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Editorial: Opt funding increase needed

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Opt funding increase needed

A critical cog in Salt Spring’s already stressed healthcare service wheel is under threat.

The island’s Options for Sexual Health clinic (a.k.a. “Opt”) is among 25 in B.C. that its parent body says could close this spring if a commitment for more funding is not provided by the B.C. government.

A non-profit organization that originated in the Planned Parenthood association, it has provided sexual health and reproductive planning information and services for decades. Provincial government support began in 1969.

The provincial Opt group says it needs $1.5 million more per year from the provincial government to maintain full services. No increase has been provided since 2011, yet nurses’ wages have risen substantially in that time, and Opt is finding it difficult to staff the clinics as a result.

Loss of the clinic would be a huge blow to local healthcare services. Salt Spring’s Opt clinic estimates that 75 per cent of its patients use it as their primary source of sexual and reproductive healthcare, stating that nearly 4,000 residents do not have a family doctor. Screening tests for sexually transmitted infections and cervical cancer are provided, in addition to birth control methods, one day per week in its Core Inn clinic. All services are free to people with Medical Services Plan coverage, although donations are welcomed. Province-wide, some 14,000 people accessed Opt services last year, and clinics are even more important in more remote B.C. communities.

In a time when so many people do not have family doctors, non-profit organizations like Opt fill an absolutely critical role. Closing an efficient and convenient location and forcing people to seek equivalent services at hospital emergency departments makes no sense financially or logistically. The $1.5 million needed will be quickly eaten up by extra emergency room visits and further treatment required for preventable diseases and conditions.

People are encouraged to sign the local online petition at change.org/p/save-salt-spring-island-options-for-sexual-health and to write letters to their MLAs and Premier David Eby requesting the increase in funding that would allow clinics to remain open. We hope the government heeds the call for common sense in this case.

Viewpoint: Reality is not so gloomy

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Viewpoint: Reality is not so gloomy

By GARY HOLMAN

SSI CRD DIRECTOR

The pessimism in some of the contributions to the Jan. 1 edition’s year-end review, particularly regarding housing, deserves a response.

Being constructed or renovated right now, are 36 units of supported and worker housing on the Capital Regional District (CRD)’s Drake Road property, 18 units of health-worker housing at Bittancourt Road and the nine-unit Dean Road boarding house. This housing development follows projects such as Croftonbrook (54 units) and Salt Spring Commons (24 units). All of these projects received approval by the Islands Trust, which has also legalized suites or cottages on hundreds of properties, including farm-worker housing on agricultural land.

The Housing Now landlord-tenant matching program is being implemented on Salt Spring Island (SSI), funded partly by our CRD Local Community Commission (LCC) and the Southern Gulf Islands Tourism Partnership, which has also committed online visitor tax revenue for affordable housing. The CRD is implementing a Rural Housing Program in the Southern Gulf islands and SSI electoral areas, that includes a coordinator position, suite incentives and project pre-development funding. The CRD is also establishing another regional housing fund of $84 million, and seeks matching senior government funds.

SSI’s major housing projects have required tens of millions in CRD or senior government funding. Our recently established 30-unit year-round shelter and 10-unit extreme weather facility is also supported by BC Housing funding of over $1 million annually. With BC Housing’s fully funded, 32-unit supported housing facility on Drake Road, SSI is the only CRD community (except Victoria) providing this level of support for our unhoused residents.

Far from being “paralyzed” or “doing nothing” on housing, as some suggest, SSI has a record of success, even with a water moratorium in place, that few communities of our size in B.C. can match. The North Salt Spring Waterworks District’s proposal to partially lift the water moratorium in its Maxwell Lake service area will help further housing development on the CRD’s Drake Road property (now leased to BC Housing, which is also considering funding for two other housing projects here). The CRD LCC is also leasing the former Phoenix School property on Drake Road, which has future housing potential, and is already rented to the Chuan Society for The Hearth warming centre.

I hope that one year-end contributor, anticipating “another dismal year on the horizon,” can look beyond the rooster controversy. In addition to housing, millions in funding from the CRD helped create the new Lady Minto emergency room, and the new fire hall will be completed next year. The fire district has transferred the Ganges fire hall to the CRD for re-purposing. Similarly, the middle school leased by SD64 to the CRD has been transformed into a well-used 25,000-square-foot community centre. The repaving of Ganges Hill will be completed next year and the LCC will continue other pedestrian and cycling infrastructure improvements in Ganges.

