Home Blog Page 443

FITZGERALD, Harold Winston

Driftwood Obituary
-
0
FITZGERALD, Harold Winston

Harold Winston Fitzgerald
April 6th 1940 – September 20,  2018

Harold passed away on September 20th at age 78 at Greenwood care home
Harold is survived by his loving wife Mary, they were married for 40 years.
He will be lovingly remembered by his family, brother David (Karen), Brian and Sister Sylvia (John) and his three nieces and one nephew and their families.
Harold was a Vancouver longshoremen for 33 years where he made many very good friends. One of his many passions were his four legged friends which includes “Stripy” the bossy kitty.

We want to thank the caring staff and doctors
at Greenwood’s, Lady Minto Hospital,
Dr Leon and homecare workers.

Fire board considers island’s future infrastructure needs

Elizabeth Nolan
-
0
Fire board considers island’s future infrastructure needs

Salt Spring Fire Protection District trustees continue to grapple with infrastructure replacement concerns, as demonstrated by discussions about future spending that took place during  Monday night’s board meeting.

Planning for a new fire hall or “protective services building” is officially underway with first reading given to the 2019 budget bylaw passed on Sept. 11. The board is holding a special town meeting to discuss its proposed $3.16-million budget at the Lions Hall on Oct. 1. In particular, trustees will seek input on the plan to start setting aside up to $300,000 per year in a fire hall replacement reserve fund.

Trustee Rollie Cook reported that he had taken a “straw poll” of about 35 local residents during the past weekend’s fall fair to ask about the reserve idea, and was pleasantly pleased to find overall support.

“I have a sense that there is good will, but also a caution that we have to be responsible, open and fair,” Cook said, adding the Oct. 1 session is being planned to offer that transparency.

Trustee Ron Lindstrom reported on other aspects of planning for the new hall. The board received a box of documents from Hans Hazenboom related to the most recent failed project that will greatly aid the new Brinkworthy site feasibility study. Lindstrom concluded that “a lot of due diligence” had been done, and said the board should turn the information over to the fire hall advisory working group for follow-up.

Lindstrom also went over some points in the draft terms of reference suggested for the new working group or advisory committee. As drafted by the strategic planning committee, the new working group would be composed of the chairs of the board’s three major committees plus a minimum of seven members of the public who have relevant knowledge and skills. Membership could include officials from the Islands Trust, the Capital Regional District and the North Salt Spring Waterworks District. The committee has suggested an independent facilitator be appointed as chair.

A timeframe of six to eight months is suggested for the working group to accomplish its job, at which point the project would be turned over to a construction committee, Lindstrom said.

The board has also started to think about what to do with the existing hall if the new hall project should fail once again. A report on the seismic upgrades needed to meet the BC Building Code was commissioned in 2005 but never acted on. The building code has changed several times since then, Lindstrom noted.

“If a referendum fails again or the process gets bogged down, we have a responsibility to remediate the building,” he said.

The board passed a resolution stating that it would take on the necessary seismic upgrades if a fire hall borrowing referendum fails; if a referendum date is not set by June 30, 2019; or if construction documents for a new hall are not commenced by March 31, 2020.

Trustee Howard Holzapfel voted against the motion, saying he could not support the plan until a referendum actually fails. He said the cost of doing the work is unknown but could be guessed at around $2 million, and that the fire department would have to completely leave the hall while renovations were taking place. The project could also mean losing one truck bay, he said.

“There could be all sorts of logistical issues,” Lindstrom agreed. “Nevertheless, we need to be on record that we’re going to do something about it.”

Fire department equipment replacement needs are another constant looming expense for the board. Trustees asked staff for a report on which fire trucks the department considers to be front-line or priority for replacement using the capital reserve fund, and which they should keep using “until the wheels fall off,” as district CAO Andrew Peat described it.

In other business from Monday’s meeting, firefighter Warren Nuyens thanked the board for committing staff and the reserve tender to help fight wildfires in the B.C. Interior for the second year in a row. Nuyens was part of the second team of two deployed to Burns Lake this summer, along with Eric Taylor. Patrick Byrne and Doug Ponsford were the first team to go out, while Mitchell Sherrin and Jason Gaffney were the final crew deployed.

