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Viewpoint: New SSISAR base needed

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Viewpoint: New SSISAR base needed

BY SALT SPRING ISLAND SEARCH AND RESCUE 

No matter the weather or time of day, if you happen to find yourself lost, injured or missing in the outdoors on Salt Spring or the Southern Gulf Islands, you can always count on the more than 40 highly trained volunteer men and women of Salt Spring Island Search and Rescue (SSISAR) to come in your time of need. 

This dedicated and selfless entirely volunteer team of Salt Springers drop everything at a moment’s notice, putting their countless hours of training and experience in search and rescue operations into action, dispatching emergency response vehicles and purpose-designed medical and technical rescue equipment they deliver help at absolutely no cost to the person in distress. 

Now these same committed and community-minded volunteers find themselves in need of your help. 

SSISAR needs a new home 

The lease at the existing SSISAR hall on Fulford-Ganges Road will expire Aug. 31, 2026 and cannot be renewed. This centrally located site, ideal for serving our local Salt Spring and Gulf Islands communities, has functioned as our base of operations, equipment cache and training centre for over 20 years. We are grateful to the owners, the federal government, for leasing this site to SSISAR for a nominal annual fee throughout this time and recognize and understand the change in circumstances. 

SSISAR now needs to appeal to the community for help finding a suitable new location to maintain this invaluable community emergency service. 

How can you help? 

This is what SSISAR is looking for: 

Essential 

• Centrally located with 24-hour access, as calls for service occur at all times of day;

• Parking for 2 SAR response vehicles; mobile incident command vehicle and rescue equipment truck; 

• Space for a 20 foot sea-container to store vital SAR equipment;

• Electrical power, to keep vehicles able to respond at a moments notice and keep equipment dry and temperature controlled. 

The following are desirable 

• The ability to erect two shelters to protect SAR vehicles from the elements; 

• Parking for an additional vehicle (rescue truck);

• Parking for member vehicles while attending training or callouts placement for additional sea-container;

• Access to a meeting room;

• A drying area for wet gear and equipment;

• Access to washrooms. 

SSISAR is prepared to offer some remuneration, and is open to proposals. 

If you know of any leads or have any suggestions to help your local SAR team find a new home, please send us an e-mail at: SARneedsaHome@ssisar.org.

While Salt Spring Island Search and Rescue Society does receive funding support from the provincial government and Capital Regional District, the non-profit society still relies heavily on community donations and grant funding in order to expand and improve this vital service. 

To donate, please visit our website: saltspringsar.org. Help us help you. 

Filmmakers flock to Salt Spring Film Festival

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Filmmakers flock to Salt Spring Film Festival

BY STEVE MARTINDALE

FOR SSI FILM FESTIVAL

Over two dozen Canadian and American filmmakers and film subjects will visit Salt Spring to attend the 26th annual Salt Spring Film Festival at Gulf Islands Secondary School from Feb. 27 to March 1.

Travelling from as far away as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Whitehorse — and as close to home as Nanaimo, Cowichan Bay and Vancouver — several filmmakers will present the Canadian premieres of their films, which have yet to be seen by audiences anywhere else in the country.

 Globe-trotting, Oscar-nominated producers Linda and David Cornfield will join us from Los Angeles to present two new films: Whistle, about the unapologetically eccentric international Masters of Musical Whistling competition in Hollywood; and Viva Verdi! a joyful celebration of Milan’s elegant retirement home for musicians, which has been nominated for the Oscar for Best Song.

Art enthusiasts won’t want to miss Vancouver filmmakers Jenn Strom and Kevin Eastwood’s The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes, a gorgeous portrait of the reclusive Vancouver Island painter, who quietly became one of Canada’s most successful artists from his Shawnigan Lake studio by capturing the beauty of B.C. in vivid, meticulous detail.

Yukon filmmaker Teresa Earle — who was last here in 2023 with Voices Across the Water —returns to Salt Spring with director Fritz Mueller to present Mammoth Hunters, a fascinating scientific and artistic journey through time to learn more about the enormous Ice Age beasts that once roamed the tundra. Making its B.C. premiere, the film features artist Joyce Majiski, who is well-known locally for her 2020 Salt Spring Arts residency at Mahon Hall and her short film Song of the Whale from the 2023 Salt Spring Film Festival.

