Second Session, 42nd Parliament

(2021) OFFICIAL REPORT

OF DEBATES

(HANSARD)

Monday, May 10, 2021

Morning Sitting

Issue No. 64

ISSN 1499-2175

The HTML transcript is provided for informational purposes only.

The PDF transcript remains the official digital version.

CONTENTS

Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

Nursing Week

A. Walker

R. Merrifield

Benefits of Site C

D. Davies

A. Mercier

Mental Health Week

B. D’Eith

T. Halford

Rural infrastructure

L. Doerkson

R. Russell

Private Members’ Motions

Motion 7 — Wild salmon conservation

F. Donnelly

J. Sturdy

M. Babchuk

J. Tegart

J. Rice

E. Ross

D. Routley

K. Kirkpatrick

B. Bailey

D. Clovechok

J. Routledge

MONDAY, MAY 10, 2021

The House met at 10:02 a.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Routine Business

Prayers and reflections: K. Kirkpatrick.

Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

NURSING WEEK

A. Walker: It is an absolute pleasure to recognize and to celebrate National

Nursing Week this week here in Canada and in many other countries around

the world.

It hasn’t been that long that we all used to celebrate and

recognize nurses and our front-line workers. Every night at 7 p.m., we

would go into our backyards, our driveways, our balconies or just lean

out of the windows of our homes to bang pots and pans so loudly that we

thought the whole world could hear us. And they could.

During the pandemic, especially early on, when there was so much

uncertainty, many of us pivoted to working from home. Our health care

professionals bravely stood by, stood strong and kept us all safe. While

the rest of us learned to use Zoom, took up solitary hobbies, and some

of us even expanded our waistlines, nurses and other health care

professionals rose to the challenge.

[10:05 a.m.]

In my hometown of Qualicum Beach, Marcia Kent was one of the many

nurses who, to keep her family, her patients, her co-workers and her

whole community safe, went into self-isolation. An ER nurse with two

young twins, she stayed in a cabin away from her husband and her boys

while she worked in one of Vancouver Island’s two front-line

hospitals.

Living near her family but painfully distant, she was unable to

share in the daily rituals that bring family together. During a time

when all of our children were struggling with the new reality, she would

return from work unable to be with them. Marcia was just one of the

countless other nurses who made the incredible sacrifice to continue in

her calling, dramatically adjusting to the ever-changing workplace

challenges but also dramatically adjusting her personal life.

In 1971, the International Council of Nurses recognized May 12,

Florence Nightingale’s birthday, as International Nurses Day. For 28

years now, we have recognized this week as National Nursing Week, an

opportunity to celebrate the history, the work and the achievements of

nurses here and abroad.

Ms. Nightingale was born in 1820 to a wealthy family who, at the

time, were touring Europe. She was born in Florence, the city for which

she was named. She was raised in England, where she was highly educated,

and unlike most women of her stature, she felt compelled to go to work.

She heard a calling from God “to do something toward lifting the load of

suffering from the helpless and miserable.” She heard her calling to be

a nurse, and she answered it.

What is truly remarkable about this story is that the profession

of nursing at this time was not one of terribly high repute, if it

existed at all. While the intentions of nurses of the day were pure and

noble, it was not a formal trade. It lacked structure and was generally

practised by those with little education.

In the fall of 1854, during the depths of the Crimean War,

Florence Nightingale travelled to Scutari, in the Ottoman Empire, to

lead a team of 38 volunteer nurses at a field hospital. When she

arrived, the smells and the sights would have been

overwhelming.

During her first winter, 4,077 soldiers died at the hospital, with

ten times more dying from illness than from the wounds of battle. She

saw to it that the horrid conditions within the hospital were to be

improved. The defective sewers, the lack of ventilation and the poor

nutrition were tackled, and practices such as regular handwashing were

implemented. Using not only her instinct but her strong will and her

experience as a statistician, she and her team were able to reduce the

mortality rate from 44 percent to 2 percent, but she never took

credit.

When she returned to England, there was a nursing school

established in her honour, and she wrote notes on nursing. It became the

cornerstone of the nursing curriculum in that school as well as others

abroad. She helped establish what today is known as nursing and fostered

generations of nurses who continue to build on this great

work.

When we reflect on what makes a nurse, it’s not only the hard

skills but the critical thinking that makes them who they are. Nurses

will often tell you that anyone can learn to administer drugs or an IV

but that the connections they have with their patients, their advocacy

and their ability to quickly solve complex problems are skills which

they continue to hone throughout their nursing careers.

We all have so much to learn from nurses. Nursing is known as the

most trusted of professions, and we as politicians especially have much

to learn from them. To act as though our patients are family, to trust

our instincts, to never underestimate the power of listening, to let our

patients know that they are our priority, to never make assumptions and

to always ask questions — these are not just adages.

Our nurses, doing long shifts around the clock, away from their

families, work tirelessly to safeguard the health and well-being of our

loved ones. In a system that is under the incredible pressure of two

pandemics, nurses are going above and beyond to maintain a level of

patient care that we often take for granted.

[10:10 a.m.]

They’re there day and night by their patients’ sides, watching for

any change, to make sure patients get the best care that they need and

deserve — their patients, our families, our loved ones. Let us rise this

week to celebrate the incredible contributions that nurses make for us

all in our community and in our caucus.

R. Merrifield: Thank you to the member opposite for your heartfelt words

recognizing Nurses Week. It’s an incredibly important topic and one that

I’m very glad was brought forward in the House today.

Nurses always have been and always will be the backbone of our

province’s health care system. They tirelessly work to help keep British

Columbians healthy. They staff our hospitals, our clinics, our nursing

homes and so many other venues, providing care that we depend on. Yet

this morning it almost feels trite for me to reduce their impact to

words like “work tirelessly,” “providing care,” or even “heroic efforts”

during COVID-19. None of those words seem to do justice to who they are,

all that they do and how they serve our community.

They are the smile and the welcome when you come through the doors

of the hospital, long-term-care facility or clinic. They are the ones

that hold the hand of your loved one while your parent is lonely,

separated from you in a long-term-care facility or a hospital, possibly

even taking their last breath. They are the faces that we see when we

come to, out of anaesthesia, and they probably hear some of our very

funny secrets.

They are the supports to surgeons and specialists that enable

smooth procedures. They are the calming force in a labour and delivery

room for the first-time or fourth-time mamas and the panic-stricken

partners as well. They’re the hand on the shoulder of a crying partner

when bad news is delivered. They are the ones that intuitively know when

something is wrong or when things just are not as they should be —

whether it’s the colour of the skin, the depth of a breath or the look

on a face.

For me to say that they are the backbone is simply an

understatement. They are the lifeblood. They are the empaths of the

system and have taken on the stress, angst, pace and health issues of

our society. They carry the stories of each of their patients in the

ward. They get to know the families of those that reside in their care.

They have risen to the challenge of COVID-19, but this is not

sustainable. This pace, this stress, this anxiety cannot and should not

be made permanent, because as their numbers have dwindled, the ones left

behind have desperately tried to continue on but with less people and

less resources.

This last year has brought greater recognition of the role of

health care staff, for good reason. They have arisen to face an

overwhelming challenge with determination, humility and no shortage of

bravery and self-sacrifice. Over the past year, nurses have made

sacrifices and faced greater risks in going to work, yet they’ve

continued to serve the people of B.C. The theme of National Nursing Week

this year is “We answer the call.” It recognizes the many different

roles that nurses play in the health care journey of their patients and

focuses on recognizing the contributions that nurses have made during

this pandemic.

We know that being a nurse is never easy, but right now their work

is more difficult than ever. We know that the pandemic is taking a toll

on our health care workers and leading to heightened stress, anxiety and

other challenges to their own mental health. This pandemic has revealed

gaps in the system, and we need to fix them.

As we celebrate them, we also commit to fixing the system. We need

to ensure that we are supporting our health care workers and that they

have access to the services they need to look after themselves and their

own health while they spend so much of their time looking after others.

We need reinforcements, supports and to shore up these gaps.

[10:15 a.m.]

This Nurses Week we recognize all of those who have made

sacrifices to help keep us safe and healthy, those who worked long

hours, at increased risk, because they knew that they had a job to do

and were committed to looking after their patients. I want to say thank

you from the bottom of my heart for your work, your sacrifice and your

dedication. You are true examples of public service, and you are the

heroes of this pandemic.

A. Walker: Thank you to the member for Kelowna-Mission. Her thanks, as we

celebrate Nursing Week, are heard loud and clear. I appreciate those

kind words.

My wife, Karli, is a registered nurse, and she has taught me so

much in life that only a nurse could, from subtle things to never

responding to someone with “I understand” — we can never truly

understand someone, their situation or their circumstances, but we can

hear what they’re saying — and, more broadly, how to effectively

communicate and advocate for someone. No matter who we are, it’s

important to remember that what we say on behalf of someone else holds

tremendous responsibility. We need to preserve trust, show compassion,

exemplify fortitude and stand up for those we love.

As I prepared these comments, I was repeatedly reminded by my

partner of what it means to her to be a nurse. “Dealing with people that

could be on the worst days of their lives,” she said, “but I can make it

their best day.” That’s what keeps nurses doing what they’re

doing.

They don’t do it for recognition. They do it for those moments and

for those small miracles when, halfway through your night shift — it

could be two or three in the morning — you feel an instinct. You check

on a patient because you’ve trained for this, and you know exactly what

to do. You risk waking the on-call doctor. You take immediate actions,

and you save a patient’s life for the first time. And then another

patient, and another, and it gives you the fortitude to go

on.

Nurses here in B.C., like all of us, have not been immune to this

virus. Over 1,200 nurses and close to 8,000 health care workers have, at

home or in the community, contracted COVID-19. Of course, our hearts

weep for Sydney and Alexander, the two beautiful children of Diana Law,

who lost their mother to the struggle with this disease — the first

nurse in B.C. to die of COVID-19.

