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Salt Spring shuts down as province declares health emergency

Gail Sjuberg
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Salt Spring shuts down as province declares health emergency

Announcements of closures on Salt Spring Island streamed in through the day Tuesday, with numerous organizations, restaurants and offices heeding government and health authority calls for everyone to do their part to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The provincial government declared a public health emergency on Tuesday afternoon, which gives provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry broader powers to help combat the virus.

Even before Henry provided the latest COVID-19 case figures — 83 new confirmed cases for a total of 186 in the province — B.C. Education Minister Rob Fleming announced that the province’s schools would be closed “indefinitely.” Once spring break period is over, learning will be done online, although the details still need to be worked out. All students will receive a grade and all Grade 12 students will graduate this year, Fleming confirmed.

The Vancouver Island health region now has 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

On Salt Spring Island:

• As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Rainbow Road Aquatic Centre was closed.

• PARC’s spring break camps will remain in operation until 5 p.m. on Friday, March 20, pending further direction from the provincial government. PARC’s Facebook page clarified: “We encourage parents to make other child care arrangements and expect that day camps could close at any time. Please note that PARC will not accept any new registrations for spring break camps. We recognize many families and individuals rely on our recreation programs and services, and we ask for your patience while we continue to determine next steps as more information is made available. Credits will be issued for programs and activities affected by the closure. CRD staff will automatically apply the appropriate credit to your account. There is no need to contact us to cancel. Membership passes will be extended.”

• The Saturday Market in the Park will not commence on April 4 as scheduled.

 • As of Tuesday, ArtSpring was closed indefinitely.

• The Salt Spring Public Library will close as of noon on Wednesday, March 18. Until Monday the library was following the lead of other libraries in the province and remaining open for patrons with modifications to seating and computer layout in the facility.

• The Salt Spring Islands Trust office is closed to walk-in traffic and the March 24 Local Trust Committee meeting is cancelled.

• The North Salt Spring Waterworks District office is closed to walk-in traffic.

• The Ganges Visitors Centre is closed.

• Numerous restaurants have closed or are limiting services to take-out and/or delivery only.

• The Fritz Cinema is closed.

• The Royal Canadian Legion closed on Wednesday.

• Salt Spring Island Community Services will continue to operate the food bank on Tuesdays but orders and pick-ups will be outdoors and choices will be restricted. For people who are not able to make it to Community Services on Tuesdays, a limited number of pre-filled food bags are available at the main building at 268 Fulford-Ganges Rd.

• Island Health has limited the number of visitors entering its buildings and hospital units, with just one adult caregiver or support person permitted for each patient in most areas. Exceptions are that two caregivers per patient will be permitted in neonatal intensive care units and in long-term care facilities.

• At Greenwoods, essential visits only are allowed. Those are defined as compassionate visits for end-of-life care and visits that directly support residents’ care plans.

• All front-counter services of the Salt Spring RCMP office are not available at this time. The detachment also issued a press release.

Note: The Wednesday, March 18 print version of the Driftwood will contain outdated information in light of changes that occurred after press time.

COVID-19 wipes out running events

Contributed Article
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COVID-19 wipes out running events

In consideration of the provincial government’s latest recommendations and protocols regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, many sporting events in B.C. have been cancelled, including major road racing events.

With just two days to go, Salt Spring Sneakers’ coach Susan Gordon received notice that the BMO St. Patrick’s Day 5K to be held in Stanley Park on March 14 had been cancelled. This was also to be the B.C. 5K Championships and Gordon had been seeded in the elite field. The race will now combine with the James Cunningham Seawall 10K Race to take place on Nov. 1.

The organizing committee’s decision to cancel the Vancouver-based race quickly followed other major cancellations around the world, including the New York Road Runners Half Marathon, the Berlin Marathon, the Rome Marathon, and postponements (so far) for the Boston Marathon and Paris Marathon. Others are likely to follow suit.

