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Nobody Asked Me But: Lesser of two evils beats hot conspiracy theories

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That’s it. That’s enough. I’ve had just about enough of this. If I hear one more person tell me what a fraud all this masking, social distancing, vaccination and public health mandating is, I am seriously going to toss my cookies all over anybody not standing six feet away from me.

There’s no avoiding them, these anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers. They deny the numbers of fellow human beings who have been stricken by the pandemic, or pooh-pooh the severity of the virus, or even shrug off fatality rates by claiming that the casualties were health compromised already and would have died from some other cause anyway.

They mistrust the mainstream media and surround themselves with misinformation and disinformation easily gleaned off the world wide web where one fake news item is cited by another one and then commandeered by another until it seems that it must be true because why else would it be popping up everywhere?

They believe that they are the ones who are doing all the critical thinking. Anybody else, and that includes the vast majority of doctors, nurses and other health professionals, are being duped and led by the nose by those who want to restrict the rights of members of the public to make decisions about their own bodies. That’s right. They see themselves as true rebels. Revolutionary heroes. Fighting the battle for truth and freedom. Let the masses line up like masked sheep waiting to get jabbed by Big Pharma.

I must have missed something. When did saving the world from a runaway deadly virus become an issue of personal freedom? This virus, which is now in its fourth wave and has mutated a number of times to increase its rate of infection, has now accounted for a death toll of more than 4.55 million lives worldwide and nearly two thousand in British Columbia.

Whatever happened to looking out for the common good? Have we reached the point where we’re willing to endanger the lives of others to make a point out of not allowing others to tell us how to behave? If we live in one great global village, then I must be the global village idiot because I just don’t get it. How has this unholy alliance of far-right conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and libertarian bloggers come about?

During World War II, when the German Luftwaffe flew bombing raids over the cities of England, did Londoners decide they were going to disobey the blackout orders and leave their house lights blazing because nobody had a right to tell them how to act? If you feel like driving on the left side of the road for a change, is that okay? The same goes for seat belts, motorcycle helmets and selling cigarettes to minors.

Sometimes circumstances force us to choose the lesser of two evils. Nobody enjoys having to slap on an ill-fitting mask just to enjoy a cup of java at the local café. How many of us can hardly wait for that next needle in the upper arm? Do any of us really want to pull out our proof of vaccination card if we want to go out for a family dinner or catch a hockey game?

The answer is no. Nobody. Certainly not our anti-vaxxers. They’re onto the great conspiracy which aims to suppress the human race by surreptitiously stripping away our rights one by one until we all become virtual slaves to the system.

What conspiracy are we talking about? There are so many to choose from. Just round up the usual suspects. Over here we have an array of Communists, left-leaning Socialists and Jewish people who are plotting to overthrow our “free world” democracies. By getting us to surrender our individual rights, they are paving a path towards totalitarianism and dictatorship where the state has complete control over the individual.

Over there stand the industrialists and billionaire bankers who throttle worker rights in order to perpetuate a capitalist society. In this conspiracy, Bill Gates and his cronies have manufactured a psychology of fear that can only be quelled by the injection of a dangerous or bogus (depending on which theory you believe) magic elixir vaccine whose only guarantee is that it will earn them trillions of dollars.

Just around the corner lies another conspiracy of aliens from a distant galaxy, terminator robots from the future and undead zombies trying to weaken our human race by altering our DNA so we can easily be conquerred.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, folks. Throw in vaccination conspiracies by the Chinese government, 5G technology, the World Health Organization, Dr. Fauci, the Illuminati secret society, Brexit, the Freemasons, the Knights Templar and Walmart, and you get the idea that there can’t be too much going on globally because everybody is too busy trying to trick the world’s population into getting poked by the vaccine.

One conspiracy theory gaining popularity is that the injections are actually planting microchips in our bodies so the authorities can pin-point our location at any moment and in this way will be able to control us better (as if they couldn’t do this already by tracing the movements of our cell phones).