This pandemic has been hard on us all. While so many of us have

helped us weather this storm, I urge everyone to take a moment to

personally thank a nurse. Write a thank-you card to recognize the

incredible difference that nurses make to their patients — their care,

their compassion, their strength and their sacrifice. These heartfelt

gestures are increasingly rare in today’s world and can make a profound

difference in the lives of those who receive them. Let us recognize the

nurses who have given so much for those of us and for all of those that

we love.

BENEFITS OF SITE C

D. Davies: I rise in the House today to speak about the benefits of the Site

C clean energy project.

It was only a few weeks ago that we all stood in this House, and

we honoured Earth Day and renewed our commitment to building a greener

province for our children and our children’s children. I spoke briefly

about my own community of Fort St. John and the Peace country and about

how economically diverse all of our communities are. Fort St. John is

widely known as the Energy Capital of British Columbia — our role in

B.C.’s oil and gas industry, hydroelectricity, forestry, agriculture and

a myriad of other sectors that are also fundamental parts to our economy

and our identity.

Because our rural communities play such a crucial role in our

province’s energy production and many families in my community rely on

maintaining our energy industry to put food on the tables, they are

often branded as anti-environment, which is absolutely not the case. The

Peace region, like all of B.C., recognizes the immediate need for our

province and our country to address climate change, to reduce greenhouse

gases and to transition our economy away from fossil fuels and into

greener alternatives. B.C. has an opportunity to lead Canada in this

initiative, and rural areas like the Peace region have the opportunity

to lead British Columbia.

[10:20 a.m.]

For the Peace River region and all of B.C., Site C embodies the

hope that we have for the future of our province’s energy sector, a

future where we can bring clean energy alternatives to our province

while also continuing to provide jobs and economic opportunities for

rural British Columbia.

British Columbia’s population recently surpassed five million

people, and our energy needs are only going to increase for the decades

ahead. Site C will help meet this growing demand. When complete, it will

produce about 5,100 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, which is

enough to power about 450,000 homes per year.

Site C will also have some of the lowest greenhouse gas emissions

compared to other resources in the energy production options and will

provide clean energy for at least 100 years.

Not only is Site C a step forward in clean energy alternatives,

but it also builds on previous hydro dams in our province that will

allow us to produce more power with less reservoir area. As the third

project on the Peace River, with the others being the W.A.C. Bennett and

the Peace Canyon dams, Site C will rely on the existing Williston

reservoir for water storage. This means that Site C will generate

approximately 35 percent of the energy produced by the W.A.C. Bennett

dam with only 5 percent of the reservoir area needed.

Site C makes sense not only from an environmental perspective but

from an economic perspective as well. Site C has already begun to bring

jobs into our communities in the Peace region and will create

approximately 13,000 person years of direct employment during

construction. I’ve seen personally how this has positively impacted the

region while other sectors have slowed.

Now, at a time when small businesses are struggling across the

province, these jobs are directly and indirectly supporting local shops,

restaurants and businesses of all sizes. The construction of Site C will

contribute roughly $130 million to our regional GDP and will contribute

$3.2 billion provincially. The benefits to our regional economies will

continue after Site C is completed.

A regional legacy benefits agreement between B.C. Hydro and the

Peace River regional district will provide $2.4 million annually for a

period of 70 years. Site C will bring more than just jobs. It will bring

much-needed investment to our infrastructure, such as improvements to

Highway 97 through Taylor and the public road improvements on the Old

Fort Road as well as the 240, 269 and 271 roads. It will also bring

investment and supports to our struggling tourism and recreational

sectors, including providing $200,000 to the district of Chetwynd to

support recreation projects on the south bank.

The benefits go beyond this. They include investments in skills

and trades training, $184,000 to Northern Opportunities for the creation

of a school district career counsellor position that will help students

transition into trades and career training, $100,000 to the North East

Native Advancing Society in support of trades under its North East

Aboriginal trades training program, $175,000 over five years to the

Northern Opportunities for its preapprenticeship programs and $1 million

to the Northern Lights College Foundation, again to support trades and

skills training.

These investments related to Site C also mean greater tax revenues

for local governments and communities so that they can continue to

provide supports to those that need it. With projects like Site C,

British Columbians can depend on their energy coming at less cost to the

environment. Initially, for the first 50 years, Site C would have saved

B.C. ratepayers more than $600 million total each year.

Site C and clean energy investments like these in the north and

all of British Columbia bring more opportunity and hope for all British

Columbians. They show Fort St. John and communities like it that there

is still a future for us, that we can still be leaders in our province

and still lead in energy production in a cleaner British Columbia. It

shows my kids and their kids that there will be jobs waiting for them,

that we can still call our rural communities home and put food on our

tables and feed our families and that Fort St. John will still be the

energy capital of British Columbia for years to come.

[10:25 a.m.]

A. Mercier: It’s an honour to rise in this House and to talk about the

benefits of the Site C clean energy project.

I’d just like to take a moment, before I begin, to thank my union

brother the member for Peace River North for that very eloquent

statement on the benefits of Site C. Many people might not know this

about the member for Peace River North, but in addition to being a

member of this House, he’s also a member of the house of labour and a

member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 213, which is

my old stomping ground.

Site C and the Site C clean energy project are not just a benefit

to the Peace region and Fort St. John — and it is, Mr. Speaker. It’s a

benefit to all of British Columbia and to working British Columbians.

This project is providing over 4,500 family-supporting jobs to folks all

across B.C. Over the course of my life and career and since the start of

the project and the buildup in 2016, I’ve had the opportunity to speak

to many folks working on the project. I reached out to some of them just

this past week.

I spoke with Trish Cavers, who’s working on the main spillways

contract, who is a medic from Grand Forks. She’s working on the project

with her husband, which means that the two of them, when they’re on

rotation, get to spend time together off rotation in Grand Forks,

contributing to that community and being a positive part of that

community. They even managed to get their daughter a job up on the

project, where she’s training and learning to be a medic. Because of the

wages, she’s able to save funds so that she can look at what she wants

to do with her life and have the ability to do so — to go get an

education or a trade and to better herself.

I spoke with Ralf Pare, a union brother, a member of Teamsters

Local 213 — you know, of the member for Peace River North. Ralf is a

front desk clerk at ATCO Two Rivers Lodge. He’s told me the same thing

that I think everyone I’ve spoken to on that project or anyone who has

seen that camp will say. It’s that the ATCO Two Rivers Lodge is one of

the most comfortable work camps in this country and stands heads and

tails above almost any other project. Ralf was able to come back from

Saskatchewan — he’s a Vancouver Island native — and live in B.C., work

on the project. That allows him to spend more time with his grandson,

which has been a huge benefit to himself.

In addition, there are all the tradespeople and apprentices who

are getting more than just a job on this project. They’re getting a

trade, a career, a vocation. I’m thinking of members of Operating

Engineers Local 115 — Irene Elliott, a 37-year-old single mother of two

from Duncan, who’s a first-year crane apprentice, who’s working

alongside Samantha Glasco-Connolly, a 30-year-old journey­person

friction crane operator from Port Alberni.

There’s a whole plethora of millwright apprentices there, working

on the turbines and generators as well as the gates and guides. I’m

thinking of Cedric McDonald, Cullen Leighton, Chantelle Parlee, Vanessa

Soupidis, Kyle Glea­son, Steve Hackson, Shanya Stonehouse — the

women and men who are building this province, who are getting their

certifications and who are going to continue building this province for

generations and decades to come. This is especially important in light

of the skilled trades shortage that is looming in this

province.

I just want to say a word — this was really something that came to

mind with me in many of my discussions with folks on the projects and

speaking to Ms. Cavers — which is that the culture of safety that B.C.

Hydro and the contractors on the project have built is second to none.

They’ve been able to administer a vaccination program up there that’s

been rolling out quite well. They have been so transparent.

Hydro, as a client owner, has been so transparent with their

partners throughout COVID-19 in terms of bringing everyone to the table,

working with them and making sure that there’s buy-in to follow the

safety protocols. They’ve really been a leader in terms of these types

of projects across Canada. That’s worth noting, and that’s a credit to

Hydro. That’s a credit to the contractors, to the workers and to all the

labour unions involved.

This project is not just creating jobs for crane apprentices and

millwrights and all types of folks. It’s carpenters. It’s electrical

workers. It’s heavy-equipment operators. This project is helping so many

families in this province put food on the table and put their heads on

the pillow at night knowing that they can go to bed and their family’s

future is secure.

[10:30 a.m.]

D. Davies: I’d like to thank the member for Langley for his comments. I had

the opportunity, of course, to work on Site C in its early stages as a

ready-mix operator for Inland Concrete, which gives me a neat

perspective to speak on this incredible project in our

province.

The member is absolutely right on the ATCO camp that is there. It

is almost like the Fairmont across the street here. It is an

unbelievable camp facility, much better than when I was working in the

energy field, where the ATCO trailers were much, much

different.

We have highlighted Site C and how it represents a historical

milestone in our province. It is the first of many steps of our

transition to cleaner energy and the reduction of our greenhouse gas

emissions in our province. But unfortunately, Site C has seen another

crucial turning point in our province’s history.

Just in 2017, this government inherited this project and the

responsibility of overseeing this project that was on time and on budget

at the time. Since that time, a concerning lack of transparency, we have

seen, has arisen, with the reports revealing there has been a failure to

act when the geotechnical concerns were first raised, as well as a

myriad of other challenges and setbacks in the recent couple of

years.

Since 2017, we have seen the costs, though, of this project

balloon from $8 billion to a whopping $16 billion, while being delayed

by an extra year. This means that the amazing benefits of Site C will be

coming to British Columbians, unfortunately, at a higher cost, as well

as at a later date. It’s a shame, really, because Site C has the

opportunity to show British Columbians the endless benefits of what

clean energy can bring to our province.

Government has a responsibility to move forward with openness and

transparency so that British Columbians will understand the state of the

project’s construction. It’s also important that government handle such

projects with the utmost fiscal responsibility, so that we can

demonstrate to British Columbians that investment in hydro and clean

energy will save us money, not cost us money.

With Site C scheduled to be completed in 2025, we have many years

to go. I hope the government will move forward with the transparency and

openness and accountability for British Columbians that we expect, so

that we can see this project be completed under budget and in a timeline

that has now been promised to British Columbians.

