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[obie1fish]

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/luxury-fishing-lodge-plans-to-reopen-despite-haida-nation-s-covid-19-precautions-1.5011654

[Hike_and_fish]

The closures just seem to delay the enviable. You can not shut this virus out. Its been shown that infection rates are 20x higher than what is stated in cases counts. Shutting down just does what they want it to do and thats to slow the rate of infection so the hospitals can deal with it.  Small resort based communities are just hurting themselves.

[rymack]

Should also be noted that the lodge plans to fly people in directly from Prince Rupert and that this should not affect the town of Masset or any other residents of the Haida Gwaii.

[GordJ]

Interesting, if the lodges fly directly to the lodge and not from a stop in Massett there is no benefit to the economy of Haida Gwaii. And I am assuming that there are no people with homes or family working in the lodges so, once again, no benefit to island economy? The lodges sound like all inclusive resorts that offer almost no benefit to the local residents. Of course, if they do change planes in Massett there is a danger of interaction with the airport staff. Given our history of infecting natives with infectious diseases I can understand their reluctance to interact with this virus.

[RalphH]

so many of their clients come from outside Canada, I am surprised they think they can run the lodges at a profit. Of course we also know the border closure is far more leaky than most people believe. US citizens can enter Canada for business purposes or to transit to Alaska. Once they enter there are no controls on what they do.

[santefe]

Maybe our border agents should direct travellers to Alaska to Bellingham so the can travel via the Alaska State Ferry.

[wildmanyeah]

I think it’s silly for the lodges to start a fight with someone who has veto rights to your foreshore leases.

[Roderick]

Given our history of infecting natives with infectious diseases I can understand their reluctance to interact with this virus.

 That was with diseases that we had resistance to and the natives did not.  With this one, no one has resistance.

[GordJ]

 That was with diseases that we had resistance to and the natives did not.  With this one, no one has resistance.

What is your point? The fact is they were infected and lost up to 80% of their population to disease introduced by foreigners and, just maybe, might tend to be more cautious.

[obie1fish]

Here is the statement made by QCL president Paul Clough. It paints a very different picture:

https://www.queencharlottelodge.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/QCL-Statement-on-CHN-incident-on-July-4-2020-1.png?fbclid=IwAR3vtdxbtwBoyOSdFS42Zd4CtLrhMThCF-KLS_S-RWnotCrajMW5KEPpEYY

It's a very isolated lodge, as are the other lodges that are not opening this year. The impact on local and non-local staff, both First Nation and otherwise, is huge. All groups need to keep their cool and find a reasonable solution.

[Wiseguy]

Where are these guests flying in from? If they are US citizens then they need to have 14 day self quarantine procedures in place.

[obie1fish]

Not sure where the clients are from. Yes, a number of them have been from the states, but also from BC, Alberta, Ontario, as well as other provinces. Many times in the past, different lodges have found new client bases from new locales. As per QCL's letter, they have satisfied all health regs. It's a big lodge, and to run an operation of any size, there needs to be a lot of crossing Ts and dotting Is.

It amazes me how much money needs to go into running a lodge in a regular year. I agree with Ralph that it seems impossible to run a lodge this year without going into the red. Up in Haida Gwaii, many of the lodges get their fuel and major supplies from a barge that visits periodically. The things that are needed immediately as well as consumables like food are flown in on changeover days by plane or helicopter. Maybe it's to run a deficit while maintaining old/ establishing new client bases. Could be many other reasons. I haven't even mentipned the politics, which can get and  has gotten to nasty proportions in the past.

I'm a simple guy who likes things straightforward, and it sickens me when something as pure and fine as angling becomes a game to some people, especially when it is at the expense to the fishery and to others. With this and many other issues, like the southern BC salmon fishery, I feel very disheartened. I just want to fish.

[rymack]

Just a FYI as I used to work at this particular lodge.. Most of the clients are Canadian. When i was last employed there ( 2016) it was something like 75 percent Canadian. They have had a lot of people from Alberta over the years ( some direct flights actually instead of coming from Vancouver).

Also this lodge owns the land it is on so leasing isn't a issue.

They don't typically hire from the local population as the results haven't typically been great ( this was my experience) for a variety of reasons but that being said there is no strict rule to not hire from the local population.

My personal opinion( from the outside looking in not knowing the full scope) is its a very risky plan. If the plan is to not use the Masset hospital then you are relying on flying over to  Rupert if something happens . What happens if there is fog? Middle of the night and Heli's cant fly? they have a doctor on site now full time but that's not a emergency substitute. They are very methodical with logistics and planning ( you have to be up there ) so it wouldn't surprise me if they have mitigating plans for all these issues. Not sure about American guests but I don't know that it should be on the Lodge to screen them. They would in theory be screened at the border and again at the various airports in transit. I would hope that would catch all the Americans that shouldn't be north of the border .

What you also have to realize that many of the people in Masset rely on tourism and fishing in the summer. There are in town lodges and guides that wont be able to circumnavigate the rules like QCL is and I'm sure that's part of this. There are also other lodges with ..deeper roots ..in town that aren't operating that probably aren't too happy about this .

 There is also a movement ,as it seems in all of Canada ,for the Haida Nation to be taking more control of there areas and resources ( including fishing). This seems a bit of a stretch on the salmon front as a majority of the fish that pass by are not destined for rivers on the island(s).

A lot of layers here.

[Roderick]

What is your point? The fact is they were infected and lost up to 80% of their population to disease introduced by foreigners and, just maybe, might tend to be more cautious.

The point is this isn't a FN vs. foreigner thing.  We are all susceptible and should all be cautious. 


BTW according to google, about 400,000 Europeans died from smallpox each year in the 18th century and there were 300-500 million smallpox deaths worldwide in the 20th century alone. And we would ALL still be dying from it if there wasn't a vaccine, also introduced by "foreigners". 


So really "their reluctance to interact with this virus"  has nothing to do with history or being FN, it's just common sense. 

[obie1fish]

Now there are 13 cases in HG. All local residents. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5662600#

The comments section is interesting.