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Salt Spring joins nationwide protest movement

Driftwood Staff
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Salt Spring joins nationwide protest movement

About 120 people attended a Salt Spring rally in support of the Wet’suwet’en people’s protest against the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline being constructed through their unceded territory.

People gathered on the grounds of the Salt Spring RCMP station on Tuesday afternoon, with several people speaking, and drumming and chanting also part of the event.

Check back for a full story on this website, or see the Feb. 19th issue of the Driftwood newspaper. (The rally occurred after the Driftwood had gone to press on the morning of Feb. 11.)

 

 

Wrecked boat put to rest at last

Elizabeth Nolan
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Wrecked boat put to rest at last

A prominent stretch of Ganges Harbour finally has a clear view out to sea with the wreck of the Castle Finn removed Friday night.

“It was just a total success,” said Kathy Reimer, a professional environmental consultant who heads the Island Stream and Salmon Enhancement Society. “Everything was done exactly perfect. It all just went lickety-split.”

The heavy touring catamaran had been lodged in the foreshore mud since November of 2018. A suspicious fire saw the boat burn down to the waterline on Jan. 31, 2019. Despite intentions to clear it from the shore after that, the combination of difficult natural conditions, government regulations and a criminal investigation limited the window when work could take place. Cost efficiencies of combining work with other wreck clean-ups also came into play.

Friday’s effort came through a partnership between the Dead Boats Disposal Society, the Capital Regional District, Salish Sea Industrial Services, and the Island Stream and Salmon Enhancement Society, using federal funding. Work was done by Salt Spring Excavating with cooperation from David Grayson of the Ganges Alley complex and Jason Watkin of Beachside.

“There were probably 20 people involved in the planning,” said John Roe, founder of the Dead Boats Disposal Society.

Reimer explained the Department of Fisheries and Oceans allows two windows when work can be done on the foreshore, one in the summer months and one in winter. The winter period is just about to be closed on Feb. 15. That factor and the weekend’s low tides made it expedient to act before another season passed.

Crews got to work on site preparation around 3 p.m. on Friday and had finished the majority of the removal and clean-up by 8p.m. Some additional clean-up was done Saturday morning. 

Reimer said the removal operation involved dismantling part of a rock wall near Ganges Alley and laying large swamp mats down on the beach to protect the creek and the beach. An excavator was used to break up the wrecked hull on the shore near Beachside. Pieces were moved across the creek and then loaded into a truck for recycling or disposal at the Hartland Road landfill in Saanich. 

For more on this story, see the Feb. 12, 2020 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Vandals cause washroom closure

Gail Sjuberg
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Vandals cause washroom closure

Capital Regional District parks maintenance staff have been starting their day with extra clean-up duties, as large amounts of garbage have been piling up around the Centennial Park trash cans in the morning. 

Staff have also seen an increase of damage and vandalism to the Centennial Park washroom, which has led them to close the facility overnight and through days of inclement weather. 

“What we’ve noticed is the vandalism and the graffiti seems to be happening when our regular park users aren’t in the park, so there are no eyes in the park,” said CRD parks and recreation manager Dan Ovington. 

The rise in vandalism has resulted in CRD staff closing the washroom at around 3 or 4 p.m. and to also keep the washroom building closed during periods of inclement weather. The new building was opened last April.

“On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays [the washroom is] open because those days school is out and people are using the park,” said parks maintenance supervisor Kirk Harris. “We’re providing the service to people who are actually using the park.” 

Harris described the damage to the park: “There are excessive amounts of garbage. When we go there in the morning, there’ll be two or three full green garbage bags full of trash. There’ll be piles of clothing, old wet dog blankets . . . All the downspouts around the new washroom have all been crushed in. You go there in the morning, you can see where they’ve been urinating all over the place.”