The fact we are making good progress as a community doesn’t mean there is nothing more to do. But future success depends in part on understanding what we’re doing right, including, as the Driftwood rightly notes, our community’s demonstrated ability to collaborate. This understanding will be important for our upcoming official community plan review, so we don’t jettison existing policies that support truly affordable housing in the right locations.

Nairn Howe memorial hoops tourney returns to GISS

Robb Magley
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Nairn Howe memorial hoops tourney returns to GISS

High school basketball tournament play returns to a familiar weekend on Salt Spring this year, as a revival of the Nairn Howe Memorial Basketball Tournament will start with a 10:45 a.m. tip-off on Friday, Jan. 17. 

It’s a revival with a twist, according to Gulf Islands Secondary School (GISS) teacher and coach Tom Langdon, who said the tournament would host junior and senior girls’ teams, rather than senior boys and girls as in earlier years. 

“The hope is we can also have a boys tournament in the future,” said Langdon. “We are hoping to continue to grow the game of basketball on the island, as we have a keen and dedicated group of kids playing right now.” 

Four senior teams –– GISS, Dover Bay, Duncan Christian and Nanaimo Christian –– and four junior teams –– again GISS and Dover Bay, along with Maple Ridge Christian and Vic High –– will compete over two days. Games start at 10:45 a.m. on Friday with the last game at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, games start at 8:30 a.m. with the final game starting at 5 p.m. 

Langdon said the senior team was off to a great start to their season, with a 9-0 record going into the holidays highlighted by a win at the Dover Bay tournament Dec. 6-7. The juniors also had a strong start, he added, with wins over Wellington and Quw’utsun Secondary.

People are invited to cheer on local players at both the Nairn Howe tournament and all home games.

The GISS senior girls host a Mark Isfeld team from Comox on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 4:45 p.m., followed by the senior boys playing Brentwood College at 6:15 p.m. On Thursday, Jan. 23, the senior boys are scheduled to host Shawnigan Lake at 4:45 p.m. but that game is still to be confirmed.

Fun Robbie Burns night on tap

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Fun Robbie Burns night on tap

By MICHELLE GRANT

President, SSI Scottish Country Dance Club

It’s hard to believe that our annual celebration of the well-known Scottish bard Robbie Burns is nearly upon us.

Famous for his poem “My love is like a red, red rose,” our local Scottish country dance club will celebrate his birthday on Saturday, Jan. 18 at Fulford Hall. With a scrumptious dinner prepared by Chef Brody, a traditional bagpipe address to the haggis, a special guest appearance by Viva Chorale, some wonderful live music by talented Vancouver Island musicians Mary Ross and Janette Polson and some inclusive fun dancing, it’s sure to be a great night.

Purchase tickets in advance by contacting treasurer Peter King at peterdgking@gmail.com or at 250-537-8544. No ticket sales will take place at the door and the bar is strictly a cash bar, so please come prepared. Tickets are $75 each. Doors open at 5 p.m. Proceedings start at 6 p.m. sharp.

Can’t wait to see you there. All left-feet dancers warmly welcomed. Scottish attire if you have it is appreciated but not mandatory.

Baroque ensemble and fiddler team up

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Baroque ensemble and fiddler team up

BY KIRSTEN BOLTON

For ArtSpring

Freshly back from the holidays, ArtSpring Presents’ first January performance is the always popular Victoria Baroque with a much-anticipated matinee concert on Saturday, Jan. 18.

Its afternoon timing is part of the season’s concerted effort to facilitate more daytime programming for audiences in dark winter months.

The ensemble is joined by baroque violinist and master Cape Breton folk fiddler David Greenberg for The Phantasm, a repertoire exploring sweet sleep, dreams and things that go bump in the night. With selections from Purcell’s incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Vivaldi’s flute concerto La Notte, arrangements of Celtic folk songs and other night-themed music, the concert promises to be a lively intersection of classical and traditional music.

