Final report - Integrated Land Management Bureau

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Purpose of Report
Transportation Assessment of the North and Central Coast of BC
The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the existing
transportation system of the Central and North Coast, identify and analyze the
key issues, and make recommendations about what the next steps should be in
improving the regional transportation system and readying it for future use. It
is our hope that it can be a useful tool in galvanizing Central and North Coast
collaboration on transportation matters, and in enlisting greater provincial and
federal government support in this regard.
Context
For the purposes of this assignment, we have included the Central and North
Coast LRMP Plan area, Kitimat and Kitamaat Village, as well as Port Hardy,
Kingcome and Health Bay in our definition of the transportation study area.
The latter communities have been included because of their strong connection
to the transportation systems on the Central and North Coast.
The Central and North Coast LRMP Plan area is an immense area, covering 6.5
million hectares; much of it is remote, sparsely populated and has limited
access. The LRMP Plan area’s basic economy is largely dependent on forestry,
fishing and aquaculture (together these generated 16% of jobs in 2006),
however the public and service sectors now both outstrip the resource sector in
job creation. In 2006, the public sector generated approximately one third of
all employment in the LRMP Plan area, while accommodation and retail
accounted for another 19%.
The overall population of the LRMP Plan area was 17,300 in 2006 (comprising
0.4% of BC’s total population). Both population and employment have declined
in the past decade with the waning fortunes of the forest product and fishery
industries. 80% of the Plan area’s population is concentrated in Prince Rupert,
with the rest spread in a dozen or more small communities. Aboriginals
comprise 64% and 40% respectively of the Central and North Coast population
but have significantly lower incomes and higher unemployment than the nonaboriginal
population.
Despite the decline in resource-based employment, new major investments in
Prince Rupert such as the Fairview terminal, and the growth of aquaculture,
wilderness tourism and community-owned forestry enterprises hold out new
hope for renewed growth and self-sufficiency for the communities of the LRMP
Plan area. But aging infrastructure, uncertainty about the future of the
Northern ferry service, and costly or infrequent transportation connections are
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