The B.C. government and the Vancouver School Board are shifting blame on to each other today over a delay in seismic upgrades to some B.C. schools.
Originally, schools deemed to be at high risk during a major earthquake were expected to be seismically upgraded by year 2020. Now, that deadline has been pushed back to 2030.
Nearly two years ago, the province announced more than $584 million to seismically upgrade 45 high-risk schools. At the time of the announcement, the government said a total of 213 schools have either been completed, are under construction, are proceeding to construction, or have been supported through the School Seismic Mitigation Program.
The most recent report says 126 schools are not yet supported to proceed.
Some of the completed projects include schools in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley, but also on the Sunshine Coast, Sea to Sky, Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii.
WATCH: Are schools ready for an earthquake? As province-wide earthquake drills were held today, questions about spending on seismic upgrades for BC schools. Kylie Stanton reports.
During her announcement in 2013, Premier Christy Clark brought up the deadly earthquake in New Zealand in 2011 and the 2012 earthquake in Haida Gwaii.
“Those are things that remind us every day that we live in an active earthquake zone,” said Clark at the time. “So we have to make sure that we are ready just in case something like that happens here.”
Now, the government says high-risk schools outside of Vancouver will have upgrades done by 2025, but more than 50 Vancouver schools now have a 2030 deadline.
Patti Bacchus with Vancouver School Board says they are disappointed about the news.
There are kids in kindergarten now who can spend their entire school years in seismically high-risk buildings, says Bacchus. We are gambling with the lives of children. That’s unacceptable.
But, education minister Peter Fassbender says it’s not an issue of money. Instead, he blasted the Vancouver School Board for slow and poor project planning.
“What has been an issue is the inability of the Vancouver School Board to bring forward project definitions that are based in good engineering and good science to ensure those projects are done properly and ensuring the safety of students,” says Fassbender.
In a statement from the VSB, board chairperson Christopher Richardson said the district remains committed to the current timelines and is concerned that a revised schedule could put the safety of Vancouver students at risk.
“Our goal is to upgrade all of our schools as soon as possible,” Richardson said.
“We recognize that these projects are very complicated and complex and we trust that the provincial government will continue to work in partnership with us to get this job done.”
The VSB said the district has made significant strides in recent years to push forward seismic projects and the pack of the work in Vancouver is “consistent with that of work in other B.C. school districts.”
The government says some of the delays have to do with a plan to accommodate students during construction. There’s also a question of the project scope and if other maintenance projects should be done at the same time.
“I will say this, at the pace the Vancouver School Board was moving before, it would have taken to 2045 to complete all the projects in Vancouver. That is unacceptable,” says Fassbender.
NDP education critic Rob Fleming said on BC1 this morning he was surprised by the delays.
“The premier was so emphatic just before the election that this was going to be expedited,” says Fleming. “To suddenly slap an extra decade onto when the schools in Vancouver and across B.C. will be completed is inexcusable. I think parents are going to very upset around Vancouver.”
WATCH: NDP education critic Rob Fleming talks about a 10-year delay for some B.C. schools when it comes to earthquake preparedness.
With files from Grace Ke
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