Evidence of meeting #127 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vessels.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Diving Instructor, Québec Subaquatique
That's correct. It's their new home. It's like a reef.
Executive Director, Québec Subaquatique
It also protects them from the current, the tides and climate issues.
Bloc
Caroline Desbiens Bloc Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
So there are positive aspects. We have been hearing a lot about the negative effects since the start of the study, but there are also positive effects in the case of some wrecks that, for example, have no dangerous fuel or that have been there for a long time.
I am pleased that this is part of our study because it is important to understand that there can be benefits to preserving wrecks on the ground rather than disturbing them and disrupting the biodiversity that has been established on them. The skills you have are needed to assess which wrecks can be preserved and maintained, without necessarily exhausting resources to remove them because they are positive, while others are negative.
That's what I wanted to highlight.
Executive Director, Québec Subaquatique
It's also important to understand that the wrecks in Quebec's cold waters attract a lot of people from elsewhere. It's not just local tourists who want to come and dive here.
Bloc
Executive Director, Québec Subaquatique
Yes. Also, because of the French language, I don't have to tell you that our European neighbours in France—
Bloc
Caroline Desbiens Bloc Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
The positive side of the French language in Quebec is its economic strength, which is wonderful.
Executive Director, Québec Subaquatique
French people come and dive here because they find wrecks in cold water—
Bloc
Executive Director, Québec Subaquatique
There are challenges. So it's interesting. If we are able to develop this further, that would be positive action to attract foreign tourists to come and dive in Quebec to see those wrecks.
Bloc
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Madame Desbiens. You've gone over a little bit, but you deserve that.
Now we'll go to Ms. Barron for six minutes or less, please.
NDP
Lisa Marie Barron NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Well, I'm sold. I definitely want to go diving in Quebec, so thank you so much.
Welcome to the witnesses.
Welcome, of course, Mr. Charleson. I'm going to be asking you my questions today.
The first question I have is around this vessel depot that you were talking about, the one you were speaking of that would be a wonderful asset for the west coast of Canada.
Can you explain in a little bit more detail what is needed from the federal government in order to make this vessel depot come to fruition?
Executive Director, Coastal Restoration Society
Yes.
It's still very much in the idea phase. We have already reached out to a lot of our partners, like Tseshaht First Nation and Hupacasath First Nation. The city is on board, and the port authority in Port Alberni is as well. We've reached out to organizations like COAST, ABCMI, B.C. Ferries and several other partners in developing this idea from the ground up.
We're going to be looking to find people who will actually fund the build of this derelict vessel depot. What can help significantly is funding from the federal government and the provincial government—that they consider this as a solution and put money forth.
What I've been noticing is that there are a lot of these funding opportunities that keep coming out through the clean coast, clean waters initiative fund and the abandoned boats program, but it's just so expensive.
I feel that we can put those future dollars to better use in creating an infrastructure that can be used into the future and that will bring costs down. Initial costs are obviously going to be high. You can't just build a massive industrial depot out of thin air. It's going to cost millions of dollars, but once we actually have that, it's going to save throughout the future. It's like investing in solar. It's expensive to get solar started, but it pays itself off.
NDP
Lisa Marie Barron NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Thank you, Mr. Charleson.
Colleagues, I'm having a hard time focusing on my.... Thank you so much.
Mr. Charleson, you spoke about some of the partners involved in this project. You were talking about how important it is that we're not in silos, that we see intergovernmental work, that we see first nations, municipalities, the provinces and the federal government all working together for a national strategy.
Can you speak a little bit about how important it is to have first nations working, just having people working together from all levels of government, to make sure that we have a national strategy put into place and not a patchwork approach?
Executive Director, Coastal Restoration Society
Yes, 100%. That was the point that I didn't quite get to when I was talking: the authority. Right now, the authority comes from federal agencies or provincial agencies. There are many first nations in western Canada that have guardian programs. They watch their territories daily. They see vessels that are tilting, that are clearly abandoned, but they have no authority whatsoever to call them vessels of concern and deem them ready to be removed.