For over three decades, Greenberg has enjoyed a double career as violinist and fiddler. His fluency and experience in these two genres make him uniquely qualified to interpret the wild music of 18th-century Scotland, which will be highlighted in Saturday’s performance.

He has performed, taught and recorded across North America and Western Europe, as well as in Australia, New Zealand and the Far East. Recording over 80 CDs with industry collaborators, Greenberg also has three groundbreaking Scottish-Cape Breton-baroque recordings with his own ensemble and co-authored The DunGreen Collection, an influential treatise on Cape Breton fiddling.

An accomplished composer and arranger, many of his tunes have been recorded by Cape Breton musicians such as Buddy MacMaster, Carl MacKenzie, Jerry Holland and The Rankins.

Founded in 2011 by Finnish-born baroque flutist Soile Stratkauskas, Victoria Baroque inspires Vancouver Island and area audiences with dynamic, personal live performances of baroque- and classical-era music playing instruments of the 18th century to immerse people in the soundscape of the time.

It is said the mellower tones of the baroque instruments — gut strings on string instruments, shorter bows, mellifluous wooden flutes, oboes and bassoons with fewer keys and natural horns without valves — respond in a more intimate, conversational manner than their modern equivalents.

The group collaborates with other early music guest specialists from Pacific Opera, Cowichan Symphony Society and artists from across the country and the U.K.

Tickets are now on sale for $35, with $5 youth and $15 Theatre Angel prices also available.

Washout closes part of Blackburn Road

Robb Magley
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Washout closes part of Blackburn Road

Heavy rain overwhelmed a culvert on Salt Spring’s Blackburn Road just above the transfer station, washing away the earth beneath the roadway and leading officials to halt traffic there Saturday, Dec. 28. 

Emcon Services’ South Island operations manager Andrew Gaetz confirmed the closure, saying erosion under the asphalt adjacent to the culvert from the recent heavy rain had made the roadway unsafe for vehicles until a repair could be made. Gaetz said his team and representatives from the Ministry of Transportation and Transit (MoTT) visited the site Tuesday, Dec. 31, and were in the process of developing a repair plan. 

“It is likely the culvert will need to be replaced,” said Gaetz. “The void under the pavement extends from the outlet to just over the centerline, about 10 to 11 feet from what we can tell.” 

Access to Sunrise Place will need to continue via Cranberry Road for the immediate future, Gaetz said, as there was currently no timeframe on lifting the closure on the east side of that intersection.  

2024 a banner year for ArtSpring

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2024 a banner year for ArtSpring

BY KIRSTEN BOLTON

For ArtSpring

In a year full of milestones to celebrate, challenges to tackle and opportunities to connect, the highlight of 2024 at ArtSpring was undoubtedly its 25th Anniversary Festival in April, corresponding with the date of the ribbon cutting by Birgit and Robert Bateman in 1999.

Opening its doors after over a decade of planning, fundraising and construction setbacks, ArtSpring was a venue willed into existence by the passion and resourcefulness of a motivated community.

Today, it has earned a reputation not only as a centre for the island’s many professional and amateur artists, presenters and students but as the premiere arts venue across the Gulf Islands for attracting regional, national and international performing artists. This past year saw some of the best of both streams of programming.

The 25th Anniversary Festival captured this sentiment as it shone the majority of the spotlight on community talent, with a few special events such as two sold-out headliner Jim Cuddy Band concerts, both opened by local up-and-comer Salome Cullen. For added resonance, it was uncovered that Blue Rodeo, the trail blazing Canadian band Cuddy co-founded in the 1980s, performed at an early fundraiser for ArtSpring.

Japanese drummers, an Everyday People dance party potluck, adult and youth choirs, a basket-weaving workshop, a rock-painting station, open mics and a sit-down with cultural commentator Max Wyman about the state of the arts in Canada — it was a five-day festival jam-packed with creativity and exchange.

Produced by Christina Penhale with support from ArtSpring staff and almost 100 volunteers, the festival welcomed close to 2000 visitors and engaged 290 individual artists, speakers and performers as part of 46 different groups or acts.

Another milestone in 2024 for ArtSpring was Treasure Fair, its annual marquee fundraising event every July. The fundraiser achieved its highest-ever result in part because of the generous donation of a 1956 Porsche Speedster replica to auction, along with a particularly strong turn-out for other collectables, experiences and donations to the “new lobby carpet” campaign.

