Category Archives: ATI_Story

Transportation links needed to B.C.’s Great Bear Rain Forest

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Data obtained from the 2015 British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure briefing notes point to financial losses as the primary reason the provincial government changed the Discovery Coast ferry service.  

This ferry service is the primary transportation link to the coastal region of the province and the Great Bear Rain Forest, one of the most bio-diverse regions and an area that sees tourists from all over the world. 

But Petrus Rykes, president of the West Chilcotin Tourism Association, claims the numbers the ministry used as justification for their decision are “complete bogus.”

In briefing notes obtained from the Freedom of Information Act, the Ministry refers to a loss of $7 million from 2012/2013 as a primary reason for changing the ferry service.

This is the first of two pages which details the governments decision to alter the Discovery Route ferry service - an international tourism draw that provides a transportation link from Port Hardy on Vancouver Island to Bella Coola, a gateway to the Great Bear Rain Forest.
This is the first of two pages which details the governments decision to alter the Discovery Route ferry service - an international tourism draw that provides a transportation link from Port Hardy on Vancouver Island to Bella Coola, a gateway to the Great Bear Rain Forest.

Rykes, though, says that $7 million is inaccurately represented.

In a 2014 report, the West Chilcotin Tourism Association accused the government of “misleading the public by providing inaccurate financial information about the operation of Route 40.”

According to Rykes, the $7 million includes the refurbishing cost of a previously operational ferry- the Queen of Chilliwack – which was only used on Route 40 (the Discovery Route) for 13 weeks out of the year.  It was used on other routes the remainder of the year.

“They are stacking the figures to make it look like (the route) had lost that much,” said Rykes.

Rykes said the government used $15 million of taxpayers money to fix up the Chilliwack, even though they had intended to sell the vessel all along.

They fixed it up and then sold it to Fiji for one million dollars without telling anyone, he said.

Rykes added it is important to note Route 40 is actually two different routes, which the government fails to distinguish in their numbers: the larger vessel which operates from Port Hardy to Bella Coola, and the smaller vessel that docks at the smaller, native villages further inland.

He said the government cut the route making 75 per cent of the profits – the primary route from Port Hardy to Bella Coola – and kept the smaller route that incurred the majority of the losses. The reason, he said, was by keeping the route that “went to the native villages, that was the only way (the government) could keep getting their subsidies.”

But the tourism area and ferry services only see one per cent of the subsidies, according to Rykes. Instead, he said, the money is going to subsidize bureaucrats who have houses on the island.

“A logical business would get rid of the money losing parts,” said Rykes. “But they did totally the opposite. And they tried to bamboozle the public on this.”

A BC Discovery Route ferry service is still operational (which now replaces the Queen of Chiliwack) but it requires the tourists to switch ferries to the Nimpkish – a 16- car ferry that many say is not up to tourism standards.

For Pat Corbett, chair of the Cariboo Chilcotin Tourism Association, the Nimpkish is not an adequate solution. 

“This is an open vessel,” he said, “so while you are sitting on the ferry the water floods right over your vehicle.”

“You are sitting on that flipping thing for nine hours.  It’s scary if you are in rough seas.”

BC Ferries has plans to launch a new passenger-vehicle vessel for the 2019 season.

 

FOR JIM:

Access to Information Request information:

1) Municipal Request: (this is a screen shot from the mail sent to my home in Edmonton- I had not yet paid the fees)

Letter from the city of Edmonton
Letter from the city of Edmonton

 

 

 

 

 

(The above link is a document cloud of my Edmonton request.)

2) Provincial Requests:  I have included a document cloud of my provincial request form I filed.

 

3) Federal Request: Because I filed to the Health department, I was able to file my federal request online, so I have no copy of a filled out request form.  I have included a receipt indicating I did file and (unfortunately) pay for this request.

This is what I said in my request (not exactly word-for-word since I can’t remember ):  I am looking for data, correspondence, emails and complaints relating to chiropractic negligence.  I do not need names, I do need all instances of complaints filed and complaints received and processed.  As this is in the public interest, I ask that all fees be waved.

Federal request confirmation
Federal request confirmation

 

 

 

 

 

4) Previously filed request:

(I have included a screen shot of the email confirmation.)

Already filed request
Already filed request

CloudBC seeks to save province millions in IT costs

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Documents obtained with an access to information request indicate that the Government of British Columbia intends to potentially save hundreds of millions of dollars by moving public sector computer services into the cloud.

