Transcript of the most recent Island Corridor Foundation CFAX 1070 News interview with Ryan Price and Daniel Arbour

Ryan: It's a chance to check in with the Island Corridor Foundation who manage the rail lines up and down Vancouver Island as they have announced the appointment of a new CEO. Here to talk about it is the co-chair of the Island Corridor Foundation and the board that runs it, he's also a director of the Comox Valley Regional District, Daniel Arbour is our guest. Hello, sir. How are you doing?

Daniel: Very well, thank you. Nice to join you.

Ryan: Yeah, thank you for taking some time out. I’m always curious to just sort of see where things are at with the rail lines and all of the dreams we have for them. But the news we have heard this week is that there's a new CEO who's been appointed. He hasn't officially started yet, but he is Thomas Bevan. What can you tell me about Thomas Bevan?

Daniel: We're super excited to have Thomas join the organization, as you as most people know, we've had Larry Stevenson for the last six years and he's done a pretty good job of advancing the project. Thomas is new to the scene at the ICF and he has a background, a really interesting background for us, a background at B.C. housing and land development, and land appraisals and really working with communities to build partnerships around projects. So really neat set of experience and we're excited that he is joining us.

Ryan: And it's not directly train experience or railway experience, but I guess that's not necessarily a critical part, or is that something he's missing?

Daniel: I don't know, you always look at what you need at the time and right now we've done with the province over the last six years a number of studies around rail.

The bigger question is, as people may know, is really around what's going to happen whether we have a shared vision around that. The province funded all 14 First Nations and Regional Districts up and down the island to really assess the opportunities around the corridor. So we're spending a year doing that, and it may lead to the return of rail. The minister has made some optimistic comments around that, but there's also some really important questions around the legacy for First Nations, what they would like to see moving forward. So we think having the profiled CEO that can make that link between land, rail, and the corridor is really important rather than strict rail experience.

Ryan: So you think he's got he's got the tools you need for right now is what you're saying?

Daniel: Absolutely. The thing is, if rail was to return, I think we won't have a problem finding people to us to fill those spots. Even at the ministry there's a lot of experience around that. But right now to carry on the conversations we need to have with communities and what the constraints, what the opportunities are, I think Thomas is going to be a perfect suit for that role.

Ryan: Well, let's talk a bit more about that. That stage you're in now and the last few times I've checked in on what's happening with the old E&N rail tracks, the status has just been the ongoing First Nations consultation. Right? Like everything's kind of put on hold at the moment and we're dealing with that component. Is that still the case?

Daniel: I wouldn't say put on hold. It's pretty dynamic. Last year, about a year ago, the land was returned to the Snaw-Naw-As First Nation in Nanoose Bay, and we're learning a lot through that process, and that opportunity is being made available to other First Nations who would like to see reversion of the lands that cross their reserves. There really important conversations. And it's also what I would say is, as we work towards a shared vision, what we aren’t sure of is whether that vision will be funded ultimately as well by the province and the federal government. Because it's, I think, as we're having those conversations, you know, some people would say, okay, well we might like a trail or we might like housing or we might like nothing at all. And so all these things are being brought forward and analyzed. I'm really simplifying it here. But all the nations, all other regional districts are doing that work of saying, you know, what's the best use in our region for that track? And does it make sense to keep collaborating around it? And I think it will make sense if we start getting some signals from the province and feds that they will fund the vision or the return of rail or whatever. Whatever it is that we land on in about eight months from now.

Ryan: I guess you've got to do those conversations with the First Nations, figure out what they want to do with the rail lines through their territory before those senior levels of government know what they'd be funding because you’ve got to figure out what that final rail line will look like depending on what they want.

Daniel: Yeah, exactly. It’s the chicken and egg game. Right now we're in the crux of it. We've done so much work looking at the history, looking at the encumbrances, and the opportunities. There are three working groups that meet every couple of months, and everybody's hired consultants, whether it be legal or technical consultants. There's a ton of work happening to really figure out the path for this corridor. I'm pretty hopeful. It's difficult work. It's work that's tied to the birth of British Columbia and some of the legacy from colonization. And so there's a lot that we're unpacking, but I think everybody's coming into this process with good faith and I'm glad the province decided to fund that piece of work before moving ahead with anything.

Ryan: Help me with a few hypotheticals, because still getting my head around what those possibilities are. So some of the First Nations along the tracks might decide, Look, we want this back, just give us the land back. But that doesn't necessarily mean the train lines get ripped out or anything? They might even continue to get used but just the ownership would change. Is that a possibility?

Daniel: Yeah, that's definitely one that's on the books. There's multiple examples. I think that that one is a very good one because that is one that we're hearing. Some of the nations would love to see the land back so they can claim full ownership, and then they can negotiate around what does it look like if it's train or, or other things, you know, that puts them back in the driver's seat so to speak around the ultimate use. So those conversations are definitely very active. And then there's the broader inter-regional conversation because obviously for the train you would kind of need everybody on board. You could still have some exceptions like when things that's been brought up is if some nations really don't want the train, maybe the province and the feds might say, “okay, maybe we are looking at going around the reserves” or something like that. We're not quite at that stage because we're still defining interests. All these scenarios are on the table.

Ryan: You say there's still eight months left in that process?

Daniel: Yep. I think a lot of us are hoping to conclude at the end of December and March, there's a lot of studies and work that is being done and then at that point, I think I can't send enough clear of a message that the province and feds need to show that they are interested in funding the result of all this work because otherwise it can discourage the participants if people feel that we're just talking, people can lose interest. That's not the case, but it would really help to know that we'll have strong federal and provincial partners to fund the solution, whether it's the return of rail and appropriate compensation for affected First Nations or whether it's other uses and remediation costs that could come with that because they're very significant as well if it was used for something else than rail.

Ryan: We're talking about the future of the Island Corridor Foundation, the Old E and N tracks that go all the way from Esquimalt up to Comox originally. Does that still count now that the Nanoose First Nation has its section of tracks back? Would that still be part of the scope?

Daniel: Absolutely, and even to Port Alberni, the working groups, we've divided them, two for the South Island, and one to Parksville and then north of Parksville. And I can see that there's a lot of enthusiasm in the Alberni Valley around both for First Nation and for the Regional District there around trying to get some rail back. In fact, they are working a little section to revive right now, and that's leading to really interesting collaborative work between the First Nations there. In our area it does go all the way up to Courtney and initially, as I've often talked about, the train was supposed to go to Campbell River, that was the agreement 150 years ago. I would say if anyone wants to talk about that, we should as well. You know, what we had in the past does not need to be what we'll have in the future. This kind of blue-sky thinking is always good as well.

Ryan: We can always talk more about this, I love the topic, but we'll have to leave it there for time. We're talking to Daniel Arbour the co-chair of the Island Corridor Foundation.

Over 17,100 people have signed up to support he final vision, support it too! https://chng.it/HTPJ25CqPr

All Aboard!

Restore Island Rail

https://restoreislandrail.com

#reconcilation #railway #transit #support #cycling #route #malahat #vancouverisland #britishcolumbia #canada #connection #transportation #disabled #multimodal #cyclists #alternate #railways #support #healthy #communities #climateaction #climate #emergency #health #travel #community #culture