Tag Archives: Michelle Gamage

Politics

Inside Election Night’s Drama

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As an atmospheric river settled over much of the Lower Mainland, the lights flickered off at six polling stations in Kamloops, Langley and some Gulf Islands. Water coursed down streets in Deep Cove and West Vancouver, and cars were submerged in Burnaby.

It was a fittingly dramatic end to the strangest and nastiest election in recent B.C. history. The campaign was marked with warnings about extremism, communism and climate change denial, leading to a uniquely polarizing election campaign.

At The Tyee, we braved the rain to head out to the parties’ headquarters and watch the results arrive. This is the first year electronic tabulators were used to count votes, meaning results — like the weather — flooded in.

Continue reading Inside Election Night’s Drama →
Housing

Unhoused People Struggle with ‘Street Feet’ in Rainy Vancouver

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in the Tyee, which gives a warning about the photos you see above (and puts them in the text below). When people cannot dry their feet out for a prolonged period of time, they get what some of our WWI grandfathers and great grandfathers called ‘trench foot.’

This report is from Vancouver, but probably also applicable in our area. The 2023 ‘Point in Time counts‘ found 197 ‘house challenged’ people in Campbell River, 272 in the the Comox Valley, and 126 in Powell River. There is less data about rural areas, but 11 of the respondents to the 2022 ‘Collecting Stories Of Where You Live’ survey on Cortes Island reported they had been ‘unsheltered’ at some point during the year. There were fewer respondents in Area C (which includes Quadra, Read and other Discovery Islands), where the number was 12.

Even more alarming, the number of ‘homeless’ people appears to be growing. 32% of the respondents to the Campbell River ‘Point in Time’ count said they had been ‘unsheltered’ for less than a year. There were actually 81 more people on the streets than in the 2021 count. Similar increases were reported in the Comox Valley, Parksville/Qualicum, Port Alberni and Sechelt/Gibsons. (This was the first ‘Point in Time’ count in Powell River, so there are no previous numbers for a comparison.) When people were asked why they were unsheltered, the #1 response in every one of these ‘Point in Time’ counts was they could not afford to pay for housing.

There are far larger numbers of people spending more of their than income than they can reasonably afford (i.e. +30%) for rent or mortgages. According to the 2021 census, 47% of the renters on Cortes Island and 38% of the renters in Campbell River and Electoral Area C are vulnerable. Roughly 15% of the home owners in these three communities are also considered to be ‘at risk.’

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In the winter and spring, unhoused people in Vancouver struggle with something known anecdotally as “street feet.”

It happens when the rain soaks your socks and shoes and you’re unable to clean and dry your feet regularly, sometimes leaving them damp for months on end.

Continue reading Unhoused People Struggle with ‘Street Feet’ in Rainy Vancouver →
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.

Continue reading Chewing on Solutions to BC’s Dental Shortage →
Politics

The BC Greens Are Coming for Adrian Dix’s MLA Seat

Editor’s note: A very disturbing report about BC’s health care system; one man’s attempt to address it politically.

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A former top B.C. pediatric heart surgeon who joined the BC Greens is running for MLA in Vancouver-Renfrew (formerly known as Vancouver-Kingsway), a seat currently held by NDP Health Minister Adrian Dix.

Dr. Sanjiv Gandhi left his career as a pediatric cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon at B.C. Children’s Hospital early this year after publishing critiques of hospitals and the Health Ministry’s response to COVID-19.

He joined the BC Greens as second deputy leader and announced his candidacy Thursday.

Continue reading The BC Greens Are Coming for Adrian Dix’s MLA Seat →
Health

BC’s Rural Emergency Room Crisis

An alarming trend to watch.

Editor’s note: During a protest over closures at North Island ERs, Adriane Gear VP of the BC Nurses Union told CHEK NEWS, “Our nurses are very worried. The Campbell River Hospital, I understand at any given time could be at 140%, 145% capacity, and at the same time there’s maybe only 60% to 70% of the nurses that would be normally scheduled to work.”  

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The province’s emergency rooms are in crisis.

ERs across the Lower Mainland have made the news for being at capacity and past their breaking points. This overcrowding led to the death of an infant in 2020 and a senior in 2022.

Doctors have even been urging people to stay away and seek help elsewhere. In the Lower Mainland one in 10 patients are leaving ERs without seeing a doctor, according to reporting by CTV. 

Continue reading BC’s Rural Emergency Room Crisis →