Minimum wage couldn't land you a 1-bedroom unit years ago. Now, it's even worse. Here's why

Story by Vanessa Balintec • CBC - Tuesday, July 19,2023


Toronto resident Sylvana Orellana, 23, says she's struggling to pay rent, provide for herself and her son and cover daily expenses while earning minimum wage, even with support from friends and family. A report released Tuesday by an Ottawa think-tank found that while minimum wages have increased since 2018, they aren't rising as fast as rental rates.

© Darek Zdzienicki/CBC

Toronto resident Sylvana Orellana, who earns minimum wage, says paying for her and her two-year-old son's expenses often means sacrificing some bills in order to pay others.

That's because her rent — just over $1,700 per month — takes up a significant amount of her income, and she says she routinely relies on family and friends to help.

"It's sad to say, but at this point I don't even look at the numbers or how much they're paying me because … it's not going to cover my bills," said Orellana, 23. "I almost ended up in the hospital because of all of this stress."

A new report released Tuesday by Ottawa think-tank Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives suggests Orellana isn't alone.

Economists David Macdonald and Ricardo Tranjan, the report's authors, found that while minimum wages rose compared to the 2018 data in the centre's last report, they aren't rising as fast as rental rates.

Macdonald says this means many workers are spending too much on rent, while Tranjan says the high cost of rent can ultimately mean that people making minimum wage are at risk of becoming homeless.

"Minimum wages are supposed to improve the conditions of folks that are or near the poverty line," said Macdonald. "But in fact those improvements in minimum wage have largely gone to paying landlords higher rent."

"I'm concerned about minimum wage workers and the kinds of very risky situations they must be putting themselves through," said Tranjan.

Their analysis, which covered 776 neighbourhoods in more than three dozen of the country's largest cities, calculated how much people have to make in a 40-hour work week in order to pay no more than 30 per cent of their income on housing, something they call the "rental wage."

Paying any more than that makes housing "unaffordable" according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

The researchers attributed the gap between minimum wage and what's needed to afford rentals to three main factors: wage suppression policies, such as using temporary foreign workers as a way to fill vacancies instead of raising wages to attract domestic workers; a low supply of rent-controlled housing; and poor regulation of the housing market that prioritizes "profit-making over housing security."

Macdonald says things are rapidly getting worse due to rising interest rates and the high cost of construction, while Tranjan pointed to provincial legislation exacerbating market conditions, including Ontario's move to remove rent control for new units and Quebec's attempt to end lease transfers.

Rent outstripping minimum wages across Canada

The co-authors say a lack of affordable housing isn't just a problem in huge urban centres. Using provincial and federal data from 2022, they found the rental wage for a one-bedroom unit is higher than the minimum wage in most major cities across the country.

Related video: Rents dwarf minimum wage in every Canadian province (Global News)

Using the rental calculation, the report also found that minimum wage workers could only afford one-bedroom units in three cities, all in Quebec. And even there, where rents are comparatively more affordable than in other parts of the country, researchers say the trend is "worrisome" as workers still need to earn more than minimum wage to be able to rent an affordable unit.

Meanwhile, in Toronto and Vancouver, the report suggests that even two full-time minimum wage workers can't afford a one-bedroom unit without spending more than 30 per cent of their income, let alone a two-bedroom unit. In B.C., the rental wage for a two-bedroom unit is more than twice as much as the minimum wage, with Ontario's just under double the minimum wage.

The report did not look extensively at those on social assistance and disability supports, but those subsidies were found to be even less than provincial minimum wages. Tranjan says if they had taken a closer look, the results would have been even more bleak.

"We don't have enough social housing in the country for all the folks who are presently receiving social assistance, and a large and increasing share of social assistance recipients rely on the private rental market for housing," he said.

"They're competing with minimum wage workers and with everyone else."

Rent unaffordable in most Canadian cities for minimum-wage workers, new study says (CBC)

Raising wages

Historically, minimum wages were set by governments to protect non-unionized workers, reduce the number of low-paying jobs and alleviate poverty, among a host of other potential benefits, according to the federal government.

But today, an important part of what determines wages is the market, said Roslyn Kunin, the president of an economic consulting firm in Vancouver, B.C. She says wages are primarily determined by the productivity and skills of workers, while rents are based on supply and demand of housing units.

"There has to be someone willing to work at that wage and there has to be someone who can afford to pay that wage for that kind of work," said Kunin.

Tranjan and Macdonald, cross-referencing federal and provincial data from 2021, estimate about 828,000 people across the country were earning a minimum wage salary or less. Meanwhile, about 1.1 million Canadians belonged to households where two or more people earned the equivalent of two full-time minimum wage jobs or less.

According to Kunin, raising wages to match rental rates would not only cause the cost of common goods to increase, but it would likely lead to the disappearance of many jobs and businesses altogether.

"All of us would suffer from the loss of available goods and services."

Minimum wage workers losing ground with rent affordability (CITY TV)

Short and long-term solutions

"For individuals, the best thing to do is to get as much education, experience, training as possible so you can work for a wage that's higher," said Kunin, adding that obtaining additional education is "easier than it has been" due to the rise of online learning.

But Brenda Spotton Visano, a public policy and economics professor at York University in Toronto, says these workers are often stuck in a "catch-22" situation, since many don't have the time or money to upgrade their skills that might be required for higher-paying jobs.

She says it may be worthwhile to explore more creative ways of setting the minimum wage, such as tying how much the lowest-paid workers get paid to how much profit a company makes or how much its CEO gets paid, or indexing the minimum wage to the cost of living calculated for a given community.

"But in the short-term, increasing the minimum wage is going to have to be our short-term solution to address the people who are now suffering," said Visano.

The researchers say governments should focus on financing, building and acquiring purpose-built and non-market housing, regulating the rental market with rent controls and banishing the use of above-guideline rent increases.

"It's not to say we shouldn't be pushing for higher minimum wages, but the real problem here is a lack of rental, affordable housing," said Macdonald.

"This is not a situation that's going to improve. It's actually going to get much worse unless there's a big intervention."

Toronto rent prices require Ontario minimum wage to jump to $40 an hour: Report

David Macdonald, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the required minimum wage to live in Ontario. MacDonald says only 10 out of 37 cities in Canada, are where a one-bedroom is affordable for a minimum wage worker.

