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Welcome to our new Deputy Administrator

Chiamaka Mọgọ

Chiamaka Mọgọ

Please join us in welcoming Ms. Chiamaka Mọgọ as the new Deputy Administrator of the Fund. Her leadership, knowledge and experience in public policy acquired in Canada and abroad, constitute a valuable addition to our team.

Ms. Mọgọ will be featured in our next newsletter, so make sure to subscribe for more details about her nomination at www.sopf.gc.ca/?page_id=3256.

Farewell to our Outgoing Administrator

Anne Legars

Anne Legars

It is with both sadness and gratitude that we must announce that Anne Legars left her functions at the expiry of her mandate as Administrator of the Fund after seven years of leadership.

Mark Gauthier will be our Interim Administrator until a new person is selected for the role.

Please join us in congratulating Anne on her leadership and dedicated service over the past seven years.

Here is a quick overview of her major achievements:

  • The creation of a strategic plan to help our team stay the course, using the following orientations:
    1. Increase access to justice for claimants;
    2. Develop an efficient and transparent organization, agile and structured;
    3. Build a professional team linked to a web of expertise.
  • An increase of outreach activities to unprecedented levels. This helped increase the number of claims received, as well as the claimants’ diversity.
  • An increase in our capacity to handle a high number of claims.
  • The development of numerous resources for claimants, to explain simply, the complex nature of the Fund, including:
      1. New claims manuals;
      2. Easy-to-use forms;
      3. Infographics, blogs and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs);
      4. Handbooks targeted at specific groups of claimants, and
      5. Webinars.

Here is a message from Anne:

“The Fund has a long history. It started over 50 years ago with, the Maritime Pollution Claims Fund. Over time, Parliament has kept expanding the role of the Fund. It ensures better compensation and access to justice for those impacted by ship-source oil spills. I feel privileged to have been part of its story.

I am mostly proud of leaving to my successors an organisation that has gained internal capacity and expertise, and a wonderful staff willing to keep improving and developing the organisation further for the benefit of the public.

I am confident that under Mark’s leadership and this team, the upcoming year will see ongoing progress in the delivery of the Fund’s mandate.”

If you wish to send a farewell message to Anne, please email: info@sopf-cidphn.gc.ca.

2021-2022 Annual Report is now available

The 2021-2022 Annual Report is now available at: https://sopf.gc.ca/?page_id=309#AnnualReport. This report highlights the work of the Fund over the course of the last fiscal year.

  • If you have suggestions for next year’s report, please send them to info@sopf.gc.ca.

500th CLAIM SUBMITTED TO THE FUND

2022/08/09

August is Water Quality Month! We take water quality seriously, 365 days a year! Recently, we received our 500th claim for ship-source oil pollution damage. Claims can be submitted by those who suffer damages from any type of oil, from any type of ship or boat, anywhere in Canadian waters.

Since 1989, we have paid over $28.7 million to Canadian claimants. Recent years have been especially active. The number of claims submitted has never been higher, making the 2016-2022 years a record in the 33-year history of the Fund.

Number of claims received since 1989

We continue to collaborate with various partners and stakeholders to increase awareness of the Fund. While the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) remains our main claimant, many other claimants have submitted claims for the first time.

Our Claims Centre takes questions and provides free guidance at every step of the way. We can be reached at (613) 991-1726 or claims-demandes@sopf-cidphn.gc.ca.

Would you like to read more about these two incidents or any other ones? Have a look at our latest edition of the Incident Summaries compilation at: https://sopf.gc.ca/?page_id=11715.

Additional resources:

SHIP-SOURCE OIL POLLUTION FUND RECOVERS $375,000 FROM MARINE POLLUTER IN NOVA SCOTIA

January 20, 2022 – Ottawa, Ontario  

Today, the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund announced the successful recovery of $375,000 from the shipowners of the Cormorant for polluting the water in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia in 2015. 

In 2015, the Cormorant partially sank at Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, discharging oil into the La Have River. A response operation managed by the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) removed 5,850 litres of waste oil and 350 litres of hydraulic oil from the vessel. The CCG submitted a claim to the Fund for the associated costs. 

In 2016, the Administrator and her legal team began taking extensive legal actions to recover from the shipowners for the cost of the CCG’s oil spill response operation. In 2019, a settlement that included a consent judgment was reached with the Port of Bridgewater and a numbered company. Those parties admitted ownership of the vessel and agreed to pay $375,000 to the Fund. The Administrator registered the judgment against the Port of Bridgewater’s property. Upon the recent sale of that property, the Administrator was able to recover the totality of the settled amount. 

Canada’s regime is based on the polluter-pays principle. Shipowners are responsible for oil pollution damage caused by their ship or boat. Since 1989, the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund has compensated those who suffer oil pollution damages caused by any type of oil, from any type of ship or boat, anywhere in Canadian waters. Once a claimant receives payment from the Fund, the Administrator takes all reasonable measures to recover from the shipowner or other persons responsible.  

Quote 

“We are pleased that our recovery efforts were successful and that we were able to recover $375,000 from the shipowner. We are committed to taking all necessary steps to make sure polluters are held accountable for the damages they cause”. 

Anne Legars, Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund 

Quick facts 

  • Constructed in 1963, the 75-metre long Cormorant was a former Royal Canadian Navy diving support ship that was decommissioned and sold to private entities in 1997.  
  • In 2015, the Fund paid over $530,000 to the CCG for its response operation to an oil spill caused by the Cormorant.  
  • In 2020, the CCG announced the removal, deconstruction, and recycling of the Cormorant, which was completed in the summer of 2021. 

Page Break 

Associated link 

Incident Summary: Cormorant (2015), p.37: 

 

Contact 

Jannie Bédard Guillemette
Communications Officer 
E: jannie.guillemette@sopf-cidphn.gc.ca   
Follow the Fund on Twitter: @sopf_cidphn