Garbage is a major hindrance to park operations. Typically parks staff spend an extra half hour every day to clean excess trash, and the bill for disposing of the waste ends up going to the taxpayers. During the busy season, the CRD’s garbage bill for parks is anywhere between $350 and $450 per week. 

Harris explained that staff believes much of the washroom damage has come from people living in vans near the park, and that as they tend to congregate in the park, more and more people are attracted to the area. 

“Living downtown basically started around November. A number of those vehicles really haven’t moved since that time. They’re parked in front of the park and in front of the two banks. The other morning, there were eight of what I call ‘terrestrial liveaboards,’” Harris said.

The CRD has contacted both the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, which has jurisdiction over Fulford-Ganges Road in front of the park, and the RCMP, to try and work out a solution.

For more on this story, see the Feb. 12, 2020 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

ArtSpring youth program yields rich results

Elizabeth Nolan
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ArtSpring youth program yields rich results

A free arts enrichment program offered annually by ArtSpring is getting ready to share its 2020 project results with the community. 

Islanders can see how local youth have transformed things like used envelopes, juice tin lids and cardboard into amazing artworks during three exhibition dates starting this Friday, Feb. 14.

This year the program is being run by someone with a special connection to the facility:  maintenance manager Erin Cleal. Cleal also happens to be a studio artist who has made a lifelong practice of creating art with materials that might otherwise be discarded. Her distinct collage style employs bold graphic elements and an almost seamless cutting and glueing technique that belies the constructed nature of the work. She has been sharing some of her trade secrets with a dozen or so students from grades 3 to 7 who have joined the three-week ArtSpring program.

As someone who grew up without a lot of material excesses, Cleal’s goal has always been to not let lack of money get in the way of creating, a message she hopes to pass on to her students. 

“I’ve been a collector and a saver of things forever, and I just thought I’d share it with them,” she said. 

During childhood Cleal was allowed to keep up to three large paper bags of materials for her projects at a time. She encourages using cereal boxes for card stock and often finds images from damaged and discarded children’s books. Other materials she brought in for the ArtSpring workshops were scraps of printed words, maps, sheet music and wrapping paper. 

“I save everything,” Cleal confirmed, adding her family members regularly send her packages of the metal ends from frozen juice concentrate. 

Those finished-edge disks are the perfect mount for collaged fridge magnets, which is one of the projects she’s had students undertake. They’ve also made wall hangings using office supplies and a set of unique greeting cards. This past Friday they were about to launch into a giant group painting on the corrugated cardboard sheets covering their work tables. (Cleal saved the packaging from those very tables for the workshop.)

In addition to teaching kids how to make art without spending a lot of money on supplies, Cleal’s techniques offer an accessible entry into art-making for those who may not have developed graphic skills.

“I started doing collage because I can say what I want to say through these other images. Not everybody can draw the perfect butterfly, but they can put the perfect butterfly on their art piece,” Cleal said.

Art pieces produced during the past few weeks will be on display at ArtSpring over the Family Day weekend from 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17, plus Tuesday, Feb. 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more on this story, see the Feb. 12, 2020 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Old Boys get Churchillian with V’s for victory

Contributed Article
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Old Boys get Churchillian with V’s for victory

 

By FRASER HOPE

Driftwood Contributor

A last-minute search by the Old Boys medical team for surgical masks in local pharmacies on Sunday before kickoff was unsuccessful, with not one to be found — all sold out!

Only an experimental vaccine based on rushed laboratory work of volunteer Old Boys’ bloodwork was available just before kick-off. Not all players submitted to the needle but those that did knew they were forging new sporting medical frontiers.

The only concern was how the World Anti-Doping Agency and FIFA would react. Could the vaccine give an unnatural advantage to the Old Boys over their opponents Vantreight 48s? It was noticeable that the visitors set up their team bench some distance from the home team bleachers.