CloudBC is a new organization, administered by the B.C. Ministry of Technology, Innovation, and Citizens’ Services. It has been established to encourage and support the successful adoption of modern, cloud-based business and technology services across the broad public service. Although the specific strategy is still under development, CloudBC’s focus will be to support public sector organizations’ efforts to adopt services supplied by qualified third party vendors.

CloudBC is in the process of identifying very specific technology requirements. At GTEC 2015, a large annual conference that addresses technology specific to Canada’s public sector, Mike Larson, CloudBC chief operating officer said, “In BC, we’ve come up with some definitive language to tell companies how they’re going to deliver the service for us.”

The documents suggest that at least two data centres will be built and maintained by private vendors like Microsoft or Hewlett Packard. These are to be in strict compliance with CloudBC’s list of requirements. To ensure sovereign security of private information, these data centres must be located in Canada.

Contracts were to be in place by the end of March, 2016 but as of now, no contracts are signed between government and industry. Once the data centres are ready and vendors contracted, the successful third-party suppliers will provide “pay-as-you-go” cloud IT services to government agencies. Participating crowns, ministries, and departments will be encouraged to begin adoption of cloud computing services.

Government documents reveal that security and privacy are prime concerns. Legislation requires several of the B.C. agencies and crowns involved in the CloudBC initiative to maintain privacy of personal information like health records. The technology to be adopted must be capable of keeping private information secure while making public information widely available.

Huda Qasim, IT researcher at Yarmouk University notes that, “Cloud computing is said to be the way forward, offering… cost reduction and flexible and handy scalability. But along with these many advantages, the cloud computing environment suffers from many risks like security and privacy.”

CloudBC management intends to work with early adopters to “demonstrate quick wins” to the remainder of the pubic service and, thus, encourage conversion to cloud service in agencies that are initially reluctant. It is anticipated that efficiency, ease-of-use, and savings are to the be obvious incentives to change to cloud computing services.

In briefing notes from August 14, 2015 obtained with an access to information request, Larson notes several key observations from the business case. Cloud computing services are now mature; they are no longer unreliable. And, cloud computing is much more affordable than the traditional model of installing dedicated hardware in every participating organization.

The Cloud BC business case was creating in consultation with chief information officers from the B.C. government, six regional health authorities, and six major crown corporations – BC Hydro, Insurance Corporation of BC, WorkSafeBC, BC Lottery Corp, BC Ferries, and BC Pension Corp. These participating agencies combine to account for $3 billion in annual IT costs.

Elsewhere in the documents a 15 to 20 percent cost saving in estimated. If realized, this will save the Government of BC from $450 to $600 million dollars per year.

These savings are not certain. Again from his address at GTEC Larson notes, “There’s many reasons why we think we’re going to have problems.”

Moving to cloud computing, though, seems inevitable and it has either been adopted or is process in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. Not to mention the Government of Canada.

ATIP_Scharf

FOIPPA request excerpts

Explanation of FOIPPA request excerpts

Cheaper alcohol reserved for foreign military personnel at B.C. liquor stores

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B.C. liquor stores offer discounts to visiting foreign military officers.

Customers in British Columbia who used to buy liquor for cheap at their provincial liquor stores can no longer do so, except for a select non-Canadian few.

Just under a year ago, on Apr. 1, 2015, British Columbia’s Liquor Distribution Branch changed it’s buying policies. Previously, B.C. liquor stores were able to sell alcohol in bulk at a lower price to buyers referred to by the Liquor Distribution Branch as “special customers,” a list that included ship chandlers, consulates, and the Lieutenant Governor.

Now anyone who walks into a B.C liquor store will pay the same price as regular Joe Customer. These “special” buyers, and those who buy in bulk, will be directed to the Wholesale Customer Centre, where they will receive a similar discount as before.

Only one group is exempt from the changes in B.C.’s new liquor policy. According to documents received under the British Columbia freedom-of-information law, only members of NATO will continue to buy discounted liquor from 10 specific liquors stores in the province.

Viola Kaminski, senior communications officer for the BC Liquor Distribution Branch said that the reason for this exception was twofold. Firstly, she referred to the Visiting Forces and Visiting Forces Personnel Alcoholic Beverages Remission Order. This is a federal rule that stipulates that foreign military personnel must be offered discounts on alcohol purchases in Canada.

