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Registration open for new youth theatre festival

Gail Sjuberg
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Registration open for new youth theatre festival

Christie Roome was a 17 year old who loved writing and theatre when she had a life-changing experience as a participant in an Alberta Theatre Projects playwriting festival in Calgary.

“It was the most amazing thing I had ever done in my life,” she said in a conversation with the Driftwood last week.

Roome imagines the script she wrote at the time was “horrible.” She remembers thinking, “’Oh, that didn’t work the way I thought it would.’ But that’s great, too . . . The adults around me took me seriously. They called me a playwright, and I was 17 years old. For me, the whole experience was just so incredibly empowering.”

Roome is a local author, creator and activist who recently charmed audiences in the role of nerdy scientist Candy Reeves in Dogs in the Moonlight at ArtSpring. She has teamed up with Christina Penhale of exitStageLeft Productions, in partnership with Graffiti Theatre and ArtSpring, to bring an opportunity like the one she had to youth aged 13 to 18 this summer. The Salt Spring Youth New Creatives (SSYNC) Festival runs Aug. 14-19 at ArtSpring, supported by a generous Salt Spring Island Foundation (SSIF) grant.

The SSYNC festival will showcase original plays and provide a mentorship opportunity for young writers and actors to create and receive feedback from professional playwrights, dramaturges, actors and directors in a workshop environment. Students will develop writing skills, build confidence, learn the elements of writing plays and character development, and explore topics, themes and issues that are important to them. At the end of the week-long experience, a showcase will occur at ArtSpring, where youth actors will bring the playwrights’ words to life in a public performance. Roome and Penhale stress that full plays will not be produced.

The festival is open to students who live on Salt Spring and beyond.

Penhale and Roome are thrilled with the mentors who have come on board for the week and the plan that has emerged.

Celebrated playwright and author Natalie Meisner will mentor the writers with support from Roome, while accomplished actor, director, teacher, clown and storyteller Jeffrey Renn will mentor the actors alongside Penhale. Karen Lee White, a prolific Indigenous author and playwright from Vancouver Island, will lead a workshop in Indigenous theatre.

Feedback from the mentors on the syllabus created by Roome and Penhale has been great so far.

“We’re working with all of them to expand the syllabus and ensure that what we’ve included is also what they’re really passionate about teaching as well,” said Penhale.

“I feel so incredibly grateful and honoured to be working with all of the people that I’m working with to bring this to fruition,” said Roome. “I actually, truthfully, honestly almost don’t believe it’s happening. I feel it’s a bit of a dream.”

The festival’s timing is significant, the organizers note, with young people severely impacted by the isolation that resulted from the COVID pandemic and social restrictions, and the loss of access to performing arts programs and collaborative creative work.

Youth interested in festival participation can access the registration link on the artspring.ca website. Eight playwrights and 16 actors can be accommodated. Organizers hope to fill those spots by June 30.

Participants don’t need to provide writing samples in order to participate. The application form is more of a “getting to know you” exercise, said Roome.

“There’s not really an application process, like with other programs, where you have to apply and get vetted,” added Penhale. “For this first year we wanted to make it accessible and not scary while we try to build a foundation for this to go forward.”

The festival aims to demystify the playwriting process.

“Anybody can do this if they have an idea that they want to explore . . . It’s really more about the creative exploration of ideas in the form of theatre,” said Penhale.

“We want it to be fun and accessible, and a really open, welcoming place where the youth can come and try something new that they may not have tried, or something that they thought ‘Oh, that may be interesting,’ but they haven’t had a space to do that in yet.”

Also on the topic of accessibility, Roome said they are grateful the SSIF grant has made the festival possible and kept the registration fee at a low $200. (A handful of bursaries are also available.)

Some funds are still needed to support the Indigenous component of the event. Anyone interested in contributing to that initiative can contact Roome or Penhale at ssyncfestival@gmail.com.

MLA column: Conservation officer service needs oversight

Contributed Article
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MLA column: Conservation officer service needs oversight

British Columbians would be shocked to learn that the B.C. Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS), a small, heavily armed service with no independent oversight, can be directly controlled by the B.C. NDP government through the minister of environment. 

The Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act report submitted to the legislature last year recommended that Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth fix this glaring lack of independent oversight and he has ignored that recommendation.

The BCCOS website describes conservation officers as “highly trained, dedicated individuals responsible for enforcing 33 federal and provincial statutes, they hold Special Provincial Constable Status under the Police Act and have unrestricted appointment to enforce Acts and Statues, and protect the public and preserve the peace.” 

Conservation officers dress like police, drive police-like cars, use police-like tactics, carry police-like assault rifles and have all the powers of police under section 9 of the Police Act, but are not subject to police-like independent oversight and have no constabulary independence. They are directly responsible to the environment minister. It’s his own police force. 

When I asked Minister Farnworth about this issue in budget estimates he directed incidents with weapons to the Independent Investigations Office, and issues around toxicity of culture, such as homophobia, transphobia and racism to the Public Service Agency (PSA). 

But section 6 of the Police Act states the Public Service Act does not apply to special provincial constables while exercising a constabulary duty. 

Does Minister Farnworth really believe it’s appropriate for the PSA to act as police complaints commissioner for special constables? When I tried to ask the PSA about this situation, I was inexplicably rerouted back to the BCCOS chief and Ministry of Environment staff. 

Antiquated legislation unleashes the authority of the environment minister to direct a provincial policing agency, the BCCOS, in serious environmental investigations like large-scale corporate mining and forestry non-compliances.  

For the B.C. NDP to admit the BCCOS is a fully functional and unrestricted environmental policing agency limits the powers of the PSA and BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU), and restricts the B.C. NDP’s ability to access information or influence investigations in environmental crime.  

The provincial government would be subject to internal policing reviews of environmental decisions both under provincial offence provisions, and perhaps the Criminal Code of Canada. Beginning to understand why this B.C. NDP might be dragging its heels on oversight of the BCCOS?

Constabulary independence should be enforced as a cardinal principle of our democracy and rule of law, just as Minister Farnworth reminds me. But it’s not how his regime is operating.  

Conservation officers who put their lives on the line every day must know they have a safe place to do their police work on environmental matters. Currently, they do not. 

The Police Act is Minister Farnworth’s responsibility. He is allowing a heavily armed service, with all the powers of police but no independent oversight, to be under the direct control of his colleague, Minister of Environment George Heyman.  

Minister Farnworth has been loitering on the special committee recommendation to require independent oversight of the BCCOS for over a year. Serious crimes need investigation and his inaction is threatening the safety of the public and the people we ask to do this dangerous work. 

A lack of independent oversight of the BCCOS is unacceptable and the B.C. NDP government needs to fix this immediately.

Campfires banned effective Thursday 

Robb Magley
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Campfires banned effective Thursday 

As dry conditions in the Gulf Islands persist — and as a record-setting wildfire season is shaping up across the province — campfires will join the list of prohibited burning activities effective noon Thursday, June 8. 

Campfires will be banned on all public and private land on Salt Spring Island and throughout the Coastal Fire Centre except for the Haida Gwaii Forest District, according to fire officials, to help prevent human-caused wildfires and protect public safety. This comes after a move that prohibited most other outdoor burning May 18, and as Salt Spring Island fell under “extreme” forest fire danger on Monday.  

In addition to campfires and open burning, fireworks, sky lanterns, burn barrels or burn cages, binary exploding targets, air curtain burners, Tiki (and similar) torches and chimineas are also prohibited. This prohibition does not include the use of stoves used outdoors for “cooking, heat or ambiance,” according to wildfire regulations, which burn charcoal briquettes, liquid or gaseous fuel, and have a flame height less than 15 cm tall. 

Anyone who lights, fuels or uses an open fire when a fire prohibition is in place or fails to comply with an open fire prohibition may be issued a ticket for $1,150 or, if convicted in court, be fined up to $100,000 and/or sentenced to one year in jail. If the contravention causes or contributes to a wildfire, the person responsible may be subject to a penalty of up to $100,000 and ordered to pay all firefighting and associated costs, according to the Coastal Fire Centre.  

