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Graveyards and Gardens explores nature of memory

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Graveyards and Gardens explores nature of memory

By KIRSTEN BOLTON

FOR ARTSPRING

Highlighted by Stir digital magazine as one of the most stand-out Vancouver theatre moments in 2021, Graveyards and Gardens is the collaborative performance installation conceived, created and performed by Pulitzer Prize-winning musician and composer Caroline Shaw and award-winning choreographer and contemporary dance artist Vanessa Goodman. The performance comes to ArtSpring on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. and includes a post-show “talk-back.”

Part dance, part concert, part analog, part digital, the experience has been heralded as “mesmerizing” and “highly innovative.” Unlike 2021 audiences who had to stream it online due to the pandemic, Salt Springers will greatly benefit from taking in this memorable, experimental performance live and in person.

“Memorable” is a fitting description. The work examines, as its theme, exactly that — memory. The duo’s creative conceit is that memory is a process of reconstruction rather than an exact recall of fixed events, and when we remember and recall, we are embracing the various elaborations, distortions and omissions that get laid down and repeated.

From a stage minimally dressed with its loops of orange sound cable, vintage record and cassette players, thrift-store lamps and green houseplants, Goodman commands as the sole dancer. The lines between dance and music start to dissolve as muscle memory of the body is echoed by loops of music, voice, samples of old recordings replayed, technological filters, static and distortions, all layered into a dazzling composition that evokes how our brains and bodies remember.

Shaw is a New York-based musician — vocalist, violinist, composer and producer — who performs in solo and collaborative projects. She is the youngest-ever recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, which she was awarded in 2013. Shaw has studied at Rice, Yale and Princeton, currently teaches at NYU, and is a creative associate at the Juilliard School.

Goodman is an SFU alumni and currently the artistic director of Action at a Distance Dance Society. She has received several awards and honours, including The Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award, The Schultz Endowment from Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and the Space to Fail program in New Zealand, Australia and Vancouver. 

Shaw and Goodman will also lead a workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at ArtSpring at 5 p.m. It will explore the collaboration between sound and movement and work with themes of repetition, decomposition and regeneration. The $20 session is limited to 25 people. Register through ArtSpring.

Guest column: Magnitude of Salt Spring housing crisis and future needs quantified

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Guest column: Magnitude of Salt Spring housing crisis and future needs quantified

BY ERIC BOOTH

We all know Salt Spring has a housing crisis. However, few amongst us appear to understand the magnitude or complexity of the crisis.

The 2021 Census stated there are 6,340 people on the island receiving employment income, which is about half of our total existing population.

If we estimate two employees live in each dwelling, about 3,000 homes on Salt Spring are now occupied by employees.

Currently, the lowest-priced home for sale on the island is $639,000. To qualify, with a 25 per cent down payment ($159,750), a family income of $141,500 is required . . . far beyond the reach of average family income. The median house price is $985,000, and the average home price is $1,300,000. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that Salt Spring real estate has already outpaced the ability of the average employee to own.

Meanwhile the number of rental homes continues to decline, due to new owners purchasing and moving to the island. Investors, who bought rental homes years ago, are taking advantage of the current increased values and are selling to new owners who plan on living here, and, more importantly, have no plans to rent their new purchase. At the same time, rental rates continue to rise.

Adding to the crisis is the baby boomer retirement bubble. The average number of years someone works can be generalized as 50 years (15-65). As each island employee retires, a new employee must take their place. The average employee lives for 15 years after retirement and continues to occupy their home. Thus, every time someone retires, a new home is required for the replacement employee. 

Thus, the oft referred to 200 affordable housing units, currently in various stages of planning, will not even cover the projected loss of rental units by the time those units become available. We aren’t winning, or even keeping even. We are falling behind each year.

Given the above facts, we can approximate the total “workforce housing units” (WHU’s) we need going into the future as being 3,000.

The assumptions are:

(a) currently virtually no employee can afford to buy a home now, at today’s prices.

(b) as retirees die, their homes will be bought by people “from away” who are wealthy enough to buy.

(c) as a result of (b) the number of homes occupied by existing employees (who own their own homes) and retirees (who own their own homes) will continue to decline eventually to zero.

(d) if a current employee (who owns their own home) decides to relocate, their home will not be bought by an employee because of (a).

Thus, as we move into the future, ALL properties on the island will eventually be occupied/owned by non-employees, the residents who depend upon employees for all of the services we currently enjoy/require.