In August, ArtSpring was proud to announce another first by establishing a $1-million Legacy Endowment Fund managed by the Victoria Foundation, which was sparked by a generous legacy bequest from a former ArtSpring board member known for his musical mentorship. This is the initial phase of what ArtSpring hopes will grow to become a $5-million fund to help secure its financial sustainability moving forward.

The challenge of funding and financing in the arts was a theme ArtSpring faced in 2024, like so many other arts organizations around the world. The post-pandemic fallout, shifts in the touring landscape and sharply rising costs on everything from artist booking fees to travel to utilities has made it increasingly difficult to survive.

More than ever, strong partnerships became the answer for executive and artistic director Howard Jang.

“By partnering with BC Live and other Vancouver Island presenters, we can collectively agree to attract certain artists because they can do a mini tour that is worthwhile and we all benefit,” said Jang. “ArtSpring was able to pull off a season filled with top-notch performances that delighted and inspired, and it reinforced the impact of what we can accomplish when we come together.”

When pushed to identify some of his favourite ArtSpring Presents performances, Jang is reluctant in a season so robust.

“My highlights include the intimate performances of ‘These Are Songs I Sing When I’m Sad’ hosted at The Stonehouse property, which was an experiment in off-site venues for us,” said Jang. “Also coming to mind is the multi-day Matriarchs Uprising, a celebration of performances and workshops by Indigenous choreographers, a stunning world premiere from the Gryphon Trio, and Deb Williams’ two-day personal storytelling workshop which just had the most funny, uplifting and vulnerable outcome with participants. Such a joy.”

The new 2024/2025 season exploded in October with the controversial Cliff Cardinal one-man show of Shakespeare’s As You Like It aka “Land Acknowledgement,” which polarized and challenged audiences, along with ArtSpring’s first-ever hip hop concert from Snotty Nose Rez Kids. October and November saw a record six shows sell out, including the Banff Mountain Film Festival, Tentacle Tribe dance and Ô-Celli — eight cellos on stage with a salute to the movies.

Expanding audiences and community connections was important in 2024, not just in terms of programming that appeals to different audiences and ages, but outreach and communications.

The Angel Ticket Program got its wings by making the arts more affordable at only $15 a seat for any ArtSpring Presents performance. The volunteer Roundtable Committee rolled up its sleeves to advise on public programming and organize community-directed events such as the “Pre-history of ArtSpring” panel and the children’s Halloween party as a tie-in to Victoria Ballet’s performance of Frankenstein.

The first meeting of a new Youth Advisory Committee comprised of island teens took place, and ArtSpring’s selection as one of only six B.C. arts facilities to participate in a mental health analysis called Arts on Prescription puts this island arts organization in good company in making the claim and the argument that the arts have a measurable positive impact to people’s lives.

First Restorative Dialogue Circle set for Jan. 10

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First Restorative Dialogue Circle set for Jan. 10

SUBMITTED BY RESTORATIVE JUSTICE SALT SPRING

In collaboration with ASK Salt Spring, we warmly invite you to participate in our monthly Restorative Dialogue Circles. These circles are a supportive space for community members to come together and explore divisive topics in a restorative way. In a time when division and conflict can feel overwhelming, these circles offer a chance to slow down, truly listen and connect with one another as neighbours and community members.

What Are Restorative Dialogue Circles?

Restorative Dialogue Circles provide a structured yet inclusive process that encourages open and respectful conversation. We aim to cultivate understanding, compassion and shared humanity by using restorative practices and the power of peacemaking circles. These circles are not about winning arguments or finding quick solutions; they are about creating space to hear diverse perspectives, reflect together and build bridges across differences.

Each month, we will focus on a topic that matters to our community. Whether addressing misunderstandings, exploring challenging social issues or simply sharing experiences, the circle is a place where everyone’s voice matters. You don’t need any prior experience — just a willingness to engage in open-hearted dialogue and listen to others with curiosity and care.

When and Where?

Our first circle will be held on Friday,  Jan. 10 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Going forward, we will gather monthly on the second Friday of the month at the same time. Our circles will take place at SIMS (the former middle school), in the Transition Salt Spring/Restorative Justice Salt Spring Island room. Light refreshments will be provided.