The Coastal Fire Centre covers all the area west of the height of land on the Coast Mountain Range from the U.S.-Canada border at Manning Park, including Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park in the north, the Sunshine Coast, the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and Haida Gwaii. 

For the latest information on current wildfire activity, burning restrictions, road closures and air quality advisories, visit www.bcwildfire.ca and saltspringfire.ca. 

Ganges Hill upgrades detailed

Robb Magley
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Ganges Hill upgrades detailed

This may be the last year pedestrians and cyclists take their lives in their own hands by choosing to head up or down Salt Spring’s Ganges Hill.  

Sharing the narrow roadway with vehicle traffic will be a safer proposition by next fall, according to Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Rob Fleming, because the Ganges Hill project — to widen and improve shoulders along the first stretch of Fulford-Ganges Road south of town — is a go.   

Design of the project will be completed by the end of June, Fleming announced, with construction activity starting this fall and full completion before winter 2024. Fleming delivered the news, appropriately enough, during a GoByBikeBC Week event held Friday, June 2 at the Mouat Park meadow by the Lions Bike Park on Seaview Avenue.   

Fleming joined Saanich North and the Islands MLA Adam Olsen, who had biked to the event from the Fulford ferry along with dozens of islanders to take part in a safer cycling rally organized by Island Pathways.  

The rally brought Salt Spring families — and active transportation advocates — to the meadow by wheel and on foot. Younger riders enjoyed a Strider-bike course, and enthusiasts passed out cake and bicycle-blender-made smoothies. Island Pathways also had stickers and enough tall orange bike flags to equip everyone who wanted better visibility on the road.   

There was also an opportunity to push for better infrastructure, as well as for the completion of the Salish Sea Trail Network — with Salt Spring’s uneven shoulder from Fulford to Vesuvius considered the “missing link” on the popular 250-kilometre south Vancouver Island cycling route. Olsen shared a microphone with Fleming as the rally transitioned into the weekly ASK Salt Spring question-and-answer event. Fleming said he knew islanders were concerned about Ganges Hill from a safety perspective, but that the construction needed to be “climate resilient.”  

“The scope of this project keeps getting bigger,” said Fleming, “because the drainage challenges are significant.”  

Open ditches are generally off the table, according to Fleming and Michael Pearson, the transportation ministry’s Vancouver Island district director, not just for this project but for most going forward. Pearson said the increasing likelihood of heavy rainfalls due to climate change meant closed systems for stormwater are necessary — to avoid the kinds of infrastructure failures Salt Spring Island and much of the province saw during the atmospheric river events in late 2021.  

Pearson pointed to the section of Fulford-Ganges Road near Blackburn that washed out during those storms.   

“That was from a culvert that was already there, that was over capacity and failed,” said Pearson. “When we take into account climate change and 200-year storm events, what the engineering dictates is that more often than not we should use bridges rather than culverts.”   

“It’s going to be a significant investment,” added Fleming. “We don’t have the final contract amounts, but it’s going to be in the tens of millions, not just in the millions.”  

The finally progressing plan calls for 1.5 kilometres of “paved and protected” bike shoulder, said Fleming — including the full 1.2 metres that has become standard for bicycles.  

“It will be properly lined, it will be safe, and it will be visible,” said Fleming. “I know you’ve been waiting a long time for this investment.”  

Fleming also said the line markings along the entire roadway from Fulford to Ganges would be re-painted; Olsen said that would be happening this summer.  

“It’s going to be compliant with Bill 23,” said Fleming, referring to the bill he tabled in April that, among other measures, implements a one-metre minimum safe-passing distance and a three-metre minimum following distance that drivers of motor vehicles must observe when sharing roadways with pedestrians, cyclists, e-bikes and other similar devices.  

“We heard from your committee members and your local officials who want some signage to go with it as well,” said Fleming, “so we’ll do that.”  

Most questions from participants surrounded safety issues and tended toward the very specific. There were comments requesting a lower speed limit through Ganges and asking for an easier public reporting system for traffic offenders; one cyclist begged for a less abrupt transition from the new road surfaces to the inevitable gravel covering the bulk of the Fulford-Ganges Road shoulder. Potholes were mentioned, and both officials and several members of the public chimed in to promote — and celebrate — the effectiveness of Emcon’s road hazard reporting form and phone line. 