I cannot wait for the day when I will see that this project is

complete, another great project for the Peace River region that will

help to power our homes, our cars and our economy for decades to

come.

MENTAL HEALTH WEEK

B. D’Eith: I rise today to talk about Mental Health Week. Last week was

Mental Health Week, between May 3 and May 9. Of course, the Legislature

was on a break week, so this is really the first opportunity that we’ve

had to really talk about Mental Health Week and really dig into how

important it is, especially during the pandemic.

I think as all MLAs…. We’re all motivated to run for different

reasons. I know, for me, what sparked my interest, of course, was my

passion for creative industries and arts and culture and education. I

have five children. But one of the other big areas that motivated me to

run was mental health. That’s partially because I have a brother who’s

been struggling with severe mental health issues for the last 35

years.

As a family, we’ve had to navigate a very dysfunctional, fractured

system that’s very difficult to navigate. My folks now are in their 80s.

It puts a lot of pressure on the family, because the system is difficult

to navigate. I think of so many of the families and people that we’ve

come across over the years in mental health, where their kids haven’t,

or their young adults or their adults haven’t, been able to access the

system. They haven’t had that advocacy, so they fall between the cracks,

and often they’ll end up on the street. There really is a need for an

integrated, coordinated system of care for mental health.

What I’ve experienced with my family is right across every family.

In fact, every Canadian family is somehow affected by mental health,

whether it’s a family member, a friend or a colleague. In fact, if you

look at the statistics from the Canadian Mental Health Association, one

in five people in Canada will personally experience a mental health

problem or illness.

[10:35 a.m.]

It affects everybody. It affects all ages, education, income

levels, cultures. It doesn’t matter. Mental health goes right across

society. In fact, approximately 8 percent of adults will experience a

major depression in their life, and 1 percent — that’s actually a pretty

big number — will experience bipolar disorder, and 1 percent will be

affected by schizophrenia.

If you look over a person’s life, by the age of 40, about 50

percent of the population will have some kind of mental illness. Anxiety

disorders affect 5 percent of the household population. Of course, we

have to look at the suicide statistics, which really do affect young

people in a great way.

The pandemic has had a huge impact on increased stress and anxiety

caused by fear about the pandemic, especially amongst older people,

caregivers and people with underlying conditions. Of course, the

quarantine has affected people’s life — their livelihoods and their

routines — and it has caused levels of loneliness. It’s also leading to

harmful alcohol and drug use and, in some cases, self-harm.

That’s why it is so, so important for all of us, all members, to

really embrace the spirit of what Mental Health Week was about last

week. That’s why I’m so proud that we actually have a Ministry of Mental

Health and Addictions and a plan, a ten-year plan called the Pathway to

Hope that’s really about creating a system of care and making sure that

mental health supports — that everybody can reach them when they need

them.

That’s why it’s so important that there has been, with this latest

budget, the largest investment in mental health and addictions care

support — $500 million in British Columbia. This is to try to create a

real system, an integrated system, that will help young people, will

help adults and so many people across our society.

The investments are really important, because it’s across

ministries. This isn’t going to be something that is one ministry. This

is about all the ministries working together, to come together, to

create this comprehensive system. So having this support will allow

integrated mental health amongst children, youth and young adults. It

will mean psychosis intervention programs. It will mean funding for the

First Nations Health Authority. It will mean money for eating disorders

and suicide prevention services.

It will also mean a very big investment, a $133 million

investment, in adult substance use and treatment and, of course, $45

million in overdose emergency funding and $152 million in access to

treatment of mental health services. As I mentioned, this will be across

the Ministries of Health, Children and Family Development, Education and

Advanced Education and Skills Training.

People have been waiting too long for some mental health services,

and that’s why the opening of 23 urgent and primary care centres around

the province is so im­portant.

Finally, a lot of work needs to be done in regards to complex

care. We’ve seen that especially in relation to housing. That’s why a

lot of work is going to be done over the coming months and years to

create a framework that will allow for the ability to get those supports

for complex care, especially integrated within housing

supports.

That’s so, so important, to make sure that we deal with those

complex situations, because we have found that some people may have an

addiction issue but also a mental health issue and also physical,

medical issues. There’s not just one-size-fits-all. It’s very complex.

Many people suffering from mental health and addictions issues have

these complex needs.

Again, it’s so, so important for us to have a system — a system.

That’s why I’m so excited about the future of the plans that the

government has made in regards to mental health and addictions with the

Pathway to Hope and the significant funding that’s being put into

developing that over the next ten years.

T. Halford: I am pleased to rise in the House today to reiterate the

importance of taking care of our mental health.

[10:40 a.m.]

I want to thank the member opposite, the member for Maple

Ridge–Mission, for his remarks and for personalizing his remarks. I do

agree that the issue of mental health touches every family. It touches

every Canadian. It has touched my family. I lost a member of my family,

who struggled mightily with mental health through her adult life in

terms of schizophrenia. She’s somebody who I think about every day. I’m

sure my stories aren’t unique to people across British Columbia and to

people in this House.

For so many of us in British Columbia, this past year has been the

most difficult, challenging and life-altering in our collective

memories. Every corner of our province has been impacted by the COVID-19

pandemic. Our communities, our neighbourhoods and our households have

all changed drastically since last March. This pandemic has created an

already exasperated situation when it comes to our mental

health.

When the pandemic was first declared almost 14 months ago, none of

us could envision the future of our province or the day-to-day

challenges we would face. Now, more than a year later, social

distancing, masks, case numbers and public health orders have all become

the norm. British Columbians have stepped up to this challenge and taken

the pandemic head-on. We should be proud of every one of those British

Columbians who have met that task. But it is coming at a very severe

price. It is coming at the cost of a lot of our mental health, when we

look at the isolation we’re seeing from our friends and our families and

our loved ones.

We talked just recently, very eloquently, about the nur­ses

and our other front-line workers and the challenges that they are seeing

through COVID-19 — the work that they are taking on and the hours that

they are putting in. That all compounds on one individual’s mental

health. Now, last week was Canadian Mental Health Week. We must remember

that no one is alone in feeling stress, anxiety or depression right now.

We also must remember that this pandemic will, one day, pass, and we all

hope that is one day soon.

The issue of mental health will not pass. That is one that we have

to take very seriously in this House and that I believe we do take very

seriously in this House, but we need serious solutions. Now, I want to

compliment the member for laying out his vision for mental health and

the investments that his government has put in. I will say, with all

respect, that we are a little bit late in the game on this. When we look

at the investments that this government is making towards mental health,

I’ll say that they are encouraging, but I will also say that they

continuously come up short.

When we look at the struggles that our youth are fa­cing….

We’ve seen some very dramatic cases and some beyond-tragic situations

that have unfolded in our province over the last days, weeks and months.

I think we can all be reminded that we all have to come to this House

and do more. We have to make sure that our youth have access to mental

health resources in real time.

Head health, mental health, is the most important health. We look

at our youth and the struggles that they face: the isolation, the lack

of participation in sports teams, not seeing their grandparents and

sometimes, if they are in single families, not being able to see their

other parent. We must realize that this is taking a massive toll on our

youth.

We must realize that this is taking a massive toll on our elderly,

who don’t have access to Zoom and who can’t access their family doctor

right now, who can’t make their counselling appointments. In some cases,

they can’t afford their counselling or their psychiatric

costs.

I think we need to realize that it’s one thing to talk about the

importance of mental health, but it’s another to put that talk into

action. I call on this government to ensure that as we emerge forward

from this pandemic, we are making the issue of mental health an absolute

go-forward priority.

B. D’Eith: I wanted to thank the member for Surrey–White Rock for his

comments. I also wanted to send out my heartfelt thoughts for him and

his family in regards to the people in his life that were affected by

mental health. It does impact all of us.

[10:45 a.m.]

I’d also like to recognize, during this week, the importance of

nurses and psychiatric nurses in all of this. I know that, for my

family, they’ve been so important — and, of course, the doctors and

support workers that work with people with mental health every day.

That’s why it’s so important, I think, to have this Pathway to Hope,

this plan to move forward, to create this system of care.

I did want to talk a little bit, as the member opposite brought

up, about youth. May 7 was Child and Youth Mental Health Day. It’s very

important to recognize the importance of prevention and the importance

of early intervention with mental health. So much can be avoided, as

adults, if we act quickly when children are young, particularly now with

COVID.

Again, the member brought this up. I have a daughter who was

graduating last year. You could just see the angst and the anxiety and

the guilt. I mean, the fact that children, our young people, were

feeling guilty that they were feeling bad in the middle of a pandemic….

It was just a very, very difficult time.

It’s also really great to see youth come together. In my riding,

Maple Ridge Secondary held a mental health and wellness week. This was

organized by Maria Trudeau and a handful of students. They had Manifest

Monday, Tidy Tuesday, Wednesday Workout, Thoughtful Thursday and Focus

Friday. They had chair yoga and breathing exercises and all sorts of

great things to help with their own mental health. It’s nice to see

young people stand up and really recognize the importance of it, because

part of it is actually talking about it and dealing with the stigma of

mental health. It’s so important.

That’s why I was very pleased on Friday that there was an

announcement that the Foundry will be having an online portal. Of

course, for people who don’t know, Foundry is really one of the

cornerstone projects in terms of youth mental health. I’m very, very

fortunate to have a Foundry in Maple Ridge, and there’s also one in

Abbotsford. These provide very, very important wraparound services for

youth between the ages of 12 and 24. This app will actually allow

user-friendly access for young people throughout British Columbia to

really get the help that they need with mental health.

Of course, this is just the beginning. I agree with members

opposite that there is so much work to do. I’m so proud of the work that

we’re doing. I’m so proud of the work that we will do over the next

year.

RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE

L. Doerkson: Thank you for allowing me to bring this very serious topic to the

House this morning. I rise today on behalf of not only the constituents

of Cariboo-Chilcotin but also for all of those British Columbians in

central and northern parts of the province, on the topic of rural

infrastructure.

