There are currently seven liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in various stages of proposal, planning and construction in B.C. 

To feed those facilities, B.C. is anticipating an explosion in the amount of fracking in the province’s northeast at the same time as it’s trying to get a handle on one of the gas industry’s worst climate offenders: methane emissions. 

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a climate warming potential 25 times that of carbon dioxide on a 100-year timescale. Global efforts are underway to curtail methane emissions, and as a part of Canada’s international commitments, B.C. set a goal of reducing provincial methane emissions 45 per cent by 2025, compared to 2014 levels.

But trying to meet that target at the same time as pursuing B.C.’s LNG ambitions sounds like wishful thinking to scientist John Werring, who ran for the Green Party in Surrey Centre in the last federal election.

“With the anticipated amount of fracking proposed over the next 10 or 15 years to supply the liquid natural gas industry, I don’t think we will ever catch up,” Werring told The Narwhal. 

LNG Canada, the province’s largest LNG facility currently under construction in Kitimat, is expected to double fracking operations in B.C., according to the province. The much smaller proposed Cedar LNG facility is expected to require 5,276 new wells to be fracked in northeast B.C. over the next 30 years, based on calculations from the Wilderness Committee.

But just how great of a challenge it will be to contain methane emissions from growing fracking operations is difficult to ascertain because of a lack of monitoring and baseline data.

Data gaps plague study of methane emissions in B.C.

Just how bad fugitive methane emissions are in B.C. is notoriously difficult to pin down.

“We’re pretty shocked at the lack of data and research that has been done,” Sonia Furstenau, Cowichan Valley Green Party MLA, told The Narwhal.

“You can’t properly measure or understand outcomes of efforts being undertaken if you’re not doing that data collection, research and analysis right.” In 2017, Werring used infrared cameras and gas detection equipment to estimate methane emissions from oil and gas operations in B.C.’s Peace Region and found they were 2.5 times greater than the province reported.

At the time of Werring’s research, B.C. reported 78,000 tonnes of annual fugitive methane emissions across the province. 

Methane emissions made visible through a FLIR imaging camera at oil and gas sites across northeast B.C. The footage was made public by Earthworks and the David Suzuki Foundation. Video: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

But Werring and his team documented 111,800 tonnes of fugitive emissions were released from production in the Montney basin alone, where roughly 55 per cent of the province’s oil and gas activity occurs.

Werring said there are still major gaps in knowledge when it comes to understanding methane emissions in B.C., including who the biggest emitters are.

“We don’t know what needs to be done to control these emissions to the degree necessary to save the planet because we’re going to continue to drill and drill to create more and more wells,” said Werring, adding inactive and orphan wells are big contributors to methane leaks. 

B.C. methane research team assigned to tackle knowledge gaps

In the spring of 2019, the B.C. government formed a methane research group — which includes the BC Oil and Gas Commission, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and the Pembina Institute, among others — to help the province prepare to meet its targets.

Earlier this month, after one year of strategizing, the team announced the details of a research plan aimed at getting a clearer picture of the methane emissions problem.

Ken Paulson, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of the BC Oil and Gas Commission, called the plan a “significant milestone” in a statement.

Karen Tam Wu, B.C.’s regional director for Pembina Institute, told The Narwhal the research team will review discrepancies between provincial tallies of methane emissions and what current research shows.

According to the collective’s research plan, comparing studies on methane emissions can be challenging as definitions differ.

For example, “fugitive emissions” are defined by the federal greenhouse gas reporting program as all sources of flaring, venting and leakage emissions. The province only categorizes unintentional leaks as “fugitive emissions” and categorizes vented emissions as intentional.

One of the research group’s goals is to come to a better understanding of methane emissions and where they are being emitted, Tam Wu said. 

This Vigilante Scientist Trekked Over 10,000 Kilometres to Reveal B.C.’s Leaking Gas Wells

B.C.’s methane emissions amounted to an estimated 8.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2017, according to a spokesperson from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. That’s the equivalent of 1,724,724 vehicles on the road for one year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions calculator. The vast majority of those emissions, according to the research group, are from industrial venting of gases and leaky infrastructure. 

Tam Wu said part of the research group’s plan is to identify better technologies and methods to deal with the problem, adding B.C. is ahead of Alberta and Saskatchewan, which rely on many older oil and gas wells for production. 

But the LNG industry will require the drilling of thousands of new wells for fracking.

“We’re encouraging things like creating incentives for zero-emissions equipment, not just low carbon or low emissions,” she said.

David Hughes, an earth scientist and one of the nation’s top energy experts, said it’s possible to cut methane emissions by 45 per cent through better technology and rigorous regulation, but doubling gas production for LNG exports will mean those methane emissions reductions will only amount to a 22.5 per cent cut overall. 

“If you’re going to increase production because of LNG exports, then the total amount of methane you have to reduce becomes larger,” he said. 

Hughes added that even if the current methane emissions numbers were accurate, they would still be significant from a climate perspective — and a growing LNG industry will only make things worse. 

“It really makes reducing emissions to the level they want hopeless, even if every [other] part of the economy goes to zero.”

In an email to The Narwhal, a spokesperson for the BC Oil and Gas Commission wrote that as regulators of industry, they have many experts to contribute to the effort “to ensure robust regulatory oversight.” 

The commission estimates $2 million will be spent over the next two years on research. 

This is in addition to the federal government’s new $750-million emissions reduction fund, to be distributed among the provinces and territories. B.C. is the first province to announce a research collaborative.

LNG Canada’s director of corporate affairs, Susannah Pierce, told The Narwhal in an email that the company acknowledges reducing methane emissions is “a critical part of managing climate change” and supports the research. Coastal GasLink declined to provide comment to The Narwhal. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, also a member of the research collaborative, both referred The Narwhal to the BC Oil and Gas Commission for comment.

Methane emissions not under carbon tax

Werring said he isn’t convinced of the usefulness of new guidelines that came into effect Jan. 1 under B.C.’s drilling and production regulations to more accurately detect leaks.

Those rules only apply to new wells, Werring said, while existing wells don’t have to be repaired for at least another three years.

A recent study of B.C.’s well database found 11 per cent of the province’s oil and gas wells were leaking. That study found wells in B.C.’s four major shale gas plays were together releasing 14,000 cubic metres of methane per day. 

That is more than double the leakage rate of 4.6 per cent in Alberta.

Northeast B.C. has been a major centre of conventional oil and gas production since the 1960s but is now the epicentre of a growing fracking industry. A recent study examined more than 21,000 active and abandoned wells in a B.C. database and found 11 per cent of them had reported a leak. Photo: Garth Lenz / The Narwhal

As The Narwhal previously reported, there are more than 11,000 inactive fracking wells in B.C. that have yet to be decommissioned and cleaned up. There are roughly 7,700 oil and gas wells that are considered dormant, meaning they have been inactive for five consecutive years and are unlikely to return to service. 

There are 348 orphan wells across the province, but that number is expected to double this year.

As new wells are drilled to meet LNG demands, the number of unattended wells is expected to rise dramatically. 

Werring said modern drill sites can now house up to 20 wells, further undermining the aims of using improved technology to limit emissions. 

“Sure, there’s a significant reduction there on each well, but now multiply that by 20. Where’s your savings?”

Werring also criticized the B.C. government for being all too quick to make exceptions for industry in backroom arrangements, especially when it comes to advancing the lauded economic benefits of LNG.

“Industry knows they’re the problem, but they’re not going to bring a solution unless their hands are tied behind their back and they’re forced to walk the plank.”

Fracked gas development in northeast B.C. near Farmington. New drill sites can house numerous wells, some of which are fracked multiple times in different directions underground. Photo: Garth Lenz / The Narwhal

Methane emissions are exempt from B.C.’s carbon tax, so while some technology exists to prevent leaks, there has been little incentive for industry to clean up aging infrastructure.

In the memorandum of understanding signed between the B.C. Greens and NDP to cooperate in governing B.C., the two parties committed to broadening the carbon tax to capture fugitive emissions. That has not happened yet.

Tam Wu said she is concerned about the potential for certain industry players to receive a free pass when it comes to methane.

She pointed out that LNG Canada received significant government subsidies in the past, including carbon tax exemptions estimated at a value to the company of over $150 million a year.

The methane research group’s work is focused solely on upstream operations — companies that extract or produce oil and gas — meaning facilities like LNG Canada are off the hook as an end-use, downstream facility.

If government wants to reach its methane target, Furstenau said, it needs to stop subsidizing oil and gas.

Political leaders should ultimately accept that oil and gas are non-renewable resources, so money should be put “into what you want to see as your future,” Furstenau said.

“We have a duty and a responsibility to future generations to stop driving climate change at the rate that we have been.”

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Kitimat is no stranger to large-scale industry, but this resource town is now considering a project with a twist: a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal on its own fabricated island.

Originally built as an industry town to service the Alcan (now Rio Tinto) aluminum smelter, Kitimat has become a central location for some of the biggest industrial projects in B.C., including the LNG Canada export terminal, which will be fed by the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The Haisla Nation, a staunch supporter of the LNG Canada project, is proposing to build and operate its own facility and one of North America’s first-ever floating LNG terminals: Cedar LNG. With phase one of the project planned for 2022 and operations to commence in 2025, the project is in the pre-application phase for a B.C. environmental assessment certificate. A public comment period will soon be announced. 

In January, the federal government approved a request from the B.C. government to conduct a provincial environmental impact assessment of Cedar LNG, meaning this novel facility — with potential impacts to the climate and marine habitat — will not undergo federal review. 

Here’s what you need to know about the proposal.

1. Wait, what? This is a floating LNG terminal? Explain. 

With little flat land left along Kitimat’s mountainous shoreline, Cedar LNG plans to build 500 metres out into the Douglas Channel, a deep-water fjord. The Haisla-owned company would construct one or possibly two jetty-moored dock facilities for a marine terminal to feed export tankers bound primarily for Asia.

The facility would sit in the Kitimat Arm, just 10 kilometres southwest of Kitimat’s town centre and across the water from the Haisla’s Kitimaat Village. 

The proposed facility would pre-treat, liquify and transfer LNG onto vessels — all on the manufactured industrial island.

Maps from Cedar LNG’s project description showing both a one-jetty option and a two-jetty option for the project. Image: Cedar LNG

A detailed project description produced by the Haisla notes the “LNG production unit will be permanently moored to a marine jetty that will either be constructed on traditional marine piles or as a floating structure permanently anchored to the foreshore.”

The final design of the facility will be determined “as engineering design evolves” and will be more fully described in the project’s environmental permit application. 

While there are a handful of other floating LNG proposals in North America — including Woodfibre LNG, which has proposed to store gas in a floating storage and offloading unit in Squamish — there are only two active floating LNG terminals in the world: one in Australia and the other in Malaysia.

2.What will the Cedar LNG plant do?

The plant would take fracked gas from B.C.’s northeast and cool it to -162 C — about 1/600 of its previous volume — for shipment via tankers. 

When it reaches its destination, LNG can be converted back into gas for redistribution through pipelines where it’s used for heating, electricity and industrial production. 

Cedar LNG proposes to produce between three and four million tonnes of LNG annually, enough to fill 40 to 50 LNG carriers. 

These carriers, as long as six football fields, will travel to Cedar LNG using a shipping route that begins in the Hecate Strait and passes into the Browning Entrance, where a specialized pilot will navigate the Douglas Channel and moor the vessel near Kitimat.

The facility would also have the capacity to store 250,000 cubic metres of LNG in tanks also floating on site.

A map showing the route LNG carriers will take to access the Cedar LNG facility. Image: Cedar LNG

3. Does Cedar LNG have anything to do with the Coastal GasLink pipeline?

Cedar LNG’s plan is to receive gas from the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The project description notes that “natural gas will be delivered to the Cedar LNG Project Area by a 20-inch diameter, approximately eight-kilometre-long pipeline.”

Coastal GasLink, a subsidiary of TC Energy (formerly TransCanada Pipelines) says it is building the pipeline for the LNG Canada project — the only LNG project of the seven proposed in B.C. that is currently under construction — which is located on Haisla territory. 

To understand B.C.’s push for the Coastal GasLink pipeline, think fracking, LNG Canada and the Site C dam

4. Why does the Haisla Nation want its own LNG terminal?

The Haisla note that significant industrial development has taken place on Haisla land, but without the nation’s ownership.

Cedar LNG “is a key element of the Haisla Nation economic and social development strategy and will further advance reconciliation by allowing Haisla Nation to — for the first time ever — directly own and participate in a major industrial development in its territory,” the nation writes in the project description.

Cedar LNG is viewed by the community as a pathway toward “economic reconciliation” for the Haisla Nation in keeping with B.C.’s new legislation to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which  states Indigenous communities have the right to “determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources.”

Profits from the project, anticipated to create 350 to 500 jobs at peak construction, would be invested in the Haisla community. Once operating, the project would employ 70 to 100 people full time. 

The land and water lot proposed for the location of Cedar LNG are within the asserted traditional territory of the Haisla Nation. 

The Haisla Nation was unable to provide comment by time of publication.

5. What are the climate impacts of Cedar LNG?

The climate impacts of LNG are significant — LNG Canada is set to become B.C.’s single largest source of emissions.

In order to cool natural gas to a temperature where it liquifies, LNG plants need to power massive compressors. 

The full climate impacts of an LNG operation are determined in part by how those compressor units are powered. 

Cedar LNG says if power can be obtained from the BC Hydro grid, the project will create 186,000 tonnes of emissions per year. That’s the equivalent of putting more than 40,000 passenger vehicles on the road for one year.

But, if the project is required to self-generate power from natural gas, that figure jumps to an annual estimate of 840,800 tonnes, the equivalent of more than 180,000 vehicles on the road for a year.

And that’s before the upstream climate impacts of natural gas extraction from fracking — including the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas — are considered.

In a submission during the public comment period for the project’s exemption from federal review, the Wilderness Committee called into question the methodology used to tabulate Cedar LNG’s emissions.

“Wilderness Committee also questions the methodology of the proponent in detailing only the greenhouse gas emissions generated at the Cedar LNG facility while ignoring the significant methane emissions of increased fracking activity required to supply the project,” states the submission by climate campaigner Peter McCartney and conservation and policy campaigner Charlotte Dawe.

Using a shale scenario tool created by the Pembina Institute, McCartney and Dawe calculate the gas feed for the Cedar LNG project would require 5,276 new wells to be fracked in northeast B.C. over the next 30 years.

Based on that calculation, McCartney and Dawe found the upstream emissions (those resulting from producing the natural gas) associated with the Cedar LNG project would be 997,050 tonnes — or, they write, “close to six times the projected emissions of a grid-powered facility.”

6. Are there other environmental concerns with Cedar LNG?

In the company’s project description, the Cedar LNG site area is characterized as coastal coniferous forests and deep marine waters that are home to a wide variety of wildlife species.

Species of conservation concern have been documented in the area as well, including the grizzly bear, western screech owl and coastal tailed frog. 

The Wilderness Committee notes it is concerned about “the site footprint’s overlap with critical habitat for the endangered marbled murrelet.” The group notes that under normal circumstances under Canada’s Species At Risk Act, “any federally reviewed project that would adversely impact critical habitat requires further environmental review to determine if these impacts are significant.”

At the proposed location of the floating terminal, kelp and eelgrass provide important seasonal habitat for fish. Species such as salmon, herring and eulachon pass through during spawning season. Whales and sea lions also commonly reside in the Douglas Channel. 

In another submitted comment, the conservation group My Sea to Sky notes dredging and construction of the Cedar LNG project is likely to have significant marine impacts.

“The project will impact marine life, both in the Douglas Channel and on the west coast of B.C.,” the group writes. “This includes near-shore noise and water quality effects on cetaceans and local herring-spawn and salmonid-spawning areas, along with effects of noise and tanker traffic on endangered northern resident and transient orca populations.”

Cedar LNG’s description notes the plant’s continuous noise and light levels will likely cause sensory disturbance and displacement to wildlife.

7. Why isn’t the Cedar LNG project undergoing a federal environmental assessment?

In August 2019, Cedar LNG submitted basic project descriptions to both the provincial (the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office) and federal governments (the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada).

In September, B.C. asked the federal government for permission to substitute a provincial environmental assessment for the federal one. 

The federal government in turn requested Cedar LNG submit a summary of the available project information to determine whether a full federal impact assessment was necessary. The federal government also held a one-month public comment period from late September to late October 2019. 

In January 2020, the federal government approved B.C.’s request for a substituted process. 

During the public comment period, a number of Indigenous nations and conservation organizations expressed concern that the project will not undergo a federal review, especially given that the floating LNG facility will affect the ocean — an area monitored and regulated by the federal government.

A spokesperson for the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada told The Narwhal via email that certain conditions have been set by the federal minister for the province to assess, including requirements the province assess greenhouse gas emissions and the potential effects of marine shipping activities.

In an email to the Narwhal, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy wrote that if the project moves ahead to construction, it will “have regulatory oversight from various provincial and federal government agencies with appropriate expertise.” 

8. How will Cedar LNG affect air quality and human health in Kitimat?

The B.C. government claims that “with proper management, Kitimat’s airshed can safely accommodate new industrial growth.” Local resident Lis Stannus said she is concerned about the cumulative air quality impacts of increasing industrial facilities in Kitimat, especially after a modernization project that increased the sulphur dioxide emissions from the Rio Tinto smelter. 

“The Cedar LNG project is now the third LNG project under proposition in the Kitimat Valley and these projects are in addition to Rio Tinto’s existing aluminum smelting plant,” Stannus wrote to the federal government in a submission.

She pointed out that the emissions from the Cedar LNG project seem disproportionately high for the size of the project and added that “residents of Kitimat and surrounding areas have higher rates of asthma and respiratory related illness than the B.C. average.” 

The Metlakatla Stewardship Society voiced similar concerns, noting the airshed currently has above-threshold emission levels from existing industry. 

The Ministry of Environment told The Narwhal that the air quality impacts of the Cedar LNG project will be assessed and that any assessment undertaken will consider both existing and foreseeable projects in the Kitimat airshed. 

There are also concerns associated with the increase in fracking the project would require. 

Two physicians on behalf of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (B.C.) submitted comments referencing recent studies that show higher incidences of respiratory disease, cancers and illness in newborn babies close to fracking operations in the province. 

Also weighing in on the climate crisis, the physicians pointed out that Canada has not reduced its carbon footprint over the past 20 years and that the Cedar LNG project will make reaching greenhouse gas targets more difficult.

“Building more LNG facilities will make this goal impossible,” they said.

9. Is there a market for Cedar LNG?

In the Cedar LNG project description, the Haisla Nation said the facility will serve growing demand for LNG in Asia and Europe, as many countries transition off coal.

“Over the last decade, global demand for LNG has steadily increased in Asia and Europe. According to British Columbia’s Natural Gas Strategy, this growth is expected to continue as countries pursue alternatives to diesel and coal to support cleaner electricity generation, heating and transportation requirements.”

But overproduction, warmer winters and now the COVID-19 pandemic have dramatically impacted the global LNG industry, with pricing hitting unprecedented lows.

As The Narwhal recently reported, at least 10 global LNG projects, including projects from Australia to Senegal, have been put on hold over the past month due to coronavirus and clogged supply chains. 

And there’s no guarantee LNG will displace coal. As the Pembina Institute has pointed out, LNG from B.C. would also have to compete with low-carbon sources of energy, including nuclear, hydro, solar and wind.

What rock-bottom natural gas prices mean for Canada’s aspiring LNG industry

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

A wildfire near Kitimat in northwest B.C. has been classified as “out of control” by the BC Wildfire Service after growing from 15 to 40 hectares overnight. Firefighters suspect it was caused by human activity. The Bish Creek wildfire, located approximately 10 kilometres southwest of Kitimat, has nearly 40 firefighters and two helicopters fighting to contain it as it continues to burn through cutblocks left behind by former logging operations. 

Kitimat’s fire chief Trent Bossence told The Narwhal the Bish Creek area is an important logging area that is commonly used by locals for recreational activities. He was first on site to investigate after people reported concerns Sunday afternoon. 

“It’s definitely a fairly aggressive fire. There was a lot of smoke and it did seem to move fairly quickly once it got going,” he said. 

The BC Wildfire Service took over the response and local fire departments, including Kitimat and Terrace, are on standby. The Kitimat area is currently under a danger class rating of high as hot and windy weather carry the wildfire. The likelihood of the blaze spreading into residential neighbourhoods is low, but the commercial industry is on watch, said Bossence, noting that the Kitimat LNG site is close to the wildfire.

The Bish Creek wildfire is located along the forest services road near the Kitimat LNG facility. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

Warmer-than-usual temperatures this past week likely resulted in drier conditions in the cutblocks, said Bossence. He does not believe industrial workers are responsible for the wildfire. 

“It was started in an area where there was no logging activity or no building activity, so we’re confident it wasn’t caused by construction work or logging operations,” he said, adding there were no storms or reports of lightning. 

“We can only assume that it was caused by other means of human activity.”

With COVID-19 restrictions limiting access to provincial parks, more people have been visiting the Bish Creek area this year, he said.

Although the investigation is ongoing, Bossence said the wildfire likely started after someone didn’t properly extinguish their campfire or cigarette. Target shooting is also a popular activity that could have sparked it. 

He added old, dry logs left behind in cutblocks by logging companies may have fuelled the fire or contributed to its growth. 

The Bish Creek wildfire on the afternoon of May 11. Photo: District of Kitimat

The BC Wildfire Service wrote in a press release that “high, gusty winds and warm temperatures, expected to continue through Wednesday, are challenging control efforts.” 

Bossence said wildfires aren’t common in the Kitimat-Terrace area as the north coast tends to have a wet climate, but local fire departments have been warned their wildfire season might be a bad one.

A separate, smaller wildfire was extinguished on Copper Mountain near Terrace this past Sunday. 

According to the Terrace Standard, the Copper Mountain fire was reported in the afternoon and was extinguished by the early evening.

