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DOUCET, Marie Frances Valerie

Creative
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DOUCET, Marie Frances Valerie

Marie Frances Valerie Doucet
June 24, 1929 – December 8, 2018

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Valerie Doucet, December 8, 2018, on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, where she died peacefully, surrounded by family.

Valerie came of age on the picturesque shores of Youghall Beach, in Bathurst, New Brunswick, where she eventually met the love of her life — her husband, Bernie. Together, they raised six children.

Valerie’s bond to her family ran deep. She nurtured her children’s individuality, imparted the rich traditions of their Acadian heritage, and encouraged them to reach for the stars.

She had a heart of gold from which her children learned love, tenderness, forgiveness, and compassion. She was also spirited and passionate, with a backbone of steel; a principled trailblazer who spoke out against oppression and injustice. And, she had an iron will — which meant she never shied away from an argument.

Those who knew Valerie admired her sharp mind and wit; impressive artistic, creative, and musical abilities; and angelic voice — opera being her favourite musical genre.

Mischievous by nature, if she wanted to ruffle her children while they were still unruly teenagers, she would belt out Carmen’s L’amour est un oiseau rebel or another favourite aria – right in front of their friends. At the time, her children were deeply embarrassed by their coloratura soprano matriarch. But now, they would move mountains to hear her sing, or to seek her wise counsel, or to hear her big beautiful belly laugh just one more time.

While Valerie hummed, whistled, and sang wherever she could — most recently with her beloved Salt Spring Island’s Lost Chords and United Church choir — she also sought quiet and stillness through her spiritual connection with nature. She communed with the forest, harvesting its precious delicacies, foraging weekly batches of freshly picked morels or salmonberries to share with guests at her dinner table.

Devoted to giving back in other ways, Valerie also volunteered for UNICEF, Salt Spring’s Lady Minto’s Women’s Auxiliary Thrift Store, and as a peer counsellor for the Island’s Seniors for Seniors program. Throughout her long, rich life, she engaged in a variety of professional pursuits too — from working as a lab technician to a real estate agent, medical device analyst, and then, as a translator.

She remained active in her adopted community of Salt Spring until she was struck by dementia more than a decade ago — an illness she faced with courage, grace, and dignity. While dementia eventually robbed her of her ability to communicate with words, Valerie never stopped recognizing her children’s voices or her husband’s name — Bernie, whom she lovingly called “my man.”

Valerie is predeceased by her husband, Bernard Doucet, and her daughter Denise (Rocco Ciancio). She leaves behind her sister Jeanette Davis (Fred), brothers Frederic Arsenault (Claudette) and Michel Arsenault, and five children: Louise (Doug Motherwell), Suzanne (Hulber Gagliardini), Carol-Anne (Randy Chambers), Joey, and Paul.

Also mourning her loss are her grandchildren Claire, Jesson, Nicholas, Chloe, Jacob, Jean-Philippe, Matthew, and Christopher, as well as many in-laws, nephews and nieces, extended family members, and friends.

Besides her parents, Antoine and Rosella (Lil) (Gallant) Arsenault, Valerie was predeceased by her sister Marie Arsenault.

The Doucet family wishes to thank the staff of Greenwoods who treated their mother with compassion and attended so lovingly to her needs.

A celebration of Valerie’s life will be held at the Salt Spring Island Lions Club on Saturday, February 23, at 1:30 p.m. If you would like to make a donation in Valerie’s name, please consider the Gulf Island’s Families Together Society.

Island in recovery mode following storm

Gail Sjuberg
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Island in recovery mode following storm

As Salt Spring slowly starts recovering from Thursday’s devastating wind storm, the island’s emergency program is urging people to take advantage of programs that will help keep them warm and give them access to water.

A warming and recovery centre was opened at the Salt Spring Seniors Centre at 379 Lower Ganges Road on Sunday and re-opens today (Monday, Dec. 24) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Further opening days and hours are possible but not known yet.

People can have coffee and other refreshments, charge their computers and cell phones, and share information. A help board lists people who have services to offer, such as a spare room close to town, chainsaw services or who are willing to drive people where they need to go.