Honestly, it’s hard to know where to begin. When it comes to the

crumbling road infrastructure in our rural part of the province, I can

assure you that it is one thing to look at the level of destruction

through photographs, but it is quite another to see it in person and

witness firsthand how people’s lives are being impacted right on their

own property. Just in the past three years, we’ve seen how wildfires

devastate the landscape in the summer. By spring, we see how this

contributes to the extreme freshets and all of the damage that’s left in

their wake.

I’d like you to hear some of the conversations I’ve had with

constituents hit hard by flooding in my riding.

“Lorne, it’s Alex. You have to do something. I spent nearly $1,000

last week pumping my septic out. I have to set my alarm to awaken me

multiple times throughout the night to suck up the water that is

entering in my basement. We can no longer use the water in our home, as

it has nowhere to go.

“I’m borrowing a friend’s place to do laundry, baths and showers for

my children. I would have called you a few weeks ago, but I’m absolutely

exhausted. You have to do something. Please help us. It’s not just our

house but so many others in our neighbourhood.”

That’s Alex B. from Williams Lake at Gibbon Road.

[10:50 a.m.]

These are difficult calls to take from our constituents — very

difficult. The damage that they explain and the situations that they’ve

been put in are absolutely heartbreaking.

Here’s another tragic example.

“We’ve now had to move from our house. We had hoped that the water

would stop. We had hoped that our house would stop shifting, but it

won’t.

“We can’t live in the house anymore. It’s unsafe. We can’t risk it

anymore. The cracks are becoming large enough that it is too

concerning.

“We’ve not been able to find a place to rent, and we have been using

a friend’s house. They have gone away for the summer. After that, we

have no idea what we’ll do.

“I’m scared, and I don’t know what to do. The kids are afraid

too.”

That’s Lacey Kuttnick of Dog Creek Road in Williams

Lake.

This

family has just recently built this home. What I mean by recently is

over the past two years. They’re a young family. What was to be their

dream home has literally turned into the worst nightmare, and no one

will listen — not governments, not insurers, no one.

“For two years we’ve been flooded. Our neighbours have been unable

to use their water. We’re having to pump it out of our yard.

“The water source is a culvert. It flows into our yard. We have no

idea why anyone would drain a culvert into private property.

“It’s ruining our home and the homes of our neighbours also. We’ve

talked to everyone.

“You’re our last hope, Lorne. Please do something.”

Residents from Green Lake.

“For years, my home has been flooding. I’ve complained and yelled,

and no one will help. I’ve begged for help from every level of

government, and nothing — just finger-pointing and the blame

game.

“This is not a new problem. It has been going on for years, but

since the fires, it’s getting worse, and now it never stops.

“Please help me. I can’t do anything here because my home continues

to flood multiple times per year. I can’t fix my house, sell my house or

insure my house.”

That’s Betty McClennan from Bann Road in Williams Lake.

Betty is a

single senior. She’s been doing her best, with the help of family and

friends, to sandbag and try to protect her home. She’s encouraged the

community to get active in drawing attention to this issue after all of

these years.

Here is another couple. “Please help us. I just called the road

contractor and told them that we can’t get past our road. We told them

we would fix it, and they said: ‘Absolutely not. Do not do that. That

will become a liability for you.’ But we can’t get out.” Desous

Mountain.

“The road is washed out. We can’t get feed to our ranch or to our

herd.” Big Creek.

“I am fearful that when COVID is over, people may not be able to

get to our resort at Nimpo Lake. The road is bad enough near the resort

that they may not be able to pass, which we might be able to fix

ourselves, but Highway 20 is so bad that they might just turn around and

go home.” Nimpo Lake.

These are only a few examples of what I hear on a daily basis.

People are suffering property loss. They are suffering from extreme

stress and anxiety. Families are in very bad situations in many places

throughout rural B.C. I think, in many cases, our local governments

simply need extra help, and because of the change in the topography

throughout many ridings, there must be a new approach to

maintenance.

As I mentioned earlier, it is hard to experience this firsthand.

I’m therefore looking forward to hearing the government’s response,

because people need help, and they need it right now. Since first

elected in 2017, this government and the Premier have ignored rural

British Columbia, and it can’t go on any longer.

Deputy Speaker: Member, this is a time for private members’ remarks, not partisan

government versus opposition remarks. Thank you.

L. Doerkson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What we need is a restoration of a ministry whose sole

responsibility is rural British Columbia, not just lumped in with

Forests, Lands and Natural Resources. We also need the province to

establish a rural infrastructure renewal fund. Local governments in

rural B.C. can’t keep up to the need right now.

R. Russell: I have the honour of joining you all today from here in Grand

Forks, on the traditional territory of the Nsyilxcen-speaking

people.

[10:55 a.m.]

First, I would thank the member for Cariboo-Chilcotin for his

comments and concerns. The issues he raises certainly hit close to home

for myself as well as many of the constituents of my riding. The

challenges of extreme weather on our infrastructure, especially in the

midst of disaster, takes an enormous toll on all of us, I know. I can

personally certainly sympathize with the stress and anxiety of the

residents in the quotes that he shared.

I know all too well the challenges of residents that have to live

with uncertainty about the future of their transportation routes.

Certainly, when reading in the Quesnel Cariboo Observer about

the situation of Jessica and Trampus Goodman and their kids living near

Quesnel, it feels like many of the conversations that I’ve had with

residents after our floods in this part of the world. That

article ended

with these lines: “‘We need a clear-cut answer, versus being in limbo,’

said Jessica…. ‘Just tell me real quick,’ agreed Trampus. ‘I don’t care

what answer they come to, but they have got to come up with an answer

quick. Because how do we live this life?’”

Indeed, people want some certainty about what the future holds.

Navigating the uncertainty and trying to help be a part of the solution

— how we manage these extreme weather events — are key reasons why I

felt that it was important to run for this office and join you all in

this House, helping build better solutions to these historic

problems.

Part of the challenge, as I see it, is to set our sights on more

than band-aids and election-cycle-length fixes. Delivering short-term

certainty can’t come at the expense of long-term safety and resilience.

To deliver that long-term certainty means that we have some complex work

ahead. It means that we need to break down some of the artificial

barriers we’ve lived with in the past. It means to fully appreciate that

disaster risk reduction is a shared responsibility right from the

federal level down to the individual. It means that we need to engage in

forward-thinking planning that appreciates the climate uncertainty and

unpredictability that’s ahead to deliver what our residents need: safety

and resilience.

As our Transportation Minister put it last week: “We need…to

proactively look at the changes to hydrology in the area and how we

build more resilient infrastructure in the Cariboo so that we can

withstand a changing climate and the impact it has on our

infrastructure.”

How we manage and plan for robust and effective transportation

systems for decades ahead is substantially different from where we’ve

come from. We’d need long-term planning for climate change in our

infrastructure, something that certainly wasn’t occupying the minds of

the road builders that did the great work of building these routes

decades or a century ago.

While the ministry is working hard to quickly fix the acute

problem of damaged roadways — for example, of the over 200 roadways

damaged by freshet landslides and debris flow in 2020, 175 have already

been repaired, and planning or engineering is underway in all the rest —

the government is also making sure that we do end in a place where we,

as the saying goes, “build back better.”

I should recognize some specifics about what the government is

doing for the residents of the Cariboo and provincially, though, before

getting into a broader view. Specifically, to address the situation

there would highlight examples such as the planning and engineering

underway in areas such as McLeese Lake, Milburn Lake and Norwood Road to

help inform drainage upgrade works. Or that the ministry is undertaking

geotech engineering work at several major sites to assess options,

including Quesnel-Hydraulic Road, Kersley-Dale Landing Road, Highway 97,

Cottonwood River and Knickerbocker slide on Blackwater Road. And that

reconstruction work is underway to rebuild 5 kilometres of West Fraser

Road.

Likewise, provincially, I’m proud to see that Budget 2021 includes

funding, such as $837 million for the Highway 1 to the Alberta border

four-laning program, $819 million for highway corridor rehabilitation,

$395 million for side-road improvements across the province, $101

million for safety improvements, $1.1 billion for highway improvements

throughout the province, $749 million on transit infrastructure or $57

million for community and other projects. So clearly the government is

awake and attentive to the needs of our transportation infrastructure,

not just in the Cariboo but across the province.

However, for me, I think that even more noteworthy is the work

that is going on in the full paradigm shift in how we reduce risk from

disasters provincially — the work that we’re all familiar with — in

terms of the work going on around the Emergency Program Act and the

shift proposed there to ensure that we really do recognize

cross-ministry responsibilities that help give us all the mandate to

help reduce the risk of future disasters.

This is an enormous departure from where we were even a decade

ago. This shift helps us imagine and then create a future for the

province where we are avoiding more of these issues in the first place.

That’s the long game. That’s the work that I’m happy to help be a part

of. To do it well, we need the support from all members of this

House.

I look forward to helping be a part of the solution for all of

those residents impacted in the Cariboo and across the

province.

[11:00 a.m.]

L. Doerkson: I appreciate the member opposite’s comments. I did refer to some

specific areas that have had multiple issues over the last number of

years, and I didn’t hear those in his comments.

[N. Letnick in the chair.]

I’m afraid there’s little comfort to the constituents of

Cariboo-Chilcotin that will come from empty promises, because they’ve

heard them all before. I could give so many more examples. I hope that

you see the point and that the House understands the issues. I will

continue to bring these examples to this place until they are heard,

until the province recognizes the issue and brings resolve to these

problems.

In the case of Dog Creek Road, the damage is almost unbelievable.

It’s an ancient slide area, but what has happened since the fires is

absolutely unreal. The water is astounding. In any other situation — a

river flooding or a lake or a forest fire or any other disaster — there

would be a response to it by this province. An emergency response would

occur for all of those situations, and this is an emergency. This is an

emergency that has been going on for a very long time, and the province

owes it to the constituents of this riding to work with the CRD and the

city of Williams Lake to finally bring a solution to this problem. It

can no longer be ignored, and the residents of this area won’t allow it

to be.

