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WARREN, Roger Stewart

Driftwood Obituary
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WARREN, Roger Stewart

Roger Stewart  Warren
1941 – 2021

Roger was born in Epsom, Surrey, England, on the 16th of August 1941. He emigrated to Canada with his parents as a teenager and grew up in Ontario.

In 1984 he moved to Salt Spring Island, BC, where he established Chickadee Pine, a handmade furniture business. He participated in the restoration of Mahon Hall, belonged to the Folk Music Club, and was active in the arts community. He also began sculpting, seeing the forms of birds and animals in collected pieces of wood.

He retired on six forested acres at the south end of the island, where he lived his final fifteen years in a sprawling house that he built and filled with his handmade furniture and carvings.

Robert died on the 6th of March 2021 at Lady Minto Hospital on the island and will be missed by many, including two ex-wives, Maggie Warren in Ontario and Judi Underwood of Victoria, BC; his step daughter Cyndy Spiers of Newmarket, ON; his cousin Sue Rehill (husband Ken) of Parksville, BC, and their son Kevin Rehill of Pemberton, BC; and another second cousin Roland Bonser in Washington State, USA. And also, in particular, by his friend of 60 years, Jim Ready of Innesfil, ON, and last but not least, his faithful dog Buddy.

HULL, Jim

Driftwood Obituary
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HULL, Jim

Jim Hull

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Jim Hull.
Survived by his son Richard, and sister Janice. Jim passed away on March 27th at 63 years old.

Such a creative guy with one heck of a green thumb. Anyone who knows him will always remember his smile, that sideways look and his laugh.

Richard has fond memories of the adventures his dad took him on as a kid, up the mountain, down to the beach and playing in the woods. Jim’s imagination always ran as wild as he did. A long-haired islander with his bike and a leather jacket, he grew up here and in his final years spoke fondly of his memories of this town and the good ol’ days.

You will always hold a place in our hearts, and we will miss you, father and friend.

Rest in peace Cricket.

AUSTIN, Victor Cecil

Driftwood Obituary
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AUSTIN, Victor Cecil

Victor Cecil Austin

1928 – 2021

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of a great man a husband, father, brother, grandfather, great grandfather, Victor Cecil Austin (Vic). On April 8 2021 he passed away peacefully in his sleep. He is survived by his wife of 72 years Violet, sons Garry (Charlotte), Mark (Laurel), Tim (Lorraine), 6 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. Born in Saskatchewan, moved to Richmond in the 40’s, retired to Salt Spring Island 38 years ago. An avid handyman and golfer (golfing he always kicked our butts). We will all miss you greatly.

Online vaccine appointment option begins

Contributed Article
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Online vaccine appointment option begins

All eligible adults in B.C. will soon be able to follow an easy, three-step process to register and book their vaccine appointments online, as the province moves to Phase 3 of B.C.’s COVID-19 Immunization Plan ahead of schedule.

“British Columbians faced the countless challenges of this past year with incredible courage,” said Premier John Horgan. “Today marks a major milestone in our fight against COVID-19, and we ask everyone to wait their turn and follow three steps to help put this pandemic behind us.”

There are three easy steps to register to book your vaccine appointment:

1. Register: First, register when it is your turn and get a confirmation code.

2. Book: Book a vaccine appointment when you get an email, text or phone call telling you you are eligible to book, based on your age.

3. Get vaccinated: Visit a vaccine clinic to get your vaccine dose.

Starting at 8 a.m. (Pacific time), on Tuesday, April 6, people born in 1950 and earlier (71 and older), Indigenous peoples 18 and older, and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable may register to book their vaccine appointment through the Province’s new ‘Get Vaccinated’ system in one of three ways:

* online at: gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated.html)

* by telephone through a provincial call centre (toll-free) at 1 833 838-2323

* in-person at the nearest Service BC location.

“We encourage everyone in B.C. to get their vaccine at their first opportunity, when it is their turn,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health.

Check in regularly to know when it is your turn to register: gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated.html)

To preserve system capacity, please wait until your age cohort is called to register.

“With more vaccine supply, we are taking an important step into Phase 3 of our immunization plan, and I encourage anyone who has questions to go to the BC Centre for Disease Control website to learn more about the safe and effective vaccines we have here in B.C.,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer. “Every vaccine delivered makes all of us safer – let’s keep our momentum going and get everyone who wants one, their first dose by Canada Day.”