Assuming 3,000 WHU’s are needed, long term, to house our existing workforce, we can assume another 30 per cent will be needed to house retiring employees (15 years/50 years = 30 per cent). 3,000 x 1.3 = 3,900 dwellings.

What does this mean with respect to our future population on the island? Currently it’s estimated there will be about 8,000 market homes on the island. Using a density of 2.0 people per dwelling = 16,000 population. However, there are some potential offsets, such as the trend towards summer occupancy vs all year round occupancy and, any market properties that will be acquired for WHU’s.

Adding another 3,900 WHU’s with 2.0 people per dwelling in them totals an estimated future population of about 24,000. While anyone can argue with some of the above assumptions, the magnitude of the housing crisis is crystal clear.

The next step is looking at the challenges we face as we move towards solving the crisis, assuming of course our community actually wants to solve it, as opposed to giving it just “lip service.”

Stay tuned for Part Two – “Where WHU’s – Up or Out?”

P.S. I realize the above will create numerous questions. I have set up an interactive Facebook Group to respond to any questions you may have. Search for “Salt Spring Workforce Housing.”

The writer is a long-time Salt Spring resident and island realtor. The above is the first in a column series by Eric Booth about the housing crisis.  

Film festival gala feature: Still Working 9 to 5

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Film festival gala feature: Still Working 9 to 5

By STEVE MARTINDALE

Salt Spring Film Festival Society 

Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton headline the invigorating opening night film of the Salt Spring Film Festival, Still Working 9 to 5, at Gulf Islands Secondary School on March 3.

These legendary screen icons revisit their 1980 hit comedy 9 to 5 to shine a light on how much — and, unfortunately, how little — has changed for women in the workplace over the past 43 years.

Released in 1980 alongside Dolly Parton’s catchy theme song, 9 to 5 became one of the highest-grossing films of the year, shattering the long-held belief that only men could headline a financially successful buddy comedy. Mixed in with plenty of belly laughs and screwball antics, the film delivered a serious message that the indignities and inequalities facing working women were really no joke.

Directed by award-winning filmmakers Camille Hardman and Gary Lane, Still Working 9 to 5 examines the correlation between the cultural inflection point of the original film and the subsequent evolution of women’s rights, tracing the history of the Equal Rights Amendment, the gender pay gap and changing attitudes towards sexual harassment, from Anita Hill to the #MeToo movement. 

Featuring interviews with Dabney Coleman, Rita Moreno and Allison Janney, this empowering and unapologetically feminist crowd-pleaser was named Best Domestic Feature by the jury of the American Documentary Film Festival and Film Fund and won the Audience Choice Award at the Nashville Film Festival.

Returning to Gulf Islands Secondary School for the first time in three years, the film festival weekend features over 40 documentaries from around the world, many of them presented by the filmmakers themselves. Full festival passes are available for advance purchase via the ArtSpring box office.

The festival’s Best of the Fests series concludes tonight (Feb. 8) with the screening of The Grizzlie Truth, the wildly entertaining documentary in which basketball superfan Kat Jayme tries to get to the bottom of why the Vancouver Grizzlies departed for Memphis in 2001. Don’t miss this one-night-only screening at ArtSpring, with filmmaker Kat Jayme in attendance. Tickets are available through ArtSpring.

MARTIN, Marjorie D.

Driftwood Obituary
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MARTIN, Marjorie D.

April 16, 1923-January 21, 2023.

Born and raised in North Vancouver, Marjorie finished school at Grade 11 and went to work in the Vancouver shipyard as a file clerk. She took evening classes at the Vancouver Art College to develop her creative skills.

She married Thomas Martin in 1948 and they moved to Calgary where they resided for 30 years and raised their three children.

On retiring, Tom and Marjorie built a home on Salt Spring Island on land her father had purchased in the 1940s.

Marjorie loved her garden, sewing, knitting and volunteering in many capacities.

She had a deep faith and was active in her All Saints by-the-Sea community.

Marjorie moved to Rose Manor in Victoria in 2020 to be close to son Lindsay, and slowly declined over the past three years.

Husband Tom died in 1986, so Marjorie was a widow for 37 years and one day. She was also predeceased by her granddaughter Caihla in 2005 and son Tom in 2019.

She is survived by daughter Paula and husband Laurie Anderson, grandsons Aidan and Rhys and four great grandchildren all of Grande Prairie, AB.; son Lindsay Martin and daughter-in-law Somjit Napua of Victoria, BC; nieces and nephews.

She died peacefully at Royal Jubilee Hospital with her children, niece Colleen, and rector Gyllian Davies by her side. Many thanks to Dr. Maskey for her care and understanding.

Memorial service has already taken place and we thank all who helped pull together a lovely tribute on such short notice.

Our wonderful mother lived a full and happy 99 years. What an example she set of a life lived with kindness, generosity, curiosity, humility and humanity. Thanks for everything! Fly on!

PIDGEON, Michael William

Driftwood Obituary
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PIDGEON, Michael William


April 19, 1945 – January 30, 2023.


On January 30, 2023, after a recent series of illnesses, Michael William Pidgeon died unexpectedly at home on Salt Spring Island with his partner and spouse, Richard, at his side.
Michael was born April 19, 1945, in Rochford, Essex, England, the only child to his parents, Fredrick and Doris Pidgeon. Two years later his parents decided to come out to Canada. With toddler Michael in tow, they travelled by sea and then by train to the west coast and settled in White Rock, BC until moving to Vancouver Island where Deep Cove would eventually become their permanent home.
Michael attended school near his home and graduated from Sidney High School. He was among the rst students entering the new University of Victoria where he studied English and continued with a master’s degree in linguistics. His thesis dealt with the survival and preservation of First Nation languages on the Saanich Peninsula.
His teaching career took him to the University of the West Indies, Barbados for well over a decade before returning to Canada. He taught at Vancouver Community College’s programs of English as a Second Language to students and teachers being prepared to teach that subject. He became a respected educator and valued friend to both colleagues and former students but elected to take one of the early retirement packages o ered by the government as downsizing began at VCC.
His passions were the English language, literature, music, theatre, and art. In 2017, he could move to Salt Spring (a place he had spent summer holidays as a youngster with his parents), join Richard and purchase a home. He engaged in cultural life through Artspring and was a patron of the Vetta Chamber Music Society for many years in Vancouver and Salt Spring. He thrived in the cultural atmosphere of this island.
He is remembered as generous and open-hearted, a lifelong learner always ready to experience something new, an engaging conversationalist, a faithful friend, a caring spouse, and a committed Anglican Christian. He is missed so much. As was once pointed out, after all, an important part of life is just walking one another home.

THOM, Minnie

Driftwood Obituary
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THOM, Minnie

Born in Leith, Scotland, on November 26, 1923, Minnie Jane Berry Thom (née Murphy) passed away on Salt Spring Island on January 30, 2023, at the age of 99. Minnie will be forever loved and remembered by her sister Janet Reynolds; daughter Lesley Reynolds (Victor); son Andrew (Debbie Nowell); granddaughter Camille Underwood (Leon); sister-in-law Moira Thom and her nieces and nephews. Minnie was predeceased by her husband Ian in 2013 and brother Peter in 1944.

Minnie spent her early years in Leith and Edinburgh. Among her most cherished memories of her youth were excursions with her friends, especially a hiking holiday on the Isle of Skye. During the Second World War, she worked in a laboratory testing metals for wartime manufacturing.

While studying at Heriot-Watt College in Edinburgh after the war she met Ian Thom, a young medical student. Ian always loved talking about the first time he saw her, running down the steps at the college with a radiant smile on her face. He immediately knew that she was the girl for him. They married in 1952 and were inseparable for the next 60 years. Minnie and Ian lived in Birmingham and Watford, England, before moving with their young family to Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1962. They spent 27 years in Regina, where Minnie cared for her home and family and Ian was a respected family doctor. They retired to Salt Spring Island in 1989, building their dream home and making many dear friends.

After Ian passed away, Minnie spent several enjoyable years at Heritage Place. Well into her nineties she loved to walk down the hill from Heritage Place to the Country Grocer café and enjoy a friendly visit with those she encountered there. She moved into Greenwoods in 2019.

Minnie loved her family and friends with all her heart. She was the consummate homemaker and caregiver, an excellent cook and a talented seamstress. She always had a smile on her face and a song on her lips. She loved reading, travelling with Ian, working in her garden, shopping for bargains with her best friend, and a good cup of tea. Her sunny, kind nature endeared her to all who met her, and she was always ready to see the best in people and embrace the positive side of life.

Minnie’s family are grateful to all who brought joy to her life over the last few years, notably her dear friend Nirmal Dryden, Sandi and the staff at Heritage Place, and the amazing, compassionate staff at Greenwoods, who cared for her with love, respect and understanding. We also thank Dr. Ron Reznick for caring for her for over 30 years.

