Read the 2009 conference review and view photos!

Note: The 2010 Conference will be Jan 19 – 22, 2010, in Nanaimo at the Coast Bastion.

12th Annual Conference, January, 2009:

20/20 Vision was the theme of the 12th Annual Harbour Authority Association of BC Conference, recently held at the Westerly Hotel in Courtenay, BC. This year we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the inception of the Harbour Authority Program. Port Hardy Harbour Authority was featured as the first Harbour Authority formed in B.C., and the second Harbour Authority in Canada. The three-day event was well attended, with over 100 delegates from 36 harbours on the BC Coast, and a large Small Craft Harbours contingent, representing Pacific Region, and Ottawa.

The event started off on Tuesday, January 26th with a wine and cheese reception catered by and held at the Westerly Hotel. A tantalizing array of local and seasonal appetizers from the Local Grower’s Menu was heartily consumed. The reception was generously sponsored by Port Edward HA, Steveston HA, False Creek HA, Gibson’s HA, Balanced Environmental, Foreshore Technologies, Ocean Tech Constructors, and Seaforce Consultants.

The official start of the Conference began Wednesday with the HAABC Annual General Meeting. President Liz McLeod outlined some milestones in the growth of our organization over the past year. We had the opportunity to present to the Standing Committee for Fisheries and Oceans to highlight the need for government to address dredging and other critical issues in Pacific SCH. A committee has been convened to address the derelict and abandoned vessel problem in our Harbours, with representatives from Transport Canada, Receiver of Wrecks, Canadian Coast Guard, Oil Spill Prevention, Small Craft Harbours, P.I.C.F.I. and Bullhouser Tupper. Processes have been developed for our Harbours to follow when dealing with these vessels. In addition Liz announced the signing of a contribution agreement with Small Craft Harbours, the first of its kind in Canada, to enable the HAABC to take on a greater roll in providing assistance to our member Harbours. Leslie Taylor has been hired as a full time employee to fill the newly created position of Administrator of the HAABC. Leslie will be assisting the Board of Directors in creating a long term plan for our organization and will also provide hands on assistance to our Harbours.

Elections in the North Coast, Lower Mainland, and Mid Island resulted in the re-election of Rick Hill as the representative of the North Coast and Bob Baziuk as a the Lower Mainland representative. Linda Franz of Campbell River was elected as the Mid-Island representative.

Stan Watterson was presented with the Life Membership Award by Bob Baziuk in recognition of Stan’s years of service and dedication to the HAABC.

Joe Smith presided over the conference as our Master of Ceremonies. Many thanks go to Joe for his ability to keep the proceedings on track and on time.
Bev Parnham, the Mayor of Port Hardy and Rick Davidge, the CAO, provided an interesting presentation on the past 20 years of progress for the Port Hardy Harbour Authority and their long term plans for the future. The presentation included a power point presentation and a historical display featuring their achievements.
This year we were honored with the presence of the Director General Micheline Leduc from Ottawa. We appreciate that she took time out of her extremely busy schedule to show her commitment to the Harbour Authority Program. She was joined by Paul MacGillivray, the Associate Regional Director General of Pacific Region and Ken Smith the new Regional Director of SCH. SCH major Regional Initiatives and Public Awareness Strategies were presented. We were delighted to again have Kaye Love, Director of Harbour Policy and Program Planning, and Lisa Shore, Senior Program Officer, from SCH in Ottawa attend our conference.
Small Craft Harbours continued with the Awards Program that was initiated at the 10th annual conference in Nanaimo. The Regional Individual Commitment Award was given to Janet Rooke, of Tsehum Harbour. The District of Port Hardy received the Harbour Authority Achievement Award and the HA Environmental Stewardship Award went to Steveston Harbour Authority. Our congratulations go to these deserving individuals and Harbours.

Small Craft Harbours engineers updated the delegates on Environmental Regulations. This was followed by Zone meetings. After lunch Carol Boothroyd of Carol & Co. gave her Media Wise Relations Workshop. Her presentation was informative and entertaining. Carol, a former reporter, provided us with an inside look on interviewing techniques employed by the media and provided insight and awareness in addition to tools and strategies to employ when being interviewed.

Thursday began with a presentation by SCH Engineers on the National Maintenance Manual and Load Limits. Ben Mabberley gave an update on the NHAAC and the HAC. This was followed on an informative session on Succession Planning presented by Art Childs. The Call of the Ports, a tradition at our conferences, was as always well received. We all love to know what is going on at other facilities.

After a delicious and nutritious lunch we were joined by Jim Lariviere of the Comox Fire Department and Liz McLeod of Comox HA who provided a workshop entitled ‘FIRE PREVENTION AND YOU’ to encourage Harbours to work with their local fire departments in making their Fire Plans a living document. This presentation was followed by the conclusion of the Call of the Ports sessions. Harvey Delaney of Owen Bird Law Corp. wrapped up the day with his presentation on Human Resources issues in our Harbour Authorities. Harvey’s presentation kept the delegates fully engaged and was extremely well received by our delegates. The Banquet began at 6:00 p.m. followed by dancing with local band JACK Hammered! Funds were raised for the Dick Maughan Memorial Marine Education Scholarship through a raffle and 50/50 draw. The new President of the HAABC, Art Childs, Vice President, Hiltje Binner, Secretary/Treasurer Rick Hill, and Board Members Bob Baziuk, Janet Rooke, Carol Doyle and Linda Franz were introduced by Liz McLeod.

Friday morning we all shook off the cobwebs and returned for more. Dan Riley and Natalie Fraser of Transport Canada presented their Small Vessel and Facility Security Strategy. This was followed by a presentation by Andrew Pitcher of Nanaimo Port Authority. The Port is in the process of drafting changes to their policies and procedures to be followed by Vessels in the Port of Nanaimo.

Obtaining grant monies is always a hot topic for Harbour Authorities, and Al Baronas, CEO of the Island Coastal Economic Trust gave an update on their funding program. In addition Helen Fergale, of Community Futures Strathcona provided Harbours with information on the newly announced WestCAPP Funding Initiative.

Shelley Chapelski, of Bull Housser Tupper, has again volunteered her time to provide a legal perspective to our Derelict Vessel Committee. Shelley, a favourite of our conferences, and Liz McLeod provided an update on the progress of the Derelict Vessel Committee. Shelley took the opportunity to review the processes developed by the committee for dealing with derelict vessels in our Harbours. Shelley then took questions from the floor.

In closing we would like to thank all the delegates who attended the conference. This year was well received. Thank you also to the exhibitors whose contribution allows us to continue to have an excellent calibre of presenters. The Westerly staff did a fabulous job of accommodating our every need. Thank you to Andrea and her staff. We look forward to seeing you all again next year!