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Radio noir mystery a fundraiser for CHiR.fm

Gail Sjuberg
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Radio noir mystery a fundraiser for CHiR.fm

The Gulf Islands Community Radio Society is close to achieving a $50,000 fundraising goal and hopes an upcoming radio play fundraiser at ArtSpring will ensure the CHiR.fm radio station can become a reality.

The Adventures of Tom Thumb, Private Detective is written by Sid Filkow of Salt Spring Hysterical Society and The Geezers fame in a classic 1940s radio noir mystery style. It will run at ArtSpring on Friday-Saturday, July 21-22 at 7:30 p.m.

As the title suggests, the lead character is the Tom Thumb from English folk tales, who is trying to figure out “the case of the forbidden fruit.” Other cast members are well-known fairytale characters.

“It’s sort of like Boston Blackie meets fractured fairy tales meets the Goon Show,” explained Filkow.

“It’s very funny,” said radio society president and Tom Thumb director Damian Inwood. “We laugh our way through rehearsals and it’s still funny even though we’ve read it loads of times.”

The cast includes Carlo Locatelli as Announcer, Emcee and The Huntsman; Charlotte Mitchell as Snow White, The Mirror and Shep Wooly; Mark O’Neill as Boy Blue and Humpty Dumpty; Charley Miller as Jill and Red Riding Hood; Sue Newman as The Queen; Eric Pollins as Tom Thumb, Wendy Beatty as Rapunzel and David Crone as the Sound Man. Filkow also has a cameo part as the Newsboy.

Filkow is a radio society member, and he and Inwood worked together on a past Salt Spring Community Theatre production. Filkow had pretty much written the play, which was sitting in a drawer, when he contacted Inwood to suggest it be produced as a fundraiser for the radio society.

The Tom Thumb event has since evolved into a full evening of entertainment, with live musical interludes from The Myrtle Sisters and The Regulars.

“There’s entertainment, there’s a variety show, and it’s got a theme and a play,” said Filkow. “It’s kind of a moveable feast.”

The sound effects are also terrific and often humorous, said Inwood.

Tickets for the show are on sale through ArtSpring.

Six youth complete RCMSAR Juniors Program

Contributed Article
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Six youth complete RCMSAR Juniors Program

SUBMITTED BY RCMSAR STATION 25

The Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station 25 (RCMSAR 25) is thrilled to congratulate Kaelen Whyte, Sonja Reynolds, Brandan Reynolds, Tejas Grooms, Shore Winstone and Flynn Shugar on their successful completion of the RCMSAR Juniors Program.

The Work Experience Program, organized in partnership with the Gulf Islands Secondary School (GISS) and RCMSAR 25, provides participants with a comprehensive understanding of boating safety principles through classroom sessions, hands-on activities and practical demonstrations.

“RCMSAR 25’s junior program provides an opportunity for community service and personal growth through adventure, teamwork and practical experience on the water. Along with a sense of purpose, our youth learn the value of volunteering and the career possibilities open to professional mariners,” explains Richard Dowker, RCMSAR’s manager of training and development.

Led by a team of RCMSAR 25’s experienced instructors, including John de Bruyn, Sky Losier and Janet Taylor, the RCMSAR Juniors Program offers participants an exceptional learning experience. Coxswains Losier, Paul FitzZaland and Tim Slaney supervised the on-the-water training, ensuring that students received practical guidance in safe boat handling, navigation and emergency preparedness. The program also involved the dedicated support of Shari Hambrook, a Youth Work In Trades Program and work experience teacher from GISS, who played a crucial role in facilitating the program.

As part of the program, students obtained their Marine Standard First Aid certification, Pleasure Craft Operator Card and Restricted Radiotelephone Operator’s Certificate (Maritime). They developed vital skills in boat handling, marine safety, navigation using radar and charts, identifying and understanding marine aids to navigation, assessing environmental conditions, and marine search and rescue techniques. The program emphasized safety, teamwork and critical decision-making in time-sensitive situations, preparing students for real-life boating scenarios.

