Pender Harbour dock owners step up fight
At least two dozen would be demolished under restoration plan of Sechelt First Nation
Pender Harbour homeowners are ramping up their fight with the province and the Sechelt First Nation over a plan that would see at least two dozen boat docks demolished and hundreds of others subject to environmental and archeological studies.
At least 16 homeowners in the Sunshine Coast community, on the east side of the Malaspina Strait across from Texada Island, have put up a minimum of $500 each to pay for the services of former Conservative MP John Weston, now a lawyer in private practice specializing in Aboriginal law.
“The plan leaves dock owners on the hook for studies we don’t see any need for and expensive new building practices,” said Leonard Lee, president of the Pender Harbour Chamber of Commerce, which is leading the fight. “They have prohibited docks in some areas for no reason that we can figure out.”
Most of the docks in the area are a combination of floats and ramps that are tethered to the beach, rather than built on pilings that disturb the foreshore.
“We see no reason to remove them if they are properly constructed,” he said. “We just want to use our time-honoured rights to enjoy the land we own.”
The chamber also launched a freedom of information request for documents and correspondence related to the Pender Harbour Dock Management Plan that Lee says was hatched “in secrecy” by the province and the First Nation.
The province last sought public input in 2015 on the release of a draft of the plan and later hired former Liberal MLA Barry Penner to review the plan and make recommendations to fine tune it.
The Sechelt deal could be a blueprint for other First Nations that hope to assert control over their traditional territories around the province, Lee said.
“If the band succeeds, this is bound to happen in other parts of B.C.,” he said. “So, we want to know who asked for what and why they got it.”
The dock management plan divides the area into three zones, including one in which no new docks can be built and where at least 25 existing docks must be removed, according to the ministry of forests, lands, natural resource operations and rural development.
About 320 people with existing docks in the other two zones are obligated to apply for new dock leases under the conditions of the management plan.
The agreement is part of a package of First Nations reconciliation agreements that give the Sechelt a role in forest management, revenuesharing and title to several parcels of Crown land.
The First Nation has a strong bond with the area, which includes a village site and dozens of known archeological features.
The band has been negotiating for more authority over Pender Harbour for at least 15 years. Their position was strengthened by the 2014 B.C. Supreme Court ruling that gave First Nations a stronger say over how their traditional territories are managed.
The plan is meant to address the need for environmental stewardship and protection of archeological sites in Sechelt traditional territories, Chief Warren Paull said earlier this year.
“Our ultimate goal is to restore the harbour to its historical ecological abundance,” he said. “Pender Harbour was an area where our people lived year-round.”