After two months of job growth, B.C. lost 4,100 jobs in June and, with more people looking for work, the unemployment rate jumped to 8.1 per cent.

Forestry, fishing and mining continued to shed jobs, but the biggest shift was the service sector, in which most of the net job loss for the province took place.

Gains were made in information, culture and recreation employment, as well as finance, insurance, real estate, health care and social-assistance jobs.

The North Coast-Nechako and Cariboo regions had the largest job loss of about 10 per cent, while Thompson-Okanagan jobs were down 7.8 per cent.

Kootenay, which had near-record low unemployment of 2.5 per cent in June 2008, saw its unemployment rate climb to 8.7 per cent a year later.

The Vancouver Island-Coast region has lost 3.1 per cent of its workers in the three months up to June, but its unemployment rate of 6.6 per cent is now the lowest in the province.

Continued job losses pushed the unemployment rate to 7.3 per cent in B.C.’s most populous region — Mainland-Southwest.

Management and administration jobs were down 7.1 per cent, public administration down 5.3 per cent and transportation and warehousing jobs were down 4.1 per cent for the month, according to Statistics Canada’s labour force survey.

* Provincial park renamed

Brooks Peninsula Provincial Park, the second-largest protected area on Vancouver Island, has been renamed according to local aboriginal tradition.

The park is now known as Muqin/Brooks, the word Muqin meaning “the Queen” in the Nuu-Chah-Nulth language.

The name-change agreement follows federal ratification of the Maa-Nulth treaty, reached with five aboriginal groups on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Co-management of protected areas has been a key feature of modern treaty negotiations, notably on the Queen Charlotte Islands, now popularly known as Haida Gwaii, with large portions converted to national park status under Haida control.

“This agreement is intended to foster a strong foundation for the collaborative management of all the parks and protected areas within the traditional territories of the Che:k’tles7et’h’ peoples,” said Environment Minister Barry Penner, using the traditional name of one of the Maa-Nulth treaty groups.

Muqin/Brooks is a unique part of B.C., a region that mainly escaped glaciation during the last Ice Age and retains rare plant species from the tide line up to the mountains.

* Mexican, Czech

visits restricted

A surge in refugee claims has prompted the Canadian government to place visa requirements on visits from Mexico and the Czech Republic.

Effective July 14, Mexican and Czech nationals require a visa to travel to Canada.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said refugee claims from Mexico have almost tripled since 2005, making it the number-one source country for claims.

In 2008, Canada received more than 9,400 Mexican refugee claims, one-fourth of the total for the year.

The Immigration and Refugee Board rejected nine out of 10 claims.

Ottawa lifted the visa requirement on Czech Republic visitors in October 2007.

Since then, nearly 3,000 refugee claims have come from the European country, compared to fewer than five in 2006.

“In addition to creating significant delays and spiraling new costs in our refugee program, the sheer volume of these claims is undermining our ability to help people fleeing real persecution,” Kenney said.

“The visa process will allow us to assess who is coming to Canada as a legitimate visitor and who might be trying to use the refugee system to jump the immigration queue.”