Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A Vancouver Island community long frustrated by a ship-breaking operation leaching toxic heavy metals into the ocean is pitching a legal argument that the provincial government may be liable for pollution violations. 

Union Bay residents are calling out provincial and federal regulators for failing to shut down Deep Water Recovery, a company dismantling ships for years on the shoreline of Baynes Sound, said Marilynne Manning, vice president of the Concerned Citizens of Baynes Sound (CCOBS).

Pollution from the large-vessel dismantling operation is a concern for human health and the environment, on land and in water, Manning said. The sensitive area, she added, is also home to the last commercial herring fishery on the coast and half of B.C.’s shellfish farms.