Infrastructure in Remote Communities

It isn’t the first time, and it certainly won’t be the last, but residents of Nitinaht Lake face flooded road access to their community more often thanks to heavy snowfall and a trio of atmospheric weather events so far this winter.

Nitinaht resident and mother of four, Crystal Watts, came home on the evening of Jan. 11 to find the road leading into the community flooded. Just after midnight on Jan. 12 she posted a video of her frightening ride through the flooded section of road.

Despite getting hit by record-breaking rainfall and cold, snowy conditions throughout the fall and winter, the Highway 4 Kennedy Hill Safety Improvement Project remains on track, according to the Ministry of Transportation.

“The project is expected to be substantially completed by summer 2022, with finishing touches continuing throughout the fall,” the ministry said. 

After kicking off in 2018, the construction project was originally slated for completion in the summer of 2020. 

The extent of an early January snowfall was clear to see this morning in Tsaxana, where the top of an upright baseball ball was all that could be seen from the feet that had amassed overnight.

Like many places in British Columbia, the Mowachaht/Muchalaht community near Gold River was buried under more than two feet of snow, forcing the First Nation to close its offices as residents struggled to get out from the heaviest dump they had seen in years.

Two Nuu-chah-nulth nations have received funding to advance clean-energy projects within their communities. 

Through the British Columbia Indigenous Clean Energy Initiative (BCICEI), as well as provincial support through Clean BC, the Uchucklesaht Tribe Government was given $299,975 and Ka:'yu:'k't'h'/Che:k:tles7et'h' First Nations received $112,500.

Residents of Ahousaht can now pick up their mail within the village thanks to the efforts of Postmaster Rebecca Martin, who successfully moved the Canada Post office from the Ahousaht General Store to a central location in the community.

Prior to Dec. 13, people had to take a boat ride over to the nearby Ahousaht General store to pick up their mail twice a week. For a community of about 1,000, that’s a lot of boat rides.

“People would sometimes get stuck at the camp waiting for a boat in the rain,” said Martin.

It’s been five years since Super Valu, Gold River’s only grocery store, closed for good, leaving the village of about 1,200 people nowhere local to purchase fresh meats and produce. But that is about to change as villagers have banded together to bring a Co-op grocery store to town in 2022.

A new wind buoy being deployed off the southern tip of Vancouver Island could help remote communities cut their diesel dependence.

The buoy was manufactured as part of a project out of the University of Victoria’s (UVic) Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery.

Led by UVic mechanical engineering professors Brad Buckham and Curran Crawford, it was designed to explore wind resources off the coast of Vancouver Island.

A cable-laying ship will soon begin to install high-speed fibre optics infrastructure along B.C.’s coast.

Announced in 2018, the $45.4 million Connected Coast project is bringing high-speed internet to around 139 rural and remote coastal communities, including 48 Indigenous communities. 

When a Tofino Air floatplane struck an Ahousaht First Nation water taxi in the Tofino Harbour on Oct. 18, vessel operators started raising questions over the lack of regulation in the open water.

The incident triggered Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) President Judith Sayers, who was inside an Atleo Air floatplane that flipped after hitting a sandbar upon takeoff in the harbour less than three months prior. 

“I still have a couple of physical injuries that I'm working through,” she said. “It was a very traumatic experience to have to go through.”

In early November, Hesquiaht First Nation turned off the diesel generator that normally powers their entire community at Hot Springs Cove, off the west coast of Vancouver Island. 

It was the first time the nation ran solely on green energy, which was made possible by the Ah'ta'apq Creek Hydropower Project.

“It was extremely exciting for us,” said Hesquiaht First Nation Elected Chief Joshua Charleson. “It’s exactly what we wanted.”

Widely championed by the late-chief Richard Lucas, the project has been over 10 years in the making.