 

ONE YEAR AGO
Growing affordability concerns for Canadian renters

Apr 24, 2022 

From groceries to gas, Canadians are paying more for just about everything these days — and you can add rent to the list of expenses that just keep climbing.

In Quebec, tenant advocates warn that the rising cost of rent is making it harder for people to find an affordable place to live. During the 10th annual Tenants Day in Montreal Sunday afternoon, dozens of people gathered outside Verdun metro station to demand the provincial government put an end to the current housing crisis. Dan Spector reports.

Cancer kills firefighters but coverage varies by province. A new law seeks to change that

Story by Kate McKenna • CBC - Jul 16, 2023 

Fire knows no borders in Canada — but firefighters' workplace compensation for some types of cancer does. A new federal law could change that.

How provinces compensate firefighters for workplace-related cancers — the most deadly occupational risk they face — varies widely.

Provincial workplace safety boards link different cancers to firefighting, making it harder for some firefighters to access compensation.

"To have this inequality of coverage for firefighters when they get diagnosed with those illnesses is a real disservice to those who serve the community," said Neil McMillan, director of science and research at the Occupational Health, Safety and Medicine Division of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF).


Neil McMillan, director of science and research for the Occupational Health, Safety and Medicine Division of the IAFF, said cancer is the greatest occupational threat faced by firefighters. (Jean-François Benoit )© Provided by cbc.ca

Earlier this year, MPs and senators passed a private member's bill — championed by Liberal member of Parliament Sherry Romanado — that seeks to standardize that compensation.

It's designed to create a national framework for the prevention and treatment of cancers within a year.

"We're delighted that it made its way through the House and the Senate unanimously in support and became law," said Romanado.

"Strangers come to me in tears ... saying, 'You're going to save lives.' It's been really overwhelming."

The law, formerly known as Bill C-224, will see provinces and the federal government share research about occupational cancers for firefighters, with the goal of establishing greater consistency in coverage across the country.

Romanado, whose spouse and father served as firefighters, said it felt like fate when she was chosen to present a private member's bill shortly after a constituent approached her about this issue.

Jean-François Couture was 44 years old, with two school-aged children, when he was diagnosed in 2017 with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer.

He had served as a firefighter with Longueuil, Que. for more than 20 years before his diagnosis.

While his form of cancer is covered by Quebec's workplace health and safety board, he knows that others aren't so lucky — which is why he reached out to Romanado about a legislative fix.

"I was thinking, what can I do to help other people?" he told CBC News.

Related video: Canada at risk of burning out its firefighters (cbc.ca)




Cover Media  USInternational Firefighters Join Forces to Fight Canadian Wildfires
1:30

cbc.caNo mandatory PPE for Canadian wildfire fighters, but some want change
2:17

Global NewsSecuring enough firefighting resources for B.C. wildfire season
3:18


After Couture contacted Romanado, she met with the International Association of Firefighters and the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs to discuss the problem.

"When I started looking into it, [I] realized that there really was a huge discrepancy across provinces," she said.

Change isn't guaranteed

The new law requires the establishment within a year of a new national framework for the prevention and treatment of cancers among firefighters.

Authorities from across the country will convene to discuss coverage, share research and data across provinces and talk about best practices for preventing cancers.

But the law doesn't guarantee that provincial workplace safety authorities will end up covering more types of cancer for firefighters.

"At the end of the day, [the provinces] decide what to do, but this way at least we know that everyone gets the same information," said Romanado.

The two provinces currently covering the lowest number of presumptive cancers for firefighters — New Brunswick and Quebec — both say they're willing to expand their coverage.

In a media statement, New Brunswick's workers compensation board said it's open to expanding cancer coverage for firefighters.

"In fact, we are currently exploring this," said WorkSafeNB spokesperson Laragh Dooley in a media statement.

Quebec's workplace health and safety board, CNESST, said in a media statement that changes to Quebec law in 2021 made it easier to add new occupational diseases to its coverage.

CNESST said it has struck a committee to look at expanding the number of cancers affecting firefighters that it covers.

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) estimates that 95 per cent of line-of-duty deaths are attributable to cancer.

Burning materials release carcinogens. Firefighters are also exposed to chemical byproducts from combustion or debris.

Even diesel exhaust fumes and some foams used in firefighting can expose firefighters to cancer risks, said Paul Demers, director of the Occupational Cancer Research Centre based at Ontario Health in Toronto.

"There's really been a long-term concern about the risk of cancer in firefighters," he said. "In the last 10 or 15 years, there's been more and more studies that have been coming out and giving us a more consistent picture of which kinds of cancers ... we're seeing more in firefighters than the general population."

The growing number of wildfires in Canada presents a unique threat. Because wildfire work involves long deployments in remote areas, McMillan said, those firefighters don't have the same access to personal protective equipment they would if they were working on a burning building.

"Firefighters take an oath to put themselves in harm's way, and that involves being exposed to carcinogens and toxicants," he said.

Romanado said her hope for the bill is that it leads to better practices for cancer prevention. It also designates January as "Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month."

"I'm just looking forward to getting the work done so that we can be there and support those who are supporting us," she said.

Wildfire fighters work in heavy smoke, and in Canada have little protection

Story by Katie Nicholson • CBC - Jul 6, 2023

After 13 seasons of fighting smoky wildfires in Ontario and B.C., Ian Sachs said his body started to feel the wear and tear.

"You're often in smoke. Even on a small initial attack, you're usually breathing smoke," Sachs said.

"When you're 22 and doing it, you don't think about it. But once you get over 30 and you start feeling the burn, it creeps up on you. That I might have to think about this down the road."

Sachs said the biggest thing he began to notice about acute smoke exposure was how it lingered in his body, especially when he and other FireRangers were often camped in close proximity to the fires they were fighting.

"Waking up with a kind of smoke hangover in the morning," he said. "When that smoke settles, you're breathing it in all night and you'll wake up with that wheeze and that headache."

Sachs said outside of COVID, he was never offered any kind of respiratory protection. But, he's not sure there were any masks that would have worked well or held a tight seal in wildfire conditions.

"You're in the forest. You're taking branches to the face. You're wet. You're sweaty. You're hot. And you're out there doing 16-hour days and then you wear something when you're sleeping in your tent at night? Probably not. It's just I don't know if they can really design something for wildland fire."