Participants in the RCMSAR Juniors Program had several experiences that left lasting impressions. One involved the spotting of a large, almost totally submerged deadhead, which they promptly flagged with a clearly visible orange marker, contributing to the safety of fellow boaters. Another memorable training was an extended search for a rescue dummy, which highlighted the challenges of finding targets on the water, even in relatively calm weather conditions.

The students also enjoyed a visit to the Canadian Coast Guard open house in Victoria and RCMSAR headquarters in East Sooke for a tour and training on their rescue vessel simulator.

RCMSAR is a vital part of the marine rescue system on the West Coast and on lakes in the Interior of British Columbia. It operates as an all-volunteer charity committed to saving lives on the water. Their dedicated crews are ready to respond to emergencies day or night, 365 days a year. RCMSAR relies on the support and generosity of their neighbours for fundraising and volunteer assistance. To contribute to their life-saving efforts, please consider making a donation at rcmsar25.com.

Students at GISS who are interested in joining the RCMSAR Juniors Program next fall can visit rcmsar25.com or email juniors@rcmsar25.com for more information.

Ganges Harbour water deemed ‘safe for swimming’

Robb Magley
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Ganges Harbour water deemed ‘safe for swimming’

As water quality sampling ramps up for the summer swimming season, the health authority has added two new saltwater data points on Salt Spring Island — not at popular swim beaches, but in Ganges Harbour. 

Samples from the two new sites — at the Centennial Park bulkhead and Churchill Beach — were tested Wednesday, June 21, for enterococci, the indicator bacteria Island Health uses to identify the presence of fecal contamination and provide an indication of the potential risk associated with swimming in a particular location.  

The results put Ganges Harbour well into the “safe for swimming” column — from a microbiological perspective, at least, according to Island Health standards.  

Saltwater beaches are generally deemed “safe for swimming” when single sample results, or the average of the most recent five, find fewer than 35 of the bacteria per 100 mL sample, according to Island Health. The health authority will typically issue a red “swimming not recommended” warning at 70 per 100 mL, when there is “significant risk of illness” from entering the water. 

Tests at Ganges Harbour showed “LT5” — meaning fewer than 5 of the bacteria found per 100 mL sample — in the water off Centennial Park, and 18 per 100 mL off the end of Churchill Road. 

During the same June 21 round of testing at lakes on Salt Spring — for E. coli, the indicator bacteria used for fresh water — St. Mary and Cusheon Lakes showed “LT5” (fewer than 5 bacteria per 100 mL), Blackburn and Stowel (aka Stowe) Lake 5, and Weston Lake 20.  

For E. coli, a red warning is typically issued when results exceed 400 counts per 100 mL, or when the most recent five samples show greater than 200. Last August, Island Health temporarily advised against swimming in Stowel Lake as counts there reached 495. 

While previous summers have seen Island Health testing samples only from popular freshwater swimming spots on Salt Spring from mid-May to September, the health authority regularly tests samples from saltwater beaches elsewhere within its region. Samples are collected by municipalities and regional districts — in this case, the Capital Regional District (CRD) — then sent for testing and the results analyzed by Island Health. 

Salt Spring Island’s CRD senior manager Karla Campbell said the new testing was requested by the group supporting the Clean and Safe Harbours Initiative (CASHI), which advocates regulating liveaboards in Ganges Harbour partly over concerns human waste was being discharged there by people living afloat. 

Indicators of fecal material in waterways come from numerous sources, according to Health Canada, commonly from insufficiently-treated wastewater effluent. The Ganges Harbour Wastewater Treatment Plant releases treated and disinfected water from the sewer into the harbour — but through a nearly five-kilometre outfall that discharges well past Second Sister Island, at a depth of some 16 metres below sea level. 

The treated wastewater is monitored regularly, and according to reports from the CRD’s Gulf Islands and Port Renfrew Wastewater Facilities Environmental Monitoring Program, the “marine environment surface water” — also called the system’s “receiving water,” in this case at the mouth of Ganges Harbour — is checked every four years, or in the event of an emergency or unscheduled bypass or overflow from the treatment plant. 

