Woman standing against a green background. The text says Nic Dedeluk - join me in the journey for change
Politics

Nic for North Island, an Interview with The Green Party Candidate

While the Green party has shown promise in the past, especially on Vancouver Island, this has yet to translate into votes on election day. So my biggest question for Nic Dedeluk, the candidate for North Island riding, is why should we vote Green? 

Nick Dedeluk: “The Green Party is running candidates in 69 ridings, but we have six ridings that we are really hopeful will actually get elected. Getting six green MLAs voted in would be really positive for BC politics and holding the other parties accountable to moving forward  in a way that’s better for our environment.” 

An eagle near soaring Campbell River – Photo by marneejill via Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0 )

“We’re not going to form a government, and we’re quite aware of that, but the more green MLAs that we can get elected,  the better it’s going to be for BC. We can work better together with the other parties and the Green Party is well known for holding the other parties accountable to proper action for the needs of the communities rather than for big business. The Green Party is a party that has a four pillar platform that includes thriving people, resilient communities, a flourishing natural world, and good governance.” 


Backlit fluke of a humpback whale – photo by marneejill via Flickr (CC BYSA 2.0)

Cortes Currents: Tell us a little about your life before running in this election.

Nick Dedeluk: “I’m a marine biologist. I moved to the North Island almost 25 years ago. I co-founded a nonprofit organization, Cetus Research and Conservation Society that still exists today, and that is looking at whale vessel interactions and minimizing human impacts on our marine mammals, while enjoying them in the wild.  Straitwatch was a program that I oversaw the creation of in 2003.  I left Cetus in 2011 and I did a short stint with Fisheries and Oceans at the Pacific Coast biological station in Nanaimo. My home is Alert Bay, so that was very difficult for me to be away from my home and my community and in 2013,  I started working for the Namgis First Nation as their aquatic resources manager. Most recently,  through the Namgis, but also a project with the Mamalilikulla and the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis, we transitioned 17 fish farms out of the Broughton Archipelago area,  and that was a transition plan that was agreed upon between the First Nations and MOWI and Cermaq.” 

“One of the skills that I can bring to this riding and with my background is I have a lot of experience working with industry, first Nations, First Nations governments, but also the province and the feds and working on finding solutions that move the industries and activities forward in a way that minimize our impacts on the wildlife and the ecosystem,  trying to keep forward a healthy and  holistic approach to the ecosystem, whether it be marine  or other.”

“This is my first time running, and it was a decision that was made just one month ago.  I don’t know all of the people in our riding, and they don’t know me yet, but I’m going to do meet and greets in our communities, and try to get out there to get to know you, to hear your needs.  I would love to represent you in the legislature.” 

Cortes Currents: According to one study, the extreme weather events of 2021 cost British Columbians somewhere between $11 billion and $17 billion. More than 600 people died in the heat wave that year. That’s jut one example. Extreme weather events are already costing a great deal in terms of economic impact and some people’s health. This is expected to get worse as the average global temperatures continue to rise. What would the Green Party suggest we do about climate change? 

Nic Dedeluk: “I looked at  what the government can do to help with the climate crisis.  A big one is we can commit to a fossil free future.  We can set ambitious climate pollution targets right now.  Governments can reduce methane emissions and prohibit fossil fuel advertising. We can bring in legislation to ban gas in our new building so that our new buildings are more climate friendly.   The government can also make it so that the big polluters are paying.  Right now there’s a lot of subsidies for big polluters and  they should be paying.”

Cortes Currents: Are you talking about banning fossil fuel subsidies? 

Nic Dedluck: “Yes,  right now 65% of their emissions are non taxed. That is basically a subsidy.  If you make all of their emissions taxable,  that would have them paying for the pollution that they are creating. 

Cortes Currents: You mentioned a fossil free future. Can you elaborate on this and how is it possible when both the Conservatives and NDP support fossil fuel industries.   

Nic Dedeluk: “Obviously we’re not going to have a fossil free future tomorrow. It will need a transition plan to have it come into place, but the Green Party is committed to a fossil free future.  Some immediate actions for that is to stop permitting new fracking wells, to prohibit new LNG projects and to stop permitting new pipelines. It would also include a date to phase out gas production in the province and work on a transition plan for other fossil activities that are already underway.” 