A recruit works to contain and put out a fire near Merritt, B.C., during a training exercise. Though hard hats and other gear are standard for wildfire fighters, respiratory protection is not.

 (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Indeed, the environment of a wildland fire does make it harder to find a mask that works comfortably, and isn't too bulky to carry for long days and distances.

Still, with wildfire risk growing in Canada and firefighters facing elevated levels of cancer, some are unwilling to accept the status quo where there are no requirements for respiratory protection.

'We ... bury too many firefighters'

In Canada, more than 85 per cent of firefighter fatality claims are attributed to cancer, and research from numerous studies has shown firefighters are at high risk of a number of illnesses, including lung and breast cancer.

International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) says those same diseases are associated with wildfire smoke.

Neil McMillan, the director of science and research for the Occupational Health, Safety and Medicine Division of the IAFF, said his organization is concerned about the increased incidence, frequencies and severity of wildfires across Canada and the lack of speciality protective masks for those on the front lines.

"Unfortunately, there isn't a great standard presently for firefighters that have to work in dynamic fire situations, in wildland and wildland urban interface settings in other places across the globe,"' said McMillan.



Neil McMillan is the director of science and research of the International Association of Fire Fighters. The IAFF wants governments to invest in better personal protective equipment to protect wildfire fighters from smoke. 

(Dillon Hodgin/CBC)

"There's no real mandatory requirements for proper respiratory protection that filters out carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and these fine particulates that we know are associated to the diseases that are killing firefighters.

Related video: New warnings about indoor air quality from Canadian wildfires (FOX News)  Duration 5:27   View on Watch

"We unfortunately bury too many firefighters because of the diseases they acquire from exposures on the fire ground," McMillan said. "We can't put the genie back in the bottle when those exposures happen."

McMillan said the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) to lessen the exposure of wildfire fighters isn't a provincial problem but a national one, and the IAFF is encouraging all levels of government to invest in protecting firefighters.

"Currently, when we rely on bandanas and things of that nature to protect our respiratory tracts, we know that there's a lot of ground to cover and hopefully we'll see some products on the market shortly,"' he said.

Which masks can do the job?

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says to date it hasn't approved any respirators on the market which specifically protect against all potential inhalation hazards in the extremes of a wildland fire environment. But, in an email to CBC News, it said some NIOSH-approved masks have been recommended to help protect wildfire fighters from some smoke risks present in a fire.

NIOSH noted that the Department of Homeland Security issued a market survey in November 2022 which looked at available respiratory protection methods for wildland firefighters. It identified 26 air-purifying respirators (APR) and powered air-purifying respirators.


The Sundstrom half-mask SR100 is one of three being studied by the B.C. Wildfire Service and external researchers for possible use by its crews on the ground.

 (Craig Chivers/CBC)

One of those devices is also currently being explored for use by the B.C. Wildfire Service.

The Sundstrom SR100 is NIOSH-approved to offer both protection against particulates in smoke and a number of vapours and other gases. The design allows for people to stack multiple filters for different conditions.

Jonathan Parker, Sundstrom North American sales manger, says he's sold the respirator to over 40 fire departments across Canada and the U.S., and the mask has been used extensively by crews in California, Australia, the UK, Europe, and Indonesia. They even sell it as a part of a specialized wildland fire kit.

Parker says its wildland kit also contains a spark arrester which snaps on the outside and prevents the filters from catching on fire.

"They've been field tested pretty extensively at this point and they've passed every test that they've been put through," Parker said.



Jonathan Parker is the the North American sales manager for Sundstrom. He says the company has sold its wildland fire kit and respirator to roughly 40 fire departments in Canada and the U.S. and its been used by wildfire fighters around the world. (Roger Woodruff)© Provided by cbc.ca
Provinces testing possible masks

In addition to studying the Sundstrom mask, theWildfire Service says it has partnered with multiple external occupational health and safety groups to test the feasibility of using the Australian-made Fair Air Fire Mask and the RZ M2.5 Mesh Mask on the ground. It says the N95 is currently the only mask in regular use by its crews.

Alberta says it doesn't require wildland firefighters to wear respiratory protective equipment or masks but masks are recommended for discretionary, short-term use while crews are relocating. The province has been participating in a University of Alberta research study with B.C. since 2018 looking into potential health risks for firefighters. The study is also testing several different styles of masks from N-95s to ones used in military or police operations and evaluating them for comfort, durability, how easy they are to maintain, and fire resistance. It says the respiratory protective equipment currently used in Alberta requires fit-testing and medical screening for safe use.


Firefighters with the B.C. Wildfire Service put out hot spots on the McKay Creek wildfire north of Lillooet in 2021.

 (B.C. Wildfire Service)

In , Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services says FireRangers do not use masks or respirators on the fire line. The province said where possible crews are positioned strategically on fires upwind thus allowing the FireRangers to work safely. However, particulate filter respirators (P100 or P95) are required for all workers assigned to a prescribed burn in an area where there might be poison ivy.

In , the Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU) told CBC News that N95 respirators are the only type of respiratory protection its teams are using right now and that they are available to all its firefighters and subcontractors.

The RCMP, which is often asked to guard smoke-shrouded roadblocks, assist in evacuations and keep an eye on evacuated communities does have some standards for respirators and masks in place.

In Alberta, RCMP officers with K Division are fit tested every two years for half-face respirators manufactured by 3M or Honeywell, depending on their facial structure. They are also provided 2 types of cartridges for different types of smoke hazards: one for the particulate from the wildfire smoke and a multi-gas combination cartridge which provides additional protection from particulate from the smoke and the chemical by-products of paints, plastics and some other materials.

His fire fighting days now behind him, Ian Sachs says he hopes the next generation of firefighters at least have the option of greater protection from the smoke.

"Hopefully in the next few years there is something and the guys and girls can wear it when they are in those situations. But you can't wear it all the time and I don't think you'll ever get to that point."

Wildfire crews fight wildfire with fire to protect, secure Cranbrook, B.C. airport

The Canadian Press
Fri, July 21, 2023 


VICTORIA — The forest and brush around the international airport at Cranbrook, B.C., has been scorched in an all-out effort to protect the vital transportation link from an encroaching wildfire, airport manager Tristen Chernove said Friday.