People aged 55 to 65 on the Lower Mainland continue to be eligible to book an appointment to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine at a participating pharmacy near them:
www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/covid-19/vaccine/pharmacy (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/covid-19/vaccine/pharmacy)
More news to expand B.C.’s AstraZeneca program through pharmacies in other regions will come in the days ahead.

“We have worked diligently and tirelessly to get this online registration, booking and tracking system ready for British Columbians,” said Dr. Penny Ballem, executive lead, B.C.’s COVID-19 immunization program. “I want to thank the regional health authorities for delivering the clinics. Now, with the help of the new online and single phone number system, we’re ready to move onto the next phase of the largest vaccination program in B.C. history.”

To date, nearly 770,000 eligible British Columbians – or one in six – have received their first dose of vaccine, and more than 87,000 have received their second dose. If B.C.’s vaccine supply is delivered as scheduled, everyone in B.C. who is eligible for the vaccine will receive their first dose by the end of June.

Learn More: 

On April 6, 2021, gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated.html) will be available in 12 different languages.

For language assistance with registration, call (toll-free) 1 833 838-2323, available in 140 different languages.

For technical immunization information, visit the BC Centre for Disease Control’s website: www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine

For more information on what to expect when you go to get vaccinated for COVID-19, visit:
www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine/getting-a-vaccine

Online purse and satchel auction raises funds for youth programs

Contributed Article
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Online purse and satchel auction raises funds for youth programs

SUBMITTED BY THE CIRCLE

Starting today (April 2), Salt Spring Islanders can participate in an online auction for high-quality, new and gently used purses, satchels and handbags. 

Local businesses and residents donated 75 unique and fashionable bags that will be auctioned off until April 11 for an event titled Purses with a Purpose, Satchels with a Story. 

The event is a spring fundraiser and an awareness raiser for The Circle Salt Spring Education Society. The organization promotes healthy individuals and relationships, and therefore healthy families, communities, and workplaces. They do this by delivering innovative, evidence-based social-emotional educational programs for children, youth, and adults.

Janine Fernandes-Hayden, executive director for The Circle, said, “Funding-wise, it has been and will continue to be a difficult time for not-for-profit organizations in our community, though we all remain committed to meeting the needs of the community.”

She added, “Thankfully, we always have our creativity during times like these. This has been a fun and feel-good fundraiser to put together. We hope that the community will enjoy The Circle’s kick-off to spring and continue to generously support our programs for children and youth.”

Kim Dalton is one of The Circle’s directors-at-large. “This is going to be a serious FUN-draiser,” she said. “The Circle’s fundraising committee has been working hard to bring this idea to light. It has been a creative, collaborative effort between all of us at The Circle, local experts from our community, and local businesses. Volunteerism is alive and well here on Salt Spring! Let the bidding begin!”

As a parent of now adult children, Dalton added, “I’m always in awe of the important work and the good intentions that The Circle brings to our community. When my kids were still in school here, they greatly benefitted from its in-school programs, when the organization was still called SWOVA, where they learned to navigate relationships more skillfully. Every person on the board and staff is pouring their hearts and souls into this work because they all believe in the programs too. Please support our fundraiser and get yourself a great purse or satchel while you’re at it — but you’ll have to outbid me for the Mystery Bag!”

To learn more about the Purses with a Purpose, Satchels with a Story auction, visit https://www.thecircleeducation.org/purses-with-a-purpose/

Dance and activism explored in presentation

Contributed Article
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Dance and activism explored in presentation

SUBMITTED BY ARTSPRING 

How does dance intersect with local and global politics?

Join us as we speak with interdisciplinary artist and educator Ahalya Satkunaratnam to learn about her new book, Dancing Bodies, Navigating Conflict: Practicing Bharata Natyam in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and her dance project called Usha/Agni/Vyvastha (Dawn/Fire/Order).  

This online event, which sees Satkunaratnam in conversation with dance outreach coordinator Aina Yasué, is co-presented by ArtSpring and Made in BC Dance on Tour and runs via Zoom on Wednesday, April 7 at 6:30 p.m.