Under welcome, sunny skies, a verdant pitch — thanks Mike Brown and school grounds staff  — Old Boys kicked off, bolstered by Homecoming Weekend returnees Dave McColl, Stefan Cermak and VIP (Vociferous Inspiring Personality) Jim Witherspoon straight from Hollywood. The team was determined to rebound after a series of setbacks.

With the resounding rallying cry of “We are more photogenic than the other teams but we always play ugly,” Old Boys stormed down the field, making several forays into the visitors’ half, spurred on by the considerable home support.

Goalkeeper Richard Steel soon made the game interesting with a rather careless clearance straight at an opponent, who fortunately was so surprised at this early opportunity he froze in the moment and the Old Boys cleared the ball. 

Languid as ever, McColl flighted a delicate through-ball for Mike McCormick, who showed considerable ball control to outflank the defencemen and notch a low shot with enough power after a lung-bursting run to open the scoring. Scott Howe, ever up for a marauding full-back overlap à la Robertson of Liverpool FC, cut back a cross for McCormick to score the team’s second goal.

The goals just kept coming, with Rainer Funk latching onto a combined slip by Matt Johnson and McCormick to take the goal tally to 3-0.  

Mike Davis (Betty’s boy) made a shot-come-cross bamboozle the defence, attackers and officials alike to score a goal off the back post, which clearly found the inside of the net before rebounding. The referee signalled to the centre circle for a goal, but after protestations to the assistant referee and a VAR official in the South Vancouver Island Classics Soccer Association Victoria studio, the decision was overturned: No goal for Big Mike!

Dave Eadie chipped in for the fourth goal aided by McCormick.

Howe, in the thick of things, drew a penalty inside the box. The crowd shouted “Give it to Scott!” who was seeking his first-ever goal (own goals not counting) in his long Old Boys career. The hush could be heard all around the stadium as Howe stepped up and hit the ball firmly . . . over the bar. No need for VAR — no goal!

The anguish continues for Howe, who greatly appreciated the supportive comments from Witherspoon in the stands.

Half-time came and went so quickly. Maybe not so quickly for Howe, who was constantly consoled by teammates and fans. 

Would the second half continue the goal fest? Old Boys, respectful of the opposition, changed the line-up slightly, but left McCormick up front still hunting for his hat-trick. Another Howe cross from the right saw McCormick “swing and miss” when it would have been easier to score.

Ben Cooper, who had been keeping a low profile, which meant he was still upright, combined with Johnson to keep the scoreboard ticking over at 5-0. Safe to say that Vantreights began to lose some of their earlier energy.  

McColl was felled by a defender. “Karma,” muttered the coach, but the ref played the advantage with Funk combining with Johnson to give McCormick his hat-trick.

Despite spurning golden opportunities to score, Donny Brown and Davis coyly managing to “miss” and not run up the score, but “Karma” McColl had no compunction in arriving perfectly at the back post, meeting a Brown cross to score number seven, when it could easily have been number 11! The referee finally drew the game to a close with the final score of 7-0.

The Old Boys turned to recognize the support of the large number of fans by giving Winston Churchill’s famous two-finger salute of Victory. “Vaccines! Virus free! Victory over Vantreights!” Readers will recognize that is a four-fingered salute, but poetic licence aside, the Old Boys deserved their Phoenix-like rise from the ashes of the Finlayson turf, the graveyard of many Old Boys dreams. 

Kudos to Witherspoon, McColl and Cermak, our home boys, and of course our commiserations to Howe, who will obviously learn from the experience and prepare for the future.

Old Boys will return to the graveyard that is Finlayson turf to face Vic West 48s at noon on Sunday, Feb. 16, WADA and FIFA willing.

Thirty years of service for Burch

Gail Sjuberg
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Thirty years of service for Burch

Things were a lot different on Judy Burch’s first day with the Salt Spring Search and Rescue group. 

Burch is the longest-standing member of the group, having started as a founding member of the first branch on the island in 1989. Burch at the time was working as a counsellor in the school system. Through her work she saw a need for more education for kids about how to be safe in the woods. 

