30—May 13, 2015 $57.75 Addressed Subscription Sales Agreement Nº 40020421
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Galiano Conservancy SalishSalish SeaSea Valdes Conservancy Centre Section ‘ROCKFISH NEWS’ Giving The Coast A Community Voice For 25 Years Pull-out & Keep Canadian Publications Mail Product Volume 27 Number 8 April 30—May 13, 2015 $57.75 Addressed Subscription Sales Agreement Nº 40020421 Photo: Greg Hankins Exciting spring break—twenty teenage cadets attended the week-long 2015 Gulf Islands and South Vancouver Island Fire Camp at Pender Island Fire/Rescue’s facility. Oil spill response confirms worst fears - Patrick Brown First Nations—property The response of authorities to the April 8 oil spill in Vancouver the 229 metre ship. This took about an hour. Harbour must confirm the worst fears of Gulf Islanders. The spill Emergency Centre rights even without from the MV Marathassa, a brand-new bulk grain-carrier The City of Vancouver was not notified about the spill until anchored in English Bay, continued for hours after it was intially 5:06am, and had an emergency operations centre up and running aboriginal title reported while the Coast Guard, Port Metro Vancouver, and by 5:50am. Besides the City, it included Polaris Applied Sciences, clean-up contractors West Coast Marine Response Corporation WCMRC, BC Ministry of Environment, North Shore Emergency The BC Court of Appeal has ruled that First Nations (WCMRC), part-owned by pipeline company Kinder Morgan, Management, Port Metro Vancouver, and the Squamish and property rights must be respected, even though aboriginal lumbered into action. Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. The Coast Guard, which was title has not been proven. Oil on the water in English Bay was first reported to Coast understood to be the lead agency in such situations, was The landmark judgement concerns two First Nations in Guard by pleasure boaters around 5pm on Wednesday, April 8. represented for just part of the time, according to reports. northwest BC, the Saik’uz and Stellat’en First Nations, Sailor Rob O’Dea says he called 911 and they were unsuccessful Measuring The Extent represented by lawyer Greg McDade. They have long in connecting him to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard called At 10:20am, a Transport Canada plane, equipped to measure the disputed the rights of aluminum producer Rio Tinto Alcan him three minutes later to say that they had dispatched a extent of oil spills, reported that an estimated 2,705 litres of oil to build the Kenney Dam on the Nechako River. They have pollution response team. had been spilled. Based on this estimate, the Coast Guard attempted to sue the company on the basis that the dam In fact, a two-man Port Metro Vancouver patrol boat set out reported that 80% of the oil had been recovered, and declared breaches their rights to the natural waterway which runs at 5:15pm to investigate the reports, but it was not equipped to the cleanup a success. through their lands. carry out any oil clean-up, and anyway found only ‘a minimum It was not until late on Friday that the oil leaking from the The courts had so far denied their right to sue, saying sheen that is not recoverable’. This assessment was passed on to Marathassa was confirmed to be bunker fuel. Its reported that they had not proved aboriginal title. The new Court of the Coast Guard at 7:15pm. At 6pm, Port Metro Vanvouver had characteristics were: a tendency to form clumps and blobs below Appeal decision gives the First Nations the right to sue. also asked commercial air traffic for photos to assess the extent the surface, with only 10% to 15% on the surface, with little Justice David Tysoe said in his decision that the law is of the spill, apparently with no results. evaporation. clear: aboriginal rights ‘do exist prior to declaration or At 8pm, it’s getting dark and Rob O’Dea heads home, having Under the hull of Marathassa, divers report oil deposited in a recognition’. He ruled that setting a separate standard for seen no sign of the Coast Guard or West Coast Marine Response. 40 metre strip. On the beaches, particularly on the North Shore, aboriginal people, forcing them to sue other parties to assert He passes by the stern of Marathassa, noting larger ‘globs of Charter tidal currents have resulted in oil-coated rocks and sand. A few their rights, is arguably inconsistent with the right black goo’ in the water. oil-coated birds have been rescued and treated; not all of them to equality. ‘Aboriginal people are part of Canada’s WCMRC Finally Called-out will survive. On the bottom of English Bay, no surveys have been community, and they should not be treated It wasn’t until 8:06pm that West Coast Marine Response was done but ‘globs’ are found below the water surface. disadvantageously in comparison to any other litigant formally notified (presumably by the