The last time that water was checked was in 2020, at which time all results were well below regulatory limits. One non-routine/emergency event in 2022 met the criteria to trigger unscheduled sampling, according to CRD reporting, but staff were unable to complete the testing within the required time for the results to be meaningful, “due to staff capacity and weather restrictions.” 

The receiving water at the end of the long outfall is next scheduled to be tested in 2024.  

To see Island Health’s complete 2022 season sampling results, visit www.islandhealth.ca/sites/default/files/environment/documents/si-beach-sampling-report.pdf.

Elemental celebrates fine wood and metal craft

Contributed Article
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Elemental celebrates fine wood and metal craft

BY ELIZABETH NOLAN

For Salt Spring Arts

Artcraft’s second showcase exhibition of the season opens Friday, July 14 on the Mahon Hall stage with an exciting collaboration between two island creative groups. Elemental: Wood and Metal features examples of work from the Salt Spring Island Woodworkers Guild, Salt Spring Island Blacksmiths Group and other island metalworkers and woodworkers.

Members of the exhibiting group explain the two crafts of wood and metal work have long been associated in decorative and practical practice.

“Historically, a woodworker would incorporate metal hardware on practical pieces along with decorative elements in steel, bronze and precious metals,” said Elemental coordinator Bryn Finer. “This continues today in practical items such as tools, musical instruments and more. This showcase strives to show the many possibilities of these collaborations as well as featuring the best examples of both crafts.”

Finer has been one of the people to reactivate interest in the Salt Spring Island Woodworkers Guild in recent years, but as he noted it has a long history in the Gulf Islands and often joined others in presenting semi-annual shows of works.

“I really enjoyed it when I first moved here, in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s,” Finer said, adding known craftsmen like Illtyd Perkins, Bob McKay and Roger Warren were among the guild’s driving forces in those days.

Many of the early shows were based on themes such as Boxed In and Time Flies, as well as challenge-themed events. For The 2X4 Show, for example, artists were constrained by a specified raw material, including size.

“Some fabulous things came out of that,” Finer said.

Island metalworkers participating in the showcase include, but are not limited to, members of the Salt Spring Blacksmiths Group, which has been around for 15 years. They are a small group comprising both self-taught and trained smiths who gather at the Salt Spring Farmers’ Institute to share techniques and hold demonstrations. Finer’s son Eben is one of the next generation working in both wood and metal. He is often at the Farmers’ Institute on Sundays to open the workshop for young apprentices and anyone else who wants to advance a project or learn some techniques.

“It’s a great group with great interest; more and more people want to come in,” Eben reported.

Pieces to be featured in the show will include examples of fine furniture, instruments, functional objects like vases and bowls, sculptural artworks and more. Artisans confirmed to be participating along with the Finers include Katherine Ackerman, Barry Chatwin, Martin Herbert, Nick Hodson, Peter McFarlane, Steve Paterson, Peter Pierobon, Peter B. Reiner, Nycki Samuels, Jeri Sparshu and Grant Wickland.

An opening reception for Elemental will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, July 14, with an artists’ talk scheduled for July 28 at 5:30 p.m. The show runs to Aug. 14 during Artcraft hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Possible contamination of Beddis water system 

Driftwood Staff
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Possible contamination of Beddis water system 

Salt Spring households on the Beddis water service are being told they must boil their water until further notice, as a water main break over the weekend may have led to contamination. 

The Capital Regional District (CRD) issued the boil water advisory Monday morning, July 10, and according to CRD officials came “as a precaution” and will be in effect until the system is flushed and water testing indicates the water is safe for drinking. 

“Residents [served by the Beddis water system] should boil their drinking water until further notice,” according to the CRD. “The advisory will be removed when Island Health is satisfied that the drinking water does not pose a health concern and issues an ‘all clear’ notice, at which time the impacted customers will be notified.” 