What I don’t understand is how the anti-vaxxers have convinced themselves that governments all over the globe are conspiring to put aside their ideological differences in order to impose the vaccine on the world’s population. Think about it. When have all the rulers of this planet ever, EVER, agreed on anything unanimously? What has made them have this sudden change of heart? Perhaps the aliens from a distant galaxy theory isn’t so far off.

Nobody asked me, but isn’t it time we took a good hard look at ourselves. Maybe I’m wrong and herd immunity is just around the corner. Maybe this so-called plague from hell will fade like a whimper, as will all of our fears as they did with Y2K. But if I’m not wrong, each of us has a responsibility to one another, our children and those who come after us. Don’t blow it.

Editorial: Empty promises

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Canadians expressed themselves clearly in last week’s federal election, although largely by not taking the time to head to the polls or complete a mail-in ballot.

Voter turn-out was low at 62 per cent and a smaller percentage of those people (32.62 per cent) voted for the Liberal party than in the past two elections. Seat results mirrored those from the 2019 election, confirming there was no valid reason to hold a $600-million distraction in the middle of a pandemic, and Justin Trudeau’s government has ended up with another embarrassment to defend. It’s not that the government is a bad one by any stretch of the imagination. It has numerous achievements to be proud of, but the promise of what should have been back when the Liberals won a majority mandate under Trudeau in 2015 and the reality after six years in power is woefully mismatched.

One of the first acts of Trudeau’s government that got the cynicism tumbleweed rolling was the half-hearted treatment of electoral reform. Trudeau boldly promised on election night in 2015 that it would be the last election held under the first past the post system. Despite a parliamentary committee recommending some form of proportional representation be presented to Canadians in a national referendum, the subject was dropped by the Liberals in 2017. It was a sign of things to come, with lofty words sometimes not matching actions, which a politician can only get away with for so long.

Calls for electoral reform were not silenced after that disappointment, however, and interest in revisiting the concept was shown as recently as this past June. That’s when the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs recommended a study on creating a national assembly for electoral reform be done. All participating party reps except the Conservatives were in agreement. While the Green party is not on that committee it obviously supports the concept of proportional representation.

Fans of local MP Elizabeth May and the Green party may be disappointed in the drop in voter support received, but as May said on election night, the fortunes of one political party are not important to her as long as serious advances on climate change are made. May’s Green voice has been influential in parliament for years despite the current electoral system, but it could have been even more so if Trudeau’s 2015 election night promise had been kept.

KENNEDY, Patrick James

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Patrick James Kennedy
February 4, 1956 – September 22, 2021


It is with heavy hearts we share that Patrick died suddenly and unexpectedly of natural causes on Salt Spring Island, his home of the past 19 years or so. 
Patrick was well known on Salt Spring for his colourful and talkative nature. He was a great lover of music, good food, flowers, and travel adventures. He cared a lot about how to make the world a better place.
Patrick is survived by his daughter Lyyli Kennedy who was the great light of his life, and three brothers Mike, Nick and Danny. 
A celebration of life will be held at the Portlock Park outdoor covered area on Sunday, October 17, 2021  2-5 pm. Service 2-3 ish, Jose Sanchez Cuban band 3 – 5 pm.   Everyone welcome. Please bring your own chair.
Patrick’s ashes will be spread at a later date on Matilija Creek near Ojai, California as per his wishes.

gREGGAINS, Margo Dawn (Lavoie)

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Margo Dawn Greggains (Lavoie)
1970-2021

Margo passed away from Breast Cancer on Monday, August 30th at the age of 51 at Lady Minto Hospital, Salt Spring Island. She is survived by her loving daughter, Madison Ann Greggains, brother Craig Lavoie (Dana), nephew Ryan and niece Alexia, and father Lawrence Lavoie. She was predeceased by her husband Ben Greggains and her mother Mora Lavoie.

