There have been longstanding community concerns about derelict boats in False Creek, according to the Vancouver Police Department.
Pressure from locals regarding pollution, safety, and aesthetic issues has spurred VPD’s Marine Unit along with Transport Canada and the City of Vancouver to embark on a project to clean up the harbour.
Back in September, the VPD estimated there were 100 unauthorized or dilapidated boats in False Creek. They shared via a Facebook post that jurisdiction in False Creek is shared by Transport Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard, the City of Vancouver, and the Vancouver Park Board but that VPD has the authority to enforce anchoring rules and issue direction notices to boats that are not compliant with anchoring regulations.
Vancouver lawyer Kyla Lee explains that squatters’ rights as they are understood in law are known as “adverse possession.”
“B.C. has a law that prohibits someone acquiring title by way of adverse possession, under Section 28 of the Limitation Act. But the water is a little more complicated,” she says.
Since the ocean cannot be owned or sold by anyone it would be impossible to acquire a title to any water that was part of the ocean.
“While people can get titles to marine slips and houseboats, those are not an interest in the ocean as much as an interest in the occupancy of the resources,” she explains. B.C. has a “floating homes” policy that requires floating homes to be physically connected to the land by a common walkway and the provincial government is not currently issuing any more floating home community permits.
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