Our compilation of some of the stories of note from the day, reviewing the political developments from the Provincial scene for Thursday, April 30, 2020
The Thursday COVID-19 update from Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix relayed news of 25 new cases of the coronavirus for the last 24 hours in the province, making for a total of 2,112 cases in British Columbia.
Of that number, 815 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 961 are in the Fraser Health region, 120 are in the Island Health region, 170 are in the Interior Health region and 46 are in the Northern Health region, which is the same mark as that of Wednesday.
“We are saddened to report two new COVID-19 related deaths: one in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and one in the Fraser Health region, for a total of 111 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones.
In the last day, there have been no new long-term care or assisted-living facility outbreaks. In total, 21 facilities and three acute-care units have active outbreaks, with outbreaks now declared over at 12 care facilities."
As for the total volume of cases, to date, 1,322 people who had tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered. Of the total COVID-19 cases, 82 individuals are currently hospitalized, 30 of those are in intensive care, and the remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
Both Doctor Henry and Health Minister Dix, returned to a familiar theme for Thursday, noting how the public needs to remain vigilant to the risks posed by COVID-19 as well as the measures in place to remain safe.
Responding to a question about more relaxed rules being introduced in Alberta, the Top Public Health Officer for BC also offered up a glimpse of what our time of expanding our social contacts may look like in the not too distant future.
"So here in BC of course, we have always maintained and it's something that I feel quite passionately about as you probably are aware. That being outside is important for us to be able to release when we're going through such stressful times as these, and that we need to do that though safely. And that means maintaining our distance and going with our family, our household group, our circle. As we're moving into the next phase of this, we need to consider each of us, in our own family, how we want to and how we can, expand our circles. But doing it in a way that's safe. So that does mean, Yes we might be able to connect with others in a way that we haven't been able to do in the last little while. But we need to be thoughtful about it. Because the more groups and people that we have connections with, the more chances are that we might transmit this virus. So we need to be careful about our own situation and it may be fine for young people who are by themselves for example, to connect then with other small groups of friends. We're not going to have large groups gathering together, we're not going to be having indoor parties in this coming summer. But, we can look at how we can safely have more contact and more people in our lives to have those circles slightly bigger. The challenge is going to be how do we protect those people who need it most"
Local governments and organizations have also provided for increased awareness of COVID-19 issues, the string of statements that came quickly at the end of the week can be reviewed here.
For notes from across Canada and British Columbia we have been archiving the latest items through our political portal Darcy McGee
With some of his comments on the day directed towards residents specifically on Haida Gwaii and the Central coast.
"There's been discussion about tourism, the hotel sector is going to be critically injured over the next number of months, because people will not be coming to British Columbia. We'd like to see I hope in the not too distant future, people travelling around British Columbia. But you've also seen, how communities have responded, rural and remote communities have responded to the prospect of people from away coming for a visit. All of those issues are going to have to be dealt with, Government doesn't have a magic formula there but kindness and compassion and a sense of confidence that there are processes and guidelines in place to protect public health, will allow us to open up completely, not just industry, not just businesses, but communities as well."
"I'm speaking specifically about the case of Haida Gwaii and Bella Bella and other places who have said we'd like to see you, but we don't want to see you now. The example that just shines in my mind is Tofino. A tourism town, that still feels, rightly so that they are concerned that people from away could bring the pandemic to their territory and their community and they don't want to see that. We need to see as a society, to come to terms with how we can all interact together as we did before in the benefit of everyone"
However less than twenty four hours later, the response from many First nation and municipal leaders in the coastal area of the Northwest seems to be along the lines of not quite enough John.
Part of the push back, which was led by the Council of the Haida Nation came by way of a statement issued over the noon hour through the CHN website, with the key passages being:
On April 6, North and Central Coast communities issued a joint letter calling on provincial and federal authorities to support travel restrictions (the joint letter can be viewed here). In more than three weeks, signatories have not received support from BC or Canada, and the danger to remote communities was compounded by BC’s recent declaration that fishing and hunting are essential services, which permits non-residents to fish and hunt in First Nations’ territories. The pressure is increasing with more confirmed cases in the region and COVID-19 impacts in the small Island community of Alert Bay. With a lack of action, First Nations are forced on to the frontlines and bear a tremendous amount of risk to protect communities. Following a checkpoint preventing non-residents from visiting Haida Gwaii on April 27, Dr. Bonnie Henry was asked if communities can tell visitors they are not welcome. Dr. Henry responded, “This is part, of course, of our relationship with First Nations communities and their self-government and self-determination and they do have the ability and authorities to make those decisions for their communities.”
