Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 29/05) - Own a boat? Want to make sure you are doing everything above board? Well, it may sound simple, but in the NWT that little task can be tricky business.

In the North there appears to be confusion about procedures and protocols for operating a motorized pleasure craft and what the future may hold for boaters.

A Transport Canada Office of Boating Safety information line has been telling Northerners that by Sept. 15, 2009 operators of pleasure craft will need an "operator competency card" before they hit the water.

That could be very helpful, were it correct.

Stephen Sherburne, a Yellowknife-based boating safety officer with Transport Canada, says the operators are mistaken.

"Residents of Nunavut and the NWT are exempt from that regulation," said Sherburne.

"It's totally unfortunate that people have been misled. That should have been covered in their training in the spring," Sherburne said.

In 1999 it was agreed that NWT and Nunavut boaters wouldn't have to take a test required in other parts of Canada. It's necessary to score 75 per cent or better on a Coast Guard exam to get a pleasure craft operator's card before they can go boating. But not here.

Sherburne said he has spoken to the Winnipeg-based operators and they should now be giving the correct information.

The policy is being considered for the North, but first "consultations with stakeholders" must take place, and there is no timetable for when that is going to happen.

"That will tell us whether the program running in the South will work here, or if we will have to take a different approach," Sherburne said.

What is needed to operate a pleasure craft with a 10+ horse power motor, Sherburne explains, is proper safety equipment and a vessel licence number.

The number must be at least 75mm tall and displayed on both sides of the bow in colours that contrast with the boat. For this, one applies with Customs Canada and the decals are sent.

Colleen and Mike Ingram bought an 18.5 foot Crestliner from Force One in July 2004. They have spent the whole time since trying to get the facts straight about what they do and do not need to do.

Some boaters told the family they don't need the licence number. They say customs told them the number wasn't important.

"We went quite a while investigating, trying to figure out what we need and what we don't need, and it all depended on who you spoke to," Colleen Ingram said.

The fact is that while the licence number is required by law, the law is rarely enforced.

"There are bigger things for us to worry about," said Jack Kruger, an RCMP Search and Rescue co-ordinator.

"I'm more concerned about people who are not practising safe boating than if they don't have a number," he said.

Mike Ingram is now considering getting the numbers anyway.

"I'm thinking, why don't we just go out and do it get the licences, and then we don't have to worry about whether we need it or we don't," Ingram said.

He thinks the licences are a good idea. "I think it's a benefit to everybody. It's a safety issue," Ingram said.