A huge blow to local runners also comes with the cancellation of the legendary Vancouver Sun Run and the Times Colonist 10K in Victoria next month. The Vancouver Island Race Association series is taking pause with the cancellation of the Comox Valley RV Half Marathon. With two other VIRA races scheduled to follow, Sooke 10K, and Bazan Bay 5K, the Sneakers expect that race committees will take the containment situation into consideration on a per-event basis.

“As a local running group, the Sneakers’ consensus is that our outdoor activity, typically undertaken in groups of less than 30 people, will continue to be safe, and good for both mental and physical health. It makes us truly appreciate this wonderful community and the sensible approaches undertaken by health officials and business owners at this stressful time,” Gordon said.

Library urges online resource use

Driftwood Staff
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Library urges online resource use

Salt Spring Public Library be closed until further notice starting at 12 noon today, Wednesday, March 18, in the interest of public health and “flattening the curve” of COVID-19.

Online services are still available, however. Chief librarian Karen Hudson recommends that people explore the library’s website to access great free resources. Those include:

• For ebooks, movies and TV shows, check out Hoopla. “An enormous selection, plus no waitlists, immediate access to all titles,” states the library. “If you’ve got a hot title in mind, try OverDrive & Libby. OverDrive is the program for computers, Libby is the App-version for devices. The platform offers more than two million digital titles from over 5,000 publishers.”

• Another interesting option: Open Library; this resource offers free access to 1.7 million scanned versions of books, and links to external sources.

• To read some magazines without buying them, try RBdigital Magazines – Offers full text and full images from 200 popular magazines. They can be read on a computer or downloaded via the RB Digital app.

• For edgy independent film, RBdigital Indieflix is a good option. This streaming movie collection of 8,000 titles provides unlimited access to award-winning independent shorts, feature films, classic TV and international documentaries from 85 countries. Search or browse the collection by: country, film festival or language.

• RBdigital Audiobooks – Recorded Books is the largest independent publisher of audiobooks, with a catalogue of over 35,000 exclusive titles.

Kids meet ‘moptops’ at library

Gail Sjuberg
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Kids meet ‘moptops’ at library

Salt Spring’s public library was rocking last Thursday when island musician David Jacquest brought his Beatles at the Library show to the program room.

“It’s been a hard day’s night, and I’ve been working like a dog,” sang Jacquest with gusto. “It’s been a hard day’s night, I should be sleeping like a log.”

While plenty of adults were drawn to the music as they walked through the library foyer, Jacquest was performing for French Immersion students from Salt Spring Island Middle School in one of three different presentations. A Phoenix school class also attended one session.

People of a certain age can probably name all of the band members and sing numerous Beatles songs by heart, and will likely still have some records. While the SIMS kids attending the second session had definitely heard of the Beatles, they were much less knowledgable about the musicians, their songs, cultural impact and legacy when they took their seats in the room.

But by the end of the 45-minute presentation, students had learned that the Beatles were at first dubbed “mop tops” because of their radical hair styles; they had been exposed to a Liverpudlian accent and voices of all four band members as enunciated by a well-practised Jacquest; and saw famous Beatles vinyl record covers and memorabilia.

They also heard a representative sampling of Beatles repertoire using three different guitars — from Hard Day’s Night to Help! to Eleanor Rigby and Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds — that illustrated the band’s evolution and the individual members’ compositional styles. Jacquest explained how the first incarnation of the 1965 hit Yesterday used the words “scrambled eggs,” adding that it is also considered the most covered song of all time, with more than 2,200 versions recorded.

“It was interesting and cool to learn about the Beatles (like a music history lesson),” wrote one student in an evaluation about the event.

Giving a nod to present-day hit movies, Jacquest made a connection between the White Album song called Rocky Raccoon, with a character by that name in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy.

At the end of the session one student asked: “Why are they called the Beatles?”

Jacquest replied that the Beatles loved Buddy Holly and the Crickets, so chose an insect for their name as well, but changed the double-e in “beetle” to an “e-a.” The kids easily figured out the rationale for the vowel switch.

