Infrastructure in Remote Communities

The town of Tofino has survived the tourist season that didn’t quite materialize in the summer of 2023, thanks to the Cameron Bluffs wildfire.

The fire itself closed Highway 4 for several weeks, starting June 6. For the rest of the summer the highway was either closed completely or open to single-lane alternating traffic as fire damage was repaired. The uncertainty of road openings drove tourists away from the west coast.

Six years into a restoration project on the remote southern coast of Nootka Island, the exterior of the Yuquot church is expected top be completed this fall.

The need for an adequate fire response will always be burned in the memory of Cecil Joseph. He pulled his niece and her family from a blaze about seven years ago, as their house burned in the Ditidaht First Nation’s village by Nitinaht Lake.

“I had to run in,” said Joseph, who had no training in responding to a house fire at the time. “I helped my niece and her children out. Her spouse was in there, but he was sleeping, he didn’t know it was on fire. I woke him up.”

Joseph frantically searched for another occupant in the house as the flames grew.

As the West Coast Multiplex Society launches a new logo, designed by Hjalmer Wenstob of Tla-o-qui-aht, they strive to see the project breaking ground in late 2024 or early 2025 pending government grants, shared Samantha Hackett, board chair of the group.

In an interview with Ha-Shilth-Sa, Hackett said that they are currently working on design and costing reports as they prepare to apply for funding to shoulder some of the project’s costs.

In late Spring, $80,000 was allocated to the Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warrior Family Society with Ka:’yu:’k’t’h/Che:k’tles7et’h to support food security and the development of clam gardens throughout Nuu-chah-nulth territory. Since then, youth from across Nuu-chah-nulth have restored two clam gardens located in Tla-o-qui-aht and Huu-ay-aht territory with plans for more to come.

The Uchuck III is a beloved cargo and passenger vessel that has been serving Nootka Sound for decades bringing the Mowachaht/Muchalaht nation back to their ancestral home, Yuquot, while delivering supplies to remote First Nations and industry camps.

Each summer, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the Uchuck III departs from the Gold River dock, travelling through the Muchalat Inlet to Nootka Sound, past Bligh Island, and arrives two hours later at Friendly Cove, also known as Yuquot.

As economic costs continue due to delays in the aftermath of a wildfire that shut off highway access early this summer, the province has yet to answer calls to consider a permanent alternate route into Port Alberni.

Instead, it will focus on “ensuring the stretch of Highway 4 near Cameron Lake bluffs is restored and fully operational for travel,” says B.C.’s ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

On July 17 paid parking in Tofino’s downtown took effect, leaving those living in coastal and remote Nuu-chah-nulth reserves with limited spots due to confusion with new signage during the peak tourist season.

“The parking issue in Tofino is so bad,” said Curt McLeod, Ahousaht resident. “Especially during tourist season.”

Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council President Judith Sayers has filed a civil claim for negligence and damages against Atleo River Air Service Ltd., after a seaplane overturned and crashed into shallow water in 2021, leaving Sayers with serious injuries.

On July 26, 2021 Sayers was on her way to Hot Springs Cove aboard an Atleo River Air seaplane with her son, alongside two other passengers. 

After decades of lobbying for a safer road to Bamfield and the Huu-ay-aht village of Anacla, chip sealing begins on the route this weekend.

Announced by the Huu-ay-aht First Nations today, crews will begin laying the seal coat Saturday, starting halfway down the 77-kilometre passage to progress towards Bamfield. After sealing kilometre 36 to 76.6, work is expected to begin back at the midway point, progressing the seal coat towards Port Alberni from kilometre 36 to 0. The seal coat is set to be completed by the early fall.