On Sunday, emergency program coordinator Elizabeth Zook was urging people to try to access the help they need, and for others to provide that help either through the emergency POD program or in their role as neighbours.

“I’m really happy that no one died,” said emergency program coordinator Elizabeth Zook in assessing the events on Thursday and since then. 

“It was ugly as hell,” she said, but said things are going well considering the magnitude of the disaster.

An estimated 4,200 customers were still without power on Sunday morning, according reports the EOC was receiving from BC Hydro.

Hydro spokesman Ted Olynyk indicated Sunday that good progress was expected to be made on Salt Spring by Christmas Day, although pockets of outages would obviously remain.

“This was an historic event for the islands,” he said.

Hydro trucks were set to arrive en masse on the islands on Monday, with the Lower Mainland outages having now been dealt with. Some 23,000 customers were without power on Monday morning, down from a peak of about 600,000.

People who are isolated and need help should find a way to call Zook or another EOC person through the 250-537-1220 number. PODs have been activated and POD volunteers should be checking on neighbours in areas that are organized.

About 70 people came to the Legion on Thursday evening when it was opened as a reception centre.

“The Legion Ladies Auxiliary came and cooked things and made sure we had coffee and everything,” said EOC volunteer Neva Hohn. 

For people that need water, the Harbour Authority of Salt Spring Island has offered people to fill up from their taps, as has Moby’s Pub.

A number of CRD water service districts are on boil water advisories as infrastructure was damaged in the storm. On Sunday, Beddis Water District 

Zook reminds people to sign up for the Public Alert Notification system. It was activated on Friday to advise Highland-Fernwood water district users about the boil water advisory but only 19 people are signed up for PANS in that area.

Olynyk also urged people to not view down trees on lines as “free firewood.”

Lines may appear to be dead but could be energized in some cases, such as if a property owner plugs in a generator.

“You don’t want to thank God personally for the firewood.”

Viewpoint: LNG battle now underway

Contributed Article
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Viewpoint: LNG battle now underway

By JAN SLAKOV

It was bad enough learning that B.C. is providing big subsidies to LNG investors for a carbon-intensive industry that contaminates water.

Now the industry, with the help of the RCMP, is gearing up to violate Indigenous rights in a way that is totally unacceptable.

Although some Indian Act bands and corporations have signed agreements with the government of B.C. to allow pipeline construction and receive financial compensation, the Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership, which has jurisdiction over 22,000 square kilometres of traditional territories, is strongly opposed to pipeline construction through their “yintah” or territory.

Given the genocidal conditions the Wet’suwet’en have endured since contact (disease epidemics, mass murder, racism, forcible removal of children to residential schools, starvation) it is impressive that the community has not retaliated in a violent way. Indeed, they went to court and won legal recognition of title to their yintah in the 1997 Delgamuukw/Gisdaywa vs. Queen case. Now, some leaders express concern over the B.C. treaty process, which they see as dysfunctional and facilitating “exploitative plans to never-before-seen rates.”

So, in 2009, the Unist’ot’en permaculture camp was established on part of their territory that stood in the path of proposed pipelines. A good number of people, including Gulf Islands residents, have travelled there to help with construction of a healing lodge and to learn.

Some may think it is unfair for a relatively small group of people to deny permission for a pipeline to be constructed on their land. Others see the actions of the Unist’ot’en as heroic — instead of signing on to some agreement in exchange for hundreds of thousands of government dollars, the Unist’ot’en and other clans insist on protecting land that they have stewarded for thousands of years. We know that protecting natural life systems is a key part of what is needed to prevent climate catastrophe. And learning from people who have such a deep connection to nature may well be another important task for non-Indigenous people who wish to pass on a livable planet for future generations.

Ecological concerns and violating Indigenous rights are not the only problems with the pipeline proposal. Let’s look at the record of some of the investors in this project: Shell, which paid $15.5-million to settle a legal action accusing it of complicity in Nigerian human rights violations, is a member of groups involved in climate disinformation. Petro-China, through its majority shareholder China National Petroleum Co., has been linked to abuses in Sudan and Burma. Both  commonsensecanadian.ca and thenahrwahl.ca have documented Petronas’ human rights violations and corruption.

