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Telegraph
04-07-2025
- Telegraph
This overlooked train journey is the finest way to explore Canada's natural beauty
Our train conductor was adept at multitasking: besides the duties of a British guard, Walter is baggage handler, buffet attendant and in-person announcer of passing points of interest. Further commentary on passing sights was provided by passenger Angela, who had flagged down the train at the tiny hamlet of Longworth and soon felt compelled to apologise for talking so much, because she hasn't spoken to anyone for days. That's the Canadian backcountry for you. The Skeena is a very Canadian kind of train: informal, friendly and typical in providing a lifeline for remote homesteads. Running over two days between Jasper in Alberta and the Pacific Coast at Prince Rupert, it takes its name from the 'river of clouds' that flows into Hecate Strait. But the first river the train follows is the Fraser, west from Jasper. Jasper has had a tough time. Last year a third of its buildings burned down in forest fires, but the idyllically sited resort is 80 per cent back on its feet and most hotels, fortunately, survived. Standing in a station built of rounded river stones were the three stainless-steel cars of the Skeena, still elegant though they date from the 1950s. A baggage car, chair car and dome car with observation windows at the back provided more than enough space for springtime travellers. Run three times a week by VIA, the government-owned passenger train operator, the Skeena is a flag-stop train that allows people to wave a ride from the lineside, so it seldom exceeds 50mph. As we pulled away from the scarred town, the dozen of us in the dome car began comparing itineraries and wondering whether we would see the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, Mount Robson, without its veil of cloud (on only a dozen days a year is the 12,972ft peak completely clear). Both the Fraser River and the railway follow the Rocky Mountain Trench, so we were at times looking down on the water from a shelf along a sheer-sided gorge, and at others just feet above the water. For much of the way, the line scythes through mixed forests of spruce, pine, alder, aspen and fir, flanked by a seemingly endless succession of peaks that dwarf Snowdon or Ben Nevis. It isn't long before the first cry of 'bear!' and the sight of a large rump disappearing into the undergrowth. In places, the mountains retreated and the river widened to become a lake. As we skirted Fraser Lake, a bald eagle flew right alongside the train for a minute, allowing us to appreciate the graceful motion of its seven-foot wingspan. The valley periodically morphed into open pasture framing wooden farmsteads, often surrounded by generations of discarded farm machinery and abandoned pick-ups. Large clearings denoted the site of abandoned sawmills that once employed enough people to warrant a cinema. Every so often, we passed a two-mile-long double-stack container train, carrying more than 200 imported boxes from the port at Prince Rupert to cities in the east. The men who built the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway could only dream of such largesse. They believed its western end was ripe for agricultural development, optimistic that the extra cost of providing easy gradients and gentle curves would be fully justified by lower operating costs – and faster speeds, thus attracting more traffic to the railway. It opened in 1914, but low revenues in the years which followed compelled the federal government to nationalise it in 1919, and merge the line with others to create the Canadian National Railway four years later. The names of places along the way are redolent of Canadian history and its pioneering settlers, some in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company whose first governor was Prince Rupert of the Rhine. Dunster recalls the Somerset town; Tintagel has a lump of stone from Cornwall; McBride was named after the youngest BC premier; while Mount Rider takes its moniker from the novelist Rider Haggard, who travelled over the line in 1916. Soon enough, we reached Prince George, where the Skeena and its passengers spend the night. In the 'spruce capital of the world', I spent a pleasant few hours visiting the open-air Railway and Forestry Museum, created in celebration of the symbiosis that has sustained the economy for a century. The following morning, we climbed aboard again and continued onwards, the line following the bends of the Skeena river before it broadens towards the sea between towering peaks, taking on a look not unlike the Norwegian fjords. And yet, despite these majestic landscapes, this line nevertheless remains overshadowed by its rivals – VIA's