China's Out-of-Control Construction Industry Defies all Logic and Sanity

The Ordos Shopping Mall sits empty, much like the rest of the city that surrounds it.

China's ghost cities aren't going away. Even as Beijing wants local governments to move away from GDP targeting and is more focused on developing social housing, wasteful construction still plagues China.

A report from CLSA's Nicole Wong, cited by The Wall Street Journal, found that the problem lies in the excess supply in China's third-tier cities. Vacancy rates for homes constructed in the past five years stand at 15% but are projected to rise over 20% in 2016-17, according to Wong. The very concept of vacant homes in China is barely fathomable for me.

Rob Schmitz, China correspondent for Marketplace/American Public Media, recently ran a story titled "China's economic boom leaves a trail of ghost cities." We reached out to Schmitz to get an update on Kangbashi and Yujiapu.

Here is an excerpt from our email interview with Schmitz:

Business Insider: How has Ordos changed now from when it first started making headlines a few years ago?

Rob Schmitz: I first visited Ordos in October 2010, the same year many other Western journalists had reported on the city. When I returned this year, there were a lot of interesting differences. Back in 2010, the few people who lived there seemed defensive about the Western media labeling the place a ghost city. This time, everyone I spoke to had come to an acceptance that Kangbashi (the proposed new city of Ordos) was most likely going to remain mostly vacant, and many seemed OK with that.  

Empty street in front of vacant residential complex in the city of Kangbashi, Ordos.

I spoke to one of the largest developers while I was there and he told me that Kangbashi had a population density similar more to a city in Canada or the U.S. than of a city in China, and he thought this was a draw for the city. But my conversations with folks didn't confirm this. I've never seen a city of similar physical size in Canada nor in the U.S. as empty as Kangbashi is today, and most of the people I spoke to during my latest visit didn't seem very happy to be living in a place where most of the buildings were empty.

Another big difference between this time and last was that the Ordos government has moved its headquarters to Kangbashi, so there are more people there during the day around the city's civic center. That said, the government of Ordos has actually increased the size of the city since 2010 by building more skyscrapers and infrastructure including a park with a large lake, three sports stadiums, and a skyscraper office park on the banks of the lake which are under construction.

I walked through a development of more than a dozen 20-story high-rises built adjacent to this office park, and there were no signs of life. The same developer I mentioned above also expressed concern over the fate of three gigantic sports stadiums built specifically for China's 'Ethnic Minority Traditional Sports Games' of 2015 outside of Kangbashi. It was surprising that after being admonished by China's own state-run press, Ordos' government has continued to build at the same rate as it had done before.

Ordos is a province in north-central China, in Inner Mongolia, about 500 km west of Beijing.

Ordos has issued a construction ban to halt any further wasteful projects,
scheduled to go into effect in three years. Before then, the government is
spending hundreds of millions of dollars on three gigantic
sports stadiums for the 2015 Chinese Ethnic Games.

The last difference from last time is that real estate prices in Kangbashi have plummeted since my visit in 2010, and I met dozens of migrant workers who were renting vacant office spaces as apartments for as low as $65 a month. These spaces weren't built to house people, but one office building I visited was full of migrant workers at night, living in windowless office spaces and using an office bathroom down the hall to bathe.

I also visited a government office in charge of mediating disputes between shadow bankers and those who couldn't afford to repay their loans. This is a very big problem in Ordos, as most businesses there would never qualify for a loan from a state bank, and now that the local economy is doing so poorly, many businesses have gone bankrupt. The office was in charge of repossessing whatever assets they could get from those who owed money. Their storage room was full of refrigerators, flat-screen TVs, and shelves full of dozens of bottles of high-priced Baijiu (Rice Wine) which they had seized.

BI: Do the people that you meet in these ghost cities have any plans of returning to their hometowns or are they optimistic?

RS: Many have already returned home. Those who are left are looking to make a little money and then leave when the economy finally fizzles out for good. Keep in mind that nearly twenty miles away from Kangbashi (the largely empty city) is Dongsheng, which is known as the old city, and actually has a functioning economy and population, so many people are watching this unfold from there.

Construction work on Yujiapu, planned to be
"the financial capital of the world,"
has been largely put on hold
(above is an artist's conception)

BI: Some, like Stephen Roach, have argued that these ghost cities can be explained away as part of China's urbanization plan. In your experience, does this add up?