Retired teacher Debbie Magnusson is the initiator of the Music in the Library program. The idea grew from her attempts last year to book gigs for a musician and music historian named Jeff Warner, who had often played for children in libraries. Nikki McCarvill, the children’s librarian at the time, really liked the idea and the Salt Spring Foundation generously awarded a grant to the proposal.

“The intention is to bring kids into the public library and to show that libraries are not just about books,” said Magnusson.

The program also exposes the young audience to live performances, which not all youth have access to for various reasons.

Jacquest, who graduated from Gulf Islands Secondary School in 1988, is a lifelong Beatles fan. He created the annual Let it Beatle concert series at the Tree House Cafe and is the primary force behind the island’s Wannabeatles band that plays at various venues. He has performed as a solo artist for decades, as well as in duos and large groups.

About the Beatles in the Library project, Jacquest said, “Of course I loved it and I think I learned as much as the kids.”

Will Millar paints window into Ireland’s past

Elizabeth Nolan
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Will Millar paints window into Ireland’s past

Gallery 8‘s now-annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration was offered on Friday, in perhaps one of the last such social gatherings to be seen on the island for some time.

The moment of levity and hint of greener pastures came to Salt Spring thanks to Will Millar, the Irish Rovers founder who now spends most of his time painting at his Cowichan Valley farmhouse/studio. Millar and musical friends The Islanders performed for the opening of his solo art show, which continues upstairs through March 25.

Those who have seen Millar’s work in the past will be familiar with his colourful style and regular theme, which is the Ireland he knew as a child. The show itself will be new to viewers, though, consisting mainly of previously unseen pieces created over the past two years.

“Ireland today has greatly changed but the Ireland of my youth was a colourful place,” Millar said during a previous visit to the island. “There were gypsies on the back roads with painted wagons, raggedy kids and dogs. Every town had horse fairs and country markets with cattle, sheep and wonderful characters. Moonshine men, itinerant musicians and ballad singers in old pubs: I remember it all vividly and very fondly.”

While those elements all have their roots in a real past, the scenes that Millar puts together are from his own imagination and may unite different elements. For example, a stirring depiction of a black and white Percheron horse galloping past a ruined castle atop seaside cliffs brings together fond memories of playing in that very castle as a youngster, and the farm where the horses were raised nearby.

Many of the paintings have an element of the humour for which the Irish are well known, and of which Millar enjoys a great share. One of his personal favourites in the current show is Donnybrook Pub. For those who haven’t heard the term through its transference to the sports world, a “donnybrook” has come to mean any big melée. It originates from the historic pub in question, where people once went specifically to have fights.

Cheeky takes on religious art that further reveal Millar’s warm humour include Murphy’s Last Supper, where a long table of “reprobates” have a completely liquid dinner at the local pub.

A Gypsy Nativity poses Madonna and child in front of a stone stable with thatched roof, with a cheerfully painted gypsy caravan poking up from behind a stone wall. The visiting shepherds all wear flat wool caps — and one white-bearded fellow holding a lamb has more than a passing resemblance to the artist, who is himself often seen in such headgear.

For those who missed being treated to Millar’s charming company last Friday, he has proposed coming back to the island after the current health crisis has passed to give a talk called The Joy of Art. He said the event would encourage people to pick up a pencil or a paintbrush themselves, with a little philosophy and humour thrown in as well. Until then, his work offers an excellent source of positivity.

Humphreys’ Plague sales surge

Elizabeth Nolan
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Humphreys’ Plague sales surge

Salt Spring author Chris Humphreys has reason to repeat the old proverb “It’s an ill wind that blows no good,” and not just because historical fiction is one of his favourite genres.

Humphreys’ novel Plague, first published in 2014, has recently surged to the top of the list in Kindle sales, reaching number one in medical fiction and number three in historical mysteries. On Saturday he said the Kindle version of the book had sold 700 copies in 24 hours.

Plague won the Best Novel prize in the 2015 Arthur Ellis Awards for Crime Writing, awarded annually by the Crime Writers of Canada. The story is set in 1665’s plague-ridden London and is anchored by an odd-fellow team of characters in a thief taker and his quarry, a disenfranchised noble turned highwayman.