“I work with kids in the school, so I saw a need there with the children. It was something I just sort of tried and I loved it,” she said. 

For 16 years, beginning in 2001, she was the coordinator and presenter for the national Hug-A-Tree program on the island. The program is presented every year in local schools, giving kids the tools they need to successfully stay safe if they ever get lost in the woods. She also helped expand the program to the public, offering evening courses to people in the community and especially seniors. 

As the years went on, Burch developed a love for tracking, and became one of the organization’s highest-rated trackers. Though to some people tracking may seem like an esoteric skill that is a combination of magic, mystery and luck, Burch explained that it is as easy as going for a walk in your backyard. 

“All you do is go outside in your back yard and walk. Then you go around and see if you can find where you’ve walked,” she said. “It’s really an important skill for searchers. It’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle. It’s a challenge. You know they went that way, but can you prove it? Can you find where they went?”

Tracking helps decrease the length of time needed to find the subject. Instead of having a group of searchers fan out in all directions, a skilled tracker helps pinpoint the direction of travel and allows the rescuers to quickly zero in on their target. 

“They can be anywhere if you think about it. If you walk into Mouat Park, then they could be anywhere,” she explained. “You could send out a whole bunch of teams, but you’re wasting a whole bunch of time. The person may need help right away. For example, with our elderly people who can wander away at times, we want to get to them quick.”

After approaching 31 years on the team, Burch has lately been slowing down with her commitments. She does not spend as much time out on rope calls or crawling around on cliffs, but she still has an active and important role to play. Manning the radio, working in the background, teaching new recruits and helping kids are still important parts of the job that Burch is happy to do. Burch has had a few recognitions for her long service, but she says the real reward is the feeling of finding a lost child in the woods. 

“I’ve been around so long, they had to do something with me. It’s always nice to be recognized,” she said. “I’d rather just be out there in the woods, finding a kid, grabbing them and hugging them . . . I’d rather do that.”

For more on this story, see the Feb. 12, 2020 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Viewpoint: Education funds lacking

Contributed Article
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Viewpoint: Education funds lacking

BY DEBORAH NOSTDAL

As many of your readers are aware, the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation is working to negotiate a contract.

Our last contract expired in June 30, 2019. We have been bargaining for a year now. Currently we are in mediation and are committed to that mediation process.

It has been widely commented on by media outlets that we have unreasonable asks with respect to finances. Keith Baldrey recently said that the BCTF “Continues to demand the education budget be increased to accommodate their fairly expensive contract demands.”

I feel that we need some perspective on this.

Spending on education in British Columbia for the 2002-2003 school year was 3.66 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. The last figures available are from the year 2017-2018 and they indicate that education spending in the province was 2.48 per cent of GDP. This represents a significant decrease in real dollars.

Recruitment and retention issues abound. We have over 400 unfilled teaching positions in British Columbia and a record number of unqualified teachers teaching on letters of permission. We are unable to recruit teachers when we are the second lowest paid teachers in the country. Coupled with our high cost of living, it’s an untenable situation.

Our students are funded at $1,800 below the national average. Teachers are struggling to support the diverse needs of the learners in their classrooms. After fighting in the courts to reinstate our illegally stripped language to have supports in place for our students, we are looking at a revised funding formula that falls short of what is needed.

At the same time, the government is steadily increasing their funding of private schools. Funding private schools with public money has not always been the case.  British Columbia started funding private schools in 1977. The government is now spending approximately $400 million a year on private schools, which is exacerbated by the tax-free status of the properties and the income tax deductions parents receive from tuition that is charged. We are not only funding the private schools at record high levels, but we are missing out on tax dollars that fund the system.

The public should expect and demand more from our government. Our kids deserve better,our teachers deserve better and our province deserves better.

The writer is president of the Gulf Islands Teachers’ Association.