Terrace’s fire chief Dave Jephson said conditions will be “drier than normal.” For Jephson, these wildfires serve as a reminder for locals to be vigilant as some have grown relaxed after not experiencing wildfires for a while. “We’ve dodged a bullet for many years here in our area.”

“When we’re in fire season, everybody should be double-checking where they live and pre-planning [an escape] because those wildfires can travel 40 kilometres in a day.”

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Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s decision to cancel underwater surveys of the declining herring population near Haida Gwaii is raising alarm among those concerned for the survival of the species. 

Pacific herring stocks have declined an estimated 60 per cent over the past four years, according to biomass surveys done by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), which is responsible for monitoring the health of the species and setting quotas for fishing licences.

Due to COVID-19 safety concerns, dive surveys, in which divers count the number of eggs in an area to estimate the number of fish that will spawn, are being replaced with surface measurements to make biomass forecasts. Surface surveys involve mapping and measuring herring spawn from the land, boats or, at times, airplanes. 

Ian McAllister, executive director of conservation group Pacific Wild, said surface measurements don’t paint an accurate portrait of the spring herring spawn, which is used to determine responsible harvest quotas.

“If they’re not actually going down and looking at the survivorship of eggs, the thickness of the eggs and the distribution and abundance of them, which can only be done underwater, then it puts the forecast in significant question,” he said.

Each spring herring bring a unique spawning ritual to the B.C. coast. Thousands of tonnes of herring migrate to the shoreline to fill the water with eggs, usually deposited on seaweed and other plantlife, and milt, which turns the water a milky white for stretches that can be kilometres long. 

Seine net fishing boats harvesting herring in the Strait of Georgia, the location of B.C.’s last commercial herring harvest. Photo: Ian McAllister / Pacific Wild

The white waters are a telltale sign of the herring spawn, but only so much can be seen from the surface, said McAllister, who is working on a herring conservation campaign with Pacific Wild that aims to close the last herring commercial fishery in the Strait of Georgia. 

Predators can consume an enormous amount of the eggs, which can also be dislodged by storms, he said. 

“All that’s unknown unless you’re down below.” 

Fisheries and Oceans Canada did not respond to The Narwhal’s request for comment after 11 days. It’s unknown whether dive surveys will return next year. 

‘What is the harm of leaving too much in the ocean?’

Herring stock surveys — and the harvest quotas based upon them — have been a subject of roiling controversy in recent years. 

In the Strait of Georgia, home to B.C.’s last commercial herring fishery, harvest quotas are based on a 20 per cent take of the estimated biomass. 

In 2019, the quota was set based on a predicted return of 122,000 tonnes of herring, but fewer than 86,000 tonnes returned. As a result, an estimated 15 per cent of the season’s biomass was harvested. 

Since then, calls have resounded for Fisheries and Oceans Canada to close the Strait of Georgia fishery.

Herring spawning regions in B.C. Commercial herring harvest has been unpermitted in all spawning regions aside from the Strait of Georgia due to population declines. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

Andrew Trites, a professor and director of the marine mammal research unit at the University of British Columbia, warns that without herring in our waters, there will be bigger problems.

“In B.C., herring is one of the most important species — it’s key prey for seabirds and for humpback whales, dolphins, harbor seals, for salmon and other fish,” he said, referring to herring as the “butter sticks of the sea.”

“They’re just full of fat. The key to life if you’re living in the ocean is having lots of fat in your diet, so the more calories, the better your chances are of surviving.”

Because many at-risk species depend on herring, including endangered chinook salmon and, in turn, orcas, Trites said careful stock assessments are crucial to ensure there’s an abundance to justify harvest.

“If you’re only looking at half a page of information … you have to be [cautious] of being too confident that you got it right,” he said.

“And what is the harm of leaving too much in the ocean?”

Herring, unlike salmon, are able to spawn for years throughout their lifespan. Female fish are harvested for their roe, while the male fish are ground up for pet food and are used in slurry to feed farmed salmon. 

“They’re the last of the buffalo … the foundation of our whole coast,” McAllister said.

“And we’re just harvesting them to be grounded up into fish farm feed and garden fertilizer — that’s the real tragedy.”

Lack of data going forward a concern

McAllister said a dive survey could have easily been conducted within the bounds of social distancing protocols.

When herring fisheries initially shut down, Fisheries and Oceans Canada started conducting dive surveys to help with their recovery. He added he is concerned the absence of data will have negative effects going forward. 

“Once they start eliminating all of these research projects and assessment projects, they rarely ever come back.” 

“I think that having no information is powerful for DFO. … If the public no longer has access to that data and we have no way of assessing the health of these stocks, that’s in the DFO’s best interest because they just continue to deny that there’s a problem,” McAllister explained. 

McAllister said he is worried Fisheries and Oceans Canada is “giving up on what once was one of the most productive herring locations on the B.C. coasts” if it permanently cancels the dive survey.

“Instead of the DFO being embarrassed every year for mismanaging the stock, they probably prefer to walk away from it.”

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

When the ghost moose and calf carcasses started regularly appearing in the woods of Smithers, in northwest B.C., it was too much for Eric Becker. He decided if no one else was going to do something, he would — and he had just the drone to get the job done.

Becker, a transportation worker and commercial drone operator, came up with the idea to douse tick-infested moose with medicine from the air. After all, it can be near impossible to approach the skittish animal on foot in its natural habitat.

Many researchers believe climate change is to blame for the infestations of winter ticks whose numbers have exploded in recent years. Ticks drink the blood and irritate the flesh of moose, which can rub so furiously against trees their outer coats disappear, leaving the creatures with a ghostly appearance — often a sign of imminent death.

Alongside other Smithers residents and the non-profit Wildlife for Tomorrow, Becker spent over a year researching what approach would work best to help the moose. And, because an earlier idea to dispense medicine from a paintball gun was deemed an act of wildlife harassment, the group settled on the airborne delivery of an anti-tick medicine widely used on livestock. 

The group managed to drone drop the blue liquid concoction on six moose mid-March before the B.C. Ministry of Environment formally requested Becker and the group cease and desist. 

Video: Eric Becker / Facebook. Gif: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

“Ministry staff value the idea and thought behind the project,” the B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development told The Narwhal in an email. 

“However, it is necessary to follow provincial laws and seek appropriate authorizations prior to taking on work that occurs on public land and/or involves wildlife.” 

Although the group’s work is stalled as they gather information about the permit process, Becker told The Narwhal they’re eager to raise awareness about the winter tick as moose numbers decline. 

He’d also like to see the province move more quickly to find a solution to ticks and hopes his drone drop technique can be a part of that.

“It’s probably complicated for them because this has never been done before and there’s no precedent … No one has quite figured out a way to deal with it,” Becker said.

“I believe it’s important for us to contribute however we can to the maintenance of the population,” he said, adding Wildlife for Tomorrow’s goal is to get proper authorizations in place while monitoring the moose that have already been treated. 

The ministry said a formal application from the group to administer medicine to moose has not yet been received.

Becker’s wily method may come across as surprising, even ill-advised, but the whole drone dosing episode points to a wider range of questions perplexing wildlife managers and scientists across North America, many of whom say the end to the battle against tick infestations is far from in sight.

‘Every animal counts’

Climate change makes life easier for winter ticks. As milder winters become the norm, ticks have a bigger window to find a moose to attach to before cold temperatures set in. The pests cozy up for the winter, feeding off the moose’s blood supply and, when early spring arrives, they drop off to lay their eggs — usually near popular watering holes where moose can be found in the fall, when the whole cycle will repeat itself once again.

Warmer springs have meant more successful offspring for the ticks and, as a result, less successful offspring for moose. Calves struggle to survive infestations that can see tens of thousands of ticks, and in extreme cases more than 100,000 ticks, on a single animal.

The resulting deaths, driven by anemia, fur loss, weight loss or infection can be gruesome. Photos of infested corpses show row upon row of engorged ticks, their bodies tightly packed in like lines of corn on a cob.

For those who bear witness to the suffering, there can be a sense of desperation for a solution — whatever form or shape it might take.

Angelika Langen, co-founder of Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter in Smithers, said she was the one to first propose shooting moose with paintballs filled with powdered medicine.

“When I brought this to the [environment] ministry as an idea, they turned me down and said that it was animal harassment,” Langen said.

She said she was frustrated her idea was turned down in the absence of any other treatment plan.

“It’s very unfortunate that they are so close-minded about this because it’s a short, sad moment for this animal who needs a lot of help with these bugs,” Langen told The Narwhal.

When she heard of Becker’s drone project, she was eager to help. Together, they tested the liquid anti-tick medicine on an infested moose at her shelter.

“Within days all the ticks were falling off,” Langen said. “We thought we had a good thing going and then [Becker] phoned me and said the ministry had shut him down [also] for the harassing of wildlife.”

Orphaned moose twins that were adopted by the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter in Smithers. Photo: NLWS / Facebook

But Langen isn’t deterred. She’d like to set up a garlic-infused salt attractant for moose because she heard ticks detest the aroma. She noted the idea is still in development.

Langen also pushed back against the idea that the drone dousing was entirely without approval. A provincial veterinary association and the local conservation office both offered their support to the project, giving locals the impression they could go ahead.

The veterinary association and the conservation office both referred The Narwhal to the Ministry of Forests when approached for comment.

The local community was also on board and residents reported infested moose to the conservation office or directly to Becker, who said he would sometimes be on location to treat an animal within 20 minutes of sightings.

Langen said it’s disheartening to have what felt like important work shut down so suddenly. She said she believes it is worthwhile to try to save even one moose.

“Every animal counts,” she said, adding that a female moose raised at her shelter could have several offspring over its 10- to 15-year lifespan.

Citizen scientists enlisted to help track winter ticks

Locals taking matters into their own hands when it comes to tick-infested moose isn’t without precedent in B.C.

Last year’s Provincial Moose Winter Tick Surveillance Program relied heavily on citizen scientists across B.C., with everyday people documenting and reporting sightings of moose with visible signs of ticks.

From the beginning of January to the end of April 2019, these citizen scientists reported a total of 512 moose with ticks, with peak infestations occurring between March and April. 

There are somewhere between 110,000 to 185,000 moose in B.C., according to the environment ministry. 

Approximately 40,000 to 95,000 are in the Skeena and neighbouring Omineca regions, according to a 2017 population census.

The tick surveillance project found in peak months, 49 per cent of the moose sighted in the Skeena exhibited hair loss, as did 84 per cent of moose sighted in the Omineca.

A moose cow affected by winter tick near Fort Nelson, B.C., April 2020. Photo: Ryan Dickie

Population trends show an overall decline in moose across B.C. over recent decades. A complex of forest fires, pine beetle epidemics, increases in logging and road-building, predation and hunting all seem to play a role in reducing habitat and reproduction rates. 

It has only been in recent years that moose calves have started dying at increasing rates. The province says it is still uncertain as to exactly why. A five-year moose research project, which concluded in 2018, found that calves were dying in between the winter and spring. 

“This late season calf mortality was not expected and appears to be the main contributing factor to the population declines,” a key findings summary of the research notes. Approximately 28 per cent of the calf deaths were ascribed to “health-related” causes. 

