2017 Annual General Meeting

socialcardDear Members

Please plan to attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the BC Nautical Residents Association. It is scheduled for Sunday, October 22nd, 2:00 pm, at the Sunset Room, located at 401 Herald St, Victoria, BC V8W 3N8. Please note that the Sunset Room is accessed through a locked gate. One of the directors will be at the gate to let you in.

Please R.S.V.P. to through the Contact Form by October 20th to confirm your attendance so that we can arrange for enough tables and chairs to accommodate everyone and provide refreshments.

A new Board of Directors (5 – 7 members) will be elected at the AGM. If you are interested in serving, please be prepared to let your name stand at the meeting. All board candidates will be asked to give a very short ‘speech’ before the election: two minutes maximum to introduce yourself (work and/or personal and/or boating experience), your home port, and why you want to serve on the Board.

If you have an item that you would like discussed at the AGM, please send it to us through the Contact Form by October 8th to ensure that you’ll have time on the agenda.

The agenda and any accompanying documents will be emailed to you by October 10th.

Looking forward to seeing you on October 22nd!

Donna Sassaman
Recording Secretary
BC Nautical Residents Association

Massive Marine Garage Sale 2017

2017GarageFBBannerBCNRA will have a table at the Massive Marine Garage Sale this year, raising funds and awareness for our Association! We are always pleasantly surprised by our membership’s generous donations. If you have anything to contribute, please respond to our broadcast email or send us a note!

Thank you for your continued support!

Where and When?
Saturday, April 22, from 9:00am — 1:00pm, in its usual place ? the Pier A warehouse building at Ogden Point (the cruise ship terminal) in Victoria. The entrance is $5 for adults; children 12 and under get in FREE. For more information visit: http://mmbc.bc.ca/massive-marine-garage-sale/

2016 Annual General Meeting

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October, 2016
2016 Annual General Meeting

Dear Members:

Please plan to attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the BC Nautical Residents Association. It is scheduled for Sunday, November 6th, 3:30 pm, at Canoe Cove Joe’s Cafe, located at Canoe Cove Marina, North Saanich.

A new Board of Directors (5 – 7 members) will be elected at the AGM. If you are interested in serving, please be prepared to let your name stand at the meeting. All board candidates will be asked to introduce themselves before the election. No long political speeches are required…or desired! You’ll have two minutes maximum to introduce yourself (professional and/or personal and/or boating), your home port, and why you’re interested in serving on the Board.

If you have an item that you would like discussed at the AGM, please respond to our broadcast email or send a message through our contact form by October 22, 2015, to ensure that you’ll have time on the agenda.

The annual business meeting of the BCNRA will be followed by a no-host dinner at the cafe. As the BCNR is not being charged for the use of this venue, we sincerely hope that all who attend our AGM will stay for dinner, spirits, and dessert. There will be lots of opportunity to meet new and old friends, trade stories, and talk living aboard.

Menu choices: Beef, chicken, or vegetarian burger with choice of fries or salad. Burger includes lettuce, tomato, sliced dill, and red onion, served on a brioche-style bun with mayo, relish and mustard. The fries are hand-cut Kennebec potatoes and the salad is mixed greens with tomato and cucumber slices. $16 + tax + 15% gratuity.

Please RSVP your attendance to by responding to our broadcast email or by sending a message through our contact form. If you are unable to attend the meeting in person, please complete and return the Proxy Vote Form by November 1st.

Looking forward to seeing you on November 6th!

Donna Sassaman
Recording Secretary
BC Nautical Residents Association

Affordable Housing on the BC Coast

Letter read on Almanac CBC, October 17th, 2016.

I am 70 and live on a boat. It’s a good option for affordable housing. Unfortunately, many coastal communities, Harbour authorities, and Island Trust committees discriminate against the live aboard option by banning our existence. This is totally unnecessary as there are many ways to deal creativity with live aboard boaters. An example of this is the Victoria Harbour Authority which had developed systems and policies to accommodate live aboard boats.

Rick Schnurr
Director
BC Nautical Residents Association

Thieves targeting boats in Nanaimo marinas

Source: Chek News, Posted By: Skye Ryan on:
http://www.cheknews.ca/thieves-targeting-boats-nanaimo-marinas-179943/

A major rash of thefts from boats in and around Nanaimo has people on alert.

Tens of thousands of dollars worth of property has been taken in recent days and thieves appear to be organized and targeting local marinas and boat owners repeatedly.

Stepping onto her boat used to be a stress release for Meg Landry, now it’s worrying.

“It just makes you feel sick to your stomach,” she says, wondering if it has been broken into yet again. “You think about it all the time.”

The Nanaimo woman has reason to worry. Her boat’s now been broken into four times, despite it being in a locked, barbed wire fenced compound. As thieves target the Harbour city with a rash of thefts from boats in recent days that’s left owners up and down the east coast of the Island on edge.