“It’s an opportunity for us to take our skills up there, and our skills improve immensely with 10 hours a day on a truck minimum. What we bring back to the community is invaluable,” Nuyens said.

Pride Celebration

Gail Sjuberg
-
0
Pride Celebration

Salt Spring’s 14th annual Pride festival once again attracted widely diverse and inclusive participation, with members of the LGBTQ community from Salt Spring and beyond joined by supportive friends and allies during events that ran from Sept. 5 to 9. The annual parade and after-party in Centennial Park on Saturday brought forth colourful rainbow costumes plus a moving opening address by Tsawout elder Earl Claxton Jr., and inspiring words by the parade’s co-marshals Janet Clouston and Chi Chi Small Wolf. Around 500 people attended Pride events this year, and 2,500 were in the parade and crowd combined. See you next year!

Fletcher oils have satisfying painterly appeal

Elizabeth Nolan
-
0
Fletcher oils have satisfying painterly appeal

Paintings of Salt Spring done in a deeply satisfying impressionist manner are available for viewing at Duthie Gallery this month, where a solo show by Josephine Fletcher puts the focus on light and colour in local nature.

Fletcher’s artist statement explains she grew up on Hornby Island amidst a dedicated enclave of artists.

“Encouraged by her family and Jack Shadbolt and other painters of the Hornby set, she attended the Banff School of Fine Art, continued on to four years at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver and has been painting seriously and full time for more  than 40 years.”

Fletcher has had numerous solo shows and group shows in Vancouver, Hornby and Vancouver Island. Her work demonstrates her enthusiasm for and mastery of colour with a strong, gestural hand. Landscapes reflect her abiding love of nature, in the transcendentalist tradition. Her travels have also inspired her, and artists from the Fauves to Pierre Soulages have been influences.

“I loved to see the Impressionist painters, and I thought, “Ooh, I think I’ll paint outside,” Fletcher said about her early days of painting. “And I love the real paint sliding around together. I scoop it up and put it down. The more I get used to it, it’s like composing music across the whole canvas. You’re building up all these lights and shadows.”

Landscapes in the current show are personal and evocative yet instantly recognizable with the slight prod of the name tag. A deeply shadowed curve of Southey Point Road with over-arching tree canopy lines the road in bars, the man-made surface dominated by a living forest fence. Ruckle Farm, Rain Washed with Telephone Lines is full of lemony fresh yellows and greens, the new clean grass bursting with light that is framed and contrasted by black tree silhouettes.

When it comes to her locations, Fletcher mused on her abiding love for her home island landscape of fields, the sea and warm light.

Other paintings are not so much about location as joy in the rich beauty cultivated in the islands, such as two small and very lovely paintings of honeysuckle blossoms. The honeysuckles were painted in Duthie’s garden.

A magnolia tree and its broad pink petals brim with reflected light and fill most of the secret corner with deep lush green below in Magnolia in the Garden. In another work, a black and white cat licking itself on the path is suggested by just a simple arrangement of colour blocks, overwhelmed by a riot of colour and life-force in a row of poppies or roses.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday.

For more on this story, see the September 12, 2018 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Island women take on rain, rocks and mud at races

Contributed Article
-
0
Island women take on rain, rocks and mud at races

Sunday was a big day for Salt Spring running competitors.

At Cumberland, just south of Courtenay-Comox, was the inaugural running of the Dodge City X, an off-road triathlon whose organizers billed it as Canada’s toughest off-road course. Marcia Jansen and Marion Young went to Cumberland planning to do the standard version of the event: a 1.5-km swim in the local lake fed by the Mount Washington snow cap, a 23-km, single track mountain bike course of rocks and roots with 746 metres of climbing and a 9-km trail run with 312 metres of climbing. Out of respect for Jansen’s still recovering calf injury from the Super-League triathlon three weeks ago, they made  a fortuitous last-minute decision to switch to the Sprint version of the race: a 750-metre swim, a 12-km bike trail course with 347 metres of climbing, and a 5-km trail run with 187 metres of climbing.