The province notes the overall cause of moose population declines “has not been clearly identified” but adds that “some declines appear to have been caused by parasites and disease, such as winter tick” and change in climate have led to conditions “in which parasites thrive.”

The moose research project was extended until 2023 and expanded in order to further investigate the causes of calf mortality in particular.

While some suspect an increase in winter ticks might be to blame for calf and population declines, B.C. is far behind the curve when it comes to research on the pest and its role in shaping moose population dynamics.

A moose takes a bath in northwest B.C. Photo: Ryan Dickie

Breaking the winter tick cycle

Moose biologist Lee Kantar has seen more than his fair share of tick-infested moose carcasses in his work for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in the state of Maine — known to have one of the highest moose densities, and thus tick infestations, on the continent.

When dead moose are reported to his department, Kantar is dispatched to examine the specimens. Many dead moose still have food in their mouth, he said, having apparently collapsed on the spot in the midst of incomprehensible suffering.

Kantar, who was given the Distinguished Moose Biologist Award at the 53rd North American Moose Conference last year, described blood-drizzled moose with matted fur rotting off the body in pockets of infection. “People think we should take our helicopters and shoot them with a carousel or spray the landscape and kill everything out there … but they can’t understand why we can’t do that,” he said. “We have moose habitats that cover 60,000 square miles [155,000 square kilometres] — we’d never be able to treat enough moose.”

The sheer geographical spread of the winter tick problem means solutions have to be deployed at a level broad enough to match the problem’s size. 

It’s a scale puzzle biologists and wildlife managers have yet to solve.

“I tell people to save one moose is a noble cause,” Kantar said. “But I can’t do anything to break the winter tick cycle.”

The dilemma also plagues University of New Hampshire biologist and professor of natural resources Peter Pekins, who has studied the devastation wrought on moose by winter ticks for more than a decade. 

“It’s very understandable why people’s hearts go out to these animals. If you witness this, it’s absolutely tear-jerking, it’s an absolutely horrible way to die,” Pekins said. 

A moose with hair loss due to winter tick infestation. Photo: tuchodi / Flickr

“But on the other hand, Mother Nature is showing us the effect of the density of that population. … It’s really the scale of the thing.”

Many ideas have been floated to address the problem of ticks, which in Maine and New Hampshire has been getting progressively worse in recent years, but there aren’t enough resources to make a marked difference, Pekins said.

What would really lead to fewer ticks is fewer moose, he said. With fewer hosts, thousands of ticks would be literally left out in the cold to die off.

Accepting that climate change is a long-term problem forces one to accept that a lower density of moose is necessary to deal with the ticks, “and that’s pretty counterintuitive to the public,” Pekins said. 

“We’ve run those numbers and the big unknown right now is at what density moose will be lowered enough [for the tick population] to be stabilized.” 

Eastern Canada moose populations at risk of becoming endangered: biologist

The problems plaguing moose in the Eastern U.S. are of particular concern to Laval University behavioral ecology professor Steeve Côté, the lead on a five-year study researching winter ticks and moose in Eastern Canada, where deaths from ticks have skyrocketed in recent years.

Moose freely roam the Canada-U.S. border, giving winter ticks a free ride up north to be distributed in the Canadian population, Côté told The Narwhal.

“They have a reported calf mortality rate between 50 and 80 per cent, so that obviously created concerns for what will happen [here],” he explained.

In the United States, moose have few natural predators. But in Canada, they face bears, wolves and industrial development, particularly logging. Côté said he’s worried some Eastern Canadian populations will be wiped out if mild winter conditions persist and calves continue to die off.

“We’re focusing on the calves because they’re the most vulnerable segment of the population … we can endure high calf mortality but not as high as we’re seeing right now. If you lose 75 per cent of them, it’s not enough for the population to be stable and it starts to decrease.”

Côté’s research, considered the largest moose winter tick study in North America, also explores how smarter forestry practices can be used to prevent the outbreak of tick infestations. 

Moose tend to feed in the same places in the spring — when the female ticks lay between 6,000 and 8,000 eggs — as in the autumn. This return gives tick larvae the opportunity to attach themselves to a regular retinue of moose to carry on their blood-thirsty legacy.

Côté said the research examines the environments in which winter ticks flourish, with an aim of promoting forestry in these areas, while protecting others for moose.

Altering the size or proportion of cut blocks could help by keeping ground dry, “as dry conditions are not good for the ticks,” Côté explained.

His team is hopeful better habitat management will result from their studies.

“We’d like to discourage forestry practices that favour tick survival.”

A change in logging and forestry practices could potentially help protect habitat well-suited to moose and alter habitat to decrease the presence of winter ticks. Photo: Ryan Dickie

Moose are the newcomers

Ed Addison, a retired wildlife health specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, said climate change is not the only lens through which we should look at the tick problem. 

One must also consider that moose, for all their iconic Canadian feel, are not native to North America. Ticks are.

“Moose is the exotic animal,” Addison told The Narwhal, “and the species and animals that are here have exploited them.”

Moose originated from Eastern Russia and Scandinavia, he said and “they are not adapted because it just happened yesterday in terms of [evolution].”

Deer and caribou, which are native species and have a much easier time with ticks and no problem at all with the large American liver fluke and brain worm — two other native parasites that plague moose.

It can take thousands of years to evolve antibodies, Addison said.

He agreed warming winters do increase tick vitality, but points out the pest has been documented to have killed moose before climate change was even a part of the scientific conversation. 

There are reports of two trap hunters near Timmins in northern Ontario who discovered 39 dead moose plastered with ticks back in 1958, Addison said as an example. Climate change is merely speeding up an inevitability.

“These die-offs from winter ticks have been going on for a long, long time … it’s way too early in evolutionary time [for moose to adapt successfully] and of course, we humans think in terms of our lifespan so we want answers in a hurry,” he said.

But rushed solutions can lead to other, unanticipated, consequences. Dosing untagged moose with medication, for example, can create new risks for humans.

“We really don’t want an animal that’s been drugged in its recent past to be harvested for consumption until you know there’s no residual drugs in their system,” Addison said, adding that, if governments permit medicating moose in the wild, that could lead to unknown effects on human health and potential legal liabilities.

He added documentation and research is still important so government agencies know when to cut back on hunting permits and curtail other forms of human impact.

Langen, from the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter, said without adequate measures to control ticks in place, she’d like to see the province take more action to protect moose from hunters.

“People get deeper and deeper into their territories, there’s nowhere where these animals are safe anymore,” she said.

“We want to make sure we have a healthy population.”

Addison said he wishes “there were more proactive, aggressive actions that one could take to cause moose less suffering.”

“I’d like to see humans be a little humbled by nature and not feel they have the ability to press buttons and control nature whenever they want.”

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

The arrival of spring brought a surge of warm weather to Williams Lake, in the Cariboo region of B.C., and with it a rush of meltwater from the region’s snowpack. The resulting floods caused a local state of emergency, the contamination of water with sewage and the evacuation of 86 residences — a significant hardship for families given the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We haven’t really been anticipating anything like this. … So far the damage that we’ve had has been catastrophic,” Williams Lake chief administrative officer Milo Macdonald told The Narwhal.

“These are really unprecedented flows.”

The combination of warm weather and a higher-than-average snowpack in the nearby mountains serves as partial explanation for the region’s biggest flood in approximately 200 years.

But experts say the role of wildfire, industrial logging and human development in flood-plains needs to be considered when trying to understand the cause of floods like the one in Williams Lake.

“Wildfires, forestry, urbanization — all these land uses … tend to increase flood risk,” said Sean Fleming, an adjunct professor in the department of earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Wildfires can create water-resistant soils

The Cariboo region was hit incredibly hard by record-breaking wildfires in 2017.

Twenty fires merged on the Chilcotin Plateau and covered 545,151 hectares — roughly the size of Prince Edward Island — to create the largest fire in B.C.’s recorded history. 

In the area immediately surrounding Williams Lake, 31,181 hectares of land burned and caused the evacuation of the entire city. West of Williams Lake, fire near Alexis Creek covered a span of 241,160 hectares.

Much of this affected landscape lies in the drainage basin for the Fraser River, the country’s largest waterway flowing into the Pacific Ocean.

The Cariboo Chilcotin regional district. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

According to Lori Daniels, a professor in the department of forest and conservation science at UBC, wildfires can fundamentally alter the way a landscape responds to water.

“In fires that burn really hot, it burns off all of that organic material that is mixing into the soil and it leaves behind just the mineral soil, the kind of gritty sand salts,” Daniels said. This can lead to water runoff and severe erosion.

In some cases, straw or other absorbent materials can be placed on the floor of a burned forest to help retain moisture. But the scope of the 2017 wildfire makes this solution unrealistic, Daniels said. 

During wildfires, waxes and lipids from plant matter can melt and vapourize, creating a moisture-repellent layer over the forest floor that prevents water absorption. This layer can last for years. A special report prepared for the Forest Practices Board notes water-repellent conditions began to increase in the early 2000s and have contributed to numerous landslides.

“Intense wildfires that burn steep terrain, especially where soil is unstable, can decrease slope stability and increase chance of landslides,” Daniels said. Risk increases during intense rain or rapid snow melt.

“We saw these effects after the 2017 fires when intense rain saturated soils, contributing to landslides,” she said.

The 2017 Elephant Hill wildfire, which covered 192,000 hectares, was followed by spring floods and a dangerous mudslide across Highway 99 near Cache Creek that caused the disappearance of 67-year-old Valerie Morris.

Mudflows can cause debris to pile up in waterways, which can add to more flooding. 

Spring floods in 2018 caused this mudslide near Cache Creek, B.C. The region was hit with a significant wildfire in the summer of 2017, which helped create the conditions for the mudslide. Photo: B.C. Transportation / Twitter

The loss of forests can also lead to an increase in snowpack, Daniels said. Branches catch snow that eventually evaporates. 

For snow that does fall, the presence of forests can slow its melting. Shade from trees keeps snow cool. Without tree cover, the snowpack warms and disappears more quickly. For this reason, the loss of trees in forests where the majority of precipitation falls as snow is linked to a potential quadrupling of floods. 

An increase in the pace of snow-melt can be devastating when warm spring weather meets an above-average snowpack, which happened this year in Williams Lake.

“We do know in the interior of B.C., the snowpack is really big this year … up to 35 per cent above average,” Daniels said. 

But there is another twist, she added. Wildfires can lead to floods but floods, in turn, can create the conditions for more wildfires by robbing mountainsides of moisture. 

“Heat in early spring contributes not only to the kind of flooding that we’re seeing, but it contributes to more enhanced risk of severe fires later in the summer,” Daniels said, adding this relationship between increased fires and increased floods is of growing concern to communities across B.C.

“Those are climate change signals that have been documented and have been traced over the last several decades.”

Deforestation adds to flood impacts

Williams Lake is also heavily reliant on forestry, and deforestation interacts with flooding in a similar way to wildfire.

“Forest management is kind of the lifeblood of [the Williams Lake] local economy and so harvesting has always been a big portion of how they manage those forests,” Daniels said.

