B.C. is changing

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Published: April 14, 1994

VANCOUVER – In the Prairies, rural depopulation is a painful issue we’ve covered frequently.

Small towns struggle to survive as the younger generations move away; families give up farming and move to the cities for jobs; schools and hospitals are closing down or amalgamating with other communities in order to survive.

In British Columbia, farmers, ranchers and orchardists face another challenge: The migration of urbanites into the rural areas.

The changes that took place during the four years since I last drove to Vancouver are obvious: The small communities have grown considerably; where once stood forest, now businesses and homes carve out their presence. Higher up the mountainsides, almost oblivious to the danger of avalanches, are homes and acreages.

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A large kochia plant stands above the crop around it.

Kochia has become a significant problem for Prairie farmers

As you travel through southern Saskatchewan and Alberta, particularly in areas challenged by dry growing conditions, the magnitude of the kochia problem is easy to see.

Talking to people along the way, this is the hot issue: people from Vancouver are moving inland. The people from the interior – such as Vernon and Kelowna – can no longer afford living there, and they’re moving to other regions of the province, such as Cranbrook.

People talk of outrageous house and land prices, and the changing face of their towns. Quiet retirement towns are no longer peaceful. Crime, unemployment, and a restless younger generation have become real problems.

One small town hotel owner said in the last few years she watched all the U-hauls go by: the Easterners packed up their families and all their belongings and made the journey to B.C. They came with no jobs, no homes, no money, just “hope and a prayer.”

They found it wasn’t the land of milk and honey. The message went out: the U-hauls are fewer.

However, B.C. must painfully deal with the long-term problems of an increased population that arrived without the social or economical framework in place to receive them.

About the author

Elaine Shein

Saskatoon newsroom

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