I firmly believe that the province has to get involved. It has to

commit to the Cariboo-Chilcotin and the rest of rural B.C. It’s not just

the ability to navigate the road system here and in other places to get

to town, but we need to be sure that these rural roads are maintained

well enough to get emergency vehicles past these roads as well.

Industries like ranching, forestry, tourism and mining all need these

roads. School buses need to be able to pass. We just had one stuck at

Frost Creek a few weeks ago on a paved road. Ambulances, search and

rescue and, of course, fire — these road systems need to be better

maintained.

Culverts need to be reassessed. Proper ditching maintenance needs

to be reassessed. The entire system needs to be re-evaluated. There are

communities now that have been completely cut off. Dog Creek is badly

damaged at Williams Lake and is now single-lane south of Alkali. Highway

20 is almost impassable in areas. Highway 97 north of Quesnel is now

single-lane.

We’re not just talking about rural roads but highways that service

the north. This is serious. It requires an emergency response and

resources from this province.

Hon. J. Osborne: I ask that the House consider proceeding with Motion 7

standing in the name of the member for Coquitlam–Burke

Mountain.

Deputy Speaker: Members, unanimous consent of the House is required to proceed

to Motion 7 without disturbing the priorities of the motions

preceding it on the order paper.

Leave granted.

Private Members’ Motions

MOTION 7 — WILD SALMON CONSERVATION

F. Donnelly: I’m happy to move the following motion:

[Be it resolved that this House unanimously agree that climate

change, habitat loss, and pollution are negatively impacting wild salmon

survival and that this House reaffirm its commitment to investments in

wild salmon conservation solutions.]

May 16 is Wild Salmon Day. What better time to celebrate wild

Pacific salmon, an iconic species that means so much to British

Columbians? What better time to recommit to ensuring that they not only

survive but thrive into the future?

Wild salmon are culturally significant to B.C.’s Indigenous

People. They provide good jobs and contribute economically to coastal

communities. They provide food, as they have done for thousands of

years, contributing to our province’s food security. And they provide

critical nutrients to endangered southern resident killer whales and

many other animals like bears and eagles in much of B.C.’s inland

forests and watersheds.

[11:05 a.m.]

Over the past several years, we’ve seen a dramatic downturn in

wild salmon returns, to the point of many being threatened or

endangered. Climate change is having a dramatic impact on the ocean they

live in and the watersheds they’re born in, causing low summer flows and

flash floods and erosion from forest fires. Compounding the problem are

habitat fragmentation in rural areas and habitat loss in urban areas as

well as an increase in pollution entering creeks, rivers, lakes and the

ocean.

I’m truly honoured to fight for wild salmon as B.C.’s

Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Aquaculture. For the sake of

all those who depend on wild salmon, we must focus our efforts on

restoring salmon habitat and increasing the abundance and long-term

sustainability of the fisheries.

The province is committed and I am committed, in my new role, to

working with all partners to help restore wild salmon populations while

developing sustainable wild fisheries and supporting communities around

B.C. and on our coast. We all want a healthy wild fishery as well as the

employment and economic activity the B.C. seafood sector contributes to

our province.

The B.C. government jointly established the $143 million B.C.

salmon restoration and innovation fund with the federal government to

help restore wild salmon habitat. The fund supports innovation,

infrastructure and science partnerships to help protect and restore

priority wild B.C. fish populations, including Pacific salmon and

steelhead. To date, BCSRIF has supported 42 projects with over $71

million of funding, with more projects soon to be announced.

For example, in Squamish, the Elaho River chinook salmon

restoration project is working to restore fish passage and increase

chinook productivity in the lower Elaho River. This project is a

collaboration between the Squamish River Watershed Society and the

Squamish Nation. The Elaho is one of the largest tributaries of the

Squamish River. This project will remove barriers to fish in the Elaho

caused by logging road construction in the early 1970s, and it will

restore fish passage into the upper watershed.

Prior to logging road construction, which cast large boulders into

the river below, Squamish Nation members would set up summer camps in

the upper Elaho watershed to harvest chinook salmon. This important

project is reducing obstructions and unlocking over 40 kilometres of

ideal fish habitat in the upper

section of the watershed.

This is the kind of success story we’re hoping to see more of, and

with our commitment to double BCSRIF, I believe we will. With increased

funding, we can support innovative watershed restoration techniques like

enhanced riparian stream planting, thinning, shade inducement, boulder

placement, side channel development, large woody debris placement,

headwater storage, fish waste, fish passage barrier removal,

fish-friendly tidal gates and pump stations, lake aeration, lake and

stream enrichment and flow control devices. We can also work with the

federal government and First Nations to innovate community fish hatchery

production and ensure more B.C. processing of B.C.-caught

fish.

Last summer our government updated our wild salmon strategy, which

included measures to strengthen the legal protection of fish habitat and

obligate project proponents to minimize or avoid destruction, harm or

alteration of fish habitat. More recently the Minister of Environment

and Climate Change Strategy announced $27 million to help restore

watersheds and wetlands throughout British Columbia. This will help

communities adapt to climate change by restoring threatened watersheds,

wetlands and estuaries so they are healthier and more resilient to the

impacts of climate change.

I will continue to work hard with federal, local, community and

Indigenous partners to ensure this iconic species not only survives but

thrives into the future. We will continue to build a wild salmon

recovery strategy we can all be proud of. Like the mighty wild salmon

fighting to swim upstream each fall during spawning season, I look

forward to continuing to fight for the protection of this iconic

species.

J. Sturdy: On behalf of the constituents of West Vancouver–Sea to Sky, I’m

pleased for this opportunity to speak on the matter of wild salmon

conservation. The communities that I represent and those around the

province recognize the crucial role our coast plays in the lives of

British Columbians and Canadians and share a recognition that

sustainability is of paramount concern.

I’m sure we all concur with the premise of the motion that this

House agree that climate change, habitat loss and pollution are

negatively impacting wild salmon survival and that we should reaffirm

our commitment to investments in wild salmon conservation solutions. It

is crucial that we implement change that supports the natural world

around us.

[11:10 a.m.]

Our responsibility is to steward these lands and waters and to

recognize the importance of lightening our footprint. Healthy and

natural systems are important not only for ourselves and future

generations but also to support the rich biodiversity that we are

blessed with here in British Columbia. It’s important that we recognize

and value this very biodiversity and its complexity and work to ensure

its splendour is not further diminished — in fact, maintained and

supported to recover from our collective, cumulative impacts.

When we think about the many things that could and do symbolize

British Columbia, many icons come to mind, but for me, like the previous

speaker, nothing more so than the Pacific salmon. Salmon are literally

the source of lifeblood for our forests and all that rely on forests to

sustain themselves, and it seems as though that lifeblood is seeping

away.

Both global and local issues and impacts are eroding the health of

many B.C. salmon stocks. Some solutions demand international cooperation

to effectively address, while others are local in nature. Rising

temperatures and the acidification of the oceans require concerted

international efforts to remedy. While we must do our part, B.C. is but

a small actor on a large stage, which requires collaboration and

cooperation with national and international counterparts as the only way

to effect meaningful change.

We all should and do recognize that habitat must be protected as

well as re-established. However, habitat de­gradation, while an

ongoing and real concern, is not the dominant factor driving Pacific

salmon declines. For example, the habitat of the aforementioned Squamish

River valley and the Elaho Valley could support many more spawners, but

the salmon just do not make it back to Squamish to spawn.

Salmon must survive years in open oceans of the Pacific, battling

with an increasing number of threats. For one, ocean ranching of

jurisdictions such as Alaska, Japan and Russia, which introduced

billions and billions and billions of farm-raised salmon, which imprint

where introduced and overgraze the ocean’s biomass, reducing wild

salmon’s food supply and cause all returning salmon to become smaller,

less robust and more susceptible to predation and disease. Again,

international cooperation is imperative to avoid the looming tragedy of

the commons.

While salmon ranching, climate change, habitat loss and pollution

all negatively impact wild salmon survival, there’s a local factor which

studies point to as having a very real impact on B.C. salmon

populations. Research is increasingly recognizing that predators are a

significant cause of south coast salmon stock depletion. Current numbers

of pinnipeds much larger than historical populations wreak havoc on both

outgoing smolts and inbound spawners. Growing evidence supports the

contention that seals and sea lions are consuming half of all juvenile

coho and a third of all juvenile chinook entering into Georgia

Strait.

All options need to be on the table, including the difficult or

unpopular ones. While I get it’s a prickly conversation, nobody should

think that governing is easy. Tough decisions do need to be

made.

In this area, the province could and should have more influence

and take more action. Government must be open-minded enough to listen to

its own FLNR fish stock biologists, scientists and First Nations,

amongst others. The Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance are advocating for a

rebalancing of pinniped populations before we manage south coast Pacific

salmon down to zero.

It’s great to reaffirm a commitment to wild salmon populations,

but government also needs to do more to act, to bring real solutions to

the table. What we are looking for out of this government is more than

words, but multiple and effective actions that, most importantly, make a

difference. It’s never been more critical to do more than study and talk

and reaffirm but to coordinate with First Nations and federal partners

and to act to make a real difference to the future of B.C. Pacific

salmon today.

M. Babchuk: I’d like to start by recognizing that I’m standing on the

traditional territory of the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations, and

also recognize that I am from the traditional territory of the

Laich-Kwil-Tach-speaking people.

Salmon is, perhaps, the most iconic species on our coast. It’s

certainly critical for the north Island. Although a couple of my

government colleagues may disagree, the north Island does house Campbell

River, the true salmon capital of the world.

Salmon have been critical to First Nations culture and survival

for thousands of years. They continue today to be critical to all our

coastal communities. Cultural and ceremonial traditions continue to be

prominent with First Nations and communities.

[11:15 a.m.]

Commercial salmon fishing, while not what it used to be on the

coast, continues to be an important economic driver. Recreational

angling continues to have an enormous impact on our communities and

tourism sectors.

We have seen, over the past decade, a decline in the salmon

stocks. This is not because of just one reason, this decline, but a

combination of a lot of reasons. It has led to a reduction in our

returns. Overfishing and habitat destruction are two contributing

factors, and of course, we know that climate change has had significant

impacts. Although it’s still not clear to what extent climate change has

affected stocks, I am confident that as we address this climate crisis,

we will improve the changes of increasing salmon runs.