Today saw a group of Haida Nation supporters answer the call from the Council of the Haida Nation, with a group estimated to be in the twenties arriving at the Prince Rupert Ferry Terminal on Park Avenue to advise any would be ferry non-essential passengers in the line up for the Thursday sailing that now was not the time for travel.
In a Facebook post yesterday from one of the organizers of the local action, supporters of the Haida were asked to gather at the BC Ferries terminal to reinforce the message that Haida Gwaii is closed.
"This is a call out to all the Haida people in Prince Rupert to come join us at BC Ferries along the highway towards the Ferry at 12:00 pm. If you can, please make your own signs, wear your regalia and pass this to other Haida people and friends to come join us to send a loud message that Haida Gwaii is closed."
A previous sailing earlier this week resulted in a checkpoint being set up on the Skidegate side of Hecate Strait, though a subsequent report indicated that none of the 32 passengers who travelled from Prince Rupert to Haida Gwaii on that sailing were considered to be non-essential visitors.
Also part of the Council of the Haida Nation Statement today, was a statement from Lax Kw'alaams Mayor Garry Reece who indicated that members of the Tsimshian Nation would also be taking measures to set up their own checkpoint, though it was not clear when that will take place or where along Highway 16 the checkpoint would be set up.
“The Tsimshian Nation is preparing our own actions to protect our members and the people living in our territories. Lax Kw’alaams has reserve lands that cross Highway 16 between Terrace and Prince Rupert and we are preparing to create a checkpoint to monitor and enact travel restrictions. We cannot let this virus come into our community, there is just too much at risk for our people" -- Lax Kw'alaams Mayor Garry Reece
At the moment, both the Lax Kw'alaam Band Council and Metlakatla First Nation have put in place their own actual lockdown in their communities, banning any non residents from travel to their communities, with limitations even on those who may be essential also in place.
Among the signatories to today's CHN statement was the Mayor of the District of Port Edward Knut Bjorndal, who spoke to concerns over the prospect of hunters and/or fishermen arriving in the region.
“The inclusion of hunting and fishing as essential services by the BC government does not mean that travelling to remote areas of the province is acceptable during this pandemic. This is not the time to leave your home communities. The District of Port Edward is equally concerned about the travellers who do not seem to be getting the message and we will continue to collaborate with our neighbors, other government agencies and health providers to protect our most vulnerable.”
–District of Port Edward Mayor, Knut Bjorndal
While Mayor Lee Brain is not noted in the list of quotes from todays statement, the Prince Rupert Mayor did however alert the community to the latest notes from the CHN through his Social Media page.
However, when it comes to the topic of non-essential travel in the region, the Mayor and City Council appear to be sending out some mixed messages to one group of travellers that being vessel owners and their passengers.
While Mayor Brain seems very supportive of the call today and those of the past from the Council of the Haida Nation, as we noted earlier this week, the city owned and operated Cow Bay Marina still appears to be welcoming the boating community to the North Coast.
With no advisories calling for a halt of travel or versions of "a drop by some other time" message to be found to this point on either the CowBay Marina website or Facebook page.
The Cow Bay Marina website & Facebook page home pages Neither portal for the boating community indicates any warning towards non-essential travel at the moment
While Prince Rupert residents are now required to book an appointment for their recycling needs, the District of Port Edward has managed to continue on with their Recycling program in that community, though they have noticed a sudden increase in traffic and they are not very happy about it.
In a post to the District of Port Edward Facebook page, District officials note that their bins are for their residents only with a call for District residents to report anyone who isn't a resident making use of the Port Edward Bins.
As we noted earlier this week, the North Coast Regional District outlined the new measures in Prince Rupert last month, though a full information blitz to the topic doesn't seem to have been an important element of the change of direction for the facility.
So far there have been no updates as to when the Recycling Centre will return to more normal operations, or if there are plans to revisit the appointment plan and instead create controls at the Kaien Road facility to enable for social distancing and recycling opportunities.
The District of Port Edward will approve their budget and property tax bylaw at a Special Council session early next month
Port Edward residents will not see any increase to their property taxes this year, that as the Mayor and Council relay their Budget notes to the community this week, making note of the plans to approve their Financial plan and property tax bylaw at a Special Council session on May 6th.
