‘Outrageous'
Fight continuing to save historic Seal Island Lighthouse
Apparently the federal government has no intention to preserve an iconic federal heritage lighthouse in southwestern Nova Scotia that was established almost 200 years ago as a result of the efforts of local heroine Mary Hichens whose name once graced a Canadian Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel.
In response to a letter from the Seal Island Lighthouse Preservation Society, Fisheries and Oceans Canada reiterated its plan to erect a steel tower to house the navigational aid on Seal Island to replace the second oldest wooden lighthouse in North America, which continues to fall in disrepair.
“Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) recognizes the importance of the Seal Island navigational aid to mariners. The latest structural assessment of the Seal Island Lighthouse indicates that a significant amount of resources is required for repairs," wrote Doug Wentzell, Regional Director General for the Maritimes Region. "DFO must prioritize several obligations, including health and safety, program requirements, and maintenance. To provide uninterrupted, quality service to mariners, the department plans to erect a steel tower that will house the navigational aid."
DIVESTITURE PROGRAM
DFO has a divestiture program that facilitates the transfer of surplus heritage lighthouses to a third party that is committed to adhering to the preservation requirements, Wentzell added.
"The department is open to working with the municipality or a non-profit group willing to preserve the heritage character of the Seal Island Lighthouse,” he wrote.
It's not the response people wanted to hear.
“The suggestion that a nonprofit group should assume responsibility for the Coast Guard's deferred maintenance is outrageous,” says Adrienne Jones, whose ancestors were lightkeepers on Seal Island and who is a property owner there.
“To suggest that a nonprofit assume responsibility without an offer to disclose the details of the repair estimate and results of past mercury, BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene), and lead test results? It sounds like they're baiting a non-profit to jump in without having full knowledge of the risks and without having adequate resources to do the job safely," Jones says. "Since when does the Coast Guard suggest that a non-profit group put their health and safety on the line to save the Coast Guard from their responsibility?”
Jones says not only is the Seal Island light a beacon for fishing boats, it's also the first Canadian beacon to greet international pleasure craft traveling up the eastern seaboard.
“The front door to Canada's Ocean playground. Our front door is looking pretty rough,” she says. “Seal Island light is the first impression of Nova Scotia and Canada for anyone sailing from eastern U.S. to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland."
“When Ben Afflick visited Halifax via super yacht in 2016, do you know where he was the night before? He was anchored in Crowell Cove (East Side, Seal Island),” says
Jones. “The east side cove is listed as an anchorage on nautical charts. Both east and west side coves offer shelter and sandy bottom anchorage for pleasure craft traveling the eastern seaboard. The island's location makes it a good staging spot before hitting mainland Nova Scotia, or before a Gulf of Maine crossing.”
DFO'S RESPONSE
"It's a bit of a non-response in that it does not address in any way any of the concerns put forward regarding the lighthouse, its restoration, and its continued use. It more or less sweeps the issue under the carpet and says the ball is in the community's court and that's it,” says Sonia Newell, president of the Seal Island Lighthouse Preservation Society.
She says the response does not acknowledge their responsibility, as per the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act, to maintain the lighthouse.
"They have failed to do this. It's pretty rich of them to suggest that another party take it on in the state it is now in, given that it is their responsibility to do so,” says Newell.
“The government in power back in 2009 saw fit to recognize and protect the Seal Island Lighthouse because of the historical importance of its design and as a “hallmark of the Canadian navigational system” in the 19th and 20th centuries. That makes it even more disappointing that the current government is refusing to maintain it, especially as it approaches its 200-year anniversary in 2031,” Newell says.
The lighthouse was classified as a federal heritage building on Nov. 19, 2009.
“As per the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act, the owner, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, must maintain it in accordance with the criteria established under paragraph 16(c) of the Act,” the society wrote to Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.
Paragraph 16(c) of the Act states the minister responsible for the Parks Canada Agency establishes criteria for the maintenance of heritage lighthouses that are in keeping with national and international conservation standards.
“With the exterior of the Seal Island lighthouse
beginning to fall into a state of disrepair, we are deeply concerned that the Canadian Government is allowing this historic structure to undergo ‘demolition by neglect,’” the society wrote, requesting that DFO and the Coast Guard immediately undertake the necessary renovations for the continued preservation of “this invaluable heritage property.”
Newell says DFO and the Coast Guard have failed to provide even minimal upkeep. “Parks Canada has also failed to ensure that the Coast Guard maintained the light in keeping with national and international standards for the conservation of heritage properties.”
Newell, who has a family home on Seal Island, says the amount the government has suggested is needed to repair the lighthouse is over the top. “The bones of the interior structure are still solid. We believe it can be repaired for far less. There are third-party organizations who specialize in this kind of work. We would love to see what they estimate is actually needed,”
The Seal Island Lighthouse station as it looked in 1990.
she says.
Newell says the society will be planning its next moves.
“We are planning to hold a number of local events in the coming year to demonstrate the importance of the lighthouse to the community and the country, so we can get more momentum to influence the government to do the right thing here. We will also be creating an online petition so people across the country and beyond can put their support behind us.”
The Seal Island Lighthouse Preservation Society was formed in 2023 with the mandate to advocate for the preservation and continued maintenance and operation of the lighthouse by the Canadian government.
MARY HICHENS
It was 200 years ago that
Mary and Richard Hichens first moved from Barrington to Seal Island to establish life-saving services on the offshore island.
“From the time they moved to that island, not one sailor or shipwrecked individual who made it to shore perished,” says Sam Brannen, executive director of the Barrington Museum Complex.
Accompanied by Edmund Crowell, Mary’s brother, and his family, the two families spent the first winter holed up in a little shack. Eventually, they built two homes on each end of the island while Mary and her husband continued to petition the government to create a life-saving station there. In 1831 the Seal Island Lighthouse was lit for the first time.
“If it wasn’t for Mary, this lighthouse would never have come into existence. She was the one who pushed the government to subsidize building of this lighthouse,” says Brannen. “She’s been known in these parts as a heroine for generations. She was a force to be reckoned with for a woman at that time.”
Mary Hichens was recognized by the federal government in 1985, with the commissioning of the 64m CCCG offshore patrol vessel Mary Hichens.
“We don’t learn,” Jones says about the lighthouse. “We’ve got to recognize the historic value in original structures before they decay so badly that there’s no saving them.”