If you believe in peace, order and good government, please learn more and help out as you are able. May 2019 be a year of respect for first peoples and the land and waters they defend.

The writer is a member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, which supports these Unist’ot’en efforts.

Editorial: Storm heroes

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Storm heroes

Last Thursday’s windstorm brought unprecedented damage to Salt Spring Island, and it will be weeks or even months before the resulting property losses are tallied.

The massive snowstorm of December 1996 may be remembered for bringing everything to a halt, and other storms have toppled trees all over the island, particularly due to the weight of heavy snow. But the wicked winds that came on Thursday were unlike past storms in terms of the volume of trees that fell due to wind alone.

Experts have in the past noted that dry summers combined with intense winter rains lead to more trees falling, meaning we can likely expect more such episodes in the future.

During emergency situations like the one experienced on Thursday, we are reminded of the dangerous work that our emergency responders and BC Hydro workers and contractors are engaged to do. Everyone is grateful that they are willing and trained to respond to emergencies and to restore a semblance of normalcy as soon as possible.

All of the work done by Salt Spring Island Emergency Program staff and its many volunteers also pays off during times of devastation. Emergency centres and POD systems were activated to ensure people were warm, fed and safe. Thursday’s events are a strong reminder that determining what POD one belongs to, registering and even volunteering in some capacity is the best way to create resilience for one’s self and the community. All of the necessary information is available on the emergency program’s website.

But as usual on Salt Spring, many kindnesses occurred between individuals, as those with means gave a hand to those who were trapped or frightened or hungry.

Coming as it did during the Christmas season, those acts of kindness and consideration were an especially poignant reminder of how fortunate we are to live in this community.

Let’s make a point of thanking those who put themselves on the line during and after the storm, and finding ways to help both ourselves and others in future emergency situations.

Scrooge lives up to the legend

Elizabeth Nolan
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Scrooge lives up to the legend

Two women whose children are past the age of believing in Santa went to ArtSpring last week feeling a little overwhelmed and bothered by their seasonal obligations.

The island holiday tradition of seeing Christmas With Scrooge was not one they had experienced before. Although they surely found much to relate to in the character of Mrs. Cratchit and not so much with the rich but grumpy Scrooge, it may be fair to say there was a faint echo of “Bah! Humbug!” in their hearts.

Those women — and anyone else in the audience who may have been feeling more annoyance than bliss at the prospect of Christmas — received a positive attitude adjustment after seeing the cherished Newman Family Productions show. Not needing the compete transformation that Ebenezer Scrooge did, they went forward into the night with a new lightness of spirit, and renewed appreciation for the fine musical theatre tradition the Newmans have fostered on the island for close to 50 years.

Christmas With Scrooge had its debut in 1971 as Christmas Madness, a short musical adaptation of Dickens’ classic story A Christmas Carol. A short video of the show’s origin and evolution that opened last week’s sold-out run was a delightful way to introduce that history, and to bring in the voice of Virginia Newman, who wrote much of the music that still appears in the show. The video also provided a lovely bridge between past and present: scenes of Sue Newman as a young girl dancing the part of the Christmas fairy on the screen led directly to her appearance on stage in that role, one she has resumed year after year.

Newman has reported that Christmas With Scrooge now has around 85 people involved, with about 50 onstage, representing an age demographic spanning single digits to octogenarians. This broadly inclusive slice of the community is a major part of what makes the show so special. The other part, of course, is the generous quantity of song, dance and sheer silliness interspersed with Scrooge’s redemption journey.

Community inclusiveness is a hallmark of the show. There are traces of the original Christmas Madness to be seen in the cabaret/variety portions, which it appears could be shifted in or out of the script depending on who is available and what their particular strengths might be in a given year. This past production made good use of local veterans of the stage for the key roles — such as Patrick Cassidy as delightfully expressive Scrooge and Kevin Wilkie as his hard-pressed employee Bob Cratchit. Bob Twaites transformed wonderfully from his full-time Christmas role to the Ghost of Christmas Past, in the perfect fur-trimmed green velvet robes and fairy light wreath. Kane O’Scalleigh did admirable double duty as two young women, going from slightly spoiled upper crust daughter to dutiful Cratchit girl with many younger siblings.

