Federal decision to phase out 19 Discovery Island fish farms has sent shivers across northern Vancouver Island ZOE DUCKLOW, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER & BINNY PAUL, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER Dec. 24, 2020 11:30 a.m. Canada’s decision to phase out 19 Discovery Island fish farms sent “shock waves” throughout north Vancouver Island, say some associated […]
Politics
Are Conservative Senators Going to Kill Law Protecting Indigenous Rights?
Bill adopting UN declaration stalled and in danger of dying Almost a year after the House of Commons passed a law committing Canada to accept the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the legislation is stalled in the Senate. And there is a growing risk that the legislation will die there. Once the […]
Jody Wilson-Raybould: ‘She Has Always Just Gone for It’
She’s a fearless ‘uniter’ say watchers of her rise and the Liberals’ crisis. By Zoë Ducklow and Katie Hyslop She was called a rookie MP when she was appointed justice minister and attorney general of Canada in 2015. Yes, it was her first time as a Member of Parliament, but Jody Wilson-Raybould was no rookie […]
Site C Injunction Request Has Strong Argument but Poor Odds
Construction needs to stop so that rights ‘aren’t gone before the First Nations can have their day in court,’ lawyer says. The federal government made a splash in the Site C news cycle earlier this month when Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould announced it would not oppose an injunction application from two First Nations groups. It […]
Site C: What Happens Next?
From expropriation to First Nations lawsuit to political shifts, dam decision brings change. Premier John Horgan has announced his government will continue building the Site C dam, increasing the project budget to $10.7 billion from $8.8 billion. Work should never have started under the previous government, Horgan said, but stopping now would would mean writing […]
Surprised to be Heard: Presenters at Site C Inquiry Find Their Voice
‘I’ve been to many of these things and this was refreshingly good.’ On a Saturday afternoon in late September, the 12th-floor room in a downtown Vancouver office tower was buzzing. People looked around for familiar faces, quietly talking. The list of speakers read like signatures on a petition. Folks seemed nervous; they were full of […]
Tough Task Ahead for Site C’s Reviewers
Utilities commissioners will need to get knee-deep in data. Can it really be done in 12 weeks? The last time Site C was fully reviewed by the BC Utilities Commission, it was 1983. The commission investigated for just over a year and ultimately concluded that Site C was unneeded and recommended BC Hydro begin investigating […]
Wildfires: Should BC Do More to Help Homeowners ‘Stay and Defend’?
It’s risky, but many saved their property by not evacuating. The Tl’etinqox First Nation fought side by side with firefighters. As wildfires ravage much of B.C., strange reports of evacuation dodgers were coming in. Of course, you don’t have to evade evacuation orders here, but that’s how the coverage sounded. People were “defying” or “ignoring” evacuation […]
Everything you want to know about the Site C dam — answered
It’s been two months since we promised to dive deep into the Site C dam and asked what you want to know about the megaproject. We’ve tackled the big questions: Is it past the point of no return? Why did the BC Liberal government block independent review of the project? We also looked at what First […]
Do We Even Need the Site C Dam?
Recent data suggests we don’t. Decreased load forecasts give us more time to consider less costly energy options. Do we need the $8.9-billion Site C dam? When we promised to dig deep into the megaproject and asked what you wanted to know, that was one of your big questions. And it’s an issue that’s been […]