Canadian, which runs between Toronto and Vancouver, and the Rocky Mountaineer's routes. I imagined how splendid these views must be at all other times of year – in the autumn, when the aspens turn orange and gold, and in winter, when the air takes on a razor-sharp clarity and the sky an intense blue. The long final approach to Prince Rupert – known both as the 'halibut capital of the world' and 'city of rainbows' – was spectacular. Running right beside the Skeena estuary, I gawped at the tree-crowned islands in Chatham Sound set against the mountains in the south. Stripped tree trunks tossed on to gravel bars testified to the power of spring melt water. This town might have looked very different had it not lost its main promoter and president of the railway in 1912. Travelling on the Titanic, Charles Melville Hays put his wife and daughter into a lifeboat but went down with the ship, ending his plans for a grand station and 450-room hotel. Hays intended Prince Rupert to become 'the most perfectly laid out and most beautiful city in the Dominion…the Washington of Canada'. But alas, it was not to be. Nevertheless, a century later, his faith in the attraction of a deep ice-free port 250 miles closer to Far East markets has been vindicated: Prince Rupert may not be the country's Washington DC, but it is Canada's third busiest port. For travellers on the Skeena, however, its appeal lies in its coastal beauty – and that of nearby Khutzeymateen Inlet, which sits beside the Alaskan border and offers one of Canada's best opportunities to watch grizzly bears feed at the water's edge. There's history to be had there too: pre-dating the railway is the atmospheric 1889 salmon cannery on Inverness Passage, now the North Pacific Cannery National Historic Site, which tells the story of its 1,000 Chinese, Japanese and indigenous workers. Indigenous culture and crafts are to the fore in the Museum of Northern BC, imposingly constructed of bark-stripped cedar posts and beams in the manner of a First Nations longhouse. It is a fine place to spend a few days at the end of your trip, surrounded by picture-postcard views on what feels like the edge of the world – and which, in a sense, once was: until the train came roaring into town, and put Jasper, Prince George and Prince Rupert – three of the prettiest places in Western Canada – firmly on the map. Essentials Jasper Inn & Suites has doubles from CAD$159 (£86); Coast Prince George Hotel has doubles from CAD$129 (£70); Crest Hotel Prince Rupert has doubles from CAD$239 (£129); Fairmont Hotel Vancouver has doubles from CAD$329 (£178). VIA Rail Canada has one-way tickets between Jasper and Prince Rupert from £85. Anthony Lambert was a guest of Destination Canada.
CTV News
25-06-2025
- CTV News
28 charges laid against 4 suspects in Prince Rupert drug-trafficking case, police say
Among the items seized during the execution of the search warrants were drugs and firearms. (CFSEU-BC) Four residents of B.C.'s North Coast were recently charged with a total of 28 offences in a drug trafficking investigation, according to the province's anti-gang police. Prince Rupert residents Keith Fenton, Richard Gladstone, Jonathn Sharkey and Kimberly Jenna Smith were charged June 5, exactly one year after the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. executed five search warrants in the city, the unit said in a news release Wednesday. The charges against the 38-year-old Fenton are: Trafficking in a controlled substance Possession of a loaded restricted firearm Possession of a firearm without authorization Possession of a prohibited device (over capacity magazine) And five counts of unsafe firearm storage The remaining charges against the other individuals are all counts of trafficking a controlled substance. Sharkey, who is 35 years old, faces 10 counts, 34-year-old Gladstone faces seven and 27-year-old Smith faces two. All four have been arrested and released with conditions, according to the CFSEU. The charges stem from an investigation that began in April 2023 and targeted a drug trafficking network in Prince Rupert, the unit said. It executed the search warrants on June 5, 2024, with assistance from the Prince Rupert RCMP and the Prince Rupert Coastal Unit, seizing drugs, weapons, cash and two vehicles that were deemed 'offence-related property.' Nine firearms – including two loaded shotguns, a Tikka rifle and a loaded 9-mm handgun with a prohibited magazine – were seized, along with 1.2 kilograms of methamphetamine, 16 grams of cocaine 'along with kilogram-style packaging' and 'approximately $38,000 in bundled cash.' Expand Autoplay 1 of 5 CFSEU-BC Prince Rupert seizures The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia shared several photos from the June 5, 2024 seizures