Humphreys’ fun crime fiction clearly has much historical interest regarding how societies have dealt with the worst pandemics of the past, along with many other fascinating tidbits. He charts religious fanaticism at its most crazed level and the restoration of the monarchy with Charles II. He even touches on the difficult path of the earliest stage actresses and provides a glimpse into the notorious Newgate Prison.

Those who enjoy Plague will no doubt wish to read the follow-up story called Fire, set in the following disastrous year for London in 1666.

All of the news is not bad

Contributed Article
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All of the news is not bad

By Linda Starke

Thirty years ago I wrote a book entitled Signs of Hope: Working Towards Our Common Future. It was a follow-up to Our Common Future, the 1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, known as the Brundtland Commission. My goal was to look at the positive developments during the three years since that report came out. It was, of course, a short book.

Most of the few positive changes had to do with the environment. Governments pledged to protect the ozone layer. Three out of four Americans identified themselves as environmentalists. Mayors and ministers of energy launched tree planting campaigns to slow global warming. (Yes, some people were worrying about climate change in the 1980s.) Consumers clamored for “future-friendly” products.

But the Brundtland Commission brought international attention to the concept of sustainable development, which it defined as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This is not just about environmental problems. The commissioners were clear on the simultaneous importance of ending global poverty and meeting people’s needs today.

“A world in which poverty and inequity are endemic,” the Commission wrote, “will always be prone to ecological and other crises.” The final chapter of my book was entitled The Unfinished Agenda because in 1990 the statistics on poverty, illiteracy, the lack of clean water, and childhood and maternal mortality around the world were alarming. 

Thirty years later the picture looks different. The health of the planet is a grave concern despite all the environmental fervour of the late 1980s, but people’s lives have quietly, without much fanfare, improved overall. In a recent New York Times article, columnist Nicholas Kristof detailed some signs of hope. Although four per cent of children today die by the age of 15, in 1950 that number was 27 per cent. In 2016, according to the World Bank, 214 women died in childbirth per 100,000 live births, but in 2001 that figure was 342 women per 100,000 live births. And less than 10 per cent of the world now lives on less than $2 a day — the UN’s definition of extreme poverty — while in 1981 that figure was 42 per cent. Five decades ago most people in the world could not read, but 86 per cent of adults were literate in 2015.

Kristof writes a column about such improvements in human development every December because “I fear that the news media and the humanitarian world focus so relentlessly on the bad news that we leave the public believing that every trend is going in the wrong direction.” 

Yes, in the last 30 years climate change morphed into a climate emergency and then escalated into a climate crisis. So that is clearly the wrong direction. The agenda of sustainable development remains unfinished, but the lives of many of the poorest of the 7.7 billion people on Earth have improved a little bit. Not enough, but a bit. A small hopeful sign.

Trust Council hears plea for SRKW support

Elizabeth Nolan
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Trust Council hears plea for SRKW support

Islands Trust Council could soon be giving more attention to part of its strategic plan dealing with an important issue in its waters, the recovery and survival of the southern resident killer whale population.

During an update on the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve Advisory Committee on March 12, Saturna trustee Lee Middleton reported action items under the federal Oceans Protection Plan for 2020 are now in the consultation phase and are set to be enacted in June. He requested time on the next Trust Council agenda to discuss the plan more fully, noting it has complex layers. In the meantime he recommended that individual local Trust committees do what they could to support the federal government’s efforts on killer whale recovery, some of which have faced extreme opposition from the whale-watching industry.

“Pretty much everybody is admitting they’re part of the problem and seeking to do something about it. The people who aren’t are the whale-watching boats,” Middleton said. “To me, we’re not saying no whale watching. We’re saying you have to be real and admit that shadowing the J or K pod for every available daylight hour is a problematic activity.”

“On Saturna Island in the summer every day you see anything from 12 to 30 vessels all day shadowing whales,” he added. “The industry talks about themselves as being actually the sentinels, the guardians, and it’s B.S. I see it akin to the resource industry where it’s a cash grab: ‘The whales are not dead yet, we can sell tickets. Let’s do that as long as we’ve got a living population and then when they die we sell the boats.’”