“Emcon’s hazard reporting line has been fabulous every time I’ve called them,” agreed ASK organizer Gayle Baker. “They even call me back when something’s getting done.” 

Emcon’s reporting number is 866-353-3136. 

‘Counter petition’ seeks approval for housing borrowing

Robb Magley
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‘Counter petition’ seeks approval for housing borrowing

For once, according to elected officials, the best way to help might be to do nothing. 

A new Capital Regional District (CRD) initiative allowing the district more borrowing power in the name of affordable housing will require elector approval — but in the form of an Alternative Approval Process (AAP) or “counter petition,” where the measure succeeds by having fewer signatures. CRD director Gary Holman said he supports the plan, partly because Salt Spring has had good success in accessing funding under this kind of program in the past. 

The proposal is similar to the CRD’s earlier Regional Housing First program, Holman said — which involved borrowing matched by BC Housing and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and brought funding to the 54-unit Croftonbrook Islanders Working Against Violence (IWAV) project. 

“In addition to Croftonbrook, projects including Murakami Gardens, Salt Spring Commons, the Cedars and BC Housing’s Drake Road supported housing facility are examples of [such] success,” he said. 

In the new proposal, the CRD intends to increase its borrowing authority through the Land Assembly, Housing and Land Banking service to $85 million to support potential partnership opportunities to increase the supply of affordable, inclusive and adequate housing in the region. The current requisition capacity — as set by the service’s bylaw — is already fully committed to affordable housing projects under development.

“We need to be nimble, we need to be determined and we need to signal a willingness to invest in solutions,” said CRD board chair Colin Plant, “so we can quickly take advantage of new housing opportunities and provincial or federal government programs that will allow us to secure more units for those in need in this region.” 

CRD staff said they are exploring a range of partnerships related to “acquiring and preserving existing affordable housing, acquiring lands on or near transit corridors, acquiring and/or advancing affordable housing projects, and looking into longer-term partnership opportunities with other orders of government.” 

Staff will be conducting the AAP in the coming weeks. If the counter petition “fails,” investment could begin as early as 2024. Holman said specifics on the taxpayers’ burden would be finalized as part of the AAP, but preliminary estimates he’d been shown by CRD staff indicated an average-value property on Salt Spring would incur less than $2.50 per month in borrowing cost.  

“So I hope voters will support this affordable housing initiative,” said Holman, “by not signing the petition.” 

Students explore business ideas at market fair

Gail Sjuberg
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Students explore business ideas at market fair

Salt Spring Elementary (SSE) School’s gymnasium was a hotbed of entrepreneurial energy last Thursday as grades 5 and 6 students held their first Junior Market Fair. 

I had planned to drop by to take a few photos for the paper, but I also ended up with an armload of charming, well-made and useful goods after visiting scarcely a dozen tables. Crocheted coasters, a hand-sewn heart pillow, polar bear decoration, Joyful Jellies shower soap, a fir bark tea-light holder, photo cards, a pet rock and a hair scrunchy quickly scooped the cash out of my wallet. 

Students had made eye-catching business logos and signs and put serious thought into their displays. Maya of Joyful Jellies had a bowl of water and washcloth available for trying out her product. Jaxon’s Pet Rocks table offered an option for people to decorate their own rocks if one of the pre-made varieties didn’t appeal.  

The fair idea was instigated by SSE Grade 5 teacher Tanya Grant. In May of 2021, Grant was visiting a girlfriend in Courtenay, whose daughter was preparing for her class’s “business fair” at the time. 

“I learned about her daughter’s process and followed up to hear about her experience after the fair was complete,” said Grant. “I knew I wanted to try something like this.”

Grant and fellow teacher Valeskca San Martin, who teaches Grade 6 French Immersion students at SSE, started planning for last week’s event during the 2021-22 school year.

The two teachers worked with their classes on the project for approximately six weeks this spring, “taking them through a business planning process from the idea stage, to materials required, cost of materials, production costs, cost of individual goods sold, price determination, business name, logo, slogan, marketing, store planning, salesmanship, and financial recording and reporting,” explained Grant. “All aspects of business planning and development were completed at school, except all the products were manufactured at home.” 