Several other attending filmmakers will also be familiar to Salt Spring audiences from their prior visits, including Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper from the Sunshine Coast — last here in 2019 with Metamorphosis — who will present their new film Emergence: Women in the Storm, about efforts in B.C. to mitigate the damage of the climate crisis by better preparing for flooding and wildfires. Film subject and disaster and displacement specialist Dr. Lily Yumagulova will join them from Vancouver, with Salt Spring Search and Rescue on hand to address local emergency preparedness.

First responders are also featured in the Canadian premiere of San Francisco filmmaker Jeanne C. Finley’s A Radical Thread, about San Juan Ridge’s efforts to document the history of their vibrant community — which in many ways is strikingly similar to Salt Spring — by creating a series of colourful and detailed tapestries as they battle environmental threats and devastating wildfires.

Beth Harrington from Vancouver, Wash., will present the Canadian premiere of Our Mr. Matsura, a luminous portrait of a talented and prolific Japanese photographer’s immigrant experience in Okanogan County, where he became one of the community’s most beloved characters by documenting pioneer life at all class levels, including surprisingly respectful portraits of Indigenous people.

First-time filmmaker Claire Sandberg from nearby San Juan Island will present the Canadian premiere or The Ramba Effect, a heartwarming and unexpectedly gripping story of the complex logistics of rescuing Chile’s last remaining circus elephant, transporting her across the Andes to a Brazilian wildlife sanctuary in order to live with other elephants after decades of caged isolation.

Local film guests include Robert Bateman, Bristol Foster and Briony Penn, who will present Alison Reid’s award-winning film The Art of Adventure, following two sold-out screenings at ArtSpring in November. Bateman and Penn also appear with Harry Warner in a 25th anniversary presentation of Mort Ransen’s 2001 NFB documentary “Ah…The Money, The Money, The Money” – The Battle for Saltspring, about the successful campaign to prevent the Texada Land Corporation from clearcutting Burgoyne Valley.

A number of filmmakers and film subjects will present their delightful short films, including Vancouver filmmaker Teresa Alfeld and musician Cassidy Waring with the BC premiere of Hearse Chasing; Nanaimo-based French filmmaker Robin Ferand and Salt Spring basket-maker Joan Carrigan with Pacific Weave; Cowichan Bay filmmaker Michelle Tremblay and her husband and film subject Guy Johnston with Sea to Land, about Vancouver Island’s first community-supported fishery; co-directors Adam Combs and Carter Kirilenko with Silent Sanctuary, about innovative efforts to save BC’s kelp forests; and director Chad Townsend, composer Dale Nichols, film subject Morgan Brewster and animator Tony Bulnes with 1910 – The Uncovering, about Canada’s deadliest avalanche, which killed 58 people in Rogers Pass, most of them Japanese railway workers.

The Film Festival kicks off with a splash on Friday, Feb. 27, with A Life Illuminated, Tasha Van Zandt’s breathtaking, immersive profile of marine biologist Edith Widder’s life-long efforts to explore and protect the world’s oceans, with a particular focus on the mysterious phenomenon of bioluminescence, in which elusive deep-sea creatures communicate by producing their own light in the darkness of the abyss.

Full festival passes can be purchased in advance from the ArtSpring box office. Tickets and passes will be available at the door once the Film Festival gets underway at GISS.

All-Black battalion members in focus at talk

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All-Black battalion members in focus at talk

Salt Spring Island’s little-known connection to the No. 2 Construction Battalion — Canada’s first and only all-Black Battalion during the First World War — will be illuminated in a special talk on at the library on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m.

The Salt Spring Island Historical Society, in partnership with the Salt Spring Island Public Library, will welcome Capt. (Ret.) D.L. (Door) Gibson to speak about the No. 2 Construction Battalion, a Canadian Expeditionary Force, which was formed as a direct response to the systematic exclusion of Black Canadians from military service. 

As explained in a press release about the event, “Black volunteers were repeatedly denied the opportunity to enlist. They were determined to serve, arguing that their loyalty to the Crown should not be thwarted by racism. Authorized in 1916, the No.2 Construction Battalion served as a segregated, non-combat labour unit attached to the Canadian Forestry Corps. Its members conducted essential work in France supporting the war effort, often within the range of enemy fire and facing the same dangers as front-line troops.”

