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O’NEILL, Patricia (nee Terry)

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O’NEILL, Patricia (nee Terry)

Patricia O’Neill (nee Terry)
1936-2022

After squeezing what seemed like 3 lifetimes into 1, our Mother passed into the arms of the angels at the age of 85. Mother of 6, Grandmother of 10, Great Grandmother of 11 and Great Great Grandmother of 4, sister to Bill, Mike, Lynne and Peter. Our Mother was devoted to her family, her political family and to improving the communities in which she lived. The last 27 years spent on Salt Spring Island, after moving here from Ontario, where some of the happiest years of her life.

Immigrating to Canada from England with 2 very young children at the age of 21 already tells you what kind of courageous personality our Mother possessed. For almost 40 years she worked tirelessly in the area of North York in Toronto. She held elected positions and sat on some 50 different committees with the objective of changing the lives of the people living in North York, which included the notorious neighbourhood of Jane and Finch. Our Mother was the recipient of the Governor General award for Outstanding Achievement For Voluntaryism and The Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation.

After moving to Salt Spring Island in 1995 our Mother helped to set up the Salt Spring community Kitchen and Community Justice of SSI under the co-sponsorship of the SSI Community Services Society the RCMP and the SSI Crime Prevention Association. Training others in how to teach Conflict Mediation in SSI schools was also a project that she particularly cherished. She campaigned enthusiastically for her political family at every federal and provincial event. She was the proud owner of many ribbons from entries at the Fall Fair. Our Mother also held, at various times, all the position on the Ladies Auxiliary Executive and never missed participating in Legion events.

We are beyond proud of who our Mother was and her example of community participation has inspired all generations of our family. For anyone who would like to pay their respects, there will be a celebration of life held at 173 Howell Lane Salt Spring Island at 4:00pm on Saturday August 27th.

HATFIELD, Chris

Driftwood Obituary
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HATFIELD, Chris

Chris Hatfield
1945 ~ 2022

On Monday, July 4 2022, Chris Hatfield passed away at Lady Minto Hospital, hands in hand with his close family.

Chris was born on February 5, 1945 in the small town of Penticton, British Columbia. Third of 4 children, including Peter, John and Alyson Hatfield, Chris grew up happily fishing, hunting, and camping in the great outdoors with his father Harley.

In 1964 at the tender age of 19, Chris left home for a year’s backpacking trip around the world. Chris travelled Australia, Malaysia, Cambodia, India, Afghanistan, Austria and more, and came home with eyes opened to the possibilities of the emerging global economy.

Chris returned to Canada and completed his BSc in Biology at the University of British Columbia, and followed up with a Master’s Degree in Marine Biology from Queen’s University, where he studied fish learning while filling his weekends with ski trips in Quebec.

After graduation Chris worked for the Department of Fisheries before starting Hatfield Consultants in 1974, one of the first companies in Canada in the emerging field of environmental consulting. Over 25 years Hatfield Consulting became an enormously successful enterprise in Canada and abroad, supporting sound environmental practices in Canadian industry, and eventually expanding with global partner offices in Chile, Thailand and Indonesia.

Chris’s vision brought Hatfield to Vietnam in 1992, where his team’s groundbreaking work demonstrating the links between the spraying of Agent Orange during the Vietnam war and high rates of birth defects in Vietnamese children finally motivated the Obama administration in 2012 to begin cleaning up the damage America had caused.

In 2001, Chris was diagnosed with rapid-acting cancer and told he had 2 years to live. Chris beat the odds, and went on to spend 20 wonderful years retired on Salt Spring Island, his favourite place in the world. It was on Salt Spring that he met Janthra Khaengchalad, his wife of 12 years and love of his life.

Chris loved projects and used his retirement to contribute significantly to local history. In 2007, he co-authored Forgotten Cusheon Cove with Charles Kahn, recording his excavation of thousands of relics left by early saw mill workers on Salt Spring Island, including a forgotten group of early Chinese migrant workers.