The variety show aspect comes to a frenzied head in a scene from a Christmas past when Scrooge was a young man. The Fezziwigs’ ball is a delightfully frothy affair, with gorgeous satin costumes, tiny glasses of punch, dance sets and performances by different guests and members of the host family. This year the ball included a funny duet by Jo Twaites and Maggie O’Scalleigh as spinster sisters looking for the single men, and an over-the-top appearance by Jeffrey Renn as opera diva “Greta Van Wiener Schnitzel” in full Brunhild gear.

The ball is also the opportunity to see the famous Spotty Dogs act. With a set of small children very much in character as dogs in spotted suits, this continues to be a heart-melting but funny skit that will win over any Scrooges that might be lingering in the audience.

The young children in the cast were the show stealers, in general, and were highly professional and accomplished whenever they appeared, whether as street urchins, dancers or the remarkable Tiny Tim (Ruby Williamson).

With much of the action carrying into the audience, carollers in full Victorian costume singing outside before the show and at intermission, and treats by donation that included roasted chestnuts and hot potatoes, Christmas With Scrooge is an immersive experience more than a show to watch.

Newman says the company is committed to carrying on the Christmas With Scrooge tradition for a few more years, at least until the 50th anniversary in 2021. Advice for next year is to book tickets as soon as they are available, because this is one holiday season tradition that meets the hype.

Windstorm

Driftwood Staff
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Windstorm

 

Salt Spring Island looked like it was caught between a battle of the Titans and came out the loser on Friday morning as islanders assessed the damage wrought by the previous day’s powerful windstorm.

Some areas had so many broken and smashed trees the damage could not have been worse if an actual battle of giants armed with hammers and maces had swept through.

BC Hydro reported the event was one of the most severe storms it had experienced in years, causing extensive damage to electrical infrastructure across Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley. As of Friday morning, 6,000 customers were still without power on Salt Spring.

“All available crews and resources will be working around the clock until all damage is repaired,” a BC Hydro update from Friday stated. “Due to the extent of the damage, many customers will be without power overnight and for some customers it could be days.”

The storm was the result of a powerful low-pressure system that started with southeast winds that gusted to 100 km per hour, developed over the course of the morning and ramped up in the early afternoon. About 330,000 customers around the coastal region lost power at the peak of the outages, which started just before 11:30 a.m. on Salt Spring and soon impacted most of the island.

Fire Chief Arjuna George reported his organization responded to 133 calls on Thursday, covering everything from downed power lines to car crashes.

“We started off with a few calls that started coming in around 11:30,” George said. “After that we soon realized it was going to be a chaotic day and the calls were starting to stack up, so we set up an area command post that allowed us to manage all the calls from one location. To manage that many calls is a very complex management.”

Response was coordinated between the Salt Spring Emergency Operations Program and Salt Spring Fire Rescue, with the emergency operations base set up at the Ganges fire hall. The two organizations were assisted by Salt Spring Ground Search and Rescue, also working closely with BC Ambulance and the RCMP.

“It was a good team effort because we started at noon and we didn’t close the centre until 10:30 that night,” said emergency program coordinator Elizabeth Zook.

The island’s response was put at risk because the CREST radio system based at the Central fire hall lost power. An electrician wired an emergency generator to the system, which had to be refuelled several times over Thursday night and Friday before power was restored.

“Because of the duration of the outage, we could have lost radio coms for the island,” George said. “It was a first for us.”

Various ferry sailings were cancelled Thursday.

By mid-day drivers were being warned not to attempt North End Road because of multiple fallen trees, debris and downed power lines, and the two possible south-end arteries were blocked on Fulford-Ganges Road and Stewart Road. All major island roads were closed at some point during the day.

The ferry routes were cleared by Friday morning but many blockages still remained. The Fernwood bus route was rerouted and passage on North End Road remained closed between Fernwood and Epron roads.

Windstorm Map

Gail Sjuberg
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Windstorm Map

The massive wind storm caused damage all over Salt Spring. Photos from across the island are mapped below, with more detailed photos in the slideshow.

