TC Delegation Letter to MP Paul Manly

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Bowen  Denman  Hornby  Gabriola  Galiano Gambier  Lasqueti  Mayne  North Pender  Salt Spring  Saturna  South Pender  Thetis 
 
 
200-1627 Fort Street, Victoria BC  V8R 1H8 
Telephone  (250) 405-5151    Fax  (250) 405-5155 
Toll Free via Enquiry BC in Vancouver 604.660.2421.  Elsewhere in BC 1.800.663.7867 
Email  information@islandstrust.bc.ca 
Web  www.islandstrust.bc.ca 
 
 
July 21, 2020       File No.: 5020-30 Anchorages 
 
Via email: Paul.Manly@parl.gc.ca 
Mr. Paul Manly, Member of Parliament 
Nanaimo-Ladysmith 
495 Dunsmuir Street 
Suite 103 
Nanaimo, British Columbia 
V9R 6B9 
 
Dear Mr. Manly: 
 
Re:  Delegation to June Trust Council – Freighter Anchorages in the Southern Gulf Islands 
 
The Islands Trust Council and staff wish to thank you for taking the time to make a presentation at the 
June 2020 Trust Council Meeting held electronically. 
 
We greatly appreciate your continued leadership on the issue of freighter anchorages on the Southern BC 
Coast, an issue which the Islands Trust Council has held front and centre since 2008.  We could not agree 
more that longstanding supply chain issues and port inefficiencies need to be addressed in order to ensure 
that First Nations, coastal communities and the Salish Sea do not continue to bear the brunt of an 
inefficient and ever expanding maritime shipping industry. This year has witnessed the largest number of 
ships at anchor in the Southern Gulf Islands to date. At this rate, it appears that we are going to exceed the 
record 2018 totals. Needless to say, this trend is deeply alarming. 
 
As you are well aware, the Islands Trust Area is one of the most productive marine ecosystems in the 
world and includes the highest density of species at risk in Canada. We are critically aware of the impacts 
these freighter anchorages are having on First Nations and coastal communities, local marine ecosystems 
and food webs, the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale, not to mention the ever-looming risk of 
catastrophic fuel spills in this environmentally sensitive region. A Transportation Safety Board investigation 
into the March 30
th
 freighter collision in Plumper Sound is only one of the many actions needed at this 
time. Islands Trust Council continues to call on the federal government to take all measures possible to 
reduce, and ultimately eliminate, the use of the 33 commercial freighter anchorage sites located in the 
Southern Gulf Islands; to assess the cumulative risks and impacts associated with projected vessel traffic 
increases in the Salish Sea; and to develop an innovative twenty-year mitigation plan. 
 
Thank you again for your presentation. Islands Trust Council greatly appreciates your work on this issue 
and many other matters of concern in the Islands Trust Area.  We look forward to further collaboration 
with you in the days to come.   
 
 
 
.../2 
 

The Honourable Paul Manly 
July 21, 2020 
Page 2 
 
 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Peter Luckham 
Chair, Islands Trust Council

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