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Friday, March 8, 2013
The Cowichan: a river abandoned? Hidden currents: Federal cutbacks and looser regulations have watchdogs concerned for Cowichan’s heritage waterway Peter W. Rusland
News Leader Pictorial
T
he Cowichan River still has heritage status, but its environmental protection from development could bbee nt nt drained by Ottawa’s recent rs rs Bill C-45, a local MP and stakeholders claim. Of 37 designated Canadian heritagee rivers, just 10 now fall under protection by the Navigable Waters Protection Act, Cowichan NDP MP Jean Crowder’s staff states. Those 10 don’t ’t include the Cowichan. Pulling its protection “is clearly to allow (potential) development,” said Crowder. “Before,” said her staffer, Yana Stratemeyer, “if there was development proposed on a river like the Cowichan, there had to be an environnmental assessment to see what the immpacts would be on the river. Bill C-455 reversed that requirement. There’s noo requirement to do an environmental assessment at all.” And even before the federal omnibus bill, Cowichan River’s heritage status had never included any resources from the federal government, said Crowder. “The heritage river term has always been a red herring, just a designation. Now, with the change in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, and the navigable waters act, there’s even less protection for our river because Cowichan is no longer on the list.” What used to trigger an assessment under the NWPA act, no longer applies to the Cowichan, she explained. Heritage title or not, Cowichan’s ¿shery values are still guarded by the feds, Department of Fisheries and Oceans staffer Tom Robbins explained. “Heritage-river status has no impact on Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s pro-
Critics say recent changes by the federal government have left the Cowichan River open to threats from development. tection provisions for ¿sheries,” reads his email to the News Leader Pictorial. But levels of ¿sheries protection were doubted by Parker Jefferson of river stakeholder group One Cowichan. He claims his sources maintain the valley’s DFO section brass handed layoff notices to all enforcement and habitat personnel, and one-third expect job terminations. Wrong, explained DFO’s Terence Davis. “No one got a layoff notice in the Duncan of¿ce,” Davis said. Robbins’ email explains DFO habitat-program employees were told they might be affected by changes to the Habitat Management Program. “This does not necessarily mean they will lose their job, however, they may
be asked to relocate, or be redeployed within the department or government.” Most employees who received letters will keep their jobs, be re-deployed within the department or retire, Robbins notes. But Jefferson said DFO’s remaining local employees have been told to “make all public complaints go away.” “There is now no enforcement for any infractions in habitat degradation or other ¿sheries violations.” Jefferson sent his worries in a letter to Fisheries Minister Keith Ash¿eld, fearing Cowichan’s ¿sh will suffer further damage with a dip in DFO staff. “We feel ¿sh are a critically important part of the ecosystem and need more protection if they are to survive in these challenging times of climate change,” he tells Ash¿eld after the
Andrew Leong/¿le
Tories passed omnibus bills C-38 and 45 affecting environmental assessments. A DFO staffer said Duncan’s of¿ce has two enforcement of¿cers, a community advisor, and a community habitat worker. A habitat biologist also retired. That post is to be replaced. Crowder said DFO staff has “preapproved messages they’re allowed to put out.” “There’s been continued erosion of ability to respond locally,” she said. “They don’t do layoffs. They just don’t replace people.” Meanwhile, Davis said DFO is focusing habitat-management operations on protecting Canada’s ¿sheries against real threats to productivity. “We are moving forward with a more practical, common-sense approach for
llo o low-risk projects undertaken in and aar r around water which have little or no iim m impact on the ¿sheries,” he emailed tthe th h News Leader Pictorial. DFO’s new program, wrote Davis, ssh h from managing project impacts shifts ttoo a protection program addressing tth h threats to commercial, recreational and A Aboriginal ¿sheries. “Regulatory reviews will be focused oonn the larger, higher-risk projects, w while standards and guidelines will be ddeveloped e to guide proponents in the ddesign e of smaller, lower-risk activittities.” iiee But reducing protection to just commercially viable ¿sh leaves many cco o stocks legally unprotected “and in sstt grave gr danger of extinction at the hands of of industrial development,” Jefferson said. sa He claimed staff “were assigned exclusively to speci¿c projects like the eexx Northern Gateway pipeline.” N Davis explained Canada’s ¿sheries protection units will review projects pprr in in marine and coastal development, hydro hhyy and Àows, mining, oil and gas; and aann ‘linear developments’ such as power po lines, roads and bridges. B.C.’s program of¿ces will be in Vancouver, Nanaimo, Kamloops, and V Prince Rupert. Pr Crowder was dubious. “How much direct service will happen in areas outside those points? How many managers will be in those delivery points? What’s response time going to be like?” “But what is it exactly (DFO) is going to do?” demanded Crowder. “They’re managing the language to allow themselves to do exactly what they want to do.” DFO, she claimed, aims to streamline project approvals, and not protect the environment. Local Conservative, John Koury, said Ottawa’s two bills let the feds give regulatory oversights to local governance, “be it provincial or local, for it is they that know better how to care for (¿sh resources). “By taking away some of the layers, we will be better served by more local control to deal with local issues, such as the Cowichan River,” he said.
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