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Luke Wallace named ambassador of new Youth Climate Activism Award

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Luke Wallace named ambassador of new Youth Climate Activism Award

By MARCIA JANSEN

Driftwood Contributor

I-SEA, Salt Spring Institute for Sustainability Education & Action, is calling for students in the Gulf Islands to apply for their newly instated Youth Climate Activism Award (YCAA). Folk musician Luke Wallace is the official ambassador of the award that aims to shine a light on young people who are addressing the climate crisis.

Greta Thunberg’s speech on the steps at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2019 and the enthusiasm of the young people in the crowd planted the seed for the Youth Climate Activism Award.

“It was so powerful,” says Peter Allan, executive director of I-SEA, who witnessed the speech. “There were so many kids to support Greta and her message that the idea came up to acknowledge young people who are doing something meaningful for the future of our planet. So far there was little public, formal recognition that acknowledges the power teenagers can rally to impact real change and speak truth to our leaders.”

I-SEA could not have found a better ambassador for the YCA Award in Luke Wallace. The folk musician from Salt Spring Island is young and uses his music for change. You can not only find him at folk festivals all over the West Coast, but also at schools or leading rally-sing-a-longs at Canada’s biggest youth climate marches.

“I was very excited when I was asked to be involved,” says Wallace. “I’ve been raising awareness about climate change with my music and films for over a decade; combining night-time gigs with shows at schools, to engage young people in protecting our planet.”

Wallace sees the award as a beautiful opportunity to reward the work that young people are doing in their communities.

“With this award, we can amplify and highlight their voices. It is up to young people to take action to transform the world; the food-, energy- and transport systems. Let’s use them as our guides and celebrate their efforts, and hopefully older generations are motivated by the actions of young folks.”

Nature is for Wallace the biggest inspiration in his art. His latest album ‘What on Earth’ highlights environmental issues facing coastal B.C., like the old-growth logging at Fairy Creek.

“I am inspired almost daily by Mother Nature and the beautiful harmony of the ecosystems. It makes me feel that I am part of something bigger. We need to protect that.”

Students under the age of 20 can submit a five-minute video or short story of 500 words to share how they are making a difference for our planet. The honour comes with a cash reward of $300 for elementary students and up to $1,500 for high school students.

“We started this year in the 12 Vancouver Island school districts but it is our dream to roll out the Youth Climate Activism Award provincially, and then nationally as an unstoppable wave. We want to award young activists, share their stories and send out a hopeful message.”

The deadline for application is May 15. Interested students are encouraged to ask their teacher more about the award.

Incumbents retain NSSWD trustee seats

Gail Sjuberg
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Incumbents retain NSSWD trustee seats

North Salt Spring Waterworks District (NSSWD) voters stayed the course in re-electing incumbent trustees Michael McAllister and Sandra Ungerson.

Results of a mail-in ballot election were released at the NSSWD annual general meeting Thursday night with Ungerson topping the polls with 373 votes, followed by McAllister with 364, Leigh Large with 293, David Wardlaw with 157 and Richard Swann with 89.

McAllister and Ungerson are the current chair and vice-chair of the board. McAllister chaired Thursday’s AGM held at Community Gospel Chapel and virtually through Microsoft Teams with 20 people attending.

Of the 776 ballots received by the April 27 deadline, 95 were spoiled or rejected.

NSSWD financial officer/office manager Tammy Lannan said about half of the spoiled ballots saw people not follow instructions to only put an X in the space next to a candidate’s name. Check marks or filling in the space were not acceptable, she explained.

The other main problem was that voters did not have someone witness their signature on the ballot envelope, or the witness may have signed a name but not provided a legible, printed version of their name or a phone number as required.

As well, five envelopes were received in the NSSWD after the April 27 deadline.

Lannan said 3,146 ballot packages were mailed to NSSWD property owners.

For more AGM news, see the May 11 issue of the Driftwood.

Fire district hires new CAO

Driftwood Staff
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Fire district hires new CAO

The Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District (SSIFPD) will have a new chief administrative officer (CAO) as of June 1.

