The draft dock management plan for Pender Harbour was utterly rejected last Saturday in Madeira Park, as property owners vented their fury and frustration at a handful of senior operational staff from the B.C. government and Sechelt (shíshálh) First Nation.
An estimated 400 people packed the Pender Harbour Community Hall for the information session, spilling into the kitchen area and outside where loudspeakers were set up. With Sunshine Coast RCMP constables monitoring from side-exit doors, members of the crowd booed and shouted at the officials early in the meeting – even heckling Sechelt Nation Elder Jamie Dixon (mus-swiya) when he was called up to give an opening prayer.
That show of disrespect became a major talking point after the meeting.
“The ignorance shown Elder Jamie Dixon was appalling and disgusting,” Powell River – Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons wrote on his website (nicholassimons.com) the next day.
For his part, Dixon held his own, engaging the hecklers and ending his comments in English by encouraging “everyone here to be respectful and to have an open heart.”
Some people in the audience applauded Dixon’s words, and residents later blamed the province for the deteriorating relationship with Sechelt Nation
“Your actions – and I’m talking about the government actions – are causing great strife in this community,” said one man during a 90-minute Q&A. “You can tell by the signs that you see around, that it’s almost bordering on racism. I just hate that,” he said to applause.
“I agree with you,” said Kevin Haberl, acting regional director of authorizations for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, who represented the province. “I hate too what’s happened as a result of this plan. We released a draft to you … eight or 10 weeks ago and I don’t like where it’s gone.”
The hit on property values, especially in places like Gunboat Bay and Oyster Bay where no new docks would be allowed under the draft plan, was a major source of ire among residents.
“There’s hundreds of millions of dollars at stake here and that is because what you’ve done is you’ve divided this area into four separate zones,” said Dave Rees of Madeira Park. “So people with waterfront property in zone red that may have paid, for argument’s sake, a million dollars for their property are now maybe worth a quarter of that. So who is the guy with the crayons … and what is the science behind that?”
Sechelt Nation rights and title director Jasmine Paul explained during opening presentations that the red zone was established to protect sensitive habitats in an area with a shallow bay and three salmon streams flowing into it.
But residents questioned the assumed negative impact of docks and the rationale for creating restrictive zones. Steve Buchan of Garden Bay drew massive applause when he said the province should hire a marine study group and get an independent assessment, “because I think the science is being bent to support the objective.”
Many residents questioned the province’s legal requirement to co-manage the foreshore with Sechelt Nation and objected to seeking separate permission from the Band.
During her presentation, Paul was loudly booed after she said: “Archeological and environmental assessment costs will all be market driven … and applications submitted may be subject to further assessment and studies. Applicants are to bear the cost of those studies.”
She also said Sechelt Nation would not receive any benefit from waterfront taxes and would include its islands with others in the purple zone, where only multiple-use docks would be permitted.
Continuing through frequent heckling, Paul said the aim was for a late fall implementation of the dock plan.
Haberl said dock tenures under the draft plan “will continue to be between the province and the tenure holders” and fees “will be consistent with the fees everywhere else” in the province – $400 for a five-year term, with a $250 application fee.
He said the draft plan was formulated by the province and Sechelt Nation without community input because “it was necessary to have something to share with the public before we can get your comments on what that draft plan might look like.”
Acknowledging concerns about the plan’s potential impact on property values and the existence of water-access-only properties within the red zone, Haberl urged residents to submit written comments before the extended June 24 deadline.
“I’m telling ya, your comments are gonna matter,” he said.
Meanwhile, the community’s dock plan working group submitted 12 proposals to the province, including lifting the dock moratorium, further consultation and accommodation with businesses and residents, and the removal of zones from the plan.
And in a related development, days prior to the Saturday meeting, Leonard Lee resigned as alternate director for Area A in the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD).
Lee, who is president of the Pender Harbour and District Chamber of Commerce, which formed the working group after the dock plan was released, said he found he was no longer in sync with the SCRD on some matters related to Sechelt Nation.
“As I got more and more into it, I realized I was in conflict with our regional director and the SCRD, and I kept getting further and further into conflict, so I resigned,” he said this week.
He said he remains good friends with Area A director Frank Mauro.