 The presentation is about how activism, academics and art practice intersect, and will be followed by a Q&A open to the community. It will explore the significance of interdisciplinary approaches to making and understanding art, how one can bring a critical approach into the dance studio space, and how structural and systemic barriers shape arts making and arts analysis.

Ahalya Satkunaratnam is a professor of arts and humanities at Quest University Canada, with over 20 years of experience in anti-racism teaching. Her research examines dance practice in Colombo, Sri Lanka during the civil war (1983-2009), through historical analysis, methods of dance studies and dance ethnography. 

Her own practice as a dancer and choreographer has seen her work presented in Sri Lanka, the U.S. and Canada. Her current piece — Usha/Agni/Vyvastha (Dawn/Fire/Order) — reflects on human experiences of how we live with war through sound, movement and visual arts. Her unique style fuses her Bharata Natyam training and artistic commitment to storytelling that is intertwined in the everyday. 

Amidst the instability of this past year we are excited to speak and learn about how dance can be in conversation with the political and social movements that affect us all. We hope that academics, activists, dancers, artists, educators, authors and anyone else who wants to learn more about dance will join the discussion.

For a free Zoom link to the April 7 event, send an email to tickets@artspring.ca.

Lady Minto Hospital Medical Staff Association Community Message

Contributed Article
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Lady Minto Hospital Medical Staff Association Community Message

SUBMITTED BY DR. DAVID BUTCHER

Lady Minto Hospital Medical Staff Association

As spring days bring beautiful weather and Easter weekend brings hope of new beginnings, we need to remind ourselves that COVID continues to be a real and present health risk in our community. 

The start of the COVID vaccination program has brought new hope for the end of the pandemic. However, some troubling trends are developing in Island Health’s fight against COVID-19. All three variants of concern have now been identified in Island Health. The number of variant cases across Vancouver Island are increasing. Contact tracing has shown that the variant cases were brought to the Island Health region through non-essential travel to other areas of B.C. and beyond. Public health teams have also noted a significant jump in the number of close contacts for COVID cases. 

On Salt Spring, we have not had any major outbreaks since the start of the pandemic. However we have had, and continue to have, the ongoing presence of COVID in our community. The variants of concern are more transmissible, meaning that a shorter exposure, or exposure to a smaller number of viral particles, may lead to communication of the disease. These variants are also proving to cause more serious illness in younger people. 

It is crucial that we continue to focus on the basics to prevent transmission – avoiding contact with others where possible, maintaining distance when in the presence of others, creating barriers to transmission by wearing masks covering the nose and mouth, and removing droplets through frequent hand washing and sanitization. Don’t travel unless it is essential so we can avoid the spread of virus between regions. These measures are as important now, if not more so, than at the beginning of the pandemic. Some people view these as issues of individual rights and freedoms but collectively they will limit the transmission and spread of the virus and help us end the pandemic. 

The start of the provincial vaccination campaign is the bright ray of hope this spring. On Salt Spring, seniors in residential care have been vaccinated and seniors in the community are now rapidly being vaccinated. In the coming weeks we anticipate large-scale community vaccination clinics to meet the target of vaccination for all adults who choose to get vaccinated by the summer.

Although there is considerable media attention paid to stories about the safety and success rates of immunity of different vaccines, the reality is that all of the vaccines currently approved for use in Canada are highly effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death. So, although vaccines may not be 100 per cent effective at preventing transmission, they are effective at keeping people from getting ill. As physicians, we unequivocally recommend getting vaccinated.

Recently, the province has announced a separate strategy to provide priority for vaccination to those individuals living with specific health conditions that make them more vulnerable to serious illness. These Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) individuals are identified through existing healthcare databases and can expect to be contacted by mail by April 15 to book their vaccination appointment. The list of conditions that are included in the identification of clinically vulnerable individuals can be found on the Ministry of Health, BC Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and Island Health websites. If you do not receive a mailed notification by April 15 and believe you should be included in this initiative, you should follow the instructions on these websites and call to make sure you have not been missed. If you have, you can complete the registration by following the instructions on the website. You can contact your family doctor to complete the registration process if necessary after following the instructions. 

Finally, as the Easter weekend approaches, let’s all appreciate the many blessings we on Salt Spring enjoy. Spring is a time for renewal. Let’s renew our commitment to each other and our community by redoubling our efforts to prevent transmission of COVID while the vaccine rollout continues.

