|
Hi there,
I was out in Cowichan Bay this week for the first time in a while, and one thing that always strikes me when driving out there is the large vessel sitting at the mouth of the estuary which looks as if it's been abandoned and left in disrepair.
These vessels have been a long-standing issue, complicated by overlapping jurisdiction between the provincial and federal governments.
Recently, North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas sent a letter to Transport Canada and the minister of Fisheries and Oceans. The response council received from Fisheries and Oceans Canada stated that the matter falls under the Canadian Coast Guard, which was transferred under the Department of National Defence in September. The response said the letter would be forwarded to the minister of National Defence for consideration.
We’ve been talking about derelict vessels in our story meetings at The Discourse and I’m curious to know your thoughts on the issue. Is this something you’d like us to look into and learn more about? Let me know by responding to this email or in the survey, linked at the bottom of this newsletter.
I also took a closer look this week at North Cowichan Council’s unanimous decision to not resume logging in the municipal forest and continue talks with Quw'utsun Nation on a co-management framework for the Municipal Forest Reserve.
What stood out to me was a comment from Coun. Chris Istace, who noted this year marks more than 170 years since the signing of the Douglas Treaties. He said doing anything other than resuming talks on the co-management framework would be a step backward for reconciliation.
You can read more about what he and other councillors said during the meeting in the story linked here.
In case you missed it, my colleague Mick Sweetman and I attended two ceremonies marking Transgender Day of Remembrance last week, and I wanted to reshare our TikTok coverage of the events in Duncan and Nanaimo.
|