“Glad we dropped down to the Sprint. It poured throughout the whole race,” Jansen said. “Biking was fun. Roots, rocks and rain but no crashes (although skinny Marion had problems to warm up during the bike portion). Took it easy in the run, skipping through ankle deep puddles the whole way. Happy my calf held up through it all! Great last race of the season.”

Jansen finished the course in one hour, 49 minutes and one second for seventh of 32 overall, second woman, and first in her age group, along the way ending up first female in the swim portion, fourth female in the bike portion and ninth female in the run portion.

Young finished 28th of 32 overall in two hours, 23 minutes and 33.4 seconds, 15th  woman, first in her age group, 12th woman who finished the swim, 14th woman in the bike portion and 10th in the run portion.

Meanwhile over on the mainland, Susan Gordon, Salt Spring Sneaker’s coach, entered the Forever Young 8k, an out and back flat course along the Fraser River from the Richmond Olympic oval, along with her brother, who lives on the mainland. The event is limited to runners 55 and over. Gordon finished the 8-km course in 34:22 for fifth of 255 overall; first of 146 women, and first of 32 women in her age group.

In Gordon’s own words, “Quite a push back from the strong wind on the way back but I’m pretty happy with an overall win.”  

It is believed, pending certification, that Gordon’s time set a course record. (By the way, she beat her brother in the same age group by four places and two minutes.)

French Immersion enrolment grows in Gulf Islands

Gail Sjuberg
-
0
French Immersion enrolment grows in Gulf Islands

Enrolment is on the rise for French immersion programs at SD64, mimicking a province-wide trend.

Interest in the program has risen again this year, though the reasons for the increase are difficult to determine.

“Enrolment numbers change according to how many students are coming up from grade 5,” SD64 French Immersion curriculum coordinator Louise Doucet explained. “Typically and historically, French immersion usually attracts a third of the population coming into Salt Spring Middle School. This year there have been more. It is closer to 50 per cent.”

One hundred and seventy students are enrolled in immersion programs at the middle and high schools this year, which is up from last year’s 140 according to Canadian Parents for French (CPF). A letter sent to SIMS parents at the beginning of the year said that of the 13 homeroom classes at the middle school, five of them are French immersion. Last year across the district 7.9 per cent of all students were enrolled in French programs.

A CPF press release stated that there were 53,483 students in the province enrolled in French Immersion, or 9.5 per cent of students. Enrolment has been rising in B.C. over the last decade, leading to a shortage in teachers.

The release read that “districts around the province are scrambling to find enough qualified teachers and teaching assistants.”

While provincially it has been difficult to hire enough teachers to fill the demand for French programming, SD64 was able to hire three new teachers and add one new classroom at the middle school for 2018-19. (New teachers were hired to replace retiring teachers and to fill the additional classroom.)

“We had responses to our advertising, but like any other employer on Salt Spring the School District also faces the housing issue,” Doucet said. “Housing is hard to find and it’s expensive, even for teachers.”

The Ministry of Education gives school districts two options for French immersion programming. The most common option is to begin teaching students french in kindergarten.

SD64 offers a late French immersion option to students entering middle school. This allows the district to offer French immersion to all students equally, since students from Saturna, Pender, Mayne and Galiano come to Salt Spring for middle school.

“One of the reasons that SD64 hasn’t offered the early French immersion is because of the equitability of offering it on Salt Spring and not one of the other Gulf Islands,” Doucet said.

“At the later level, we depend on students already having strategies for decoding, writing and reading. They use their first language skills to acquire a second language.”

Beginning a new language later is more difficult at first for the students, but both programs are considered equivalent in terms of success rate. Doucet explained that the first few months of the Grade 6 year are for re-learning vocabulary and language in order to continue into more difficult courses like sciences and social studies.