Three Salt Spring men served with the Batallion: Private James Douglas Whims was born on Salt Spring Island at the turn of the last century and died in France in 1918; he is buried in a segregated plot at the military cemetery in Etaples, France. His brother, Private Robert Clark Whims, also born on Salt Spring, served alongside him and returned home alone. The brothers were descendants of Hiram Whims, one of Salt Spring’s earliest Black settlers who arrived in 1859. Sapper James Edward Wintworth, a mechanic living in Ganges at the time of his enlistment, also served with the Battalion; he is buried at Central Cemetery.

Gibson served over four decades in the Canadian Armed Forces (1973–2017) and has been a lifelong advocate for equity and inclusion. She was instrumental in establishing the Defence Visible Minority Advisory Group for Maritime Pacific and served as regional, later national, civilian co-chair from 2002 to 2008.

In 2005, as Chief Warrant Officer, she received the Member of Military Merit during the 56th Order of Military Merit Investiture from Her Excellency Governor General Michaëlle Jean for her leadership in diversity initiatives.

In 2020, Gibson was appointed to the Minister’s Advisory Panel on Systemic Racism and Discrimination with a focus on Anti-Indigenous and Anti-Black Racism, LGBTQ2+ Prejudice, Gender Bias and White Supremacy. 

As vice-president of the BC Black History Awareness Society, project manager for No. 2 Construction Battalion Legacy in BC and Beyond, and vice-president of the Last Post Fund BC/Yukon Branch, Gibson’s work ensures that veterans like James Wintworth and the Whims brothers are not forgotten to history.

District mulls merits of YouTube streaming

Robb Magley
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District mulls merits of YouTube streaming

After six months on YouTube, local school officials are questioning whether livestreaming board of education meetings is worth the staff time — even as trustees advance plans to move school board election notices out of print and fully online. 

The Gulf Islands School District’s board meetings have always been open to the public to attend in person, and since 2020 trustees and other officials have often “zoomed in” for meetings when their own attendance was not practicable. There is also no requirement in B.C.’s School Act that mandates meetings be broadcast or recordings be made available to the public, as written minutes are considered the official legal record.

But in 2024, as future school board meetings were being scheduled to take place entirely at the district’s facility on Salt Spring Island, trustees began streaming meetings via Microsoft Teams, partly to allow easier attendance from other islands. Despite improvements in accessibility, both the board and the public expressed frustration that the Teams-based “experience” was unsatisfactory, and shifted to broadcasting school board and committee meetings live on YouTube. That move was expected to save thousands of dollars in potential spending to upgrade meeting room equipment for a proper Teams setup, according to a staff report, and deliver on what board chair Chaya Katrensky called the district’s desire to be “open and transparent.”

Now, board members are facing a staff recommendation to consider dropping live broadcasts altogether, as surprisingly detailed viewer data indicates only a small number of people are actually tuning in.

“We have people popping in and out,” said district superintendent Jill Jensen at the school board’s meeting Wednesday, Feb. 11. “There are times when people will sign on and stay for a certain period of time, and then drop off.”

YouTube tracks visitors well enough to conclude 65 per cent of those who watched the latest meetings had tuned in for an earlier one, according to a staff report on engagement metrics presented to the board; but with an average watch time of just 15 minutes, most viewers clearly don’t stay for the whole meeting. 

In fact, peak concurrent views since September have never topped five participants, according to the report, inclusive of the streaming facilitator; the “counter” for Wednesday’s meeting at various points noted as many as seven, although it wasn’t clear how many may have been internal district participants.

Staff noted “clear evidence” of users attempting to access a meeting’s livestream after the event — by clicking on old links in the days following — and suggested that behaviour was indicative of community members who were unable to attend, hoping to find recordings of meetings. Such video records are maintained by the Capital Regional District and the Islands Trust on their respective web pages.

Staff concluded that while the high percentage of returning viewers demonstrated “ongoing interest among a small group,” the viewership numbers remained modest — and suggested the resources and effort to support the YouTube stream may not be justified by the current level of engagement.

“It is also important to note that the streaming facilitator is an excluded staff member whose work day is devoted to monitoring and facilitating the livestream,” according to the report, “rather than engaging in other, potentially more meaningful work that could benefit the organization.”

Indeed, according to secretary treasurer Jesse Guy, since the infrastructure to stream meetings is already in place, the main expense lies in having an IT staff person dedicated to running the broadcast.

“[YouTube streaming] has been easier for the technology team,” said Jensen. “Easier to provide more access for the public and more transparency to viewing board meetings; we are pleased with how it has worked, and as we go into funding for next year, we will also be assessing the cost with that — and if it is a practice that we wish to continue moving forward.”

