Cortes Currents

Roy L hales / Cortes Currents - Picture a homeless encampment in a public park. The rains and recent snow have transformed most of the lawn into a massive puddle. The number of tents in Victoria’s Central Park has decreased since last fall, but there were still 45 of them on December 15th. One was sitting on a pallet, which raised the floor above the water, but the neighbouring tents are all in water.

That’s the scene that greets your eyes in Krista Loughton’s video “This is Canada” which was filed in the park on December 21st.

She published it along with an “open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier John Horgan, and all other federal and provincial elected officials who are responsible for social housing and human rights federally and provincially in Canada.”

In the text it says “I, and whoever else likes or shares this video, demand that we find an indoor solution immediately for people who are literally being flooded out of Central Park in Victoria, B.C.”

Sarah Suleman, from CFUV in Victoria, reports:

“On Dec 23, those sheltering in Central park began relocating to Royal Athletic park due to flooding from recent heavy rain and snow. The move comes after a media release was issued the previous day by the City of Victoria addressing the move as well as announcing that extra support would be provided to the homeless community in the form of new tents and bedding.”

“In the statement, Mayor Lisa Helps commented on the situation explaining how the recent fluctuations in the weather have exacerbated the situation. ‘With the recent heavy rainfall, the situation in Central Park has become untenable for those sheltering. As the cold and wet weather continues to make sheltering in parks more challenging, the City is actively working with its partners to secure more safe spaces for people to stay warm and dry, by March 31 at the latest,’ said Helps.”

“Helps also acknowledged the extra support that has been extended to those sheltering in the park. ‘In the meantime, we are grateful to everyone who has mobilized to help move people camping to firmer ground that won’t flood. I’d especially like to thank BC Housing for their continued support,’ Said Helps.”

“The Victoria Fire department and BC housing will be supplying tents, cots and bedding. Discussion have begun with the GSL Group to reuse the Save-on Food Memorial Centre temporary shelter but this option has yet to be confirmed.”

“The media release reiterated that homelessness has been a top priority for the provincial government and the recent storm and pandemic have further highlighted a need to address homelessness within Victoria.”

“Due to social distancing guidelines because of the pandemic, access to indoor shelters and available beds have been reduced as well as overall support for people experiencing homelessness.”

“The Municipal Government is also investing in services and programs such as the salvation army, the Umbrella Society for Addiction and Mental Health, a community care tent, our place society, as well as extending public washroom hours and having bylaw officers conduct daily checks.”

A series of photo from the North Park Neighbourhood Association shows the new tent city in a parking lot, with every tent raised above the pavement’s surface on a pallet.

Roy L hales / Cortes Currents - Picture a homeless encampment in a public park. The rains and recent snow have transformed most of the lawn into a massive puddle. The number of tents in Victoria’s Central Park has decreased since last fall, but there were still 45 of them on December 15th. One was sitting on a pallet, which raised the floor above the water, but the neighbouring tents are all in water.

That’s the scene that greets your eyes in Krista Loughton’s video “This is Canada” which was filed in the park on December 21st.

She published it along with an “open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier John Horgan, and all other federal and provincial elected officials who are responsible for social housing and human rights federally and provincially in Canada.”

In the text it says “I, and whoever else likes or shares this video, demand that we find an indoor solution immediately for people who are literally being flooded out of Central Park in Victoria, B.C.”

Sarah Suleman, from CFUV in Victoria, reports:

“On Dec 23, those sheltering in Central park began relocating to Royal Athletic park due to flooding from recent heavy rain and snow. The move comes after a media release was issued the previous day by the City of Victoria addressing the move as well as announcing that extra support would be provided to the homeless community in the form of new tents and bedding.”

“In the statement, Mayor Lisa Helps commented on the situation explaining how the recent fluctuations in the weather have exacerbated the situation. ‘With the recent heavy rainfall, the situation in Central Park has become untenable for those sheltering. As the cold and wet weather continues to make sheltering in parks more challenging, the City is actively working with its partners to secure more safe spaces for people to stay warm and dry, by March 31 at the latest,’ said Helps.”

“Helps also acknowledged the extra support that has been extended to those sheltering in the park. ‘In the meantime, we are grateful to everyone who has mobilized to help move people camping to firmer ground that won’t flood. I’d especially like to thank BC Housing for their continued support,’ Said Helps.”

“The Victoria Fire department and BC housing will be supplying tents, cots and bedding. Discussion have begun with the GSL Group to reuse the Save-on Food Memorial Centre temporary shelter but this option has yet to be confirmed.”

“The media release reiterated that homelessness has been a top priority for the provincial government and the recent storm and pandemic have further highlighted a need to address homelessness within Victoria.”

“Due to social distancing guidelines because of the pandemic, access to indoor shelters and available beds have been reduced as well as overall support for people experiencing homelessness.”

“The Municipal Government is also investing in services and programs such as the salvation army, the Umbrella Society for Addiction and Mental Health, a community care tent, our place society, as well as extending public washroom hours and having bylaw officers conduct daily checks.”

A series of photo from the North Park Neighbourhood Association shows the new tent city in a parking lot, with every tent raised above the pavement’s surface on a pallet.

Roy L hales / Cortes Currents - Picture a homeless encampment in a public park. The rains and recent snow have transformed most of the lawn into a massive puddle. The number of tents in Victoria’s Central Park has decreased since last fall, but there were still 45 of them on December 15th. One was sitting on a pallet, which raised the floor above the water, but the neighbouring tents are all in water.

That’s the scene that greets your eyes in Krista Loughton’s video “This is Canada” which was filed in the park on December 21st.

She published it along with an “open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier John Horgan, and all other federal and provincial elected officials who are responsible for social housing and human rights federally and provincially in Canada.”

In the text it says “I, and whoever else likes or shares this video, demand that we find an indoor solution immediately for people who are literally being flooded out of Central Park in Victoria, B.C.”

Sarah Suleman, from CFUV in Victoria, reports:

“On Dec 23, those sheltering in Central park began relocating to Royal Athletic park due to flooding from recent heavy rain and snow. The move comes after a media release was issued the previous day by the City of Victoria addressing the move as well as announcing that extra support would be provided to the homeless community in the form of new tents and bedding.”

“In the statement, Mayor Lisa Helps commented on the situation explaining how the recent fluctuations in the weather have exacerbated the situation. ‘With the recent heavy rainfall, the situation in Central Park has become untenable for those sheltering. As the cold and wet weather continues to make sheltering in parks more challenging, the City is actively working with its partners to secure more safe spaces for people to stay warm and dry, by March 31 at the latest,’ said Helps.”

“Helps also acknowledged the extra support that has been extended to those sheltering in the park. ‘In the meantime, we are grateful to everyone who has mobilized to help move people camping to firmer ground that won’t flood. I’d especially like to thank BC Housing for their continued support,’ Said Helps.”

“The Victoria Fire department and BC housing will be supplying tents, cots and bedding. Discussion have begun with the GSL Group to reuse the Save-on Food Memorial Centre temporary shelter but this option has yet to be confirmed.”

“The media release reiterated that homelessness has been a top priority for the provincial government and the recent storm and pandemic have further highlighted a need to address homelessness within Victoria.”

“Due to social distancing guidelines because of the pandemic, access to indoor shelters and available beds have been reduced as well as overall support for people experiencing homelessness.”

“The Municipal Government is also investing in services and programs such as the salvation army, the Umbrella Society for Addiction and Mental Health, a community care tent, our place society, as well as extending public washroom hours and having bylaw officers conduct daily checks.”

A series of photo from the North Park Neighbourhood Association shows the new tent city in a parking lot, with every tent raised above the pavement’s surface on a pallet.

David P Ball/ Vancouver Coop Radio - The newly launched BC Recovery Benefit opened for applications last week — a key NDP promise in last fall's controversial election — but already it's turning into an insurmountable barrier for some low-income people and seniors faced with an unexpected barrage of paperwork and documentation.

If the prerequisite to have filed taxes this year wasn't already a barrier for many people who earn too little to even pay taxes, or afford an accountant, many individuals who have attempted to apply for the $500 non-taxable funds ($1,000 for families) since it started not only faced website crashes due to overloaded servers, but also follow-up emails from government demanding they provide printed or scanned copies of government photo identification and bank account records.

Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, of First United in the Downtown Eastside, said even she struggled to understand an unnecessarily complicated website where the link to actually apply wasn't obvious — and was hit with a government email requesting documents simply unavailable to many of her DTES clients.

She said the government’s recovery benefit falls far short of what's required — and is inaccessible to those who most urgently need it during a pandemic that's seen huge swathes of the public lose income, plunge deeper into debt, skyrocketed overdose deaths, and cast people from their homes.

Instead, Landsdowne is among a growing number of advocates who say instead of one-time handouts, the province needs to — in the short term — cancel its cut to the disability top-up and add any emergency benefits directly into social assistance. And an even better solution, she argued, is to launch a B.C.-wide universal basic income pilot project.

Such a policy ensures every resident is topped up to a set minimum annual income, regardless of how much or how little money they make. It wouldn't claw back or cancel benefits for people who earn a small amount of money or attempt to re-enter the workforce.

Landsdowne said the pandemic has made such a move all the more urgent here, and she said even after the vaccine is widely distributed she fears an escalation of deep poverty and economic desperate could last much longer. UBI has been tried successfully in Scandinavia, several communities in Ontario and, historically, in one Manitoba city to measurable effect on poverty and health.

David P Ball/ Vancouver Coop Radio - The newly launched BC Recovery Benefit opened for applications last week — a key NDP promise in last fall's controversial election — but already it's turning into an insurmountable barrier for some low-income people and seniors faced with an unexpected barrage of paperwork and documentation.

If the prerequisite to have filed taxes this year wasn't already a barrier for many people who earn too little to even pay taxes, or afford an accountant, many individuals who have attempted to apply for the $500 non-taxable funds ($1,000 for families) since it started not only faced website crashes due to overloaded servers, but also follow-up emails from government demanding they provide printed or scanned copies of government photo identification and bank account records.

Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, of First United in the Downtown Eastside, said even she struggled to understand an unnecessarily complicated website where the link to actually apply wasn't obvious — and was hit with a government email requesting documents simply unavailable to many of her DTES clients.

She said the government’s recovery benefit falls far short of what's required — and is inaccessible to those who most urgently need it during a pandemic that's seen huge swathes of the public lose income, plunge deeper into debt, skyrocketed overdose deaths, and cast people from their homes.

Instead, Landsdowne is among a growing number of advocates who say instead of one-time handouts, the province needs to — in the short term — cancel its cut to the disability top-up and add any emergency benefits directly into social assistance. And an even better solution, she argued, is to launch a B.C.-wide universal basic income pilot project.

Such a policy ensures every resident is topped up to a set minimum annual income, regardless of how much or how little money they make. It wouldn't claw back or cancel benefits for people who earn a small amount of money or attempt to re-enter the workforce.

Landsdowne said the pandemic has made such a move all the more urgent here, and she said even after the vaccine is widely distributed she fears an escalation of deep poverty and economic desperate could last much longer. UBI has been tried successfully in Scandinavia, several communities in Ontario and, historically, in one Manitoba city to measurable effect on poverty and health.

David P Ball/ Vancouver Coop Radio - The newly launched BC Recovery Benefit opened for applications last week — a key NDP promise in last fall's controversial election — but already it's turning into an insurmountable barrier for some low-income people and seniors faced with an unexpected barrage of paperwork and documentation.

If the prerequisite to have filed taxes this year wasn't already a barrier for many people who earn too little to even pay taxes, or afford an accountant, many individuals who have attempted to apply for the $500 non-taxable funds ($1,000 for families) since it started not only faced website crashes due to overloaded servers, but also follow-up emails from government demanding they provide printed or scanned copies of government photo identification and bank account records.

Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, of First United in the Downtown Eastside, said even she struggled to understand an unnecessarily complicated website where the link to actually apply wasn't obvious — and was hit with a government email requesting documents simply unavailable to many of her DTES clients.

She said the government’s recovery benefit falls far short of what's required — and is inaccessible to those who most urgently need it during a pandemic that's seen huge swathes of the public lose income, plunge deeper into debt, skyrocketed overdose deaths, and cast people from their homes.