Grant said every student made a profit, ranging from $45 to more than $200, after paying their expenses. Some sold all of the products they had made and brought to the fair.

San Martin was also pleased with the process and how the fair turned out. 

“This was a wonderful opportunity to encourage young entrepreneurs to learn about developing, pricing, marketing and selling a product of their own design,” she said.

“One aspect that was different for me, as a French Immersion teacher, was ensuring that both official languages were equally represented by my Grade 6 students. As a result, their signage, labels and sales pitches were available in both French and English.” 

She said the students will now evaluate their experience to determine what went well and what they might do differently next time. 

Hopefully the fair will take place again next year, and I will remember to bring more cash and a shopping bag or two. Or maybe a young entrepreneur will have made some bags for customers to buy and fill.

Water quality reports mandated

Robb Magley
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Water quality reports mandated

A refocused effort targeting disinfection byproducts has Island Health officials and staff at Salt Spring’s largest water district working to gather information and take action to ensure safer drinking water. 

Trihalomethanes (THMs), such as chloroform and bromodichloromethane, are among the common byproducts of disinfection. They occur when organic matter already in lake water reacts with the chlorine added to disinfect it. THMs have also been linked to colorectal cancers, according to Health Canada; since most drinking water treatment plants in the country use some form of chlorine to disinfect drinking water, that agency has set guidelines for THMs: a maximum acceptable concentration of 100 micrograms per litre.  

While federal regulators note the health risks of THMs are far less than those from consuming water that has not been disinfected, they direct utilities — including the North Salt Springs Waterworks District (NSSWD) — to make every effort to keep THMs and other byproducts at the lowest levels possible, so long as they do so without compromising the effectiveness of disinfection. 

“This has been happening since the dawn of time, since we started to chlorinate the system,” said NSSWD operations manager Ryan Moray at the district’s May 25 board meeting. “It’s something that is being tracked more and more now by Island Health, [so] we’re working with them to meet all the limits that we’re required to.” 

The recent action seems to stem from reinvigorated efforts by Island Health to encourage the district to monitor THMs more closely — indeed, the requirement to complete the new Maxwell Lake Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) treatment plant by 2025 stems from an effort to remove much of the organic matter that reacts to create THMs before it encounters the chlorine. Water from St. Mary Lake is currently treated through a DAF system prior to chlorination.  

The urgency also comes after a routine inspection of the Lake Maxwell water system earlier this year. That inspection in February found written records of operations and maintenance — including manual measurements of chlorine residuals at the chlorination plant and throughout Ganges — and reported that treated water samples were tested for bacteria, cyanobacterial blooms and disinfection byproducts regularly with “satisfactory” results. However, Island Health indicated it wanted more fulsome reporting specific to THMs. 

The last Annual Drinking Water Report was completed in 2018. According to Island Health, legislation requires that to be done annually, and told NSSWD the next one was due by June 30. Part of the collaborative plan going forward, Moray said, included enhanced flushing on the Maxwell system, as well as increased data gathering — and sharing with the public. 

NSSWD has been asked to trend the THM levels for the prior years, then provide reporting in collaboration with Island Health every year until the new water treatment plant is completed in 2025, said Moray, adding that the district and Island Health would collaborate on a memorandum that would be distributed to customers. 

In the last annual water quality report in 2018, the Maxwell Lake system was noted to present at a THM concentration of 135.13 ug/L, averaged across samples from multiple locations collected quarterly. That report also noted 81.3 per cent of THM samples at Maxwell were above the guideline 100 of ug/L.  

For more information on the Maxwell Lake DAF project and water quality monitoring, visit northsaltspringwaterworks.ca. 

Editorial: Sparking Action

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Sparking Action

If there’s such a thing as a warning shot across the bow for wildfire season, the recent grass fire down Beddis Road must certainly qualify. 

Although neighbours smelled smoke in time to alert firefighters — itself no small miracle, given how well we could smell the multiple blazes already in progress on Vancouver Island — any fire that literally hid underground for days should give islanders something to think about. And when coupled with the fact that there hasn’t been a drop of moisture since, it comes as little surprise that Salt Spring’s fire danger level shifted to “extreme” on Monday. 

