Safety and Emergency Tips

Emergency 911

In emergency situations, you can contact the local police, ambulance service, fire department and other emergency services by calling 911.

Hearing, Speech, Seeing or Reading Impairment

Services are available at the Western Institute for Deaf and Hard of Hearing at (604) 736-7391 (voice) and (604) 736-2527 (TTY). Telus 24-Hour Message Relay Centre Voice: 1-800-855-0511; TTY: 711. 

Voice Print Canada is a broadcast reading service for people who are ‘print-restricted’. VoicePrint’s Local Broadcast Centers make community news and information available with recordings of the stories from local newspapers. The recordings are by volunteers who post the recordings on the Voice Print Canada web page for everyone. Visit Voice Print Canada and click the Local Broadcast Centre link for the community nearest you. Your Windows Media Player automatically plays the audio for you.

If you have access to cablevision, you can also hear VoicePrint on the SAP, secondary audio program, of CBC NewsWorld. Simply dial up the CBC NewsWorld channel, push the MTS/SAP button on your TV remote and the VoicePrint audio will become the sound on the channel.

Hospital & Medical Services

Visitors are advised to obtain health insurance before coming to Canada. Check your policy; many health insurance plans only provide partial coverage for services rendered outside the borders of the policy holder’s country of residence. Visitors taking prescribed medications should bring a copy of their prescriptions in case they must be renewed by a doctor in Canada.

Tourist Alert

The news media and many tourist facilities co-operate with the RCMP in the Tourist Alert program to communicate urgent messages to visitors. If you see or hear your name, please phone the number given.

Wheelchair Accessibility

Information can be obtained from the BC Paraplegic Association at 1-877-324-3611 or 604-324-3611 or visit their web site.

Wildlife Tips and Bear Safety

When travelling or camping in British Columbia, wildlife sightings can add an exciting and beautiful wilderness experience. People come from around the world to catch a glimpse of wild animals in their natural habitat, so if you have the good luck to catch sight of an animal, consider yourself lucky and enjoy the moment. However, to prevent your sighting from becoming an encounter, never feed and always keep your distance from wildlife. Remember that British Columbia's wildlife is wild, and that means unpredictable and easily startled.

It is an offence under the Wildlife Act for a person to feed bears, cougars, coyotes or wolves. This includes leaving foods, food waste or other substances with the intent of attracting them.

Outside of urban areas, bears are fairly common. Although amazing and beautiful in the wild, they become a dangerous nuisance around campsites. To avoid drawing bears into your camp, make sure that you don't attract their strong sense of smell. Leaving food out at night is perhaps the easiest way to invite one to come nosing around, so the best preventative measure is to see that all food is sealed and locked inside your vehicle.

It is important to know that no two bear encounters are ever the same. Because of this, even the experts disagree on how to deal with a close encounter. The most common advice is to stay calm, speak soothingly and back slowly away from the animal. You don't want to startle any wildlife. British Columbia's backcountry enthusiasts will tell you that this is good advice, but warn you not to become "bearanoid" or fearful of bear sightings.

If you walk in groups, it's easy to avoid catching a bear by surprise. It can hear your voices long before you see it and will most often disappear into the bush long before you arrive on the scene. In place of talking, some hikers attach tiny bear-bells to their packs. The steady jingling carries well and saves breath on steep climbs, but don't believe anyone who says a handful of gravel in an empty pop can is any less effective.

For their size, bears are surprisingly timid animals. This is what makes them such an amazing creatures to see in the wild. By giving them respect, plenty of room and by never feeding them, a bear sighting offers one of British Columbia's most serene and beautiful moments.