in Prince Rupert that recently resulted in a total of 28 charges against four individuals. (CFSEU-BC) CFSEU-BC Prince Rupert seizures The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia shared several photos from the June 5, 2024 seizures in Prince Rupert that recently resulted in a total of 28 charges against four individuals. (CFSEU-BC) CFSEU-BC Prince Rupert seizures The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia shared several photos from the June 5, 2024 seizures in Prince Rupert that recently resulted in a total of 28 charges against four individuals. (CFSEU-BC) CFSEU-BC Prince Rupert seizures The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia shared several photos from the June 5, 2024 seizures in Prince Rupert that recently resulted in a total of 28 charges against four individuals. (CFSEU-BC) CFSEU-BC Prince Rupert seizures The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia shared several photos from the June 5, 2024 seizures in Prince Rupert that recently resulted in a total of 28 charges against four individuals. (CFSEU-BC) 'Thanks to intelligence-led enforcement and close co-operation with the Prince Rupert RCMP and Coastal Unit, we've brought 28 charges against individuals harming our communities through organized crime,' said Cpl. Sarbjit K. Sangha, in the release. 'We remain committed to keeping British Columbians safe by targeting those involved in violence and drug trafficking.'
CBC
21-06-2025
- Health
- CBC
New totem pole in B.C. acknowledges Canada's legacy of Indian hospitals
Social Sharing An Indigenous community near Prince Rupert, B.C., raised a new memorial totem pole ahead of National Indigenous People's Day to honour those who were affected by the Miller Bay TB Hospital. According to the Lax Kw'alaams Band, the Miller Bay TB Hospital, which operated from 1946 to 1971, was used by the federal government to isolate and treat Indigenous patients with tuberculosis (TB). Many of them were children who were forcibly removed from their communities and patients were often separated from family for years at a time. In a statement, the Lax Kw'alaams Band said Friday's pole raising ceremony was part of a day of remembrance and healing. "We wanted to recognize [and educate] people throughout Canada and B.C. on Miller Bay and the effects that it had on a lot of people," said Joey Wesley, a councillor with Lax Kw'alaams Band. "One way that we wanted to recognize and honour everyone was to carve and raise a totem pole in memory." The pole was carved by Mike Epp, a Tsimshian carver. In a press release, Epp said the monument is made out of red cedar and represents healing for the survivors of Miller Bay TB Hospital. "I can't wait to see how it looks standing up," he said ahead of Friday's event, noting that pole-raising ceremonies bring the community together. The Miller Bay TB Hospital was one of at least three major Indian hospitals that operated in B.C., according to the University of British Columbia's Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre. Indian hospitals were substandard facilities operated by the federal government starting in the 1930s to separate Indigenous people from the rest of the Canadian population to stop the spread of tuberculosis. Tens of thousands of First Nations, Inuit and Métis patients, including children, were admitted to the overcrowded, poorly staffed and unsanitary institutions. Survivors allege they faced physical and sexual abuse from hospital staff, along with forcible confinement to beds without a medical reason. Some say they were also the subject of medical experiments. In March, Ottawa reached a proposed settlement agreement with survivors of Indian hospitals to provide individual compensation ranging from $10,000 to $200,000. Totem pole figure meanings, from bottom to top Epp says that the bottom figure of the totem pole is a shaman. "The shaman is there to help heal the people that are still dealing with their trauma from the hospital," Epp told CBC's Daybreak North. Above the shaman is a figure of a woman chief, who is holding a young man in her hands. "This part represents continuing the traditions, teaching the young people in the tribe how to carry themselves." Four small figures are above the woman chief, representing the people who were lost in the Miller Bay Hospital. On one side are men, on the other side are women. Above that is a foot and a half of blank space where pieces of copper are going to be installed. The copper pieces are being sent to Epp from family members who were impacted. A warrior with copper in one hand, and a spear in another, sits on top of the blank spot. The warrior represents the resilience of First Nations people and their role as guardians of future generations, lands and waters.
