A meeting between Fisheries and Oceans Canada staff and Gord Johns, MP for Courtenay-Alberni, is planned for early in the coming week to talk about destaffing plans for two lightstations off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Johns, who is opposing the plan, said he learned Friday afternoon that department staff will meet him.
The Canadian Coast Guard, part of the federal Fisheries Department, has announced it is planning to remove a total of four lightkeepers from two stations, one at Pachena Point and the other at Carmanah Point, both on the West Coast Trail.
Both stations are located on unstable ground that does not meet federal safety criteria, the coast guard said. More than half the buildings at each station are on poor soil.
Aids to navigation will remain and lightkeepers will be offered alternative employment, the federal agency said.
But lightkeepers are critical to the safety of West Coast mariners, provide up-to-the-minute weather information, watch out for mariners along the coast and call for assistance if needed, say advocates.
“When we hear [of] incidents happening, lightkeepers are front and centre,” Johns said. “They are the first to respond in terms of helping support the overall response” which can include the coast guard and CFB Comox.
“It’s the lighthouse keepers that are the first ones to identify a situation often and report back to those agencies.”
A petition to the House of Commons started a week ago calling for the destaffing to be put on hold has collected more than 700 signatures.
Information tables have been set up in the riding and there’s been “overwhelming support for protecting the lighthouses,” Johns said.
