Fall Society Newsletter

FALL NEWSLETTER | October 8, 2026

Greetings all and we hope that you enjoyed a fabulous summer season. We thank our members for their ongoing support and encourage you to forward this email to any of your friends who you think may benefit by joining our Society. This can be easily done by visiting our website at CWVPOS.com. We strive to post relevant and accurate information on our web site that, with a quick review, one can readily understand the relevance and purpose of our Society.

We are pleased to welcome a new Director to the Society, Dave McGrath who is very well known in the Columbia Valley. As a permanent resident in the Valley, Dave will be able to provide us with valuable local information and insights.

Activities and Events post-June 23, 2026

Our last major public outreach was a virtual Town Hall event held on June 23, 2026, that was very well attended. Since that time a number of events, meetings and outreach has occurred.

On July 16, 2026, a meeting was held including BC Minister Neill of the Department of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship (“WLRS”), Scott McInnis our district MLA, David Muter BC Gov Executive Director for trades and planning, several other WLRS staff members, five representatives of the CVBA including Mike Dubois, Lorne Shovar representing the ʔAkisq̓nuk (“ʔAFN”) and Victoria Calvert representing the CWVPOS. The Minister opened the meeting and asked the group for their vision of the Lakes for the next 100 years. She indicated that the process addressing future Lake stewardship is not formalized and is in its very early stages. It became clear in the meeting that WLRS staff were not aware of the Vessel Operating Restriction Regulation (“VORR”) applied for by the ʔAFN. Our Society and the CVBA both agreed to send them information in this regard. The Minister indicated there is no formal moratorium in place around the Lake foreshores. This was challenged by the CVBA, using the Tretheway dredging application and Athalmer boat launch delays now approaching 3 years as examples. Mr. Shovar suggested that both the CVBA and CWVPOS were negligent in not reaching out to the ʔAFN to discuss these matters. Both the CVBA and CWVPOS have made numerous phone and email attempts to arrange for meetings with the ʔAFN. The Society thought we had a late August 27/28 meeting set that the ʔAFN did not follow through on. We plan to respectfully continue our outreach as it is our intention to support a collaborative community-based approach. The CVBA and CWVPOS both intend to push for a community-based Lakes stewardship approach.

Many thanks to Brett Wilson who invited me to speak on behalf of the Society at the BrettBrett musical concert held on August 2, 2026. Despite a weather delay on Saturday, August 1 due to heavy winds, the concert was very well attended with approximately 400 boats in attendance and in addition was broadcast on FM 88.5. Our Society remarks were brief and well received. We are grateful to have Brett Wilson’s support and following the concert he is helping us fund a Society media outreach initiative that is now in its early stages. Brett’s thinking on this is we need to be collaborative in our efforts and on this point, we are very much aligned.

Our Society is supportive of the Pender Harbour and Area Residents Association (“PHARA”) constitutional challenge to BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (“DRIPA”). The PHARA Civil challenge is that DRIPA is a law that is outside the scope of provincial legislative authority under sections 91 and 92 of a Canadian Constitutional Act, 1982. In our view, this is very important legal action that has implications for the rest of Canada. The PHARA group have written to the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and Attorney of Canada to consider Canadian Federal participation in this litigation to support this constitutional challenge. The PHARA notice of civil claim is posted on our web site. PHARA is enjoying a ground swell of support, and you can choose to support their legal action financially through their GoFundMe page: (PHARA: Help Us Protect Property Rights and Constitutional Democracy).

We are all aware of the surprise BC election called by Premier Eby, with a voting date set for October 24, 2026. Our Society will continue to work with whatever party gains power in this election.

On October 2 our director Rick Brost attended the ʔAFN third information session and dinner focused on their labour market survey. The content of this discussion was more on ʔAFN opportunities and not focused on the regional economic impact of a potential VORR restriction on wake boats that is stated in the ʔAFN press release on this matter.

Conclusion

Our Society was established to provide a strong, organized voice for property owners in the Columbia Valley with a particular focus on issues affecting fee simple property and existing rights both around the foreshore and uplands around the Lakes in the Columbia Valley. We value our relationship with the CVBA and Public Land Use Society in these efforts. Our Society believes that we should be meaningfully included in all Government led decision making processes and not just Government to Government discussions that have been taking place behind closed doors in BC’s recent history.

CWVPOS

Douglas Kay, President