RCMP seek white Dodge Ram after vandalism report

Driftwood Staff
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RCMP seek white Dodge Ram after vandalism report

The Salt Spring RCMP detachment is seeking witnesses after two vehicles were damaged on North End Road near Fairway Drive at St. Mary Lake in the early morning hours of March 28.

“For reasons that have yet to be determined, unknown suspect(s) decided to throw rocks at two parked cars. The rocks caused damage to the vehicles including breaking one of the windows,” a news release issued by RCMP Thursday afternoon states. “This senseless act was made more dangerous by the fact that both parked vehicles were occupied at the time.”

Witnesses in the area reported seeing a white Dodge Ram pick-up with dual rear wheels in the area at the time of the incident.

Investigators are still trying to determine if the occupants of the Dodge truck are the suspects or simply witnesses to the incident, according to Salt Spring RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Clive Seabrook.

“What caused someone to do this is unknown. There are far better things to do on Salt Spring than throw rocks at cars,” he said.

Anything who know anything about this incident is asked to call the Salt Spring RCMP at 250-537-5555.

Salt Spring vaccinations shift to ArtSpring

Elizabeth Nolan
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Salt Spring vaccinations shift to ArtSpring

Mysterious covered road signs that appeared in downtown Ganges this week are no April Fool’s joke, but a sign of a change coming to COVID-19 vaccinations.

Island Health confirmed Thursday that all vaccinations scheduled on Salt Spring will be moving to ArtSpring as of Wednesday, April 7. People who had appointments scheduled to take place at the public health unit office on or after that date will be informed of the shift by the health authority.

Once fully operational, the clinic at ArtSpring will operate Sunday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Residents are asked not to contact ArtSpring for information about registration or eligibility as staff will not be able to respond to such calls. This information can be found at: www.islandhealth.ca/covid19vaccine.

Appointments are required in order to attend the clinic and details will be confirmed once those appointments are booked.

The Island Health call centre for booking appointments can be reached at 1-833-348-4787 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, except on Good Friday and Easter Monday (April 2 and April 5) when hours will be reduced to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Water district consolidation with CRD recommended

Elizabeth Nolan
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Water district consolidation with CRD recommended

North Salt Spring Waterworks District (NSSWD) and the Capital Regional District (CRD) have released the long anticipated Salt Spring Island Water Optimization report, which finds that consolidating the water district and local CRD water services into one entity would provide the best governance solution and financial solution for Salt Spring. 

The Government of BC provided $40,000 in grant funding to conduct a joint study in 2019 to review ways to improve coordination between the public water service providers on Salt Spring and identify options to optimize water service delivery.

The report provides four options for improving on-island water governance and administration, and building a collaborative strategy for accessing federal and provincial funding to address Salt Spring’s much-needed water infrastructure needs. Based on the report, the province, CRD, and NSSWD state they are committed to discussing the next steps.

“I look forward to working with NSSWD, other water districts, and the province to explore options to improve water management on Salt Spring, and to access senior government infrastructure funding opportunities,” said CRD electoral area director Gary Holman in a statement, adding, “Any proposals for governance changes emerging from these discussions will ultimately have to be approved by respective water district ratepayers.” 

Salt Spring water service delivery is carried out by multiple agencies, including the CRD, NSSWD, other smaller improvement districts and private utilities, making it difficult to achieve economies of scale and a coordinated approach to water service delivery. North Salt Spring Waterworks provides water to around 50 per cent of the island’s residents. The CRD owns five drinking water systems on the island, each with its own advisory commission.

Consultants Innova Strategy Group believe a Salt Spring Island Water Utility department should be created with a commission providing governance oversight for specific services. The recommended “Option 3” would see the agencies create “an independent CRD Salt Spring Island department through a legally binding mechanism that reports to a single elected Salt Spring Island Commission and that would only operate and manage drinking water systems.”

“The optimization report has gone through a number of drafts,” observed Michael McAllister, who chairs the water district’s board of trustees. “One matter that has not changed throughout the process is Option 3, which the report’s author has recommended as the preferred approach to moving forward. The NSSWD Board has since the first draft supported the exploration of Options 3. We look forward to the next steps.”

For more information, visit https://www.crd.bc.ca/project/salt-spring-island-water-optimization.

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