Wildfire crews were at the Canadian Rockies International Airport in southeastern B.C. overnight Friday monitoring the fires that were purposely lit as a guard from the out-of-control St. Mary's River fire, he said.

Chernove said the controlled burns did their job and are adding to previous wildfire mitigation measures taken by airport officials.

"Last night there were some further ignitions done very close to the airport, which visually can look pretty dramatic, but it was all under control," he said. "The airport itself, while we are in the midst of a lot of smoke, as far as fuel load around us, we are actually quite protected."

He said flights were arriving and departing Friday, but heavy smoke has resulted in some cancellations.

The BC Wildfire Service recommended Thursday that City of Cranbrook properties and leased areas at the airport be placed under an evacuation alert.

The Regional District of East Kootenay followed the wildfire service recommendation late Thursday and issued an evacuation alert for 71 dwellings, including the airport property, because of the 26-square-kilometre fire.

Earlier this week, several homes at the Cranbrook area's Aq'am First Nation were destroyed by the same wildfire.

Chenove said they've been working for the last few years to prepare for just such an event by reducing the fuel load around the airport.

"I would say there's been a lot of proactive measures, including last night, to keep the airport protected from any surprises."

BC Wildfire Service officials have forecast an increase in fires in southern B.C. as cooler temperatures and rain are forecast for the province's north, where some of the largest fires are burning.

But hot, dry weather persists in Cranbrook, Kamloops, the Okanagan, Vancouver Island and B.C. Lower Mainland.

The BC Wildfire Service said Friday that more than 600 lightning strikes were reported in the Kamloops area as a storm swept through.

A new out-of-control wildfire visible from the City of Kamloops was reported about 11 kilometres southwest of the Interior city.

Evacuation alerts for more than 100 properties were issued northeast of Kamloops as crews battled the Lower East Adams Lake fire, said the service.

The service says on its website there are more than 400 active wildfires in the province, with 247 listed as out of control and 23 ranked as fires of note, where they are a threat to safety or are especially visible to the public.

Earlier this week, B.C. reported more than 14,000 square kilometres had been burned so far this season, surpassing the previous record set in 2018.

Federal and provincial government officials have said B.C. and Canada are on the way to the worst fire season in 100 years.

Environment Canada issued heat warnings Friday, saying unseasonably hot weather in B.C.'s Okanagan, Thompson, and Boundary regions will push temperatures into the mid 30s into the weekend.

The agency said daytime temperatures are expected to reach 38 C in the Boundary region, while temperatures in the south and central Okanagan, south and north Thompson, and Fraser Canyon regions will reach up to 36 C.

The latest heat wave broke records in parts of the province, including a 38.2 C temperature in Nelson on Thursday, surpassing the last high from 1938, while records were also set in McKenzie, Nakusp, Richmond and Smithers.

The extended heat wave comes as B.C. expected the arrival of 100 firefighters from Brazil Friday, adding to the province's growing international wildfire force.

Cliff Chapman, BC Wildfire Service spokesman, said about 500 international firefighters are already in the province, boosting the ranks of the more than 2,000 provincial wildfire service personnel on the front lines battling hundreds of blazes.

He said the firefighters from Brazil will join crews from Mexico, the United States and Australia currently in the province.

Bowinn Ma, B.C.'s emergency management and climate readiness minister, recently requested 1,000 international firefighters through the non-profit Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which co-ordinates national and international fire management.

Chapman said the international firefighters are providing much-needed relief and assistance to crews battling the more than 400 fires currently burning in the province.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2023.

Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press

Crews from 5 countries step into battle: How firefighters work together on B.C.'s frontlines

Common international approach to wildfires makes it seamless for foreign firefighters to work in B.C.

Author of the article: Glenda Luymes
Published Jul 21, 2023 • 

Wildfires in B.C. have prompted more than 70 evacuation alerts or orders, with many clustered in the province's central Interior. A firefighter directs water on a grass fire on an acreage behind a residential property in Kamloops, B.C., Monday, June 5, 2023. 

PHOTO BY DARRYL DYCK /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Brazilian firefighters — 103 of them — were expected to arrive in B.C. on Friday, joining 500 others from the U.S., Mexico and Australia, as almost 400 wildfires burned across the province.

In one of B.C.’s worst wildfire seasons on record, the international crews will provide relief and assistance to B.C. firefighters.

But how will they work together?

Provincial fire information officer Mike McCulley said large fires are fought in a similar way worldwide with an organizational structure that allows crews from one country to assist another.

“Wildland firefighting is significantly different than structural firefighting,” he said. Not only are fires bigger and more complex, but they “go on for a long time.”

In addition to the Brazilian ground crews, there are 100 Mexican and 80 American firefighters, including a 40-person parattack crew in B.C. this weekend. There are also 20 American command staff, two American incident management teams of 28 people, two Australian incident management teams of 29 people, and an assortment of engine crews and single-resource specialists, with just under 600 “international resources” scattered across the province.

Another 102 Mexican firefighters are expected early next week.

A file photo of firefighters training for possible fires at or near Metro Vancouver’s watersheds and regional parks in North Vancouver, B.C. on May 7, 2019. 

PHOTO BY ARLEN REDEKOP /PNG

The incident command system provides a standardized approach to the command, control and co-ordination of emergency response, allowing a management team from Australia, for example, to arrive at a B.C. fire and spell off a B.C. team.

“The team is very similar and the transition is very smooth,” said McCulley.

Incident management teams may bring their own supplies, like computers, or B.C. may provide them, depending on where they’re travelling from.

Ground crews will come with their own personal protective equipment, but B.C. will typically provide shovels, pumps and hoses. B.C. has also received firefighting equipment from abroad, such as 10 four-person engine crews from the U.S.

McCulley said when firefighters arrive at YVR, they are typically taken to a briefing facility before being sent to a specific fire centre where they’ll receive more information about the fire, type of work and where they’ll be staying.

After that, they’re put to work and integrated into B.C.’s firefighting apparatus.

McCulley said language barriers are typically not an issue, with many firefighters speaking some English, although the B.C. Wildfire Service provides someone to assist if needed. B.C. also pays the firefighters, with rates agreed upon before they arrive.

The number of international firefighters being used in B.C. is re-evaluated several times a week, he said.

Bowinn Ma, B.C.’s emergency management and climate readiness minister, recently requested 1,000 international firefighters through the non-profit Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which co-ordinates national and international fire management.

