As the existing tidal jetties and boathouses within Shíshálh Swiya are allowed to remain under the conditions set out in the updates to the Jetty Management Plan (DMP), the Waterfront Protection Coalition (WPC) is calling for the removal of the yellow signs opposing the plan.

Brad Edgelow, director of the WPC, a volunteer organization that represents waterfront property owners across the province and is part of the shíshálh Nation and the province’s DMP advisory group, said the process has “never been a struggle.”

“These signs are not good for the environment, they are an eyesore and they represent a part of the history of this problem that was soon to be forgotten… This was a situation where there were groups that needed to come together to inform and educate. This advisory group has achieved that. And our job now is to make that clear to the community. And the community should be grateful and appreciative of the work that the nation and the ministry have done,” he shared. Coastal Reporter on August 16th.

Based on a journey through the streets of Pender Harbour, Coastal Reporter It is estimated that less than half of the signs are still visible. Most were put up in late November last year when the proposed new DMP regulations were published and before the advisory group was convened. On August 21, only four remained on a three-kilometre drive along Francis Peninsula Road to Highway 101, where seven signs had previously stood.

WPC directors Jim Case and Jim Stewart said their group will run ads to show that the WPC “appreciates the willingness of the province and the country to sit down and discuss adjustments to the DMP.”

Adjustments to best management practices expected

Case noted that while the August 1 announcement by the nation and province addressed the “big issue” of grandfathering existing infrastructure, further announcements are likely to follow on adjustments to the Best Management Practices (BMPs) on which the DMP is based. In his view, BMPs are similar to building codes. When conditions are introduced, new docks must comply with them, but existing infrastructure only needs to comply when it is upgraded.

Case explained that the province and nation agreed to wait to issue new rules for freshwater infrastructure until more lake-specific research is done. He said that will happen at a later date, but believes the same protections for existing structures will be included. He considers this a “great example of collaborative discussion within the advisory group process” when authorities realized a “pause was needed until they had more information.”

And when it comes to setting BMPs, Edgelow said there are differing opinions on what they “really should be.” WPC has made a number of recommendations to the government agency on the matter as part of the advisory group process. “I think the Department (of Water, Land and Resource Management) and the Nation are open to looking at specific situations and, if necessary, going through a variance process,” he said.

Of the 19 summary recommendations presented as part of the WPC’s consultation process, Case said, “all were considered, but not all were adopted.” Some were partially adopted or modified, he said, because the consultation process is “not a negotiation,” but a process in which decision-makers select and ultimately determine what is appropriate.

Move forward

Although the advisory group’s mandate has not been officially renewed, Case said the WPC is prepared to continue supporting the DMP process. Since its formation in March, the advisory group and its subgroups met, in most cases virtually, about once a week until the end of July, which was “too many meetings to count.”

The next step, Stewart said, is educating the public about the updated DMP. He said the province plans to send letters to everyone who has provided comments and to all waterfront leaseholders in late September.

As for the future of one of the yellow signs, its owner (who asked that his name not be published) said: Coastal Reporter Although it has been taken down, “it is in storage in case I need to hang it up again.”