Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

[edit] The early popularity of national parks, like Banff and Yoho, created speculation about other potential parks, like one on Vancouver Island with access to the Pacific Ocean. The recreational potential of Long Beach was known and the nonprofit Canadian National Parks Association put forward the idea, in 1929, of it becoming a park. In 1930, at the request of the federal government, the provincial government placed a reserve on land in the Nitinat Lake area, and in 1948, the provincial government reserved land that would later become the Wickaninnish Beach Provincial Park. Reconnaissance trips by government representatives, one of them being Hugh Llewellyn Keenleyside, found insufficient rationale for establishing a park there at that time, due to its remote and inaccessible location, outstanding forestry encumbrances, and with respect to its development as a health resort–type park, its cold waters, and fog, among other reasons. Regardless, in 1947 the Victoria Chamber of Commerce added their voice to advocating park here, in the form of an addition to the Strathcona Provincial Park with land along the Clayoquot Arm to Long Beach. In 1959, the provincial government opened both the Wickaninnish Beach Provincial Park (which was expanded in 1961 and 1968) and Highway 4, from Tofino to Port Alberni. The highway resulted in thousands of new visitors descending on the beaches each year throughout the 1960s, including for international surfing competitions from 1966 to 1968. Though new tourist accommodations did open, some along the beach, the number of visitors far exceeded Tofino and Ucluelet's capacity, resulting in many camping on the beach. This led to a plundering of the foreshore for food and souvenirs, building temporary shacks from driftwood, improvised latrines, and left-behind garbage and vehicles sunk in the sand. The deteriorating conditions of the beach and the inability of the local community and the province to cope fueled a more urgent call for a national park, particularly by the Vancouver Island Chambers of Commerce and local MLA Howard McDiarmid. However, communication and negotiations with federal Minister of Resources Arthur Laing with the provincial Minister of Recreation and Conservation Ken Kiernan and the cabinet of W.A.C. Bennett were strained, as they disagreed on the appropriate size of the park and cost-sharing, in addition to their political animosity. The project would only advance after 1968 when Jean Chrétien replaced Laing, as Pierre Trudeau succeeded Lester B. Pearson as prime-minister. The BC government was hesitant to relinquish rights to the Effingham Islands portion of the Broken Group and to lose forestry activities in the West Coast Trail area, but proceeded to adopt the West Coast National Park Act in early 1969 which authorized the Minister of Recreation and Conservation to enter into an agreement with the federal government to establish the national park along the west coast of Vancouver Island. The final agreement was shortly reached and endorsed by the province in Order-in-Council 1466/1970 with the province responsible for acquiring lands and the federal government paying for half the costs. Following the agreement, lands were assembled by the province within the areas delineated by the agreement and transferred them the federal government with both paying the acquisition costs equally. The Wickaninnish Beach Provincial Park was transferred to federal government in 1971 to form the core of the Long Beach Unit and the province purchased or expropriated the private lands around the beach, along with the crown lands of the Broken Group Islands. The park's opening ceremony occurred in 1971 and was attended by Princess Anne of England who was presented with a driftwood abstract sculpture by Jean Chrétien, the minister responsible for Parks Canada. The sculpture was the work of local artist Godfrey Stephens. However, the acquisition deadline of 1975 was missed as the two governments and the companies with the timber rights on the provincial crown land, B.C. Forest Products Limited and MacMillan Bloedel, could not reach a compensation settlement. By 1982, the Broken Group Unit and most of the Long Beach Unit had been secured but all of the West Coast Trail Unit was tied up in the disagreement on the value of the timber; an appraisal by the provincial forestry ministry of the value of the timber rights that would secure the remaining lands was deemed unacceptably high by the federal counterparts. An agreement was finally reached in 1988 to transfer the remaining lands, free of encumbrances, and the park was formally included into the National Parks Act in 2000 with Bill C-27 of the second session of the 36th Canadian Parliament. Aboriginal presence[edit] The Canada National Parks Act classifies national parks where the geographic area is subject to a claim in respect of aboriginal rights that has been accepted for negotiation by the Government of Canada as a "park reserve" which allows for the continuing of traditional renewable resource harvesting activities by aboriginal persons. Related to the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council had submitted a claim in 1980 which the government accepted for negotiation in June 1983. In the early park formation little consultation had occurred with the First Nations whose interests in the land they intended to purchase or trade for other similar lands. While seven First Nations claim area within the park as part of their traditional territory, Parks Canada incorporated a working relationship with those interested in its management. Beginning in 1995 the First Nations Program resulted in the creation of the Nuu-chah-nulth interpretative trail, cultural information included in educational literature and displays, increased employment in park services, and shared management responsibilities. The park boundaries exclude 21 Indian reserves belonging to seven different First Nations, though most of the park is claimed as part of their traditional territories which were never ceded, including the Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht, Pacheedaht, and the Hupacasath. In the Long Beach area where the Tla-o-qui-aht claim traditional territory, they have declared the entire Kennedy Lake watershed, as well as Meares Island, as a tribal park. In the Broken Group area, an archaeological site on Benson Island found evidence of human presence dating back more than 5000 years, though the Tseshaht are the only remaining group whose people had lived on the islands. While Benson Island had hosted a summer village (and wintered in the area now known as Port Alberni), it had been abandoned; a subsequent village on Effingham burnt down in 1914.