First Nation proposes water guardian program after child's death in North Vancouver boat crash

Akshay Kulkarni · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 09, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation is proposing a h2o guardianship programme to amended radical successful their accepted territory, a period aft the decease of a kid successful a speedboat clang successful North Vancouver.

Lionel Hall, 10, was killed connected June 7 astatine Cates Park erstwhile a speedboat crashed into an inflatable conduit carrying him and different kid successful the h2o adjacent the park's vessel launch. The different kid was critically injured.

Alcohol and velocity are believed to beryllium factors successful the crash, according to RCMP, with the speedboat operator arrested connected the scene. He is owed successful tribunal successful August.

Deanna George, an elder and councillor with the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, said Hall's death deed her community hard.

Cates Park, a fashionable parkland successful North Vancouver's Deep Cove neighbourhood, is located successful the nation's accepted territory and is known as Whey-ah-Wichen in their language.

George says that the nation's assembly has passed a solution and is talking to antithetic levels of authorities to acceptable up a h2o guardianship programme and amended boaters successful the region.

"I cognize the unfastened h2o conscionable seems like, 'Woo hoo! Let's speed; let's bash stuff,'" George said. 

"But if you don't cognize the waterways, if you don't cognize what's coming successful and out, the postulation successful this area, past yes, you are ignorant."

WATCH | Child killed successful vessel clang astatine Cates Park: 

George says the guardianship programme would absorption connected educating boaters connected rules that don't look intuitive astatine archetypal glance.

They include respecting others successful the area, knowing the locations of canoe and kayak tours, and the worth of being connected First Nations territory.

"The thought ... is that this is to support our look wrong the territory, amended radical connected who we are, and wherefore we are guarding our lands and our waters," she said.

"And hopefully that volition physique up the respect for it and [boaters] commencement abiding by rules that, similar I said before, aren't truly intuitive to people, similar adjacent littering."

Shelley Klassen, Hall's mother, said the thought of having First Nation members retired connected the h2o arsenic portion of a h2o guardianship program was a "brilliant idea."

Jason Hall, Lionel's dad, said that regulations haven't been keeping up with the fig of boaters that are present retired connected the waters.

"Clearly, had determination been a beingness to astatine slightest show and guarantee that each users of the h2o are acting successful a harmless mode — you know, this benignant of mishap would person been avoided there," helium told CBC News.

Longstanding concerns successful area

District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little said that determination person been longstanding concerns astir the vessel postulation adjacent Cates Park, which is among a prime fewer nationalist vessel launches successful the Lower Mainland.

He said the territory would enactment with the First Nation and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority connected solutions to code the conception of the Burrard Inlet astir Cates Park.

"Some mode to abstracted the traffic, I think, would beryllium a large advantage," helium said. "People who aren't accessing the vessel motorboat shouldn't beryllium hanging retired astir the vessel launch.

"If there's faster traffic, it needs to beryllium separated from immoderate of the slower traffic," helium added. 

"Larger boats request to beryllium separated from the smaller boats. It's those enactment points [where] I deliberation you spot a batch of risk."

Authorities successful support

A Transport Canada spokesperson said that the national transport minister can designate section authorities to enforce rules if they marque an exertion successful writing.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority — which is responsible for boating traffic in the Burrard Inlet, the assemblage of h2o wherever the clang happened — said it welcomed each efforts that contributed to improving information connected section waterways.

"Building meaningful partnerships with First Nations, including Tsleil-Waututh Nation, and advancing our shared priorities is cardinal to our enactment astatine the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority," a spokesperson wrote.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Coast Guard said that First Nations successful B.C. person a agelong past of responding to marine emergencies and person extended cognition of the section waters.

"Increasingly, the Canadian Coast Guard is benefiting from and integrating that cognition and expertise into galore of the ways we attack hunt and rescue," the spokesperson wrote.

A Public Safety Ministry spokesperson noted that galore First Nations passim B.C. person programs established nether the "guardian" term, which alteration from federation to federation and whitethorn not beryllium related to policing activities.