According to a fire district news release, Rodney Dieleman is from Manitoba where he was the director of finance and administration for both the Department of Environment, Climate and Parks and for the Department of Natural Resources and Northern Development. In those roles, he administered contracts with 11 municipal fire departments, working with operating budgets exceeding $200 million.

“Dieleman has 25 years of practical experience managing complex financial systems with diverse stakeholders and is a graduate of business administration,” states the SSIFPD. “Having worked in an executive capacity for the Manitoba government, Rodney is well qualified for the position and will be a tremendous asset to our community. We are lucky to have him.

“With the appointment of Jamie Holmes to fire chief and Rodney Dieleman to CAO, the board of trustees has put in place a competent management team that is prepared for any challenge and ready to move emergency services forward.”

Dieleman replaces Andrew Peat, who was the most recent fire district CAO who had already retired when he came back to fill the position for a second time on a temporary basis.

Islands Trust stewardship award nominees announced

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Islands Trust stewardship award nominees announced

BASED ON A MAY 4th ISLANDS TRUST MEDIA RELEASE

The Islands Trust has received nominations for six individuals and one organization under the 17th Islands Trust Community Stewardship Awards Program.

Nominations honour activities that include land conservation, trail network development, forest restoration, community service, collaborative stewardship, public outreach and education, and advocacy work.

“The award program provides an opportunity to honour and celebrate individuals and organizations for their outstanding contribution to the stewardship of the islands and waters in the Trust Area,” said Islands Trust Council chair Peter Luckham. “This year, the impact of the work of the nominees and the quality of the projects in which they have been involved are impressive,” he added.  “They are especially noteworthy as much of the featured work continued through the pandemic.”

“The scope and breadth of their commitment and effort are an inspiration to all of us,” he added.

Nominees are as follows:

Individual Nominations
• Keith Erickson, Galiano Island: Twenty Years of Ecosystem-Based Land Stewardship; 
• Jeanine Georgeson, Galiano Island: Leadership in Collaborative Stewardship;
• Will Husby, Bowen Island: Thirty Years of Environmental Stewardship;
• Kees Ruurs, Salt Spring Island: Fourteen Years of Community Service;
• Chris Straw (Posthumous), Gabriola Island: Advocacy Against Freighter Anchorages in the Salish Sea;
• Ruth Waldick, Salt Spring Island: Building Lake Maxwell’s Watershed Resiliency and Forest Fire Resilience. 

Organization Nominations
• Salt Spring Island Natural Cemetery, Salt Spring Island: Creation of a Sustainable Cemetery that Protects Forested Lands

For approximately 20 years, the Islands Trust’s Community Stewardship Awards program has recognized remarkable and inspiring award nominees and recipients who demonstrate leadership in preservation and protection of the Islands Trust Area. In reinstating the program in 2022, Islands Trust Council has updated the program to better align with Trust Council’s Reconciliation Declaration and amended the program to be offered once per elected term.
The Islands Trust Council will select the recipients of the award during its quarterly meeting in June 2022. Visit www.islandstrust.bc.ca/csa to learn about this year’s nominees and past recipients.

Public feedback on Ganges shared in report

Emelie Peacock
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Public feedback on Ganges shared in report

First of two parts

Salt Spring residents want a more people-centric and walkable Ganges, with clean and green public spaces, affordable housing and access to the waterfront, an Islands Trust public engagement process has found. 

Consultants conducted a survey, an ideas fair, pop-up booths and a walkabout to gather residents’ input late last year, and connected with organizations, businesses and people whose views might not otherwise be captured, including school-aged students and residents who are underhoused. All in all, around 800 people lent their opinions on the village’s present and future, which consultants grouped into themes and presented to the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee (LTC) on April 19. Information will feed into the creation of a future village area plan. 

A top priority consultants heard was affordable housing, including “rental, non-market, low-income and seniors housing.” People wanted to see more affordable housing in the village, including options like housing above commercial spaces. Concentrating residential density in the village prevents sprawl and “fragmentation of habitat outside the village,” the summary stated. 

People connected more housing in the village to other goals of making it a more vibrant space all day, as well as goals of a walkable village and staff for local businesses.

