Pender Harbour residents are demanding meaningful consultation on the dock management plan released last month by the provincial government and shíshálh (Sechelt) First Nation.
About 300 people packed the community hall in Madeira Park on Saturday, May 2 for the first meeting to discuss the draft plan that would end a 10-year moratorium on dock construction but introduce new restrictions and limit or remove the ability of landowners to have docks in some areas.
Pender Harbour Advisory Council president Steve Luchkow, who is part of a working group spearheading the community’s response to government, announced a pair of minor victories — the May 11 deadline has been extended by 30 days, and the province has agreed to hold a meeting in Pender Harbour to answer residents’ questions about the plan. An April 11 open house that drew about 400 people was frustrating for many who attended, Luchkow said, as no formal presentation was made and there were “probably very few opportunities to get answers that were satisfactory.”
In its preliminary comments on the draft plan, the working group blasted the document, calling it “costly, burdensome, unworkable and unfair,” and lacking “reason, science and evidence” to justify the conditions it would impose on the foreshore. With Pender Harbour’s unique reliance on water access, the plan “clearly does not respect the historical rights of the waterfront property owners.”
The overriding complaint, however, was the lack of input from the people directly affected by the plan, who “have waited over 10 years and have a right to be heard with respect to this important issue.”
The same message was delivered at the meeting.
“The reason we’re here is because we didn’t get due process,” said Bill Charlton of Gun-boat Bay, one of the areas in which no new docks would be allowed.
“This issue is way more than just docks,” he said. “This issue is all-encompassing. It goes right to the heart of democracy and our rights, whether you want to call it property rights or any other right that you think you might have.”
Charlton received one of the most enthusiastic rounds of applause at the meeting when he wound up: “I’m tired of people talking about everybody else’s rights. I have rights, and I want those rights to be honoured, and I expect to be respected the same as everyone else in this country.”
Several speakers said Pender Harbour was being used as a test case, and urged the working group to publicize the issue province-wide, since similar dock plans could eventually be imposed on foreshore and lakefront properties in other parts of B.C.
Others said the community should ask the federal government to step in, with some questioning the constitutionality of the plan.
Loss of up to 50 per cent in property values for some owners and the impact on the entire Pender Harbour economy were cited as major concerns.
John Thompson suggested coupling the community’s efforts with a class-action lawsuit “maybe now rather than later, to show we’re serious about this and we’re not just going to lie down and take it.”
Joe Harrison asked if it was possible to assign the dock plan to the newly-formed official community plan review committee, whose 15 members include two shíshálh representatives, including Chief Calvin Craigan.
“This would make the whole thing a lot more legitimate, in my view,” he said.
Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) Area A director Frank Mauro confirmed the SCRD was not involved in formulating the dock plan, and SCRD chair Garry Nohr said he would work to get both the Band and the province back to Pender Harbour to engage the community.
Powell River - Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons said he was also shut out of the discussions, having declined an advance look at the plan because the offer was conditional on him promising not to talk about it.
Simons said he recently told Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson that the flawed process was causing unnecessary problems in the community, and said Thomson “realizes there’s been a major lack of communication.”
Noting he had close ties to the Sechelt Band as a former employee, Simons said the last three chiefs had all told him that they wanted a resolution to the issue.
“I’m sorry that this is impacting people’s perception of the Sechelt Nation. I have lots of friends there,” he said. “I don’t like the idea that they’re being considered a problem. They don’t like it either.
“My view is, we don’t need to ramp up the rhetoric. We need answers from the government.”
Many questions touched on the Band’s role in co-managing the docks and the costs of required studies.
Jon Paine of Garden Bay noted that, unlike the rest of the harbour, the Band’s Skardon Islands were not included in any of the four proposed zones.
“Whatever they do, they should follow the same rules and regulations that we all agree on,” he said.
Senior Dave Phillips, saying he was born in Pender Harbour at St. Mary’s Hospital, asked: “What the hell does Sechelt Indian Band have to do with folks in Pender Harbour?”
Two speakers, saying they were members of the Pender Harbour Indian Band, also criticized the plan, with Charles Nichols arguing the shíshálh “have no business being up here” as the Pender Band is in the band formation process.
“This is something that should be stalled because it’s not legal,” he said.
On the plan’s requirements, Ray Bunt of Garden Bay said the minimum distance of 1.5 metres between the bottom of docks and the seabed at lowest tide is impractical, as “90 per cent of the docks in Pender Harbour will fail this provision.”
Some speakers asked for evidence that Pender’s docks — estimated at 360 — were causing environmental damage, and one resident said any fees collected should go toward fixing the real source of pollution — from recreational boaters dumping sewage and old septic systems that leach into the harbour.
Outside the hall, 325 signatures were added to a petition opposing the implementation of the dock plan due to the lack of community consultation.
Meanwhile, a shíshálh Nation panel discussion is scheduled for Wednesday, May 20 at the Pender Harbour Community Hall from 6 to 8 p.m. Chief Craigan, Mauro, Simons and MP John Weston have been invited, and the session will be an opportunity to ask questions about the Band’s future intentions in Pender Harbour, Luchkow said.
The session will be moderated, and only respectful written questions will be allowed, he said.
