I’ve walked my dogs off leash on Willows Beach for over 25 years. During that time, I didn’t encounter an Environment Canada officer until a few years ago when two officers were on the beach providing information to users about the area.
When asked about their absence for the past two decades, the officers stated that there were only 5-6 Environment Canada officers responsible for the whole of B.C. and the Yukon, and that monitoring the area, including Willows Beach, was not a priority.
The officers also stated that their presence on Willows Beach would not result in ongoing monitoring of the area, but instead would be complaint-driven. Apparently, municipalities have grown tired of receiving complaints (reputedly over 200 by one person) and have requested that Environment Canada respond.
The officers indicated that they would patrol Willows Beach from time to time in order to show the public that Environment Canada is responding to complaints. However, as this is time-consuming and demanding on limited resources, Environment Canada’s complaint management strategy would now appear to be to provide a disincentive to walk dogs off leash by threatening owners with significant fines.
Despite having paid little to no attention to Willows Beach for decades, Environment Canada now claims that one of the most common offences is “allowing a dog to capture, kill, harass or disturb a migratory bird or its nest.” I assume this means that an off-leash dog could do it, not that one has. In either case, it would be helpful if Environment Canada could provide some numbers to support its claim, in particular, how many migratory birds are captured, killed, harassed or disturbed on Willows Beach on an annual basis?
Based on those numbers, if there are any, it should be possible to identify areas on Willows Beach where dogs may play off leash without interfering with migratory birds (a no-dog area has already been established south of Bowker Avenue) and thereby reduce the number of complaints and administrative time. For example, from the bottom of Cavendish or Dalhousie Avenue or the turnaround just past the playground, to the north end of the esplanade. This would be a reasonable compromise and good for the physical and mental health of dogs and their owners.
Mark Timmis
Oak Bay