A celebration of Minnie’s life will be held at 181 Fort Street, Salt Spring Island, on February 25 at 2 p.m. Friends are invited to join her family to share their favourite memories of Minnie over a cup of tea or a glass of her favourite sherry. Should you wish to make a memorial donation in honour of Minnie, please consider the Greenwoods Foundation.

Firefighters douse dry cleaner building fire 

Driftwood Staff
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Firefighters douse dry cleaner building fire 

Teamwork and a quick response helped keep an overnight fire from spreading, according to officials, as Salt Spring’s only dry cleaning business faced extensive damage. 

The call for firefighters at Salt Spring Linen & Dry Cleaners on Hereford Avenue came just after 1 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7. The first crews on-scene found heavy smoke and fire in the loading bay, extending up to the second floor of the structure. Fire Chief Jamie Holmes said those first responders worked from outside the building to slow the spread until Tender 1 and Engine 3 arrived. 

“The crews did an amazing job,” said Holmes. “The on-duty firefighters got here quickly, started an action plan and bought time for the paid-on-call (POC) firefighters to arrive and complete the job. It was a great team effort.” 

Once they arrived, those POC firefighters moved to the interior to fully extinguish the fire and search the building, said Holmes, as well as salvage items that could be saved. In total, 13 firefighters and six apparatus responded to the fire call, and over six hours used 3,700 gallons of water. Crews from BC Hydro were on-scene to assist, as well as police and ambulance. 

Holmes said people should stay clear of the scene for the time being to give the business owners “some time and space” before asking about any personal items that might have been in the building.  

The fire is currently under investigation, he added, but so far investigators have not found anything suspicious.  

For an update on this story, see the Feb. 15 issue of the Driftwood newspaper.

Salt Spring firefighters attack a fire at Salt Spring Linen and Drycleaners on Hereford Avenue in the wee hours of Tuesday, Feb. 7. (SSIFR photo)

Resilient Gardens for a Changing Climate offered via Zoom Feb. 12

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Resilient Gardens for a Changing Climate offered via Zoom Feb. 12

By ANDREA PALFRAMAN

Transition salt spring

Atmospheric rivers. Heat waves. Drought. These are the conditions we’ve been warned are a “new normal” in an era of climate change. 

Gone are the days when a consult of the Farmer’s Almanac could pair with your years-long experience to support the perfect garden plan. Nowadays, the idea of “perfection” is being replaced by the goal of “resiliency.” If that resonates with your own process of maturation and aging, well: consider yourself having taken the first step in the resilient gardener’s path. 

Islanders are very fortunate to have Linda Gilkeson, Ph.D., as a community resource. A renowned author, entomologist and master gardening consultant, Gilkeson is helping to provide guidance to move through the challenges that climate disruptions pose to our coastal ecosystems and ability to grow food. Her career in organic pest control offers a good grounding in adaptive systems. She has been helping gardeners and farmers meet the challenges of increasing local food security while enhancing landscapes that are ecologically suitable to the weather extremes we are already experiencing.

Join Transition Salt Spring and Gilkeson on Sunday, Feb. 12 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. and learn how to garden (and landscape) in the face of increasing climate changes.

In this online webinar, participants will learn how extreme weather affects plants — including trees — and how to design resilient food and ornamental gardens that can survive changing weather patterns. 

Of course, cultivating resilience is a team sport. Working together — by sharing land, labour and knowledge — is key to fostering a strong food network for our communities. 

The Echo Valley Farm group offers a beautiful example of how collectivizing food production can create not only healthy systems but healthy human cultures. 

Robert Birch, who has been farming together with his neighbours on their patch of south-end ground since the project’s inception, thinks of the Echo Valley Farm as a social experiment in neighbourhood connection. The project really gained momentum during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a way to counter isolation and, at the same time, boost the community’s immune system. 

One of four gay men — all survivors of the AIDS years — who founded the project, Birch says, “This wasn’t our first pandemic. We already knew community mobilization is the single most effective response, the necessary partner to biomedical interventions. This mutual care and interest gives respite to trauma-based reactions by providing two hours a week of hands-in-the-earth relief from having to deal with a world seemingly coming undone.”

After years of working the soil together, the Echo Valley group have a new nickname for what they do Sunday mornings in a small valley, under the sun. They call it “Dirt Church.”

“We’re healthier because of each other’s willingness to overcome our fears. Kind-hearted enough, resourced enough (for now) to take responsibility and care for ourselves, together,” Birch adds. 

Just as a seed contains a universe within it, so too do each of our individual gardens hold the potential to incubate community. Gilkeson’s Feb. 12 workshop is a chance to connect with people who want to proactively participate in a response to climate change that transforms grief into a practical process of repair. 

