North Islanders are frustrated with BC Ferries over vessel downgrade
Published 9:45 pm Thursday, November 27, 2025
Port McNeill and Alert Bay elected officials and residents alike are frustrated with the temporary replacement ferry serving the routes of the communities.
On Oct. 14, the decommissioned Quadra Queen II was brought back into service to replace the Island Aurora. The changed reduced capacity on the route from 47 vehicles to 26 per trip.
The lack of space has left people stranded, late for work or appointments, and car-less on the wrong side of the water.
ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation elected Coun. Ernest Alfred says tensions are growing and people are getting frustrated.
“The Quadra Queen is too small and cannot accommodate all our communities’ daily needs. Medical appointments have been missed, teachers and students are delayed or missing school, businesses and local economies are impacted,” he told the Gazette. “The Quadra Queen is much smaller, therefore crews are having to load vehicles a lot more carefully, but slower, resulting in chronic delays.”
Alfred says riding in the ferry does not feel safe and that passengers have described the conditions of the ferry as cramped. People can not exit their vehicles due to these conditions.
“What if an Elder or a child needs to use the restroom?” he asked.
Port McNeill Mayor James Furney says the three communities of Sointula, Alert Bay and Port McNeill are very intertwined with each other. He says the ferry is the glue that keeps them all together.
“This cutting in half our service to 50 per cent while taking our usual boat and substituting it on to the Quadra to Campbell River tun to keep that service at 100 per cent is penalizing our three communities,” he said. “The fair option would have been to retain our service at 100 per cent and put the smaller Quadra Queen II on that run, which is also served by a full-sized island class vessel. That would result in a 75 per cent delivery of service to their community. A missed ferry on that route equates to a 20 minute extra wait, whereas a missed ferry on the Tri-island route results in over a three hour wait.”
Michelle Jensen, a daily commuter on the Malcolm Island-Port McNeill-Alert Bay route and a resident of Sointula, published an open letter to BC Ferries on Nov. 20 on Facebook.
“The recent vessel replacement has resulted in a level of service that is neither reliable nor adequate for the needs of our communities,” she wrote. “Since the replacement, the vessel assigned to this route has insufficient capacity to handle the regular volume of passengers and vehicles.”
As a result, she wrote, commuters are experiencing frequent overloads, significant schedule delays caused directly by these overloads, which have forced some passengers to wait three or more hours for the next sailing, additional delays due to weather, refueling, and other operational limitations, and unpredictable travel times.
“These issues are not occasional inconveniences; they are daily, ongoing disruptions. For commuters, this has a real and measurable impact on employment, scheduling, and overall well-being,” she wrote.
Jensen’s open letter included four requests of BC Ferries, which included a review of the Quadra Queen II’s assignment to the route, reinstating a vessel with the sufficient capacity to meet commuter and resident demand, addressing operational reliability concerns created by the Quadra Queen II’s limitations, and provide clarity on what steps will be taken to restore consistent, dependable service.
Gaby Wickstrom, former Port McNeill mayor and COO and interim CEO of the ‘ʼNa̱mǥis Business Development Corp., also published a letter to BC Ferries on Facebook on Nov. 20.
“Your decision to put the smaller Quadra Queen II vessel on the Port McNeill, Sointula and Alert Bay run for six months is not working,” she wrote. “We have commuters, teachers, health care professionals, construction workers with equipment, and a plethora of other activities that are severely hampering the movement of traffic on and off the islands.
Elected officials, First Nations and other interested parties pled with you in a meeting to find another solution. We ask politely if a vessel could be taken from the Campbell River area and the QQ2 would be used there inconveniencing every other run, but you were firm with your no.”
Wickstrom told the Gazette that in Sointula, commuters and contractors have to get in the line up the night before to make sure they get on the ferry. In Port McNeill, sailors need to be in the line immediately following the ferry that sails to Sointula.
“This not only increases the regular traffic, but can limit traffic due to weight restrictions from thins like dump trucks and cement trucks,” she said.
Further more, Wickstrom says she has heard people have lost their employment due to the ferry’s schedule and lack of capacity.
“How can we make progress in an economically dying region if we cannot go to work?”
Wickstrom also reiterated that the Quadra Queen II should be sent to the Campbell River to Quadra Island route.
Alfred also mentioned the idea of Quadra Queen II being sent to the Campbell River and Quadra route and reinstating the Island Aurora as the solution. He also said BC Ferries should bring back the Community Advisory Board and meet with community leaders.
“We once had a community advisory committee that would meet regularly to discuss and consult with community leaders to resolve any issues of concern,” he said. “The advisory board was simply dissolved some time ago. Chiefs, mayors and community members have expressed concerns prior, but those have fallen on deaf ears.”
Alfred did say that the crew of the Quadra Queen II are doing the best job possible and thanked them.
“We realize the issue is in the hands of BCF management, and this situation is not the fault of ferry workers,” he said. “We ask for everyone’s patience while we seek solutions.”
Wickstrom agreed that the public is struggling with the lack of consultation with BC Ferries.
“We feel for the staff that had no input and now have to deal with upset customers, though we really do try not to take it out on them. We met with BC Ferries in the spring to discuss Quadra Queen II coming for six months. They did not listen to our concerns and the meeting was simply to tell us what would occur, not how they might share the Quadra Queen II with other regions.”
A BC Ferries spokesperson told the Gazette they have heard the concerns raised by customers, Nations, and local leaders, and that they had been in contact as the vessel is a temporary change has been implemented.
“Their feedback is important in helping us understand the day-to-day impacts on commuters, healthcare travel and essential services, and it continues to inform where we can make short-term adjustments,” said the spokesperson.
The Island Aurora, they say, was deployed to the Campbell River-Quadra route (and soon to Naniamo-Garbriola Island) while the Island Class vessels serving those routes are in mandatory refit.
“The Island Aurora is the only vessel in the fleet that can safely operate and meet capacity need on the other two Island class routes whose vessels are in refit. The Quadra Queen II cannot serve those routes as it can’t accommodate the significantly higher passenger volumes. It also does not fit in all terminals and does not meet the operating and crew requirements other routes demand. That leaves Route 25 as the only location where the Queen Quadra II can currently be deployed while still maintaining service across the system,” the spokesperson said. “The fall and winter refit period stretches the fleet, and we don’t yet have the vessel resilience needed to keep Island Class vessels in place on all routes year-round. There are system-wide constraints during refit season, and each vessel move has ripple effects across multiple routes.”
According to the spokesperson, BC Ferries has coordinated priority loading through the appropriate regional health authorities and through other essential service providers. Furthermore, if an event such as a potlatch is to take place, BC Ferries says it has offered to work with the community to accommodate travel, including completing an additional trip or scheduling water taxi service if necessary.
“The recent schedule adjustment is intended to improve reliability while the Quadra Queen II is operating, and we’ll continue to work with the community to help reduce impacts where possible – including providing supports for foot passengers with accessibility needs during the refit period.”
BC Ferries also says this is the last year Route 25 will face this kind of disruption.
“We appreciate the patience of the communities during this challenging period and will continue to work with local leaders throughout the relief vessel assignment until the Island Aurora returns,” said the spokesperson.
