'We have no back road': Panic in tiny Kootenay towns as B.C. ferry strike escalates

Kokanee Glacier, right, is pictured shrouded by low cloud above Kootenay Lake north of Nelson, B.C., on Monday, Jan. 17, 2011. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

A sense of panic is growing in tiny southeast British Columbia communities around Kootenay Lake over fears they will be cut off from their neighbours and jobs by an escalating ferry service labour dispute, says a local businesswoman.

The West Kootenay communities of Harrop, Procter and Glade could see their cable ferry service reduced after a B.C. Labour Relations Board ruling permitted expansion of a strike that has already limited sailings on the major Kootenay Lake routes.

For some residents, the only alternative to the cable ferry routes that run a few hundred metres across the narrow lake is an hours-long drive, while other residents fear being cut off completely.

"Everybody's panicked here," said Melinda Foot, co-owner of the Procter General Store.

"It's a five-minute crossing that takes us over to all the rest of our communities, Nelson, Balfour," she said Monday. "The ferry we're taking here is our only exit. We have no back road. We have no logging road. We have nothing over here beyond this tiny little convenience store."

B.C. General Employees' Union workers have been on strike since Nov. 3, seeking wage increases, scheduling adjustments and extended benefits for auxiliary workers from employer Western Pacific Marine.

The labour board on Friday granted the union approval to reduce service of the Harrop-Procter ferry to eight round trips daily and 16 round trips for the Glade ferry, with the decision effective Monday.

The Harrop ferry usually runs on a 24-hour on-demand schedule, while the Glade ferry's regular schedule is 5 a.m. to 2:20 a.m.

Western Pacific Marine says on its website that the ferries will run as usual until Jan. 2. A new schedule for the rest of January "and onwards" will be posted late Tuesday, it says.

"They keep telling us there will be a schedule of eight crossings but they won't tell us what that schedule is," Foot said. "People are in fear of losing their jobs. They're trying to put boats in the water and cross our water in the dark, in January."

About 600 people live in the Harrop-Procter area and about 300 people live in Glade, the labour board ruling said.

The decision to grant the union's application to "adjust" service levels and amend an essential service order for the cable ferries serving Harrop, Procter and Glade will have an impact on residents, but still maintains protection of community health and welfare, said labour board associate chair Andres Barker in the 15-page ruling.

"The amendments to the ESO contained in this decision will no doubt have some effect on the residents who rely on the ferry, and that may include some economic impacts and the inconvenience of planning set departure and arrival times like a typical ferry service despite previously being able to come and go at will," he said.

"However, I am satisfied that, based on the evidence currently before me, the levels established are those necessary or essential to prevent immediate and serious danger to the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of British Columbia."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2024.