Why Attend a Restorative Dialogue Circle?

• To Listen and Be Heard: Share your thoughts and experiences. Learn to truly listen to others, even when you disagree.

• To Build Connection: Meet others in your community and learn more about the people who share your world.

• To Cultivate Understanding: Explore topics that can feel difficult or divisive in a way that promotes curiosity and compassion.

• To Heal and Grow: Discover how restorative practices can help address harm, misunderstanding, and conflict in healthier ways.

Who is Invited?

Everyone! These circles are open to all community members, regardless of their background, beliefs or experiences. We welcome diversity of thought, experience and identity. Whether you are familiar with restorative practices or completely new to the idea, your presence is valued and your voice matters.

How to Participate: Simply come as you are. We ask only for your presence, open heart and commitment to respectful dialogue. If you’d like more information or have specific questions, feel free to contact us at info@rjssi.org.

Let’s Build a Stronger, More Restorative Community: When we come together to share, listen and reflect, we build the foundation for understanding and healing. These circles are an opportunity to strengthen our community, one conversation at a time.

Mark your calendars for the second Friday of each month, and invite a friend or neighbour to join you. Let’s create a space where everyone belongs and every story is honoured.

We look forward to seeing you at our next Restorative Dialogue Circle.

CRD/LCC cap off busy year

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CRD/LCC cap off busy year

By GARY HOLMAN

SSI Electoral Area director, and

EARL ROOK

SSILCC chair

The Capital Regional District (CRD) and Salt Spring Local Community Commission (LCC) were busy in 2024.

The LCC capped off its first full year of operation by releasing its 2024-2027 strategic plan outlining its primary objectives for its delegated services. The electoral area director, who sits on the LCC and represents Salt Spring Island (SSI) at the CRD Board, works with the LCC on these objectives, and on regional, inter-agency and advocacy issues of importance to Salt Spring.

The LCC and CRD director continue to broaden engagement with other agencies and organizations, including Islands Trust, North Salt Spring Waterworks District (NSSWD), Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue (SSIFR) and the Southern Gulf Islands Tourism Partnership (SGITP). The LCC is also working with the CRD director in reviewing and making recommendations to the CRD Board regarding such matters as CRD bylaw enforcement impacts on agriculture and expansion of LCC authority.

Housing is Salt Spring’s top economic priority. The LCC, which convened two related public and stakeholder meetings in 2024, is taking the lead in developing an integrated housing strategy for SSI in collaboration with the Trust, NSSWD and other local organizations. The LCC is also working with CRD Housing, which is establishing another regional housing fund, as well as a Rural Housing Program (with support from the SGITP) initially aimed at Salt Spring and Southern Gulf Islands electoral areas.

The CRD has been involved with three affordable housing projects (Drake Road supported housing, Bittancourt health-worker housing, Dean Road boarding house), totalling over 60 units of affordable housing to be completed in 2025. The LCC recently leased the former Phoenix School property from School District 64, and has just approved a winter warming space there for the underhoused. This property can provide additional affordable rental space for important services and future possibilities for affordable housing.

The LCC is supporting the housing strategy through its economic development service, which also funds the Housing Now landlord-tenant matching program on SSI. Other LCC economic development initiatives include funding for the SSI Chamber’s information centre and the Farmland Trust’s Grow Local initiative. The Root food processing-storage facility and commercial-scale composter located at the Burgoyne Community Farm, both supported historically by CRD gas tax contributions, are now operating. In 2025, voters in the CRD will be asked to approve a new “Regional Foodland” service intended to facilitate farming on public lands.

The LCC grants-in-aid program for local community groups also provides socio-economic benefits in a number of sectors, including agriculture, the arts and social services. The LCC is proposing to increase the requisition for both of these important services in its 2025 budget.

Transit service on SSI has been maintained despite the ridership and revenue impacts of COVID. Since ridership has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, the LCC is considering a major service improvement on the Fulford-Ganges route for 2026, subject to provincial funding. The LCC will be consulting with the public next year on the significant increase in the transit requisition that would also be required.