Coast Guard) that there was Investigations continued to determine how much oil was lost asserting claims…,’ he wrote. an oil spill, and they should respond. At about the same time the from Marathassa, and why. The results of these queries have not This decision follows the Haida ruling (2004) which Coast Guard decides that they should investigate the spill ‘directly’ been released. In any case, there is no baseline data to compare held that the Crown has a duty to consult with First Nations but there are no reports of any Coast Guard vessels on the scene. with any assessment. concerning land use. More recently, the Tsilqot’in decision, At 9:25pm WMCRC arrives and finds oil on the water, and The Politicians And Officials Weigh In by the Supreme Court of Canada, was the first to recognize concludes that it is a large spill. aboriginal title to a specific tract of land. BC Environment Minister Mary Polak, concerned at apparent It is now dark. It takes until 4am the following morning to Rio Tinto Alcan has 60 days to apply for leave to appeal inaction by the Coast Guard, proposes that provincial agencies confirm that the Marathassa is the source of the oil, and at the Saik’uz/Stellat’in decision to the Supreme Court of 0 4:30am WCMRC starts to lay an oil containment boom around OIL SPILL, please turn to page 3 Canada. JTBUUIFTF6(5,286&2))(( MPDBUJPOT MPPLGPSUIFA*TMBOE5JEFTZFMMPXCPYFTPVUTJEFPSSBDLTJOTJEF 4JEOFZ#FBDPO"WFOVF /BOBJNP7*$POGFSFODF$FOUSF 1BSLTWJMMF)FSJUBHF$FOUSF.BMM 4PVUI%VODBO4VO7BMMFZ.BMM /BOBJNP#FBVGPSU$FOUSF $PVSUFOBZ4PVUIHBUF$FOUSF $MJòF"WFOVF %VODBO$PXJDIBO$PNNPOT.BMM /BOBJNP$PSOFS*TMBOE)XZ!)BNNPOE#BZ3E 1PSU"MCFSOJ4IPQQFST%SVH.BSU1MB[B UI"WF .JMM#BZ*TMBOE)JHIXBZ!'SBZOF3E /BOBJNP4PVUI1BSLXBZ1MB[B $BNQCFMM3JWFS5IF7JMMBHF 8JMMPX1PJOU www.islandtides.com Page 2, Island Tides, April 30, 2015 Coast Guard closures are ‘the wrong direction’ The federal government is headed in ‘the wrong Tony, Let’s do this direction’ in moving to close Coast Guard communications centres in Comox, Tofino- again for your Ucluelet and Vancouver, according to Glenn 80th on May 13th! Sollitt, Green Party of Canada’s candidate for new electoral district, Courtenay-Alberni (see map page 7). ‘In light of the recent spill in English Bay reducing Coast Guard resources is the wrong direction,’ said Sollitt. The Coast Guard’s Tofino centre, actually located in Ucluelet, is set to close April 21, Vancouver will BUY | RAISE | MOVE | LEVEL close May 6, and Comox will close in early 2016. Marine traffic monitoring and Photo:John Bowers BUY RECYCLED HOMES communications in Comox and Vancouver will Increase Square Footage A solar roof for Pender’s well-loved recycling depot. See story below. RAISE be moved to Victoria. The service in Tofino- MOVE Subdivide Your Lot! Ucluelet will be moved to Prince Rupert. LEVEL Repair Foundation Issues ‘These centres are responsible for listening www.nickelbros.com to distress calls and guiding ships,’ said Sollitt, 1-866-320-2268 a former commercial fisherman on both the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island. ‘Closing ROUND THE ISLANDS TALISMAN them increases the risk of shipping accidents. It Solar Next Step On Pender In order to obtain a building permit for a secondary BOOKS &GALLERY may mean missed distress calls.’ Last edition I headlined Solar Colwood’s completed suite, the dwelling must have a rainwater catchment Authors For Indies Day Sollitt noted that the closing of the Kitsilano solar initiative ‘Who’s next?’ Little did I know I would system with minimum storage capacity (a cistern) of May 2: events in store all day COAST GUARD CLOSURES, please turn to next page have a successor to report within days. 3,000 gallons. Next time you’re approaching Pender’s recycling Secondary suites are allowed only within certain This Place A Stranger: Canadian areas of Mayne Island (the brochure contains a map); Women Travelling Alone depot from the east, look up. Installation of 39 Author Readings, May 16, 7pm Whale Watching photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on the southeast facing only one secondary suite is allowed per lot. For side of the main building is now completed. properties of less than four hectares, a cottage or a 250-629-6944 All week we search through sightings Driftwood Ctr, Pender Island This project is the first major public building solar secondary suite is allowed, but not both. of seals and otters electricity initiative on the Penders and was Salt Spring Incorporation To and lost logs in the water spearheaded by local group, PSI 2020 (Pender Solar for the Orcas Be Studied, Again Roasting Fancy Coffee Initiative 2020), and funded primarily by a very The provincial government has allocated $120,000 for Hoping to see fins in the distance for mail orders since 1982 generous grant of $20,719 from the Nu-To-Yu thrift a study of a possible municipality of Salt Spring Island.