Editor:
One of my personal goals in life is to see the herring and salmon return to Pender in the numbers experienced by my mom and dad and their moms and dads and even me as a young man (long time ago). Further, I want to see the waters of Pender even less polluted by human activity than it was during their time here. I will work with any group whose goal is aligned with that purpose, including those who are proposing policies that further that purpose. My biggest concern about the current policies being proposed for implementation is that none of the long-term residents living in Pender have been given a chance to effectively engage in a two-way consultation process.
I am now attempting to understand the current dock management plan and suggesting changes that will make it work for everyone, as I believe there is a lot wrong with it and it will not work on many levels. My earlier thoughts were that I should start with the assumption that it is seriously trying to protect and enhance the environment and protect and preserve archeological material.
However, in researching this issue, I now believe that managing dock locations, imposing modern and environmentally sensitive building practices or even eliminating docks altogether will do very little toward achieving my goals above. Instead it will succeed very well in further alienating the local population of Pender from the local population of those living on SIB lands in Sechelt, something I wish to avoid as I am all about working together for a better future. So now I try to figure out how could a knowledgeable and concerned person balance the little bit gained against doing so much short- and long-term damage to SIB and Pender community relations – in other words, why is it being pursued with so much vigour for no readily apparent reason?
My conclusion is that it must have something to do with ceding land, reconciliation and a government desire to have order by way of regulations over water lots, which I have attempted to educate myself on, but in this instance I have no idea who is proposing what, and who gets what when it is finalized and implemented (which without reconciliation will likely never be effectively implemented, but that is a different issue).
Nor do I know what role the local residents and the government and the SIB all play in the associate reconciliation (reconciliation – the action or an act of bringing a thing or things to agreement, concord, or harmony; the fact of being made consistent or compatible).
I just wish someone would explain all this to me and my fellow citizens in Pender and I wish it had been done before the new policies were finalized.
Leonard Lee, Pender Harbour