We’re not alone. On all the Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island, the mainland and indeed across the country, Natural Resources Canada is projecting a higher-than-normal level of fire activity this summer — a broad stroke of “well-above-average-red” all the way from from British Columbia into western Québec. During July, according to the models, severe wildfire potential will likely expand into the Yukon.  

Salt Spring Assistant Fire Chief Mitchell Sherrin said a lot of islanders think fire officials just “spin a dial and decide how bad it is,” not realizing how complex — and how often imitated — Canada’s fire weather projecting actually is. Predictions come from various agencies — including the Canadian Seasonal to Inter-annual Prediction System (CanSIPS), itself a powerhouse of data and 3-D modelling — feeding in atmospheric and oceanic variables from temperature and wind to sea ice and soil moisture to create a forecast. 

Sherrin said Canada’s system has been copied by other countries because of how accurately it predicts the likelihood of fire ignition, and the speed that fire might spread. We could also, with some care, be examples to the world of how to successfully navigate a dangerous fire season. 

Apart from avoiding carelessness, information is key. A webinar on Salt Spring Island’s Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan is still available on the CRDVictoria YouTube channel; the plan itself and a wealth of other fire safety information is available at crd.bc.ca/ssi-emergency. And of course Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue has FireSmart and current fire conditions information on its website, saltspringfire.com. 

And until we get the rain, let’s mind every spark and ember. 

Bach on the Rock ready for a busy weekend

Gail Sjuberg
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Bach on the Rock ready for a busy weekend

Fans of music from baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary eras have two concert events to enjoy on Salt Spring this weekend. 

On Saturday, June 10, Bach on the Rock (BOTR) chamber orchestra and choir will return to its namesake roots with a largely Bach repertoire for its final concert of the season. BOTR artistic director Jean-Sébastien Lévesque has put together a program of three contrasting J.S. Bach pieces for a concert called Bach to the Future, as well as a commissioned piece, set for Fulford Hall on Saturday, June 10 at 7 p.m.

Then on Sunday, June 11 at 3 p.m. at All Saints by-the-Sea, Lévesque and two colleagues — violinist Victor Fournelle-Blain from Montreal and Salt Spring horn player Margaret Fisher — will team up to present a recital of two works: Camille Saint Saëns’ Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor and Johannes Brahms’ Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano in E-flat major. This event is a fundraiser for the BOTR Music Society. 

Saturday’s concert includes Christ lag in Todes Banden, one of the earliest cantatas written by Bach for Easter and using the text of a hymn by Martin Luther. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major will feature BOTR musicians in a multi-movement work with uplifting French-style dances. The third Bach piece in the concert is the Violin Concerto in A minor, with soloist Fournelle-Blain. Lévesque said the concerto will be familiar to many.

When programming his first season as artistic director of BOTR, Lévesque wanted to support a young composer in creating a piece especially for his chamber choir and orchestra. He said Britney Do — a graduate of the Vancouver Academy of Music composition program who has trained in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestral Institute and plays violin with VSO School of Music ensembles — came highly recommended. Do’s piece called Prey to AI will premiere at the June 10 concert. 

As artificial intelligence is a huge topic in society these days, “It’s a work that fits in with this moment,” said Lévesque.

Fournelle-Blain and Lévesque have played together on a number of occasions. At the Sunday afternoon fundraiser at All Saints they will perform Saint Saëns’ Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor, a work known for its technical difficulty. San Francisco Symphony program writer Scott Foglesong described it as “a dazzling showcase for both instruments.”

Fournelle-Blain has played with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, where he held the position of principal viola. He is currently part of the McGill University faculty. 

Fisher will join them for the beautiful Brahms trio. She was an active performer in several orchestras and chamber groups in Alberta before moving to Salt Spring Island, and now plays in concerts with the Vancouver Island Symphony, the Victoria Symphony, the Civic Orchestra of Victoria, the Sooke Orchestra and Bach on the Rock.