The Texas Creek wildfire south of Lillooet is shown in this handout image provided by the B.C. Wildfire Service. About 150 Canadian soldiers have also been assigned to help firefighters. 

PHOTO BY HO /The Canadian Press

Jennifer Kamau, communications manager for the centre, said provinces submit specific requests when they’ve exhausted their own resources. The centre looks across the country, and then to international partners for help.

Canada has agreements with the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa and Costa Rica. This year, with so much fire activity, Canada has had to go “beyond the framework,” with the federal government seeking firefighters from Brazil, France and South Korea, she said.

The agreements go both ways: B.C. firefighters have helped fight fires in Australia in the past.

McCulley said he felt it was particularly important to express the gratitude B.C. fire crews feel toward their “brothers and sisters.”

“It resonates deeply with us,” he said. “We don’t take it lightly.”

The B.C. Wildfire Service website said there are more than 400 active wildfires in the province, with 247 listed as out of control and 23 ranked as fires of note, where they are a threat to safety or especially visible to the public.

Earlier this week, B.C. reported more than 14,000 square kilometres had burned so far this season, surpassing the previous record set in 2018.

Federal and provincial government officials have said B.C. and Canada are on the way to the worst fire season in 100 years.

Construction labour crunch leaves Canada in need of boosting ranks of home builders

Story by Geoff Nixon • Jul 14, 2023

Canada is growing rapidly — and so are its housing needs.

In turn, these pressures are testing the construction industry, which finds itself dealing with a mounting labour shortage.

There are tens of thousands of unfilled construction jobs across the country — including up to 20,000 open positions in Ontario alone — that the Labourers' International Union of North America (LiUNA) says it could fill, if only it could find the workers.

The open positions in such sectors as residential and high-rise construction include labourers, bricklayers, cement finishers and people doing trim and tile work.

"That's just one labour union," said Victoria Mancinelli, the public relations director for LiUNA in Central and Eastern Canada, describing the deficit as a partial snapshot of the broader construction labour crunch.

The industry is also facing a looming wave of retirements that will see roughly 20 per cent of Canada's construction workers retire within 10 years.

"This is not something that is unique to construction," said Bill Ferreira, executive director of industry group BuildForce Canada, referring to the labour supply challenges that surround Canada's aging workforce.

To keep construction projects moving forward, Canada will need people to build them — which is why both the industry and various levels of government are paying close attention to how many workers will be available to work on job sites now and in the future.

"It's mission critical to get more people into the trades," Ontario Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said in an interview.

Challenges differ from east to west

There are parts of Canada where the construction labour shortage is projected to be more acute than in others, and Ferreira said demographics are at the core of those regional differences.

"It's almost an east and west story," he said, noting that Prairie populations skew younger, which is advantageous for recruiting construction labour.

BuildForce Canada expects the number of pending retirements in Alberta, for example, to be nearly balanced with new recruits from the province through 2032. But even more people will need to be hired to deal with the demand for construction over that time period — and officials have signalled the province needs more construction workers now.



Construction workers are shown at a condominium tower job site in Coquitlam, B.C., in May. About 38,000 veteran builders in the province are expected to retire by 2032. 

(Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)© Provided by cbc.ca

Ferreira said the exception in the west in British Columbia, which is expected to see 38,000 of its veteran builders retire by 2032. But local recruitment is predicted to fall thousands short in terms of the total number of new workers.

In Ontario, more than 80,000 people will exit the industry over the same time period. That's a problem in a province that is aiming to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031. The actual number of workers needed will be significantly higher than the number retiring.

McNaughton acknowledges the challenges, but he points to intensive efforts the provincial government has taken to address the supply of construction labour.

"It's a big task in front of us," he said, noting that Ontario is currently short 72,000 construction workers.


Construction workers are shown at a condo project in Toronto earlier this month. More than 80,000 Ontario construction workers are expected to retire within the next 10 years, at a time when the province has ambitious home-building plans.

 (Patrick Morrell/CBC)© Provided by cbc.ca

The minister said the provincial government has been pushing to ramp up recruitment of skilled trade workers and to encourage far more young people to enter the fiel

Ontario saw 27,319 people sign up for apprenticeships over the past 12 months — a record number that McNaughton said amounts to a 24 per cent year-over-year increase.

Further east, New Brunswick expects to see nearly one-third of its construction workers retire in the next five years. That has implications for a small province undergoing a population growth spurt.

"The [construction] industry is struggling to bring housing starts in line with levels routinely reached in the 2000s, when our population was stagnant, even at times declining," economist Richard Saillant wrote in a discussion paper earlier this year.

Saillant said that labour was "a major constraint on New Brunswick's ability to expand housing supply."

Last year, the Construction Association of Prince Edward Island said it believed at least 1,000 more workers were needed. By this spring, the province was said to possibly need twice that many people to catch up on projects.

Fewer people, more costs

Any shortage of needed labour can have an impact on what gets built and how much it costs to build things.

Construction mogul Mandy Rennehan has been seeing that reality play out in rural parts of the Maritimes, where she says skilled labour is scarce, and the prices that people pay for related services have risen sharply.

"The trades industry is no different than others," said Rennehan, a trades veteran, media personality and founder of construction company Freschco, pointing out that shifts in supply and demand affect construction.



Mandy Rennehan, founder of construction company Freshco, says in rural parts of the Maritimes, skilled labour is scarce, and the prices that people pay for related services have risen sharply. 

(Submitted by Mandy Rennehan)© Provided by cbc.ca

She also said that rising labour costs aren't just a concern for individual homeowners and developers, but also for contractors and small construction businesses involved in building needed housing.

Bigger players in the field may not sweat these kinds of cost increases the way smaller operations do, Rennehan said. "They are the ones getting squeezed."

There will also be projects that can't proceed if there aren't enough people available to do the work.



Construction workers are shown atop a residential building project in Moncton, N.B., in July 2022. Roughly one-third of New Brunswick's construction workforce is nearing retirement. 

(Shane Fowler/CBC)© Provided by cbc.ca
How to recruit more workers

BuildForce Canada's Ferreira said there are a number of ways the construction industry can look for the next generation of talent.

Some will come from the kids growing up today, who may be more encouraged to consider a career in the trades.

But, he said, the industry must also look to expand hiring among people who are largely underrepresented on job sites. Women and Indigenous people are two such examples, Ferreira said.