Born in Truro, Nova Scotia on June 19th, 1970, Margo’s early work experience included a summer at Walt Disney World, followed by hotel and restaurant work in Banff, Alberta. In 1997 she moved to Salt Spring Island with her husband Ben and daughter, Madison, where she worked as a server at Moby’s for close to a decade. She went on to start a thriving business in home care services (Access Care Management) which she sold in 2019. Margo loved helping people and always volunteered in the community, supported her neighbours and friends, and was a second mother to many.

She will be remembered as a remarkable woman who was strong, warm-hearted and a lover of a “good chat”. Her friendship was her strength and her generous gift to us all.

Madison would like to thank Dr. Crichton her GP, Dr. Bernstein, her oncologist, and the amazing staff at Lady Minto Hospital for their compassionate care of Margo over the years, especially at the end of her journey with us.

A Celebration of Life will be held in the spring, details to be announced. In lieu of flowers, please donate to your local SPCA or the Canadian Cancer Society.

Questions of history and identity inform strong SSNAP show

The opening of the fourth Salt Spring National Art Prize exhibition over the weekend reveals a program that is settling into its own maturity while providing the space to examine the most prevalent trends and concerns in Canadian art today.

The SSNAP 2021-2022 Finalists Exhibition at Mahon Hall brings together 52 diverse works from Canadian artists living across the country and abroad. Gallery manager Anthony Matthews has created a beautiful show with his arrangement of the leading entries, which the jurors selected from more than 2,700 submissions.

As always, this year’s jurors made their selections “blind,” without access to artists’ names or context, so it’s fascinating to see some common themes arise. A reckoning with the past in exploration of identity provides a strong stream of work in this year’s show, both by Indigenous artists and those from immigrant communities. Many explore those connections using handcrafting techniques and materials passed through generations of family. The first SSNAP of the COVID era not surprisingly finds several artists engaged with related issues and imagery, while the climate crisis forms another of-the-moment concern. Artists in this year’s exhibition are also engaged in questions around the history of representation in visual art and how it can be transformed in current practise.

Indigenous artists, so long excluded from mainstream contemporary art, have a strong presence at this show – in fact, they may be the dominant force. The conflux of traditional arts and modern practice includes several works with beading over unusual surfaces. Katherine Boyer’s lovely modern and minimalist piece recreates a strip of blue and white sky in a band of beading that’s strapped over a bundle of polished oak and maple lumber, while Devonn Drossel beads images of Indigenous food plants and animals over a vintage flour bag, and Maria-Margaretta adds beaded ornamentation and fringes to a pair of bright yellow dish gloves. The iconic Hudson’s Bay blanket shows up to expose problematic colonial history in a painting by Lauren Crazybull and a textile/sculptural work by Glenna Cardinal.

Katherine Boyer’s A bundle… of gathered… Seed beads on stroud cloth, maple and oak 1×1’s.

Michel Dumont deals with the traumatic intersection of national and personal history in a moving piece based on his mother’s 1955 class photo at Mission Indian Day School. Dumont fired a photo transfer onto ceramic tile and then ritually smashed it with a hammer while reciting the names of each child from that class. He then rejoined the pieces with a metallic gold-tinged adhesive – referencing “the Japanese art of Kintsugi to show the beauty in the broken” — and framed the work in live-edge cedar and historic barn board. This is a piece where concept, process and end result are perfectly combined.

Michel Dumont’s Indian Mission Day School piece.

Michelle Sound celebrates the strength of community in NDN Aunties, a collection of drum frames in different sizes that have been “skinned” with fabrics such as gold lame, fringed black leather and leopard print. This warm-hearted piece pays tribute to “Auntie Culture,” and the women who act as cool mother stand-ins and mentors.

Masks are not only required to enter the exhibition space, they appear in three different works displayed in the hall. Eloise Spitzer II is one of these, a searing photographic portrait by Kali Spitzer that depicts an aging Indigenous person who has been undergoing chemotherapy during the pandemic. The black and white photography and the formal pose recall the anthropological studies by Edward Curtis. The subject’s piercing eyes and bare torso create an almost unbearable mix of agency and vulnerability.

