Port Alberni receives $400k for homeless

Provincial and federal funding will allow vulnerable people to have greater access to local services for support

By Karly Blats Ha-Shilth-Sa Contributor

Port Alberni, BC - The City of Port Alberni has been granted more than $440,000 in joint provincial and federal funding for a multi-faceted approach to improving the health and safety of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness in the area. The funding will allow vulnerable people in Port Alberni to have greater access to local services which will help tackle homelessness as the community recovers from the impacts of the pandemic, said Josie Osborne, MLA for Mid-Island Pacifi c Rim and minister of municipal aff airs, in a press release. “People in Port Alberni work hard every day to make our community a brighter, more welcoming place to live,” Osborne said. “We’re supporting the city’s work to connect vulnerable people with important services, and working towards a community where everyone is safe and healthy.” Osborne says this investment is part of the Union of BC Municipalities’ (UBCM) Strengthening Communities Program which is providing support to 48 communities across B.C. Over $76 million will support local governments to combat the impacts of homelessness and keep their communities safe and healthy as they

Photo by Karly Blats The City of Port Alberni has received more than $400,000 in funding for improving the health and safety of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness in the area. recover from the pandemic. “Local governments have been on the front lines of the pandemic, supporting communities and continuing to provide critical services when people need them most,” Osborne said. “These grants will provide local governments with a much-needed boost to continue vital services that were strained because of the pandemic. This is another StrongerBC program focused on making life better for people and ensuring communities emerge from the pandemic even stronger than before.” Port Alberni city council voted to apply for this funding at a council meeting back in April. City CAO Tim Pley said the municipality’s goal is that city council will receive a staff report on the grant funding at their next meeting on Sept. 7. At that time council will consider issuing a Request for Proposals for groups and agencies to undertake one or more of the following scopes of work: Provide seven day-a-week coverage for a 12-month period for homeless liaison staffi ng to attend at interactions between homeless people and city staff and/or RCMP. The purpose of this coverage is to represent the needs of the homeless in those interactions and connect the homeless person with support agencies Temporary employment for homeless people providing value to the participants and the community Outreach programming for homeless youth Operate a Drop In Center complete with washrooms, showers and laundry facilities Pley said more details for these projects will be provided when council receives a staff report on Sept. 7.

Google Maps

A small wildfi re was discovered near Bamfi eld on Aug. 12. Small wildfi re controlled

By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A wildfi re near Poett Nook was soon considered low risk after a Western Forest Products fi re watch crew responded by applying 1,200 gallons of water to the blaze Aug. 12, according to a release by Huu-ay-aht First Nation. The 10-square metre ground fi re occurred on treaty settlement lands that are under a standing timber purchase agreement with Western Forest Products, near Bamfi eld. “The crew watched the fi re location Thursday evening to ensure it did not re-ignite, with 1,000 gallons of water on site,” read the release. Currently, the fi re danger rating in the Coastal Fire Centre area is high to extreme, meaning new fi res will start easily, spread rapidly, and challenge fi refi ghting eff orts. On Friday, Aug. 13. Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for West Vancouver Island warning about air quality. “Many regions of southern and central B.C. are being impacted or are likely to be impacted by wildfi re smoke over the next 24 [to] 48 hours,” read the statement. “Wildfi re smoke is a natural part of our environment, but it is important to be mindful that exposure to smoke may aff ect your health.” Smoke was drifting from the interior of B.C. as well as from the U.S., which currently has fi res along the west coast, says the B.C. wildfi re service. As of Aug. 24, there were 246 wildfi res burning in B.C., contributing to a total of 862,782 hectares that have burned since April 1. “Wildfi re smoke is a constantly-changing mixture of particles and gases which includes many chemicals that can harm your health,” says Environment Canada. As a heatwave swept across the province in mid August, with daytime highs ranging from 29 to 35 degrees Celsius, hot and dry conditions were expected to increase wildfi re risk. To report a wildfi re, you can call: 1-800663-5555 or *5555 on a cell . Blair Park 5905 Pineo Rd

Citing an imbalance in the food chain, research calls the animals’ Species at Risk Act designation into question