Twenty-one boats were hit at a fishing tournament 10 days ago, and since then reports of thefts have been coming in almost everyday. Landry says its as though plates have just sailed in and set up a theft ring here. Taking anything of value from fishing rods, to blankets, radars and down riggers.

“Also they’re targeting safety equipment such as your flare guns, life jackets and if you happen to not notice that those things are missing off your boat you could end up in some real trouble,” says Landry.

Surveillance video captured a suspect in a rash of thefts from boats Monday night, including Meg Landry’s. Coming in by water then slipping away with thousands of dollars worth of other people’s property.

‘These are all hard working people that have these boats down here,” says Brian Potentier of Sea Air Seaplanes, “and even showing the footage to the owners just seeing their response, seeing their boats being boarded by this strange fellow and taking all their equipment the they’ve worked hard for. ”

Nanaimo RCMP are investigating.

“We have constant contact with the pawn shops, we’re getting feedback from citizens,” says Cst. Gary O’Brien of Nanaimo RCMP. “We’re doing what we can. We also need the boat owners to assist us reporting suspicious activity and locking up their goods. ”

Meg Landry is encouraging boaters to watch out for each other as well. Since thieves decision to target the aptly named Harbour City right now, could mean any number of them are next.

2016 Massive Marine Garage Sale

2016GarageFBBannerAs some of you may know, the BCNRA table at the Massive Marine Garage Sale has continued to be a huge success each year, raising funds and awareness for our Association! We are always pleasantly surprised by our membership’s generous donations. This year, if you have anything to contribute, please respond to our broadcast email or send us a note!

Thank you for your continued support!

Where and When?
Saturday, April 23, from 9:00am — 1:00pm, in its usual place ? the Pier A warehouse building at Ogden Point (the cruise ship terminal) in Victoria. The entrance is $5 for adults; children 12 and under are FREE. For more information visit: http://mmbc.bc.ca/massive-marine-garage-sale/

Letter to Hon. Hunter Tootoo

November 9, 2015

BC Nautical Residents Association
309 – 1521 Church Avenue Victoria BC V8P 5T7
www.bcnr.org II feedback@bcnr.org

Hon. Hunter Tootoo
Minister, Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario

Re: Derelict and Abandoned Vessels; Protection of the Rights of Liveaboard Boaters

Dear Minister Tootoo:

Congratulations on your appointment to the Fisheries, Oceans, and Canadian Coast Guard portfolio. As Canadians living on boats and floathomes, members of the BC Nautical Residents Association (BCNRA) count themselves among your constituents.

The BC Nautical Residents Association was founded in 2010 by a group of liveaboard boaters to encourage living aboard responsibly and to find solutions to issues faced by people who live on the water. The BCNR’s mission statement is to:

1. Preserve and support the tradition of living aboard one’s vessel;
2. Promote environmental awareness among liveaboards;
3. Establish effective communications and resolve issues of concern to liveaboards;
4. Serve as a voice for liveaboards regarding activities that affect BC waterways.

During the previous parliamentary session, the then-M.P. for Nanaimo, Jean Crowder, introduced a private member’s bill, C638, regarding a process to clean up derelict vessels along Canada’s coastlines. Regrettably, the Conservatives defeated the bill. While the majority of boat owners are responsible maintainers of their vessels, sometimes boats become wrecks or derelicts through accident, neglect, or abandonment. The BCNRA believes that the Coast Guard has the expertise, and should have the adequate resources, to dispose of wrecks and derelicts in an environmentally sustainable way.

Our Association supports the introduction of an annual decal program, similar to that of Washington State. In Washington, an annual decal costs approximately $28US and the proceeds go to marine enhancements, including the removal of derelict and abandoned vessels. A Canadian Coast Guard staff person once told a BCNRA director that if the Coast Guard had $2/boat/year, there would be no problem in removing wrecks. The Association encourages you as Minister to introduce legislation that will adequately fund the Canadian Coast Guard to deal with derelict and abandoned vessels.

The Association also requests that your Ministry investigate and reverse the trend by harbour authorities to deny moorage at public docks to liveaboard boaters. As Canadian citizens or permanent residents, liveaboards should have as much right to moor at public docks as commercial or recreational vessels have. However, this is not the case. In British Columbia, it seems that only the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority welcomes liveaboards, while the harbour authorities in Sidney, Cowichan Bay, Vancouver, Port Hardy, and Port Alberni, to name just a few, have eliminated liveaboards all together, or grandfathered them in while prohibiting newcomers.

Direction for the prohibition appears to come from the DFO. We refer you to http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/consultation/sch-ppb/docs/min-pv/2014-10-29-eng.pdf, page 4, item 6, which states it is the Small Craft Harbours, Pacific Regional Harbour Authority’s policy that the SCH ‘…has and continues to discourage liveaboards [my italics]…’

This policy is discriminatory. The BC Nautical Residents Association would like to see the Liberal Government take a humane, inclusive, and proactive approach to protecting the right of Canadians to live aboard their vessels at public docks as well as private marinas.