RS: Perhaps some of them can, but for the most part, I don't agree with this statement. While it is true that some cities are filling up – the outskirts of Zhengzhou, which the TV program "60 Minutes" profiled a couple of years ago as a ghost town is a good example of a city that has defied early criticisms – other cities like Ordos do not fit neatly into China's urbanization plan.

Roach uses the Pudong district of Shanghai as an example of a place that was built, stood empty for a while, and then filled up, the message being other empty cities like Ordos just need time. It's important to remember that 1. Pudong was built in the 1990s, before China had even entered the WTO and was on the cusp of more than a decade of double-digit GDP growth. China's economy today is very different. It's slowing down and China's economic planners are taking the first steps to rebalance the economy from one built on investment-led growth to one built on consumer growth. That's not an easy transition to make, especially for an economy of this size, and it's going to require years of slower economic growth. 2. Pudong is in Shanghai, which is strategically located and is home to one of the world's largest ports. Ordos is in the middle of the desert and is running out of groundwater. If it's running out of groundwater while it sits largely empty, how could it survive if suddenly full?

If all of these ghost cities and ghost suburbs were part of a master plan hatched in Beijing by the central government, I'd imagine we'd see more affordable housing, as that's what is needed in China. Instead, most of the housing that's been built in these empty districts are luxury condos and villas. I have a hard time believing people will eventually move into these empty complexes in the next five years, especially in the scenario of a cooling economy. The other thing to keep in mind is that many of this new housing isn't built well, and it's hard to imagine them retaining their value over the time it may take for China's economy to return to its glory days. I think another danger is that once housing prices begin to plummet – which we are already seeing initial signs of in second tier cities in China – it'll devastate the financial stability of cities like Ordos. 

I think it's important to remember, too, that the ghost city phenomenon in China is partially due to how local governments are forced to finance themselves. Local governments in China are in a perpetual cash squeeze because they have to hand over a bulk of their tax revenue to the central government and because the central government often orders localities to build all sorts of infrastructure projects but Beijing often neglects to help with funding. Because the Party owns all of the land in China, local governments solve their funding problems by seizing land from their poorest residents, giving them a paltry sum in return, and then they sell the land to developers, essentially flipping real estate on a massive scale. Of course this has the added benefit of raising GDP figures, increasing the chance that local leaders will be promoted within the Party.

BI: Do you see more Chinese ghost cities propping up? Is it possible that some ghost cities are worse than others?

RS: I think each ghost city/ghost suburb should be treated differently – each of them has its own unique background and circumstances. Some of them will survive – we've already seen that happen in places like Zhengzhou and even in some of the exurbs of Shanghai that have filled out – but many won't. I was talking with Arthur Kroeber at GK Dragonomics a couple of months ago, in my mind one of the best experts on China's economy, and he was telling me about the city of Guiyang and how the province it belongs to, Guizhou, has an 80% debt-to-GDP ratio, which is incredibly dangerous. 

Arthur's usually pretty bullish on China's prospects, but he threw his optimism out the window when talking about the empty suburbs of that city, where hundreds of thousands of apartments sit, empty, while the largely mountainous province continues to plod along as one of China's poorest. The FT's (moving to The Economist soon) Simon Rabinovitch did a great story about all of Guiyang's empty housing, and what's happened there looks pretty scary. 

I think whether we see more ghost cities popping up depends on whether the central government is serious about promises to overhaul the GDP-based local official evaluation system and the way that local governments finance themselves.

BI: What's the most bizarre experience you've had in China's ghost cities?

RS: My first morning in Kangbashi, I woke up and walked through the empty hotel lobby to take a look outside onto the public square. There wasn't a soul in sight, and the first birds of spring were singing outside. The only other sound was Muzak pumping through the speakers from the hotel. As I looked around for any signs of life, I suddenly recognized the song. It was a Chinese version of Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" played with a Chinese erhu.

China's most famous ghost cities

Is the War in Ukraine Over?

Ukraine crisis: Rebels granted self-rule and amnesty

Ukrainian MPs have granted self-rule to parts of two eastern regions, and an amnesty to pro-Russian rebels there.

The law affecting Donetsk and Luhansk regions - which is in line with the 5 September ceasefire - was condemned by some MPs as "capitulation".

Meanwhile, Russia said it needed to boost troops in Crimea - Ukraine's peninsula annexed by Moscow in March.

The rebels in the east have been battling Ukrainian troops since their seizure of a number of towns in April.

Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of backing the separatists with soldiers and heavy weapons. The Kremlin denies doing so.

At least 3,000 people have been killed in the conflict and more than 310,000 internally displaced in Ukraine, the UN says.

A shaky ceasefire has been in place in eastern Ukraine since 5 September

Ukraine is free to adopt any law it wants. But we are not planning any federalism with Ukraine”

Andrei Purgin
Donetsk rebel leader

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian and European parliaments also voted to ratify a major EU-Ukraine association agreement that aims to bring the ex-Soviet republic closer to the EU.

'Ashamed'
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stressed that the legislation giving the special status to parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions for three-years would guarantee the "sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence" of Ukraine, while paving the way for decentralisation.

President Poroshenko said the ratification of the EU deal was a "historic day"

The amnesty affects the rebels, but does not cover the shooting down of the MH17 passenger plane in July.

Western leaders believe rebels shot down the Malaysia Airlines jet with a Russian missile - a charge the rebels and the Kremlin deny.

The legislation means that pro-Russian separatists taken prisoner in the fighting should now be released.

Separatists holding government buildings are now supposed to leave them, hand over captured Ukrainian soldiers and other prisoners and surrender their weapons.

Rebels accused of other "grave" crimes will not be covered by the new amnesty either.

But some Ukrainian lawmakers described the self-rule law as a sell-off of Ukraine in what they see as a war against Russia. Well, it's not like you could actually win a war with Russia. This may be the best possible outcome?

"A capitulation was announced today in this war," Oleh Tiagnybok, the leader of the nationalist Svoboda party, was quoted as saying by the Ukrainska Pravda website.

Andriy Shevchenko, an MP in the Batkivshchyna party led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, said he was "ashamed of this parliament".

He said the law was voted in "a secret regime", violating normal parliamentary procedures.

Meanwhile, Andrei Purgin, a rebel leader in Donetsk, told AFP news agency that the eastern region "no longer has anything to do with Ukraine".

"Ukraine is free to adopt any law it wants. But we are not planning any federalism with Ukraine." I'm not sure everyone is on the same page. It will be interesting to see if anything really changes.

Many rebels are demanding full independence and speak of creating a new state called "Novorossiya", something Russian President Vladimir Putin has also mentioned in speeches.

Mr Purgin nonetheless said the legislation was a "positive signal because it marks Kiev's return to reality".

Historic day
The EU-Ukraine agreement ratified on Tuesday lies at the root of Ukraine's crisis.

A woman shows the damage caused to a hospital
in the village of Novosvitlivka, eastern Ukraine.
The fighting has devastated Ukraine's industrial region in the east near Russia

It was former President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign the deal last November that triggered mass protests and his eventual fall from power.

The votes ratifying the agreement took place simultaneously, with a live video link-up between the parliaments in Strasbourg and Kiev.

Both President Poroshenko and the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, called it a historic day.

The agreement would make Ukraine compliant with EU standards in the areas of human rights, security and arms control, and would remove trade barriers.

But negotiations with Russia last week led to the free-trade part of the agreement being postponed until 2016.

Russia says its market could be flooded with cheap EU goods shipped via Ukraine.

Still, until 2016 Ukraine will maintain its existing restrictions on EU imports, while enjoying tariff-free access to the EU market for its own exports.

In return, Russia has pledged to maintain favourable trade rules in place for Ukraine.


The crisis has already severely hit Russia-Ukraine trade ties, with the two neighbours imposing economic sanctions on each other. Will this agreement help stop the fall of the Ruble, now at a record low against the American dollar - currently at 38.80 rubles per dollar?

Kurds and ISIS Carving up Iraq as US Trained and Supplied Army in Full-Speed Retreat

Iraqi Kurdish forces take Kirkuk as Isis sets its sights on Baghdad

Major oil city is controlled by peshmerga fighters after central government's army abandons posts in a rapid collapse.

Kirkuk province's Kurdish governor Najim al-Din Omar Karim,
in a flak jacket, with a peshmerga commander in northern Iraq.
Photograph: Marwan Ibrahim/AFP/Getty

The crisis in Iraq escalated rapidly on Thursday as Iraqi Kurdish forces took control of key military installations in the major oil city of Kirkuk and the Sunni jihadi group Isis revealed its intention to move on Baghdad and cities in the southern Shia heartland.

Kurdish peshmerga fighters entered Kirkuk after the central government's army abandoned its posts in a rapid collapse during which it lost control of much of the country's north.