Click here to enrol.

For seasonal guidance and practical, month-to-month gardening guidance, join Gilkeson’s monthly mailing list at http://lindagilkeson.com.

Island woman injured in car crash

Gail Sjuberg
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Island woman injured in car crash

A well-known community member is in good spirits but suffering from a number of injuries following a car accident on Stewart Road last Tuesday afternoon.

Kathleen Horsdal was still in the Victoria trauma unit on Wednesday, but has been deemed stable and is cleared for transfer to Lady Minto Hospital this week, hopefully on Thursday morning.

Horsdal said she lost control of her vehicle after trying to avoid hitting two deer on the road just before 3 p.m. on Jan. 24.

She said she was grateful to all the first responders, and especially those who carried her up the 20-foot embankment on a spine board. Her passenger was taken to Lady Minto Hospital in a separate ambulance but was thankfully not injured.

Horsdal said some people assumed she had been transported to hospital via air ambulance as a helicopter landed in a nearby field, but the pilot was passing by and decided to stop to see if assistance was needed, she explained.

Horsdal said the pain has been “excruciating.” She suffered three fractured vertebrae in her lower back, cracked ribs on both sides, a fractured scapula on the left side “that took the brunt of the final impact of a tree,” a bruised elbow and funny bone, and a minor concussion. She also has a number of stitches and a broken wrist, but was pleased to have a purple cast. She told the Driftwood that she is so far unable to walk, but was able to sit up in a wheelchair on Wednesday, although it was painful to do so.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with immediate costs and cover the bills since Horsdal is the primary family breadwinner through her employment as a Gulf Islands Families Together Society caregiver. Her musician husband Valdy has few gigs at this time of year and is now focused on helping her heal, she said. People can access the fundraiser here.

Horsdal is also well known for her decades of volunteer work with Salt Spring Hospice.

MLA Column: Increasing transparency with The Public Circle

Gail Sjuberg
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MLA Column: Increasing transparency with The Public Circle

By ADAM OLSEN

Green Party MLA, Saanich North and the Islands

Over the last few months, I have written and spoken a lot about the erosion of our democracy because of a lack of respect by our provincial government for established and time-tested legislative processes.

Among other offences, they have manipulated the parliamentary calendar for their own partisan purposes, time limited and closed debate on complex legislation before public scrutiny is complete and limited the media access unnecessarily.

When the government undermines itself by turning our legislative assembly into performance theatre, a farce, the consequence is the erosion of public confidence in the institution. Unfortunately, it creates the ideal conditions for conspiracies to grow.

When I was first elected in 2017, I reached out to Peter MacLeod from Mass LBP because I was curious about his “Constituency Project.” As part of his graduate studies, he travelled the country visiting constituency offices to see how they were advocating for and engaging the public.

Peter’s advice led to me creating “The Public Circle.” It is a fancy name for the proactive public outreach work of the Saanich North and the Islands Community Office.

In addition to the advocacy service that my small team do on behalf of citizens living in our riding, I’ve experimented with a variety to tactics to increase consultation and engagement to become a more accessible, transparent and informed elected representative.

I’ve used live video on Facebook, recorded and published podcast discussions with constituents, hosted community issue-focused community dialogues, town hall style community meetings, and opened the office boardroom (with video conferencing) to community groups to use for free. All under The Public Circle initiative.

As with everything, COVID-19 forced us to re-think some of the tactics we used and was the impetus behind new ones such as the Southern Gulf Islands Forum, a monthly and bi-annual gathering of elected officials in the riding focused on collaborating on multi-jurisdictional issues.

I am excited to reinvigorate The Public Circle with another round of community meetings in March. On the Southern Gulf Islands, I will be joined by CRD (Capital Regional District) electoral area directors Paul Brent (Southern Gulf Islands) and Gary Holman (Salt Spring Island).

We are confirming the schedule, but for now I hope you will save the date for the meeting in your community and join us in discussion about provincial and regional issues.

In addition, we will be ramping up other community engagement events. If you have a topic that you think I should host a community dialogue on, please contact me at Adam.Olsen.MLA@leg.bc.ca to share your ideas.

—

The Public Circle Community Meeting  

SAVE THE DATE

Salt Spring Island

Date: Friday, March 17, 2023

Time: 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Event Location: Fulford Hall

Visit: https://saanichnorthandtheislands.com/events for more information

Email: Adam.Olsen.MLA@leg.bc.ca

Call: 250-655-5600

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