Category Archives: Technology

Tourism, Transportation

BC Ferries frustrates tourists ​– ​but they’re still lining up to come here

Originally published on qathet Living

So far this summer, 18 guests have cancelled their accommodations at the Old Courthouse Inn, due to problems with BC Ferries.

“It would have been many more, but I talked a lot of them down,” explained Kelly Belanger, who has owned the Inn for 11 years, and says he has never seen a summer like this before ​– ​​featuring unpredictable ferry overloads and cancellations.

“Most guests just look at the chaos as it’s being reported on the news, and believe they won’t be able to get here, so they call to cancel. I tell them, ‘No, actually, ferries are usually reliable. Get there two hours before your sailing and you’ll probably get on.’

Continue reading BC Ferries frustrates tourists ​– ​but they’re still lining up to come here →
Transportation

Ferry cancellations on the mid-West Coast became more frequent starting this spring

Originally published on qathet Living

Editor’s note: Tensions boiled over at a recent Sunshine Coast ferry advisory committee meeting (FAC), and a woman said she would ‘take a gun’ to everyone’ if there weren’t changes.  

Each quarter, BC Ferries releases thorough data about ferry cancellations on its website (bcferries.com/in-the-community/resources). Stats are currently available until June of this year; the July through September stats will be released as a full data set in the fall.  

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Transportation

Ferry Advisory Committee: Cortes and Quadra talk to BC Ferries

Cortes Island’s Ferry Advisory committee met (via Webex, a Zoom-like conferencing app) on the afternoon of Wednesday September 27th at 12:30pm. The meeting had originally been scheduled as a “town hall” style event at Mansons Hall; however, at the last minute BC Ferries announced that their FAC meetings would be held online, due to threats of violence from the public.

Though such threatening behaviour seemed unlikely on Cortes Island, BCF’s policy apparently applies across the board. The last-minute change of venue caused some confusion, but approximately thirty people joined the videoconference call on Wednesday (including BC Ferries staff and FAC members).

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Energy, Indigenous Nations

Regulator approves TMX plan to trench through ‘extremely sacred’ Secwépemc site

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Editor’s note: Another example of the conflict between industry and First Nations Sacred sites.

By Aaron Hemens, IndigiNews, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A Secwépemc knowledge-keeper is outraged after Trans Mountain was given approval from Canada’s energy regulator to trench through an important cultural site to build its pipeline expansion — calling the project colonialism personified.

“Evil is putting it lightly,” said Mike McKenzie, who is from Skeetchestn.

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