Jensen added that staff would likely present additional data at a future meeting, about when viewers tune in — and out — over the course of a livestream.

The district is also asking for feedback on plans to shift their public election notices fully online, after a draft bylaw that would eliminate using local newspapers passed first reading Wednesday afternoon. 

The district’s Policy Committee — Mayne Island’s Deborah Luporini, Pender’s Greg Lucas and Salt Spring’s Rob Pingle — recommended the changes, which would limit publication to the school district’s website and “official school district social media.” 

Staff confirmed that would effectively mean the district’s Facebook page, as it does not maintain any other social media presence.

Last month, the committee had asked if they could use the district’s email newsletter as an official form of circulation. Guy told the board Wednesday that the district’s legal team had “quickly” indicated it was not suitable, although it could be used to augment minimum legal requirements. 

“The reason this has come up is just because we’re trying to line up our bylaws with the expectations of the province,” said Luporini, who chairs the committee, adding that the new bylaw will be considered for adoption at the school board’s next meeting Wednesday, April 8.

To view draft district policies and submit feedback, visit sd64.bc.ca/draft-policies-in-circulation.

Rare Renaissance treasures performed

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Rare Renaissance treasures performed

SUBMITTED BY SALT SPRING BAROQUE 

Step back in time on Saturday, Feb. 28 as the Westwind Singers fill All Saints by-the-Sea with mesmerizing Spanish sacred music, mischievous Italian madrigals and ethereal Byzantine chant. 

This 14-voice ensemble from Victoria is making their debut on Salt Spring, and they’re bringing something special — music that’s been lost to history for centuries.

Westwind Singers was born from a simple road trip. Tenor Adam Dyjach and soprano Roxanne Brydges attended a baroque workshop in 2024, and during the drive, discovered their shared passion for early music and their dream of creating an intimate, focused ensemble. Two years later, that dream is a reality.

Salt Spring audiences will recognize Dyjach from his solo recitals at All Saints and his Messiah performances with Bach on the Rock. He recently became musical director of the Salt Spring Singers, adding conducting to his repertoire alongside his work as an accomplished tenor and voice teacher.

Brydges is a keen amateur with organizational expertise and a talent for growing community. Together they have created a project-oriented choir, designed to be an intensive experience for its choristers.

The centrepiece of their debut program is the Missa Hortus conclusus by Spanish Renaissance composer Juan de Esquivel Barahona (c. 1560–1630). Despite being considered one of the finest composers of Spain’s Golden Age, Barahona’s music vanished for centuries. It wasn’t rediscovered until 1973, when musicologist Robert Snow found it at Santa María de la Encarnación in Ronda. This luminous example of Renaissance polyphony deserves to be heard.

The concert also features madrigals by Maddalena Casulana (c. 1544–1590), the first woman in Western music history to publish an entire book of her own compositions. The Italian composer, lutenist and singer dedicated her expressive music to patron Isabella de’ Medici, offering a rare glimpse into the artistry of a pioneering Renaissance woman.

Victoria soprano Celeste Lingas will perform an interlude exploring her roots in Byzantine chant, adding another unique voice to the afternoon.

Whether you’re an early music enthusiast or new to Renaissance repertoire, you’ll leave enchanted. 

The concert begins at 3 p.m.

BIRD, Gordon Kenneth

Driftwood Obituary
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BIRD, Gordon Kenneth

1936 – 2025

It is with great sorrow that we announce the passing of Gordon Kenneth Bird on December 12, 2025, at the age of 89. A man of quiet strength, Gordon’s life was defined by his 70-year marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Shirley, and his deep devotion to family.

Born in Westward Ho, Alberta in 1936 he lived there until moving to Salt Spring Island in 1963 and then settled in Victoria for many years and later retiring in Bowser 1990. Then full circle back in 2017 to Salt Spring to be close to the family. Gordon spent his years wood-working, traveling in the family camper, and instilling the values of service and community in his children and grandchildren.

He is lovingly remembered by his wife, Shirley; sons Steven and Greg (Barb); 5 granddaughters; and 7 great-grandchildren. The family extends their heartfelt thanks to the staff at Lady Minto Hospital for their exceptional care.

A service will be held at Hatley Memorial Gardens in 2026 .

Take care, Dad, Grandpa — enjoy one last treat.