Along with leading ensembles in Québec and being the pianist for Les Voix de le Montagne before moving to Vancouver in 2020, Lévesque has played piano with well-known musicians and singers, developing a broad repertoire along the way. He was mentored by Jean Saulnier in achieving his master’s of music degree from the Université de Montréal, and participated in master classes with pianists and teachers such as Jean-Philippe Collard, Jacques Rouvier, Louis Lortie, John Perry and Marc Durand. Lévesque has been director of Bach on the Rock’s chamber orchestra and choir since the fall of 2022, developing a unique musical community and leading the group in presenting impactful concerts.

Tickets for both concerts ($25 for adults, $5 for youth) are available on the bachontherock.com website or at the door.

FLETCHER, Elizabeth Ann nee Atkinson

Driftwood Obituary
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FLETCHER, Elizabeth Ann nee Atkinson

Elizabeth Ann Fletcher nee Atkinson
December 24, 1936 ~ April 30, 2023

Nurture and nature united generously in Elizabeth, born in Vancouver BC on Christmas Eve to Jean and Lyle Atkinson. From go, Elizabeth engaged with the world from their loving home on Marguerite Street that valued curiosity, learning, and integrity. Early formative years seeded lifelong interests in travel, gardening, cooking, sewing, and hobnobbing. Her childhood dreams of becoming a teacher and mother were manifested with great success.

As a thriving youth with an outgoing nature and tight friend group, highlights were playing tennis, ballet lessons on the Hotel Vancouver rooftop, and interviewing Johnny Mathis for the school paper. After graduating from Magee High School (1954) and UBC Education-Elementary (1958), Elizabeth went on her first grand adventure aboard a steamship from Montreal to France, touring the UK and Western Europe with a girlfriend.

In summer 1960, she said “I do” to Richard Fletcher and made a home at 3819 Marine Drive to raise two young children in a tumultuous life filled with Julia Child-inspired dinner parties and European sports cars with her ambitious stock broker husband. Dissolution of the marriage in 1978 was a devastating blow for Elizabeth both emotionally and financially. With trademark stoic determination and loving parental support she forged a new life at 4049 West 39th, becoming a beloved teacher and remarkable single mother.

Elizabeth was a lively, generous, and brave woman with endless sartorial style. Her classrooms were always vibrant and enlivening places of exploration. She championed field trips, cooking classes, and school gardens; co-authored a guide to incorporating gardening into all subjects, Turning the Earth, that is in curriculums worldwide. Never happy doing “boom all”, she pursued passions in the outdoors, music, reading, fashion, and volunteering. Her enthusiastic energy inspired many and a splash of mischievous wit often accompanied her warm ever-present smile. 

Elizabeth particularly came alive on the travels that fuelled her curiosity and spark, just as reading did. Brighton teacher’s exchange. Lunenburg walks. Chesterman Beach sunsets. London theatre. Venetian gelato. Cuban organoponicos. National Trust gardens. Indian Wells match points. Pacific Northwest tidal pools. Parisian boutiques. NYC recitals. Scottish muirs. Golden Gate sights. Thai banana roti. Oaxacan markets. Victoria bookstores. Countless treasured moments created impressions (and usually a photo) for her and her posse of steady travel companions.

Upon retirement she transplanted her life (along with many plants) into her dream home at 105 Village Terrace on Salt Spring Island, with its heritage orchard, natural architecture, and beautiful outlook, to be with her partner Ron. An active member of Salt Spring’s Gardening Club and Basketry Guild, her Reddy apples and wickerworks were Fall Fair prize winners. Village Terrace was a welcoming destination for friends and jumping off point for travels afar. In 2017, declining health brought her back to Vancouver, settling at South Granville Park Lodge nearby Wendy, her closest companion.

Elizabeth passed peacefully at home in Vancouver, cheek-to-cheek with Wendy, holding Chris’ hand, and sitting alongside Wade. Her final breath was a radiant starburst of love and in the silence of her absence that radiance lives on. Her legacy will be honoured by her children Christopher and Wendy, son-in-law Wade Thomas, and by grandchildren Ignatius Torgerson, Ella Jean Fletcher, Louis Fletcher, and Charlotte Fletcher, and by those fortunate to share the path with her.
~ Thank you so much for being you, Mum.

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