A recent tragedy in Nitinaht has highlighted the inadequacy of signage to the village, as many travelling to be with loved ones became lost in the complicated web of logging roads to the remote community on southwest Vancouver Island.
The Ditidaht First Nation is calling on the provincial government and others that manage the 70-kilometre route from Port Alberni to Nitinaht to improve signs marking the way. The difficulty for those unfamiliar with the area in finding the community became apparent after an incident on Sept. 28, which left a young man dead and a first-degree murder charge for another individual. A heavy police presence flooded into Nitinaht that morning, after Lake Cowichan RCMP responded to a call before 7 a.m., in which a deceased man was found in a home. An arrest was soon made afterwards when multiple police units arrived in Nitinaht.
As the community struggled to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy, at least three vehicles with those travelling to be with loved ones got lost on the way to Nitinaht, according to the Ditidaht First Nation.
“They missed the left turn at the four-way stop junction at Mainline Carmanah and Bamfield Main Road at Franklin River, continuing straight and inadvertently ending up in Bamfield instead of Nitinaht,” stated the First Nation in a media release. “As the community mourned, the uncertainly of the overdue arrival of family members only compounded the worry and deep grief.”
There are countless turn offs along the route, branches of logging roads that can be difficult to follow for those new to the area.
“This issue extends beyond one junction,” continued the Ditidaht First Nation. “There is also confusion at Hawthorne Main Road, where signage arrows direct traffic to stay left, misleading drivers up a logging road branch. Visitors unfamiliar with the area have taken this wrong turn, resulting in them being lost for hours, which could have life-threatening consequences in emergency situations.”
The road to Nitinaht is not a provincially regulated highway, but a series of logging roads with a fragmented ownership shared by the provincial government and forestry companies operating in the area. Despite its rugged quality intended for industrial use, for weeks the route became a detour for essential traffic over the summer of 2023. This was an emergency measure to ensure transport when a forest fire at Cameron Lake shut down Highway 4 – central Vancouver Island’s only direct land passage to the west coast. Temporary signs were installed to clarify the detour route between Port Alberni and Lake Cowichan, but these have since been removed.
In November of last year Ditidaht Chief Councillor Judi Thomas brought the issue to Rob Fleming, who was the province’s minister of transportation and Infrastructure at the time, during the B.C. Cabinet and First Nations Leadership Gathering in Vancouver. She plans to continue to press the matter.
“Clear and proper signage is not just a convenience – it’s a matter of safety and accessibility,” stated Thomas in the Ditidaht release. “The loss of a young life, followed by family members getting lost while trying to reach our community in a time of crisis, underlines how critical these improvements are. We urge the provincial government and industry to take immediate action."