Secondly, Kaminski stated that most NATO members in B.C. are stationed on Vancouver Island. It was decided that it would be cheaper to allow the visiting officers to continue to buy from the selected liquor stores than to have the province pay to ship these customers over to the mainland to buy from the Wholesale Centre.

To be considered for a reduced rate in B.C., NATO members must go through a review process conducted jointly by the military and the Liquor Distribution branch. Foreign military officers in B.C., once registered for the discount, receive 40 per cent off wine and liquor, although there is no discount on beer.

Kaminski said that theses registrations were rare.

According to Kaminski, in B.C. there were 15 NATO members eligible for the discount in 2015, and only 13 registered NATO customers in 2014.

Last year, The Toronto Star printed an article claiming that over a 6-year period, $850,000 was lost in Ontario due to the NATO discount given at their provincial liquor stores. They recorded over 180 officers who received the discount, amounting to roughly 30 officers a year.

Kaminski did not reveal how much money was lost in B.C. per year due to the NATO discounts, but it seems that B.C. has been averaging half of the NATO members counted in Ontario each year.

Phillipe Brideau, a media relations officer from the Canada Revenue Agency, stated in an email that the discount given to foreign officers has been implemented since 1985 that combined different provincial laws of the same vein. Canada as a nation offers visiting officers alcoholic beverages free from federal duties and taxes.

According to Brideau, this is a courtesy that is granted to Canadian forces who visit other Commonwealth countries, countries part of the North Atlantic Treaty or countries listed in the Visiting Forces Act.

According to the documents received under freedom-of-information law, the money lost by selling to NATO customers will be reimbursed to the B.C liquor stores by the wholesale department.

Where they will get the money? That question remains unanswered.

 

3 Questions – ATIP

Previously-Asked-ATIP

ATIP – Vancover

ATIPrequestBC

ATIPreceipt-Federal.do

B.C. human rights complainants still waiting for decision on gender markers at birth

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A hearing has yet to be scheduled regarding nine human rights complaints filed by transgender and intersex people in British Columbia., after an unsuccessful settlement meeting eight months ago.

The complaints—which call for the removal of gender from all provincially issued birth certificates—were filed against B.C.’s Vital Statistics Agency between November 2013 and December 2014.

When a human rights complaint is filed, a settlement meeting is scheduled by the tribunal under B.C.’s Human Rights Code, giving both parties a chance to confidentially resolve the complaint without the need for a hearing.

According to documents obtained through B.C.’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the B.C. government had a human rights settlement meeting scheduled for August 2015.

Excerpt from briefing binder for Minister of Health’s Estimates Debates, 2015
Click annotation to see full document

Angela Frattaroli, a Ministry of Health spokeswoman, said in an email she was unable to comment on the matter because the complaints were now before the tribunal, adding the province “welcomes participation from the transgender community in policy discussions and looks forward to working with the community to address concerns on an ongoing basis.”

However, lawyers representing many of the complainants said the ministry argues that designating gender on birth certificates is not discriminatory.

The Vancouver-based law firm said gender markers expose more transgender, intersex, and gender variant people to risk, and increase their chance of harassment.

Dr. Brian O’Neill, a professor of social work at the University of B.C., said this discrimination isn’t always deliberate. “We don’t notice it. It’s kind of like the air that we breath. You can say these policy or procedural changes are sort of bureaucratic niceties, but I think that on the real world they have an actual real effect.”

Brian O'Neill Source: UBC
Dr. Brian O’Neill
Source: UBC

Transgender refers to a person who does not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth, whereas an intersex person is born with ambiguous sexual anatomy, meaning it is incorrect to label them as either male or female at birth. The complainants argue doctors should wait to assign the gender of a baby, instead of immediately after birth.

In 2014, the B.C. government made changing gender on birth certificates easier by removing the need for proof of gender-reassignment surgery. But not every transgender person identifies as either male or female and O’Neill said adding another box isn’t enough.

“The concept of categorizing is problematic,” he said. “Does it really solve the problem to have another box that you can check off? To have male, female, or transgender? The gender binary is the problem.”

O’Neill said having an official change—like the removal of gender on birth certificates—could be a big step forward in social equity.

“I think the challenging of the gender boundaries is revolutionary,” he said, adding this tribunal decision, whatever it is, could have a ripple effect on transgender and intersex issues throughout Canada.

“It would be transformative for everyone, not just trans people,” a representative from the law office said. “It would be the beginning of having gender treated the way race is treated on the birth certificates, that is to say, something which is self-defined and irrelevant of a categorization.”

