Tofino’s mayor Josie Osborne hopes the efforts her constituents are putting into cleaning their coastline will help motivate change elsewhere.
An impressive team of committed West Coasters have put together a massive two-year grassroots initiative, dubbed Clayoquot Cleanup: Restore the Shore, which is set to officially get underway on Thursday and would be the largest local cleanup to date.
“I’m really impressed with the initiative that the individuals and businesses involved with the Clayoquot Cleanup have taken to deal with what seems to be an intractable problem: marine debris,” Osborne told the Westerly News.
“This is a group of people who really care about the impacts that marine debris is having on our environment and, while the actual cleanup is terrific, myself, I am most interested in the potential they have to heighten awareness of the root causes of the problem. I hope this will result in more conversation, inspiration and action to provide solutions.”
Clayoquot Cleanup’s coffers have been filled by community donations and volunteer support without assistance from the provincial or federal government, though local NDP MP Gord Johns is lobbying the federal government for funding.
“It is frustrating that cleanups rely mostly on volunteer effort and local fundraising, that speaks to discrepancies between government spending decisions and society’s values. Then again, society keeps demonstrating that it wants all this plastic stuff and doesn’t seem to be willing enough to buy less, recycle more, or pay more for well-designed products that are long-lasting,” Osborne said.
“Maybe increasing tax-payer funded clean-ups would help galvanize public outrage, but I think human behaviour is a lot more complicated than that…BC’s beverage container refund system clearly demonstrates that a deposit system works for recycling recovery. Why not consider expanding that to cover every single type of container we use?”
She said the conversation needs to spread outside B.C. because marine debris “is coming from every corner of the globe—some more than others,” and that Tofino’s efforts could be the spark that starts the discussion.
“My hat is off to organizations like Clayoquot Cleanup, Surfrider Pacific Rim, and all the businesses and individuals who are inspiring us to make better, more informed choices and to actively demonstrate our love for the ocean,” she said.
Gord Johns is beaming over local volunteer efforts to clean up the Coast while fuming over what he sees as an absence of assistance from the federal government.
“It’s really unfair that it’s community residents that are carrying the burden of responsibility for keeping Canada’s coast clean. Really, it’s disappointing that it’s local organizations that have to deal with the fall out from the marine highway with limited resources and little funding,” the West Coast’s NDP MP told the Westerly News.
“Government is out there promoting Canada as a trading nation, promoting the trade of our goods and services and, in our communities that are actually getting the fallout, the impact is significant. It’s costing our communities to clean up the mess from trade that is benefitting people across the country and filling the bank accounts and coffers of Ottawa.”
Johns said he’s thrilled to see “phenomenal” groups of locals coming together to tackle the issue like SurfRider Pacific Rim, the Wild Pacific Trail Society and recently launched Clayoquot Cleanup.
“These are our community champions. Their leadership is unbelievable and I think we all owe them a large amount of gratitude for the work they’re doing,” he said.
“The values in our communities demonstrate how connected we are to place. We know what’s at stake and it’s everything that keeps us here and grounds us here.”
He added though that the amount of debris is spiraling outside the scope of grassroots efforts and that help must start flowing in from the top.
“At this point there’s so much ocean plastic and so much marine debris that we’re at a tipping point where local residents volunteering can’t keep up with the amount of garbage and debris that’s landing on our beaches,” he said.
“The federal government could collect a small amount of money from each trans cargo shipment unit that come into the ports across Canada, from coast, to coast, to coast, and disburse that money to local organizations…I’ve been calling on the government to come up with some sort of tool to fund the fallout from this trade that’s tied to trade.”
He added not all marine debris comes from trade and legislation is needed to protect local shores.
“It’s from aquaculture, from the fishing industry, from human waste, from recreational users of the ocean and our beaches, so we need to address it through education, funding mechanisms to clean up the issue, and legislation so that we can legislate what types of things are entering the ecosystem,” he said.
“We live here. We are the caretakers of our beaches and of our ecosystem as residents of coastal communities, but it’s not just our coast it’s everybody’s coast. It’s not just our fish, it’s everybody’s fish and when people hear that their fish are being contaminated, whether you live in Regina, Saskatchewan or Vancouver, British Columbia, you care.”