Another work that challenges the viewer to hold their voyeuristic gaze is an oil painting by Nicole Sleeth. The artist subverts the traditional female nude with her depiction of an obese brown body. Her style is a mixture between realist and expressionist, but she makes the shadows between the folds of flesh look so real it feels like the viewer could put a finger in between them. Sleeth’s question of whether painting can become “more honest, more piercing and even more real” by shedding attachment to representational qualities does not feel academic, but deeply invested.

Nicole Sleeth’s Noval — 65″X45″ – oil on linen.

Fans of photography will find some interesting perspectives on the art form here, from Dona Schwartz’s hyper real tableau Ordinary People, to Kriss Munsya’s allegorical approach to Black male personhood, to a lush, painterly canal view of Venice by Monique Campbell. Salt Spring’s Connie Kuhns stands tall within this group, with her Canadian Farmhouse photograph set between an atmospheric sky and a swath of grey asphalt. The sharp focus and small print size give the work a jewel-like clarity.

SSNAP’s only other local artist this year is Pender Island’s Joanna Rogers, whose incredible woven cotton hanging contains a multitude of gentle natural dye tones and the anti-Madame Defarge message Save Our Souls embedded in Morse Code. Nearly local is David Gluck, whose incredible oil painting combines modern portraiture with the lighting and depth of a Rembrandt.

Installations, while few in number this time, are impressive in creativity and scope. Viewers will marvel at For Your Own Good, Christine De Vuono’s collection of around 100 tiny figures sculpted from soap bars. Each figure is individual and distinct, and each is isolated in a mason jar and shelved – a comment on the fate of lonely seniors in care who were protected at cost during the pandemic. This is another perfect marriage of concept and execution, where the statement has a stunning visual impact.

The SSNAP Finalists Exhibition continues daily at Mahon Hall from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Oct. 25, with prize winners to be announced on Oct. 23. The companion Parallel Show featuring Gulf Islands artists is at ArtSpring from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Oct. 17. (See next week’s Driftwood for a review of that show.) Visit saltspringartprize.ca for details on upcoming artist talks and events. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required to attend all exhibitions and events.

Emergency department campaign meets $10.4-million target

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The Lady Minto Hospital Foundation (LMHF) had great news to share at its 2021 annual general meeting on Thursday afternoon: it has achieved the goal of raising $10.4 million to build a new emergency department.

“The support and encouragement we have received throughout the emergency department campaign has been exceptional,” said Carol Biely, chair of the capital campaign, in a LMHF press release. “We have raised a large amount of money in a very short time. This reflects how much the hospital, and its wonderful staff, mean to Salt Spring residents and visitors.”

“We will now be moving on to the other needs of the hospital by maintaining a capital fund for future projects,” she said.

LMHF executive director Roberta Martell explained in the press release that while the emergency department campaign has achieved its ambitious target, ongoing fundraising continues on behalf of the hospital. She pointed out that “housing for staff has become a major issue and we are in preliminary discussions with Vancouver Island Health Authority about building a new medical imaging suite.”

Construction on the new emergency department is set to commence in early 2022. More details on the construction schedule will be forthcoming soon, said incoming LMHF chair Dave Taylor.

Also in the press release, the entire board of directors for the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation expressed its heartfelt gratitude for the generosity displayed by Salt Spring residents, visitors and businesses.

“It just confirms what we thought at the outset of the campaign back in the spring of 2021,” said Dave Taylor. “Lady Minto is truly the beating heart of the community, and the support we have received from all islanders shows how much they care. We thank each and every person who helped us achieve this, and all the volunteers who put in untold hours to mount this campaign. Salt Spring will be strengthened for many years by your generosity.”

