Hope Lompe
Local Journalism Initiative
Reporter, Gabriola Sounder
Communication issues, last minute scheduling changes, safety concerns and a lack of accountability – some of the many common problems shared around the room at a gathering of ferry-dependent communities on Sept. 21.
As elected officials from across the province arrived in Victoria, B.C. for the five-day Union of B.C. Municipalities annual convention, representatives from communities that rely on B.C. Ferries convened a day early to share concerns, and discuss an action plan moving forward.
The Gabriola Sounder sat in on the two-hour gathering which included elected officials from municipalities, Islands Trustees, Chambers of Commerce, electoral area directors and First Nations. The event was hosted, organized and fully funded by the municipality of Bowen Island.
Over 35 representatives from ferry-dependent communities gathered to brainstorm and discuss common challenges on Sept. 21. Hope Lompe photo
“Is anyone having an awesome time with the ferries right now?” Bowen Island Mayor Andrew Leonard quipped during his opening remarks, which earned a collective laughter from the room.
“Okay great, so we are doing the right thing,” he said.
In the ballroom of the Marriott Hotel, the late-afternoon event began with mingling over coffee. Introductions and unstructured ferry chatter filled the room as people took their seats. Six large round tables arranged with white tablecloths, note pads, pens and water glasses were set up to facilitate the symposium host Leonard insisted would be a departure from the conference mode they were all about to participate in over the next five days.
Silas White, Mayor of the town of Gibsons ran in late, ironically due to answering media calls about a ship at the Langdale ferry terminal with a grounded main engine turbo charger caused by a mechanical issue earlier in the day.
Leonard said the UBCM convention was the best opportunity to organize elected officials and representatives to discuss where their commonalities lie. Less than a week later, on Sept. 25, a coalition of elected officials signed and sent a call to action letter to B.C. Ferries and Premier David Eby, an idea born out of the discussions and collective brainstorming the previous Sunday.
Documents obtained by the Gabriola Sounder show B.C. Ferries and Islands Trust were invited to be part of the organization and funding of the event, however both declined. B.C. Ferries cited their own engagement event for local officials at UBCM, and Islands Trust attributed it to capacity limits.
Several Islands trustees, however, were in attendance. Documents show invitations were sent to representatives from 31 small ferry-dependent communities. Over 35 people were in attendance on the day.
Two politicians also made an appearance. Jeremy Valeriote, Green Party MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky and Aaron Gunn, official opposition MP for North Island—Powell River sat in on the meeting.
Three Gabriola Island representatives were in attendance: executive director of the Gabriola Island Chamber of Commerce Erin Udal, and Islands Trustees Tobi Elliott and Susan Yates. “I am so happy that this event is happening, and I’m very grateful to Mayor Andrew Leonard from Bowen Island,” said Yates. “We were thinking two trust councils ago, how could we get the coastal ferry dependent communities together to deal with the fact that the ferry advisory committees have been dissolved.”
The ferry advisory committees (FACs) were a group of volunteers representing ferry-dependent communities to advocate on their behalf and communicate directly with B.C. Ferries. While effective in some communities like Gabriola Island, Yates says, they were not as efficient in every community.
In practice, Yates says the FACs only brought serious concerns forward to B.C. Ferries, which was met with inconsistent follow-through. The FACs were eventually disbanded and replaced with an engagement process for communities earlier this year, one of the reasons why the invitee list was kept to primarily elected officials, and did not include volunteers from local advocacy groups, like the Gabriola Ferry Advocacy Group.
Many representatives in the room lamented the effectiveness of the new dynamic with B.C. Ferries, saying communication has felt preformative and superficial since the change, and there is no accountability or requirement to facilitate meaningful communication with communities. While Leonard acknowledges there is always a place in local politics for advocacy groups, he says politicians are the ones fielding community complaints and are best placed to form relationships with senior levels of government.
“We are on the precipice of the UBCM conference tomorrow, where we will be meeting with ministers, we will be meeting with staff and we are able as a group to get in front of ministers and their staff repeatedly,” said Leonard. “If we have a strong message, if we have a unified message, my hope is that that will lead to change.”
With the disbandment of FACs, Bowen Island recognized they did not know what other small ferry-dependent communities experience in their own dealings with the ferry system. The municipality’s recent frustrations encouraged them to put on the event, especially after being told by B.C. Ferries they were alone in their grievances.
“I have residents complaining to me about ferries,” said Leonard to the room. “I just don’t have any power, and I’m trying to in good faith work with the system.”
Small ferry-dependent communities have specific challenges they see with the ferries, said Leonard. These are communities excluding Vancouver Island that rely on the ferry service for essential services like medical appointments and commutes for work or school.
