Surveying the Nathan E. Stewart spill
On Friday, I went to Bella Bella at the invitation of the Heiltsuk First Nation to survey the spill response after the Nathan E. Stewart hit the rocks and sank.
The Heiltsuk have lived around Bella Bella for millennia. They know that years from now they will still be there living with the consequences of this disaster.
I was there nine days after the tug sank. There was a strong smell of diesel and you could see its sheen on the water. It was a good day on the water but there were breakers all around the tug.
It may be called a small spill but if you live on the Central coast this is catastrophic.
When the tug sank it took 22 hours for equipment to arrive because there is no permanent spill response capacity on the central coast. The response teams who arrived from elsewhere don't have local knowledge and an understanding of the waters of the central coast. So that means local knowledge holders have been doing triple-duty throughout the disaster response.
The spill still has not been contained.
The diesel is being pushed inshore by the tides and the breakers onto the clam beds that are the Heiltsuk's winter food basket. They are doing their level best to protect it.
Everybody in Bella Bella has banded together to respond to this crisis. It's what communities do. They have the will and the local knowledge to respond but need support. That's why we have senior levels of government.
Government should be there to assist communities, by making sure capacity is there before the crisis, not after the crisis.
Right now the Heiltsuk can use all the help they can get. Please consider chipping in to their call for donations to assess the impact of the spill: