Infrastructure in Remote Communities

Residents of communities on southwest Vancouver Island are no longer cut off from Port Alberni, after the Mount Underwood wildfire shut down the Bamfield road for two and a half months.

Today Bamfield Main reopened, although daily closures are expected as crews continue to repair damage from the forest fire. More than 1,000 dangerous trees had to be removed from the slope along 1.5 kilometres of the road. On Aug. 11 the Mount Underwood wildfire closed down the road, raging to encompass 3,600 hectares south of Port Alberni in a matter of days.

The road to Bamfield is now expected to reopen by Oct. 24, two and a half months after the only southbound land route to Bamfield, Anacla and Nitinaht was shut off due to the Mount Underwood forest fire.

Announced by the province on Oct. 9, the road’s reopening is set to occur one week sooner than initially expected, as “significant progress has been made in recent weeks,” according to a press release from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

Judith Sayers and Les Doiron have been elected serve another term as the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s president and vice-president.

Voted in by a majority of society members, the incumbent leaders were re-elected at the NTC’s annual general meeting on Oct. 1, which was held at the Tigh-Na-Mara resort in Parksville. Reflective of populations in the tribal council’s 14 First Nations, there are currently 108 NTC society members, who are determined by the leadership of their respective nations. Sayers and Doiron were the only candidates to step forward to be on the ballot.

More than 750 rural households on Vancouver Island and surrounding coastal communities will soon gain access to high-speed internet, thanks to federal and provincial investments.

The Ministry of Citizens’ Services announced that 11 rural communities will receive last-mile fibre and transport infrastructure.

The project includes services for 123 households in the rural areas of Texada Island, 129 households on Piers Island, and 500 families in Jordan River, as well as the Pacheedaht First Nation communities of Gordon River 2 and Pacheena 1. 

The Mount Underwood Wildfire, discovered Aug. 11, raged just a few short kilometers south of Port Alberni, causing road closures, evacuation alerts, power failure and water restrictions. 

It will now be easier for Mowachaht/Muchalaht people to reach Yuquot and other parts of their home territory, with the First Nation’s acquisition of a large passenger boat.

More than 30 First Nations across Vancouver Island and coastal British Columbia are calling for sweeping changes to the Island Coastal Economic Trust (“the Trust”), saying the time has come for equal decision-making power in shaping the region’s economic future. 

Power has returned to the Bamfield area and Nitinaht, but the road to the communities will remain closed longer than anticipated “due to unsafe conditions” caused by the Mount Underwood wildfire, says the province.

The effects of a wildfire have once again highlighted the insufficiency of relying on a series of logging roads that lead to remote communities on southwest Vancouver Island, says the Ditidaht First Nation.

Since Aug. 11 the road from Port Alberni that leads to Bamfield, Anacla and the Ditidaht First Nation village traditionally known as balaac̓adt at Nitinaht Lake has been closed, as crews battled the quickly spreading Mount Underwood forest fire. Now classified as “being held”, Mount Underwood is no longer growing, but life in balaac̓adt is still stressful. 

Elder Qaamina Hunter used to visit Tofino two or three times a week, but those visits have spanned out, he says, due to parking woes.

Hunter lives in the offshore Ahousaht First Nations community of Maaqtusiis on Flores Island, located 30-minutes by boat from Tofino’s First Street Dock.