 

Additional documents and ATIP requests:

ATIP page and answers

Status of Women Canada_previously released records

ATIP Request 1

ATIP Request 2

ATIP Request 3

 

British Columbia to Host Earthquake and Tsunami Drill

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Mayor of Port Alberni, B.C., Mike Ruttan was a teenager when a tsunami hit his municipality in March 1964. This year, from June 7–10, his municipality will be the central point of a full-scale major earthquake and tsunami response exercise, the first-ever provincially led earthquake exercise.

The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District in conjunction with the province will test the BC Immediate Response Plan, adopted in July 2015, developed in the aftermath of the General Auditor’s report indicating that the province wasn’t prepared for a catastrophic earthquake.

“On a personal basis, I am aware of what could happen. As a mayor, I am happy to contribute in any way I can to prepare our community for such event,” said Mike Ruttan, who will play a coordination role in the emergency exercise.

In case of a catastrophic earthquake, Emergency Management BC IRP plan seeks to coordinate the immediate response of all ministries and local authorities to respond adequately and help the recovery as well as saving human lives. Emergency Management BC assigns tasks to accomplish to all ministries following an earthquake.

“We took all ministries responsibility tasks and built an exercise testing the key aspect of those tasks and directives,” said Lyle Herod, Training and Exercise Coordinator at Emergency Management BC. “The best way of testing a plan like that is to exercise it and determine which part works and what part needs improvement.”

The Exercise Costal Response will be colossal. More than 600 people are expected in Port Alberni for  a live-play exercise. The ground won’t shake, but simulated damages will be visible. Herod explained that constructed damage sites will be built using beams, concrete slabs and simulation of broken buildings. All this “to create challenges to our first responders who will need to work their way through to find casualties and transfer them to the emergency services.”

The Heavy Urban Search and Rescue team from Vancouver, as well as the police, ambulance, military and fire department, will be involved in the simulation. The Red Cross will implement a mass shelter. Some citizens are going to take part as actors.

Meanwhile, some officials in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo will take part to a scenario where they would have to respond to critical infrastructure damages, to problems of communication and have to deal with administrative duties.

Documents obtained through the British Columbia Freedom of Information Act stated that Exercise Costal Response 2016 “represent the first step toward a series of exercise events to prepare the province for a large-scale earthquake disaster response.”

Herod recognized that the province starts with a relatively small simulation compared to the one that will take place in Washington State at the same time. He said that the province is working to perform those full-scale exercises every two years.  For this first practice, the province invests nearly  $1 million.

The next exercise might be in Victoria area as the province would learn from this experience. The province would also like to test the plan in the Interior BC. “We hope to see this exercise routine will help enhance the planning in number of diverse communities.”

John Clague, professor in the Earth Science Department at Simon Fraser University and researcher on Natural Hazard, is skeptical. “I don’t think it’s enough, it’s a small step. It’s an exercise, it can’t replicate the reality. The impact of a catastrophic earthquake is so large that exercise can’t replicate the full range of effects we could experience.”

Citizen will notice activity around them, but Ruttan assures that Port Alberni won’t shut down during the exercise. The municipal council promotes preparedness on an individual basis at every council meeting.

 Response Package P.45-46

Those pages are from Emergency Management British Columbia.  The information coming from those pages is all about the Exercise Costal Response, and what is the IRP. The information was useful as there is a new element, is that the province want to test the IRP on a constant basis, every two years, all around the province.

Access to Information Request

Already Released- Canadian Heritage- Sports Events Funding

I received the files on March 8th.

Federal- Canadian Heritage 

I did my request on March 12th and received the responses on the 15th.

Provincial- Ministère des Transports

I requested a consultation report on the Mercier Bridge Reconstruction. I sent this request to the Ministry  on March 9th, and haven’t heard back from them.

Municipal- Chateauguay. ( My request)  the Response

I requested information about a commercial development, on March 14th. I received an acknowledgement 2 days after, but I would need to obtain a written permission from the landowner to continue the request.

Conservation Officer calls six destroyed bears “a drop in the bucket” in B.C.

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Spencer Van Dyk

In central Canada, leaving garbage out could result in an unwanted fine, but in British Columbia, it could attract unwanted guests, like black bears.

Documents obtained through an access to information request stated there were six bears destroyed in the Williams Lake area of British Columbia between June and October of 2015. However, according to Mike Badry of the province’s Ministry of Environment, and Len Butler of the Conservation Officer Service, six killed bears represents a minute fraction of the wildlife conflict cases in the region.