“This is not a cruise ship. This is an essential service that we need to get us to our homes, to work, to connect our families,” said Tobi Elliott, Islands Trustee for Gabriola. “There’s been a long standing disconnect with the communities that depend on the ferries and the services they have been getting, and this came to a flash point with the dissolution of the FACs.”
In small groups, people wrote on sticky notes what their community problems were with the ferries, and were told to identify common themes. Each small group presented their findings to the room. Over the course of the symposium it became clear very few frustrations were isolated to one community or terminal, as several common challenges emerged around the room, and a sense of unity formed.
Among the many concerns shared, key takeaways were issues with pricing, terminal safety and accessibility, last-minute scheduling changes, inconsistent or a lack of marshalling, reliability, lack of consultation with communities on decision-making and prioritization of tourists needs and larger routes over smaller routes and residents.
They also described frustrations with a lack of remediation pathways for cross-juridicals problems, like Transport Canada which enforced a ban earlier this year on damaged electric vehicles (EVs) on ferries, a policy that greatly affects islands like Salt Spring with a large uptake of EVs.
In an email statement to the Sounder, B.C. Ferries writes they take these concerns seriously, but want to be clear about steps they have taken, and what is outside of their control.
“We take these concerns seriously, but it’s important to be clear about the facts. B.C. Ferries has been meeting directly with municipal leaders across the coast, and just this afternoon our CEO hosted a well-attended session for elected officials at UBCM,” wrote a B.C. Ferries spokesperson.
“Ferries are under real strain from record demand, aging vessels, and constrained terminals. We are willing partners to collaborate on solutions and improvements, but we also have to recognize our service contract does not provide the flexibility or funding to resolve issues beyond our responsibility,” writes the spokesperson.
The spokesperson notes the Tsawwassen–Swartz Bay route is the only one that covers its costs and every other route operates at a loss. They go on to cite rising fuel prices, inflation, labour costs, and the expense of maintaining aging vessels and terminals all adding pressure to their operations.
“That is why we must work closely with [the] government to resolve the funding challenges ahead of our Performance Term 7 submission next September, so we can deliver the long-term investments communities are asking for without placing the full burden on ferry users.”
During the group discussions, Yates brought up the B.C. Ferries Experience Cards, which are used to get “saver” fares on select routes are reloaded at $130 minimum, unattainable for many low-income and working families. The cards are only for ticketing and cannot be used to purchase items from the cafeteria or gift shop. Yates argues those who cannot afford to load $130 each time to get the saver fare will pay for a higher-priced one-time ticket at the booth. B.C. Ferries writes the structure of the card is by design.
“The experience card was implemented to provide discounted travel on minor routes. The minimum load is a universal price, regardless of route, and is set at the cost of one undiscounted round trip on the Comox-Powell River route,” writes the B.C. Ferries spokesperson.
It is designed to reduce the need to reload each trip, which could cause delays for customers and impact on-time service. While the reload minimum is $130, the experience card provides discounted fares, which means users recover that upfront amount through savings.”
They add the card balance never expires, and by design, it is focused on providing savings for tickets, not other items where they will not see the benefit.
On the matter of complaints about the ferry service that lie outside their jurisdiction like the ban on damaged EVs, the spokesperson writes it “maintains regular and constructive communication with Transport Canada and government partners on matters within their jurisdiction that affect ferry operations and the communities we serve.”
Erin Udal, executive director of the chamber of commerce says while Gabriola shares many common concerns with other communities, ferry workers and service on Gabriola is great, and her concerns lie more systemically with the corporation as a whole.
“We needed to gather because of the lack of attention and, quite frankly, respect that is needed for communities that understand the vital aspects of their ferry systems,” said Udal.
“The response, especially over the past year and a half, has been dramatically shifted to corporate speak and whitewashing really important dialog that’s needed about the challenges.”
B.C. Ferries says the company is engaging “more than ever” through Let’s Connect engagement process, with a reported 1,800 participants since May. They also note that their UBCM session was well-attended by elected officials. Sunday’s independent gathering of ferry-dependent communities ended with a brainstorming session on what they can do about these issues, and how they can move forward, ultimately ending in a plan to write a call to action letter to B.C. Ferries and the province. Thursday’s letter included many of the concerns addressed during the discussion, including reliability, infrastructure and communications concerns.
“We are calling for the immediate establishment of a formal consultation framework that goes beyond information sessions and engages local governments and First Nations as true partners in addressing systemic issues. This process must begin without delay.”
The letter also promises they will keep meeting as elected officials of ferry-dependent communities, something people around the room were eager to continue with on the day of the gathering.
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