Editorial: Love for the library

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Love for the library

Salt Spring’s public library has come a long way in 60 years. 

From its origins in a room in Mouat’s store with 1,300 books to its location in an old house when it was Mary Hawkins Memorial Library to the purpose-built structure it is today, the island’s library has served us in an ever-increasing number of ways. 

The library is no longer just a place to borrow books, although that may remain its primary function. 

Patrons can also take home DVDs, musical instruments and pick up free museum passes there. They can get tutoring in computer and tech device use, stream movies, access the internet for free, and hold meetings and other gatherings. All of this activity occurs thanks to dedicated staff, board members, and an army of volunteers and community partners.

The addition of the program room in the structure that opened in December of 2012 lets the facility continue to be a community hub in the evenings and on Sundays as well. 

Perhaps most importantly, the library is a place that brings people from diverse spheres together. It’s easy to remain within one’s own niche on Salt Spring, whether it’s carved out by age, wealth, health or occupation. Just about everybody who lives on the island goes to the library for some reason at some point. Or if they don’t, they easily could. 

Last Thursday night the depth and diversity of the library’s community was in full evidence when appreciation for the library was expressed in poetic form. Shortlisted entries in an Our Library in Poetic Life contest and library love were shared.

As the Salt Spring Public Library enters its seventh decade of existence, it will be exciting to see how it evolves and adapts to new demands.

The 60th anniversary celebration continues at the library with the ongoing Brushstrokes & Bookshelves art show in the program room and the Salt Spring Archives display. It culminates in the Anniversary Gala and Dance on the evening of Feb. 22, after kids have participated in a tile-making workshop for one of two legacy art projects in the works and teens have enjoyed a movie in the program room that day.

It might not be possible for our library to be all things to all people, but it makes a huge effort to do so and largely succeeds. 

WHEATLEY, Dennis

Driftwood Obituary
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WHEATLEY, Dennis

Dennis Wheatley
December 9, 1928 – February 1, 2020

Dennis was born in Leeds, England December 9, 1928 to William and Frances Wheatley. One of twelve, he is predeceased by Dorothy, Anne, Pauline and Kathleen but survived by Doreen, Marie, Peter, Brian, Robert, Terry, Graham and numerous nieces and nephews.

There will be an enormous hole in the lives of his much loved daughters, Brenda (Reg) and Tina (Dave), granddaughters Ali (Brady), Patrick, great-grandson and Juli (Trevor) and his love, Pat and her family.

In 1953, Dennis emigrated to Canada. He started work in a printing company in Montreal but soon came to Vancouver to run their sales department. He went on to own several very successful companies in Vancouver connected to printing and graphic arts. He enjoyed the business world but when he was 60 he enjoyed his retirement even more.

This Yorkshire lad was always keen on sports: cycling in Europe, windsurfing, skiing, fishing then spending many hours on the golf course. He was so proud to receive his honorary life membership at our Salt Spring Golf Club when he and the Club both hit 90.

Dennis always looked after his physical fitness and was fortune to enjoy good health for most of his life. His stroke in 2017 brought big, frustrating changes culminating in his admission to Lady Minto on January 23 this year. Thankfully, more strokes and pneumonia brought to an end his journey with vascular dementia.

In keeping with Dennis’s wishes, there will be no service but a gathering at Brenda’s home at a later date.
Since there is not a separate dementia foundation, please consider donating in his memory to the Alzheimer Society B.C. 1-604-681-6530 or email: giving@alzheimerbc.org

SELKIRK, Robert Russell

Driftwood Obituary
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SELKIRK, Robert Russell

Robert Russell Selkirk
October 25, 1945 – January 26, 2020

It is with deep sorrow that I announce the passing of Robert.

Bob passed away peacefully in Victoria General Hospital.  He is survived by sister Brenda Gravelle and brother William (Bill) Selkirk of Chalk River and many friends in Victoria and on Salt Spring Island.

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