That's where I think that, federally, we can do a better job of creating MOUs and an actual frame to give first nations the green light to deem vessels in their own territories as abandoned or vessels of concern. It's obviously not going to be a blanket approach. You can't create just one framework. You have to do it with each individual nation.
Not all the nations have the capacity to deal with abandoned boats, derelict boats or vessels of concern. It would be a framework that's open for first nations people to actually buy into and then also help with the actual eyes on the ground, because they're in the territory daily.
NDP
Lisa Marie Barron NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Thank you so much.
Could you clarify, in a few more details, why first nations are best equipped to take the lead on these projects in their territories, just so we have it clear for everybody here today?
Executive Director, Coastal Restoration Society
First nations are the best for coastal communities because of the connection to their lands and waters. We have a saying over in Nuu-chah-nulth, hishuk ish tsawalk, which means everything is one and everything is connected. First nations people have values like that and a love for their home.
As much as the Canadian history books like to talk about first nations people being very nomadic, we're very set on where our territories are, and we've been that way for millennia. We have a vested interest in taking care of the territory, and we're not going anywhere. I was born in Hesquiaht. Hesquiaht is going to be my home territory forever. That's never going to change boundaries. It's not going to go somewhere else.
NDP
Lisa Marie Barron NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Thank you so much.
You talked about the importance of the vessel depot having enclosed, safe shipwrecking. I know this was brought up briefly with Union Bay.
Can you speak a bit about how important it is to have the appropriate facilities in place so that we're not inadvertently polluting the same waters we're trying to clean up?
Executive Director, Coastal Restoration Society
It's really important to have it contained because there's so much that can go wrong. It's a very technical profession, breaking down a vessel. If you're talking about a 45-foot boat, we're reaching the wall there. Then you have it with a 12- or 18-foot beam, and you're talking about a couple of storeys of boat that you have to break apart. Any number of things can go wrong.
There could be hydraulic fluid still in the hoses. If hydraulic fluid hits you in the hand, you're amputating your hand. Those kinds of things can go wrong quickly. I've seen it with fishermen when things like that have gone wrong. It's the same with oil, gas and combustibles. If they have a sewage system in them, there are all these different contaminants that can get out and damage the environment where you're breaking breaking it down.
Having it controlled and contained in a place that can handle all of those different environmental contaminants would save us from having any kind of disaster. That's the importance of having that infrastructure dedicated to doing the job.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Ms. Barron.
We'll now go to Mr. Arnold for five minutes or less, please.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, all, for being here today.
I wasn't surprised when you talked about someone taking a boat up into the bush, tying it to a tree and driving away, because I saw exactly that on a hunting chat group just a couple of weeks ago in the Okanagan. It's not uncommon. The smaller, recreational vessels have come to the point that they're not repairable within a reasonable cost, so this has become quite common. I used to be in the boat repair business, so I understand how they deteriorate to a certain point where it costs more to fix them than they're ever going to be worth.
However, I want to relate a case I had when I had a vehicle stolen, and the insurance on that vehicle was about to run out in a week's time. When I contacted the insurance company and said, “I guess I don't need to renew my insurance,” they told me, “No, you do need to renew that insurance, because you are the registered owner. It doesn't matter who is in control of that vehicle; you are the one who covers the liability.” I actually had to renew the insurance on a vehicle that I never saw again. That ownership attaches to the last registered owner and stays that way.
Can you explain why that isn't happening with vessels, both recreational and commercial? It appears that someone can just sell a vessel for cash and absolve themselves of any responsibility.
Executive Director, Coastal Restoration Society
I think it's different with vehicles, because it's compulsory to get insurance on a motor vehicle on the road.
November 6th, 2024 / 6:20 p.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
It is actually compulsory under the Transportation Act.
Executive Director, Coastal Restoration Society
Is it compulsory for vessels? Okay. I didn't know that. It's not enforced.
I broke the law sometimes when I didn't reinsure my boat before I put it back in the water. That's news to me, so a bit more education on insuring your boat would be needed.