When Fred Thiessen moved to B.C. 50 years ago, the beauty of the Kokanee Glacier took him in.
But lately, the provincial landmark isn’t looking as inspiring to the mountaineer and member of Friends of West Kootenay Parks.
“It was a different glacier then than it is now, in that there was much more ice and much more snow,” Thiessen said in an emotional interview with CBC News Network’s Hannah Thibedeau.
“In the 50 years since I’ve been here, I’ve watched the glacier retreat markedly … it’s harder to get around up there, and it makes me sad to go up there because what I used to see is not what I see now.”
WATCH | In retreat
In retreat
5 days ago
Duration 5:26
B.C.’s iconic Kokanee Glacier could be gone in 50 years. It’s not the only one. What are we losing? Mountaineer and member of Friends of West Kootenay Parks, Fred Thiessen talks about that with Hannah Thibedeau on CBC News.
Thiessen cited climate change for the disappearance of the ice, and the recession is making it more difficult for mountaineers and backcountry skiers to scale the glacier.
He said rising temperatures will also change the beautiful imagery associated with the province he calls home.
“We’re moving to a drier landscape, and those icy, shimmering mountain tops that we used to see aren’t going to be there any more,” he said.
Run-off effects
The disappearing glacier will have other detrimental effects — less cold water flow will mean warmer, drier streams.
Lower water levels in rivers is concerning to Jason Hwang of Kamloops, who’s vice president of salmon with the Pacific Salmon Foundation. That’s because it makes it harder for salmon to migrate and spawn.
“Kamloops is known as a place that’s hot and dry, but all of British Columbia has been seeing hotter, drier conditions,” he said.
“We’re starting to see some really significant effects now to our rivers and streams in the province.”
WATCH | Severe drought conditions in B.C. could threaten salmon runs
Severe drought conditions in B.C. could threaten salmon runs
9 days ago
Duration 6:52
CBC News Network’s Hannah Thibedeau speaks with Jason Hwang, vice-president, salmon, with the Pacific Salmon Foundation.
Hwang said the North Thompson River in Kamloops is about five degrees warmer than usual right now. Heat can have adverse effects on the salmon, he added, including death.
“This is what’s happening not just in this river, it’s happening in almost every river and stream in British Columbia,” he said.
A decline in salmon affects other fauna who consume them, such as killer whales, grizzly bears — and humans.
“It’s already affecting fishing opportunities. Fishing restrictions have been put into place to try to protect salmon returns,” Hwang said.
“The City of Kamloops right here has already restricted water use in public works facilities, in our parks and in our fields, and are asking citizens in the city to do the same, to voluntarily reduce water to try to leave as much as we can in the rivers and the ecosystem.”
Cattle conundrum
Though Vancouver Island is known for its wet climate, cattle rancher Brad Chappell said the region can get quite dry in the summers, and it’s increasingly parched.
Chappell, the president of the Vancouver Island Cattlemen’s Association, said ranchers are seeing only 25 to 50 per cent of the usual cattle feed yields, and wildfires have burned away many summer pastures.
“The cattle don’t have as much to eat, so you’re being forced to feed earlier with the winter feed that you’re already deficient on,” he said.
WATCH | Dealing with drought
Dealing with drought
12 days ago
Duration 7:58
Brad Chappell is a Comox, B.C., cattle rancher and the president of the Vancouver Island Cattlemen’s Association. He talks with CBC News Network’s Hannah Thibedeau about the summer so far; and how he and other ranchers are making out during a very dry season.
The situation became bad enough that Chappell’s family recently had to consider culling some of its herd, but decided against it.
“We just decided that we were going to borrow more money, and try to spend our way through this rut of production in the feed side of things,” he said.
But Chappell said others have made a different decision — auctioning off cattle they can no longer care for.
That’s concerning to Coralee Oakes, the B.C. United MLA representing Cariboo North in B.C.’s interior.
Oakes said the local cattle auction typically sees 300 to 500 cattle in July. This year, however, the number is 3,200.
“I talked to a family here, they’ve had to send their herds here because the fires impacted their fences and they had no choice,” she said.
“Already a lot of people can’t afford to fertilize. [There’s] so much increased costs, that it’s making it really, really difficult for ranching families and farming families just to make a go of it.”
WATCH | Cattle auction surge
Cattle auction surge
5 days ago
Duration 6:23
Drought conditions in B.C. have ranchers sending their cattle to auction in numbers greater than usual. How much greater? B.C. MLA Coralee Oakes was at a cattle auction in Vanderhoof when she spoke with CBC News Network’s Hannah Thibedeau about what she is seeing and hearing — at the show ring, and in the pasture.
Oakes said the issues should prompt government action, including financial aid, and a conversation about how to bring down the costs of agriculture and value agricultural workers more.
“People are making really difficult decisions, and for that next generation, how do they make a go of it when you’ve got all of these issues that communities are facing?”
Adapting to climate change
Winemaker and viticulturist Severine Pinte is trying to make a go of it in hotter and drier conditions, but it’s meant a lot of adjustments at her Oliver, B.C winery.
Though the vineyard is located in Canada’s only desert, Pinte, the managing partner of Le Vieux Pin winery, said it’s been an unusually hot and dry growing season. Temperatures have gone as high as 36 degrees.
Pinte said she’s been able to adapt with adjustments such as irrigating at night to minimize evaporation, switching from overhead irrigation to drip irrigation to conserve water, adjusting her growing season and testing the soil more rigorously.
WATCH | Climate extremes — a vintage view
Climate extremes — a vintage view
9 days ago
Duration 6:10
Winemaker & viticulturist Severine Pinte, managing partner of Le Vieux Pin winery in Oliver, B.C., talks with CBC News Network about growing grapes and making wine in Canada’s only desert; a challenge heightened by recent climate extremes.
“Trying to know what we’re working with is the key to manage the heat and the water consumption,” she said.
“There’s … a lot of different tools that we can use to manage the water and the heat.”
But between last year’s brutal heat dome and unpredictable periods of extreme cold, Pinte said climate change is having a noticeable impact on the business.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