“I feel the housing in Ganges should be densified so that the core becomes more energized and creates activity that supports the businesses,” one survey respondent wrote. “This could alleviate the housing shortage and revitalize Ganges Village.” 

People value a walkable village, the consultants heard, where they can move through it and bump into people they know.

“At the same time, the village is currently seen as car-oriented and hostile to pedestrians,” the engagement summary stated.

Some changes participants want to see are less congestion, better managed parking and less vehicle traffic overall. Making travel on foot or by bicycle or wheelchair “safe, accessible, and delightful” is another priority. 

People value green spaces, consultants heard, and would like to have more outdoor spaces to gather outdoors, including a new central gathering space like a village square and green spaces with more trees, restored natural landscapes and Indigenous plant species. Young people said they’d like to see more indoor youth spaces.

“Folks living rough and dealing with addictions and mental health challenges have suggested that new, welcoming public spaces — like communal kitchens and maker spaces — would improve life on the island,” the summary stated. 

Centennial Park received its own section in the engagement summary. Consultant Jennifer Fix said the park is “among the most cherished, it’s also among the most challenged places in the village.”  Concerns were heard regarding certain activities in the park, including substance use, off-leash dogs and “perceived aggressive behaviours.” The park was noted by survey respondents as the space that would most benefit from improvement.

People who are underhoused or facing homelessness “are aware that there is a stigma associated with them being there,” the report stated, yet the park is an important social space for them as there are few other places for them to gather and experience community. 

The 106-page engagement report can be viewed here.

Islander raises funds for Haitian family

Emelie Peacock
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Islander raises funds for Haitian family

A Salt Spring beekeeper is over a quarter of the way towards a fundraising goal that will see four young members of a Haitian family gain education and have their basic needs met. 

Salt Spring beekeeper David MacDonald has been working with colleagues in Haiti since he and Brian Coombs started up their now thriving beekeeping and permaculture non-profit over a decade ago. Having heard about a Haitian family whose eldest child is at risk of ending up in indentured servitude, MacDonald undertook the goal of raising $22,000 to help the family over the next four years. 

Hives for Haiti’s director of operations Simon Remond let MacDonald know about the situation his neighbour’s children found themselves in. The father of the family is disabled, MacDonald explained, and their mother is illiterate and cannot work due to the reality of Haiti’s economy. The small Caribbean nation has a 15.4 per cent unemployment rate and 24.5 per cent of the population lives on less than $2 US a day. 

Poverty in Haiti is extreme, MacDonald explained.

“If you haven’t seen it, it’s kind of beyond our comprehension, I just didn’t think such a thing existed.”

MacDonald recalled the first time he went to the country as an aid worker and was kicking a ball around in the street with three young girls. Two months later, MacDonald was told the youngest of the girls they’d met had died of starvation and the oldest sister had been sold into servitude to feed the middle child.

“That’s life in Haiti, that’s not an unusual situation.” 

Indentured servitude is also what awaited the oldest child of Remond’s neighbours, 13-year-old Judeline, who would be in servitude to a family until she is released at age 17. With no education or literacy, those released from indentured servitude often end up homeless, in the sex trade or even turning back to the family they served in order to survive, MacDonald explained.

MacDonald recalled hearing their story from Simon.

“I said, ‘These are four kids out of probably six or seven million kids that are in the same position? What good is it to help this one family, Simon?’”

MacDonald knew Hives for Haiti could not stray from their focus of providing usable skills to people who then go on to create their own beekeeping businesses and pass on the knowledge, as veering off course would water down the organization’s mission and possibly lead to its failure.

“I felt really uncomfortable at the end of that conversation. I’m laying there for several nights thinking about these kids,” he said, and couldn’t get their story out of his mind.

“I know that there will be criticism out there — ‘what about the other ones?’” he acknowledged. “I know it’s an emotional thing. Yeah, you can’t save everyone, but the one that I can see I can do my best to save.”

MacDonald decided to do the fundraiser for the family on his own, outside of Hives for Haiti, with a detailed plan he came up with together with the non-profit’s management team in the country: Remond, Nelcie Pierre and Jobles Onesias. The plan is to hire a tutor and bring the children from Grade 1 up to speed with reading, writing, basic math, business and operating computers, and if there is time, to teach them French and English.

