The saga continues.
The Annapolis will not be sunk anytime soon.
Justice Michel Shore granted the Save Halkett Bay Marine Park Society its requested injunction, on Monday in Vancouver, to not allow the former warship to be moved into position for sinking.
The Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia had scheduled to move the ship on Tuesday, Jan. 13 from Long Bay off Gambier Island, to Halkett Bay where it was set to become an artificial reef.
The court also scheduled a hearing for Jan. 27 to consider Save Halkett Bay’s injunction to stop the sinking altogether.
“Justice Shore’s order is clearly in favour of protecting the environment by keeping the now derelict Annapolis at anchor until he has a chance to decide whether Environment Canada broke the law by issuing a permit to sink it,” Gary MacDonald of Save Halkett Bay stated in a news release.
In a last-ditch effort to stop the sinking of the former warship, which was scheduled to go underwater on Jan. 17, the SHBMPS had petitioned the Federal Court of Canada Jan. 6 to issue an injunction preventing the proposed sinking in Howe Sound.
In the interim, Monday’s appearance was scheduled to hear the group’s request to stop the Annapolis from being moved in preparation for sinking.
The not-for-profit lobby group bases its latest objection to transforming the ship into an artificial reef on the results of testing done on paint chips off of the Annapolis which had tributyltins (TBTs), compounds designed to prevent the growth of marine life, according to the MacDonald.
TBTs are banned by order of a United Nations treaty, which includes Canada.
Members of Save Halkett Bay Marine Park Society have been fighting the sinking of the HMCS Annapolis for six years.
Representatives from the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia were not immediately available to comment on this story.