Salish Heron artist named

BC Ferries, in partnership with the First Peoples’ Cultural Council, has selected Coast Salish artist Maynard Johnny Jr. from Chemainus to create the design for BC Ferries’ newest Salish Class vessel, the Salish Heron.

According to a Sept. 23 press release from BC Ferries, the vessels are named to honour and recognize the Coast Salish as the original mariners of the Salish Sea.

Johnny is Coast Salish from Penelakut on his father’s side and is connected to Cape Mudge Kwakwaka’wakw on his mother’s side.

The First Peoples’ Cultural Council issued a call for artists in March and invited Coast Salish artists to submit their portfolios for consideration.

From 36 expressions of interest, a jury of artist peers and BC Ferries representatives identified a shortlist of six artists. Criteria for selection included artistic excellence, Coast Salish artistic style, and ability to express the vessel name through artwork while effectively using the available vessel surface.

“Johnny’s signature use of bold, bright colours and graceful line work embodies the beauty and energy of contemporary Coast Salish art while drawing upon the rich history of Coast Salish two-dimensional design,” states BC Ferries. “He has been inspired by many North West Coast artists and for the past 27 years has focused on Coast Salish style and iconography in his work. Although Johnny is known primarily for his prints, he also works with wood carvings and engraving precious metals.”

Johnny was featured in the Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 2 exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design, New York, in 2005. In 2009, Johnny’s work adorned the cedar gift boxes that were given to special guests at the Canadian Juno Music Awards. His works can also be seen in film (Say it Ain’t So) and television series (Grey’s Anatomy).

The vessel Johnny’s artwork will adorn, Salish Heron, is currently under construction. It will be the fourth Salish Class vessel to join BC Ferries’ fleet and will sail in the Southern Gulf Islands starting in 2022. It will share routes with Salish Orca, Salish Eagle and Salish Raven, which first entered service in 2017, sailing between Comox and Powell River and in the Southern Gulf Islands.

BC Ferries held a public naming contest for the Salish Class ferries in 2015. Salish Heron was among the shortlisted names because it reflects both the land and culture of British Columbia, and the West Coast travel experience.

Working in partnership with the First Peoples’ Cultural Council to facilitate artwork commissioning for the first three Salish Class vessels, BC Ferries selected Darlene Gait from Esquimalt Nation to design the artwork for the Salish Orca, John Marston from the Stz’uminus First Nation designed the artwork for the Salish Eagle, and the Salish Raven is adorned with a design by Thomas Cannell from Musqueam.

SGI Covid cases drop; region keeps rising

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Latest data about new confirmed COVID-19 cases for the Sept. 12 to 18 period has been released by the BC Centre for Disease Control.

Click on the chart above for the full view.

The daily case rate per 100,000 for Salt Spring between Sept. 13 and 19 was eight, and zero on Pender, Galiano, Mayne and Saturna islands.

Climate Action Coaches available to help islanders lower their carbon Footprint

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By ANDREA PALFRAMAN

TRANSITION SALT SPRING

With 250 recommendations for actions we can take as islanders to address the climate crisis, the Salt Spring Island Climate Action Plan can be a bit of an overwhelming read.

Starting in October, Transition Salt Spring will be offering a helping hand to people who want to take action but may not know where to start. With funding support from the Salt Spring Foundation and VanCity, the new Climate Action Coach program was created to put the Plan into action. It will do this by helping islanders access the many rebate programs that reduce emissions and build our community’s resilience in the face of climate change. 

But first, let’s introduce you to our climate action coaches, Rob Lowrie and Maia Carolsfeld.

Maia recently finished her master’s degree in carbon management at the University of Edinburgh. She’s busy putting together communications materials that will introduce islanders to the new program and hopefully help deepen our personal commitments to climate action. 

“I am really excited to be able to take action with Transition Salt Spring as a climate action coach,” says Maia. “I feel that a lot of what can be done in a small community is reflective of what can be done on a global scale. And I think Salt Spring has all of the amazing pieces: this island is a really awesome example for communities everywhere.”