The Williams Lake timber supply area spans across the Fraser River basin in the Cariboo region, stretching from the Coast Mountains to the Cariboo Mountains. It represents one of the largest timber supplies in the province with an annual allowable cut — the amount of timber that can be harvested in a provincially managed forest area — of three million cubic metres, roughly enough to fill roughly 75,000 standard logging trucks.

A Google Earth timelapse of Williams Lake, B.C., shows industrial development and logging on the landscape between 1984 and 2018.

The region was also affected by the mountain pine beetle epidemic, which peaked in the summer of 2005. By 2012, 86 million cubic metres of mature pine in the timber supply area had been killed by the outbreak. And while there have been few new attacks since 2009, a new pest, the Douglas-fir beetle, is considered to be a high risk to forests in the region. 

According to the most recent survey in 2018, 50,254 hectares of Douglas firs in the region were affected by the beetle’s outbreak. 

Daniels noted that while tree-planting efforts are in place, not enough is being done or done fast enough to replenish the forests. Young forests, she said, don’t have the rich soil or tree density of old-growth forests to protect against melting snowpack.

“We need to get the forest into a state of recovery and get that soil regenerating to build up that organic content, to get the water cycle working again.”

Risk to people living along flood zones increasing

With cooling temperatures now in the forecast, the B.C. River Forecast Centre has downgraded warnings to flood watch for waterways in the Cariboo. The state of emergency is over, but the flood’s damage is now being better understood.

Residential neighbourhoods remain abandoned. Because of eroded riverbanks, 11 facilities in the local industrial park are at risk of falling into the Williams Lake River Valley. Bridges and roads are washed out. 

The community is still uncertain how the release of sewage waste is affecting water.

Willie Sellars, Elected Chief of the Williams Lake Indian Band, said he is worried about the movement of contaminated water.

“Now there’s this massive lake [in our fields] that is just dirty, dark brown water that has been coming down for the last week,” he said.

Sellars said he’s concerned the water will flow into Williams Creek, near one of the band’s reserves, and end up in the Fraser River, a key fishery for his people.

“I imagine it does have some impacts on fish habitat, plants, wildlife and how clean that water is.”

Human-made developments, such as urban centres and industrial lots, along riverbanks are pending troubles for the environment, said Fleming from UBC. When flooding causes wreckage in these areas, toxic materials from homes and properties are commonly swept into river systems and are not monitored afterward. 

Ultimately rivers will run their own course and humans can’t fully control that with dams, he said. 

“[Rivers] have a really important ecological role in terms of renewing flood-plains, renewing channel habitat,” Fleming said, but emphasized that when floods hit human developments, the release of contaminants into the environment becomes troublesome.

In an email to The Narwhal, a Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy spokesperson wrote the impacts and volume amount of the sewage leak remain undetermined. “Untreated effluent” could be of concern, the spokesperson said, and erosion into waterways is being monitored.

The province will implement a sampling and monitoring program with the City of Williams Lake, the spokesperson added.

A new analysis by the World Resources Institute found the number of people affected by river and coastal flooding could double by 2030. That increase is driven by a combination of development in flood-plains, population growth and climate change.

There will be floods: risk could double for world’s coastal and river communities by 2030

“It’s natural that humans will want to settle along the river valleys, but what we tend to do is then want to constrain that river to our advantage,” Fin Donnelly, chair of the Rivershed Society of BC, told The Narwhal.

If communities and industry continue to cluster along rivers, flood damage will become more catastrophic, he said, adding most cities were designed decades ago, before the impact of floods and a warming climate on infrastructure was well understood. Many of these designs should be reassessed with a new understanding of the interconnection of rivers and forests, he said.

“If we start realizing these connections, we will start making better planning decisions if we all think like a watershed.”

With COVID-19 forcing some people to rethink their connection to nature, especially in the context of climate change, Donnelly said we need to take this as an opportunity to change the ways we are prepared to deal with our natural environments. 

“Nature does change over time: rivers contract and expand, floods happen naturally, fires happen — this is all a system of renewal and rebirth,” he said. “We need to look at how we work within these systems as opposed to fighting and constraining them.”

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Over two dozen leaders of small towns along the central and northern coast of B.C. are urging the provincial government to restrict non-essential travel as warming weather beckons a surge of unwanted tourists. 

Despite countless pleas for visitors to stay away from remote and First Nation communities that are especially vulnerable to novel coronavirus and have limited medical resources, residents say they are seeing no visible effort to restrict non-essential travel, as outsiders continue to arrive by car, ferry and plane. 

B.C. recently added hunting and fishing to the province’s list of essential services — seemingly ignoring the request of coastal leaders that provincial and federal governments step in to limit outside travel “for fishing, hunting and other leisure activities.”

“COVID-19 is an unprecedented threat to the survival of all citizens,” the open letter from April 6 states. “We have a short window of opportunity to work together to limit the introduction of COVID-19 into our coastal and island communities.”

The letter added that requests for people to voluntarily stay away from remote areas are likely to fall on deaf ears as people seek escape from their urban environments.

“People think things are going good and that life will get back to normal,” Jason Alsop (Gaagwiis), elected president of the Haida Nation, told The Narwhal. 

“So then we’ll face that traffic and pressure on our communities’ resources, and obviously potential new [COVID-19] carriers coming here.”

“We’re all staying in, we’re all following the rules here. We’re all making the sacrifices and we expect others to do the same, so it’s not really fair to be coming here and having a vacation or having a good time.” An online petition addressed to both governments is also circulating online, having gathered more than 3,000 signatures already. 

Haida Gwaii, like many other municipalities in B.C., found their local state of emergency overridden by an overarching provincial order. As a result, Alsop told The Narwhal, the Haida Nation has been unable to patrol who comes off the ferry or docks at their harbour despite their territory being unceded.

He pointed to Alert Bay, a coastal village off Vancouver Island dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak where the first First Nations death in Canada has been recorded, as an example of what could happen if visitors show up. For him, it’s crucial to instigate barriers to prevent his community from being next. 

On Monday, the nation’s G͟aw Tlagee Emergency Operation Centre distributed a notice on Facebook that “the communities of Haida Gwaii are no longer welcoming … visitors and people who are not full-time residents.” 

The restriction is to stay in effect until COVID-19, including an expected second wave, is over. 

Locals, BC Ferries announce visitors not welcome

When a ferry from Prince Rupert was scheduled to arrive at a Haida Gwaii port in Skidegate on Monday, more than 60 people lined the highway with masks, drums and signs to rally for non-locals to turn around, according to the Haida Gwaii Observer. 

A checkpoint at the Haida Heritage Centre was put in place by locals to question those coming off the ferry and to make visitors feel unwelcome. The checkpoint was not mandated by police, but Queen Charlotte RCMP officers stood by to help keep peace.

The Observer reported the ferry carried groceries, local residents returning home from medical appointments and four passengers considered essential workers for the Dinan Bay diesel spill clean-up efforts. It’s unclear if any tourists were on the vessel. 

The article added only residents and essential workers drove through the checkpoint, aside from one vehicle that refused to stop. It is unknown if the vehicle was carrying tourists. 

As protestors began to disperse, fireworks were shot from a residence near the terminal and a vehicle blocking traffic at the terminal was towed.

In an email to The Narwhal, BC Ferries confirmed there were 32 passengers on board the ferry.

The company said it is not authorized to restrict travel — such orders would have to come from Emergency Management BC.

“Many communities served by BC Ferries have issued advisories to travellers notifying them visitors are not welcome at this time. Supplies, health-care equipment and resources are limited,” a BC Ferries spokesperson wrote. 

“BC Ferries has posted signage at the Prince Rupert terminal advising customers that communities on Haida Gwaii are telling visitors they are not welcome at this time. We also made announcements on board the vessel.”

Several yachts, flying both Canadian and U.S. flags, arrived in the community of Bella Bella, B.C. in early April. Here, yachts and other boats are pictured at the Shearwater Resort and Marina dock near Bella Bella in September 2019. Photo: Louise Whitehouse / The Narwhal

Province ‘saying one thing but doing the other’: Queen Charlotte mayor

Kris Olsen, mayor of Queen Charlotte on Haida Gwaii, said this is the first time all these coastal leaders have joined forces and it is because they feel ignored.

“We decided that if we really want to approach the province again on a united front, then we do that with all of us coming together so that we can just emphasize the need for non-residents to stay away from us right now,” he said. 

“We’re all fighting to protect our communities.” 

The leaders said they informed Island RCMP and medical services of their letter to the province and federal government. 

Olsen said B.C.’s decision to declare hunting and fishing as essential services creates a loophole for those wanting to travel. He added those with hunting and fishing permits should be heavily monitored to make sure they aren’t traveling outside of their local area. 

Recently, residents were outraged that non-local hunters arrived on the island to take part in an annual bear trophy hunt, he said.

“It’s strange because the province has given us mixed messages. They say stay home, but on April 1, the bear hunt opened here. … It’s not essential, we don’t need that. … If people are getting food, that’s one thing, but this is just people coming with their guns from elsewhere,” Olsen explained.

“With the province still issuing permits for people, they’re saying one thing but doing the other. We don’t understand and that’s why we want to impose restrictions.”

“We’re all fighting to protect our communities.” 

Skeena-Bulkley Valley NDP MP Taylor Bachrach, who was copied on the letter and shared it on social media, said it’s difficult to know what the right decisions are. 

“The provincial government is trying to create public policy in a challenging situation. … [They are in a] position where they have to balance a lot of different factors,” Bachrach said. “Overall, if you look at the provincial [COVID] numbers, we can be really proud of the job we’re doing here in British Columbia.” 

Bachrach has called for a halt on sport fishing licences for out-of-province fishers, recognizing the threat they bring to remote regions. But so far, he said he’s impressed with how the area has come together to express themselves.

“This challenging period has brought out the best in our small communities. There’s been a real spirit of mutual aid and interdependence come to the fore, and it’s certainly heartening to see,” he said. 

“The more that we can do to discourage non-essential travel, the better.”

‘They really hurt us’

In Bella Bella, residents were angered with the arrival of international boats at their harbour in early April. 

“We’re asking that non-residents — tourists or visitors — do not come to Heiltsuk territory because it puts a strain on our limited resources,” Megan Humchitt, a band councillor with Heiltsuk First Nation, previously told The Narwhal.

Yet the problem of unwelcomed outsiders showing up continues in the region. 

Samuel Schooner, Central Coast Regional District chair in Bella Coola and member of the Nuxalk Nation, said he’s still seeing out-of-province licence plates on vehicles in the area. 

In Bella Coola, some visitors have also been seen bulk shopping at grocery stores, which he assumes means they’re stocking up on supplies to vacation at summer cabins nearby.

A harbour near Bella Bella, B.C. Photo: Louise Whitehouse / The Narwhal

“Intuition tells me that they feel that they’re going to be safer in a place like this, but they also don’t think about the safety of our community and the limitations of our hospitals. It’s really frustrating and a lot of it lies with the B.C. government,” Schooner said. 

“They really hurt us from having any ability or any way to protect our people.”

If COVID-19 hits any of their coastal communities, Schooner emphasized that most locals have nowhere else to go whereas visitors are privileged enough to escape it. 