Instead, Landsdowne is among a growing number of advocates who say instead of one-time handouts, the province needs to — in the short term — cancel its cut to the disability top-up and add any emergency benefits directly into social assistance. And an even better solution, she argued, is to launch a B.C.-wide universal basic income pilot project.

Such a policy ensures every resident is topped up to a set minimum annual income, regardless of how much or how little money they make. It wouldn't claw back or cancel benefits for people who earn a small amount of money or attempt to re-enter the workforce.

Landsdowne said the pandemic has made such a move all the more urgent here, and she said even after the vaccine is widely distributed she fears an escalation of deep poverty and economic desperate could last much longer. UBI has been tried successfully in Scandinavia, several communities in Ontario and, historically, in one Manitoba city to measurable effect on poverty and health.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Scientists are just grasping the extent of the environmental devastation. According to the Hakai Institute, which operates an ecological observatory on Quadra Island,10 million cubic metres of rock and earth plunged into Eliot Creek on November 28th. Andrew Schaeffer, a Pacific division seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, said the landslide “sent out low-frequency surface waves resembling those of a quake with an equivalent magnitude of 4.9.” The glacial lake outburst was about 100 metres high and to shot through Elliot Creek into the Southgate River and Bute Inlet.

The Hakai Institute said, “The flood resulted in a turbidity current that extended almost 70 kilometers away from the river mouth. And over just a few weeks, we observed a 0.5 C0 cooling in the deep water, which will impact ocean properties like oxygen and pH. It is likely the inflowing sentiment will impact which bacteria and phytoplankton can grow. Changes from this event will impact fish and fish habitat.”

Brent Ward, co-director for the Centre for Natural Hazards Research at Simon Fraser University, said “The lower reaches of Elliot Creek are Coho habitat, and if you look at those images, that habitat is now buried with gravel. These landslides happen, but when you’re dealing with a four-year life cycle of a fish, it’s going to have a longer effect than that.” 

Chief Darren Blaney, of the Homalco First Nation, “I’m just hoping some chum have spawned further up (the Southgate River) and the eggs have survived.”

He is also concerned about the grizzly bears who will not be able to feed on salmon.

A team from Hakai flew over the devastated area, with a lidar scanner, on Tuesday, Dec. 22.

Hakai founder Eric Peterson explained, “We make multiple passes and thereby build up a very precise 3D model of the landscape. We hope to be able to conduct a detailed comparison of the ‘before’ and ‘after’ 3D lidar models, and thereby be able to work out exactly what material moved from where to where. The current model may help us predict whether the mountain is stable now, or whether another collapse might be coming.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Scientists are just grasping the extent of the environmental devastation. According to the Hakai Institute, which operates an ecological observatory on Quadra Island,10 million cubic metres of rock and earth plunged into Eliot Creek on November 28th. Andrew Schaeffer, a Pacific division seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, said the landslide “sent out low-frequency surface waves resembling those of a quake with an equivalent magnitude of 4.9.” The glacial lake outburst was about 100 metres high and to shot through Elliot Creek into the Southgate River and Bute Inlet.

The Hakai Institute said, “The flood resulted in a turbidity current that extended almost 70 kilometers away from the river mouth. And over just a few weeks, we observed a 0.5 C0 cooling in the deep water, which will impact ocean properties like oxygen and pH. It is likely the inflowing sentiment will impact which bacteria and phytoplankton can grow. Changes from this event will impact fish and fish habitat.”

Brent Ward, co-director for the Centre for Natural Hazards Research at Simon Fraser University, said “The lower reaches of Elliot Creek are Coho habitat, and if you look at those images, that habitat is now buried with gravel. These landslides happen, but when you’re dealing with a four-year life cycle of a fish, it’s going to have a longer effect than that.” 

Chief Darren Blaney, of the Homalco First Nation, “I’m just hoping some chum have spawned further up (the Southgate River) and the eggs have survived.”

He is also concerned about the grizzly bears who will not be able to feed on salmon.

A team from Hakai flew over the devastated area, with a lidar scanner, on Tuesday, Dec. 22.

