It’s been a year where life unravelled before our eyes. From the start, the calamities of the world seemed to touch everyone at once. A passenger jet shot down over Iran sends friends and family reeling in Coquitlam; an unnamed virus in a little known Chinese city triggers a global pandemic, sending most of the humans on the planet into lockdown. By summer, the death of another black man at the hands of police sparks worldwide protest, marking an inflexion point in the long march towards racial justice; and a series of extraordinary wildfires blanket millions in the ashes of entire ecosystems.
What can we take away from such profound changes? Who do we turn to when life as we know it is upended? And how do we respond when we’re asked to step up and meet a moment not seen in generations?
The photographs in this collection capture how three cities — Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody — coped with those questions over a turbulent 12 months.
JANUARY
“We are challenged with preparing you for a future that we don’t even know how it looks and for jobs that haven’t been invented yet.”
BARTEL: Great Canadian Sportscard Co. endures because of their passion and recognition that the hobby should be as much about preserving memories as finding value.
“I thought, ‘It can’t be his plane. Not him. Let it be someone else.’”
BARTEL: Who knew the wildfires in Australia would only be the beginning of a series of crises that would touch every country on the globe?
BARTEL: For the introduction of a new Rapid Bus service between Coquitlam and Maple Ridge, we were stuffed into a sweaty articulated bus with barely room to turn around. So it was only good fortune that gave me a clear line to TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond as he chatted with some of the guests and tried to keep his balance.
FEBRUARY
"We are here and we have stopped the trains. That is already significant. That is already a small victory. With every minute that passes, with every hour that passes, and every day that passes, that means our solidarity with Wet'suwet'en is stronger and more effective and that is what it is all about." — ORGANIZER
BARTEL: How to shoot a baseball player on a grey, gloomy day before the season starts? Get him doing what every kid who's ever played the sport does: slap the ball into his glove.
LABBÉ: The coronavirus pathogen had spread to dozens of countries around the world, shutting down entire economies and pushing hospitals to their limits. Overseas, people started raiding grocery store shelves, and here in B.C., health officials warned people to stock up on a month’s supply of food. With a public health crisis on the horizon, I thought, 'Who can best teach us how to ration?'
MARCH
LABBÉ: The first few cases of COVID-19 have arrived in B.C. On the cusp of lockdown, whether the annual celebration would go forward was an open question. In the end, the 2020 Festival du Bois would be the last public event we'd cover for months.
LABBÉ: By now, we're all under near lockdown. To make matters worse, colleague and fellow photographer Mario Bartel is forced into quarantine after his family returns from the U.S. The marathon begins.
"I can't believe it's come to this." — Benaz Taali.
LABBÉ: This story started my reporting on local doctors. During the spring height of the pandemic, they would take on double shifts to set up and run a handful of specialty clinics, act as a stop-gap in COVID-19 testing and eventually speak out as whistleblowers when the health authority failed to respond.
APRIL
BARTEL: The first few weeks of covering the pandemic (finally out of quarantine) were about isolation and solitude, a unique situation at a normally bustling little gym that had been forced to conduct its workouts online. Over the coming months, fitness facilities would suffer tremendously as they were identified as high-risk sources of transmission.
"This is a pandemic solution," said Woods. "It’s like running two clinics at the same time."
“My whole world is going upside down,” said one worker's daughter.
MAY
“Your voice has been singing for all these years, your legs are used to doing all these moves,” he said. “I’m older, but I’m not done.”
“I think this is what it’s like to be rich, but without the money,” he said. “I can do whatever I want, when I want, with no consequences except to make sure you have toilet paper and groceries.”
“We could run this thing five days a week,” said Dr. Wong. “It’s like an orphanage.”
LABBÉ: Thousands of people flocked to White Pine beach in Port Moody in the second week of May, as soaring temperatures and the urge to get out of the house proved too much for many who had been in self-isolation since March. And while it's hard to gauge, most groups appeared to be heading the two-metre cougar rule.
“Instead of moping around about it, this is an opportunity,” he said. “Let’s not let this get us down.”
“They need human companionship. They need human touch. Time is running out for him and me.”
LABBÉ: Keith Kamizato lives for two things in this world: sushi and hardcore heavy metal. I knew this when I walked into Sushi K Kamizato in May. Still, I couldn't stop marvelling — and smiling to myself — at how the former base player had turned his haunt into an unlikely shrine combining the thick sound of metal and traditional Japanese cuisine.
JUNE
“It’s from the Scottish Highlands — we’re tough. We can take a little rain, we can take a pandemic. We took two world wars.”
JULY
“This fist that you’ve been seeing, this is a sign of solidarity. This means to rise up, to defend. Not that we want to harm white people, that we want to eradicate people. We want to be able to exist in the same way white people can, too." — Emma Kiwanuaa.
“It’s something that life will give back one day. Maybe not today, but tomorrow... Right now, it’s time to help, not time to cry.” — Carlos Hernandez
“Everyone has a hard time accepting food. It was the pandemic that brought us together.” — Volunteer
“Nope, this baby is coming right now.”
LABBÉ: You could tell the kids were nervous waiting for class to start. The first day of high school can be hard at any time, but throw in a global pandemic and the mix of angst and excitement goes through the roof.
“When you’re not in it, it’s smoke. Listen to the heartbreaking stories and actually digest what’s being lost to try and remind yourself of why it matters.”
OCTOBER
LABBÉ: Since Amanda Todd's death, her mother, Carol, has led a relentless campaign for social action, something that took on renewed urgency during the COVID-19 pandemic because of fears of what the Internet can do to young minds. In October, in time for World Mental Health Day, Carol led a campaign to have cities around the world illuminate buildings in purple lights.
NOVEMBER
“I just won the lottery. I’m so relieved. It’s just amazing.”
DECEMBER
“It overwhelmed the small hospital. The same can happen in any city or any place in British Columbia.”
"We had to do something," said one elf.
*None of these photographs would have been possible without the communities of the Tri-Cities who, when tested, came together and shared their stories. From our entire newsroom, thank you.
Credits:
STEFAN LABBÉ, MARIO BARTEL