Close to 1,000 Canadian lighthouses have been declared surplus and could be up on the auction block under a new law.
The list, including 480 active lighthouses, was released in the middle of a Senate review launched last fall in response to a fierce battle over plans to automate some of the last 50 lighthouses in Canada that are still staffed.
Under the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act, which came into force May 29, individuals and communities can apply to take over surplus lighthouses for tourism or other uses.
None of the stations on the list are presently staffed.
But Alice Woods, vice-president of the BC Lightkeepers Local 20232, said the government is acting with undue haste. “They promised a wide-ranging review and it would be appropriate to wait until that review process was complete,” she said.
Nelson Kalil, a spokesman for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said the change won’t remove any active aids to navigation.
“While half of these aids to navigation are active, that is, they are part of Canada’s Aids to Navigation system, the structures that support them do not necessarily need to be owned and maintained by the department,” he stated. “While still active lighthouse structures can be transferred to the public, the actual navigational light will not be transferred and will remain the property of the Department with the Canadian Coast Guard ensuring its continued operation.”
Just 18 active lighthouses on B.C.’s coast are on the surplus list. The majority of the stations are in the Maritime provinces.
Ms. Woods said the issue of surplus lighthouses was to be part of the review. She said many of the stations have already fallen into disrepair after staffing was discontinued in the last 15 years.
While a community may choose to renew a local lighthouse, she said she would be alarmed if private interests take over stations.
“I’d be concerned if this is turning public assets into for-profit, private property, excluding Canadians from their own heritage and the gems of their coast,” she said. “These are public assets and should remain public assets.”
Ms. Woods has been a lighthouse keeper for 27 years at Chatham Point, on the east coast of Vancouver Island.
The move to divest ownership of the stations could make it more difficult to press the federal government to restore staff at some stations, she warned.
Last October, Fisheries Minister Gail Shea ordered a review of Canadian Coast Guard plans to automate lighthouses in British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
It’s the second time in two decades a strong backlash stalled the coast guard’s effort to end staffing at light stations. The minister said last fall that safety concerns have been raised by a number of parties over the gradual discontinuation of staffing of light stations in the two provinces, so no more automation will take place until the review is complete.
Mr. Kalil said that commitment stands: “The lighthouses that are staffed have not been declared surplus and are not candidates for transfer under the Act at this time.”
