Divisive icon gone: The stolen drill that captivated residents has been removed

After seven months of rising stardom, the stolen drill on the side of the Sunshine Coast highway has been removed. 

What started as a case of theft in Halfmoon Bay, where the owner tracked down his stolen equipment to Langley, resulted in a divisive monument near the 6700 block of the Sunshine Coast Highway in West Sechelt. 

As authorities and the equipment owner decided how best to proceed, the stolen drill quickly gained the attention of Sunshine Coast residents, being decorated and admonished by some, while called an eyesore and an environmental hazard by others. 

After several months of debate, the Ministry Of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) released a statement that while they sympathize with the owner and although the drill poses no safety risk, they would charge the owner for its removal if it was still on the side of the road at the end of July.

On July 22, the iconic drill was removed from the side of the road, online comments again fall on two distinct sides, with some disappointed the Coast has lost its newest public art spot, calling it “the end of an era” and calling for a memorial plaque, while other relish that the “eyesore” is gone and that it was overdue. 

One remorseful comment related the abandoned drill to a barge stranded on Vancouver’s Sunset Beach for almost a year, where a park sign was placed, designating the area “Barge Chilling Beach,” and how both the landmarks are just a memory now. 

Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.