I think that the Coast Guard is still grappling with fully taking on board the incident command system, and that it does not yet have permanent and reliable connections with the first nations communities, who ought to have had a seat at the table from the get-go. I understand there was one nation at the table, but it was not Quatsino, and that's where the containers fetched up. That's where the locus of the on-the-ground cleanup effort occurred.
I happen to know, because I know Chief Tom Nelson. I telephoned him and discovered that the contractor had not contracted with him for labour to clean up the spill. At the same time, the contractor was asking us, the BC Marine Debris Working Group, to send in volunteer labour. That's just not right. The first nations come first.
I told the contractor to make a deal with Quatsino before speaking to us further about what labour was needed. That caused additional delay, but it had to happen. That is the way that things should be done.
This is one reason why we recommend a joint spill response task force. The Coast Guard needs help in putting together the regional response plans and the regional response people, personnel and equipment, that are going to be needed. Let's get on with planning for it, because there's going to be another one of these spills soon.