Thank you for your consideration of these two issues, Minister Tootoo. We look forward to receiving your views on funding the Canadian Coast Guard to remove derelict and abandoned vessels where necessary, and to protecting the rights of Canadians who choose to live as nautical residents.

Yours sincerely,

Donna Sassaman
Secretary
On behalf of the Board of Directors BC Nautical Residents Association feedback@bcnr.org

c.c. Conservative Fisheries Critic
Fin Donnelly, NDP Fisheries Critic
Elizabeth May, Leader, Green Party
Directors, BC Nautical Residents Association

Letter to the Editor – Re: Anchored Boats in Ladysmith Harbour

November 12, 2015

Ladysmith Chronicle
Box 400, 940 Oyster Bay Drive
Ladysmith, BC V9G 1A3

Re: Anchored Boats in Ladysmith Harbour

Dear Opinion Page Editor:

The BC Nautical Residents Association (BCNRA) was founded in 2010 by a group of liveaboard boaters to encourage living aboard responsibly and to find solutions to issues faced by people who live on the water. The BCNR’s mission statement is to:

  1. Preserve and support the tradition of living aboard one’s vessel;
  2. Promote environmental awareness among liveaboards;
  3. Establish effective communications and resolve issues of concern to liveaboards;
  4. Serve as a voice for liveaboards regarding activities that affect BC waterways.

Several of BCNRA’s members live aboard their boats in ‘Dog Patch’. Some have been there for years. They are citizens: they shop, work, volunteer, and vote in Ladysmith and the environs. Some of Ladysmith’s liveaboards at one point made a conscious decision to live a nautical lifestyle, while others may have fallen into it through any number of life’s challenges. They are like many of Ladysmith’s land-based residents – a mix of family composition, with a range of ages, economic resources, educational backgrounds, interests, political viewpoints, and hobbies. Like most Canadians, they just want to live and let live.

Some shore-side residents object to seeing boats at anchor, stating that they are ‘derelicts’ and/or not paying their fair share. Some of the boats may be unsightly, but if they are floating high on their waterlines and are being monitored by their owners, they are not derelicts. There are houses in our coastal communities that will never make it into Better Homes and Gardens but no one is demanding they be eliminated. Why should boats at anchor be banished? Buildings must conform to maintenance bylaws. Why not boats? Land-based residents must pay for services such as water, garbage, fire, and police protection. Why not set up a system for liveaboards to pay for the services they use?

Liveaboard vessels by definition are not derelicts. Derelict “… generally means vessel or cargo which has been abandoned and deserted at sea by those who were in charge of it without any hope of recovering it.” [BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations’ Technical Staff Guide on Problem Vessels] The question of liveaboards in Dog Patch should not be conflated with the issue of the Vicki Lynne.

During the last parliamentary session, the then-M.P. for Nanaimo, Jean Crowder, introduced a private member’s bill, C-638, regarding a process to clean up derelict vessels along Canada’s coastlines. Regrettably, the previous government defeated the bill. While the majority of boat owners are responsible maintainers of their vessels, sometimes boats become wrecks or derelicts through accident, neglect, or abandonment. The Coast Guard has the expertise, and should have the adequate resources, to dispose of wrecks and derelicts in an environmentally sustainable way.

Our Association supports the introduction of an annual decal program, similar to that of Washington State. In Washington, an annual decal costs approximately $28US and the proceeds go to marine enhancements, including the removal of derelict and abandoned vessels. A Canadian Coast Guard staff person once told a BCNRA director that if the Coast Guard had $2/boat/year, there would be no problem in removing wrecks.

The BCNRA encourages Canadians to write to Hunter Tootoo, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard (hunter.tootoo@parl.gc.ca), requesting that he introduce legislation to adequately fund the Canadian Coast Guard to deal with derelict and abandoned vessels.

Finally, the BC Nautical Residents Association is encouraged to learn that the municipality has struck a working group, comprising various levels of government, the local First Nations, and stakeholders, including boaters at anchor, to arrive at a mutually satisfactory solution to whatever issues have been identified.

Thank you.

Rick Schnurr, Director
Bill Sassaman, Director
BC Nautical Residents Association


Note: the published version of this letter was abbreviated due to word count constraints. It communicates the same message with less detail.

Who’s the best party for marine residents?

I realize this is a complicated question but with advanced polls starting today, I thought it would be interesting to see if there is a general consensus among liveaboards on who to vote for. Attached to this post on our website is a poll to fill out. Any discussion on our blog or Facebook to further explain your positions is welcome and note, that the BCNRA remains nonpartisan. Thanks! – Kris

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.