For more on this story, see the September 12, 2018 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Viewpoint: Let’s work together on community priorities

Contributed Article
-
0
Viewpoint: Let’s work together on community priorities

By GARY HOLMAN

For 30 years, as a community activist, CRD Director, and MLA, I’m proud to have joined with many islanders to preserve and protect this special place. I’m honoured to have played a role in many of this community’s successes, like building affordable housing at Murakami Gardens; establishing BC’s most successful rural transit system; constructing our pool, library, water treatment plants, and kilometres of pathways; and protecting thousands of hectares of land. I know what our community can accomplish when we work together. 

I did not support incorporation, but during the debate acknowledged my responsibility to help find other ways to improve governance on Salt Spring. I’ve been working with community groups on options like formalizing coordination and strategic planning among various agencies, and holding public town hall and budget meetings. I believe that CRD must respect and fully utilize the remarkable skills of commission volunteers and community groups. However, rather than reinforcing the “silo” nature of our service delivery, I will advocate for voter approval of a CRD Local Community Commission (LCC) to broaden local CRD representation and take on more operational authority from the CRD through an elected “council” representing the public interest.    

Improving governance must not take the focus away from issues like affordable housing, Salt Spring’s top priority. The good news is that there are at least seven affordable housing projects (with land already secured), and that senior governments are providing unprecedented levels of funding, with over $6 million already committed to the Croftonbrook project. My top priority as CRD Director will be to support completion of all of these projects, including the CRD’s own housing proposal on Drake Road, together representing a total of over 250 units. I’ve worked on affordable housing for years on Salt Spring, as an elected official and proponent. I know CRD can play a stronger role, for example on related water issues and by better supporting our existing housing council.

Other longstanding issues have been stalled and require greater focus. Despite voter approved funding in 2008, we still haven’t found an on-island solution for our liquid waste, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands every year, trucking 95 per cent water off-island. Similarly, the North Ganges pedestrian and cycling plan remains unfinished, despite funding approval in 2014. Voters expect completion of this project before supporting similar improvements on the increasingly busy and dangerous Ganges Hill.

We need to build an earthquake proof fire hall that can house our emergency operations centre and search and rescue (both receiving CRD funding), and perhaps local government offices. The fire district has secured land for a new fire hall, a significant accomplishment. I will advocate for voter approval of a sound business plan for a new building and retaining community ownership of the Ganges fire hall site.  Progress is being made on the Ganges Harbour Walk, but we must be prepared to secure the marine right-of-way from the province, separate from controversial upland zoning. BC Transit funding will help expand our community bus system, already the most successful of its kind in BC.

I will renew the cost-effective partnerships between the CRD Transportation Commission (which I established), Partners Creating Pathways and Island Bus Shelters. I will also work with other community groups on issues like climate action; a plan for Ganges village; completing The Root food processing centre; health and seniors facilities; a public laundromat; and community radio station. 

Please let me know about your priorities and if you can help at gary4crd@gmail.com or at gary4director.org. I look forward to working with all of you.

The writer is a candidate for CRD Director on Salt Spring.

Editorial: Watershed Moment

Driftwood Staff
-
0
Editorial: Watershed Moment

Salt Spring’s biggest event of the season gets underway Saturday morning with a simple yet meaningful change to operations.

The annual fall fair regularly sees 10,000 people pass through the gates of the Salt Spring Farmers’ Institute over two days. Many of those people become thirsty after a few hours of music, trophy hall visiting and demonstrations, but this year they won’t find individual water bottles on the menu at any of the vendor stalls. A new water station will have its official debut at this important event, and everyone is urged to remember to bring their refillable bottle.

The Farmers’ Institute is one of the island’s most venerable organizations, dating all the way back to 1895. But while its board members may sport the grey hair common to most island volunteers, and they promote crafts and industries many people no longer do themselves, that doesn’t mean they are stuck in the past.

In fact, these old timers may just be the most forward-thinking organization there is on an island known for its free-spirited culture.

The Pacific Institute found that in 2006, bottled water production required the energy equivalent of 17 million barrels of oil and emitted 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.

Recent estimates propose some 480 billion plastic water bottles are purchased globally every year, and many of them wind up in the ocean. Plastic in general accounts for between six and 10 million tonnes of ocean garbage every year. Canada enjoys a relatively high recycling rate, but water bottles that don’t get recycled and instead go into landfills have little chance of biodegrading, and could take up thousands of years to break down completely.