Iraq has been fragile since the 2003 US-led invasion and the latest developments have raised fears that it is in danger of splintering along ethnic and sectarian lines. Would that be such a bad thing to carve up the troubled country along ethnic and sectarian lines? I think it would be the best way to a lasting peace.

Iraq has a Shia majority, with a substantial Sunni minority concentrated in Baghdad and the provinces north and west, who have long complained of being disenfranchised. Iraqi Kurds enjoy a large degree of autonomy and self-government in the north-east but have long coveted Kirkuk, a city with huge oil reserves which they regard as their historical capital.

In Kirkuk, truckloads of peshmerga fighters patrolled the streets, but sporadic clashes continued between Kurdish forces and Isis gunmen on the outskirts of the city. A Kurdish minister responsible for regional security forces survived a bomb blast as he drove to the city after visiting peshmerga units in the surrounding region, AFP reported. 

Since Tuesday, black-clad Isis fighters have seized Iraq's second biggest city, Mosul, and Tikrit, hometown of the former dictator Saddam Hussein, as well as other towns and cities north of Baghdad. They continued their lightning advance on Thursday, moving into towns just an hour's drive from the capital.

About 500,000 people have fled Mosul, home to 2 million, and the surrounding province, many seeking safety in autonomous Kurdistan.

Isis's spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, said on Thursday that the group's fighters intended to take the southern cities of Kerbala and Najaf, which hold two of the holiest shrines for Shia Muslims. (ISIS is Sunni).

US officials have said they are considering ways to help the Iraqi government even as it emerged that the Obama administration had rebuffed a secret request from the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to bomb Isis positions.

Reports from Iraq have painted a confused picture of a rapidly developing situation with fighting reported in a number of key locations on Wednesday night and on Thursday, including on the outskirts of the city of Samarra, where government officials said Isis fighters had been driven back.

According to Army Staff Lieutenant General Sabah al-Fatlawi, quoted by Agence France-Presse, "elite forces" backed by air strikes pushed back a "fierce attack by Isis fighters who then bypassed the city heading towards Baghdad". (Hmmm. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.)

Complicating the picture of the past few days were emerging suggestions that other Sunni insurgent groups, including Ba'ath nationalists, supporters of the executed Saddam, had played a role in the series of stunning setbacks for the Iraqi military.

The sudden collapse of the Iraqi army has raised international concerns about a rapidly widening regional crisis that has implications for Iraq's powerful neighbours, Iran and Turkey.

Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, warned in a televised address on Thursday that Iran would combat the "violence and terrorism" of Sunni extremists in Iraq. (Iran is Shia). The foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, offered Iran's support for Iraq's "fight against terrorism" during a phone call with his Iraqi counterpart, Iranian state TV reported.

In Baghdad residents described panic buying and rising fear.

A meeting of MPs called by Maliki to vote on introducing an emergency law was cancelled after insufficient MPs attended. Are they running too?

The Iraqi leader – a Shia whose authoritarian and sectarian policies have been blamed by many as the root cause of the country's crisis – is trying to hold on to power after indecisive elections in April. The mounting sense of anxiety in the capital followed a statement by a spokesman for Isis who said the group had scores to settle with Maliki's government. Yep. They're running.

Hundreds of young men crowded in front of the main army recruiting centre in Baghdad on Thursday after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle the insurgents.

The army of the Shia-led government in Baghdad has essentially fled in the face of the onslaught, abandoning buildings and weapons to the fighters who aim to create a strict Sunni caliphate on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border. For now, at least, but how long before they go for the rest of Syria with more weapons than ever? I don't think Iran or even Turkey are in any real immediate danger. Won't say the same for Jordan - then what? Israel? 

In Tikrit, militants have set up military councils to run the towns they captured, residents said. "They came in hundreds to my town and said they are not here for blood or revenge but they seek reforms and to impose justice," said a tribal figure from the town of Alam, north of Tikrit. 

"They picked a retired general to run the town. 'Our final destination will be Baghdad, the decisive battle will be there,' that's what their leader of the militants group kept repeating."

Tiny First Nation a Remarkable Example to the World

While oil pipeline debates, anti-fracking protests and increasing fossil fuel demands embroil the country from coast to coast, a small Vancouver Island First Nation is leading the way on a different path.

The T’Sou-ke nation has shown us what can be accomplished with long-range planning, something that many democracies avoid for the sake of planning from one election to another. Mind you, they did receive a lot of funding from outside but it looks like the investment is well worth it.

