For over three decades, coastal communities in British Columbia have been able to share their thoughts with BC Ferries via local advisory committees. The corporation recently announced, however, that its engagement model will be overhauled in the coming months to include not just in-person options, but online as well.While CEO Nicolas Jimenez and other executives have touted the move as a step towards a more accessible system, not everyone is as optimistic that it will result in residents' concerns being heard by those with the power to address them.There are currently 13 Ferry Advisory Committees, representing all the regions that rely on such services. They are each led by a chair, and made up of volunteer members from communities and First Nations within those regions.Among those calling for the inclusion of a digital option was Gibsons Mayor Silas White, who represents his town on the Southern Sunshine Coast committee."Online engagement is a necessary platform and expectation that all public services need to be continuously utilizing and enhancing, regardless of how we’re conducting in-person engagement," he told the Western Standard. "It definitely should not be regarded as either/or, and I'm encouraged by Jimenez's clarifications that BC Ferries agrees.".At a Greater Vancouver Board of Trade event earlier this month, Jimenez told the Western Standard that the in-person nature of the existing model was integral to any upcoming plans, but that, "we also need to be talking to people where it's easy for them to talk to us, and one way we can do that is add to the in-person with virtual forms of engagement."White admitted that the current system was not producing the desired results, but maintained that this was because BC Ferries had repeatedly failed to address their concerns."From my perspective as a FAC member and local government representative, FACs have been stalled," he lamented. "These focus groups appointed by BC Ferries are endlessly documenting and re-articulating the same problems year after year, and BC Ferries has been inefficiently devoting all their engagement into re-identifying problems at the expense of implementing solutions."White described the current model as "frustrating the public, including the FAC members themselves," arguing it had facilitated an environment wherein "BC Ferries' public engagement is stagnating into an unhealthy cesspool of exasperation and anger.""This atmosphere unquestionably needs to be cleaned up," he added, "but the essential ingredient to do so will be for BC Ferries to start bringing solutions to our communities."White's concerns regarding frustration and inefficiency were shared by North & Central Coast Committee Chair Evan Putterill, though he was sceptical that a new model would solve the underlying issue of, as he put it, BC Ferries' refusal to "tackle the hard issues.""We're all volunteers, and we were all ready to make the existing process work," Putterill told the Western Standard, noting that they had been given until December 9 to accept BC Ferries' invitation to help design the new model. He claimed that the decision "has got nothing to do with making it more representative or equitable, or anything like that," noting that "the committees are incredibly representative, and any issues with equity or or or inclusion are things that could either be done through small tweaks in the FAC process or by doing things in addition to the FAC process."Putterill argued that BC Ferries' push for online engagement was "fancy talk for 'they don't want to have public meetings in communities'."When asked about a survey conducted by BC Ferries that showed 80% of respondents wanted "more digital engagement options," Putterill pointed out that the "Well, of course," he said. "People who reply to online surveys do things online. If they would have gone out to a community meetings in very dependent communities and asked them, 'Hey, do you people that came out to this meeting prefer online engagement or in-person, the people at the meetings would say, in-person."He went on to claim that BC Ferries has become "frustrated with committees that ask them questions that they don't have the answers to," arguing that, "a lot of the times they don't have the answers to the questions, because most of the BC Ferries executive is new and have no experience in the industry."Also concerned with the current executive team's abilities was fellow North & Central Coast Committee member and Prince Rupert City Councillor Barry Cunningham."He comes from ICBC," he said of Jimenez. "Well, you know, ICBC is known for not wanting to public engagement. I wonder if this is just a new direction they're going to be taking."Cunningham called the decision to revamp the community engagement process a "farce," directing his ire at the idea of a shift online."I'm in my mid 70s," he said. "Online, to me, is just a way to ignore things. I'm not as the new generation where everything's done by computers and phones and iPads. I like, I like to be in a room and look a person in the face."He predicted that many people in smaller communities would feel invisible behind a screen and doubtful that BC Ferries would actually hear their concerns, arguing that when they share their thoughts with local politicians, there's a greater chance someone will listen and take action."We seem to be living in a society now that wants to get away from personal engagement," Cunningham said, "and I think with BC Ferries, they need it. It's very important for the smaller communities. It's a lifeline."The new model is set to be unveiled next year.
