On its 60th anniversary, Canadian Coast Guard says First Nations relationship key to service in B.C.

The Canadian Coast Guard is celebrating 60 years of service from coast to coast to coast. 

Formed on Jan. 26, 1962, the coast guard, which has 123 ships, 23 helicopters, around 17,000 fixed and floating aids to navigation and 183 marine communication towers, is responsible for patrolling the world's longest coastline.

Western region assistant commissioner Derek Moss says the coast guard prides itself on its search-and-rescue capabilities and response to marine pollution such as oil spills.

"When most other people are coming into port, the coast guard is leaving port because it's bad weather and people need help," he said. 

Beyond rescues and environmental response, Moss says the coast guard works to ensure vessels get to their destinations safely, a role akin to that of an air traffic controller.

"Those people at their desks in front of their radar displays are talking with the ships, co-ordinating the timing of ships reaching traffic lanes," he said. "Much like roads and highways — although you can't really see them — there are medians and there are specific left and right lanes that the ships use to keep the shipping safe."

The coast guard's long history

Informal government lifeboats and light stations in eastern Canada date back to the 1700s with the first fishery ships appearing on the eastern seaboard in the 1800s.

After Confederation, the federal government established the Department of Marine and Fisheries, which was responsible for navigation, lifesaving stations, and marine regulations. The department's Marine Service performed patrols and search and rescue. In 1936, marine transportation and the Marine Service became part of the Department of Transport.

Following calls to establish a national coast guard, the federal government announced in 1962 that the Department of Transport's fleet of ships would become the Canadian Coast Guard. Vessels were painted red and white with a maple leaf on the funnel.

Relationship with First Nations key

With more than 25,000 kilometres of shoreline to cover in B.C., Moss says communication with coastal communities is key. 

"We're, in many cases, the only federal presence on the coast because we have stations in a lot of the remote communities so the dialogue is constant," he said.

The coast guard has also worked to partner with First Nations. 

"Many of those communities are truly the experts," Moss said. "They've been on those waters for their entire life, and their fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers before them, so we rely on that partnership and that expertise. We facilitate that, we help train and we partner and we learn best lessons learned from their experiences." 

Clay Evans, a retired search-and-rescue superintendent in the coast guard's western region, notes that Indigenous people were among the first to respond to the 2006 fatal sinking of the Queen of the North ferry, and the 2015 capsizing of a whale-watching boat near Tofino that claimed the lives of six people. 

The coast guard has worked with the Coastal Nations Coast Guard Auxiliary, an Indigenous-led group that performs search and rescue, promotes water safety and conducts safety patrols.

Executive director Conrad James Shaw Cowan says the auxiliary, which represents seven First Nations, has units dotted along the coast in areas where there aren't a lot of other search-and-rescue resources.

Cowan hopes the auxiliary will expand to include other nations. 

"The coastal Indigenous people have been responding to mariners in distress for thousands of years, whether those in need of rescue come from their nation or are guests to their waters," he said. "So, [more] often than not, the first on the water and they'll continue to do that."

Anthony Moore, a board member from the Nisga'a First Nation, is part of local rescue operations that cover the northwest portion of the province. 

He said this type of work is in his blood as his grandfather and uncles have been involved in emergency response. 

"It's just something that I've always felt I had to do," he said.