This government is committed to the restoration of salmon stocks.

Whether it is indirectly through the government taking actions on the

environment or direct support of habitat restoration and salmon

enhancement, we are committed to seeing salmon stocks return to the

vibrant levels that they used to be.

Like my colleague has already said, we have jointly, with the

federal government, established the $143 million salmon restoration and

initiative fund so B.C. wild fisheries are environmentally and

economically sustainable. This fund supports innovation, infrastructure

and scientific partnerships that will help protect and restore

priorities for our B.C. fish stocks, including all species of Pacific

salmon and steelhead.

To date, BCSRIF has supported 42 projects with more than $71

million of funding. Approximately one-third of those dollars are being

distributed through North Island projects. To date, the North Island

riding has received grants totalling over $24 million for projects,

including the independent B.C. First Nations genomic lab project, an

initiative of the ’Na̠mgis First

Nation; a partnership for a novel framework for assessing and managing

Pacific herring fisheries on the west coast of Vancouver Island, led by

the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations; estuary-enhancing resiliency, an

innovative approach to sustaining fish and fish habitat in changing

climates; optimizing recirculating aquaculture systems for sustainable

salmon production; the Broughton wild salmon restoration project; and

the implementation of the Broughton First Nations Indigenous monitoring

and inspection plan.

All of these projects that I’ve just mentioned are very diverse in

scale, but all contributing and protecting to restoring wild fisheries

and creating a more sustainable future for local communities and

workers. But there is still more that needs to be done.

Currently there are two federal government salmon hatcheries

located in North Island: the Quinsam River Hatchery in Campbell River

and the Conuma River Hatchery, located in between Gold River and Tahsis.

There is also a myriad of community hatcheries in the northern portion

of Vancouver Island.

These community hatcheries are often volunteer-led

or run on very little overhead and have been stewards of all salmon

species and watersheds for many years — Nimpkish River Hatchery, Quatse

River Hatchery, Marble River Hatchery, Cordy Creek and Kokish River

Hatchery. These, among numerous watershed and streamkeeper groups, are

contributing to the efforts to revitalize B.C. salmon stocks in the

north end of the Island.

We are currently working to double the size of the restoration and

innovation fund, supporting the innovation of fish hatchery and ensuring

B.C. processing for B.C.-caught fish. On the north end of Vancouver

Island, wild salmon are integrated in how we live, work and play. The

economic and cultural importance of salmon to all of the people of the

North Island riding has been evident for thousands of years.

I’m happy to stand here today in support of the parliamentary

secretary’s motion, and I’m looking forward to future projects and

initiatives in the coming days to help revitalize this vital resource

for the North Island.

J. Tegart: It is a pleasure to rise in the House today to speak about a

subject that is near and dear to my heart and is of great interest to my

constituents.

I had the pleasure for many years to co-chair our caucus steelhead

committee. Whether talking about steelhead or salmon, the issues are

very similar. Climate change, habitat loss and pollution are impacting

our fish stocks. But I would suggest that jurisdictional confusion,

politics and lack of leadership are just as important.

Our committee, during our time, spent three days in the Interior

doing site visits, talking to experts, listening to First Nations and

learning as much as we could about the challenges we face as we discuss

how to save our fish.

[11:20 a.m.]

We started in Mission, where we went out on a DFO boat to

experience exactly how the fish are counted. We then went to Hope and

had a presentation from a biologist whose life work is fish. We went out

on the Fraser River with the Sturgeon Slayers, a fishing business that

also does research on the health of sturgeon in the Fraser River. We saw

the impact of abandoned nets, garbage, and deterioration of habitat

along our riverbanks.

From Hope, we continued up to Merritt and met with a provincial

government biologist to talk about the health of the Nicola watershed

and its impact on spawning grounds and fish numbers. We also visited the

Spius Creek Fish Hatchery and were educated on hatchery fish versus wild

fish.

We had lunch with chief and council at Skeetchestn Indian Band to

talk about the work being done by their people. They bought land and

ranches at the headwaters of the Deadman Creek to protect the fish, and

they have not fished that creek for a number of decades in order to

bring back the stock.

We then headed over to Ashcroft where we met with the former Chief

of the Cook’s Ferry Indian Band, who’s been advocating for action on

fish for probably the last 25 years. He talked to us about fishery as a

food source and how it fits into the cultural heritage of their

band.

We visited the site of the Bonaparte fish ladders, which had been

damaged by floods and were being repaired by the Bonaparte Indian Band

and DFO. We met with the Chief of the Bonaparte Band, and talked about

the importance of the work they were doing.

We also visited Lillooet and had a briefing from the team that was

doing the work on the big slide in the Fraser River. Lots of concern

about the impact of this slide and what its impact on fish stocks will

be for years to come. Everyone we talked to expressed their commitment

to ensure that we do not lose our salmon or steelhead.

Many are doing incredible work, bringing back habitat and spawning

grounds, tracking fish, using science to base decisions on, but what we

heard over and over is how we need to deal with the jurisdictional

squabbles. We need to put long-term plans in place. We need to commit to

habitat restoration. We need to base decisions on science, not political

expediency. We need to all be at the table. We need the political will

to make tough decisions, or we will be too late.

As I’ve said in this House previously, as we continue to dither,

we will have nothing to save if we don’t take action. As I hear from

members opposite on the number of dollars that are being spent, my hope

is that it fits into a bigger picture. My hope is that we think about

every dollar that we spend: how many salmon have we saved? Because we

have a lot of reports. We have a lot of people who are talking about

fish, but our fishers are saying to us, as we count them every year:

“Talk is cheap. We need action.”

As I’ve said in this House many times before, we are the people

who can make a difference. We are at a critical stage for our fish.

Quite honestly, I hope everyone commits to the fact that we do not want

to lose these iconic species. Not on our watch.

Thank you for the opportunity to address this incredible issue,

and I’m looking forward to seeing action on all sides of the

House.

J. Rice: The commercial fishery remains a mainstay of rural coastal

communities, many of which are First Na­tions communities who have

lived and fished the B.C. coast for millennia. Commercial fishing in the

north coast contributes hundreds of millions of dollars in economic

output, but besides the economic worth of landed and wholesale value of

commercial fish, the sector contributes in many other ways.

[11:25 a.m.]

A study by the T. Buck Suzuki Foundation and Ecotrust Canada found

that although these non-monetary values are less apparent or measurable

than the formal economy, they contribute significantly to social

capital, well-being and resilience of coastal communities and,

therefore, economies.

Commercial fishermen have unique skills and experience, and

valuable access to boats and gear which can be beneficial to their

communities. Among their study interviews, a majority of respondents

explained how their commercial fishing supports their community in terms

of being able to gift and trade fish to friends, family and

acquaintances. As stated by a fisherman: “One of the appeals for me

getting into fishing was that I’d have fish to give to friends. It made

a kind of food community. It lent itself to the kind of community that

developed in this area. Being a fisherman was an easy way to contribute

to the community.” Another stated that: “Even if you’re not friends with

someone, bringing people fish creates a strong bond.”

Gifting and trading of seafood occurs among commercial fishermen

in various ways, from sharing fish there is no market for to being paid

by their First Nations band to catch food, social and ceremonial fish

for their whole community. One fisherman stated: “Fishing connects

families and communities. Your reputation as a fisherman lets other

people know where you stand in the community.”

The B.C. government knows that recent salmon closures have

impacted Indigenous, commercial and recreational fishers and the

communities that depend on them. We share the disappointment of the

successive years of low productivity and poor returns that have led us

to this point. For the sake of all of those who depend on wild salmon,

we must focus our efforts on restoring salmon habitat, increasing

abundance and long-term sustainability of the fisheries.

We want to continue to build on positive news like the

recommendations from the federal House of Commons Standing Committee on

Fisheries and Oceans, where members provided 20 unanimously supported

recommendations to DFO, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, to

change its current management of commercial fisheries in B.C. These

recommendations will ensure that the benefits from B.C. fish support

B.C. fishers, First Nations and coastal communities.

We are continuing to work with the federal minister, DFO, First

Nations and the B.C. seafood industry to support the further discussion

of the recommendations. The province is committed to working with all

partners to help restore wild salmon stocks while developing sustainable

wild fisheries and supporting communities around B.C. and on our coast.

We all want to support the health of wild fisheries, as well as the

employment and economic activity the B.C. seafood sector contributes to

our province.

We jointly established the $143 million B.C. salmon restoration

and innovation fund so B.C.’s wild fisheries are environmentally and

economically sustainable. The fund supports innovation, infrastructure

and science partnerships that will help protect and restore priority

wild B.C. fish stocks, including Pacific salmon and steelhead. To date,

the funds have supported 42 projects with more than $71 million of

funding. The projects are very diverse in location, scale and proponent,

but all contribute to protecting and restoring wild fisheries and

creating a more sustainable future for local communities and

workers.

More projects are on the way, and we are working to double the

size of the salmon restoration and innovation fund, supporting

innovation in fish hatcheries and ensuring B.C. processing of

B.C.-caught fish. Meanwhile, we’re going to keep working to support both

wild fisheries and the British Columbians who make their living from

them. Last summer our government posted an update on the development of

a wild salmon strategy that includes measures to strengthen the legal

protection of fish habitat and to oblige project proponents to minimize

or avoid destruction, harm or alteration of fish habitat.

Coastal communities in B.C. want to retain their connection to the

ocean and the commercial fishing industry, not just for livelihoods but

for culture, food security, employment and stewardship. As the MLA for

North Coast, I will continue to advocate for protecting wild salmon,

commercial fishermen and the First Nations and communities that the

industry supports.

[11:30 a.m.]

E. Ross: Salmon conservation. It’s not a new topic, regardless of what has

been said here today.

