Union of BC Indian Chiefs wants details on Highway of Tears Transportation Action Plan

This week, the provincial government announced it will spend $5 million on the Highway 16 Transportation Action Plan to bring public transit to the Highway of Tears. In addition to safety improvements, the government plans to spend $800,000 per year over three years to provide bus service along the highway.

While many were enthusiastic about the announcement, not everyone is thrilled. The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is asking the provincial government to provide details and a clear timeline for the project.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip says one of UBCIC’s main concerns is that the $800,000 isn’t enough to support sufficient transit for the area in the long term.

“Public transit service needs to be properly established with proper consultation with First Nations communities but most importantly it has to be planned and organized in a way that it will be sustainable in the long term. This has been an issue that’s been pressed for by First Nations communities and organizations for a decade. It would have been nice, over that period of time, to have seen the province incorporate this into the budget.”

Stewart says the fact that the funding is only scheduled for 3 years is also disappointing.

It’s been 10 years since the Highway of Tears symposium, which brought forward the desperate need for public transportation along Highway 16. Stewart says he finds it odd that the province is just getting around to announcing funding now.

“I find it particularly interesting that 10 years after, on the eve of an election, the provincial government makes a promise, a qualified promise, that they will finally engage this issue. We do have an MOU with the province vis a vis violence against women. You would have thought it would have been brought forward in that forum but of course it wasn’t. It was yet another unilateral announcement on the part of the provincial government.”

While the province has touted a high level of consultation with affected First Nations groups – five of 12 participants in the project’s advisory panel represent First nations – Stewart says there should have been more and fuller consultation efforts.