By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A new study has found that coastal Indigenous communities have managed their relationship with shellfi sh and sea otters for millennia. Written by Erin Slade, Iain McKechnie and Anne K. Salomon, the research challenges widely held assumptions about historical sea otter populations and is calling Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) into question. Longstanding claims by Indigenous communities argue that the protection of sea otters under SARA not only interferes with traditional harvesting practices, but also creates an imbalance within ecosystems that have been managed for thousands of years. Through archaeological and ethnographic evidence, the report determined that hunting and management practices of Indigenous communities regulated sea otter populations near human settlements, reducing the pinnipeds’ negative impacts on shared shellfi sh resources. “It kind of shifts the way that a lot of people think about ecosystems,” said Slade. While humans are commonly associated with negative ecosystem impacts, the recent graduate of Simon Fraser University’s School of Resource and Environmental Management said that hasn’t always been the case. “It continues to be that humans can have positive interactions with ecosystems and really are a part of them,” she said. The sea otter fur trade began in the 1700s when the fi rst pelts were traded to Captain James Cook from the village of Yuquot in Nootka Sound. Sought after for their dense fur, which sold for vast profi ts in China and Europe, the species were widely hunted and extirpated. Their worldwide population dropped from 300,000 in the 18th and 19th centuries to fewer than 2,000 by the early 1900s, and the last verifi ed sea otter on B.C.’s coast was shot near Kyuquot in 1929, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. In response, DFO translocated 89 sea otters from Amchitka and Prince William Sound, Alaska, to Checleset Bay on the west coast of Vancouver Island between 1969 and 1972. They were designated as a species of special concern in 2009, following an assessment by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada in 2007, said DFO. “They are listed under the Species at Risk Act because they may become threatened or endangered,” said DFO. “Their susceptibility to oil and the proximity to major oil tanker routes make them particularly vulnerable to oil spills.” Despite that, the species has since repopulated to total of 8,110 sea otters, according to a range-wide survey of the B.C. coast in 2017. “It has since repopulated a portion of its historic range in British Columbia, but is not yet clearly secure,” stated DFO. “Population numbers remain small and require careful monitoring.” Prior to the fur trade, Slade said sea otters fl ourished alongside mussel beds, abalone, sea urchins and clam populations for thousands of years. “But what we’re seeing right now with the reintroduction of sea otters and the species at risk management of sea otters is that [they] are decimating shellfi sh

Photo by Kevin Head Sea otters are eff ective predators who eat 20 per cent of their body weight each day. After becoming extinct 50 years ago, their numbers on the B.C. coast have reached over 8,100, thanks to a translocation from Alaska.

Photos by Melissa Renwick The sun sets over the Hesquiaht Harbour, on Wednesday, June 24, 2020. populations.” Dianne Ignace has been living in the Hesquiaht Harbour since 1975 and attributes the reintroduction of sea otters to the decline of shellfi sh and sea urchins in the region. “They cleaned out the harbour of a lot of resources,” she said. “There are no more clams. The clams are all gone.” Sea otters eat around 20 per cent of their body weight each day and without the ability to manage populations, Tseshaht First Nation elected chief Ken Watts said that shellfi sh abundance is being impacted. “[The study] solidifi es what we’ve always known,” he said. “We need to be a part of [ecosystem] management because we’ve been managing our territories since time immemorial.” Huu-ay-aht First Nation Hereditary Chief Hup-in-Yook (Tom Mexis Happynook) helped advise the research and said the removal of First Nations from ecosystem management has “made everything go out of balance.” “These policies removed us from our responsibility within our territories as caretakers of our food sources,” he said. Too often, Slade said policy making occurs at a level that is separate from those who are most aff ected by it. “The management of sea otters can occur in a way that doesn’t mean that sea otter populations are going to be at risk,” she said. “What I see as being positive about this kind of interaction and management is that it is driven by the people who also rely on those resources and is informed by their interactions.” The study raises broader questions around reconciliation and natural resource policy, said Salomon. “Who should hold the authority, responsibility, and accountability to manage our relationship with sea otters specifi cally, and nature more broadly?” she questioned. “We need to confront the legacy of colonialism in our laws and policies, in our scientifi c process, and our own cultural norms and values.” DFO said that the Canadian government acknowledges the need to “access and incorporate Indigenous knowledge in meaningful and respectful ways.” When making decisions about sea otter management, DFO said its priority is to ensure that the “best available information” is refl ected, including science and Indigenous knowledge. “Management plans for species of special concern, such as sea otters, are prepared in cooperation with the jurisdictions responsible for the management of the species, including directly aff ected wildlife management boards and Indigenous groups,” said DFO. The federal government acknowledges the need to access and respectfully incorporate Indigenous knowledge when creating ecosystem management systems, said DFO. “Work is underway at a national level to develop processes for how DFO receives Indigenous knowledge and applies it to inform decision making,” said the department. “As part of these processes, some First Nations off er Indigenous knowledge which is taken into consideration in both scientifi c and management approaches.” Iain McKechnie is an archeologist and assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Victoria who has been working in the Broken Group Islands onand-off since 2001. Generally speaking, McKechnie said “there’s not a lot of archaeology happening.” “There’s a lost opportunity to learn more about how ancient communities dealt with marine resource management,” he said. “Because there’s not a lot of work that’s happening on that topic, there’s a lot of assumptions that modern science makes about Indigenous impacts and Indigenous histories.” While McKechnie said the “tide is turning” in terms of Indigenous sovereignty, he hopes the study will encourage conversations around access to livelihoods and the “ability for nations to make decisions for themselves with respect to marine resources.” “There’s a lot of opportunity for people to start being more participatory in choosing to draw on history and how we can continue to co-exist with our ocean spaces and tenure systems like the Ha’wiih hereditary rights to harvest,” he said. “Those are important governance practices that really could be re-implemented and recognized.”

Over her life in Hesquiaht Harbour, Dianne Ignace has seen the decline of shellfi sh due to growing numbers of sea otters.

Photo by Melissa Renwick A line-up gathers outside Tacofi no food truck at lunchtime in Tofi no on Aug. 24. Despite daily Highway 4 road closures and the ongoing pandemic, the resort town has seen a particularly busy summer.