The Kootenay Lake ferry strike is causing considerable financial damage to businesses and workers, according to an East Shore Chamber of Commerce survey.

The report describes supply chain disruptions, a decrease in customers, and loss of work in tourism, retail, trades and professional services.

This resulted in cancelled or delayed business activities, reduced operating hours, staff layoffs and financial losses, some of which exceed $10,000.

On Nov. 3, 80 members of the B.C. General Employees Union  against the ferry operator Western Pacific Marine. The Balfour-Kootenay Bay Ferry to three weekday sailings for essential travel and two on weekends. Passengers services board first, followed by any other passengers until the boat is full.

The economic downturn and the personal dynamics of the strike are impacting mental health in the community, says chamber president Garrett Garbula.

"It's not only financial, but it's just the stress of not knowing," he said.

It's not just a question of wondering when the strike will end, he says. Drivers are uncertain about whether they will be allowed on the ferry, and whether any of the few sailings will be cancelled (there have had several cancellations this year).

They also worry about whether to risk driving on the alternate route of the Kootenay Pass in the winter, and about whether they can keep their employment or contracts on the other side, given the few ferry sailings per day. They wonder how they will pick up their prescriptions in Nelson.

Adding to the stress are the strained relationships within the community, between union workers and people with differing opinions about the strike. 

"I think this has put people in a pretty vulnerable emotional state," Garbula said. "It's really weighing a lot of people down. You feel trapped, you feel abandoned, a lot of those emotions, right? And angry. People don't understand why we've been thrown under the bus like this."

Megan Rokeby-Thomas, a chamber board member and the owner of Ladybug Coffee at the Kootenay Bay ferry landing, says the strike has caused her to cut her restaurant business hours, lay off a full-time employee, and run up a significant credit-card debt. 

"I'm hoping the summer will let me pay that off, but we'll see. I built a great big building over here. I've got to make this work."

Garbula runs a courier service, Eastshore Express, and much of his business is driving to Nelson and picking up goods and groceries for seniors. Because he also picks up prescriptions  91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ“ there is no pharmacy on the East Shore 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ“ he is able to be deemed an essential service on the ferry. But his business is still hampered by the limited number of sailings.

During the strike there is only one afternoon sailing from Balfour in the afternoon, at 4:30 p.m. This is too late for some workers, and too early for others, especially part-time workers. Rokeby-Thomas says she knows one person who lost their job because of ferry sailings not lining up with their work hours 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ“  there are no sailings between early morning and late afternoon.

Rokeby-Thomas says many trades people are trying to avoid working on the other side of the lake because of this uncertainty. Anyone running a construction job on the East Shore can't get west shore workers because those workers are faced with similar uncertainty.

"So nobody's hiring," she says. "Nobody's spending any money. Everyone's scared."

Many artisans and others who depend on Christmas markets had their earnings reduced to near zero. 

Rokeby-Thomas said she knows people who have moved, and others who are considering it, especially seniors who do not have a reliable way of getting to and from medical appointments or the hospital in Nelson. 

Garbula said even though the strike could end soon, it could happen again, and this adds another level of uncertainty.

"If we can have our access taken away like this," he says, "it's maybe not the best place to raise a family." 

The community, they added, feels ignored and abandoned by governments.

"I think people are giving up, because we're feeling like nobody is hearing us," says Rokeby-Thomas. "We really need more support from the government, and we're all pushing for MLA Brittany Anderson and the Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Labour to get involved."