Cortes Currents: What steps could the government take to address the housing crisis, especially in rural and remote areas?

Nic Dedeluk: “Another very important issue for our riding and it’s on multiple levels. We don’t have enough units and the units that we have aren’t always safe and healthy. So the Green Party has committed $1.5 billion to produce 26,000 non market units of housing annually. This is a great solution for trying to get housing available. It would be for everyone. It would be working with nonprofits to bring the housing into the communities.” 

“Cortes has multiple ferries to get to Vancouver Island. So the costs and building houses is difficult, and I’m hoping that with this money input into the idea of building these housing units that would also help with the increased challenges of costs to get the materials to our remote areas.”

Nic Dedeluk – Photo frpm facebook page

Cortes Currents: Food prices are just escalating.  The number of people using the food bank appears to have grown dramatically and some of them are coming from out of  province as well. Do you have any solutions for that?  

Nic Dedeluk: “Another very real challenge for our communities is that the distances to get food are long and expensive. Often once the food gets to us, especially with produce, It’s not in its prime condition.” 

“One solution  I’m very supportive of is small local or community gardens, and we’ve had great success in Alert Bay. The Nawalakw Healing Society has funded a community garden on very small plot of land in our small island, and they are producing a lot of vegetables to help sustain our community and also the restaurant on our island.  I think more and more of these can be viable options for food security.” One of the successes that we’ve had with Nawalakw is they were able to get funding for their community garden and that allowed staff to be there looking after it. So it also provided employment for our community and  while not all community gardens may be able to get consistent long term outside funding,  if there’s seed funding to help set up and establish a community garden and then the sale of the produce would be able to sustain the garden in the long run.” 

“That’s been a really great success for our community and I was just in Sointula visiting and they also have a community garden over there.  I’m seeing lots of community gardens in lots of our rural communities.”

Cortes Currents: Did you have a comment on the healthcare crisis? 

Nic Dedeluk: “I don’t have a long answer, but I would love to share it. We have four hospitals on the North Island and two of them frequently have emergency room closures. I thought the health care crisis was a shortage of doctors or a shortage of housing. Unfortunately, as I look more and more into the healthcare crisis, I don’t have a quick fix.  It is a very complex issue that is going to take all the parties working together with the communities and our health care professionals  to solve so that we can provide a better health care and more holistic approach for our communities.”  

Cortes Currents: People living in rural and remote areas often find it hard to obtain a good education for their children. On Cortes Island, for example, there is no high school and it is usually a 3-hour-commute to Campbell River and another 3 hours returning home. Many families left the island so that their children could go to school. Now we have a partial solution, in the Cortes Island Academy, but many rural communities do not have a program like this. Does the Green party have a solution that could bring education into rural communities? 

Nic Dedeluk: “I think that the education one is really important and it’s one that I can relate to coming from Alert Bay. Many of the rural communities in our riding don’t have high schools within their communities and so, there’s long distances for the children to travel to complete their high school.” 

“It sounds like on Cortes you have  an amazing opportunity, the Cortes Academy  that I’ve just recently heard about and would like to learn more about. It sounds like this is a good solution for a limited number of children, but it’s important for all children to have access to a safe and healthy education system.” 

“While I don’t have an immediate solution, the Greens are really committed to making sure all children have access and feel safe in their education environment.”

Cortes Currents: Do you have any final thoughts you want to share?

Nic Dedeluk: “I am not a politician. I am a biologist and I’m running because I’m concerned about the changes that I’m seeing on the North Island, on our island, and in our world in general.  A lot of people are Asking me,  ‘why would you run for the Green Party?’ I’m running because I want to know that I have made a change. I have children, I have grandchildren, and I want to make change for those yet unborn. I want to be an active participant in trying to improve conditions not only our climate and environmental conditions, but we have a housing crisis. As I mentioned, we have a health care crisis. We have lots of challenges in our writing and I want to work actively and positively towards making positive changes for our communities.”

“My campaign right now is really diverse and exciting. I live in Alert Bay and I am right now in the Courtenay area, which is outside of the riding but yesterday I was in Campbell River at a climate action change event for seniors, which was awesome.  Tomorrow I will also be back in the Campbell River area , also meeting with the seniors . The riding takes me from Campbell River all the way. North and over to Cortes and Zeballos. I will actually be coming to Cortes next Monday, October 7th.”

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