The nearby Nuxalk Nation has volunteers monitoring local checkpoints, but Schooner said he’d rather see official authorities take their place.

The territory of the Nuxalk Nation has also grown in popularity for sports fisherman, and unfamiliar boats in their waters are still making waves. 

Schooner estimates 85 per cent of his people are currently unemployed and heavily rely on marine harvesting for sustenance. By fishing in their region, visitors could infringe on their natural food supply that has been depleting for years. 

“We are the salmon people and if we lose the stock right now, there’s going to be a lot of people starving.”

Recreational travel remains a concern

In an email to The Narwhal, a spokesperson for Emergency Management BC’s Joint Information Centre wrote that “the vast majority of people are following Dr. Henry’s advice and our expectation is that people will continue to do so,” but those considering recreational travel need to think about the impacts to smaller communities.

The province recognizes the jurisdiction of First Nations, the spokesperson said, and although it has not issued an emergency order regarding travel into First Nations communities, it is working on a case by case basis to provide support such as signage and barriers if officially sanctioned travel restrictions are deemed necessary. 

As for hunting deemed as an essential service, the spokesperson said it’s permitted as it’s under the “larger umbrella of Food and Agriculture Service Providers and the sub heading food cultivation.” 

The spokesperson added the province does not list recreational hunting as an essential service. 

Schooner said he hopes the province won’t be short-sighted as it considers what’s best for these communities.

First Nations everywhere are trying to revitalize their culture, Schooner said, and if Indigenous Elders are exposed to coronavirus, it could be devastating to their people, especially as they work to recover from previous traumas.

“We are starting to heal from what has been done to us but now there’s something like this and we’re not able to protect ourselves, that could be devastating,” he said. 

“Elders are our language carriers, we need to protect those people. And if we lose them, we are losing our cultures.”

Update Thursday 9:40 a.m. PST: This article was updated to indicate Samuel Schooner is from Bella Coola, and not Bella Bella as previously stated. A typo was corrected to note Alert Bay is ‘off’ Vancouver Island and not ‘on’ Vancouver Island.

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Crews are responding to a spill of an estimated 4,500 litres of diesel off the coast of Haida Gwaii, B.C.

The spill was reported to the province at 8:11 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. 

A valve feeding diesel to an electrical generator on a barge failed overnight on April 22, between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., causing fuel to leak onto the deck and into the water near the mouth of Dinan Bay (Diinan Kahlii), according to Taan Forest, the local forest products company responsible for the spill.

Taan Forest, which is owned by the Haida nation, is taking the lead in managing the spill by doing preventive work to protect the mouths of nearby rivers, especially those where sockeye salmon are expected to return, Jason Alsop (Gaagwiis), elected president of the Haida, told The Narwhal. “There’s a lot of concern with any contaminants that go into the ocean or any risks to our river system, to our salmon and food,” he said.

“But we’re a lot more prepared than we have been in years past working on building up our local [spill response] capacity.”

As soon as the spill was discovered, Taan Forest said booms and sorbent pads were deployed onto the water. Additional booms, pads and protective equipment have also been sent to the spill site by the Coast Guard on a floatplane. Spill response contractors are also on site cleaning up, an Environment Ministry spokesperson told The Narwhal via email. 

In a statement, Taan Forest said “diesel is non-persistent, meaning it dissipates rapidly” and the company estimated as much as 75 per cent of the spill evaporated after roughly 12 hours.

The company is part of a virtual command unit established to respond to the spill. Members of the unit, which also includes the Council of the Haida Nation, the Canadian Coast Guard and the B.C. Environment Ministry, are meeting via teleconference due to the coronavirus, the company stated in the release. Federal authorities from Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada are also involved. 

Biologists will be on site collecting ongoing samples of water, soil and marine life to assess impacts and target clean-up efforts, which will likely last weeks.

The National Aerial Surveillance Program is conducting daily flights over the spill location to continue monitoring and according to Taan Forest, “current modelling shows that the full plume is expected to last until approximately Sunday.” 

The Dinan Bay diesel spill is small compared with the 2016 diesel spill off the coast of Bella Bella, B.C., in the territory of the Heiltsuk First Nation, which saw more than 220,000 litres of diesel fuel released into the water. The Bella Bella spill launched calls for greater spill response capabilities in remote communities along the B.C. coast.

Why the Heiltsuk Nation wants to establish its own oil spill response centre

Karen Wristen, executive director of Living Oceans Society, said diesel spills are common along the B.C. coast and although this one is minor in comparison to catastrophic incidents on waters in the past, it doesn’t mean its impacts won’t be felt. “Because [diesel] floats on the surface almost entirely, any creature that uses the surface of the water could be impacted, so the concern would be for feathered friends and for insects that are hatching off,” she said. “It may interfere with herring spawn if they had been so fortunate to have any.”

One main concern she noted is tracking where the diesel is carried off, which is hard to pinpoint without accurate ocean currents and wind data. It’s also possible for diesel to travel rivers with the tide and make contact with the gravel bottom, which can prevent evaporation.

Wristen also said the public must be warned of all potential contamination of food resources in the area.

SkeenaWild Conservation Trust executive director Greg Knox’s primary worry is the salmon. Dinan Bay is a part of the Masset Inlet, which contains the Yakoun River, known to be the biggest salmon producing system in Haida Gwaii. 

“Those young salmon will be coming up the river right now and use that inlet to grow before they head out to the open ocean [to Alaska], so they will be exposed to that,” he said, adding it’s naive to think diesel will just evaporate like gasoline.

“The biggest concern is how toxic this is during their early-life stages. It can impact their sense of smell and potentially growth rates, which could make them more susceptible to predators.”

Misty MacDuffee, wild salmon program director at Raincoast Conservation Foundation, shared similar fears. She said young salmon are currently under a lot of stress from smoltification (moving from fresh water to salt water) and are vulnerable to exposure, which can lead to death, lowering their numbers and putting their species at risk.

“Even though diesel is less persistent than crude oils, that doesn’t mean it can’t do damage in the short term. The lighter components are acutely toxic,” she said in an email to The Narwhal.

“It’s very discouraging when these events happen in places where people are trying to protect or restore salmon populations.”

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Rumours, allegations and public shaming on social media have been rampant during the COVID-19 lockdown, according to Kitimat Mayor Phil Germuth. The focus of the fury has been on local industries — including the LNG Canada terminal, Coastal GasLink pipeline and Rio Tinto aluminium smelter — that have been deemed essential services and continue operating. 

In a series of recent posts circulating on Facebook, locals from the Kitimat and Terrace areas shared images of industry workers out in public and at grocery stores, allegedly breaking physical distancing, to express concern about the potential for non-locals to transmit coronavirus to the broader community. 

Industry work camps in B.C. have been questioned for failing to provide adequate sanitation and work conditions necessary to comply with physical distancing rules.

But some of the posts don’t paint a full picture of how industry is operating and may be spreading false information, Germuth told The Narwhal. 

“Starting or spreading rumours may provoke panic and raise stress levels amongst people in our community and region during a time that emotions are already very elevated,” the mayor wrote in an email. 

“Additionally, we have released communications encouraging people in Kitimat to gently, politely and respectfully remind each other about the need to practise effective physical distancing techniques rather than trying to shame people on social media.” Germuth said people should only trust information from official and credible sources to avoid spreading rumours. Yet social media posts continue to creep up, leaving some residents questioning the validity of both sides in a sea of angst. 

Amid confirmed work site COVID-19 case, tensions grow

Roiling anxiety and a desire to take action is understandable given the circumstances, Terrace-based community counsellor Cheryl Gray told The Narwhal.

Gray said people in smaller communities, such as those in the North, feel they have a responsibility to keep their circles informed as they’re closely connected to one another and face similar challenges.

In the midst of the provincial lockdown, Gray said people are relying on details from their neighbours to formulate a better understanding of the situation. 

“I think with the fear of the unknown, we grasp onto anything because things are changing so quickly and there’s so much that we don’t know and people just want to replace that with something that seems true,” Gray said. However, some of those fears have sprouted from reality. On March 28, LNG Canada notified workers that an employee at its Kitimat facility had tested positive for coronavirus after experiencing mild symptoms. The individual had immediately returned to their home to self-isolate, the company said in a letter, adding that no one staying at its lodges has tested positive. 

The day prior, the company had announced it was reducing its workforce by 65 per cent, limiting the use of fly-in fly-out workers and cutting the number of workers staying in work camps from approximately 1,800 to 590. When The Narwhal requested an interview, LNG Canada responded with a link to its FAQ page.

The site of the LNG Canada project in Kitimat B.C. in 2017. Photo: Garth Lenz / The Narwhal

A video published on Facebook by the Unist’ot’en Camp, with filming marked on March 20 and April 1, showcases Coastal GasLink workers not practising physical distancing or fully understanding procedures.

Coastal GasLink did not respond to The Narwhal’s request for an interview but provided details via email that its workforce numbers have declined to approximately 300 people, primarily locals at various locations across the 670-kilometre route, who are said to now be following COVID-19 company protocols.

The company said it has no comment “about social media posts or opposition videos and cannot confirm their authenticity.”

In a recent Coastal GasLink construction update, the company said only 43 workers had stayed at their workforce accommodation site, Little Rock Lake Lodge, along Section 5 during the month of March. 

Overall, 72 per cent of the route has been cleared between Dawson Creek area and Kitimat, with an approximate total of 130 workers to occupy accommodation sites during the stall. 

Emily Laidlaw, University of Calgary associate professor of law, recently told the CBC that naming and shaming can be a powerful source of public good, such as when members of the public call out a company for bad behaviour. 

“It’s a strangely complicated area right because we actually rely on shame sanctions all the time,” Laidlaw said. But, she added, it’s crucial to have all the facts on hand. “Do we actually know what’s happening on the ground to know if they really are complying or not? Or is it just the perception of [wrongdoing]?”

“We just need to calm down with the disproportionate ‘take him out’ mentality that we’re seeing right now online that’s not helping anybody,” Laidlaw said. 

As of April 16, there were 32 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Northern Health region. 

Small towns with big industries that rely on out-of-town workers and contractors can exacerbate an innate fear of “outsiders” that can rise up in times of crises, said Gray, the Terrace community counsellor. Tensions can be particularly pronounced for those who may, for political or values-based reasons, oppose the work of those industries.

“I can see that here, especially with those who may have opposed industry [in the first place],” she said. “Then there’s already that baseline of people not being happy with them being here.” Rio Tinto BC Works spokesperson Kevin Dobbin said he’s noticed workers from Quebec have been targeted and suggests it might relate to broader political issues. 

“There’s some labour relations [issues],” he said. “Some of the locals don’t like the contractors.”

The outpouring of public concern has industry and local leaders working to combat both reasonable fears and baseless speculation amid an uproar of inaccuracies.

‘Busload of people’ accusations false: Rio Tinto

One widely shared image on Facebook on April 4 shows a work camp bus parked in front of the Walmart in Terrace — which had some users convinced an entire busload of workers, possibly exposed to coronavirus from Quebec, swarmed into the store.

