Locked security gates are coming to some of Tofino’s docks, according to the harbour authority’s manager, an inconvenient safety measure that has resulted from liability concerns over float homes at the harbour.
The Fourth Street Dock will remain “fully accessible”, according to the District of Tofino, but a different situation is expected at the Crab Dock, where a dispute has been brewing over people living on a floating home.
An unresolved sublease renewal between the Tofino Harbour Authority (THA) and Ceara Salvage Marine Services has reached a boiling point after two years of bad blood between the parties. THA announced in a late November press release that it would be closing its office due to “growing concerns over workplace safety violations and a failure to address mounting issues.”
THA operations manager Ryan Crawford said Ceara Salvage was served nonrenewal notices and notices to vacate in summer 2023 and summer 2024. These came about after the tenant failed to provide the required documents to Fisheries and Oceans Canada – Small Craft Harbours, which owns the water lot.
“They will not leave,” said Crawford.
He was directed by the THA board to work remotely due to “safety concerns” around the dispute, and immediate security upgrades are underway at the Tofino Harbour including surveillance cameras and restricted access.
Ha’oom Fisheries Society (HFS), the organization that supports Ahousaht, Ehattesaht, Mowachaht/Muchalaht, Hesquiaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations (the “five Nations”) in the implementation of their commercial rights-based fisheries, says the THA office closure does not affect them directly, but it may impact some of their T’aaq-wiihak fishers in the coming weeks.
“Our team is aware of the harbour authority’s issues, and member Nations of HFS are on the harbour authority board. We will continue monitoring the situation,” said Ha’oom communications specialist Lauren Dean.
Crawford explained that the issue comes from the fact that Ceara Salvage has people living on a float home secured to the dock, something that the harbour authority’s bylaws do not permit.
“There’s emails in the office dating back to 2019, where managers were trying to find out how to approve the subleases for the float home, and they were just unable to because there is no policy for float homes in the harbour,” he said. “There was another sublease that wasn’t approved. Similar type of situation, they were living on the dock in a float house-type of thing.”
Although the harbour authority is governed by a board of directors, the ultimate decision around the use of float homes rests with DFO, the property owner, says Crawford.
“The issues that arise from that are liability,” he said. “If their house is to catch on fire, or there’s an electrical problem - maybe somebody slips off of their dock into the water – who’s liable and what happens there?”
Ceara Salvage Marine Services has hired a consultant to help them navigate the government documents and processes required to keep their vessels and float home at the end of Tofino’s Crab Dock, a site they have called home since 2012.
“No one knows what this permit is. Is it a marine lease?” said Marcel Theriault, owner and operator of Ceara Salvage. “We don’t know. We’ve been paying taxes to the province the whole time we’ve lived at Olsen Road Crab Dock and we’ve forwarded that information to Ryan. He knows that our house is registered and that we pay taxes on it.”
Theriault went on to say that lease renewal paperwork fell behind during the pandemic when no one was in the office.
Crawford explained that subleases are renewed annually.
“Internal office documents from 2019 refer to the problematic nature of Ceara Salvage and their ability to meet the basic requirements for sublease approval,” said Crawford in an email.
Joanna Streetly is Theriault’s spouse. She lives down at the Crab Dock and her name is on a 2024 Property Assessment Notice for a float home listed at Olsen Road in the Tofino Harbour. Streetly also owns a home in Tofino, which she rents out.
“There has never been an issue. We’ve had many, many managers, we’ve always had good relationships with managers. We’ve always been good dock people. We clean up everyone else’s mess,” said Streetly. “This whole business of being a threat is just bewildering to me.”
One of the reasons Theriault and Streetly live at the float house is to tend to marine specimens for the Ucluelet aquarium. Ceara Salvage also provides marine emergency response when vessels are in distress.
“He’s always wanting to be down by the dock so he can be by the radio and ready to go,” said Streetly.
THA rules and regulations note that float homes are not permitted and that “no person shall live aboard their recreational vessel for more than fourteen days of a 30-day period” – unless otherwise agreed to by harbour management.
The electricity to Ceara Salvage’s float home was cut off and as of Dec. 16 they are being fined $500 a day by the THA.
“Twelve years of impeccable records and we are turned into squatters from upstanding citizens overnight. It’s shocking,” said Streetly, who was Tofino’s inaugural Poet Laureate from 2018 to 2020.
Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is aware of the issues that the THA board has been managing and continues to monitor the situation to ensure compliance with its lease.
“The department will continue to support the board as they work to resolve these issues. DFO maintains an arm’s length relationship with the board, as outlined under the lease agreement,” DFO said in an email.