The advisory was issued in consultation with Island Health, according to the CRD, who suggest household tap water be boiled vigorously for at least one minute and cooled before drinking. 

For updates regarding this advisory, visit www.crd.bc.ca/alerts. 

For more information on boil water advisories, visit www.islandhealth.ca/boilwater. 

Folk-roots Fugitives band plays ArtSpring

Contributed Article
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Folk-roots Fugitives band plays ArtSpring

By KIRSTEN BOLTON

for ArtSpring

In keeping with the celebratory community energy of ArtSpring’s Treasure Fair, a special concert hits the stage Friday, July 14 at 7:30 p.m. featuring The Fugitives, a Juno-nominated acoustic folk and roots group who has earned a reputation for “unforgettable live shows brimming with complex harmonies, infectious storytelling and top-notch musicianship.”

As the CBC once declared in a review of the group’s shows, they are “simply brilliant.” 

Headed by songwriters Adrian Glynn and Brendan McLeod, the band has toured extensively through Canada, Western Europe and the U.K. They’re joined by banjo player Chris Suen (Viper Central) and violinist Carly Frey (The Coal Porters). Despite their acoustic nature, fans and critics find the Vancouver-based group difficult to classify, categorizing the music as slam folk, folk hop and spoken word cabaret. 

Much of their work is rooted in personal stories such as No Words, which was written for Leonard Cohen on the day after his passing. Northern Lights was written for the Manitoban singer-songwriter Steel Audrey, a dear friend who The Fugitives lost in 2015, but there is uplifting hope in the melodies and memories. Their fifth album, Trench Songs, a reinterpretation of World War I protest songs sung by Canadian soldiers at Vimy Ridge, won two Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2022.

The Fugitives reunited with Trench Songs producer Tom Dobranzki for an album of new original music, out in summer/fall 2023, but Salt Springers may get a special preview of certain tracks.

Proceeds from the concert will support the fundraising efforts of this year’s Treasure Fair. Tickets are now on sale at tickets.artspring.ca.

Youth arrested, witnesses sought in Ganges attack 

Driftwood Staff
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Youth arrested, witnesses sought in Ganges attack 

One person was arrested behind Island Savings after an alleged assault that carried on across multiple locations in downtown Ganges, according to police. 

Salt Spring Island RCMP is seeking witnesses, additional information and any possible CCTV video that might have captured the attack on a youth police identified as female. Police responded to a report around noon on July 4 that another youth, identified as male, was “punching and slapping” a victim over an unspecified period of time — and across several locations in Ganges, including Rotary Park, the intersection of Lower Ganges Road and Hereford Avenue, and the United Church Meadow park.  

Police confronted the alleged attacker and the event “ended,” according to RCMP Island District Advisory NCO Cpl. Alex Bérubé, “at the rear of a financial institution on McPhillips Ave.” 

“The male youth was arrested and the investigation continues,” said Cpl. Bérubé. “Anyone with information or who has possession of CCTV video is asked to contact the Salt Spring RCMP at 250-537-5555.”  

Medical staff association updates community with some good news

Contributed Article
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Medical staff association updates community with some good news

FROM the Lady Minto Hospital Medical Staff Association

Many thanks for your overwhelming support for the medical staff and allied health professionals during this challenging time. Many of you have reached out to see how you can help.

We have temporarily covered gaps in physician ER coverage at the Lady Minto Hospital until the end of September. An interim new funding model has helped us recruit locum ER physicians from other sites. We hope that this model can continue beyond September to enable ongoing recruitment.

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Hannah Gummeson will be joining Salt Spring Island Health Centre in late July. She is a home-grown talent having spent much of her time growing up on Salt Spring and completed parts of her residency training here. There will be overwhelming demand for her services. As such there will be a randomized attachment process running from July 10 to July 14. Please call or drop by the Salt Spring Health Centre to put your name on the list. Unfortunately, once her initial patient panel is full the clinic will not be keeping a waitlist. Other options that are available if you do not have a family doctor are to sign up for the provincial program Health Connect Registry: see more details at www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-connect-registry.

