The District of Sechelt (DOS) is one step closer to becoming the second official dark-sky community in Canada.
And if Charles Ennis, president of the Sunshine Coast Astronomy Club has anything to do about it, the region will also become host to a new dark sky festival. He says, the Coast has already inherited the Merritt Star Party, which dissolved in 2023 and donated all of its funds to the astronomy club. The first Sunshine Coast Astronomy Club Star Party took place last summer and the second is scheduled for Aug. 21 to 24, 2025.
“A few weeks back, I went to the strategic planning session for Sunshine Coast Tourism. The mayor was there, and they were very interested in dark skies, because they are looking for ways to bring tourists here in the shoulder season…” Ennis told DOS council at a meeting of the whole, Jan. 22. “They were very interested in the Jasper Dark Sky Festival, which has been going on for many, many years.”
Ennis notes, the town of Jasper, Alberta, isn’t an official dark sky community, but instead is adjacent to Jasper National Park, which is one of 17 designated dark sky preserves in Canada. The annual festival, which takes place at the end of October into November, is very popular and includes the Jasper Dark Sky Space Ball: A Cosmic Costume Dance Party, Jasper SkyTram Star Sessions, guided telescopes tours, yoga under the stars and family fun, including an animals of the night hike, and geocaching.
“What they do with these events is they have symphony under the stars, comedy under the stars, all kinds of entertainment under the stars,” says Ennis. “They have First Nations telling their stories about the sky under the stars. And they have observers. Last August, we ran the Sunshine Coast Star Party and it was a big success and we've already got people registering for this year's event. So, all the things you need to do something like Jasper are here now. It would be very, very easy to do.”
Ennis, who is also current vice-chair of the National Council of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, told council, Sechelt already qualifies as a dark sky community because, whether it was deliberate or not, good decisions were made when it comes to lighting some public spaces and light measurements are within the limits needed to qualify.
Ennis, who was a police officer for 28 years and then worked as a police dispatcher for another eight, also noted more light does not equate to less crime. Using diagrams to demonstrate his point, Ennis showed how brighter lights created more shadows for criminals to hide within.
“This is one of my favourite examples,” he said, pointing to a diagram. “This is a university in the United States that put in that light to make that a safe place for women to walk down that path because women were being attacked in the night. See the guy standing there? He's still there, but he's standing at the base of the pole that's supposed to be preventing this. You can't see him unless I put a circle around him.”
He adds community cooperation is a large part of creating a dark sky community and he notes Heidelberg Materials in Sechelt had been lighting the hill leading to the mine 24-hours a day, much like a ski lift. Ennis’ wife Laurel, also an astronomer, reached out to the mine and asked if they had a night shift. When they said, no, she asked if they could turn out those lights and they agreed.
He added, the club has also had discussions with Sechelt Airport and management there is also concerned about the misuse of lighting, because they don't want it to interfere with a pilot’s ability to see the runway if they’re doing an approach at night.
“This isn't just about looking at the sky. Humans are daytime animals. We are not nocturnal. At the end of the day, when the blue light up there goes away, you start getting tired, you lose your hunger and you start using melatonin to cure all kinds of things,” says Ennis, who adds studies show too much light can lead to serious health issues.
“I recommend that you apply to become a dark sky community and you apply to make the observatory at the airport an urban dark sky park, because you've met all the requirements so far. You've already got a partner to do this, to do all the things you need to make this happen,” said Ennis.
As reported earlier in Coast Reporter, if the Sunshine Coast (or parts of it) qualified as an Urban Star Park, it would mean controlling artificial lighting with strict and active measures while educating and promoting the reduction of light pollution to the public and nearby municipalities. Such skies are generally brighter than so-called dark-sky preserves and nocturnal preserves, but are still usable for astronomy.
Ennis notes so far Sechelt has been able to keep its lighting within dark sky limits with no need for a bylaw.
“We're not planning to have you list every single light bulb you’ve got,” says Ennis. “We just want to know what kind of lights you're using and we can make suggestions about stuff that you can use going forward. There was a question about, do we want a bylaw? A bylaw could be helpful, but there's all kinds of different ways you can do that.”
Coun. Darren Inskter asked Ennis to clarify just what it was he was asking council to do.
“I'm not clear, still, what you're asking us to do, because obviously it seems strange that other communities haven't done this, so there's not many. It's strange to me,” said Inkster. “Do we have, just a concentration of star watchers here? Is that one of the reasons?”
“… I'm telling you right now you've got what you need… and there isn't any reason why you can't do this, and all it would take is for you to work with the National Light Abatement Committee of the [Royal Astronomical Society of Canada] to make this happen, that the national board would have to vote to approve it,” says Ennis.
A motion was passed unanimously for the district to apply to the society to become a dark sky community.
