The Americans are coming, and they’re fellow islanders.
Coinciding with an emerging “sister island” movement, a friendly flotilla is sailing from Washington State’s Orcas Island Yacht Club all the way to Ganges Harbour, launching three days of activities — from pancake breakfasts to concerts and wine tours — meant to strengthen cross-border relationships.
On the one hand, the idea is absolutely outstanding. The notion of “sister” communities in different nations has a long and productive history; the postwar arrangement between Seattle and Tokyo famously rebuilt Japanese-American relations from an historical low point.
And both San Juan and Southern Gulf Islanders agree, they often have more in common with one another than with their respective mainlands.
On the other, and lofty ideas about economic development notwithstanding, using limited local public funding to welcome an American yacht club event in 2025 lacks some sensitivity to the moment.
Charitably setting aside threats to Canadian sovereignty, the U.S.-initiated trade war, troublesome tariffs or any elbow we might’ve raised in recent months, Salt Spring’s enduring affordability crisis has left local and vital volunteer organizations struggling. Last year’s grants-in-aid applicants who approached the Local Community Commission (LCC) were scrutinized over how each handled accounting, asked to get by with a fraction of what they requested, and urged to seek funding elsewhere whenever possible.
Credit where due, an opportunity to broaden our connection with our neighbours to the south(east) — they are friends, family, business colleagues and cultural partners — and a business boost in Ganges during a shoulder-season slump are worthy goals.
But neither should elbow island nonprofits from their place in line. That the Salt Spring Chamber of Commerce thought $5,000 via grants-in-aid would sound reasonable should alarm every member business; that so many of the LCC members even entertained the idea should unsettle every nonprofit that came, cap-in-hand, before the LCC last year.
Particularly those who were told there was only so much to go around.