Tag Archives: Gov of BC

Forests

BC’s Coastal Forestry Crisis Demands Immediate ActionCommunities Like Campbell River Can’t Wait

Open letter from Kermit Dahl, the Mayor of Campbell River, to Premier David Eby (reprinted as public information)

Dear Premier Eby,
When you reshuffled your cabinet on July 17, you pledged to “protect jobs and the economy” and to “grow a resilient economy.” Those words ring hollow for thousands of coastal forestry workers watching their industry collapse—not from market forces, but from policy paralysis and regulatory misfires.

Since 2019, harvest volumes on the coast have dropped by over 40%. More than 5,400 direct jobs have disappeared since 2022. Mills have closed. Communities have lost critical tax revenue. And the situation is
worsening.

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Communications

Is BC Doing Enough to Protect Workers from AI?

By Isaac Phan Nay, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ten months after being urged to change the labour code to address artificial intelligence, the B.C. government is still considering its response.

In February 2024 the province asked a three-person panel to review the B.C. Labour Relations Code and propose needed changes.

Their report included recommended changes that would give unions more power to require consultation with employers over the introduction of AI tools.

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Energy

B.C. town ‘built by industry’ adjusts to life with LNG

Matt Simmons – The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

For the past few months, the buzz in the small coastal community of Kitimat, B.C., has been all about the flares. 

LNG Canada, the newly completed gas liquefaction and export plant, began firing up its smokestack last fall, lighting the skies with a flame that got as tall as 90 metres at one point. That’s roughly the equivalent of four 18-wheeler trucks, stacked end-to-end on top of each other. It could be seen from more than 50 kilometres away. 

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Indigenous Nations

Squamish Nation regains 20,000 hectares of ancestral land

By Ina Pace, The Squamish Chief, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

For the video, see: https://www.squamishchief.com/local-news/icymi-squamish-nation-regains-20000-hectares-of-ancestral-land-10871229

Two decades of planning and negotiations result in an historic land use agreement with the province.

History was made Thursday with a massive land agreement between the province and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation).

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Animals, Politics

‘No end in sight’ for systematic killing of BC wolves to save caribou

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Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The BC government spent a decade killing wolves to protect caribou. Now, critics warn that despite questions about its effectiveness, ethics and impact on the rest of the environment, the government is moving to make the wolf cull a permanent part of its strategy. 

Launched as a short-term emergency measure in 2015, the decade-long wolf cull is a morally outrageous tactic to divert public attention from the root cause of caribou declines — the province’s failure to significantly address habitat destruction — said Pacific Wild co-founder Ian McAllister.

“Wolves are just paying the ultimate price for total government negligence, and there’s no end in sight,” he said.  

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