The Haida Nation and Transport Canada have revised a regional plan for B.C.’s coastline to ensure that ships in need of assistance have a designated location to stabilize their condition and reduce the hazards to navigation, human life, and coastal waters.
The revised Places of Refuge Contingency Plan for the Pacific Region includes a new Annex that identifies potential places of refuge around Haida Gwaii. It also reflects improvements to the federal marine safety regime and lessons learned from real-life incidents.
“As a result of the 2014 Simushir incident, the Haida Nation made the decision to begin working with other governments to ensure that a coordinated and effective emergency response system was established for Haida Gwaii,” said kil tlaats ‘gaa, Peter Lantin, president of the Haida Nation. “The cooperative work between the Haida Nation and Transport Canada to refine the Places of Refuge Contingency Plan and to identify places of refuge within Haida territory is a significant achievement and an important addition to protecting Haida Gwaii waters and our way of life.”
The Annex contains direction for the management of places of refuge incidents that affect Haida Gwaii, including technical, logistical and resource information about specific sites that may be evaluated as potential places of refuge. It is one of several sub-regional plans that will provide site-specific information about the management of places of refuge incidents.
“The Haida Nation, with federal and provincial government partners, has demonstrated strong leadership to significantly update the places of refuge framework,” said Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport. “By working and learning together, we’ve created a more inclusive plan to collaboratively manage Places of Refuge decisions.”