Chris’s generous donation of land around Cusheon Cove to Ruckle Park was recognized by the creation of the Chris Hatfield Trail, which thousands of hikers use every year.

Chris was an irrepressible optimist who could never wait long before starting the next great project, and loved to ‘get up and go!’ Chris loved people, and always had time to stop in Ganges or Fulford for a quick chat.

Visitors to his apple stand at Cusheon Cove know that the entrepreneurial spirit never left Chris, and kept him planting and harvesting hundreds of apple varieties well into his supposed ‘retirement’.

Chris is survived by Janthra and his son, Matt Hatfield. He is much missed.

A Celebration of Life for Chris will be held in late August.

GOSNELL, Mairi

Driftwood Obituary
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GOSNELL, Mairi

Mairi Gosnell
1943 ~ 2022

It is with sadness we announce the passing of Mairi Gosnell on Saltspring Island, on July 1st, 2022, at the age of 79. Mairi always had a smile for all when at home at Croftonbrook or about. However, in later years she struggled with numerous health issues.

One of 5 children, Mairi was born in 1943 in Glasgow, Scotland to Donald and Mary MacLennan.

Coming to Canada in 1959 she met her future husband James Gosnell, marrying on her 21st birthday in Glasgow. They had settled on Saltspring Island in 1981. James passed away in 1998.

Mairi is survived by three daughters, Janet Love, Donna Gosnell, and Deb Gosnell and seven grandchildren -James Severn (Laura), Stephen Severn (Katie), Kaitalyne Luyt (Aaron), Danielle Murphy (Sam), Brooke, Nyla, and Walker. She had 7 great-grandchildren-Liam, Benjamin, Rylee, Zachery, Adelyne, Layla, and Bokhabane.

The family thanks everyone in the community who helped Mairi through the years; Dr. Butcher, Suzannah Devitt, Carol Matheson (niece), as well as Kisae Petersen, ED of Croftonbrook and Christie Doyle-Hayward’s Funeral Services, for their continuous support. Special thanks go out to her family in Britain and the children, grandchildren, and spouses who loved and supported Grandma GG.

Donations can be made to the BC Cancer Foundation (in memory of Mairi) or Canuck Place Children’s Hospice in memory of her great-granddaughter Layla who passed away at the age of 4 in 2019.

An UnDutiful Daughter on stage at Beaver Point Hall

Gail Sjuberg
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An UnDutiful Daughter on stage at Beaver Point Hall

A play derived from a memoir of tumultuous times is making its debut at Beaver Point Hall next weekend.

Written by Wendy Judith Cutler — an author, teacher and facilitator who has lived on Salt Spring full-time since 2006 — press material describes An UnDutiful Daughter as portraying “conflicts and estrangements within an upper-middle-class Jewish family in Los Angeles as a daughter comes into political, feminist and lesbian feminist consciousness during the 1970s and ‘80s.”

The July 1-2 shows begin at 8 p.m. and the July 3 matinee is at 2 p.m.

Cutler’s one-act play came together in the past few years through a variety of processes.

The first was a weekend play development workshop at ArtSpring in 2018 where she created a scene in which she interrogates her deceased lawyer brother about their fraught relationship. Since then the play has transformed into five scenes with a prologue, and five staged reading events have been held in the past few years.

Director Sue Newman says the play has continued to be tweaked and she’s been impressed by how Cutler is amenable to that process.

“We’ve had somewhat of a luxury to take the time that we’ve taken to do the digging-deep stuff that can’t help but make the end product — the show itself — much more real and tangible and heartfelt.”

Primary source material has been the playwright’s journals and letters from the period in question, with fictional elements added.

While the subject is the author’s experience of coming out to her family as a lesbian in the 1970s and ‘80s, the themes of family conflict and struggles with self-acceptance and reconciliation are truly universal, said director Sue Newman.

Although An UnDutiful Daughter is basically telling the playwright’s story, she said, “It has enough elements in it that many people will identify with. It has a universal quality about it.”

