Good day to the good people of Sandspit and throughout Haida Gwaii. No public service announcements from me this week. I haven’t seen anyone speeding through the playground zone lately, and the RCMP have installed a radar sign and have been keeping up appearances as a further deterrent. Kudos to them. Selfishly, I want to recognise the Haida Gwaii Islanders Ice Hockey team for representing Haida Gwaii at the recent Terrace Adult Recreational Hockey League tournament. The Islanders team is made up of players from throughout Haida Gwaii, and they were recently featured in an article by Ronnie Shukar in The Hockey News. Let’s all be safe on the roads and remember that if you miss the ferry, there’s usually another one not long after.
Looking through the Sandspit Peeps Facebook page this week, I learned that the North Coast Regional District recently passed a bylaw to establish a parks and trails advisory committee and an emergency planning and public safety committee. Advertisements for committee members and a community meeting will be posted in the next few weeks. A shout-out to “Smoke and Mirrors,” Sandspit’s local food truck. Brett is open from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. most days and features excellent food and pleasant customer service. Finally, the North of 50 Potluck, for Sandspit folk who are 50 years of age or older, happened on January 29. Guest speakers were Mary Lou Von Niessen and Fran Fowler, who talked about the Better at Home programme.
This week’s featured Sandspit resident is my longtime friend, Bill Rieger. We have been friends for many years, and when I got my first teaching job in Sandspit in 2007, I lived in his basement suite. We have hunted, fished, and shared a few beers while watching the Canucks since then. I hope that you enjoy his story, and if you have any news or events you would like to share, please reach out to me.
Bill Rieger was born in 1970 in Toronto, Ontario. The first of his family to be born in Canada, his parents had fled to Canada in 1968 from Bratislava, which was then Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia. His parents were drawn to Toronto due to its Czechoslovakian population, and they lived there for a few years before his father’s work as a millwright took him west to Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, in 1972.
Bill has fond memories of his early years in “Poco.” His time at Meadowbrook Elementary was full of adventures with his best friend Willy, with whom he maintained a childhood friendship that lasted over 30 years. He was even invited to Willy’s wedding. Bill also remembers picking up his sister from Hastings High School and witnessing Terry Fox running and training on the track there for his Marathon of Hope.
In Grade 4, Bill’s family moved to Ladner, and he attended Hawthorne Elementary. It was a tough transition eased by a playground fight that had two favourable outcomes for Bill: he won the fight, and his opponent, Glen Tribbeck, became a lifelong friend. Bill’s next step was Delta Secondary School, where most of his friends came from farming and fishing families. At 16, he took his first “real job” on a farm baling hay. After a few days of itching and heat, Bill realised he wasn’t a fan of farming.
Bill participated in the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets for many years, and on his mother’s advice, he walked to the Steveston Harbour docks, pulled a phone number from the corkboard, and at 16 was hired as a deckhand. Working on the F/V Bellwood, a gillnet/troller combo, launched his maritime career. The money he made that first summer was “way too crazy,” but it was the beauty of BC’s coastal waters that truly built Bill’s passion for the marine environment.
Near the end of Grade 11, realising he could make a living on the water, Bill decided to end his high school career and worked as a fisher. In 1991, after sustaining a work-related back injury, Bill was given a chance for re-education. He obtained his Dogwood Diploma and started university at Malaspina College in Nanaimo. While obtaining his Grade 12, he began working towards a biology degree and met friends who influenced his pathway to Sandspit.
In 1993, Jenn Davidson, who had worked for Sandspit-based company “Moresby Explorers” the previous summer, explained to Bill that he’d be a great adventure guide in what she called “The Charlottes.” In April 1993, Jenn connected Bill with then-Moresby Explorers owner Doug Gould, and after a quick conversation about his experience, Bill was offered the job. With a desire for a break from commercial fishing and a wish to explore the waters of Haida Gwaii—places on the BC coast he hadn’t yet seen—Bill arrived in Sandspit in May 1993.
Bill’s first experience in Sandspit began at the old airport. Doug picked him up in an old blue pickup truck and took him straight to the Willows Golf Course clubhouse to watch a Vancouver Canucks playoff game. The next day, Doug headed for camp on Louise Island, leaving Bill with his father, Duane Gould, to work for the day. Bill recalls his first work experience with a chuckle as “insanely hard,” kicking off his 30-year Sandspit adventure.
Bill spent 10 years, from 1993 to 2003, working in Gwaii Haanas with Moresby Explorers. In the winters, he returned to commercial fishing. That decade of guiding in South Moresby was, in Bill’s words, “some of the best times of his life.” The people, wildlife, and adventures were “hard to beat,” he says.
In 2002, he bought a 32-foot sailboat and sailed from Vancouver to Sandspit. Completing his life goal of crossing Hecate Strait under sail, he tied up in Sandspit Harbour on May 19, 2002, and encountered two “blue suits” site-surveying for a Canadian Coast Guard search-and-rescue station. By this time, Bill already considered Sandspit home and, by obtaining a post office box, became an official resident. His maritime experience and certifications helped him meet the Coast Guard’s hiring requirements, and on January 25, 2004, Bill was hired as a leading deckhand and rescue specialist (medic).
Bill worked his way “up the hawse pipe” to become a captain. He obtained his 150 Masters Ticket and has served as the Officer in Charge at the Sandspit Lifeboat Station for six years. Bill cites Sandspit legends Neil Carey and Jim Henry as inspirations for his career with the Coast Guard, and he is proud to serve Haida Gwaii and its mariners.
One of Bill’s greatest career accomplishments, in this author’s humble opinion, is his contribution as the master of ceremonies (MC) for the annual Sandspit Logger Sports Day. Bill took over as MC when local organisers Jasin Wourms and Betsy Cranmer-Wourms asked him to step into the role. Having participated as a log birler and fan for many years, Bill has now been the MC for over a decade. His knowledge of the event’s history, passion for the participants and fans, and recognition of the event’s importance to Sandspit make him an excellent MC. Bill enjoys the competition, camaraderie, and sense of community the event brings to Haida Gwaii.
Bill loves Sandspit for its nature—the mountains, the beaches, and especially the sunsets. He also values the people but feels Sandspit is more defined by the place than its residents. He wishes for better infrastructure, including the return of the pool Sandspit once had and other facilities to make the community more inviting. For Bill, Sandspit represents adventure camps, the gateway to Gwaii Haanas, Gray Bay, Copper Bay, the golf course, the marina, the Coast Guard, and the airport. He believes people underestimate the vital role Sandspit plays for Haida Gwaii as a whole.
When it comes to his favourite Sandspitians, Bill gives heartfelt recognition to “God rest their souls” Neil Carey, Jim Henry, and Duane Gould for their contributions to the community. He also praises Peter Houston as a “top-notch dude” for his volunteering efforts, Joni Fraser for her community contributions, and Chris Putterill for his love of Sandspit. Logger Sports Day remains one of Bill’s favourite events, but he fondly remembers Harbour Days or Betty Carey Days and wishes those events could return.
Bill’s words of wisdom for Sandspit are a reminder that Sandspitians need each other. In adversity, they must stand together; in good times, they must celebrate together. If this unity continues, Sandspit will remain a community with pride, prosperity, and an essential role within Haida Gwaii.