The $22,000 will cover food, clothing and education for four years, and a detailed budget is shared with would-be donors on the Gofundme page entitled Help Keep Judeline out of Indentured Servitude.

“Then we would have those kids prepared either that all four of them can join our organization as beekeepers and learn the trade of beekeeping, or they would at least have enough education — practical education, not academic education — to be able to get into a trade,” he explained. 

MacDonald has raised close to $6,000 towards the goal, and they’ve already hired 21-year-old Voltaire Voyvlyne Issainclyne to begin the children’s schooling.

This fundraiser is separate from MacDonald’s work with Hives for Haiti, which is also progressing. The non-profit bought a seven-acre property last year, where they will use permaculture and syntropic farming practices to regenerate the landscape. The property is fenced and has water, with further plans to install a water capture system and run training programs in syntropic farming.

The organization is putting in an application for charitable status this year. They will also be renaming themselves the Haiti Beekeepers Society.

A firefighter in Richmond who retired into beekeeping and a job as an apiary inspector for the B.C. government, MacDonald first visited Haiti as an aid worker a few years after the 2010 earthquake that devastated the country. MacDonald and Coombs created Hives for Haiti shortly after that first visit in 2013, and the definition of success they came up with back then is now coming to pass. 

“If we got to a place where we weren’t needed anymore, where we were just redundant, that would be the ultimate goal,” MacDonald said.

And while he’s still involved in training and other aspects, this goal was reached around six months ago with an all-Haitian team teaching new beekeepers the ropes and several success stories of beekeepers to point to.

“The program will still go and grow and it’ll just keep chugging along beautifully.”

Viewpoint: Limits to growth ignored by LTC

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Viewpoint: Limits to growth ignored by LTC

By MAXINE LEICHTER

Salt Spring is on the brink of a massive zoning change that threatens the island as we know it.

Can you imagine thousands more year-round and summertime residents on top of the huge increases already locked in from undeveloped lots? Just think of the ferry lineups! We’re already experiencing water shortages, and that will be exacerbated by climate change.

Yet to show they are “doing something” about the affordable housing shortage, our trustees have given first reading to Bylaw 530, which would allow 968-square-foot secondary suites on most single-family-zoned properties and increase the size limit of many cottages.

Trustee Laura Patrick cites staff shortages at the hospital, businesses and other services. But the bylaw does not ensure affordability or stipulate who will occupy these additional homes. In reality, the Islands Trust has little power to solve a continent-wide housing problem.

Most people don’t want to be told who to rent to or how much to charge. There is no profit in building to rent, while illegal vacation rentals remain popular because they are lucrative and face little enforcement. Trustees have already allowed thousands of second residences, yet the housing problem persists because it is never-ending and construction costs are high. And many people simply don’t want to share their properties full time.

This bylaw won’t provide more housing anytime soon, but it will increase property values and make the island even more unaffordable. Over time, as properties change hands, the higher densities will be developed for economic reasons. Our lakes are already close to being tapped out, and groundwater is limited. Allowing an ever-greater population will put even more pressure on limited resources and services.

The Trust was formed in 1974 to stop over-development on the islands. That’s why our official community plan limits the island’s population to a little over 17,000, about 6,000 more than today.   Experts warn, however, that even existing zoning may be unsustainable. To get around the population limit, the Trust says the extra suites aren’t “densities.” But playing with words won’t hide what happens on the ground.

Staff advised trustees NOT to give first reading because more research is needed. But trustees went ahead anyway. Trustee Laura Patrick says she has to “do something,” but common sense says don’t “do something” that causes more harm than good.

Over 200 subsidized affordable housing units are already built, planned or under construction. Additionally, some businesses are providing housing for their employees. These are practical strategies that work. They will take time, but so will any small positive effects of this misguided bylaw. In the meantime, will the lack of immediate results prompt trustees to consider even more higher densities?

The recent governance review said every island should determine its carrying capacity, or how many people can be accommodated without destroying what the Trust was set up to save. It’s decision time for Salt Spring Island: limits or no limits, protect or develop?

Write trustees at ssiinfo@islandstrust.bc.ca. Contact me at maxineleichter@gmail.com.