In a letter to residents from yesterday Mayor Knut Bjorndal observes how property sales continue to affect the assessed value of property in the region, with Mr. Bjorndal making note that most residents saw a decrease in 2019.
For the year ahead, he notes that while they are holding to no increase for 2020, some resident may see a small increase or decrease depending on their assessed property values.
Other themes addressed in the correspondence for residents include ongoing work with CN rail to resolve the issue of train whistling in the community, as well as plans for a 4 million dollar road re-building project in the District.
Mayor Bjorndal also outlines that anyone who may have concerns or opinions about the budget can contact him or other council members by 2 PM on May 6th, or address their observations to the Director of Finance at lpage@portedward.ca
The District has also introduced a new Strategic Plan for the community
The plan features five areas of key focus for 2020, click on the boxes below to enlarge and explore:
Well Planned District Finances
High Quality of Life and Community Development
Growing and Progressive Economic Development
Well planned, maintained and financed public works and infrastructure
Strong District Organization
The Document also relays the six core services that the District strives to excel at
Good governance, administration and community engagement Public Safety Community planning and development services Public works, infrastructure and engineering Parks and Recreation Community economic development
The Prince Rupert Gymnastics Association has received some funding from Northern Development Trust towards renovations of their new space at the Canadian Fish warehouse at Rushbrook
Once the days of tumbling and such return to the Prince Rupert Gymnastics Association they'll be making use of some additional cash from Northern Development Initiative Trust with the Prince George based organization announcing some success in the Prince Rupert groups funding needs.
In an information release outlining the details towards new funding this month, the NDIT noted how the 250,000 dollars for the Prince Rupert Association would be put towards the renovation of the leased space at the Canadian Fish Warehouse location where the Gymnasts will be relocating to.
$250,000 was approved for the Prince Rupert Gymnastics Association (PRGA) to assist in the renovation of a leased space in Prince Rupert to accommodate a new gymnastics facility. The PRGA requires a larger space in order to expand its program offerings and enhance its economic benefits to the city and region. The new facility will support the expansion of the co-ed recreational program, expansion of the female competitive team, and development of a new male competitive team, as well as additional community programming and events rentals.
Jackie Touchet, President, Prince Rupert Gymnastics Association offered up the thanks from local gymnasts at the news.
“The Prince Rupert Gymnastics Association is over the moon excited to be a recipient of the NDIT grant! These funds are going to enable us to construct a state-of-the-art facility to provide gymnastics in a safe environment to many kids in our community. Prince Rupert will be the hub of gymnastics in the north.”
The money for the PRGA will be delivered through the NDIT's Economic Diversification Infrastructure Program.
As we outlined earlier this year, the PRGA will be moving into the Rushbrook Area facility following a leasing arrangement between the City of Prince Rupert and Canadian Fish, which will see the city sub lease the facility to the Gymnasts.
The Prince Rupert Gymnasts Association hailed the good news on funding with a post to their Facebook page yesterday.
While the funding may be in hand, so far there has been no timeline released as to when the renovations will get underway, or how the Association plans to move forward with their program at the new facility.
You can find updates on those themes when they are released through the PRGA Facebook page.
Premier Horgan doesn't appear to be a popular fellow with Prince Rupert city Council these days
It's been over a month now since Premier John Horgan and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth suspended a number of Local State of Emergencies across BC, including one in Prince Rupert.
The Prince Rupert version which was unanimously passed on March 23rd had a lengthy number of measures in mind after consultation with local physicians, many of them described by some of those physicians as to be somewhat draconian in nature.
And if Monday night's Council session is an indication, that decision still rankles Mayor Lee Brain and a number of local Councillors, with that provincial order making for a significant period of their talking point time at the Monday meeting.
The Provincial decision was announced on March 26th as the Province of British Columbia introduced a province wide state of Emergency (extended until mid May by the Premier yesterday) with the Premier noting that a coordinated response was required at that period of the COVID-19 response.
