Tim Vickers was the Executive Director of ACAP Saint John between 2003-2014.

When Tim took on the role as ED, the City of Saint John was still discharging an estimated 200 swimming pools worth of sewage (raw and untreated) from residents and businesses directly into Marsh Creek.

Tim and his team spent the next 10 years monitoring the health of Marsh Creek through water quality testing, fish monitoring, community cleanups, and riparian enhancement before Harbour Cleanup was officially completed in 2014.

ACAP Saint John wouldn’t be where it was today without the leadership provided by Tim for all these years. Take a minute to read about one his fondest memories during his ED role!

Harbour Cleanup was the flagship mission of ACAP Saint John.

As a $100 million infrastructure project, it was subject to intense political wrangling over funding commitments from the municipal, provincial, and federal governments. At the time of my tenure as Executive Director, the municipal government had committed its third of the funding, with the federal government indicating they’d come to the table once the province stepped up….but the province was dodging the commitment.

I gave a talk on the subject at Harbourview High School and the students were appalled that their generation had to live with a legacy sewage issue that could so be readily resolved. So, they took it upon themselves to write to the Premier of New Brunswick and voice their displeasure. I was encouraged by their action and followed up with a letter to the editor of the Telegraph Journal of my own.

I thought little else of the letters until the Premier rolled into my office with two ministers and requested that my staff leave so we could talk. Given the pending provincial election that year and the bad press the letters generated, I can assure you that we did not engage in a lighthearted discussion with joyful banter. Long story short, Harbour Cleanup became a pivotal plank in the election for the Saint John region, and the new Premier held true to his promise and signed off on the province's third of the funding as his first official act in office. 

To this day, I reflect on the incredible influence that a group of teens had not only on the Premier of New Brunswick, but on my personal conviction to follow through on issues that mattered. With the example set by those students, and the knowledge that we had the backing of the greater Saint John community, ACAP Saint John achieved its foundational mission of nurturing the political environment needed to deliver the funding for Harbour Cleanup.

And future generations of teens will (appropriately) never have to bear the burden of living with untreated wastewater in Saint John’s waterways.