In the past five years, the seaside T’Sou-ke nation has become a world-renowned leader in solar energy. Their projects are the model for others in the capital region and around the province.

The T'sou-ke nation and the village of Sooke are located on the south coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, near the southern-most point of the island.

They also have a massive wind-energy partnership in the works that could augment power for all of Vancouver Island, on a power grid connected to the mainland.

And then there’s the wasabi plantation, an experiment in cash-crop farming that will help bring financial and food security to the community.

These projects and others all stem from a community vision derived to bring members back together and to plan for future generations.

“When we were all involved in developing a collective vision to provide a safe and healthy community we looked far into the future and said, ‘What do we need to start right now to ensure a secure future for our grandchildren’s children?’ ” said Chief Gordon Planes. The answer came in four parts: Energy security, food security, cultural renaissance and economic self-sufficiency.

While the vision was meant for the T’Sou-ke to prosper, its influence has already spread to communities, academics and governments as close as Colwood and as far away as Sweden.

Planes not only welcomes the interest and outreach, he said it’s crucial.

“Education is the key to moving forward in a sustainable way. We all have to do this together — put aside our differences, get in the same canoe and go — time is running out,” he said.

The tiny Vancouver Island First Nation is emerging as a leader in modern clean energy and an example of traditional sustainable living that its residents have embraced for generations.

“This way of living never had a name. It’s just truly been a lifestyle that my ancestors passed on to my grandparents to my parents and now, hopefully, we will be passing on to my children and so on,” said Linda Bristol, a cultural adviser and former chief of the T’Sou-ke First Nation near Sooke.

In recent years, the aboriginal community has taken advantage of new technology to support traditional lifestyle values and help them thrive in a modern world and economy.

In September of last year, T’Sou-ke was the first aboriginal community in the world to be designated a solar community. Solar programs for Colwood, the Capital Regional District and several First Nations around the province are modelled on what T’Sou-ke has done.

The First Nation is also in the process of developing wind power, an income-generating wasabi plantation and revitalization of the seashore. It has attracted academics from around the world to study its successes, offered mentorship to other aboriginal communities and placed an emphasis on culture.

About five years ago, T’Sou-ke decided to come up with a comprehensive community plan to tackle concerns of its members. The first challenge was getting everyone involved in the process, starting with a meeting.

“It wasn’t just a newsletter that went, calls were made and voicemails left saying: ‘We’d really like to see you there,’ ” Bristol said. As a result, the first meeting was well-attended, and followed up with focus groups and visits to people’s homes over dinner to discuss their concerns.

“It definitely did unite the community because everyone put their thoughts on the table,” Bristol said.

What evolved from the meetings was a community plan meant to serve future generations and honour past traditions.

Chief Gordon Planes called it a back-to-the-future approach.

“We all need to go back to traditional values, respecting mother Earth and treating all life as sacred if we are to be successful in going forward in a sustainable way,” Planes said. “When we were all involved in developing a collective vision to provide a safe and healthy community, we looked far into the future and said: ‘What do we need to start right now to ensure a secure future for our grandchildren’s children?’ ”

“Energy security, food security, cultural renaissance and economic self-sufficiency were identified as priorities,” he said.

These four principles are the anchor to all community planning. Bristol described collecting salmonberries, roots and sprouts in the forest and mussels and clams along the shore when she was a child. When the salmon were running, her dad would spear fish for dinner, she said.

“I remember my granny sitting in the smokehouse. That’s where fish were cleaned, split onto wood racks and cured by slow-smoking. Back then, there was only about 50 of us, just five or six houses.”

Today, there are more than 250 members of the band. The small waterfront reserve is surrounded by development. Houses and boat launches dot the adjacent shore, a major highway, bridge and business border the community.

“When you’re small, you look after each other; everyone has their role,” Bristol said. “When you grow so quickly, people are not familiar with this. So there was a momentary disconnect. It took a few years for everybody to relate to each other, but that’s what happened.”

Autonomous energy
The massive sheet of 440 photovoltaic solar panels on the T’Sou-ke reservation looks space-age next to an ancient waterfront shell midden and atop a traditional dugout canoe shelter. The panels provide power for several administrative buildings in the community as well as eight houses. The rest goes back to the grid.

On a sunny day, the excess can be up to 90 per cent of the power produced. The profits from selling the power back to B.C. Hydro offset any power bills during the darker months of the year.