CTV News
19-06-2025
- CTV News
Man arrested after firing flares, threatening police in wild B.C. boat chase: RCMP
Officers continued their pursuit for more than an hour until the suspect allegedly ran the fishing boat aground and was promptly arrested. (Handout) A 25-year-old man in British Columbia has been arrested after allegedly leading police on a wild chase in a stolen fishing boat, firing flares at the pursuing officers and threatening them over the vessel's marine radio. Police located the fishing boat near the northern B.C. community of Prince Rupert on Monday, one day after the vessel was reported stolen from Port Hardy, more than 400 kilometres away on Vancouver Island. Two RCMP vessels attempted to intercept the boat at sea, but the operator refused to stop, according to a statement from the RCMP's West Coast Marine Services division. 'The situation quickly escalated, becoming increasingly dangerous as the boat operator then allegedly tried to evade police while on the water in the dark, including firing flares at police and attempting to ram a responding police vessel,' the statement said. 'The operator of the stolen boat was also using the boat's VHF radio to allegedly threaten police.' Officers continued their pursuit for more than an hour until the suspect allegedly ran the fishing boat aground and was promptly arrested. 'This was a dynamic situation that endangered everyone on the water, including the suspect, responding officers, and all other marine traffic,' said Cpl. Jeff Haney, the acting sergeant with the West Coast Marine Services division. 'We are glad this situation was safely resolved with the suspect being taken into custody, and nobody getting injured,' he added. 'There was a high level of risk involved given the area and the unpredictable actions of the boat operator.' Mounties say their investigation into the incident is ongoing and charges will be recommended against the suspect. The fishing boat has since been recovered from the shore, police said.
National Post
13-06-2025
- Business
- National Post
Prince Rupert mayor sides with Eby over Smith on Northern Gateway pipeline reboot
OTTAWA — The mayor of northern British Columbia's busiest port city says he's following Premier David Eby's lead in taking a wait-and-see approach to rebooting the cancelled Northern Gateway Pipeline project. Article content Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond told the National Post on Friday that he's reserving judgment until he sees a new proposal on the table. Article content 'I'm a little bit (more) with Premier Eby… Until there's a project and a proponent, we're not going to spend much time on it,' said Pond. Article content Article content 'It's so hard to have a discussion about an imaginary project.' Article content Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has pushed heavily for a revival of the shelved pipeline, which would have shipped up to 525,000 barrels of Alberta oil per day through nearby Kitimat, B.C., and ultimately to markets in the Asia-Pacific region via tanker. Article content Smith has said that the revamped North Coast pipeline should end at the Port of Prince Rupert, citing its close proximity to potential buyers in markets like Japan and South Korea. Article content She's also said that shipping Alberta oil through northern B.C. is one of the best things Canada can do to reduce its economic dependency on top trading partner the United States. Article content But Eby says that Smith is getting ahead of herself with no entity, public or private, coming forward to lead the project. Article content 'There's no proponent, there's no money, there's no project right now,' Eby said this week during a trade visit Seoul, South Korea. Article content Pond says he agrees with Smith that Prince Rupert is the most logical destination for a new pipeline carrying Alberta oil to the Pacific Ocean. Article content 'If (technical dimensions) were the only thing you were scoring it on… Rupert would score the highest,' said Pond. Article content 'Prince Rupert is a very deep natural harbour, doesn't need to be dredged (and) we're not moving through a congested traffic area (like) Vancouver.' Article content But he added that a new oil pipeline wouldn't make or break Prince Rupert economically, and may not be worth the risk of an oil spill in the sensitive marine ecosystem. Article content Pond said that, like Eby, he supports the federal moratorium on oil tanker traffic along B.C.'s northern coast.