Bill Ferreira, executive director of industry group BuildForce Canada, says demographics are at the core of regional differences in construction labour shortages

. (BuildForce Canada)© Provided by cbc.ca

Rennehan said she agrees that there's a lot of room to grow in terms of bringing more diversity to the world of the trades — though she's seen progress on that front, even if the work is not yet done.

Industry voices and government officials also see strong potential to find many of the builders-to-be among the population of newcomers to Canada.

That includes directly welcoming more skilled workers from abroad — something the federal immigration minister previously signalled will be a focus for the federal government.

McNaughton, Ontario's labour minister, said such recruitment is a "huge opportunity to use immigration strategically" to bolster the provincial roster of skilled workers, and that's what his own province plans to do.

Union leadership recommends members accept tentative deal to avoid another B.C. port strike

Story by CBC/Radio-Canada • Friday, July 21,2023

Union leadership says it is going to recommend its members accept a tentative agreement to end the weeks-long strike at B.C.'s ports, potentially bringing the high-stakes labour dispute one step closer to its end.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) will put the terms of the deal to its membership at a stop-work meeting on Tuesday, according to a letter posted online.

If the members accept the agreement after that, the dispute will be over.

On Friday, the B.C. Maritime Employers Association said the agreement to be presented to workers is the same one the union's caucus rejected just days ago.

In a statement, the association said the deal is the proposal reached with a federal mediator and was originally agreed to by both sides on July 13.

"The tentative agreement presented is the result of months of negotiations and mediation,'' the association statement said, adding that employers are "hopeful" the union's membership will fully ratify it when a vote is held, possibly late next week.

In a tweet, Federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan thanked the union for sending the latest terms to its membership after an "emergency" meeting earlier Friday.

"Right now, B.C. ports are operating, but we need long-term stability," the minister's tweet read.

Union president Rob Ashton said in a statement that members will take the 8 a.m. shift off next Tuesday for the meeting where the deal will be presented. Workers have been back on the job since Thursday after a complicated week of negotiations.

The union's caucus rejected an earlier tentative agreement that had been worked out with a mediator. The move set off a brief strike before a Canada Industrial Relations Board ruled the job action was illegal.

The union then issued 72-hours notice to restart the strike on Saturday, only to rescind it hours later. Work resumed at ports across B.C. on Thursday and has continued since.

The two sides have been negotiating a new collective agreement since March but went on strike from July 1 to 13 after getting stuck in a deadlock. The job action froze billions of dollars worth of goods from ports across B.C., including Canada's largest in Vancouver.

Mark Thompson, University of British Columbia professor emeritus at the Sauder School of Business, says port strikes common in the 1980s and 1990s weren't allowed to drag on as this latest dispute has done.


Vancouver port workers are pictured on Wednesday, a day after strike notice was again served by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada. 

(Justine Boulin/CBC)© Provided by cbc.ca

"The government [today] is very reluctant to enact back-to-work legislation, so we are in uncharted territory right now,'' he said.

Job action damages Canada's business reputation: exporters

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade paused its port shutdown calculator Friday, which estimated the cost of disruptions, but declined to comment until after the union membership's vote.

The Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters said in a news release that it is cautiously optimistic the dispute has been resolved, as the original 13-day strike damaged Canada's global reputation "as a reliable place to do business."

CEO Dennis Darby said the organization, which has about 2,500 members, wants the federal government to make port operations an essential service "so that the solution to a labour dispute is something other than work stoppage."

"We understand collective bargaining, you have to have that, but is there a way, given that these are federally regulated facilities ... to prevent this in the future?" he asked.

Darby said businesses that rely on the ports want certainty, and argued that the federal government needs to consider introducing measures to prevent similar events from happening again.



An ILWU Canada worker pickets outside of the B.C. Maritime Employers Association dispatch centre in Vancouver on July 3, shortly after the initial strike was launched. (Ben Nelms/CBC)© Provided by cbc.ca

The dispute, which disrupted operations at Canada's largest port in Vancouver, triggered strong responses from political and business leaders across Canada, with some, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, calling for back-to-work legislation.

On Thursday, Trudeau said it was "unacceptable" that the union rejected the tentative deal worked out with a mediator that had been agreed to by both sides.

Spanish general election tipped to put the far right back in office for the first time since Franco

Associated Press
Updated Sat, July 22, 2023 

A supporter of VOX far right party wrapped in a Spanish flag attends an election campaign event in Guadalajara, Spain, Saturday, July 15, 2023. Spain's general election Sunday, July 23 could make the country the latest European Union member to shift to the political right. Most polls put the right-wing Popular Party ahead of the Socialists but likely needing the support of the extreme right Vox party to form a government. 

(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)


MADRID (AP) — Voters in Spain go to the polls Sunday in an election that could make the country the latest European Union member to swing to the populist right, a shift that would represent a major upheaval after five years under a left-wing government.

Here's what you need to know about the vote.

___

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

Opinion polls indicate the political right has the edge going into the election, and that raises the possibility a neo-fascist party will be part of Spain's next government. The extreme right has not been in power in Spain since the transition to democracy following the death of former dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

With no party expected to win an absolute majority, the choice for voters is basically between another leftist governing coalition or one between the right and the far right.

The right-of-center Popular Party, the front-runner in the polls, and the extreme right Vox party are on one side. They portray the vote as a chance to end “Sanchismo” — a term the PP uses to sum up what it contends are the dictatorial ways of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the left’s radical ideology and numerous lies by the government.

In the other corner are the Socialists and a new movement called Sumar that brings together 15 small leftist parties for the first time. They warn that putting the right in power will threaten Spain's post-Franco changes.

___

WHY WERE EARLY ELECTIONS CALLED?

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election a day after his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and its small far-left coalition partner, Unidas Podemos (United We Can), took a hammering in local and regional elections May 28.

Prior to that, Sánchez had insisted he would ride out his four-year term, indicating that an election would be held in December. But after the May defeat, he said it was only fair for Spaniards to decide the country’s political future without delay.

___

WHAT HAPPENED SINCE MAY 28?

The Popular Party emerged from the local and regional elections as the most-voted party by far, giving it the right to take office in all but a handful of towns and one or two regions.