Dobbin debunked the rumour and told The Narwhal that only three workers were on that bus to practise physical distancing. 

“Today, social media is rapid, and people are very nervous and anxious. I can understand, but it’s just too bad people aren’t looking at the facts,” explained Dobbin, noting his company’s office was flooded with calls regarding that event.

“The fact is that people from Kitimat, three of them, went up on a 47-passenger bus to get groceries in Terrace. They don’t have vehicles because they are contractors living in apartments.”

According to Rio Tinto, only a handful of employees were brought in from Quebec while others were brought in from other locations in B.C. Many of the Quebec workers were already in Kitimat when the pandemic hit and have agreed to stay on until the end of May when the company will re-evaluate the situation.

“There were 27 people on turnaround when we made that decision in March so out of that 27, two or three have trickled back in a week … and will stay with us for the next couple of months,” he said.

Currently, Rio Tinto has approximately 1,000 employees and nearly 400 contractors on site working on various projects, Dobbin stated, emphasizing the vast majority of the workforce is local.

In Kitimat, residents continue to post photos of buses dropping off contractors at homes in residential neighbourhoods. One picture posted on April 5 shows a cluster of workers sitting outside an apartment building, drinking and smoking, according to the user. 

In reference to the image and concerns raised in the post, Dobbin said Rio Tinto is urging employees to practise physical distancing outside of work.

“We are working really hard with them to self-isolate when they’re not at work,” he said. “We have spoken to those employees and said, ‘You need to respect all physical distancing all the time.’ ”

Other posts mention workers showing symptoms of COVID-19 are being treated by health-care workers in protective suits. 

Those posts are somewhat true, Dobbin said, as Rio Tinto now approaches every potential case with safety precautions. However, he added, this does not mean the employees tested positive for the virus and represent a threat to the community.

Premier John Horgan visiting the Rio Tinto smelter in October of 2017. Photo: Province of B.C. / Flickr

‘I’m so scared and stressed out’

Germuth said employers have been asked to “refrain to the greatest extent possible from bringing workers from outside of the Kitimat-Terrace area into our community,” but Rio Tinto has recently flown in contractors from SL&B in Quebec to complete their pot-relining project at the smelter. 

Rio Tinto considers pot-relining as crucial maintenance at the smelter, Dobbin said. If stalled, it can take months to resume. 

The decision to fly in the SL&B workers, even after non-essential travel was discouraged by all levels of government, doesn’t appear to be entirely supported by the community. Dobbin said 100 non-locals were hired to work on the project alongside 149 local residents. 

Posts spread online that workers from Quebec immediately entered a Rio Tinto work site without quarantining upon arrival in Kitimat. 

One user, who appears to work with SL&B for Rio Tinto in Kitimat, wrote that after being told by a supervisor about the non-local workers’ arrival, he was scared for his life “and [for] the people I live with.”

“The company I work for sure don’t care for us employees,” wrote the worker, who did not respond to The Narwhal’s request for an interview. “I’m so scared and stressed out.” The post was then shared by another user to Rio Tinto’s Facebook page.

Employees who returned to work had to complete a health-screening questionnaire before leaving their home base and a screening with a medical contractor on arrival at the Northwest Regional Airport in Terrace, he said. Martin McIlwrath, Unifor Local 2301 president representing Rio Tinto workers, said they didn’t know about the matter until it was flagged by dozens of members.

“That was very, very concerning for us. We weren’t aware that was still happening, especially on the scale that it was … that group of workers they were bringing, were coming in from Quebec, which most people know is a hotspot in Canada for COVID-19 because it has the most cases,” he said, adding that he would like to see more local workers trained to do these jobs instead. Since mid-March, Unifor has been in regular discussions with Rio Tinto to monitor safety regulations and ensure workers feel comfortable at work or are compensated accordingly if a leave is necessary. As a result of these meetings, for example, workers now start shifts in slots to avoid high-density gatherings and have been assigned a core team to help minimize their range of contacts. 

McIlwrath said the labour movement has been a part of the community since 1957 and have a record of victories against Rio Tinto, which they will not hesitate to challenge throughout the pandemic.

Rio Tinto’s Kitimat smelter facility. Photo: Rio Tinto

Social media posts about out-of-town workers were publicly addressed by Rio Tinto at an open online District of Kitimat council meeting on April 6.

On April 7, Rio Tinto announced its decision on Facebook to stop travel for all fly-in fly-out workers for its smelter until at least the end of May, with the exception of emergency and critically essential travel that must be approved by the general manager and subject to a risk assessment. This announcement was made within a week of the union formally noting its concern. 

“We are confident this additional precaution will enable us to better protect our community during the COVID-19 pandemic, while we progress on our pot-replacement project,” reads the Facebook post, which also encourages locals to apply for positions with SL&B.

Dobbin added there are no regulations from the BC Centre for Disease Control requiring interprovincial travellers to self-isolate — unless they are symptomatic or have been identified as a close contact of a confirmed case. For McIlwrath, the only accurate way to screen outside workers is actually testing them for COVID-19 as the current screenings in place can easily bypass asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus. He understands the community’s anxiety and wants to see tight measures carried on.

“People are anxious, they’re worried, they’re very concerned,” McIlwrath said. “Some people feel the controls are too much and other people feel like they’re not enough.”

“It’s a balancing act for sure, but I’d rather see people overreact than under… I’m not willing to sacrifice one of our members.”

Kitimat and Terrace mayors remain supportive

Despite social media criticism, community leaders have not expressed concerns about industry continuing.

Germuth commended the local industries “for the proactive measures they have taken to protect our community and their employees.”

Terrace Mayor Carol Leclerc told The Narwhal via email that “for the local people still working on the project, it keeps paycheque dollars circulating through our businesses.” 

She notes if people have concerns about industry, they can reach out to their industry contacts to express them. 

For Gray, she said shaming people online has become popular over the years and isn’t surprised to see a surge during these times. 

“There’s no reason for me to think that it would stop now, especially when it might come down to something like life or death,” she says. “People might be a little more firm about that stuff or be more aggressive [in sharing it].”

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TERRACE, B.C. — Travel restrictions around the world have brought the tourism industry to a halt and Indigenous-led businesses are predicted to be among the most vulnerable to collapse in COVID-19’s damaging path, according to the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.

The Nisga’a Nation in northwestern B.C. has been working for years to make the Nass Valley a travel destination, with hopes to make tourism a key economy driver. Instead, the Nisga’a have been met with an unexpected blow of cancelled bookings.

“COVID-19 has a huge impact already. I’ve had a few calls from entrepreneurs in our tourism industry asking if the [Nisga’a] Nation is going to help them out because of loss of bookings and clients,” says Bertram Mercer, manager of economic development for the Nisga’a Lisims Government.

Mercer works with Nisga’a businesses in the Nass Valley to incorporate them into tour packages and make them “market-ready” for tourists, with the help of Indigenous Tourism BC.

But with the Nass Valley now on lockdown, business owners are devastated and scrambling to survive.

Paula Amos, chief marketing and development officer of Indigenous Tourism BC, says First Nations businesses in the tourism sector are feeling the weight of this pandemic on their livelihoods, which are already vulnerable to other social pressures.

“We worked really hard over the last 20 years to to get Indigenous tourism on the map and have communities see tourism as a great economic driver [instead of industry],” Amos says.

As soon as tourism dried up, Amos says the organization scrambled to gather $300,000 to keep Indigenous-led businesses afloat. The organization pulled money from its budget for marketing and events to offer grants of up to $5,000. The organization also set up a virtual mentorship program to guide operators on how to bounce back.

“The biggest gap we’re seeing is the cash flow issues right now … especially if they’re in the rural areas,” she says. “Most of our communities are very remote.”

“This is not a huge amount of dollars but they can leverage that with any of the government programs for businesses.”

The Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada also announced funds of up to $25,000 in the Indigenous tourism sector. Part of the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 economic response plan for businesses include a 75 per cent wage subsidy, a tax deferral and interest-free loans of up to $40,000.

Amos predicts the effects of the pandemic this year may take up to three years to recover from. With much of the world’s economy under pressure, she says it’s unlikely international tourists will return for a while. She’s counting on “backyard tourism” to help bridge that gap.

The visitor centre at Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park campground. Photo: Connie Azak / Flickr

Visitation drop of 50 to 70 per cent feared

Steve Johnson, owner and operator of Nass Valley Tours, is also worried about how long it will take to recover.

Nass Valley tours joined forces with BC Parks to establish trails and facilities to cater to guided hikes through the Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park. They were fully booked and expecting to serve approximately 9,000 visitors this year, with school groups bringing in up to $400 a day per class.

Another big loss for Johnson is fishing tourists who come to hook the area’s famous steelhead trout. For decades, northwest B.C. has brought in millions of dollars through its rivers. High-end fishing tours can go up to $1,700 a day in the Nass Valley, Johnson says.

“Numbers have been going up every year, with last year as our best with visitors from all around the world,” Johnson explains.

“It’s just a matter of time before tourism is our main industry so when we lose one season like this, it takes a while to recover … our visitation will be down at least 50 to 70 per cent [when we reopen].”

Johnson and his skeleton crew are fortunate to be supported by BC Parks to continue maintaining the trails. Their main role is patrolling the sites to ensure no one sneaks into the parks or sets up camp. With no extra revenue, summer plans to build new trails and sites are on hold.

Popular Nass spots, such as the Hlgu Isgwit Hot Springs and Dragon Lake, are closed as well. In total, an estimated 12,000 visitors were expected to travel to the Nisga’a Nation this year.

A suspension bridge crosses the Nass River in the distance. Photo: Connie Azak / The Narwhal

‘It’s very quiet here’

At the southeastern Alaskan channel to the Pacific Ocean sits the nation’s fisherman village of Ging̱olx, home to approximately 400 residents. Bonnie Stanley, restaurant owner of U Sea Food U Eat It!, started her business in 2011 because she wanted to meet new people.

“I’m very emotional and it’s very quiet here since they closed down the road,” Stanley says. “For the month of March, I lost out on about $3,000 here,” she added, noting summer is her busiest time and she can see revenue of up to $19,000 a month before she shuts down in September for the winter.

Stanley says she closed her restaurant in the first week of March as she was nervous about COVID-19 because of her old age and the community Elders, thinking it would blow over in a few weeks. As the B.C. government continues to make its predictions, she’s worried she won’t reopen at all this year.

Bonnie Stanley and John Moore at their restaurant in Ging̱olx, which normally thrives in the summer, but has had to shut down due to COVID-19. Photo: Natalia Balcerzak

As she lays off her employees and cuts contracts with fishermen, Stanley keeps an eye on her dwindling bank account as she pays out overhead costs for rent, insurance and her own family expenses.

She says she’s asked the Nisga’a Lisims Government if any financial aid is available but hasn’t received a reply. Stanley is aware of federal grants available for small businesses but says she needs help navigating those applications online as she’s not tech-savvy.

“This year, I can really feel it. I can see [the fear],” she tells The Narwhal, noting that reading through her guest book keeps her optimistic that her business will resume.

Stuck in the middle

Kim Morrison, who is Mohawk from Ontario, first moved to the Nass Valley 12 years ago to work as the chief operating officer in tourism for Nisga’a Lisims Government and as a business mentor for the north.