“There are just so many different levels of interactions and relationships that are part of everyone’s story,” Newman explained. “So it’s got a lot of tenderness, it’s got a lot of anger and it’s got a lot of acceptance, ultimately.”

The other main theme of the play is the historical period itself, when social activism and a push for social justice had so much impact on personal and political levels. An audio-visual compilation of the times sets the stage in the play’s prologue.

Cutler reflects on how positive change has occurred in the area of gay rights, but that more work must still be done.

“Right now being gay or being queer doesn’t seem like much of anything, which is really progression — it’s progressive that these attitudes have really changed in a lot of ways . . . yet it all still exists. There’s still rejection, there’s still stereotyping . . . and still murders and people being kicked out of their homes.”

Cast members in An UnDutiful Daughter are Barbara Slater, Kevin Wilkie, Lisa Dahling, Rowan Algoet, Vera Algoet and Wendy Beatty. Therin Gower is the assistant director, Mackenzie Williamson is stage manager and Susannah Devitt is handling props.

Cutler is grateful to everyone who has joined the team and been supportive along the way.

“I don’t know what this experience would be like with a different director, or people that I didn’t really know in other ways. People are really bringing their all to it.”

Tickets are available in advance at Salt Spring Books or at the door.

An UnDutiful Daughter is produced in collaboration with the Salt Spring Arts Council, Newman Family Productions and Graffiti Theatre.

MP Elizabeth May expresses support for fire hall proposal

Driftwood Staff
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MP Elizabeth May expresses support for fire hall proposal

Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Elizabeth May has added her voice to leaders urging public support for the Salt Spring fire hall referendum.

“I am writing in support of the proposed new fire hall project on Salt Spring Island,” May wrote in a June 15 letter. “I generally do not take a position on local issues that fall outside federal jurisdiction; however, we know that more emergency situations are likely to arise due to the climate crisis.

“It is critical that the Salt Spring Island community seizes this opportunity to be better prepared for emergencies and extreme events. This proposal must be accepted.

“Salt Spring Island is in dire need of a modern public-safety building. Taxpayers have an opportunity to vote ‘yes’ to borrow $9.7 million, without increasing taxes, by supporting the referendum. Salt Spring Island is significantly underserved. Residents deserve access to quality community safety infrastructure now and into the future.”

A referendum campaign press release notes that local MLA Adam Olsen, Salt Spring Capital Regional District (CRD) director Gary Holman and Transition Salt Spring chair Bryan Young have all publicly encouraged people to support the proposal.

Approval by Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District ratepayers to borrow $9.7 million to build an 11,500-square-foot building on donated land near Brinkworthy is being sought through a mail-in ballot process this month. An additional $3 million in reserve funds and a $1 million federal gas tax fund contribution through the CRD are also available for the project. No new property taxes are needed to build the facility as the debt can be repaid through existing levies.

The deadline for receipt of completed ballots at the Ganges fire hall, in person or via mail, is Thursday, June 30 at 4:30 p.m.

Project details are at saltspringfire.com.

Rogers proceeds with Channel Ridge cell tower

Emelie Peacock
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Rogers proceeds with Channel Ridge cell tower

With Rogers Communications Inc. planning to start building a tower on Channel Ridge this month, the Salt Spring Local Trust Committee (LTC) is still trying to get the company to meet with residents who remain opposed to the tower plans. 

After the LTC voted to rescind a letter of concurrence they had initially given to the cell tower project, Rogers sought clarification from the federal regulator of telecommunications infrastructure — Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) — according to a June 7 email from Michael Krenz of Rogers to the Islands Trust. In the email, Rogers confirmed they have met requirements of ISED’s land use authority and public consultation processes, Krenz stated.

“As a result, we are commencing construction of the proposed site later this month . . . We want to deliver a reliable, consistent wireless experience to provide more seamless coverage for residents, visitors and emergency responders on Salt Spring Island and we value the input of Islands Trust LTC and community members,” Krenz wrote. “We look forward to working with LTC, staff and the local community on any future proposed wireless installations. 

