Tag Archives: Ucluelet

Transportation

From Hitacu to Tofino, new public transit service connects Vancouver Island’s west coast communities

Editors note: It has been a year since the Strathcona Regional District Board instructed staff to examine the feasibility of a weekly, or bi-weekly, transit service from Campbell River to the West Coast of Vancouver Island. This will not have served Cortes and Quadra Islands, which were allowed to opt out of the plan. While there has been periodic discussions of a Cortes to Campbell River transit system, the only vehicle to serve this route is the Klahoose Community Bus. It makes the trip twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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

Tofino, BC – On April 2, the communities of Hitacu, Ucluelet, Tofino, Esowista, Ty-Histanis, and Tofino will be connected through a long-anticipated year-round transit service.

“The ACRD is excited that we can finally offer this essential service to residents on the west coast,” said John Jack, chairperson for the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD), in a press release.  “For too long reliable public transit has been a challenge for people as they struggled to get back and forth to work, school, recreational activities, appointments, or shopping. This service will fill that void, and we look forward to connecting the west coast.”

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Health, Housing, Politics, Transportation

Eby talks transport, toxic drug crisis and short-term rentals at economic summit

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Transportation, short-term rentals and disorder related to the toxic drug crisis in city centres were the top issues raised with Premier David Eby at the State of the Island Economic Summit on Thursday. 

After addressing the crowd at Nanaimo’s conference centre, Eby fielded questions and concerns from business and industry leaders, politicians and communities on the key issues hurting economic development across Vancouver Island. 

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Housing, Poverty

A remote Canadian island makes history in fight for affordable housing

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A remote Canadian island is breaking ground on a new way to buffer the negative effects short-term vacation rentals have on the housing crisis facing small, rural tourism-based communities. 

B.C.’s Cortes Island is making housing history as the first community in the province to tax short-term holiday rentals and have all the funds directed to affordable housing projects, said Mark Vonesch, the area’s Strathcona Regional District director. 

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Cost of Climate Change

Highway wildfire closure drives home B.C.’s need to think big about climate measures

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

British Columbia’s enormous effort to speed the partial reopening of Highway 4 on Vancouver Island — closed for upwards of two weeks due to a wildfire — is another illustration of the dramatic costs tied to climate impacts, says an economist.

“It’s a huge hit to the restaurants, hotels, and all the services that would normally be making money at this time of year and potentially jeopardizes their whole summer,” said Marc Lee, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

“The economic disruption and costs associated with already existing climate change is something that we don’t often think about enough.”

The province’s Transportation Ministry has been pulling out the stops to get the key transportation corridor — the only paved road serving Port Alberni, numerous First Nations and the West Coast tourist hot spots of Ucluelet and Tofino — open to single-lane alternating traffic by the weekend.

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Education, Indigenous Nations

Trauma and hope: Ucluelet Secondary exhibits poems inspired by residential school survivors

By Melissa Renwick, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ucluelet, BC – Ucluelet Secondary School (USS) began preparing for the Legacy of Hope Exhibit within days of welcoming their students back from summer vacation, ahead of the deadline for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30th. 

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