NEWS

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More than 40 people attended the Community Meeting held October 19th to learn more about Metro Vancouver's proposed barge terminal sites on the Fraser River.  Individuals from Southlands, West Southlands, Dunbar and Musqueam lands were shown Metro's proposals to site a barge terminal in proximity to their communities which will operate for a minimum of 13 hours a day, 5 days a week.  Concerns about the health impacts of air quality and chronic loud noise were discussed with supporting medical studies. River safety was also deemed to be a considerable concern based on environmental and ecological impacts from prior tug incidents on the Fraser River.  Community members were concerned about their lack of access to decision makers and noted the multi-jurisdicational Metro Vancouver entity's structure meant that Vancouver had only one voice (Councilor Sarah Kirby-Yung ClrKirby-Yung@Vancouver.ca) on the Liquid Waste Committee. 

Meeting organizers noted that letters and emails to politicians, the Ministry of the Environment and Metro Vancouver had been sent.  The most recent letter to Metro by organizers following the October 5th Open House requested a response not later than October 23, 2023.  Meeting organizers were appreciative of the significant response from the evening and offers of time and energy into advocacy work going forward. 

Metro Vancouver held a poster board session at Dunbar Community Centre on October 5th.  The posters included three options for barge terminal sites and a verbal response to monitoring air quality changes resulting from the proposed barge placement near residential homes, parks and trails and environmentally sensitive parkland. More than 80 people from the impacted communities of Southlands, West Southlands, Dunbar and Kerrisdale attended the meeting. 

Amongst the reported feedback:

1. Participants reported being disappointed by a lack of facts related to the expected noise, air quality and health impacts of a proposed barge terminal in proximity to residential homes and public trails and parkland;
2. They noted the design of the meeting inhibited formal questions or public responses by Metro. Questions were placed on post-it notes and flip charts for future reference and reporting. 
3. There were many observations about the photo images which had removed, replaced, or eliminated Deering Island and its residential homes from the planning images.
4. Participants were angry that decision makers were not in the room and that information to the political decision makers was being translated through post-it notes. 
5. Residents of Southlands noted that they had never been formally engaged by Metro Vancouver about the placement of barge terminals in proximity to their livestock and homes, and only learned about it through the efforts of a small group of concerned citizens.

Thank you for attending the session.  We plan to ensure that there are future meetings with decision makers. Please check back here for details.