PYPER, Gerry

Driftwood Obituary
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PYPER, Gerry

Gerry Pyper passed away peacefully on June 7 at Lady Minto Hospital, surrounded by his loving family.

Gerry is survived by his wife Marilyn, his son Cam, and daughter-in-law, Leora, his daughter Cathryn and son-in-law, Ian, his three grandchildren, Saroise Pyper and her fiancé, Caleb, Hannah Batty, and Christian Batty, and Saroise’s mother, Rebecca Shannon Sharpe.

Gerry earned a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Toronto. He concluded a successful professional career as President and Secretary Treasurer of Tek Hughes.

Gerry found joy in life’s simples pleasures, like seeing his daughter’s dog, Odie, romp happily through the forest on the family property. He also loved watching the many birds at the bird feeder outside the kitchen window.

He was most grateful for the special and loving help from his son the last two years of his life.

Sincere thanks to Lady Minto staff, Dr. Ron Reznick, and Salt Spring Embrace staff for their caring help.

Devoted to his wife and family, Gerry was described by his wife as “the kindest person I have ever known”. His gentle spirit and unwavering love will be deeply missed. We will always love you, Papa.

Drinking Habits comedy ready to entertain

Gail Sjuberg
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Drinking Habits comedy ready to entertain

Who doesn’t need a laugh after a long, dark winter season — even one that’s been as kind and mild as possible for us, weather-wise?

Salt Spring Community Theatre (SSCT) has just the thing to blast away any late-winter blues with its upcoming production of Drinking Habits, a farce written by American playwright Tom Smith in 2004 that won the Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence.

“I guarantee that even the most curmudgeonly cranky person will laugh,” said SSCT Drinking Habits director Suzanne Rouger. “I mean, it is so funny. I just hope people are walking out of the hall with their faces hurting because they’ve laughed so much.”

Drinking Habits runs at Mahon Hall on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 20-21 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. It finishes with three 7 p.m. shows on Feb. 26, 27 and 28. The local BCSPCA branch will be selling concession goodies.

Set in the early ‘60s, Drinking Habits revolves around the Sisters of Perpetual Sewing convent where two nuns have been making award-winning wine in secret to keep the convent open and financially viable. After one of their bottles wins a huge contest prize, two reporters go undercover to decipher the mystery of who is making the wine.

“The reporters go to the convent and they’re snooping around, and then they end up having to hide, and then there are all these mistaken identities because they’re disguising themselves,” said Rouger. “So it’s very silly, and it’s very fun. It’s a lot of fast talking and silliness, lots of doors opening and closing . . . .”

Drinking Habits is a play Rouger had come across and wanted to do years ago in the community theatre part of her directing career, but just never got the opportunity. Then last year local actor Wendy Beatty asked Rouger if she would consider directing it as the first SSCT production undertaken since 2019.

The request seemed serendipitous and especially because Rouger had time to take it on since Christmas With Scrooge did not run this year and her next original show won’t be stage-ready until late 2027. (Rouger is known locally for original Good Company Entertainment Group musical shows like The Venus Conundrum, Dogs in the Moonlight, Time Piece and Peter on the Brink.)

Cast members familiar to islanders for their participation in any number of past shows are Chantal Pentland, Rosita Larrain, Megan Colgan, Stewart Katz, Wyatt Floerke and Tangle Caron, while Inge Remesz and Roy Val Clery were first seen in Hereafter: A Cabaret of Divine Love at ArtSpring last year.

Pentland, who plays the somewhat meek Sister Philomena, said it’s a terrific and extremely funny play.

“Everybody should come because it’s really fun and special, and it’s important to keep that alive in the community, because it’s such a wonderful thing.”

She and Rouger stress that despite the play’s convent setting, no one should be offended by the subject material.

Maggie O’Scalleigh is the show’s co-producer, MacKenzie Williamson is stage manager, Al Lehmann is doing lights, Sue Lehmann sound, Maureen McKay is in charge of costumes, and Lisa Black the props. Al Lehmann, Williamson and Rouger brainstormed the set.

“Al is building the set with help from MacKenzie and myself,” said Rouger. “It’s community theatre!”

“We’re all rolling up our sleeves,” added Pentland, who was eager to become part of the island’s theatre scene when she and her family moved to Salt Spring from Vancouver five years ago.

