Here is a very nice poster printed back in the 1980s during another period when the government was attempting to automate Canadian lighthouses.

Titled “The Watchers”, the text is particularly appropriate now:

“For more than a century they have kept watch. At first, for sailing ships on the BC coast. Today, mammoth cruise ships and container vessels pass their light; small kayaks are towed ashore; hikers drop by for warm tea. They are the 30 remaining lightkeepers on our coast. For now, they still watch.”

Following the above text is a list of the thirty lighthouse keepers, and the stations they manned then. Unfortunately, some of the keepers are no longer with us.

They started in early 1970s and even today they mention automation – if the government has its way the lighthouses will also no longer be with us.