All posts by Guest Post

Housing, Poverty

‘Where do people go?’: Over 1,600 homeless in Victoria far surpasses shelter space

Editor’s note: Betweenuary Jan 10 and 18, 20 – 70 people sought respite from the freezing temperatures in Campbell River’s Warming Centre every night.

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Victoria, BC – When the cold weather snap brought record breaking temperatures through British Columbia, Victoria’s dropped to as low as -10 with a wind chill of -20 – a cold front that the unhoused population was not prepared for.

Continue reading ‘Where do people go?’: Over 1,600 homeless in Victoria far surpasses shelter space →
Health

Chewing on Solutions to BC’s Dental Shortage

Editor’s Note: From 1995 until 2020, the Marine Dental Clinic used to serve Cortes and some of the neighbouring islands. Now Cortes residents make what is often an all day trip into Campbell River. The article below points to an additional strain, on a dental service that already has 1,550 job openings, as the National dental plan opens the doors for free service to anyone over the age of 18.

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Remote and rural communities in B.C. are currently facing a shortage of dentists, according to WorkBC.

This is especially true in Indigenous communities, where most people have to leave the community to access dental services, according to the First Nations Health Authority.

Medium-sized communities are also feeling the squeeze. In Powell River, a community of nearly 14,000 people with four dental offices, locals told The Tyee they’ve had to head by ferry to neighbouring communities for care after a year of trying to be seen by a local dentist.

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Indigenous Nations History, Rivers & Oceans

New study shows how industrial development decimated fish populations near Vancouver

Editor’s note: To what extent is modern infrastructure responsible for the crash of fish populations? The book cited below explores how a 3,000 year-old fishery was destroyed when the city of Vancouver came into existence, but this is not a purely urban phenomenon. In a 2016 interview, Cortes Island streamkeeper Cec Robinson described how there is very little gravel left in Cortes Island streams because of early logging practises. This makes it more difficult for salmon to find places to spawn. When Provincial biologist Sean Wong installed a new culvert in Basil Creek, he told Cortes Currents there are 140,000 culverts in BC that are barriers to fish trying to migrate to their spawning grounds. Prior to the erection of the first dam in 1911, Powell River was a major spawning ground for Sockeye Salmon.

By Mina Kerr-Lazenby, North Shore News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A new study examining the historical decline of fish populations in Vancouver waters highlights the detrimental impacts urban development has had on the local environment, and way of life for First Nations communities.

The Rise of Vancouver and the Collapse of Forage Fish, published in December by Western Washington University, tracks the decrease in numbers of ocean forage fish like herring, smelt and eulachon between 1885 and 1920.

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Waste

Poop happens: the debate about waste management is serious

Editor’s note: A lot of communities have problems with poop. The Lower Mainland has ‘aging and poorly engineered or maintained sewers’ that ‘are increasingly at risk of overflowing with raw sewage due to increased demand and more intense rainstorms.’ This is a more individual matter on Cortes and Quadra Islands. However one of the contributing factors to Hague Lake’s algae blooms in 2014 and 15 was leakage from some of the aging septic systems on the shore. A number of articles on the net suggest septic tanks can last 20 – 40 years, depending on how they are maintained. This suggests that a lot of older houses may need to have their septic systems (and tanks) checked and possibly replaced. On Cortes Island, 51% of the houses were built sometime prior to the end of 1990 and 70% before December 31, 2000. The percentage is higher in Area C: 61% and 83%, respectively.

By Sidney Coles, Capital Daily, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Poop and the question of what to do with it seems to be a singularly contentious issue for the CRD and one that has been floating around, in one form or another, for years. It was only in 2017 that Victoria finally decided to stop dumping its raw sewage into the waters off its coast and build the $1B sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point. Now, it has a new problem: What to do with all of the bio-waste that is currently accumulating in its Saanich Hartland landfill?

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Rivers & Oceans

The past holds the key to the future for Skeena sockeye: SFU researcher

Editor’s note: This solution would not work for Chum, the principal salmon species found on Cortes Island. Unlike Coho, Chinook, and Sockeye, Chum do not reside in fresh water for an extended period. The 2022 and 2023 runs in Basil Creek were virtually wiped out because there was not enough water for them to return and spawn.

By Seth Forward, Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Comparing past sockeye populations in the Skeena watershed to their present-day counterparts may hold the key to preserving the species, according to an SFU postdoctoral fellow. 

Michael Price, who resides in Smithers, found in his Ph.D. research that a warming climate is making juvenile Skeena sockeye grow larger and is changing the habitats in which the young fish can thrive. 

Price found that small, warmer and more shallow lakes that juvenile sockeye used to thrive in are now becoming less suitable for the fish, with larger, deeper and colder lakes taking their place as the optimal habitat for sockeye to grow before they make the daunting trip to the ocean. 

Continue reading The past holds the key to the future for Skeena sockeye: SFU researcher →