Since development of the climate action coach program got rolling in early August, Rob Lowrie has been busy reaching out to local business owners. “At this stage in my life, I’ve probably created a fairly large carbon footprint,” says Rob.  “I’m committed to working in earnest to work that off, by encouraging others to become more aware and take action — because it’s urgent. We have to address this now. And I feel I have some of the skills to contribute.”

Climate action coaches will offer one-stop shopping for resources available to islanders to reduce their carbon footprint at home and in their businesses. The idea behind the initiative is to provide a central place for islanders to learn about the many regional, provincial and federal programs available. These include rebates to retrofit their homes, add rainwater catchment systems, buy electric vehicles, and if Transition Salt Spring secures the funding, even incentives to change out wood stoves to more efficient models.  

“We act as navigators,” explains Rob, who has decades of experience as a broadcaster. “Often it’s hard for people to invest their time and attention into figuring out what’s even out there. We’re taking that off of their shoulders by helping them get information more quickly and in ways that are easier to understand. We hope this will inspire them to take that next step to actually make the changes they want to make.”

He adds: “One exciting part of the program is Transition’s new pilot rainwater catchment incentive that we are delivering with the proud support of the Capital Regional District and Salt Spring Island Watershed Protection Alliance. Here, people can install eligible rainwater catchment systems on their property and get a rebate for a portion of the costs. After a brutal summer drought season, it’s a no-brainer that we should be investing in rooftop rainwater catchment to take the pressure off stressed aquifers.”

Transition Salt Spring is also building relationships with other incentive program managers like those offering significant rebates to install heat pumps. They are also even applying for funding to launch a wood stove upgrade rebate for Salt Springers. Emissions from fossil fuel-based home heating like oil and propane can be reduced 100 per cent by switching to heat pumps and switching out that 20-year-old wood stove for a more efficient, less polluting one that uses firewood more efficiently. 

The climate action coaches are collaborating with the managers of the Clean BC program with their library of incentives for everything from efficient double-pane windows, solar panels, and air sealing — all of which can reduce climate impacts and home-heating costs. 

Transition Salt Spring had a big-sized presence at this year’s fall fair, where islanders met and chatted with our climate action coaches and volunteers.

“Along with all kinds of information for people to take home,” says Rob, “we had a demonstration heat pump, along with a booth where people took photos as a Climate Action Super Hero. We were pretty excited to meet community members and share what we’re learning about all of the opportunities to decrease our environmental footprints and increase our savings.”

One challenge in dealing with such a massive problem as climate change is knowing where to start. Maia recommends the Lighter Footprint app, being developed with the support of VanCity and the BC Institute of Technology.

“It’s an exciting tool that gives you a more localized view of your carbon footprint, as opposed to other tools which tend to use national or international data.” 

A lot of these incentives focus on homeowners, but there are also options for renters within the Climate Action Coach program.

“First of all,” said Rob, “we can introduce you to a whole lot of other people who want to take climate action. And for people with modest incomes, we can point you to BC Hydro’s free energy saving kits that include many household measures you can take, whether it’s water-saving shower heads, kitchen and bathroom faucet aerators, or weather stripping: it’s all in the kit.”

Climate action coaches are also reaching out to local service providers and contractors both on and off the island to assemble a list of businesses that are available to help islanders reduce the juice and their footprints. Qualified contractors or installers are invited to contact Maia and Rob.

“One of the questions that comes up again and again in our outreach is, ‘What’s the point?’ says Maia. “People wonder why individual action is important when big companies are responsible for doing the most to change the climate. But, your own individual influence actually goes a lot farther than you think. 

“Climate change is a massive systemic problem. As with all systems, there’s a lot of little cogs. And so an individual is as much part of the system as the big players. I know that my influence impacts the people around me: what I choose to do influences the people that I speak with and influences my family, my friends, their acquaintances, and it ripples out from there. So I would say ‘Don’t underestimate your individual impact.’”

