Many students—myself included—were shocked and displeased with Camosun College’s decisions during the recent snowfall.
On Wednesday, January 17, Victoria residents woke to the gentle falling of snow—but by 10 am, the snow wasn’t so gentle. This was completely in line with what had been forecast by various weather networks. This wasn’t a surprise fall, which is why Camosun’s course of action throughout it was disappointing.
Snow is a big deal in this town. While our friends in other provinces across Canada laugh that we’re wimps about the cold, the fact of the matter is the southwest coast of BC is simply not equipped to handle a snowstorm. In one of the most mountainous regions of the country, even relatively flat areas are often on a slope, and snow is an infrequent enough occurrence that many people forego winter tires completely. Our infrastructure goes toward handling the massive amounts of rain we receive every year, and thus our city’s snow plan goes on the back burner.
All this points to several very good reasons why Victorians pay close attention to the weather when it starts to get cold, and most pack up and stay home if they can.
Despite the advance warning we all received of the oncoming storm, Camosun (and other post-secondary institutions across the island) weren’t prepared. On the first day of snow the school announced that it would remain open. Many were skeptical about this move, watching the snowflakes grow larger in both size and numbers. Living rurally and over an hour away, I decided it would be too dangerous to get to school; I only had one class and there was nothing that day I would lose marks on.
Many other students weren’t so lucky.
Not wanting to miss out on tests, group presentations, or assignments which had to be handed in in person, they trekked through the snow.
Teachers, likewise, not wanting to let their students down, braved the weather. Support staff, cafeteria personnel, librarians, counsellors, every worker it takes to operate two campuses, all followed through on their obligations to be here. Some made it just in time for the school to close.
Just before noon, Camosun decided the conditions were simply too dangerous to travel in and they shut down both Lansdowne and Interurban campuses.
The only problem was that so many students had already travelled to be here, and now they were stuck here.
As buses slid across the road and struggled to get passengers home, cars travelled at 20 kilometres an hour and pedestrians slipped and shivered. Visibility was poor, risk of accidents increased significantly, and the entire situation was completely preventable.
I understand that weather predictions are often unreliable, so the situation would be more sympathetic if the college hadn’t done the exact same thing the next day.
After a massive snow pile-up, Camosun announced that the campus was open on Thursday, January 18, then shut it down shortly before noon. By Talos! Who could have foreseen that outcome?
This wasn’t a rainfall warning or a wind warning (two types of weather Victoria is used to shouldering). This was a snowfall warning, and assuming that the decision-makers at Camosun live in the same city as the rest of us, they should have known what that meant and the risks associated.
The way they handed this was irresponsible and damaged trust in the institution’s ability to respond to even the most minor of crises.