The family of a 10-year-old boy who was struck and killed by a speedboat while being towed on an inner tube in Burrard Inlet off Cates Park in North Vancouver on June 7 said their lives are forever changed.
“It will never be easy,” mom Shelley Klassen told Global News.
Dad Jason Hall said his son’s death is something that no one can prepare for.
“It’s the unthinkable,” he said.
Another child was critically injured in the crash.
Now, the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation is pitching to be part of a water guardianship program to help increase enforcement on the water.
Hall said they are on board “100 per cent.”
“Being a coastal metropolis, maybe we should pay attention to this,” he said.
“People are getting more vessels, people are getting bigger vessels… we need to make some changes.”
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Deanna George, a councillor with the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, said there is a lot of marine traffic on the waterways and following Hall’s death, they want more of a presence.
“Reminding (boaters), educating them, basically putting a Tsleil-Waututh Nation face in our territory,” she told Global News.
“Get people to think logically or be more mindful of other people who are using these waters.”
George said the nation had already been in talks with other levels of government but Hall’s death has highlighted a need for more collaboration and presence among different groups.
Speed and alcohol are believed to be factors in the fatal accident, North Vancouver RCMP said. The driver of the boat is expected in court in August.
“Guardians are an extension of First Nations self-determination, serving as their Nation’s “boots on the ground” and providing cultural expertise and stewardship, monitoring, public safety, education and knowledge exchange,” according to the provincial government.
Klassen said that this accident is “not for nothing.”
“We as a family don’t want any other family to go through what we’ve just gone through and what we will continue to go through.”
Klasses added that it is clear there is not enough authority on the water to monitor the boaters.
“We don’t know who really is in charge of the waterways?” she said.
“And an organization, like the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, if they would like to come forth and start a program that is a presence on the water… we welcome the First Nations people in that area to come and do some amazing work.”
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