"First of all we didn't want to see a patchwork emerging across British Columbia, one of the earlier questions was about how do we ensure continuity of information, reduce confusion to the greatest extent possible. And if you have different jurisdictions in different parts of the province invoking different powers that are inconsistent with their neighbours, that leads to first of all a leap frogging effect. An expectation in Community A, that if Community B has done something, then I have to as well. We want to reduce anxiety, we want to increase public confidence and the best way to do that is too have a uniform approach" -- Premier John Horgan, March 26th
"In their role, it is unfortunately difficult to understand the many localized and specific issues that their team just does not have the time to see or address. These issues have been brought forward to us by our physicians and we believed as communities with limited resources that we needed to act now before it was too late ... So here's what we are going to do: on top of promoting all provincial orders, we are going to make 'recommended' local orders anyway. Yes, we have no way to enforce them, and we have no way to ask you to do anything legally speaking. But, I believe the people are with us. I believe you understand why we are doing what we are doing. We need your support now more than ever. We are taking our direction from our physicians on the ground and I believe we just need to do what we need to do. Period. The only way it happens is all organizations, unions, industry, businesses and residents believe that we should enact localized provisions together and make it the law of the land ANYWAY.-- Mayor Lee Brain, March 26
At the time the Mayor also indicated that at that point of the evolving situation, the City would in effect be stepping back from a fair amount of engagement with the province on a number of issues of local concern.
Unfortunately any community issues moving forward regarding housing, childcare, homelessness, etc are to be sent to Jennifer Rice's office as her and her team are now in control. You can forward your concerns to Jennifer Rice by calling 250-624-7734 or e-mailing jennifer.rice.mla@leg.bc.ca.
Time it appears has not made for any second thoughts, or for that matter any further measured responses, with frustration and in some cases anger continuing to make for the civic narrative over a month later.
The parade of commentary on the suspended Local orders began as part of a presentation to Council from City Manager Robert Long, who made note of the essential service operations that the city has put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and offered a few words on the province's decision.
"These are difficult and chaotic times, local governments are the closest to the people and therefore I think we've had a pretty good perspective on what a city should do in an emergency. And in that case we focused first on delivering essential services, safely and then working to understand the rapidly changing circumstance and what was our best strategy moving forward. You know some of it was a little difficult, in that we declared an Emergency and the Province cancelled our State of Emergency, and they focused on dealing with the emergency while we went back to sort of controlling what our essential services were and working towards our business continuity." --City Manager Robert Long
Mr. Long also made note of how all Council members and staff have remained united in their focus since the pandemic period first began.
"But I think it's important that we as an organization and as a team, all see ourselves in heading in the same direction and I think that's what's been happening"
The more partisan political themes did not get introduced until later, during the period at the end of the April 27th Council session where the Council membership can offer up their own topics for discussion.
And for the most part they did seem to follow the City Manager's narrative of a Council membership of all members remaining on the same page.
The commentary on the disappointment of Council began with the Mayor's response to a question from Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa.
Mr. Randhawa recounted some concerns he has heard related to reports of out of town and out of country visitors said to be in the Prince Rupert area, though to this point the city hasn't offered up much more than anecdotal notes to that theme through the last six weeks.
"When it comes to the non-essential travel, once again as our City Manager has said we are not able to stop people from coming here; we have one By-law officer that technically is not able to enforce, they can report to the Health officer any issues, but ultimately they don't really have any mechanism to make enforcement ... It's very difficult to see who is here for essential reasons, who is not here for essential reasons. It's one of the things that all of the people in this area and region, all of us are united on is that we feel that there should be stronger mechanisms to limit non-essential travel. But at this time, there's not much that the city can do because that effort is being managed through Provincial Health Orders ... So at this juncture, there is not much power the city has to limit, or stop these from happening and as we have seen on Haida Gwaii and the Nuxalk Nation down on the Central Coast these folks are setting up their own check points and doing their own measures, due to the fact that there isn't really any strict non-essential travel restrictions in place. So at this point in time, you know that is as far as we can take it, and we wanted to do that a month and a half ago now; to put those limits in and put those restrictions in to at least get us through. But we're hoping that people are just following the rules anyways."
Among those to speak following the Mayor were Councillors Adey and Cunningham who took somewhat different approaches to the same theme of disappointment.
Mr. Adey made note of the need for local government to make independent decisions in more of a diplomatic tone, with a reminder of the need of cooperation, something that wasn't really the vibe created for City Council following the Mayor's comments back on March 26th.
"I do think there needs to be attention to the discretionary ability of the local governments to make independent decisions which reflect the local knowledge that every community has about their unique circumstances. We're not in the same circumstances as urban municipalities and larger cities ... and I think we need to maintain an awareness of that. But I think that cooperation between levels of government is really important and I think that there are really good people at all three levels." -- Councillor Nick Adey
Mr. Cunningham on the other hand was more of a bare knuckles brawler on the topic, weighing in with a stern rebuke of both levels of senior governments and their representative.