Back in 2003, when I joined the chief and council, my council had

already been fighting for it for the better part of 20 years. It was

part of our treaty negotiations. It was part of our relationship with

DFO and related agencies. In that fight, we understood how complicated

this issue is. It’s not a simple issue, and the answers are not simple,

when you look at how many levels of jurisdictional issues have to be

resolved even just to get a handle on what’s happening locally, let

alone worldwide.

The advocacy we initiated and that we still initiate today is

mainly around habitat restoration and protection, both historic and

proposed — “historic” meaning the many streams and rivers that were

either diked or backfilled, for either commercial or residential use,

when our ancestors were building B.C. It would be really interesting to

find out how many salmon-bearing streams were actually redirected or

filled in for our ever-growing population. As a matter of fact, it’s how

we built B.C.

You know, diking a stream or river may have legitimate reasons,

but it does have downstream impacts. We’ve seen entire spawning beds dry

up completely, and the newly scoured side deposits, silt and sand on

remaining beds. The old maps show streams all over B.C., in all our

settled areas, that were backfilled or redirected with no habitat

compensation like we do today. Instead, we as a society created

hatcheries, fish farms and ocean ranching to kind of compensate for our

part in destroying the habitat.

Even my own band backfilled a spring that we called Xwenis, and we

did it because our land base was so small. We had no place to expand. It

was just the way things were done back then, when we were [audio

interrupted].

We can mitigate future impacts, but we should also be looking for

remediation of our habitat, because overfishing is a global exercise,

with countries like Japan, Russia, Canada and the United States fishing

the open waters as well as within our respective borders. It is such an

important initiative that the United States and Canada signed a salmon

treaty in 1985 for the purposes of cooperating on overfishing,

management, research and enhancement of salmon.

As with endangered caribou populations, there is also the issue of

predator control. I understand this has been a controversial topic when

it comes to caribou, but this is also a topic when it comes to salmon.

Roy Jones, Jr. is the president of Pacific Balance Marine Management, a

First Nations–led group pushing for predator control with regard to

salmon. There is a commercial component to their proposal, but the goal

is to lessen the predator pressure on salmon, similar to the caribou

recovery plan.

The list is long when we’re talking about salmon conservation. As

humans, as we try to restock salmon supplies through worldwide

hatcheries and ocean ranching, we may be causing salmon to come back in

smaller sizes. It’s just a case of not enough food. That’s why I’m

always on the look for solutions to our worldwide salmon

problem.

In 2012, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation was widely

criticized for releasing 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into Canadian

waters in the Pacific Ocean. The theory was this would stimulate the

growth of plankton, which would be eaten by large ocean dwellers and

begin a feeding frenzy by the juvenile fish heading into the ocean, and

it might ultimately lead to higher survival rates and better fishing

results when the fish came back to the island streams to

spawn.

Like I said, the Haida were heartily criticized for this, but it

was an idea that I supported as chief councillor, mainly because it was

a bold attempt to try something new based on what I thought was logical

thinking. It still makes me wonder today what the results

were.

There are more proposed solutions — like selective fishing with no

bycatch, inland fish farms for sockeye and trout — but one thing is

clear: the demand for seafood will only grow. So the pressures on wild

salmon will also grow, and [audio interrupted.] I think about it in a

holistic manner, in terms of what this means to the commercial industry,

the sport fishing industry as well as native food fishing and

sustenance, but overall as what an incredible asset this is for the

country of Canada.

[11:35 a.m.]

D. Routley: Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity.

I’m actually joining the proceedings from Malahat First Nations

territory.

For the members and for the people of B.C, we in fact do have a

made-in-B.C. wild salmon plan. It was the Premier who, I’m very grateful

to say, appointed me, as co-chair of that council, with the simple task

of grow more salmon. In a very complex set of circumstances, how to

answer that question was our task. We did not ever want to be arguing

over the last fish.

The overarching issue, the overarching solutions, are so many, and

so many layers, with jurisdiction and governance layered in the same

way. To have one person responsible for everything to do with wild

salmon, that person would have to be the minister of everything. But

what we do have is a circumstance that is ripe for a solution. We have a

circumstance where forces that have been at odds with each other are

suddenly finding a common and mutual set of facts and goals, and that

was the work that this council tried to address.

I’d like to talk about the members of the council. Marilyn Slett,

Chief of the Heiltsuk First Nation, president of Coastal First Nations.

The member for Saanich North and the Islands, a member of the Tsartlip

band and a former Central Saanich councillor who dealt with planning and

development around water and wastewater. Joy Thorkelson, spoken of just

the other day by one of our members, spent 40 years representing and

working for people who rely on fishing for a living as the president of

the Fishermen and Allied Workers Union.

Ray Harris, the First Nations Summit co-chair, a dear friend of

mine from Stz’uminus and a commercial fisherman. Dawn Machin, a member

of Okanagan Indian Band, a regional fishery biologist. Thomas Alexis

from the Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance and a member of

the Tl’azt’en First Nation. Ian Bruce, the executive director of

Peninsula Streams Society. Martin Paish, the director of Sport Fishing

Institute of British Columbia. James Lawson, a commercial fisherman.

Cailyn Siider, a commercial fisherman from Sointula. Tasha Sutcliffe

from Ecotrust Canada, as well as Ward Bond, a longtime Pacific Salmon

Foundation member.

These were various forces that had usually been characterized as

colliding when it came to the issue, but they did have those shared

goals, a mutual commitment. We had the difficult conversations. We had

an inclusive approach that brought people together. Generous gestures

were made on all sides and a shared commitment to the recommendations

that we made, which were practical and on the immediate, short-term and

mid-term basis.

Our first goal was to increase abundance. Our second goal was to

protect and enhance economic, social and cultural benefits. Our third,

to develop mechanisms, processes, practices and structures to engage

citizens. All of the recommendations that came from the council are

directed to restoration and innovation. This led to B.C. being able to

negotiate, with the federal government, the BCSRIF — the restoration and

innovation fund that members have spoken of, a $143 million investment.

So real things are being done.

What I want to close with is that a theme ran through all of it.

It was bringing people together and trusting local people — local

authority and First Nations, community-based organizations that already

exist — and empowering them to complete and expand on the work they were

already doing.

This theme that ran through the work we did, I see running through

the pandemic response. What we need to do to get out of that is indeed

bringing together people around a shared set of facts with aspirational

goals, but practical goals, and then trusting local people to do that

work. As we recover as communities, it will be the job, I believe, of

governments at all levels to empower local people, already pre-existing

organizations and efforts that are already underway, fuel those and let

them be the engines of recovery for the fish and for our

province.

[11:40 a.m.]

I have a firm belief that this province can grow more fish, as the

Premier suggested.

K. Kirkpatrick: Thank you to the member for the mo­tion.

Salmon have been under pressure for years from human activities

and infrastructure. Climate change has exacerbated this and made the

problem much worse. Pacific salmon are crucial to British Columbians’

ecosystem, economy and culture. Many people don’t appreciate the impact

that salmon have on our everyday lives outside of our environment, and

not just the impact to our oceans and our streams.

Now, although salmon live most of their lives in the ocean, they

miraculously search out their home stream, and against all odds, will go

far upstream to spawn. If you’ve ever seen this or seen them go up some

of the ladders that have been put in, it’s almost like you take a

personal investment in a particular salmon and are so proud when they

get to the top of it. It really is quite extraordinary. It also should

give us, if we’re having a bad day and we want to give up on something….

When you watch the energy and commitment that a salmon has to get up a

stream, it will inspire you.

Wild salmon transport nutrients from the river to the ocean and

back, fertilizing much of B.C.’s ecosystems. They serve an important

role in our food chain, and that’s including for bears and

whales.

We can’t talk about salmon without talking about the importance of

salmon to First Nations communities up and down the west coast and the

Interior. Since time immemorial, salmon have played a vital role in

First Nations culture. With respect, I will mention the Salmon

People.

Some people of the west coast believe that salmon were immortal

humans living in villages under the ocean. In the springtime, these

immortal beings put on salmon disguises to offer themselves up as food

to the people. After the salmon were eaten, the people would put the

full fish skeleton back into the water in the belief that their spirits

would rise again and turn back into salmon people, thus creating the

cycle of life. This makes the threat to our salmon stocks even sadder

and our obligation to act even more urgent.

When we talk about investments in wild salmon conservation, we

should be looking at those things that directly contribute to climate

change, that destroy habitat and that pollute our waters. To spawn

successfully, salmon need the right combination of stream flows and

temperatures at exactly the right time of year. Warmer temperatures have

been changing the timing of the snowpack melt and runoff from the

mountains as well as causing glaciers to retreat. This means that rivers

and streams have less water, and this makes it more difficult for salmon

to travel.

Changing weather patterns have led to more severe storms and

floods, which wash away salmon eggs and destroy spawning territory and

habitat. These salmon populations will need help to survive the warmer

waters, the more acidic oceans that we have and the changed stream flows

caused by global warming and climate change.

We know that B.C. steelhead stocks have been listed as endangered

or as a conservation concern largely due to bycatch mortality and

habitat destruction and degradation. A number of groups, including the

Wildlife Federation of B.C. and the Steelhead Society of B.C., have

called on government to work with the DFO to implement an action plan to

prevent this loss immediately.

Salmon need access to historic spawning grounds in B.C.’s

watersheds. However, this has been impeded by man-made structures such

as culverts, floodgates and dams. Every time we build or develop land,

we risk the loss of streams and wetlands. In Vancouver, dozens of

streams, once home to a thriving population of salmon, were covered up

or filled in since the city’s industrialization. We need to ensure that

the extraction and use of natural resources is done in way that keeps

salmon habitats safe and that we have sound and sustainable forest

management practices to that same end.

Locally, in my community of West Vancouver–Capilano, the West

Vancouver Streamkeeper Society helps develop, promote and maintain best

practices for the protection of wild salmon stock and stream habitat.

Today they’re the largest of all volunteer salmon stewardship programs

in British Columbia, with an active membership of 260. They monitor 22

creeks and tributaries, ten of which are salmon-bearing, between the

Capilano River and Horseshoe Bay.

[11:45 a.m.]

