Protecting Our Lighthouses – The Icons of Canada’s Maritime Heritage

by Douglas Franklin

For the fifth time, legislation to protect heritage lighthouses is on the agenda of Canada’s Parliament. In October, Senator Patricia Carney, PC, introduced Bill S-220, An Act to protect heritage lighthouses. When the Bill was first introduced by the late Sen. Michael Forrestall of Nova Scotia as a Private Member’s Bill (S-21) in 2000, time ran out. Persisting, and with much support from the Heritage Canada Foundation and the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society, Sen. Forrestall brought it forward two more times, as S-7 and S-14. Bill S-14 was given Third Reading by the Senate on March 23, 2005, then presented to the House of Commons for its consideration.

The critical debate took place in June 2005, when the House of Commons gave it Second Reading and referred it to the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development for clause-by-clause review. There the Bill remained until it, too, unfortunately died on the Order Paper when the federal election of January 2006 was called. It had been languishing until Sen. Carney brought it back to life in October.

The decline of the Canadian lighthouse can be traced back to its automation, which began in the 1970s. At the time, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans deemed many older structures too expensive to maintain. Sadly, dozens of lighthouses, keepers’ dwellings and ancillary buildings were torn down, burned, vandalized, or sold and moved off lightstation property.

The move toward using GPS in the 1980s—along with deepening budget cuts to the Canadian Coast Guard—resulted in many other stations being downgraded, their lights reduced in intensity and foghorns turned off. These changes have meant that too many existing lightstations receive minimal maintenance, leaving historically significant structures literally falling apart.

Presently, surplus lighthouse properties are subject to the Real Properties Act, making it very difficult for communities to take over and maintain lighthouse structures and sites, and virtually guaranteeing their sale for private development.

In the first decade of the 20th century, Canada had more than 800 staffed lighthouses, beacons and fog horns. Of the 583 surviving lighthouses, only 21 (or 3.25 percent) have the highest level of federal heritage protection. Yet, in the United States, almost 70 percent of lighthouses older than 50 years have protection under the National Register of Historic Places.

Sen. Carney hails from British Columbia which, like Atlantic Canada, has numerous historic lighthouses. Her Bill was given Second Reading in November and referred to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, where it received clause-by-clause reading on December 7.

Exceptionally knowledgeable about the problem of disappearing and deteriorating lighthouses, Sen. Carney focused on the primary purpose of her Bill to protect heritage lighthouses. She emphasized that there is currently no legal protection for heritage lighthouses owned by the Government of Canada through several departments and agencies, the biggest of which is the Canadian Coast Guard Agency. None of these custodial departments are obligated to maintain them as heritage buildings. Worse, the government does not have to consult with local residents where these historic landmarks are located when decisions concerning disposal and demolition are being made—even when they remain the only federal presence in the communities.

Bill S-220 gives a voice to the community, both in petitioning that lighthouses be protected, and in being consulted on a proposed sale or demolition. Overall, the Bill is modelled on the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act of 1988, which has saved nearly 200 stations across Canada.

The Bill was given Third Reading and passed by the Senate on December 14. Already a champion of heritage lighthouses, Mr. Peter Stoffer, MP for Sackville-Eastern Shore in Nova Scotia, introduced his own Private Member’s Bill in the House of Commons this year. He said that he would cheerfully support S-220, now that it has already passed First Reading in the House of Commons.

Once passed by the House and given Royal Assent, Bill S-220 could potentially protect hundreds of lighthouses on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, as well as on the Great Lakes and inland waterways.

The Act to protect heritage lighthouses recognizes their cultural and historical significance, the importance of their natural and environmental settings, and their potential as catalysts for the revitalization of coastal communities.

Editor’s Note: If you would like to add your voice to the call for this important Bill, write or email your Member of Parliament and The Hon. John Baird, Minister of Environment (Baird.J@parl.gc.ca). You can send a letter to any member free of charge by writing to: House of Commons, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6.