Dock Fight

Dock Fight began with a number that didn't make sense. When property assessments on Cowichan Lake rose at record speed, homeowners were given a familiar explanation. The market had shifted and waterfront demand was strong. Nearly everyone in the province, agreed their assessments were fair and accurate. But then a lakefront home sold on the open market, and months later the official valuation came in hundreds of thousands of dollars higher than the price a willing buyer had just paid. A homeowner called to ask why and before that question had fully worked its way through the system, a whistleblower from inside BC Assessment quietly reached out with a warning about how the process actually works and why corrections are rarely automatic. What followed was not a single dispute, but a pattern. Sales that did not appear where homeowners were directed to look. Public assurances that hardened into facts before the evidence had been tested. A meeting at a small church in Youbo