Rouger said she “discovered” Pentland at a Moby’s karaoke night, and then invited her to be part of The Venus Conundrum musical. She was also in the production of The Mousetrap directed by Rouger last year.

Advance tickets are for sale at Mondo Trading Company and at the door, if available.

Youth climate activism award portal opens

Gail Sjuberg
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Youth climate activism award portal opens

Back in 2019, Salt Spring’s Peter Allan, his wife Lynda Monk and their still-in-school sons Jesse and Jackson had many dining-room table conversations about the state of the world and how to imagine a more positive future.

So when Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg, then 16, came to Vancouver for an event that year, Allan felt compelled to get on a ferry and go see her speak.

“It was very, very moving,” he recalled, not only to hear Thunberg’s words but to see so many young people in the crowd of 10,000 around the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The experience made him want to know more about what youth were doing to tackle climate change and an uncertain future.

“How do we learn these stories?” he asked himself. “How do we shine a light on what teenagers and younger people are doing and capable of?”

Then he realized that as executive director of the Salt Spring-based Institute for Sustainability, Education and Action (I-SEA), he had the answer. Through I-SEA, he could instigate an award program for youth to share their climate-action-oriented activities with others.

The event started small in 2022 and is now called the National Youth Climate Activism Award (NYCAA). It is stewarded by a group of young adults who manage the program and adjudicate the submissions. The entry portal opened last week at nationalycaa.org and will be open until Earth Day on April 22.

Entries from Canadian residents under the age of 20 take the form of a 500-word story or up to five-minute video detailing their impactful projects. Awards are $500 for ages 14 and under, and $1,000 for ages 15 to 19.

Finnegan Brown is a 2023 award winner from the Victoria area, who is now a UBC student and the NYCAA Youth Climate Cabinet chair. He encourages young people to apply for the award and share their climate-action activity stories.

“Taking action matters,” said Brown. “Not just for the planet, but for how it makes you feel. Greta Thunberg has said that when you take action, you don’t feel helpless or hopeless anymore, because you know you’re doing everything you can. And seeing other young people taking action gives all of us hope. That’s exactly what the NYCAA is about: showing youth that they’re not alone and that their actions matter.”

Winning the NYCAA is a huge confidence booster, he said.

“That validation often motivates recipients to keep advocating for sustainable solutions and to take their ideas even further. Many recipients go on to expand their projects, start new initiatives or step into leadership roles in their schools and communities.”

Brown said award-winning projects have ranged from an effort to bring together green clubs from CÉGEPs across Québec, to the development of eco-friendly watercolour paints at the South Fraser Science Regional Fair, to working with local coffee shops in Brentwood Bay to reduce single-use waste.

“There’s no single ‘right’ way to be a climate activist,” said Brown. “Sharing our stories helps inspire others and builds momentum for more youth to get involved.”

A number of Gulf Islands students were among the program’s early winners.

Brown’s biggest piece of advice is to not be intimidated against applying.

“No action is too small. Think globally, but act locally. Start with your school, your neighbourhood, or even your own backyard. And bring others along! Some of our favourite submissions are group entries from friends, clubs or whole classes working together.”

Brown said being involved in climate action makes him hopeful “because it reminds me that the future isn’t something that just happens to us. It’s something we actively create together.”

He said one idea that’s shaped how he thinks about this topic comes from his mentor, Ann Dale, and her newest book, Beyond the Edge: Reconciliation, Reconnection, Regeneration.

“Ann talks about hope not as passive optimism but as actionable steps we can take to push for change, both individually and collectively. Climate action helps me live that out. It connects me to people across generations and across Canada, and reminds me that we’re deeply interconnected with nature and with one another . . . Being part of this movement and learning from mentors like Ann [Dale] and Peter [Allan] makes a climate-safe future feel possible.”

Allan said he feels Youth Climate Cabinet members would like to see the NYCAA become “the most prestigious climate award for under 20s in the country,” said Allan. “There are other awards out there; there are provincial awards, and credit union awards, and there’s famously the Starfish 25, but nothing quite like this that’s youth run.”

He said he was thrilled when high-profile folk singer and activist Luke Wallace agreed to be a NYCAA spokesperson.

“I felt the need for the award to have a generational voice to speak to it and support it and he said yes right away. He’s been saying yes ever since.”

Allan is also grateful for support from a number of foundations, which are acknowledged on the nationalycaa.org website, including the Salt Spring-based Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring.