 

Windstorm

Pro rep fails but local riding bucks the trend

Gail Sjuberg
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Pro rep fails but local riding bucks the trend

The results for the Electoral Reform Referendum are in, with the current system of first past the post coming out on top.

The majority of ballots (61.3 per cent) chose first past the post, with 42.6 per cent of eligible voters returning ballots. Though the second question did not count due to the response to the first, had B.C. chosen proportional representation, mixed-member proportional would have been the winner, with 63.05 per cent of the vote after two rounds of voting.

Results for Saanich North and the Islands had proportional representation on top, with 51.38 per cent of the vote. Riding turnout was over 50 per cent, with 27,849 people voting. MMP was the most voted-for option, with 67 per cent of votes after two rounds.

A poll by Angus Reid after the election showed that one of the major causes for the result was political.

“The overwhelming support among past BC Liberal voters for their preferred choice –  and more division among past BC NDP and BC Green Party voters –  was a key driver of the result,” an article detailing their findings read.

Since the results are to remain with the status quo, no further steps will be taken. This was B.C.’s third referendum on electoral reform. In 2005, 58 per cent of voters voted for a single transferrable vote system, but the government had required a 60 per cent majority to make the result count. In 2009, only 39 per cent of people voted for a change.

Fernwood Dock lands in Parks and Recreation Commission harbour

Gail Sjuberg
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Fernwood Dock lands in Parks and Recreation Commission harbour

Fernwood Dock operations will likely be taken over by the Salt Spring Parks and Recreation Commission, as PARC voted last Tuesday to absorb the commission that was created by a referendum in 2002.

The Fernwood Dock Management Commission has sat empty for years. Its operations and budget have been managed off-desk by PARC staff. Bringing it under PARC control officially would transfer its budget to the parks and recreation umbrella. In 2017, the average-assessed property owner paid $5.41 for dock administration and maintenance, or $30,000 in total.

Commissioner Brian Webster was concerned that taking on responsibility for Fernwood Dock would remove its inherent administrative powers and take decision-making power away from Salt Spring.

“I just have a big problem in principle with the idea of taking what little final authority rests here on Salt Spring and giving it to the CRD Board, even though I know that all of our recommendations since I’ve sat here have gotten the thumbs up in Victoria,” he said in the meeting. “I have some concerns that that’s a backward step at a time when I think it’s appropriate for Salt Spring to be taking on more responsibility and getting more coverage delegated from the CRD Board.”

For more on this story, see the Dec. 19, 2018 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

PARC debates multi-use space on pool site

Gail Sjuberg
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PARC debates multi-use space on pool site

A grant application to help fund a new programming space has caused a rift in the Salt Spring Parks and Recreation Commission.

If received, the grant would provide some funding for a portable structure to be installed at the Rainbow Road pool site. The structure would give programs like Camp Colossal a place to operate indoors in inclement weather and other community groups would also be able to rent it.

One of the grant stipulations is that a child-care program operate in the space. PARC is proposing a recreation-based daytime program that lasts under three hours. The CRD would have to pay $81,160 of the total project costs, which are $296,460. Those costs would come out of PARC’s operating account for 2019 ($43,920) and a contingency of $32,940 from the pool capital reserve fund. The grant application is due in January, pending CRD Board approval.

PARC members voted in November to recommend that the CRD Board approve the project. At that meeting, the issue of whether PARC should be in the childcare business went back and forth between commissioners. Commissioners Garth Hendren, Darlene Steele and John Gauld all had concerns about the project, saying that putting a portable on CRD land would slow down any future development of the Rainbow Road pool facility, and that taking on a 10-year commitment to run a child-care program was not PARC’s job. The November meeting ended with a vote to approve the application for the project. Commissioner Hendren resigned after that meeting.

PARC chair Gregg Dow brought the agenda item back to the table in December to regroup after the November meeting. Slight modifications were made to the proposal based on earlier conversations. Commissioners went around the table discussing their opinions about the project, though no vote was possible as the item had already been approved.

Commissioners Sonja Collombin, Jacky Cooper and Brian Webster all expressed support for the project. Collombin said that having a space for programs is important to the community.

For more on this story, see the Dec. 19, 2018 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

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