In the summer of 2015, six bears were destroyed, one grizzly and the rest black, one by a resident of the area, and the rest by conservation officers. There are a few reasons a conservation officer could have to kill a bear: if there is a risk to public safety, if the bear is preying on livestock or entering homes, or if it is ill or injured. In the Williams Lake cases from last summer, the small community experienced a brown bear killing a calf, a grizzly in truck beds, and and a black bear attempting to enter someone’s house, all within five months.  

According to Badry, a wildlife conflicts manager, black bears are abundant in the province. His department receives approximately 30,000 calls a year regarding wildlife conflict, 20,000 of which are caused by black bears.

“To remove six bears over the course of a season in that area is not unusual,” he said.

In fact, according to Butler, an inspector in charge of the Thompson-Cariboo region for the Conservation Officer Service, the province euthanizes approximately 500–600 bears a year. The issue is that bears are seldom relocated, because the process further stretches the resources of the Conservation Officer Service, it is distressing to the bear, and it upsets the natural order.

Under the B.C. Wildlife Act, landowners can destroy an animal if it is killing livestock, but they have to report it. However, the Conservation Officer Service must investigate that it was a lawful kill, as was the case in Williams Lake last year when a farmer destroyed a brown bear for killing a calf.

Douglas Neasloss, the chief councilor in his indigenous community, and member of the Spirit Bear Research Foundation, has been operating in his area and studying bears for 16 years. He said that if a conservation officer is called, it usually results in the bear being killed.

“I don’t think they have any other mechanisms,” he said, adding that they are understaffed and underfunded.

Bears have a hierarchical social structure, so if a large bear is removed from its habitat, smaller bears could take over to fill the void. Dominant bears need to manage the rivers, he said.

Butler said there are seven officers to cover a territory that could take six hours to cross.

“The areas are monstrous,” he said. “We cover some incredible distances here, and there aren’t many of us. We can only handle the more serious complaints, and public safety is most important.”

The most significant thing the province can do is to educate the population about managing the things on their property that could attract bears, Butler said. Habits like managing garbage and maintaining fruit trees go a long way in preventing bears from entering communities.

“I know people think we just enjoy killing things, but we don’t,” he said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

Butler said there is concern that this year’s early spring will cause problems down the road. He said if drought conditions occur, it could drive the bears into town in greater numbers in the fall.

(598 words)

In this document, pages three and six were particularly helpful, and provided the most thorough information in the entire document. Both are from the British Columbia Ministry of Environment. Page three details the calls and complaints about bears received by the Conservation Office Service, and page six details the office’s responses and action taken. They were helpful, because they provided more detail as to the specific cases of destroyed bears in the Williams Lake area, as opposed to simply the statistics. They shed light on how the office responds such calls.

 

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Pharmaceutical watchdog continues tenuous relationship with B.C. government

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Jim Wright has had March 31, 2016 circled on his calendar for a long time. That’s the date that Therapeutics Initiative (TI), an independent watchdog that evaluates prescription drugs, will see its contract with the B.C. government expire, according to records released under the B.C. freedom-of-information law.

Though Wright, TI’s co-managing director, says that a new contract has been agreed on, he won’t be completely comfortable until he sees it in writing.

Therapeutics Initiative is run out of the University of British Columbia and is a globally recognized institution that keeps pharmaceutical companies and government officials in line. Wright has been with the company since 1994, and in that time has overseen a sometimes tumultuous relationship with the Liberal government that has been in place since 2001.

In the aforementioned records released by the B.C. Ministry of Health, the government calls research done by the TI and other pharmaceutical research groups “ an inherent and important contributor…to operate a sustainable, evidence-informed, efficiently-managed, drug program that improves the health of British Columbians.”

The government has not always felt that way. In 2007, the government set up a task force to evaluate TI. The nine-member group – five of whom were associated with the drug industry – recommended   shutting down TI.

“We were doing extremely well and were sort of considered one of the few really effective groups in the world up to 2007,” recalls Wright. “So it was a big surprise, a big shock. Because you’re doing really well, and you’re recognized internationally and then they set up a task force. So everything has gone down hill since that time. But we haven’t been gotten rid of completely. We’ve just been struggling since that time.”

Therapeutics Initiative survived the task force’s advice, but was suspended for a period in 2012. When the contract was renewed later in 2013, the government grant had been cut almost in half, moving from a million dollars a year to the current amount of $550,000.