Primary care network planning is an exciting ongoing process on Salt Spring Island that will eventually result in a multidisciplinary clinic that will be able to serve the various health needs of Salt Spring residents. Please stay tuned on this front as we will need the support of the public along the way.

As always, the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation is doing excellent work, including fundraising for the final stages of our new emergency room. We are thrilled to start working there in the fall!

If anyone has any experience or expertise in the recruitment field and would like to assist us in a grassroots recruitment campaign for new physicians please contact fems.lmh@gmail.com. In addition, if you know a GP, ER physician or psychiatrist who is looking to relocate to this beautiful island then we would love to meet them!

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Peter Verheul,

Lady Minto Hospital MSA President, and

Dr. Kesh Smith,

MSA Vice President

On behalf of the Lady Minto Hospital Medical Staff Association

Viewpoint: CASHI’s tactics concerning

Contributed Article
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Viewpoint: CASHI’s tactics concerning

By EMILY WHITELAW

The now famous Clean and Safe Harbours Initiative (CASHI) first came to my attention in May for their (at the time) one-page document outlining a “citizen-proposed bylaw” to regulate harbour use on the island. At the time, there was no author attached to the bylaw, and CASHI was a private shadow organization, with no publicly available motives, leadership or membership.

When I went to the May Local Trust Committee (LTC) town hall meeting to speak about the proposal, trustee Laura Patrick dismissed the citizen-proposed bylaw as a non-issue which would not be considered by the LTC or the Trust in general. Much has changed since then. For one thing, CASHI now has a spokesman, Glenn Stevens, who drafted the now 81-page document presented at the June 22 LTC meeting.

Well, now that the proposal has been presented in full, I can safely say that my initial impressions were well founded, and the cruelty and classism of this organization has far subceeded my initially low expectations. The CASHI proposal reads to me like a manifesto of hatred against an already marginalized demographic. Voyeuristic photos of lived-in vessels in the harbour, an outrageous bylaw proposal, a non-representative online poll deceptively marketed as a reflection of island sentiment, and pages upon pages of Gish-galloping case law, ostensibly meant to justify the questionable right of the Trust to regulate liveaboards at all.

But this proposal is not just an assault on the lives and homes of those living in the harbour, it also presents a threat to the state of bylaw enforcement, and fair and due process on this island. To quote the proposal itself: “to minimize the cost to the Trust for enforcement of the Bylaw, [CASHI is] forming a legally, federally authorized charity” to remove vessels which fail to comply with the bylaw.

Yes, before the bylaw has even reached consideration by the Trust, CASHI plans to form a charity, accountable to nobody but their donors, to act as private bylaw enforcement officers. The proposed bylaw elaborates that “the Salt Spring Island Trust Committee may contract . . . with third persons, including for-profit or non-profit businesses . . . or licensed charities or independent contractors” to enforce the bylaw. They clarify that an “enforcement officer” for the purposes of the bylaw constitutes not just Trust enforcement officers but also any “representatives or agents authorized and under the supervision of an enforcement officer,” and that such “enforcement officers” are “authorized to enter, at any reasonable time upon any lot, vessel or private mooring facility . . . to determine whether the regulations are being observed.”

It seems CASHI wants the Trust to authorize them to engage in privately run bylaw enforcement, whose agents would be empowered to enter any boat on that harbour at any time and, if they deem the boat to be non-compliant, to impound it. This is an unprecedented violation of the privacy and property rights of liveaboards, and speaks to the incredible entitlement of the wealthy and privileged on this island that they believe they should be allowed to run a tax-deductible organization to dispose of the homes of people they find undesirable.

Should the Trust authorize this proposal from CASHI, it would constitute a tremendous abuse of their own power and the power of this private special interest group, as well as a perversion of the process of democracy and good governance.

Everyone on Salt Spring, not just liveaboards, should be deeply concerned about CASHI’s tactics.

