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 The demolition by the Canadian Coast Guard of some of the historic structures on the island in the 1960's and 1970's
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 In July 1966, Trev and Flo Anderson took over responsibility for the light station at Race Rocks. They moved into the keeper's residence which had recently been constructed. Unfortunately the Department demolished the original house at the base of the tower in 1974. The squared rock remains of the old building can still be seen where they had been bulldozed into the shallow water to the south of the tower. |
| Trev and Flo had unusual retirement plans. They constructed a magnificent forty-four foot ketch right on the shore at Race Rocks. During seven years of construction, Trev had the fledgling hull secured by heavy cables to eyes driven into the rocks to prevent a shipwreck from the winter North East storms before she was even launched. While she was under construction the sailboats ribs looked more like a beached whale. |
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On February 7, 1982 Wawa the Wayward Goose was launched and the Andersons set off on a two year voy age that took them north to the Queen Charlottes and across the Pacific to New Zealand and back aboard their Race Rocks built sailboat.
Go to this file on Trev and Flo Anderson:
The Andersons started a great tradition of hospitality that built a close relationship with the students of nearby Pearson College.
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| Lester B. Pearson College was established in nearby Pedder Bay in 1974. Students from around the world came to study at the College which was named in memory of the former Canadian Prime Minister and Nobel Prize winner. The College was established to promote international understanding. All students attend Pearson College on full scholarship and come from everywhere; from Papua New Guinea to Poland. It wasn't long until the students started to visit Race Rocks as Pearson College operated a much needed rescue service in the area. Faculty and students in marine biology classes and in the Diving Service began to study the extraordinary marine life at Race Rocks. It became clear that the fast flowing, nutrient rich waters supported large, diverse populations of marine life. After over a century of protecting others, Race Rock was in fact in need of protection itself. From 1978 on, they urged the faculty and students to seek formal protection for the natural environment and the rich biodiversity of the area. In 1980, after Pearson College students and faculty worked with the Ecological Reserves office of the (then) Department of Lands, Parks and Housing, the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve was established by an order in Council of the Cabinet of the Provincial Government in British Columbia. In the few years preceding this, the Andersons had assisted the students in every way they could and kept a watchful eye over the area. ( Go to this file for a more detailed history of the establishment of the Ecological Reserve.) |
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CHARLES AND JOAN REDHEAD
(Lightkeepers At Race Rocks 1982-1990)
After a short interval after the departure of the Anderson's in 1982, when the station was covered by relief keepers, the Redheads took over at Race Rocks. They served more than the station during their tenure; they served muffins! Several generations of Pearson College students the world over still remember hot chocolate and muffins in their kitchen, after a cold scuba dive. Charles and Joan Redhead continued the strong interest in protecting the ecology of Race Rocks. For a few years before retirement, they shared the island with the assistant lightkeepers Warren and Elaine Kennedy. All four keepers often turned out to greet the students as they came ashore. The keepers also often shared the is land and boathouse slipway with stray elephant seals or sea lions that strayed from the large herds that hauled out on the outer rocks during the winter months. In retirement in Vancouver and then Victoria, Charles and Joan remained in contact with the college. It was with sadness that we learned of the death of Charles in the spring of 1996. The students of the year 11 and 12 reunion have remembered Charles with a walnut tree planted in his honour on the Pearson College campus in June of 1996.
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MIKE AND CAROL SLATER-
The last lightkeepers of Race Rocks 1990-1997
In 1990 the head keeper Mike Slater and his wife Carol came to the station. Carol in particular held strong views about the need to live in harmony with the nature that truly surrounds Race Rocks. The Slaters worked hard to protect the reserve and assist researchers. These volunteer activities fall far outside their regular lightstation duties. During the early 1990's the ominous signs of the first radical change at Race Rocks became apparent as the Coast Guard experimented with automated equipment to operate the station. In the spring of 1994 the first announcements about de-staffing of lightstations on the British Columbia Coast were made. The decision was surprising and unpopular. In September, 1995, the Minister of Fisheries, Brian Tobin and the MP for Victoria, David Anderson paid a visit to the island and are shown here talking with Mike and Carol Slater and Pearson College faculty and students. Most surprising, a few months later was the announcement that Race Rocks was on the list of the seven stations to be de-staffed in the first round of budget cuts. Race Rocks was to be closed on March 1st 1997. Mike and Carol watched as the last of the automated equipment was installed and a maintenance crew measured the windows of their house for shutters. They might as well have measured the keepers for a box too as the end of a way of life would be coming to Race Rocks.
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TEMPORARY REPRIEVE, 1997:
For the time being Race Rocks and its keepers won a reprieve. In an emergency two year agreement Pearson College undertook to operate the facility in cooperation with the Coast Guard, as an education centre. A private donor agreed to cover the salary costs for the Slaters who were invited to stay on at Race Rocks by Pearson College. The College continued negotiations with the Provincial Government, the actual owners of the land, to operate the facility on a long term basis. Ten years later, Lester B. Pearson College is still managing the island on a long term lease from BC Parks. We are determined to make the island self-sufficient so with that in mind, the Race Rocks endowment fund has been set up for operating racerocks. |
This picture was taken in the late 1970's. It shows several features that have been changed. The communicaitons tower on the left was removed as was the tower on the right . The guy wires show of that one. Also the light keeper's assistants house was enlarged with an addition on the end facing west. |
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| During the following years, from 1997 to 2000, The Canadian Coast Guard and the Provincial Parks Department started the process of transferring the property, upgrading essential parts and restoring some of the areas used by the Coastguard back to a natural ecosystem. |
In September of 1998, The Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, the Honourable David Anderson, announced the proposal to make the Ecological reserve and all the Islands of Race Rocks into a Pilot Marine Protected Area (pilot MPA) for eventual designation as a Marine Protected Area ( MPA) under the Ocean's Act. This index contains the information on that process. |
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The recognition of the role of First Nations in the Creation of MPAs started a process of involving the Coast Salish people in the future management and educational program for the Race Rocks MPA.
The Race Rocks Advisory Board was set up in the fall of 1999 to further the creation of the MPA.
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See this file for recent information on Administration of the Islands We wish to acknowledge the assistance of the British Columbia Archives in making the photos from the early years on Race Rocks available to us, and Flo Anderson, and Joan Redhead for the more recent pictures. |
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