“These stories should be shared because they are an antidote to climate despair and helplessness, which is what we need,” Allan said.

Opinion: Affordable, attainable, adequate housing not an unreasonable ask

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Opinion: Affordable, attainable, adequate housing not an unreasonable ask

By ERIC MARCH

Adherence to the status quo is hugely problematic for a significant portion of Salt Spring Island’s population, and vilifying those who hope for more equitable housing solutions as “seeking urban amenities and growth” or wanting big box stores, bigger apartment buildings and fast food chains is unhelpful and dehumanizing.

One-third of Salt Springers live in some sort of housing need. Some have tried to discredit or minimize this statistic, but it comes from the Southern Gulf Islands Tourism Partnership’s Short-Term Rental Impact Report released in mid-September 2025, using housing data from the 2021 census. It states: “We recommend interpreting the available data as suggesting that there is something closer to ~1,695 households currently living in unaffordable, unsuitable and/or inadequate housing, and for whom there is currently no realistic alternative (until rental vacancy rates improve).” This statistic is discussed on pages 28, 29 and 30 of the report.

It defines affordable housing as costing less than 30 per cent of before-tax household income, adequate housing as not being in need of major repairs, and suitable as having enough bedrooms. These are not households that “simply need a roof repair” as was suggested to me recently. These are households who are having to make unreasonable sacrifices to afford rent or mortgage payments. These are families where children are not able to have their own bedrooms. These are retirees and working folks trying to make a home in buildings with severe and potentially dangerous structural defects.

For some this may be academic or abstract. There are plenty of people on this island privileged enough to only encounter folks in housing need on the other side of a till, waiting their table, waving their car onto a ferry or any of the other impersonal proletarian encounters one may have in a day.

But I have been a member of that third. I know numerous people in that third. While there has always been nonconforming housing on our nonconformist islands, forcing much of our working class into it as their only choice is a new phenomenon. Approximately 3,729 people are struggling with housing, valuable and beloved members of our community, hard-working members of our community, seniors who have contributed to our community and deserve a secure retirement.

Brazilian environmentalist Chico Mendes famously stated that “Environmentalism without class struggle is just gardening.” I think this is an incredibly valuable sentiment to express in the context of Salt Spring Island, our housing crisis, our participation in the draft Trust Policy Statement, and our official community plan (OCP) and land use bylaw (LUB) update.

I think it is important because from where I stand, Salt Spring Islanders are united in their desire to live in a community that preserves and protects the natural environment, but are fractured down class lines. What many folks seem to fail to realize is that Salt Spring Island is very much a pay-to-play community. If you have the available capital it is not a big deal to buy land, clear it of trees, build a 5,000-square-foot, five-bedroom, six-bathroom house with irrigated landscaping and high flow waterfall showers. However, if someone lacks the capital to buy a property worth a million or more, for example retirees looking to downsize, or a worker looking to get into the market or find a decently priced rental, life is much more difficult.

That is the status quo. Not one of equity, but one of gross overdevelopment of single-family homes built into our OCP and LUB, while workforce housing of any type is an exception that must be passed through local government at great expense.

Certain groups on the island are heavily invested in keeping the status quo. They seem uninterested in managing growth or density to ensure equity, they simply want to set a growth cap and let fall what may below it. They seem uninterested in stopping the proliferation of large, resource-consuming luxury mansions, but keen on ensuring workforce housing is done slowly, in limited amounts, in extremely limited locations.

Worst of all, they seem bent on painting anyone who questions their plans for our community as wanting to destroy our community. This last thing is actively damaging our community more than a lack of housing ever could. When I try to get friends or coworkers to come to meetings or participate I am often met with the idea that the Islands Trust is built to protect the rich and the retired, and there is no point in speaking out, or that the Islands Trust just exists to say no to working folks. When I stand up at meetings and speak out I often have at least a few but sometimes several folks come and tell me they appreciated me speaking out, that they were afraid to speak out because they might be shamed for doing so.

Wanting attainable housing that is affordable, adequate and suitable is not an unreasonable ask.

It is definitely not comparable to wanting to urbanize our rural community, nor is it something worth shaming people over. It’s time to have an honest look at our Trust Policy Statement, OCP, LUB and the way we speak to and about the people most negatively affected by the status quo. One-third of Salt Spring Island residents live in some sort of housing need, and that just isn’t right.

The writer is a working-class advocate living and working on Salt Spring Island.

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