Hakai founder Eric Peterson explained, “We make multiple passes and thereby build up a very precise 3D model of the landscape. We hope to be able to conduct a detailed comparison of the ‘before’ and ‘after’ 3D lidar models, and thereby be able to work out exactly what material moved from where to where. The current model may help us predict whether the mountain is stable now, or whether another collapse might be coming.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Scientists are just grasping the extent of the environmental devastation. According to the Hakai Institute, which operates an ecological observatory on Quadra Island,10 million cubic metres of rock and earth plunged into Eliot Creek on November 28th. Andrew Schaeffer, a Pacific division seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, said the landslide “sent out low-frequency surface waves resembling those of a quake with an equivalent magnitude of 4.9.” The glacial lake outburst was about 100 metres high and to shot through Elliot Creek into the Southgate River and Bute Inlet.

The Hakai Institute said, “The flood resulted in a turbidity current that extended almost 70 kilometers away from the river mouth. And over just a few weeks, we observed a 0.5 C0 cooling in the deep water, which will impact ocean properties like oxygen and pH. It is likely the inflowing sentiment will impact which bacteria and phytoplankton can grow. Changes from this event will impact fish and fish habitat.”

Brent Ward, co-director for the Centre for Natural Hazards Research at Simon Fraser University, said “The lower reaches of Elliot Creek are Coho habitat, and if you look at those images, that habitat is now buried with gravel. These landslides happen, but when you’re dealing with a four-year life cycle of a fish, it’s going to have a longer effect than that.” 

Chief Darren Blaney, of the Homalco First Nation, “I’m just hoping some chum have spawned further up (the Southgate River) and the eggs have survived.”

He is also concerned about the grizzly bears who will not be able to feed on salmon.

A team from Hakai flew over the devastated area, with a lidar scanner, on Tuesday, Dec. 22.

Hakai founder Eric Peterson explained, “We make multiple passes and thereby build up a very precise 3D model of the landscape. We hope to be able to conduct a detailed comparison of the ‘before’ and ‘after’ 3D lidar models, and thereby be able to work out exactly what material moved from where to where. The current model may help us predict whether the mountain is stable now, or whether another collapse might be coming.”

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - There have been a number of new revelations about Jeff Levine and the proposed Bliss Landing wood waste landfill.

Levine withdrew his proposal on December 15th and a Ministry of Environment spokesperson informed the quathet Regional District the same day.

"People have threatened me, verbally abused me, threatened my family. It's not worth it, it's absolutely not worth it. And it's all because this person called it toxic waste — and it's not," he told CBC news.

Levine added, “If you don’t agree with the industrialization of an area, that’s one thing to disagree with, but don’t try to turn someone into [an] environmental monster that’s going to dump hazardous waste on land and ocean and negatively affect people, because those are two different things.... I was guided by the Ministry of Environment by this process, and I followed the process.”

Variations of Levine’s story appeared in Cortes Currents, The Squamish Chief, and Powell River Peak.

He claims to have already lost $400,000 through the venture. 1.25

Much of the opposition came through a Change.org petition called “Major Vancouver developer planning on dumping toxic waste into Desolation Sound.”

The ‘developer’ in question was not Levine, but rather a Vancouver based company which he hoped would use his services. Levine has repeatedly said he does not have a contract with Bosa Properties, the owners of the Squamish old site, and will also be seeking wood waste from sites throughout the Fraser Valley.

The Squamish Chief reported that District of Squamish staff informed them that, “the District is not banning wood waste from being disposed of in town, but determined in 2017 that municipal land would no longer be leased for wood waste disposal, and that wood waste landfill on District property will be phased out by 2022.

As a result, Levine created a company and offered up land that he bought in Desolation Sound as a dumping spot for local businesses seeking to get rid of their wood waste.

He said he was hoping to attract the business of the SEAandSKY Bosa-Kingswood project on the Waterfront, which has been looking for a contractor to take the wood waste, as the area was previously the old Interfor mill site.

However, Levine hadn’t signed a deal with the company, as the province had yet to approve his project.”

A spokesperson for Boas Properties confirmed that no contract has been signed.

The report which Vancouver based Keystone Environmental prepared for Levine states, “The material to be landfilled will originate from several wood processing locations such as sawmills, dry land sorts and former sawmills where the saw dust, wood chips and bark was previously buried.”

Image taken from the from WATERFRONT LANDING SUB AREA PLAN, Squamish Community plan (2017)