In the past, Salt Spring’s fall fair may have accounted for as many as 4,000 single use water bottles being used over the course of two days. The Farmers’ Institute imposed its ban in part because too many bottle were not making it to recycling and played havoc with lawn cutting machinery.

Removing those bottles from the system entirely is of huge benefit to the island and the world at large. Let’s hope other island institutions will take the good example and jump on bottle reduction the same way so many have successfully banished plastic straws.

SMALL, James A (Bert)

Driftwood Obituary
-
0
SMALL, James A (Bert)

James A. (Bert) Small
September 6, 2018

Bert passed away peacefully on September 6, 2018 at the age of 93 at Warkworth, Ontario. He was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1924 as the fifth of five sons to the late William Irvine Small and Mary (Cobban) Small. A 1947 photo in The Toronto Star celebrated the reuniting of the family after all five sons safely returned from the war.

Bert and his late wife, Peggy (Margaret MacLean) Small were married from 1946 until her passing in 2006. They are survived by four children, four great grandchildren and ten geatgrandchildren.

A member of the Art & Letters Club of Toronto and a long-time employee of Sears, Bert became known for his projects relating to fine arts. His watercolour paintings have sold from coast to coast both in Canada and the USA and are included in several Corporate Collections. His Canadian Centennial contribution was a totem pole he carved that has stood in Scarborough’s Thomson Memorial Park since 1967.  Bert logged some 600 flights as a glider pilot.

Bert and Peggy moved to Salt Spring Island on the west coast of British Columbia in 1991, and he was one of the Directors of the SSI Artist’s Studio Tour. One felt accepted and secure in his presence.  Optimistic to the end, he was fond of simply saying, “I don’t worry!”. He will be missed.

In lieu of flowers, donations to
The Bridge Hospice in Warkworth, ON. would be appreciated.
Online condolences may be made at www.brettfuneralchapels.com.

Fire engulfs Wildwood home

Gail Sjuberg
-
0
Fire engulfs Wildwood home

Salt Spring Fire Rescue crews responded to a fully involved house fire on Sunday afternoon.

Crews from all three fire halls fought the fire on Wildwood Crescent from approximately 2 p.m. until around 9 p.m. The home was engulfed in flames by the time crews arrived on scene. There were no occupants home at the time of the fire, and no injuries reported.

“Smoke was visible very early on from the crews that were responding. It was definitely well-developed upon our arrival,” said Salt Spring Fire Chief Arjuna George.

Twenty-five SSIFR members were on scene fighting the fire, and nine pieces of apparatus were used. The call interrupted a training exercise on the north end of the island and those members were able to be on scene quickly. Also assisting were the RCMP, BC Hydro, BC Ambulance and the Salt Spring Island Emergency Program.

Crews were on scene for around seven hours and were able to salvage some contents of the house.

“It’s pretty tough when it is going that much to save anything, but we did manage to salvage most of the contents in the lower suite,” George said. “We took out all of the family’s precious stuff that was saveable and the family is very appreciative of that.”

Crews used around 50,000 gallons to extinguish the fire. Water was shuttled in using tender trucks to due to insufficient flow rate in the fire hydrant on scene. The fight was helped by the rain, which kept the flames from spreading to the nearby brush and trees.

“If this happened maybe two weeks ago we’d have a different story,” George said. “There was very close brush and tons of cedar trees nearby. The interface was there, but we lucked out with a moderate fire danger risk and the rain during the fire.”

The scene is currently under investigation and has been barricaded off until the cause of the fire is determined. SSIFR will also help salvage any remaining belongings from the house.

“We can’t really access most of it yet, because it is not really safe to enter the premises right now,” George said. “We’re going to do the investigation and then probably have to mediate the second floor to make sure it’s safe to go in there and try to salvage some of the stuff.”

Salt Spring is currently under a complete fire ban, as well as a moderate forest fire danger level, which was helped by last week’s rain.

For more on this story, see the September 12, 2018 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

1...442443444...610Page 443 of 610