“We call it a net-zero program. Basically, B.C. Hydro acts like a big battery for us, and the extra power gets used elsewhere in the province,” said Andrew Moore, a former architect from London who was hired by the T’Sou-ke First Nation to do communications work but ended up in the core group planning the solar program. He estimates the exchange saves more than $1,000 a year in power bills.

In 2009, T’Sou-ke began the journey to become the largest solar energy-producing community in B.C. A $400,000 grant from the Clean Energy Fund of B.C. was the initial boost, and $500,000 more from various government sources followed.

In addition to the solar panels, solar hot water heating systems were installed on more than 40 homes. Conservation and education programs were started in the community and then opened up to visitors. In 2013 alone, 32 schools toured the solar projects. Students pledged their commitments to the environment on paper leaves posted on the band-hall wall.

There’s an electric-car charging station outside the main office and Moore had his electric bike charging at another one around back.

“The only way we know the power is out in the area is when people from town arrive at the front door with computers and phones to be charged,” Moore said.

These solar projects nabbed T’Sou-ke an official solar-city designation from the Canadian Solar Cities Project, making it the first designated aboriginal solar community and third designated city in Canada. In a September ceremony, Solar Cities executive director Bob Haugen presented Chief Planes with a brass sundial forged at a solar-powered foundry in Nova Scotia.

“T’Sou-ke is so interesting because they often produce more energy than they use and they have solar on so many households,” said Haugen, who operates the non-profit organization from Victoria. “Globally, this shows what so many cities can do with solar power and other clean energy sources. The implications for aboriginal communities that are remote or in the north are huge.”

The provincial government noted the potential in T’Sou-ke’s solar program and invited it to join a mentorship program for remote and First Nations communities in 2010 and 2011.

“The T’Sou-ke First Nation was selected as a mentor community because of their extensive experience in developing and implementing an energy efficiency program — including youth activities around energy efficiency,” said Matt Gordon, spokesman for the Ministry of Energy and Mines. “Peers have the ability to share lessons learned in a more candid and open format.”

Communities receiving mentorship said this type of peer mentorship has saved them money and time, and helped improve the quality of their projects.

The next big energy project for T’Sou-ke moves from the sun to the wind. In October last year, they announced a partnership with TimberWest Forest Corp. and EDP Renewables Canada to develop large-scale wind projects. The $750-million project could generate power for up to 30,000 homes — significant for the Island which gets two-thirds of its electricity from the mainland.

T’Sou-ke will provide some of its traditional territory to house the projects and have partial ownership. The turbines will be far away from any residential areas.

Last February, T’Sou-ke was one of five Coast Salish nations to sign an incremental treaty agreement with the province. This included the return of 120 hectares of Crown land in the Juan de Fuca electoral area, providing for land and development opportunities under their own for the First Nation’s private company, subject to government laws and regulations.

For Chief Planes, these various energy projects are legacy as well as business.


“Power is power. To have control over your own electrical power through the elements, the sun and wind, puts you in a very powerful position in society,” Planes said. “We have developed a strategy that not only makes all our nation’s administration autonomous in power but we are able to support other First Nations and municipalities to go in the same direction.”

Food security

Four-year-old Tessa Routhier carefully hoists a water nozzle over potted marigolds while her grandmother, Denise Routhier, meanders through plant beds pruning dry bits. The toddler clearly knows her way around a greenhouse.

“She was gathering seeds at school the other day,” says her grandmother.

The T’Sou-ke First Nation’s Ladybug Garden and Greenhouse was started in 2008 to harvest fresh produce and herbs for the community but also as a means to preserve native plants and how to find them.

“I remember my aunt would send us out to find things like mint or nettles and make us tea,” said Christine George. She started the garden with a $70,000 aboriginal health grant from the Vancouver Island Health Authority — now called Island Health.

“Now we take youth out on hikes to find things like camas, knotty onions, rosehips and chocolate lilies,” she said. A recent hike went to a cob oven found near the Sooke Potholes.

Community gardeners — young and old — gather all their own seeds and explore secret spots for things like labrador tea and cotton grass. Seasonal workshops include making essential oils and holiday wreaths from local holly.

“We also create booklets for children to identify and name plants in Sencoten, to practise the language,” said George, who is also the band secretary. “I come to the greenhouse on lunch breaks, as much as possible. It’s my passion.”