"With that said about all three levels of government, that's fine and dandy but Prince Rupert, Haida Gwaii and our villages are really unique communities and I don't think the Senior levels of government have taken that into consideration, I'm sorry, we've got to cooperate, but at the same time cooperation is listening to your local governments, and sometimes I don't think we're being listened to" -- Councillor Barry Cunningham
Councillor Mirau spoke to the theme of how Council had to move fast and to not have any regrets.
"The philosophy of Emergency management at this point is really to just be fast, to adapt as quickly as you can and to really have no regrets. And I think that, I hope we can all in good conscience say that we've done that here. To say that we can look at the actions that we're taking, we're responding as we can and we're not leaving anything necessarily on the table and trying to make decisions in real time" --Councillor Blair Mirau
Lost among all the political bombast was any nod towards the measures that they had wished to put in place, which never really received a full debate or explanation on March 23rd.
With none of the Council membership on Monday explaining how they believed it was necessary in effect to over-ride the Canadian Charter of Rights, in particular the section related to mobility rights; an option of suspension of Canadian rights that doesn't seem to be within the reach of civic officials to begin with.
One month later, while still in lock step it seems with that original decision, none chose to address the draconian moves that they would have put in place to put the community into lockdown.
The Premier covering many of the themes that appear to be of concern to Prince Rupert council members, while noting how British Columbia had chosen a different path when it came to suspending mobility rights.
"So what will the new normal look like? It will be guided of course by the science and the work of Public Health officials. And it will be a phased in approach as other provinces are doing but it will be different in British Columbia, because unlike other provinces we resisted the call for a full lockdown of our economy and instead adopted a different approach. The approach of British Columbia was to focus on how could we keep sectors operating safely, rather than shutting them down until we could operate them again" "There's been discussion about tourism, the hotel sector is going to be critically injured over the next number of months, because people will not be coming to British Columbia. We'd like to see I hope in the not too distant future, people travelling around British Columbia. But you've also seen, how communities have responded, rural and remote communities have responded to the prospect of people from away coming for a visit. All of those issues are going to have to be dealt with, Government doesn't have a magic formula there but kindness and compassion and a sense of confidence that there are processes and guidelines in place to protect public health, will allow us to open up completely, not just industry, not just businesses, but communities as well."
"I'm speaking specifically about the case of Haida Gwaii and Bella Bella and other places who have said we'd like to see you, but we don't want to see you now. The example that just shines in my mind is Tofino. A tourism town, that still feels, rightly so that they are concerned that people from away could bring the pandemic to their territory and their community and they don't want to see that. We need to see as a society, to come to terms with how we can all interact together as we did before in the benefit of everyone"
And as the month has progressed and British Columbians, including those in the would be Republic of Prince Rupert, have shown; flattening the curve and following the instructions of the Public Health officer was indeed possible without infringing on the Charter rights of Canadians, or shutting the community off from the province and country.
When it comes to positive cases of COVID-19 the Northern Health region has so far, whether through good planning or good fortune, managed to avoid much of the misery visited on some other areas of the province and nation.
And all credit for that goes to those on the front lines of our medical system and for those that continue to follow the advice of the Provincial Health Officer Doctor Bonnie Henry.
Somewhat surprisingly, while the Premier indicates that we all may moving towards a lessening of regulations and towards more normalcy from very stressful times; it appears that the Prince Rupert Council members still long for the opportunity to enforce strict restrictions in the community and wistfully look at an opportunity denied.
You can review the full commentary on the state of Municipal/Provincial relations from the City's Video Archive, Mr. Long's commentary arrives at the 25 minute mark, followed by the council members contributions to the theme.
Monday night did offer up some hope for a more collegial exchange between Municipal and Federal officials moving forward though.
There was much talk of the city continuing to seek out provincial funding opportunities and indeed some of the Mayor's list of plans for Rupert Redesign, Vision 2030 and infrastructure projects will continue on, thanks mainly to funding from the provincial and federal governments.
Considering the uncharted waters that we all find ourselves in as the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, it probably will be a good thing to keep the phone plugged in and the channels of communication as collegial as possible moving forward.
Because like many communities across British Columbia, the future is very much an unknown and good relations with senior partners will be vital to ensure that we can navigate what is ahead.
