Infrastructure in Remote Communities

A survey of residents on Vancouver Island’s northwest coast suggests most know the signs of an approaching tsunami but do not know evacuation routes, mustering points or where to turn for information if disaster strikes.

The survey is part of the Northwest Vancouver Island Tsunami Risk Project, a collaborative study involving Strathcona Regional District (SRD), Nuchatlaht and Ka:'yu:'k't'h'/Che:k'tles7et'h' First Nations along with various other stakeholders in the region.

As the Tseshaht work to determine the future of a former residential school site, the First Nation’s representatives and other Nuu-chah-nulth leaders received a visit from Canada’s Indigenous Services minister on Wednesday.

Marc Miller was welcomed by Tseshaht hereditary chiefs, followed by meeting with the First Nation’s elected leaders. Foremost in this talk was Tseshaht’s plans for the site of the Alberni Indian Residential School, where two of the institution’s buildings still remain: Maht Mahs gym and what was formerly known as Caldwell Hall.

To improve emergency care for remote First Nations communities, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) partnered with the University of British Columbia’s department of emergency medicine to create Kwiis-hen-niip, meaning “change” in Nuu-chah-nulth. 

In collaboration with BC Emergency Health Services, the First Nations Health Authority, Island Health, among others, four Nuu-chah-nulth nations are involved in the project. 

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced that the once weekly 10-hour daylight closures of the Kennedy Hill construction zone are over.

In a provincial traffic advisory issued May 27, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure introduced the new Highway 4 at Kennedy Hill spring closure schedule.

Midday four-hour closures of the highway that connects Port Alberni to west coast communities will continue as rock blasting continues.

In an era of pandemic shutdowns, community closures and supply shortages, Nuu-chah-nulth community gardens are breaking fresh ground.

A new Mowachaht/Muchalaht community garden producing fruit and vegetables in “Covidian times” grew from the seed of an idea planted more than 50 years ago.

“The idea came many, many decades ago with some of our community members in Yuquot,” said Margaretta James, who lives in Tsaxana, just across the road from a new greenhouse and raised beds. “We call it the healing garden.”

The long delays Highway 4 travelers face as they travel between Port Alberni and Tofino and Ucluelet are about to get worse.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure issued a traffic advisory April 14 stating that more major blasting work needs to be done during daylight hours.

On March 16 the Kennedy Hill construction zone was closed for 10 hours to conduct major blasting safely, during daylight hours. At that time, boulders the size of houses were blasted off of the rock face. But there’s much more work that needs to be done.

Some people might have simply glanced over the recent news that the provincial government will be providing funding for some remote communities in British Columbia to improve their Internet capabilities.

But for Julie Colborne, the mayor of the village of Zeballos, located within the traditional territories of the Ehattesaht First Nation, the news is rather significant.

“Economically it’s a game changer,” Colborne said. “It puts us on an equitable and more equal playing field with everyone else.”

A Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation will soon no longer have to rely on diesel at one of its main facilities.

That’s because it was announced in late March that Hesquiaht First Nation will receive some substantial provincial funding which will allow it to proceed with a solar panel installation project at its community school located in Hot Springs Cove.

Through its Renewable Energy for Remote Communities (RERC) program, the province will provide $419,000 to construct a 136-kilowatt solar panel installation at the Hesquiaht Place of Learning.

Help is on the way.

But it remains to be seen just how quickly that assistance will arrive and when the Tofino Bus, Vancouver Island’s only intercity bus service, will resume operations.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Premier John Horgan announced motor coach operators in the province, who have suffered tremendous revenue losses due to a massive drop in ridership in the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, would collectively be receiving $10.7 million from the B.C. government.

Work will soon begin on major infrastructure upgrades as Ka:'yu:'k't'h'/Che:k'tles7et'h' First Nations (KCFN) prepare to replace their aging water and sewer systems.

The village of Houpsitas began filling with homes in the early 1970s when the First Nation moved from its island home of Aktis. According to KCFN CAO Cynthia Blackstone, some of the water and sewer pipes in the older parts of the village date back to that time.

Fifty years later, the village has grown to a population of about 200 with approximately 50 family homes, according to Blackstone.