To contact Maia and Rob, send an email to climatecoach@transitionsaltspring.com. You can also register for our upcoming Climate Action Coach program kick-off webinar called All About Heat Pumps, delivered in collaboration with CleanBC, by going to https://bit.ly/3hpvBcX. 

One Cool Island is a regular series produced by Transition Salt Spring on how we can all respond to the climate crisis together. Andrea Palframan is a volunteer communications contributor for TSS. To support our work and read the Salt Spring Island Climate Action Plan, go to transitionsaltspring.com.  

Time to listen to real scientists and get vaccinated

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By MANDY SPOTTISWOODE

Driving through town last Monday I encountered the demonstration against vaccinations and masks.

As I was wearing my pro-vaccination button, I could not resist stopping to engage with the demonstrators and attempt to talk some reason into them. What a vain hope!  These people do not listen to reason and are bent on propagating their own crazy theories and alternate reality.

To deny any mainstream science and to call what is happening today in the world a giant conspiracy is total madness. Can you deny 675,000 dead in the U.S. alone and attribute those deaths to people with existing health conditions? Of course not, but according to them and their ilk these numbers have been cooked up by evil governments and big pharma in an attempt to sell us vaccines we don’t need. Every rational argument one can put to them is shouted down with crazy alternate theories that not only have no basis in science but also have no basis in reality.  

One of the arguments (and signs) that are currently popular is that vaccines don’t work. The “proof” of this is that even those vaccinated are ending up in hospital. Yes, yes, yes, that is true! No one ever said the vaccine was 100 per cent effective. Those fully vaccinated who are getting the virus are getting it from those who have been irresponsible enough to not get it. Or perhaps from children who cannot yet be jabbed, but who come from families who are unvaccinated. Those parents can then pass the infection on through their children, who often show no symptoms. So, yes, getting the jab does not make us 100 per cent safe, but it will likely prevent severe illness and death if we do get infected.

Those who refuse the vaccine may not be so lucky if they get infected. The news is full of stories about unvaccinated individuals who get COVID, and who just before they are intubated (and in some cases die) are begging others to get the jab. Of course, these stories must be fake news — right?

Look at the numbers (which they argue are invented). Most of those ending up in intensive care are unvaccinated. The strain on our wonderful health-care workers is due to these people. Those who protest outside hospitals, claiming the support of “health-care professionals” are the lowest of the low. Imagine being a nurse in intensive care and looking out of the hospital window at demonstrators denigrating what you have been doing for the last 18 months. One open letter purporting to be from such “professionals” likens the introduction of the vaccine passport to the early stages of the Holocaust, when rights and personal freedoms were being whittled away. To compare our politicians to the Nazis who murdered six million people is beyond reprehensible. And to denounce Dr. Anthony Fauci and our own Dr. Bonnie Henry as being fake scientists takes my breath away. 

I am not a scientist and don’t pretend to understand the science behind both the virus and the vaccine, but I choose to listen to accredited professionals, rather than those who may call themselves scientists and doctors, but whose credentials are suspect.  We have to believe someone, and I have chosen to trust our government and those who are advising them. And because we are lucky enough to live in a democracy, if we don’t like the way they have handled the pandemic we can vote them out come election time. I guess Justin Trudeau’s report card on his government’s handling of the pandemic will have been released this past Monday!

As I shook my head and walked away from the demonstrators, one of them started yelling in my face, saying that he had leprosy and was going to give it to me.  That pretty much sums up the kind of people taking part in these demos.  

Please, please, please . . . listen to the real scientists and get vaccinated.  It is only by everyone getting the jab that we are going to get back to a normal life, where masks and vaccine cards will no longer be needed.

If anyone would like one of my buttons, please let me know and I’ll be happy to get one to you: spottyonsaltspring@gmail.com.

The writer is a longtime Salt Spring Island resident.