Since then, the PP and Vox have agreed to govern together in some 140 cities and towns as well as to add two more regions to the one where they already co-governed.

The Socialists and other leftist parties lost political clout across the country, but after weathering the initial shock, they have regrouped and recovered some ground, leaving the vote outcome Sunday still an unknown.

___

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR EUROPE?

A PP-Vox government would mean another EU member has moved firmly to the right, a trend seen recently in Sweden, Finland and Italy. Countries such as Germany and France are concerned by what such a shift would portend for EU immigration and climate policies.

Spain’s two main leftist parties are pro-EU participation. On the right, the PP is also in favor of the EU, but Vox is not.

The election comes as Spain holds the EU’s rotating presidency Sánchez had hoped to use the six-month term to showcase the advances his government had made. An election defeat for Sánchez could see the PP taking over the EU presidency reins.

___

WHAT ARE THE CAMPAIGN THEMES?

The campaign has been dominated by mudslinging from all sides, with both the left and right accusing each other of lying about their policies and past records.

The PP has managed to put Sánchez’s honorability in question by highlighting the many U-turns he has made and his alliances with small regional secessionist parties, something that alienates even some left-wing voters.

The left has sought to convince voters that there is little difference between the two right-wing parties and that a victory for them would set Spain back decades in terms of social progress.

Nearly every poll has put the PP firmly ahead of the Socialists and Vox ahead of Sumar for third place. But 30% of the electorate is said to be undecided.

With the election taking place at the height of summer, millions of citizens are likely to be vacationing away from their regular polling places. But postal voting requests have soared, and officials are estimating a 70% election turnout.

___

IS THERE ANY CHANCE FOR A SURPRISE?

A surprise factor that could upset poll predictions is Sumar: the brand new, broad-based movement of 15 small left-wing parties, including Podemos and prominent social figures.

Sumar is headed by highly popular Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz, who is also the second deputy vice president and the only woman among the leaders of the four main parties.

This is the first time small left parties have ever come together on a joint ticket in Spain. Their earlier fragmentation was blamed for many of the town and regional losses in the May election, and they hope that joined together they can make a bigger showing.

Sumar's big goal is to beat out Vox for the potential king-making third place finish. That would allow Sumar to give valuable support for another leftist coalition government. Surveys consistently suggested during the campaign that an absolute majority for Popular Party and Vox is very possible.

An asteroid loaded with $10 quintillion worth of metals edges closer to US reach

Filip De Mott
Updated Fri, July 21, 2023 

An asteroid loaded with $10 quintillion worth of metals edges closer to US reach

The asteroid, known as 16 Psyche, is thought to be made up of $10 quintillion worth of gold, iron, and nickel.NASA

NASA says it's under 100 days away from launching a spacecraft to study a valuable asteroid.


The asteroid is thought to be made up of $10 quintillion worth of gold, iron, and nickel.


A SpaceX rocket is set to launch the spacecraft to the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.

NASA announced Tuesday that it was under 100 days away from launching a spacecraft designed to study an asteroid potentially worth $10 quintillion.

The space agency's Jet Propulsion Lab said it had recently completed a comprehensive test of the flight software and installed it on the spacecraft. That cleared a key hurdle that caused the probe to miss its original 2022 launch date.

The 173-mile-wide asteroid is known as 16 Psyche and is thought to be made up of gold, iron, and nickel. The ore on the asteroid has been estimated to be worth about $10 quintillion. NASA announced in 2020 that it would collaborate with Elon Musk's SpaceX to reach the metal-rich body.

The 2015 US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act gives companies the legal right to the materials mined from celestial bodies. And firms have already sprung up to test technology that could theoretically make this work.

Meanwhile, NASA's mission is scientific and geared toward learning more about planetary cores and how planets form. The spacecraft is set to launch in October on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket before heading on a six-year trek to the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The satellite would then orbit the asteroid for 26 months, studying and photographing the body to learn its history and mineral composition.

While NASA focuses on 16 Psyche, the agency previously said that the belt it resided in was full of ore-rich asteroids worth $700 quintillion. The most valuable asteroid in the belt, Davida, is thought to be worth $27 quintillion.

Though a potentially lucrative business for the future, the inflow of valuable minerals from space may not actually produce a bunch of billionaires. That's because a sudden supply glut would drive metal prices down.

B.C. professor pushing plan to protect marbled murrelet habitat in old growth

The Canadian Press
Sun, July 23, 2023 


It is only a little bird, weighing a few ounces, but the marbled murrelet is known for its remarkable ability to fly far out to sea to catch fish before returning in the darkness of night to inland treetop nests on mossy limbs.

It also inspires outsized devotion among those who want to study and protect it.

Royann Petrell of Courtenay on Vancouver Island has been an avid bird watcher since childhood, but in retirement she has taken up the cause of protecting the marbled murrelet's habitat.

The seabird has been listed as "threatened" for decades as habitat loss on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border adds to its precarious existence.

Petrell's birding activities have even landed her in court, fighting a logging company that put up gates in the contentious Fairy Creek area where protests over old-growth logging landed hundreds in handcuffs.

Petrell, who’s a retired associate professor at the University of B.C. in the faculty of applied science, claimed the gates prevented her from collecting data on the murrelet and its habitat.

The data, she said, is crucial to her proposal for the provincial government to create additional wildlife habitat areas to protect the murrelets' nesting grounds because continued logging will mean the bird's eventual loss.

"The forestry company said in its own forestry management plan that the forest will be gone in 15 years. They will cut it all down except for these few wildlife habitat areas," Petrell said. "It's not going to last. It's not sustainable."

In the last two decades, Petrell and her fellow birders calculated that a quarter of the murrelet's prime nesting habitat has been lost in what's known as Tree Farm License area 46, currently held by the Teal Jones Group.

Petrell belongs to The Old Growth Birders and BioBlitzers, a group of citizen scientists who have proposed to the provincial government the creation of more protected areas for the birds in Fairy Creek. Petrell said the group found discrepancies in government pledges to protect habitat versus the actual amount of land set aside.

In a December 2022 letter to the province, Petrell urged the creation of new designated habit areas that "will protect two of the best remaining sizable remnants of B.C.’s old-growth forests on Vancouver Island."

In a response letter from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, the provincial government thanked Petrell for her efforts.

"We welcome the public’s constructive identification of potential areas for a WHA (wildlife habitat area) and as noted regional staff will review the proposal," an April 2023 response letter said.