“Should Islands Trust wish to review their antenna tower consultation process in the future, Rogers would welcome the opportunity to provide input.” 

A May 17 email to the Islands Trust from Ken Pungente, regional director at ISED, stated that “our office does not support your decision to rescind the concurrence.” 

The only change between the LTC issuing the concurrence and rescinding it, Pugnente explained, is that the LTC adopted a new antenna siting protocol on Nov. 9.

“Given the date of the policy adoption, it is not to be retroactively applied,” he stated. “Our review of the conduct of the consultation process also found that Rogers was in compliance with [ISED’s] default process.” And the LTC’s July 27 decision to offer a letter of concurrence for the project “also implied its satisfaction with how the process was conducted and its conclusion,” he added. “In addition, SS LTC did not provide any other valid rationale to support the rescindment.” 

In March, the LTC voted to rescind a letter of concurrence it had previously voted to provide, with trustee Laura Patrick opposed to the original issuing of the letter. Support from the LTC came after a joint effort by Rogers and the Capital Region Emergency Service Telecommunications (CREST) group to build a 40-metre tower behind Canvasback Place on Channel Ridge. The effort was the second by CREST to put up telecommunications infrastructure on the island, after a proposal for a monopole at the Salt Spring Legion Branch #92 failed. 

People residing close to the tower have organized as the Concerned Residents of Canvasback, some of whom live within 50 metres of the proposed tower site, and assert that Rogers failed to adequately inform and consult them and followed a flawed process to get the tower approved. They have since last summer taken their concerns to the Islands Trust, the B.C. Ombudsperson and the municipal affairs ministry, and have hired legal counsel.

Speaking at the town hall portion of the June 14 meeting, resident Julian Clark said there is something “terribly wrong” about ISED giving the go ahead for the cell tower. At the meeting and in an email to the LTC, he urged them to inform ISED, Rogers and Onni Group, the owners of the land, that “development without the LTC and First Nations concurrence is illegal.” 

Resident of Canvasback Place Diana Pattison also spoke at the meeting, urging the LTC to “please intervene and hold Rogers to account. . . . They cannot be allowed to bully their way around the cell tower siting process as they are aggressively attempting to do. Their approach shows a blatant disregard for the proper process and for the LTC itself,” she said.

Pattison urged the LTC to push for Rogers to meet with residents before construction begins. 

William Steiner, who lives next to the tower site, said he has been amazed at the way Rogers has acted with a “heavy hand” towards residents.

“We only received one letter in the spring of 2021 saying this is all going to occur, and we had no chance to ever organize before you guys made your initial decision.”

Krenz was scheduled to appear at the June 14 meeting as a delegation, plans which were later withdrawn.

“They came to realize that this wasn’t necessarily a good format for them and that they needed to honour our request for that consultation to happen,” LTC chair Peter Luckham said.

Luckham reported that he had spoken with Rogers representatives, in a conversation where he drove home the message that the company needs to meet with the concerned residents, address concerns and explain the process the company has gone through.

“They have committed to me to do that, and that will probably happen at the end of June,” or early July he said.

Luckham first requested Rogers meet with the residents in a Nov. 29, 2021 letter.

Young talent sought for summer film shoot

Emelie Peacock
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Young talent sought for summer film shoot

Filmmaker Liz Cairns is searching for a special young Salt Spring Islander to play a leading role in her first feature film, which will begin shooting on the island later this summer.

Cairns has spent four years working on the screenplay for INEDIA, a dark drama “loosely based on my own experiences as a young woman having an eating disorder and about my relationship to recovery,” she said.

The film is centred on a young woman who experiences “a series of mysterious and quite debilitating reactions to food” that has become a chronic condition, Cairns explained, and “learns about a community of people that claim to live on only light and be sustained by light alone.” INEDIA’s script has already received accolades, being shortlisted for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab in 2019. 