That’s the amount that has been agreed upon in principle for the next contract. “We tried to negotiate a higher amount, but it wasn’t successful,” says Wright. “Every time something like this comes up we have some uncertainty. It’s not a situation where we say ‘Oh yeah, for sure it’ll be renewed.’”

The government’s treatment of TI hasn’t gone unnoticed by the opposition party. “They don’t have continual, stable year to year funding. So they have to continually, each year, make the case for projects they want to undertake,” says B.C NDP health critic Judy Darcy. “When we really believe that we need an ongoing, independent drug watchdog, and that their funding ought to be increased in order to play that role.”

In a process called ‘budget estimates,’ each time a new budget is adopted by a respective ministry, the spokesperson for the opposition gets to question the minister. “I get to question the minister for anywhere from four to six days,” Darcy says, excitedly. “And believe me, the TI is an issue that we have pursued over and over and over again, and I will be again.”

The B.C. Ministry of Health did not respond to a request for comment.

2 Pages of Health Records

Completed ATIP Request

 

Arbutus Corridor FOI

BC FOI – Intake

FOI BC Request BC FOI – Original Request

Federal Request – Parks Canada

B.C.: Minimum prices of alcohol expected to stop increase in drinking

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The B.C. government expect to offset an increase in drinking caused by the implementation of the 2013 liquor policy review by introducing minimum prices starting May, 1.

The review called for more convenience and accessibility of alcohol. The government will allow the sale of alcohol in grocery stores and allow people to order alcohol from home. There is also the introduction of more happy hours and more wine tasting venues.

To counterbalance the effects of these recommendations, B.C. government will introduce minimum price in order to ensure that liquor with very low wholesale costs is not sold at prices that may encourage the abuse or overconsumption of alcohol.

“The impact of availability [of alcohol] on the population health should be offset by the implementation of recommended and accepted pricing measures,” according to a briefing note from the ministry of health obtained through access to information request.

From May 1, bars or restaurants will not be allowed to sell a 1 oz. of spirit, 5 oz. a glass of wine or 12 oz. sleeve of beer under three dollars.

Nicole Beneteau, Public Affairs Officer at the B.C. Ministry of Health, said the three dollars minimum price is consistent with levels recommended by health advocates and it is a middle ground between what alcohol industry groups recommended during the consultations on this change.

“As government modernizes liquor laws in B.C., it aims for a balance between increasing convenience and continuing to protect health and safety,” she said.

The government is also considering programs to help young people make informed choices about drinking. Alcohol Sense is a comprehensive suite of online resources aimed at providing parents with tools to guide and educate their children to make healthy decisions about alcohol through critical thinking and conversation.

There is also Healthy Minds/Healthy Campuses; a program that connects B.C.’s post-secondary campuses, with the goals of collaboratively promoting good mental health, reducing harmful substance use and improving supports for those who experience problems.

Despite these initiatives, some health advocates worry that when alcohol becomes more physically available; there is a high risk of over consumption.

Scott Macdonald, Assistant Director for Centre for Addictions Research at the University of  Victoria, said that from the last 15 years when B.C. government started to grant wholesale licences to private businesses and extending hours of operations, there was an increase in drinking alcohol.

B.C. Alcohol and other Drugs Project reported 188,000 hospital admissions due to alcohol between 2002 and 2011. Of these admissions, approximately 12,000 were children and teens.

“Price is the most important factor in terms of drinking. But we also know that other forms of accessibility to alcohol is related to increased drinking overall,” Macdonald said.

Alcohol generates about $ 1 billion in annual revenue for the B.C. government but its use also puts a significant burden on society and the economy through direct costs associated with the healthcare and criminal justice systems, according to the Ministry of Justice.

The research commissioned by the Ministry of Health showed that in 2002 the costs of alcohol-related harms exceeded the direct revenue by $ 65 million.

Gerald Thomas, director of alcohol policy at the ministry of health, said the province face the challenge of fulfilling two conflicts mandates.

“There is a conflict of interest between maintaining income from alcohol sale and at the same time having to address the public health and safety concerns,” he said. “It’s not a very strong policy but at least, we have it now.”

__________________________________________

List of documents associated with this assignment:

Briefing note to the minister of health regarding implementation of BC Liquor Review Policy
This is a briefing note to the minister of health indicating expected harms by the increased availability of alcohol recommended by the 2013 liquor policy review; and measures to offset them. Paragraph 5 on page 2 served as a starting point for my story. Without this document, I wouldn’t know how the BC government will deal with an increase in drinking caused by the easy accessibility of alcohol.