The Saturna LTC has passed a resolution that supports harmonizing the regulation of B.C.’s whale-watching industry with that of Washington state, where stricter measures will be implemented in 2021. The LTC also passed a resolution supporting interim sanctuary zones located off Saturna and Pender islands, and enacted a “voluntary bylaw” on commercial shipping vessel slow-downs.

Middleton encouraged other communities to take the same steps, if only to signal the importance of the issue.

“I would really appreciate it if other local Trust committees would consider passing resolutions on regulating the whale-watching industry,” added Middleton’s fellow Saturna trustee Paul Brent. “Their behaviour is obnoxious, and I think if we can advocate for whale-watching permitting and regulation, it won’t stop it from happening, it would just give it some teeth, and it would be really really appreciated by the southern resident killer whales.”

Middleton said there are additional areas of interface between the Islands Trust’s strategic plan and budget and the federal government’s work, pointing to an eelgrass mapping project the Trust is partnering on as a prime example. While the Trust is ready to commit its $50,000 to the work, nonprofit group Sea Change failed to receive its federal funding in this cycle.

“To me it seems that that would be the simplest of asks of DFO and Transport Canada to have that work completed because obviously it’s critical forage habitat for one of the four primary threats to the southern resident killer whales, and that’s prey availability,” Middleton said. “And so I think it’s time for us to become more coordinated with this initiative of the provincial and federal governments.”

Islands Trust bylaw enforcement issue aired

Elizabeth Nolan
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Islands Trust bylaw enforcement issue aired

Islands Trust staff will be creating a report on bylaw enforcement case volume and capacity issues following information presented at Trust Council’s quarterly meeting on Salt Spring last week.

An update from bylaw enforcement manager Warren Dingman and a delegation by Salt Spring resident Maxine Leichter brought the issue to the forefront, producing quick recognition of the need for more information. North Pender trustee Deb Morrison observed that better bylaw enforcement and funding to support it have been called for in public feedback on the 2020-21 budget.

“I think my favourite [comment is] ‘The Islands Trust needs to be strong in order to carry out its mandate to preserve and protect the natural rural features of the Islands Trust. It needs to be able to hire people, among other things, to enforce bylaws,’” Morrison read. “So really having clear information on this can help us get ahead of this for next year’s budget cycle and figure out how to do this fully.”

Dingman reported that more than 300 files remained open at the end of December 2019, representing an increase over the previous year-end number. He further noted the litigation budget for compliance and enforcement is forecast to be $25,000 over budget this fiscal year due to short-term vacation rental litigations, the desire for more enforcement by some local Trust committees, and the fact that enforcement of development permit areas cannot be done using the bylaw enforcement notification system.

Leichter said in her delegation that she had spoken with many islanders who felt frustrated with bylaw enforcement because they weren’t updated on compliance progress. She also pointed to open file statistics across the Trust area, which show 156 cases are from one to five years old and 56 have been open for more than five years.

“It appears that the bylaws only apply to those who choose to follow them. The Islands Trust cannot protect the islands if they do not achieve compliance in a timely manner or, in some cases, ever,” Leichter said. Gabriola trustee Scott Colbourne spoke in favour of getting the enforcement capacity report as a step toward improvement.

“I think this goes hand in hand with stewardship education,” Colbourne said. “There’s a lot of newcomers to the communities which I represent, and we need to communicate to them where they’re living, what’s special about it and how to reduce our impact on the environment. This is for when that doesn’t work, and I think these two do need to go hand in hand.”

“A lot of our work is going to retroactively dealing with people who simply go ahead and do things, and then a lot of our LTC and staff time goes into how to try to put a tree back where a tree was cut down,” he added.

Salt Spring trustee Laura Patrick agreed that she has spent time with people who feel their complaint isn’t being taken seriously, and suggested better communication about the process could be discussed. Staff confirmed that people do receive an initial letter of receipt after a complaint is made.