They focus on habitat restoration, education, care of streams and

ensuring that these streams are kept clean and clear. Educating people

at a young age will help develop understanding of the importance of fish

stocks as they grow into adults. Recently at the volunteer hatchery on

Nelson Creek, volunteers released 100,000 chum fry, and in late May,

volunteers will release their coho salmon.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to support this motion

for this House to reaffirm its commitment and investments in wild salmon

conservation solutions.

B. Bailey: Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak to this

motion, which I strongly support.

The endangered southern resident whales are on the brink of

extinction. As of March 2021, only 76 whales are left. One of the

greatest threats to their survival is the lack of abundant chinook

salmon, which make up 90 percent of their diet. For reasons not yet

fully understood by scientists, the southern residents have shown that

they will rarely switch their primary food source from chinook to other

species and, therefore, face starvation in the wake of dismal chinook

salmon returns for the past several years along the entire coast of

British Columbia.

In the past few years, the population has experienced the death of

several individuals, and many pregnancies during this time have resulted

in preterm miscarriages, stillborn calves or deaths shortly after birth.

Research conducted between 2008 and 2014 revealed that up to 69 percent

of all detectable southern resident pregnancies were unsuccessful.

Research has shown that the low abundance and availability of chinook

salmon is an important factor in late pregnancy failure.

No one who witnessed it can ever forget the image of a young orca

mother carrying her dead calf on her snout as she clearly mourned its

death. For 17 days, J35 toured her lost calf for all to see, as if

imploring us to look at the harm our activities are causing.

Studies of the orcas’ physical condition, using drones, have shown

that the majority of the southern residents appear thin and are

suffering from malnutrition. Their pods are fragmenting because there’s

not enough chinook salmon to eat.

Orcas have been a symbol of the west coast for many thousands of

years. They’re an important part of the culture of many Indigenous

Peoples, of their belief systems, symbolism, art and storytelling. The

orca is a symbol often centred around luck, compassion and family. Orcas

are known to some Indigenous communities as the guardians of the sea. To

some people, orcas represent the strength of love and the bonds of

family because of their strong group behaviour.

Indigenous Peoples and orcas have lived in harmony in the Pacific

Northwest since time immemorial, and it’s important to look to

Indigenous communities for knowledge and understanding of the history,

the location and the behaviours of the region’s orca population, as well

as to their leadership when developing protection and recovery

actions.

The recovery of chinook salmon stocks is a vital — in fact, the

vital — piece of the ecological puzzle leading to the demise of these

treasured cohabitants of our wonderful province. The ongoing decline of

the southern resident killer whale population over the last 20 years is

due not only to the decline in chinook stock but also the presence of

persistent organic pollutants and disturbances from vessel presence and

noise. At all levels of government, we must continue to reduce

impediments to salmon recovery, decrease inputs of pollutants to the

marine system and manage vessel activity in their preferred

habitat.

One of my most treasured memories is on a June morning about 20

years ago, sleeping on a tent on Discovery Island, just off of Victoria.

We’d just woken to the sound of a loud exhalation of air and opened the

tent zipper. Sure enough, there was a whale blow floating in the air at

the entrance to the little bay where we had pulled our kayaks up. We

raced to our boats and watched the first group of three beautiful orca

whales go by in the distance.

We anchored our kayaks in the current by holding onto bull kelp in

the little bay. A group of three passed. The third group, though, turned

in our direction and, instead of passing in the distance, turned into

the little bay where we were anchored and came through the kelp

forest.

As they approached, a mixture of fear and excitement ran through

my body, and sure enough, they came within a couple of feet of my kayak

and then dove under me. As they emerged on the other side of my kayak,

droplets from the bull’s large dorsal fin rained down on my

face.

[11:50 a.m.]

It was magical, and they were clearly careful with us. We, too,

must be careful with them, far more careful than we’ve been in the

past.

Our actions today determine the future of these iconic,

intelligent beings, and protection of their food source is nothing less

than an emergency. We’ve heard much of the challenge of overlapping

jurisdictions, and I don’t underestimate this. But I am confident that

an inclusive ap­proach determined to change this tide will

prevail.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member. Thank you for that story.

D. Clovechok: It’s my absolute pleasure to rise today to speak to this very

important issue.

I would like to share a teaching that I was given. I believe it

has bearing on this discussion.

If all the green things that grow were taken from this

earth, there could be no life.

If all the four-legged creatures were

taken from this earth, there could be no life.

If all the winged

creatures were taken from this earth, there could be no life.

If all

our relatives who crawl and swim and live within the earth were taken

away, there could be no life.

But if all the human beings were taken

away, life on earth would flourish.

This is how insignificant we

are.

In this context, yes, we are insignificant, but unfortunately, our

actions have been and continue to be very significant, negatively, on

the salmon population. The headwaters of the Columbia River start in the

Columbia Valley in the village of Canal Flats and flow out of Canada

into the United States. This once salmon-rich highway starts in my

riding and travels about 1,200 kilometres to the Pacific Ocean, through

Astoria, Oregon.

I reference this because the chinook salmon have taken this route

since time immemorial, finally making it home to a place that they were

born — a journey that took them four to five months. Yet on arrival, I’m

told, most were up to 50 pounds and were a staple food for the

Indigenous people whose home I respectfully share.

It has been our actions, both then and today, that beg the

question: where are the salmon now? They are not in the Columbia River

in my riding — I can tell you that — where they used to be abundant.

That is a tragedy. We have to do better. Massive dams on both sides of

the Canadian-U.S. border were built on the Columbia River, blocking the

salmon’s return to their ancestral spawning waters — now for over eight

decades. Yet in spite of their absence, they are still celebrated and

revered.

In the late summer and early fall of each year in my riding, the

Columbia Salmon Festival is held on the traditional territories of the

Shuswap Indian Band, the Secwépemc and the

ʔakisq̓nuk First Nation, the

Ktunaxa. At this festival, there are dancers, artists and storytellers

from across the basin, where everyone is invited to join in for an

all-day festival. Many come to learn about the traditions of the local

First Nations culture and, of course, about the chinook salmon that once

inhabited these waters, and the relationship that they had with the

Indigenous peoples.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

I have been honoured to participate in this celebration for many

years — along with the Shuswap and

ʔakisq̓nuk band members, RCMP

members, conservation officers, local government elected officials,

community members and Elders — in a traditional canoe voyage across Lake

Windermere. Our canoe brigade paddles together in the sun, wind and

rain. We take the weather the way it comes. We paddle to James Chabot

beach in Invermere, where we celebrate the day with ceremonies and songs

and, eventually, end the day with a huge salmon feast.

The purpose of this festival is to honour the salmon and give

residents and visitors an understanding of what these waters used to

hold: precious and strong chinook salmon. It is events like this

festival and so many others that demonstrate how critical it is that we

continue to do the work that is being done to bring back the salmon —

such things as the Columbia River treaty and the negotiations with the

Americans. I’m thrilled to say, Mr. Speaker, that the Indigenous people

have a seat at that table, through the work of many people to get them

there.

Also, the Columbia River Salmon Reintroduction Initiative will

help bring them home once again. This initiative starts today, and it’s

driven by Indigenous people. That’s the important piece of this, I

think, that needs to be highlighted.

I conclude with a Kwakiutl prayer. My prayer is that it will help

the salmon find their way home.

Come, swimmer. I’m glad to be alive now that you have come to this

good place where we can play together. Take this sweet food. Hold it

tight.

[11:55 a.m.]

J. Routledge: I’m pleased to rise to speak in favour of the motion: “Be it

resolved that this House unanimously agree that climate change, habitat

loss, and pollution are negatively impacting wild salmon survival and

that this House reaffirm its commitment to investments in wild salmon

conservation solutions.”

I represent Burnaby North. While it’s located on the unceded

traditional territory of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, it is also part of

the third-largest city in British Columbia and a densely populated urban

area. You might be asking yourself: what could she possible know about

salmon conservation? Well, my answer is: not much.

I do have a constituent who is a world-renowned expert in the

field. I asked him for some guidance. Mark Angelo is a river

conservationist. He founded B.C. Rivers Day and World Rivers Day and has

been awarded the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada for

his work. Thanks to his leadership, after 80 years, salmon have returned

to spawn in Widgeon Creek and Still Creek, which run through the

industrial heart of Burnaby. As the head of the fish, wildlife and

recreation program at BCIT and the inaugural chair of the Rivers

Institute, Mark has mentored generations of river

conservationists.

Here’s what Mark Angelo told me when I asked him how this House

should reaffirm its commitment to investments in wild salmon

conservation solutions. He said that the heart of the Fraser between

Hope and Mission is one of the most productive stretches of river on

earth. It supports our biggest single spawning run of salmon, is a

migration corridor for millions of other salmon, supports almost 30

species of fish and includes our finest white sturgeon habitat. But it’s

also an area that is threatened by an array of impacts, including

urbanization, industrial development, agricultural expansion and

excessive land-clearing.

We need a collaborative plan — a conservation strategy for the

heart of the Fraser. To address this, the province could look at options

such as convening a planning table in conjunction with DFO. It can

consider establishing additional wildlife management areas within the

reach, or it could actively support efforts to acquire key habitats for

conservation purposes.

Mark also praised B.C.’s healthy watersheds initiative. To refresh

our memories, I would remind us that the B.C. watersheds initiative was

introduced last year as part of our economic recovery plan. Our

government has provided $27 million in stimulus funding to more than 60

watershed conservation and restoration projects. This investment creates

jobs, protects fresh water ecosystems, and helps communities adapt to

climate change.

Mark sees this as an important initiative and hopes we can turn it

into an ongoing watershed security fund with matching funds from the

federal government. He points out that many of the projects currently

being funded by the initial $27 million that the province contributed in

2020 are focused on the very things this motion speaks to.

Mark Angelo, founder of World Rivers Day, has a lot of other ideas

for tangible actions that could benefit salmon greatly. I urge the

members opposite to join us in supporting this motion and working with

us to invest in wild salmon conservation solutions.

J. Routledge moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. J. Osborne moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Mr. Speaker: This House stands adjourned until 1:30 this afternoon.

The House adjourned at 12 noon.

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