BC liquor policy review implementation table
This document retrieved from the website of the Ministry of Justice shows the progress in implementing the recommendations of the liquor policy review. Recommendation 17 assured me that I am not working on an old issue. Setting the minimum price is not yet finished.

Access to Information Request Ottawa
This ATI request was sent to the City of Ottawa by mail on March 14, 2016. I haven’t heard from them since then.

Access to Information Request Ontario
This ATI request was submitted to the ONTARIO Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing on March 14, 2016. The request was sent by mail and I haven’t heard from them since then.

Message confirming reception of ATI request to the federal level
This is a computer generated message I received after submitting my online request to the department of Employment and Social Development Canada asking for briefing notes to Minister Duclos, from November 04, 2015 to the present, regarding the implementation of the guaranteed income for all proposed by the Liberal Party during the campaign.

Correspondence regarding ATI request to the federal level
Three days after submitting my request to the Employment and Social Development Canada asking for briefing notes to Minister Duclos regarding the implementation of the guaranteed income policy, I received an email asking for clarification of my request. I responded immediately and I am still waiting to hear from them.

Message confirming reception of ATI request to the federal level (information already disclosed)
Confirmation of the access to information request addressed to the department of Employment and Social Development Canada asking for a list of all briefing notes to Minister Duclos for November 2015. The similar request had been made before under the request number A-2015-00945. On March 18, I received a mail containing a list of briefing notes but without the content of those briefing notes. I called the phone number on the letter to ask for the content of the briefing notes but none answered. I left a voicemail.

 

 

Changes to hydro project approved despite ministry concerns

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By Gareth Madoc-Jones

British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office allowed changes to a controversial hydroelectric project despite warnings from B.C.s Ministry of Environment.

Concerns were raised after proponents for the Kokish River Hydroelectric Project applied to increase the amount of water diverted away from the Kokish River for its 45-MW operation. An EAO document obtained through a freedom of information request reveals EAOs Executive Director Doug Caul was aware of additional risk to fish and fish habitat, before he approved the changes.

The EAO is considered a “neutral agency” operating within B.C.s MOE. The EAOs executive director approves/denies amendments to environmental assessment certificates, but they can also defer decision making to the environment minister.

For the Kokish River Hydroelectric Project, the executive director didn’t defer despite MOE staff concerns.

MOE staff are members of a working group set up to provide feedback to the EAO on potential impacts (environmental, economic, social, heritage and health) associated with a proposed project.

Gwen Barlee, the national policy director for the Wilderness Committee, filed the FOI request. “I’d nearly call it a fake process that you have this sort of rubber stamping environmental assessment process,” says Barlee. “We have good people within the MOE, we have good scientists, we have good hydrologists, we have good biologists, but their voices are muted.”

The Kokish River is located 15 km east of Port McNeill on Vancouver Island, B.C. The hydroelectric project opened in September 2014 and is owned and operated by Kwagis Power, a partnership between the ‘Namgis First Nation and Brookfield Renewable Power Inc.

The hydroelectric power is generated by diverting water out of the Kokish River into a buried pipe for a nine-kilometre stretch adjacent to the waterway. The water eventually flows through turbines before reentering the river downstream.

Barlee says the Wilderness Committee has been “vehemently opposed” to this project that’s located on a river home to coho, chum, pink and sockeye salmon, as well as cutthroat, steelhead and rainbow trout.

On February 25, 2013, about a year and a half before the project’s construction was complete, Kwagis Power applied to have its maximum diversion flow rate increased from 23.3 m3/s to 25.0 m3/s between Oct. 16 and June 15. Maximum diversion flow rate is the maximum amount of water the project is allowed to divert away from the river.

Stephen Weijs, a University of British Columbia assistant professor in hydrotechnical engineering, says it’s difficult to know the impact the increase in maximum diversion flow rate has on the Kokish River. “That depends both on the size of the river, but also on the distribution of water throughout the year,” says Weijs. He adds, the increase in flow rate will allow the project to generate more electricity for part of the year.

In a written statement, the MOE says the EAO was satisfied the effects to fish and fish habitat would be minimal.

However, in the FOI document, Kwagis Power estimates its proposed changes would result in a 0.1 per cent loss of summer steelhead spawning habitat and a 0.3 per cent to 0.9 per cent loss of chinook salmon spawning habitat.