In Response: Clean, safe harbours group clarifies proposal

Contributed Article
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In Response: Clean, safe harbours group clarifies proposal

BY GLENN STEVENS and other CLEAN AND SAFE HARBOURS INITIATIVE MEMBERS

The June 28 Driftwood editorial indicates there is confusion about the Clean and Safe Harbours Initiative (CASHI).

We appreciate the nearly unanimous support for our proposal expressed by the public at the Local Trust Committee meeting of June 22. Since that time some people have raised legitimate concerns and questions about CASHI, which we welcome and which we wish to address.

Let’s start with some facts about existing bylaws:

• Current Islands Trust Bylaw 355 makes living on vessels in our harbours illegal, except for licensed commercial fishing vessels and security personnel at a public docking facility.

• Section 3.2.1 of that same bylaw prohibits disposal of any waste on land or in marine areas in all Islands Trust zones.

• According to Bylaw 446, current penalties include fines of $350 to $5,000 per day for violations.

• During COVID, Islands Trust adopted resolution SS-2020-145 stating that enforcement of the “no dwelling on vessels” law would be deferred for dwelling on vessels at marinas if vessels comply with all laws pertaining to no short-term rentals, navigation, safety equipment, registration, insurance, seaworthiness, and sewage disposal. Failure to comply is supposed to trigger enforcement.

Islands Trust has never enforced those laws and has taken no meaningful action to make our harbours clean and safe, even though Canada’s Supreme Court has stated that the Islands Trust has the legal authority to regulate the land within its designated Trust area, including the seabed. Our provincial and federal governments have also taken no meaningful actions to prevent illegal dumping of waste into our harbours.

There are also misperceptions about elements of the CASHI proposal:

• CASHI is being championed by many concerned residents, businesses and marinas, and not just driven by “waterfront property owners” as the Driftwood alleges.

• Our proposal will reverse the “no living on vessels” law by putting in place a bylaw that makes living on vessels completely legal.

• If someone is legally allowed to live on a vessel in our harbours, it is reasonable that they comply with laws already in effect regarding disposal of waste and other marine protocols. These are the same requirements that the Salt Spring Islands Trust required for people to legally live on vessels at marinas during COVID.

• CASHI proposes that no fee be required to get the permit to live on a vessel, and insurance for all boats not currently in our harbours but a minimum one-year moratorium on this requirement for all vessels currently here.

• We proposed a code of conduct for all boaters and others using our harbours so that everyone is treated safely and respectfully.

• If the Islands Trust legalizes the right to live on vessels in our harbours, the Capital Regional District will need to provide adequate services to liveaboards. These services should include additional pump-out facilities, access to clean water and a larger public dinghy dock with extended hours for docking.

Currently, Islands Trust has no effective process to ensure our harbours are clean and safe. The permit process proposed by CASHI will shift the burden of justifying the right to live on a vessel from the Trust to the folks who want to live on their boats. To get a permit, the vessel owner will have to provide proof of compliance with the laws, instead of the Trust having to inspect every boat.

Our position is a reasonable, practical and workable solution that balances the need for protecting and preserving our environment and addressing the housing crisis. We can, and we must, solve both crises. Doing nothing about our harbour crises is unacceptable, and we cannot rely on our provincial and federal governments to solve these problems for us, as history has shown.

As polling clearly shows, having clean and safe harbours is strongly supported by a significant majority of Salt Spring Island residents. Contrary to what the Driftwood implied, just because the LTC has not yet made this a priority is not a rationale for continuing to do nothing.

The prime directive of “preserve and protect” should prompt action, now. As the Driftwood editorial says: “Who doesn’t want clean and safe harbours?” It’s time to do something instead of just talking about it or making excuses.

Please join us in supporting the proposed changes to the CASHI-proposed bylaw and moving to implement its provisions. As a society, we are only free and safe when we have reasonable laws that are enforced.

We encourage feedback at SSISACHI23@gmail.com.

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