North Shore dog owner Kathryn Casey learned about a newly enforced policy on BC Ferries the hard way. In January, she and her friend were heading back from Tofino with their three dogs, including Manu, a large Rhodesian ridgeback with behavioural challenges. They had made a reservation and requested to be on the upper deck, but ended up down in the closed deck instead. “We were settling down about to watch a movie in the car when one of the workers came down and said, ‘You have to leave.’’’
When they refused because there was no safe place for them to put their dogs, and because leaving them would create stress for the animals, Casey said they were threatened that she would be “written up” and banned from travelling. They ended up spending the ride squeezed into a stairwell.
Last October, BC Ferries began enforcing a Transport Canada regulation contained in the Canada Shipping Act that has been on the books since 2007. It requires passengers on vehicle decks to exit their vehicles when a vessel is under way. Major routes are affected, including between Langdale and Horseshoe Bay.
“Transport Canada had allowed us to have continual car deck patrol with some of our deckhands and staff on board, but they did come back to us last year and said that no longer met their requirements and that we would have to enforce the regulation,” Deborah Marshall, BC Ferries public affairs officer, told Coast Reporter. Some vehicles are exempt, such as ambulances, and livestock carriers such as horse trailers.
The change has become a cause for concern for pet owners, who say leaving dogs unattended is unsafe. Marshall said BC Ferries has received complaints but BC Ferries isn’t able to change the Transport Canada rule.
Another more niche group seems to be suffering outsized consequences of the rule change. Dog boarding business owners on the Sunshine Coast say the regulation is bad for business since they depend on North Shore clients and rely on the ferries to transport multiple dogs at once.
Shari Keet of Happy Tails Ranch said she has been forced to charge her clients more so that she can make a reservation to improve her chances of making it on to the upper deck. She uses the ferry at least twice a week, and said the summer heat is going to add to the problem. “It’s unpredictable. It’s not like your family pet you know very well. They are strange dogs. They need to be supervised,” she said.
Margaret Wilson moved from the North Shore to the Sunshine Coast to launch her dog boarding business, Mountain and Wave. “If I had known about the ferry, I might not have moved,” said Wilson from her resort a few minutes outside of Gibsons.
About 60 per cent of Wilson’s clients come from the North Shore and for 11 years she has been ferrying dogs back and forth to the city. The once or twice weekly trip involves carting up to seven canines in her SUV. “I must admit I was mortified to begin with,” said Wilson of the regulation.
To adapt, Wilson said she is trying to encourage more people to walk on with their dogs, in addition to always reserving a week or two in advance, and checking the BC Ferries website several times a day. “You have to work the system,” she said, adding that it’s still “hit or miss” whether she’ll make it upstairs. Her solution is to get there earlier, but she said it compounds the problem since dogs are then left to wait in the parking lot in the hot sun.
Before the ban was in place, Wilson said on hot days on the ferry she would bring a cooler filled with ice cubes, water and cold towels.
“At least when you’re sitting in the car with them you can say, ‘I’m still breathing, I know they are, too.’”
She said the dog lounge, which was recently upgraded, still isn’t big enough to accommodate a full load of dogs. And some dogs don’t behave well with others, or alone.
Amy Morris, public policy and outreach manager at BCSPCA, acknowledged the policy isn’t convenient but said there are workarounds. “I don’t think we can ask for policy changes for animal welfare reasons,” she said, adding that passengers should not “leave a pet in a hot car under any circumstances.”
Wilson wants to see pet owners get a guaranteed spot on the upper deck with a special reservation system, even if it means spending more. For now, she spends extra to make reservations. “People who have horses get to stay with their horses, so why are dogs different? I just don’t think the management thought about it before they put it into effect,” Wilson said.
So far, there are no plans to change how reservations work or to create special priority booking for pet owners. “It is for safety reasons,” said Marshall. “We’re pet lovers, too, and I know they are part of your family and I know people don’t like to leave them.”
For Kathryn Casey and her Rhodesian ridgeback, she plans to take the ferry back to Nanaimo at the end of May. She said she is going to make a reservation but isn’t sure what she’ll do if she can’t get on the upper deck. “There’s this big campaign about don’t leave your dogs in your car because it’s too hot. Well, you’re forcing us to,” she said. “I totally understand the safety regulation. I get that. I’m not disputing that, at all, [but] their handling of it is ridiculous.”
