'We will stay here': Protesters vow to block Legionnaire from leaving Bell Island

Protesters were still at the ferry dock on Bell Island Monday morning, blocking thedeparture of the MV Legionnaire to work on the FogoIsland and Change Islands service.

The MV Flanders is operating on a "load and go" basis while the protest continues.

• Bell Islanders protest ferry swap withFogo
• Ferry swap: Legionnaire moving from Bell Island to Fogo until January

"We are accepting no concessions of any kind. We want the Flanders to go to Fogo, who are quite willing to take it. We want the Legionnaire to be here with the Beaumont Hamel, and we are accepting nothing less,"Valerie Ryan, resident and protest organizer, said.

"We will stay here. We will bar the ramp until we are physically removed."

On Friday, the Department of Transportation and Works announced the new $50-million vessel will be reassigned from Bell Island for several months while the FogoIsland ferry, the MV Veteran, is out for repairs.

Bell Island residents say the change leaves them with two ferriesthat have much less capacity than the Legionnaire, which MHA David Brazil, who represents the protesters, saidcould have been avoided if all parties hadbeen properly consulted.

"This is not to pit one community against another. There should have been an easy fix to this. There should have been a dialogue, a meeting called between the two ferry users committees," he told the St. John's Morning Showon Monday.

"What happened was the officials from the department made a call to a couple of people on the ferry users committee and the mayor and said 'not onlyare we taking this [ferry], but here's the schedule we're giving you to replace it with'."

Government response

Transportation and Works Minister Steve Crocker said "a fiscal reality" is one of the reasons for sending the Legionnaire to the Fogo Island-Change Islands route.

"The reality is we're offering 18 runs starting at 5 a.m. and that would cost the province throughout the duration if this lasted until early in the new year approximately $54,000," he told reporters on Monday.

Doing what Bell Island protesters want would cost $200,000, he said.

Crocker said the Bell Island route needs two vessels.

"Thereality is Fogo doesn't have the same commuter issues that you'd find on Bell Island," he said.

Crockersaid one person who needed dialysis was airlifted to the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's when protests preventing the vessel from sailing.

He saidthe elevator onboard the Flanders is expected to be repaired by Tuesday at noon.

A meeting between Crocker, the mayor of Bell Island and residents had been expected to take place at 3:30 p.m. Monday.

A previous statement from the Department of Transportation and Works said it discussed alternative arrangements with the ferry user committees, and that all parties came to an agreement.

Brazil said an RCMP negotiator was set to go to Bell Island on Monday, to try tosee if there's some way to end the protest.

The MHA said his constituents understand that people on Fogo Island need a ferry service too, but the government is not listening to him or people in the area when it comes to their concerns about scheduling.

Unacceptable commute times

With the current swap, capacity would be downgraded by about 40 per cent, according to Brazil. He says that'sespecially troubling during the morning hours when people have to commute to the St. John's area for work and medical appointments.

In many cases, he said Bell Islanders are now forced to go down to the ferry terminal more than two hours in advance to get in line, and even then there's no guarantee they will get on the ferry on time.

Brazil met with officialsfrom the transportation department to see if the Flanders, which can accommodate double the walk-on passengers and 30 percent more cars than the Beaumont Hamel, could service those morning hours.

After themeeting, he said department officials said they would try towork things out but ultimately did little to address his suggestion.

"They wouldn't even entertain it," he said."The most frustrating part is I spent all of yesterday back and forth with officials, being led on."

Unrealistic arrangement

"There's a number of alternatives that we presented to government that were never presented to the people of Fogo and never any dialogue between the two groups. There was an imposed schedule here that realistically couldn't work. It obviously says the officials are not cognizant of what's going on."

Another issue that's aggravating the situation is the fact that the elevator is currently broken on the Flanders, which could create an emegency situation ifsomeone with a medical emergency can'tmake the ferry crossing.