Residents of three island communities are girding for upheaval in their economies and in their way of life after learning that the only financial institution in their towns plans to close its branches and remove its automated teller machines.
Coastal Community Credit Union said its branches in Sointula, Alert Bay and Cortes Island are all losing money and will be closed on July 5.
“It’s going to be a huge, huge social impact for us,” said George Speck, senior administrator of the ‘Namgis First Nation on Cormorant Island, where Alert Bay is located.
Members “do a huge amount of cash transactions” through the credit union for activities such as buying groceries, he said.
Loss of the branches means that people, some on limited incomes, will have to ride the ferry to Port McNeill to do their banking, Speck said.
The small ferry-dependent communities worry that people’s shopping habits will shift to larger communities on Vancouver Island, taking local dollars elsewhere. There are also security concerns because businesses will have no credit union night box to deposit cash and cheques.
Once the branches close, only cash-dispensing ATMs, which charge a fee for service, will remain. They are not part of the credit union.
The three threatened branches serve about 2,000 members. Coastal Community Credit Union has 24 branches, about 80,000 members and handles more than $2 billion in assets.
A delegation of residents, including local elected officials, went to Nanaimo on Wednesday for the credit union’s annual meeting in a last-ditch bid to save the branches and their ATMs. They were armed with more than 400 signatures backing a special resolution calling for a July 19 meeting aimed at rescinding the closings.
Alert Bay Mayor Michael Berry, Heidi Soltau, regional director for Sointula with the Regional District of Mount Waddington, and Noba Anderson, regional director for Cortes Island with the Strathcona Regional District, are calling on the credit union to provide financial details of the three branches and to agree to further consultation. “Your decision to withdraw all services does not build healthier communities, and shows a stunning lack of co-operation, innovation and responsiveness to community and your members,” they said in a letter to the credit union.
“We understand that these are difficult financial times. Our communities know this all too well,” the officials said.
“We do, however, expect some degree of more modest continued service.”
Heather Nelson-Smith, chief administrative officer of the Village of Alert Bay, said the closings will have a “devastating effect on our local businesses, our gift stores, grocery store, hair salon, restaurants.” People going to Port McNeill for banking will have time between ferries to do other things, like shopping, “which will in turn devastate our economy.”
Joe Christiano, Coastal Community’s chief community and marketing officer, said the credit union is sticking to its decision to close the branches. “This was a very difficult decision we needed to make. Difficult because of the impact on the people and the communities. This was not something that we took lightly and that our board took lightly.”
The three branches, employing 16 staff, are losing “significant” money and subsidies to those branches were anticipated to increase, Christiano said.
