Aerial photo of Smithers mill surrounded by piles of logs

Promises of cleaner air up in smoke

Apr 28, 2023
Calls for BC environment minister to suspend pellet mill permit Every year, the air in the Bulkley Valley community of Smithers becomes hazardous to human health as thousands of fires known as slash burns are deliberately set at logging sites. The contaminated air can stay trapped in the valley’s airshed for extended periods as the… View Article

Waning transparency in Canada: Is access to information broken?

Apr 27, 2023
At the federal, provincial and even the local level, there was a time when governments in Canada seemed to think transparency about their operations was a pretty good idea. Not anymore. At the federal level, the issue of transparency through access to information has even been sent to the United Nations. The Nova Scotia-based Centre… View Article
Two workers painting an exterior wall of a building, hanging with harnesses.

New survey data shines light on the extent and impacts of precarious employment in BC

Apr 13, 2023
The rise of the “gig economy” and on-demand work through online platforms like Uber and Skip the Dishes has ignited public debate about precarious work and what makes a “good job.”  We all know that precarious work existed long before Uber and is not limited to the gig economy. But government efforts to develop an… View Article

The extra-long logging haul

Apr 12, 2023
As forests shrink, drivers work 16-hour days to deliver single loads of logs to BC sawmills When Eugene Wilson started driving a logging truck 24 years ago, he worked out of the Bulkley valley community of Houston three hours west of Prince George. He recalls the trips as if they were yesterday. He’d begin the… View Article