Much of the film will be shot at Stowel Lake Farm, which Cairns said the film crew found after scouting locations on several Gulf Islands. Shooting will take place between Aug. 22 to Sept. 17, mainly at the farm and other places around the island, including a local hair salon and cidery.

The crew is in the process of casting in Los Angeles and also casting on Salt Spring for a child between ages four and seven of any gender and any ethnicity to play a young person who lives in the radical community the lead actress encounters. Acting training is not necessary, a casting call stated, with some scenes to be improvised and the character to be adapted to the young performer chosen for the role.

“We are looking for a natural in front of the camera,” the call stated. “A playful, sensitive and expressive young person.”

A meet and greet and open casting call will be held on Saturday, July 2 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Central Community Hall. This will be followed by call backs on July 9 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the same location, with more improvisation, play and a short scene read through. Contact the filmmakers via inediafeaturefilm@gmail.com to arrange a time slot.

Preparing for the production month on the island has involved a lot of intentional goal setting and planning.

“It’s really important for us that we make partnerships with people in the community so we can understand how we’re impacting the local community,” Cairns said, especially as they are coming to a small rural island. 

She explained that the production is working on getting Albert certification, an environmental initiative where all consumption and waste is tracked and goals are set around the carbon footprint. 

Cairns added that a goal of one bag of garbage to the landfill per week has already been set, and work is ongoing to sort out how to recycle waste locally and how to acquire energy-efficient lighting and an electric generator.

Connecting with the community and learning from locals, such as local organic farmers and people working in food security, is also part of the planning Cairns explained.

“So we’re not just going into a place and taking and taking and taking, because film is so much like that, but how can we have our own team understand our relationship to the community and vice versa?” 

The production has also taken the Producer Pledge, a Canada-wide initiative that recognizes the underrepresentation of women and people of colour both in front of and behind the camera.

“So we’re pledging to hire at least 35 per cent of cast and crew who are BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of colour] and 50 per cent who are women or gender diverse,” Cairns explained, as well as setting goals around hiring equity.

So far, Cairns said, everyone on the island has been “so warm and welcoming and helpful, it’s really exciting.” As the production gets closer to the shooting date, they may be looking locally for more cast and crew. 

Cairns’ short films have played at multiple film festivals in Canada and internationally. A graduate of the Director’s Lab at the Canadian Film Centre, Cairns was in 2017 invited to the Short Film Station at the Berlinale, the Berlin international film festival, one of 10 participants chosen from thousands of applicants. 

Her latest short film The Horses is currently on the festival circuit and won Best BC Short Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. INEDIA is being produced by Experimental Forest Films, Scythia Films and Stellar Citizens. Cairns is based in Vancouver and also spends time at her parents’ home on Salt Spring.

Tour des Îles connects the islands this weekend

Driftwood Staff
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Tour des Îles connects the islands this weekend

After two years of holding virtual events due to COVID-19, Tour des Îles is back. 

Set for Friday through Sunday, June 24-26, Tour des Îles is a water transportation initiative and festival connecting the five major Southern Gulf Islands of Galiano, Pender, Mayne, Salt Spring and Saturna.  

From Salt Spring Island there are seven trips a day from Fernwood Dock to Montague Harbour on Galiano Island with connecting service to Miners Bay on Mayne. Other connections are set up between Pender and Mayne, Galiano and Mayne, Pender and Saturna, and Mayne and Saturna islands. Volunteers on all the islands will provide on-land shuttle service to attractions and the docks.

Transportation is provided by Gulf Islands Water Taxi vessels through the AquaLink service and must be booked at aqualink.ca/schedules/ or through the tourdesiles.ca site. 

Access to the islands can also be augmented through BC Ferries service.

MLA Column: Reflecting on National Indigenous History Month

Contributed Article
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MLA Column: Reflecting on National Indigenous History Month

By ADAM OLSEN

MLA, Saanich North and the Islands

June is National Indigenous History Month, and it is with a heavy heart that we acknowledge all the children who lost their lives in the residential schools that were a pivotal part of the federal government policy to assimilate Indigenous people starting in the late 19th century and running until the 1990s.

