Muchalaht community.

“Definitely momentum continues to build as the garden continues to grow,” said Kristi Walker, wellness co-ordinator for MMFN.

Volunteer firefighters from the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, as well as the Tofino and Ucluelet Fire Departments responded to a house fire last Friday in the village of Esowista. 

It’s the third house fire the nation has experienced within the past three years, which Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Elmer Frank said is abnormal. 

“There’s definitely been a lot [of fires] and we’re certainly hoping that we’re not going to see any more,” he said. “Nobody wants to see that.”

The critical highway between Port Alberni and Tofino currently has limited cellular service, leaving travelers and commuters without any way of contacting family, friends or emergency services in the event of an accident.

That’s about to change, as Rogers announced it will be expanding its coverage along the 85-kilometre stretch of highway by building six new cellular towers, and upgrading two existing towers between the coastal communities.