Sometimes community outrage gets results.
That seems to have been the case with Pender Harbour’s collective thrashing of the joint dock management plan developed between the province and shíshálh Nation that was sprung on the community in April. After encountering a wall of opposition to the plan, the provincial government has once again extended the consultation period and now it’s brought in a former political heavyweight to help find a resolution.
Consultant Barry Penner – a former B.C. attorney general, environment minister and Aboriginal relations and reconciliation minister – has been retained on a contract for up to $25,000 (including expenses) that expires Oct. 31. That’s the deadline for Penner to make non-binding recommendations to the government.
The province says its new round of engagement will “identify possible options for the foreshore lands before the plan is finalized.” Leading the process, Penner is working with the Pender Harbour Dock Management Plan Working Group and will meet directly with community members and shíshálh Nation.
MLA Nicholas Simons said he was pleased the government recognizes it needs to do more work on the dock plan. “Mr. Penner’s mandate isn’t completely clear,” Simons said, “but as long as there are discussions geared towards finding common ground and agreement between parties, that is a good sign.”
In a media release, Chief Calvin Craigan said the Nation expects Penner to “make a positive contribution in building understandings,” given his experience working with First Nations and his knowledge of Aboriginal issues, including “the importance of advancing processes of reconciliation.”
Contacted Tuesday, Craigan said he and his council will be carefully watching Penner’s progress. “If he tries to water down the management, shíshálh would have to step away,” the chief said, adding that would mean continuing the moratorium on new dock construction that’s lasted about a dozen years.
The draft dock plan’s two big areas of contention are shíshálh Nation co-management of the foreshore and the creation of restrictive coloured zones, which would permanently ban new dock development from areas such as Gunboat Bay.
The only way to salvage the plan is for each side to give something substantive to the other. That could mean the community accepts the principle of shíshálh co-management – along with administrative fees and possible archeological and environmental studies for tenure holders – while the Nation removes the cookie-cutter zoning, allowing each application to be considered on its own merit.
Neither compromise would be an easy sell, but at least with the province’s latest move there is a ray of hope that something might give.
After all the outrage and posturing, constructive ideas and good faith are needed.
