While the ferry hostages on the Sunshine Coast eagerly await the B.C. government’s long-promised pre-election consultation on a fixed link, the latest Vital Signs survey provides some clear examples of the benefits of being an “unlinked” community.
Mind you, nothing in the survey results should come as a big surprise. The Sunshine Coast RCMP’s detachment commander was only about a month into his posting when he summed up one important aspect of what makes this community different.“People might gripe about the ferry, but the ferry’s a really good thing,” Staff Sgt. Vishal Mathura said in 2014. “It keeps the undesirables out. If there was a road between here and the Lower Mainland, all this community would become is a suburb of Vancouver. It really has a nice feel to it.”
The online survey of 7,000 B.C. residents shows that, compared to the provincial average, we live in a relatively high-trust, low-fear community, where residents are more content, engaged and connected to each other and the natural world.
On the issue of safety, the difference is profound. While the main safety concern province-wide (19 per cent) is a violent attack by a person or persons, on the Coast only three per cent agreed. Instead, 37 per cent here identified wild animals as the main safety concern.
Asked how likely it would be for a neighbour to return a lost wallet with $100 inside, 92 per cent in our region said it was likely, compared to 70 per cent province-wide. That’s a pretty large trust gap.
Comparisons were also striking when it came to sense of belonging. When respondents were asked which community activities they had taken part in during the last 12 months, the Coast scored higher – sometimes much higher – than the provincial norm in eight out of nine categories, including donating to a cause, volunteering and getting involved in a community project, such as a cleanup or garden. The only category in which the Coast scored marginally lower (20 per cent compared to 22 per cent) was attending a faith-based service/activity.
One of the most telling stats in the survey was the number of respondents who listed natural beauty/scenery as the thing they liked most about their community – 62 per cent on the Coast, compared to 36 per cent provincially. Overall quality of life ranked second, but at a rate of 44 per cent on the Coast and 30 per cent for B.C.
Released on the eve of the Thanksgiving weekend, the Vital Signs survey offers a snapshot of the Sunshine Coast as a kind of Mayberry on the edge of the wilderness. We have something special here, for which we should absolutely be thankful. And we should cast a very cold eye on any proposal to change this place in a fundamental way – such as replacing the ferry with a road blasted through the wild spirit places. That’s not what this place is about.