In May, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir announced the preliminary findings of the bodies of 215 children on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School. There were 18 such schools in British Columbia and many of the survivors, who have courageously shared their experiences in those schools, warn us to expect more stories of unmarked graves.

The federal and provincial government policy can be summed up in the statements of Duncan Campbell Scott, who was the Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs from 1913-1932. He said, “Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department.”

As we unpack the colonial history of British Columbia, our eyes are opening to the deplorable treatment of Indigenous people by European settlers.

Those Europeans claimed the land in North America was empty, that there were no humans living here. This is called the doctrine of terra nullius, meaning “nobody’s land.” Paired with the Doctrine of Discovery, going back to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, which resolved non-Christian lands could be colonized, it resulted in Europeans asserting sovereignty to the land.

We now see these doctrines as racist. However, what many British Columbians do not know is that they are the foundation of our province, and they are still at the heart of the laws, policies and practices of our government today.

On Oct. 7, 1763, King George issued the royal proclamation, which was the first legal recognition of aboriginal rights and title and is recognized in the Canadian Constitution. Now, 258 years later, the question about rights and title over the land remains at the centre of the protests and disputes that have occurred over the past decades.

To be clear, the conflict does not come from honouring human rights, it comes from denying and violating them.  

It is important to acknowledge positive change. In recent years there has been an important evolution in Canadian society, following Idle No More (2012), the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015) and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019).  

In November 2019, the provincial government unanimously passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. This law ensures the entrenchment of the declaration, developed by the United Nations, over the next decade through a democratic process.

British Columbia was the first jurisdiction in North America to pass such a law and included the commitment of government to develop an action plan and annual report.

These are critical accountability measures that allow us to understand the objectives of government and track their achievements. On June 11 the consultation draft of the action plan was released. It is the result of a collaborative process with Indigenous leadership organizations and represents the bare minimum of what government commits to accomplishing over the next five years.

We all have an individual and collective responsibility to reconcile the horrific history of how our Crown governments treated and continue to treat Indigenous people and nations.

I am thankful for all the people in Saanich North and the Islands who have reached out with love and compassion. I encourage you to continue to learn about our history and to demand that all orders of government do everything possible in advancing our commitments to a more just society. 

CUTTEN, Heather Dianne

Driftwood Obituary
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CUTTEN, Heather Dianne 
 In Loving Memory of

Heather Dianne Cutten
1944-2022

Heather Dianne Cutten, nee Eisan, passed away on the 23rd of June, at the Victoria General Hospital after a short and unexpected illness. She passed peacefully with her husband and two daughters by her side.

Heather (Nana) leaves a huge hole in the hearts of her entire family and friends who benefited from her kindness and compassion. Heather was born on May 3rd, 1944 in Halifax, Nova Scotia to Norman and Lillian Eisan and was one of seven children. Heather is survived by her sister Rosalie Dyer and her many nieces and nephews.

Heather married her life-long partner of 55 years, Mark Cutten on October 14, 1967 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Their journey together took them from Nova Scotia to Trinidad, Winnipeg, St.Lucia, Calgary and finally Salt Spring Island, BC. Along the way, they had three children David (Patricia), Laura (Alejandro) and the baby Sara. She was blessed with five grandchildren, Isabella, Olivia, Joshua, Iliana and Madeline, whom she loved dearly and shared a unique and special relationship with each.

After raising her children, and at the age of 70, Heather studied and was ordained as a Deacon of the Anglican Church. She was tremendously proud of this accomplishment and touched the lives of many more and offered years of community service and outreach.

Heather (Nana) will be truly missed and never forgotten for she left a mark on all of us.

Grief is the price we pay for love.

A celebration of life will be held on Salt Spring Island, October 1st, 2022 at 2pm at All Saints by the Sea.

For information and to post condolences:www.haywardsfuneral.ca/obituary/heather-cutten/

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