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Richmond Sentinel Vol 6 Issue 9 Front Cover

OUR CITY Richmond: 10th ANNIVERSARY

Published 12:39 PDT, Tue March 24, 2026

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The Richmond Sentinel for the past decade, has proudly served the residents of the City of Richmond, sharing the stories of people, and moments that make this community unique. From its very beginning, The Richmond Sentinel was built on a simple but powerful vision: to create a community newspaper that focuses on the positive while providing valuable information freely to the public. The goal was to inform, connect, and celebrate Richmond — helping newcomers learn about their new home while keeping long-time residents engaged with the evolving story of our city.

Over the years, The Richmond Sentinel has highlighted voices from all three levels of government, featured the stories of individuals who helped shape Richmond’s history and character, and celebrated the many busiznesses that contributed to the city’s vitality. Created a series with informative content for seniors, provided a trusted platform for candidates during election periods and added a touch of entertainment, local sports and the arts (in print and video).

As The Richmond Sentinel grew, so did the ways we could tell those stories. With the addition of a video department, no story became too big or too small to capture. One day we might be in a boardroom filming an interview with a company president; the next day we could be inside a garage highlighting a young entrepreneur’s latest creation, or soaring above the city in a float plane to capture that perfect shot. Our passion to produce a publication that we are proud of has never wavered. None of this would have been possible without the vision of the Founder, the support of our advertisers, and the loyalty of our readers.

To celebrate our journey, we have created this special series — a reflection of ten years of community, connection, and storytelling. We hope you enjoy looking back with us.

The Canadian Coast Guard will always hold a special place in our hearts. On August 13, 2002, the Canadian Coast Guard was involved in a controversial rescue incident near Steveston, BC where a commercial fishing boat, the Cap Rouge II, capsized resulting in five deaths. The Coast Guard arrived within 19 to 22 minutes of the distress call but were prevented from entering the overturned vessel due to new, strict safety protocols. The incident sparked immense outrage, leading to the federal government to reverse the policy which allowed the Coast Guard Divers in the future, to enter submerged vessels.

It was at this time a gentleman came into my life that shared with me the history of the Coast Guard and his passion became my passion I like to refer to him as Steveston’s ambassador — Loren Slye.

It was also at this time as President of the Chamber of Commerce we were asked to organized an awards event. It took a year to bring together an event that included the RCMP, Fire Fighters, Coast Guard and the Paramedics. Everyone in attendance agreed it was a heart-wrenching event. The Coast Guard were without a formal uniform but In our eyes they stood tall next to their colleagues. It was called the 9.1.1 Awards and to our knowledge Richmond hosted the only event of its kind in Canada.

In 2022, the Coast Guard were celebrating 60 years of service, so the Richmond Sentinel were on a mission to bring their story to life. After many phone calls and e-mails we received permission to enter into the world of the Sea Island Hovercraft Base.

Paul Tobin Officer in Charge of the Base in Richmond gave us a tour, explaining the history behind their operations, their team and how they serviced their equipment in-house. Because of the capability of the all-weather machine, speed and the amphibious capability, if they have a rescue happening where a conventional boat can’t get into shallow water or around rocks or reefs, the hovercraft is the only equipment that can be deployed to safely evacuate people off the vessels. They have the only capable dive program on board. They have five divers so they are a multi-task platform, whereas a conventional vessel will patrol an area like English Bay, Howe Sound, (or) congested areas like False Creek where they don’t want to take the big hovercraft. It’s more efficient and safer to take a small coast guard boat and that’s been operating effectively for a number of years. To top off this amazing interview we got to experience a ride on the hovercraft. To read or watch the video interview in full go to www.richmondsentinel.ca/editions July 15, 2022 and video interview www.richmondsentinel.ca/videos page 7.