Her work has since received endorsement from researchers in the United States, who are urging Premier David Eby to adopt the proposal.

Martin Raphael, a retired U.S. Forest Service research scientist in Washington state, said protecting marbled murrelet habitat is crucial to the species' survival.

Raphael's work goes back decades, documenting the bird's migration from the U.S. to nesting areas in the Fairy Creek watershed using radio tags to track the bird's long flights out to sea back to inland nesting grounds.

"Protection of nesting habitat is really the key driver in trying to recover the species, and so when this proposal came along to try to conserve habitat, protect it from logging and other losses, I knew that would be important," he said.

Raphael had never seen a marbled murrelet before he began researching and surveying the birds in the 1990s, but they eventually became the focus of his work for 20 years.

His fascination grew, he said, out of admiration for how they fly far out to sea to forage for fish "and find the exact limb on a tree in the middle of the forest that it's nesting on."

"The fact that they do that at night when there's no visibility, it just amazes me," he said.

In Washington state, the birds' habitat enjoys federal protection on public lands, but private forest lands are still fair game for logging, leading to habitat loss and population decline, he said.

For Petrell, her love of bird watching stems from her mother's sadness after the loss of her father when Petrell was just two years old.

"The one thing that made her happy was bird watching," she said.

One excursion stands out for Petrell, when she and a group of fellow birders were awoken early one morning by the shrieking calls of murrelets flying above their tents.

Recent research, she said, indicates the birds communicate about suitable nesting areas as they make their way back to their forested homes.

"We were just totally blown away," she said. "You hear them flying right over your tent, up the watershed, right into the forest, and that's the same forest that we would like to make sure that it turns into a wildlife habitat area."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2023.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press

'Nature has the answer': Yukon University student says unwelcome weeds could support mine remediation


CBC
Sun, July 23, 2023 

Taylor Belansky, a research student at Yukon University, is studying how to support the growth of bacteria that converts nitrate, often found at mine sites, into nitrogen.

 (Lilian Fridfinnson/CBC - image credit)

The battle to manage the invasion of nuisance plants in the North is ongoing, but one Yukon University master's student may have found a purpose for some pesky and resilient weeds.

Taylor Belansky, with the university's Northern Mine Remediation team, studies how to mitigate the environmental impacts of mining. Her thesis research aims to find a way to support the growth of bacteria that converts nitrate, often found at mine sites, into nitrogen.

She says feeding that bacteria is one way to filter mine-impacted water. With the support of her research advisor, Guillaume Nielsen, Belansky tested carbon sources including wood chips, compost, grains from Yukon Brewing, molasses and invasive plants such as foxtail barley and white sweet clover. The student researcher was amazed by the results, finding white sweet clover, a usually undesired weed, was the most effective food source.

"It's really cool that we tried it because the white sweet clover is readily found at mine sites," she said. "Nature has the answer to these contaminants that we're putting into the environment. We just have to find out how best to help those natural processes along."

Belansky says mine blasts often results in incomplete combustion of blasting fuel, leaving behind high concentrations of nitrate residue that can leech into waterways and harm aquatic ecosystems. A process called eutrophication causes algae blooms and poses a risk to the health of fish, as it can suffocate them.

"Nitrate is naturally occurring. The poison is in the dose. So, nitrate is naturally out there, but when it's in low concentrations, the plants are using it," Belansky explained. "It's when we're putting in too much that it overwhelms the system, especially aquatics systems."

Sweet clover is the most common invasive plant species in the Yukon.
Sweet clover is the most common invasive plant species in the Yukon. Belansky found it was also the most effective food source for the nitrogen-creating bacteria. (

Yukon Invasive Species Council)

Lori Fox, the summer outreach coordinator with the Yukon Invasive Species Council, says white sweet clover is unyielding, popping up through soil and gravel to colonize. Initially transported to the Yukon for agriculture purposes, Fox says it chokes out native plant species due to its nitrogen-fixing nature, as many of Yukon's native plants prefer a lower-nitrogen environment.

"It wasn't originally supposed to escape," Fox said during an interview with CBC's Yukon Morning host, Elyn Jones. "But like many invasive species, it did and you see it all over the place."

The issue with sweet clover and other invasive species is that they alter biodiversity and change where animals can find their food, says Fox.

"It has the potential to really alter the landscape," Fox said. "Even if we can't stop what is in place…in many cases that's impossible, we have a responsibility to mitigate."

Tyler Obediah, natural resource coordinator with Carcross/Tagish First Nation, says the changing landscape is illustrated by decreasing fireweed populations.

Fireweed in the Yukon.
Fireweed is being crowded out by sweet clover in some parts of the Yukon. (Paul Tukker/CBC)

Fireweed is native to the North and used traditionally by First Nations communities as a food source for its richness in vitamins A and C. Obediah says the purple plant, often found in the same dusty and disturbed soil as white sweet clover, is often cooked in butter, eaten raw or pickled. Given its medicinal properties, fireweed is also often used to make salves, lotions, and tea.

"For a lot of First Nations it's important to maintain that relationship with the plants," he said. "It's a deep cultural connection to the earth and to everything that's around us. It's very important in a lot of ways."

Despite its myriad of uses, Obediah says fireweed is becoming increasingly difficult to find, as the white clover crowds out the native plant.

Tyler Obediah is the natural resource coordinator with Carcross/Tagish First Nation in the Yukon.

'For a lot of First Nations it's important to maintain that relationship with the plants,' said Tyler Obediah, natural resource coordinator with Carcross/Tagish First Nation. (Submitted by Tyler Obediah)

Given its unwelcome habitation, Belansky says she's pleased to find a purpose for the vexing weed.

"We're killing two birds with one stone here," she said. "We're not intentionally letting it grow. We don't want it to further invade the mine site. We actually want to remove it from the mine site and put it to use."

The next step in Belansky's research will take her findings outside the lab to the Minto mine site in central Yukon. She says she will use "bioreactors" — 55-gallon drums — to filter mine-impacted water and see how the bacteria, fed with white sweet clover, cope with changing water chemistry, conditions and temperatures.

Belansky expects to complete her research and publish her findings in December and is eager to see what her research yields.

"Knowing the impact mining has had on the environment, I just wanted to be a part of more solutions."