 

Returning families isolate on Salt Spring

Elizabeth Nolan
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Returning families isolate on Salt Spring

Several Salt Springers who were recently in Italy have now made it home and are observing the 14-day quarantine period as recommended by Canadian health authorities.

Heidi Crouse, who arrived on Salt Spring with her son on Friday, and Robert Birch, who returned home Thursday with his partner Mark Stevens, are now partway through their first week of isolation. As of Monday, neither pair had reported any symptoms of illness but both were happy to stay isolated as a preventative measure.

Crouse and her 17-year-old son Seth had to cut short their month-long trip to Europe, and were lucky to fly out of Florence to Paris and then to Vancouver after two previous flights were cancelled.

“I’m over the massive disappointment,” Crouse said Monday. “Yesterday I just felt so sad that it’s coming here too.”

Birch and Stevens were in South Africa for a conference on community adaptation to crisis with a LGTBQ focus. They had layovers in Rome scheduled for both legs of the trip, and had spent four days in northern Italy before the outbreak spiked on the way to the conference. The difference to their return layover was stark.

“Going back everything started to move very quickly. Literally, things were shutting down as we stepped out the door,” Birch said.

Having seen the empty streets and local travel limitations enforced by police and armed guards, Crouse and Birch were impressed by the seriousness of the situation when the virus has overwhelmed the health care system’s capacity to respond. Both were therefore surprised to find the Vancouver airport failingto reflect the serious possibilities with suitable prevention or tracking measures.

Birch and Stevens had transferred planes in Montreal, and were two of just 43 passengers on a 747 jet. Birch said they passed through the gates in Vancouver without being questioned at all.

“It was the fastest experience of going through checkpoints ever,” he said.

Borders were closed to most people who are not Canadian citizens, residents of Canada or U.S. citizens as of Monday. The Canada Border Services Agency also announced that it was increasing staffing, educational materials and screening measures at airports and other entry points. Incoming travellers are being asked if they have any symptoms of illness, and to acknowledge they have been told to self-isolate for 14 days if travelling from anywhere outside Canada.

Crouse found there were some precautions being taken in international arrivals last week, but not much. Travellers from a few countries, including Italy and Iran, were asked to go into a separate line and then to check a box on a form and include their flight and seat number. Since this was voluntary, Crouse felt some travellers wouldn’t bother. She and her son received a leaflet with information about COVID-19 and were given masks to wear, but were not told they should self-isolate.

One of the issues coming off the plane was how to get back to Salt Spring, but a couple from Chilliwack who they met on the plane offered to drive the Crouses to the ferry terminal. They took extreme precautions to make sure they didn’t pass anything on from there.

“We didn’t touch anything,” said Crouse, who ensured she and her son stayed seated in just one area, and informed staff they might want to pay extra attention to cleaning there even though they weren’t sick. They are now staying at home along with husband/dad Dean Crouse for the two-week period and are monitoring their temperatures several times a day.

“We’re lucky we live on a huge farm,” Crouse said. “And I’m cooking up a storm, so we’ve been having fun. We’ve been recreating meals like we’d been having in Italy.”

Birch and Stevens arrived on Salt Spring with friends having made preparations on their behalf, including delivering their car to the Fulford ferry terminal and stocking their fridge with food.

On Monday, Birch and Stevens were on their fifth day back and had not developed any symptoms of illness but were committed to staying put for the full 14 days. Avoiding social interactions in general and being prepared with three weeks’ supplies in case of any emergency is a good idea, Birch said, recommending a policy of “preparation not panic.”

“This won’t be the last crisis, obviously, we deal with as a community. This is the opportunity to support each other as a community to have a better outcome,” Birch said.

Birch’s community health research suggests that sharing reliable information in digestible amounts is one way to help people get through challenging times. Making sure the most vulnerable people in the community are supported is important, and so is doing frequent check-ins with your social groups. Birch said this could be done with online platforms such as Skype or Zoom.

“Anxiety and depression have a huge impact on our personal and collective immune system. The more we can reassure each other that we have each other’s backs, the better our response will be. Reassurance is critical,” Birch said.

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