In 2015, Morrison opened Nass Valley Bed & Breakfast after spending years excavating the 172-hectare lot and investing almost $2 million dollars of savings and loans into what she saw as her dream retirement plan. She used to advise entrepreneurs to have enough emergency funds in place for three months in case of a financial crisis but now she cringes at that advice as due dates for her unpaid bills pass by.

“Are they going to come in and foreclose on my place? I spent a lifetime working to get to this place and now I’m going to lose it,” Morrison says, her voice cracking. “This is all I have. I don’t have a husband, I don’t have somebody who takes care of me. It’s just me.”

Her property is one of 28 lots in the Nass Valley that were exempted from the Nisga’a Treaty, so although she’s surrounded by treaty land she is not the nation’s responsibility and cannot ask for their help. Other bed and breakfasts, such as Vetter Falls Lodge, are operated and financially supported by the Nisga’a Lisims Government.

Despite being considered a small Indigenous business, she’s worried the high value of her assets may be used against her and is unsure if she qualifies for federal help since she doesn’t have full-time employees. With the exception of two hopeful August bookings, everyone has cancelled and she’s left with freezers of food and more than $3,000 per month in mortgage and insurance payments.

Every day, she waits on hold on the phone in an attempt to navigate these financial stresses.

“I also need to be ready to rock and roll to start up again, I have to change my whole marketing strategy too … but a lot of that depends on the Nisga’a, on when they choose to reopen,” Morrison says.

“I have to remind myself daily that I’m not the only one in this position,” she says. “It’s definitely scaring the daylights out of me, the thought of losing my entire life’s savings like that.”

Keeping tourism afloat

Liz Smaha, executive director at Kermodei Tourism based in Terrace, the closest municipality to the Nass Valley, says all northern communities are feeling the pain and need to stay connected with one another to recover fully as a region. The Nisga’a Nation is part of Northern B.C. Tourism’s weekly conference calls to discuss strategies.

She says the key thing to focus on during this time is sharing through social media why they’re still worth the visit.

“Here in the north, we live in an area I think will be so sought after… and this [scare] is going to be on people’s minds for several years to come,” she says, suggesting that Canadians will be more eager to explore after being at home for months.

“By putting all those visuals out there, maybe we’ll be the first on their travel list.”

The Nisga’a Lisims Government did not respond to The Narwhal’s inquiries regarding financial aid to residents by publication time.

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Despite a growing chorus of concern about the risk industrial work camps pose to remote communities, the Red Chris mine is charting a different course when it comes to industry’s role amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Owned by Australian mining company Newcrest, the copper and gold mine in northwest B.C. is playing a critical role in providing much-needed resources to the Tahltan Nation, including additional medical services and even grocery deliveries.

Although many regions have called for the closure of natural resource project work camps, which often rely on fly-in-fly-out workers, the Tahltan are eager to keep Red Chris, a major source of employment for the nation, up and running during the pandemic. 

“When people are out of work, it stresses our social programs … people who are not working, bring social problems back home and we’re looking at spousal abuse situations that start to arise,” Tahltan band Chief Rick McLean told The Narwhal. “If we can keep people working as long as we can, we can hopefully keep some of those social issues at bay.”

McLean says having the support of an international mining company, which can help source supplies and other forms of aid if an outbreak hits, reassures people they won’t be left behind.

Even as it works closely with Newcrest, the Tahltan Nation COVID-19 emergency management team has voiced concern that individuals have already tested positive for the virus in northern B.C. communities.

“Right now, we are most vulnerable because confirmed cases are both to the north (Whitehorse) and south (Terrace and Smithers) of us,” reads a press release on April 3 from the team, which includes Tahltan leaders, medical authorities and a Red Chris representative.

“By the time a person tests positive for COVID-19 in a Tahltan community, 50 per cent of the community will likely have been exposed. That means we will likely lose most of our elders in that community.”

Ben Wither, Newcrest’s local northern B.C. manager of health, safety, environment, community and people, says it is a privilege to be considered an essential service by the province. 

“Our job is to be able to continue to operate in these difficult times and give people financial security by still offering them a job, so that’s our objective,” Wither says. “We’re doing it in a responsible manner that we think meets the expectations of the medical board and also the public.”

Wither says the company encourages all workers at the Red Chris mine to practise social distancing where possible. 

David Bowering, former chief medical officer for Northern Health, recently told The Narwhal remote work camps are akin to cruise ships, which are notorious for incubating viruses. 

“The last thing that seems … reasonable is to have large work camps — that we know will be sources of infection both within themselves and in the local communities, and in the home communities of the workers when they go back,” Bowering said. COVID-19 can be transmitted from individuals who show no symptoms.

As The Narwhal has previously reported, it can be difficult or impossible to adequately social distance at mines with hundreds of workers on site. Employees and contract workers at Teck’s Elk Valley mines in southeast B.C. have come forward to say social distancing protocols and basic sanitation procedures are not being followed at some sites where crews work in pairs, cafeterías and buses are crowded and disinfectants are in short supply. 

Local and Indigenous officials have called for the closure of the Site C dam and the White River First Nation in the Yukon is asking the Minto mine to close for at least 30 days. 

The tailings impoundment at the Red Chris mine in northwest B.C. Photo: Garth Lenz / The Narwhal

‘Pandemic leave’ available to employees

The Red Chris open-pit mine, located about 80 kilometres south of Dease Lake, was initially owned and operated by Imperial Metals, but Newcrest purchased a 70 per cent stake in the project in August of 2019. 

Nearly 500 people are employed at Red Chris, including 137 members of the Tahltan Nation, according to Newcrest. 

After taking ownership of the project, Newcrest launched a new round of engagement with the Tahltan and local communities, seeking input on how the mine could better serve the region. 

As part of those talks, Newcrest committed to employing members of the Tahltan, making consultations with the nation a priority and committing $25 million annually in contracts awarded to Tahltan businesses.

McLean says Tahltans feel proud to be a part of the project and are keen to keep operations up and running during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re looking at all the options, understanding that all the decisions made have ramifications so we want to work very closely with [Newcrest] to make sure we’re informed and understood [during this crisis],” he says.

With support from Newcrest’s emergency fund, the company has established “pandemic leave” for Tahltan employees, which will grant two weeks paid leave (accumulating to four calendar weeks), on top of their sick leave. “If somebody’s impacted because either they have to self-isolate from coming in close contact with someone they knew or they have symptoms, it’s to encourage them to stay at home to respect that social distancing and expectations that we’ve afforded them,” Wither explains. 

“One of the main challenges can be that if someone knows they’re not going to get paid, they will potentially hide their detections [of the virus] — hopefully this will eliminate that need.”

The Tahltan Nation Development Corporation announced it will match commitments set by Newcrest, encouraging other local contractors who remain on-site at the mine to do the same for their employees. 

In late 2019, Red Chris reached 100 per cent of production, generating 19.5 million pounds copper and 8,419 ounces gold, according to a press release from Imperial Metals, which owns a 30 per cent stake in the mine.

According to Newcrest, that production has not slowed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our rate of production is not being impacted by these changes and therefore to date we have not experienced any impact to our revenue,” Newcrest’s senior media advisor Rebecca Murphy wrote The Narwhal in an email. 

“The additional cost by making COVID-19-related health and safety changes is something we are happy to bear as the health and safety of our people and surrounding communities is the most important consideration.”

Newcrest did not respond to questions about how the pandemic may affect the company’s financial stability or ability to fund emergency measures.

Newcrest continues to fly in workers from across B.C.

Wither says Newcrest plans to continue operating the mine as close as they can to full capacity and is not planning to lay off employees. Non-essential staff are working from home and mine workers have their temperatures checked when entering and leaving, including truck drivers carrying deliveries.

The company continues to fly workers in and out of the Dease Lake Airport in Tahltan territory from “portals,” which include Prince George, Kelowna, Kamloops, Smithers and Williams Lake, Wither says.

According to a company description, buses running Monday to Friday collect workers from the Dease Lake Airport, the Tahltan communities of Dease Lake and Iskut, and a Red Chris pickup location at the intersection of Highway 37 and the mine access gate. 

Workers are prohibited from leaving the transport buses to enter local communities, Wither says. “They are a critical control point, so we try on the journeys to decluster [workers].”

The Lower Iskut River, downstream from the Red Chris mine. Photo: Garth Lenz / The Narwhal

The company is considering extending work periods beyond the standard 14 days to decrease the frequency of crew changes, Wither says, adding they may also enforce a period of isolation that exceeds the incubation period of the coronavirus and grant rest days to minimize fatigue.

All mine workers are housed on site, but for local employees who want to return to the communities of Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake and Iskut and live with vulnerable persons, Newcrest will provide access to off-site accommodation.

In an application submitted to the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office on March 16, 2020, Newcrest requested permission to increase capacity at its project work camp to house 650 people.

Limiting the potential for COVID-19 to spread to local communities remains a major concern.

“The biggest worry is our aging population here and we need to keep them safe using masks, ventilators and everything else everyone needs all over the world, which we either have little or none of,” McLean says. 

“Newcrest has offered their mobile nursing unit to our communities and to support us in any way they can with whatever their supply chain brings,” he says.

“We’re in the critical time of this whole COVID-19 spread in the next couple of weeks, we need to really work hard and to do our part,” says McLean. 

“If we come out of this with no cases, we’ve done our job.”

Pandemic plan draws on 2018 wildfire devastation

The 3 Nation Alliance, which includes the Tahltan, Kaska and Tlingit nations, released a pandemic plan on April 2, which acknowledges the communities are operating in coordination with the Red Chris mine, which is listed under the plan’s “medical and health experts” category.

Their biggest concern now is setting up “community quarantine spaces” in case the pandemic hits.

“This is a challenging issue, as no community has surplus housing units and no ATCO [modular office] trailers are available anywhere,” 3 Nations executive director Jack Hicks tells The Narwhal in an email. 

Communities are currently working to identify spaces that have potential for quarantine accommodations and, Hicks adds, “when the weather warms up it may be possible to bring RVs to a community if required.”

Indigenous Services Canada has provided the alliance with $100,000 to support pandemic planning.

Damage from a 2018 wildfire in the community of Telegraph Creek in Tahltan territory. Photo: Chief Rick McLean

Hicks notes the three nations are working well together, as they also did during a state of emergency activated by the 2018 wildfires that destroyed a large portion of the Tahltan’s territory. 

McLean says he also recognizes the importance of having the proper mental health services and plans for Tahltan people as many are still dealing with trauma from 2018. 

“Having some recent experience with a lot of this stuff has helped us be able to understand what steps to take on a daily basis,” McLean says.

“Our big concern is the long-term mental health effects of this and after coming through the fires, we’re still with a lot of mental illness from that … we have a very robust attitude towards making sure that we meet those needs.”

Working with the First Nations Health Council and Northern Health, McLean says they are making those resources readily available through alternative forums such as phone calls and FaceTime.

When it comes to facing a threat like COVID-19, McLean notes the Tahltan’s strength is working with community partners to get through the storm.

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