Kwagis Power is also responsible for monitoring and reporting the project’s impact on the environment to the MOE. The MOE says so far there have not been any reports of negative impacts to fish and fish habitat due to this project.

Regardless of the reports, the Wilderness Committee isn’t happy with the way projects have been approved in B.C. “You see time and time and time and time again, the government’s own experts, when they’re in the MOE, are routinely ignored,” says Barlee.

Relevant pages

Response_Package_MOE-2015-51968-p51

Response_Package_MOE-2015-51968-p55

Response_Package_MOE-2015-51968-p57

Response_Package_MOE-2015-51968-p58

Response_Package_MOE-2015-51968-p59

Response_Package_MOE-2015-51968-p60

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Plans to create a water institute never realized by B.C. government

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Plans to create a water institute in B.C. were presented to the Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation in 2014 according to a briefing note obtained through a Freedom of Information Request, but the proposal was later abandoned because the province felt that a new piece of legislation would produce similar results.

According to the briefing note, discussions surrounding the creation of a provincial water institute came forward after a dam breach occurred near Williams Lake, B.C. on Aug. 4, 2014, allowing 4.5 million cubic metres of slurry and other waste products into Polley Lake.

The spill created significant environmental damage to the area and polluted the drinking water used by the Williams Lake and Soda Creek First Nations.  As a result of the Mount Polley dam breach, the briefing note revealed that many First Nations communities in the area had lost faith in the government’s ability to maintain sufficient water quality levels.


According to the briefing note, the proposed water institute would directly involve First Nations groups in research and water monitoring processes, and would allow indigenous groups to have a say in how their water supplies are controlled.


According to Lisa Leslie – the communication director for the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation in B.C., the Ministry was involved in discussions surrounding the proposed water institute. However, the government decided to not follow through with the institute because they were in the process of finalizing the Water Sustainability Act ­– legislation which Leslie said promotes very similar goals.

Initially implemented in 2014 and then revised in 2016, the Water Sustainability Act is an overarching piece of legislation that deals with a variety of water-based issues such as licensing, groundwater protection and sustainability.

For some groups such as the Council of Canadians, the Water Sustainability Act does bring improvements to water management in B.C. such as new legislation which would regulate groundwater, but it fails to fully recognize indigenous title rights according to a report released by the group on Feb. 10, 2016.

Section 5 of the Water Sustainability Act for example, states that the Crown has ownership over B.C. water but makes no reference to bodies of water owned by First Nations groups. According to the report, without proper recognition of indigenous title land claims, the province is unable to fulfill its duties to First Nations communities.

To remedy this, the Council of Canadians wants the B.C. government to have a proper consultation with First Nations representatives in order to include sections in the Water Sustainability Act which specifically include and refer to indigenous water claims.

According to Leslie, the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation has had “extensive consultation” with First Nations groups in order to finalize the Water Sustainability Act. Leslie said the B.C. government made an open call for feedback on water management from a variety of academic and indigenous groups, and has tried to make the process transparent by posting the recommendation letters on their website.

Leslie notes that the government was very responsive to the Mount Polley disaster, and has worked to reduce the environmental implications of the slurry spillage as much as possible.

As mentioned in the briefing note, changes to B.C.’s current water management system can be difficult and time consuming because the jurisdiciton of water falls under a variety of ministries. Although the creation of a water institute could bring forward positive change for First Nations communities, the government would need approval from all ministries involved with water before they could implement this new initiative.

In the concluding section of the briefing note, the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation notes that a water institute is a :potential approach to address First Nations’ and the general population’s concerns” in terms of water quality and management, but believes that other ministries involved in water ” may take the approach that timely implementation and resourcing of the [Water Sustainability Act] will demonstrate the government ongoing commitment  to water management.”

Full Briefing Note:

ATIP Briefing Note

Access to Information Requests:

Federal Government ATIP Request

– Still waiting for Health Canada to respond to my request.

Newfoundland ATIP Request

– Spoke to an ATIPP representative on the phone on two occasions: the first time to clarify what my request was, and the second time to widen the scope of my request in order to access information that was highly relevant to the information I was trying to obtain.

Ottawa ATIP Request

– Still waiting on the City of Ottawa to respond to my request.

Newfoundland Previous ATIP Request

– Received a copy of the previously-released ATIP on March 2, 2016.

ATIP Questions