Lovin’ Shakespeare hits the ArtSpring stage

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Lovin’ Shakespeare hits the ArtSpring stage

SUBMITTED BY ARTSPRING

The last time we saw Christina Penhale and Jeffrey Renn on stage together at ArtSpring we were looking at them through our computer screens while they played to an empty house.

Lockdown in December 2020 meant their Jeff and Chrissy Show had to move online. They’re both excited to see those seats full again.

“It’ll be really nice to be in a room again with people,” Renn said. “We know that when we’re in the live witness, there are physiological responses that happen for us when we’re sharing the same space.”

The show they’re bringing back to the stage is Lovin’ Shakespeare, a commission for the ArtSpring Presents season.

“We started thinking about exploring a couple’s love story through Shakespeare, using his most iconic love scenes and characters, and coming back to the love that we all need,” explained Penhale.

As a play with a narrative thread, rather than a presentation of standalone scenes, the sections of Shakespeare plays are spoken through the voices of two characters.

“I’d always had this contention in the back of my mind that Shakespeare was part of a group dedicated to Queen Elizabeth,” Renn said, “so the play is an imagined encounter between Elizabeth and Shakespeare at a wedding, where they go off together and have a conversation. What is that conversation?”

Weaving in at least 22 iconic Shakespeare scenes, including Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Romeo and Juliet, Renn has also drawn on Elizabeth’s speeches to parliament, sections of the Bible, philosophy and the Baha’i faith, along with his original writing.

“The show is about the transcendence of humanity, and our coming to consciousness,” Penhale said. “We’re celebrating our own love story and bringing some of what we feel we need right now, which is love and understanding, into the conversation.”

ArtSpring Presents: Christina Penhale and Jeffrey Renn – Lovin’ Shakespeare on Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets through artspring.ca or 250-537-2102.

Audience members should not that face masks must be worn at all times while at ArtSpring for those aged five and up.

WILLIAMS, Bud

Driftwood Obituary
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WILLIAMS, Bud

Just tell them, “I never got caught.”
BUD WILLIAMS ~ 1930-2022

THOMAS, Brenda

Driftwood Obituary
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THOMAS, Brenda

Brenda Thomas
February 3, 1949 ~ April 26, 2022

With great sadness the family of Brenda Thomas, of Salt Spring Island, announces her recent passing. Brenda was born in Colombia, South America on February 3, 1949. Her parents moved back to Canada in 1951 with Brenda in tow, speaking mostly Spanish at the time.

She carried the name “Chica” into her early adulthood. We cannot say for sure how she eventually dropped that moniker, but it may have had something to do with the passing of her father in 1973.

In the late 1960’s she was briefly married and moved to Vancouver where she harboured many draft dodgers. She enjoyed a long career as a para-legal until moving to Salt Spring in the 1990’s. During her Vancouver years Brenda took time to visit many far off destinations, travelling throughout Europe, then trips to India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Morocco, South America and more.

Upon her arrival on Salt Spring she owned and operated the Vesuvius Store for several years, before selling it in 2006. The long hours at the store had a dampening effect on her world travels but Brenda had developed a love for Airedale Terriers and had one constantly at her side for several decades. She was a voracious reader and more-so, a researcher of current world and political events. This despite the protests of her brother who advised against watching the news for more than 10 minutes a day. She bestowed many a scolding on him with her impressive vocabulary for his contrary advice.

Brenda campaigned a brave and determined fight against cancer for over 4 years with a large degree of success, but passed quietly and rather unexpectedly in her sleep on April 26. Although she was not planning on leaving us just yet, as evidenced by the purchase of paint for her house the day before, she spoke of her preference for such a passing over a drawn out decline with cancer. We take some comfort in that. She leaves behind “Roxy the Dog” to mourn with her brother Wayne Thomas, sister in-law Louise, niece Emily and nephew Matthew. Her many friends on Salt Spring are also missing her. She was pre-deceased by her parents Brenda and Cy Thomas.

Considerations are underway for a gathering to remember her life and personality in the upcoming days, which we hope can take place when Covid 19 concerns have decreased somewhat. Announcements to come at a later date in that regard.

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