The garden produces food and herbs that go to weekly community luncheons, meals- on-wheels programs and markets — seven of which took first-place ribbons at the Saanich fair last fall.

Being an oceanside community, the loss of shellfish and salmon has been a huge gap maintaining traditional food practices. There are issues with sewage outfall, and Moore said Sooke doesn’t have the money to redirect drainage away from the river and basin.
He said T’Sou-ke is looking at developing its own treatment plant on-reserve that neighbouring streets could tap into to reduce seepage from old septic fields that finds its way into Sooke Harbour.
They have also entered into a joint project with the Chinese Canadian Aboriginal Development Enterprise to research feasibility of farming oysters and sea cucumbers on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Economic stability
Food is the source of the band’s new and ambitious income-generating project. It plans to produce wasabi commercially as a franchise for Vancouver company Pacific Coast Wasabi. The company already has a greenhouse project in Nanoose Bay.

T’Sou-ke was recently awarded $175,000 from Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development Corp. for the project, which will include building three large greenhouses — likely next to the Ladybug Garden — with the goal of producing half an acre of wasabi a year. The root grows year-round, harvested every 12 to 15 months.

The project comes on the heels of having to let another one go. Last year, T’Sou-ke was offered $1 million from the provincial government to develop energy-saving technology for hothouse greenhouses. A feasibility study revealed that their plan for four acres of greenhouses to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to sell would not even come close to competing with products from California and Mexico.

“Although it was disappointing to give the money back, we find we have a more sustainable product in wasabi, a cash crop which thrives in our West Coast climate without artificial heating or lighting and attracts a high price from an international market,” said Moore.

Worldwide demand for wasabi is at a premium. Fears over radiation levels in Japanese soils after the 2011 earthquake and reactor breach have marred the market. The nasal-clearing stuff served with sushi in restaurants is often a cheaper horseradish paste dyed green. But pure wasabi goes for $70 to $100 a kilogram, a delicacy Islanders might soon be able to find at local farmer’s markets if the project succeeds. There’s also the pharmaceutical exploration of the plant’s anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory affects, something that’s gaining ground in science and popular health fields. Television celebrity Dr. Oz is a big wasabi fan.

“This will not only generate income; it will create new jobs,” Moore said.

Jobs have been proven to be one of the best byproducts of the First Nation’s ventures. Just ask Larry Underwood. He spent 17 years as a mill worker, travelling home to T’Sou-ke from Gibsons and Port Alberni on weekends to be with his family — which includes five kids.

When the solar project began, he found his opportunity to work closer to home and gain expertise in a different field. Now the band councillor is a certified installer and part of the greenhouse project.

“The opportunity for work and training was fantastic. I was commuting back and forth wondering what I was going to do,” he said. “But to be a minute away from work and be part of that big a project was something amazing. It was the biggest thing on our reserve.”

Renaissance of traditional values
While the new technology and income-generating projects will help future generations prosper, the foundation of the community plan is the legacy of culture.
Elder and spiritual leader Shirley Alphonse has a ritual she leads for T’Sou-ke children and youth. They are given a cedar branch to dip into the sea with a blessing for the ocean and everyone it touches around the world.

“They know the routine now; it comes naturally. There’s a respect for our teachings and it connects us to the rest of the world,” said Alphonse, who has shared the exercise with visitors and children from other communities.

Both Alphonse and Bristol are dedicated to preserving cultural knowledge, but see it as something that should be accessible and integrated in everyday life.

Alphonse’s guidance in cultural traditions extends from working with young people at the Ladybug Garden and art projects, such as basket-weaving, to leading youth in smudge ceremonies in traditional territories and even providing spiritual services for the community.

“I realized the power of healing circles after attending one for residential school survivors many years ago,” she said. This led to her calling as a unique spiritual healer. She offers traditional blessings but also serves as a liaison with the Catholic church, at the request of a Victoria bishop several years ago.

Being able to care and help alleviate suffering of others has been a gift, she said.

Bristol helps lead the T’Sou-ke Arts Group, which hosts a weekly crafting night and special workshops on knitting, weaving, carving, drum-making and more.

She also organizes the annual Ista Ya Conenet event, an Amazing Race of sorts where participants go on a scavenger hunt around the Sooke region with clues promoting cultural knowledge.

“We share and offer these things but do not impose them,” Bristol said.

“When they come to us, there is a genuine interest and they are welcomed.”

To learn more about T’Sou-ke, visit tsoukenation.com  

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