09/04/2026
⚓ A COMMUNITY-BUILT LEGACY
At this week’s Rotary meeting, we were treated to a fascinating presentation by Jim Harris, who has been a member of the Rotary Club of Campbell River Daybreak for an incredible 39 years.
Jim was instrumental in the construction of Campbell River’s Maritime Heritage Centre, as well as the acquisition and restoration of its remarkable centrepiece, the historic BCP45 fishing seiner.
The story began in 1998 when Campbell River was looking for a new use for the former sewage-treatment site near Discovery Pier. At the same time, the Daybreak Rotary Club was searching for a permanent meeting place.
Rotarians saw possibility where others saw an abandoned industrial site.
Following a very close club vote, Daybreak Rotary embarked on what would become a community-service project of mammoth proportions: transforming the old treatment plant into a museum and gathering place dedicated to preserving Campbell River’s maritime heritage.
The work was anything but glamorous. Old concrete tanks had to be drained, pressure-washed, sanitized and cleaned again. Openings for windows and doors were cut through 12-inch reinforced concrete walls. Donated logs became the beautiful fir posts and beams in Rotary Hall, while the three-inch-thick flooring was reclaimed from Campbell River’s former Community Hall.
The landscaping was completed in just four hours by an army of volunteers, including members of City Council. A lighthouse was incorporated into the design, complete with a beacon, the original Cape Mudge foghorn and a weather station.
None of it could have happened without an extraordinary outpouring of donated materials, professional expertise, financial support and volunteer labour from Rotarians, local businesses, tradespeople and members of the community.
The Centre also needed a showcase piece—and it found one in the BCP45.
Built in 1927, the BCP45 is one of Canada’s oldest and best-preserved wooden fishing seiners. It worked the waters off Vancouver Island for nearly 70 years and witnessed enormous technological and social changes within the West Coast fishing industry.
Its story is also closely connected to the Indigenous fishing community.
In 1951, 14-year-old Allen “Ollie” Chickite of the We Wai Kai Nation joined his uncle’s boat, the BCP45, as a cook. He spent 11 years learning the fishing trade under his cousin, skipper Mel Assu, and eventually became captain of the vessel.
In 1958, photographer George Hunter captured the BCP45 fishing near Ripple Point. At the time, it carried an entirely Indigenous crew, including 21-year-old Ollie Chickite. That photograph was later engraved on the back of Canada’s five-dollar bill, where it appeared from 1972 until 1986 and was carried in the pockets of millions of Canadians.
In 1983, BC Packers sold the aging wooden vessel to Ollie for a ceremonial $1. He continued fishing with it for another 13 years and proudly sailed it to Expo 86 in Vancouver, where hundreds of visitors climbed aboard.
When Ollie retired, he donated the BCP45 to the Vancouver Maritime Museum. Unfortunately, the museum did not have the resources to restore it, and the vessel remained in False Creek for several years.
With the Maritime Heritage Centre taking shape in Campbell River, Ollie and Jim Harris helped bring the BCP45 home in 2002. Sailing the deteriorating vessel through stormy waters was an adventure of its own, and moving it into the unfinished building required extraordinary precision the opening in the wall was only just wide enough!
Local shipbuilder Buford Haines and a dedicated team of volunteers then spent three years rebuilding and restoring the vessel to its 1958 appearance.
The Maritime Heritage Centre opened in 2004 and remains an extraordinary example of what Rotary and a determined community can accomplish together. The BCP45 is now recognized as a National Historic Site and preserved right here in Campbell River as an enduring symbol of Canada’s West Coast fishing industry and the important role of Indigenous fishers within it.
Today, the Centre continues to preserve our history while welcoming museum visitors, school groups, weddings, meetings, festivals and community events. Volunteers remain at the heart of its operation, supported by a small and dedicated staff.
The Maritime Heritage Centre is so much more than a museum. It is a community-built legacy a place where history is preserved, stories are shared and the spirit of service continues to sail forward.
Thank you, Jim, for an outstanding presentation, for your 39 years as a Daybreak Rotarian and for the important role you played in bringing this remarkable vision to life.
This is truly Rotary in action. 💙⚓