In anticipation of fleet expansion on SSI and BC Transit’s commitment to electrify its fleet, the LCC is planning to co-locate transit bus storage and charging with a new parks maintenance facility on its Kanaka Road property. Work continues on expanding the number of bus shelters along island routes.

Transportation is front and centre with work on the Ministry of Transportation and Transit (MoTT) $23-million repaving of Ganges Hill negotiated by the CRD and former SSI Transportation Commission. The project will be disruptive until completed next year, but the much wider shoulder lanes will greatly improve pedestrian and cycling safety. The LCC is proceeding with another sidewalk and cycle lane improvement on Rainbow Road while beginning work on the Active Transportation Management Plan for downtown Ganges, including consideration of parking impacts and options.

The LCC is advocating to MoTT on issues such as speed limits and road maintenance, and is working with stakeholders on the Salish Sea Trail, including Island Pathways, which has been instrumental in furthering CRD active transportation initiatives. For the first time, CRD Parks has approved funding for design and construction of the Vesuvius-Central portion of the Salish Trail over the next several years. CRD voters will be asked in 2025 to approve a new regional transportation service.

Parks and recreation, the largest LCC service, completed renewal of the Centennial Park market court and devolved management responsibility for the Saturday Market to the SSI Saturday Market Society. Improvements were also made to the SIMS facility and programs.

After extensive public consultation, the Portlock Park Master Plan was completed. Funding for Sunday pool openings was reinstated. With voter approval, a major expenditure to repair the pool building envelope is planned for 2025. Consultation with First Nations and the public continues on a management plan for the new Mount Maxwell Community Park. The LCC will also be seeking input on the re-purposing of the Ganges fire hall site. An announcement regarding the proposed Ganges Harbourwalk will also be made next year.

The LCC is working to identify the best option for de-watering our liquid waste on island to reduce costly off-island trucking. This service has been amended to include organics, allowing support of the composter at the Burgoyne Valley Community Farm. Provincial funding was also secured to increase capacity of the Ganges sewer system.

The CRD Emergency Program is working with all of its partners, particularly SSIFR, in preparing for extreme events. As previously, the CRD has secured provincial FireSmart funding for 2025 and 2026, a portion of which is allocated to SSIFR for initiatives on SSI such as property fire safety assessments and chipping. Opportunities for including invasives in the chipping program will be explored. In a related matter, CRD voters will be asked to approve a new regional service to better manage invasives and protect biodiversity.

SSIFR is now constructing our new, post-disaster fire hall with the assistance of a $1-million gas tax grant from the CRD. Our community’s resilience will also be enhanced by the just opened emergency room at Lady Minto Hospital, funded largely by generous donors to the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation, as well as $3.7 million from the Capital Regional Hospital District.

As detailed in a previous Driftwood article, the proposed CRD requisition increase for 2025 is about 13 per cent. This budget is particularly difficult due to unavoidable costs such as inflation and the reverberating impacts of COVID, but also the need to preserve existing services and aging assets. Comments on the provisional budget can be made up until the LCC public meeting of Jan. 30 at saltspring@crd.bc.ca.

Trustee perspective: let’s fulfill OCP objectives

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Trustee perspective: let’s fulfill OCP objectives

By LAURA PATRICK

SALT SPRING ISLAND LOCAL TRUSTEE

In 1994 a task force of Salt Springers noted that our island economy had changed dramatically since the ‘60s. Once primarily resource-based, it had become tourism and retirement focused but the mix of housing hadn’t changed.

Zoning bylaws, which govern what kind of housing we can have, were created in 1971 and had barely changed. The group even noted that the Islands Trust had “done more to hamper the creation of an appropriate housing stock than help it.” It was this task force that coined the phrase that still exists today in the Salt Spring Island Official Community Plan (OCP): “To recognize the very real, if intangible, loss that is felt in the community when this diversity is diminished by external pressures and changes.”

With each subsequent task force, working group or consultant’s report that followed, the results and recommendations remained the same and yet little action was taken, even when a “crisis in paradise” was declared in 2002.

Now here we are, still trying to change those same 1971 zoning bylaws to improve the mix of housing to support our community. And we wonder — why are there so many people living in RVs and on boats?

Looking to 2025, the Trust will kick off yet another tweak on our OCP and land use bylaws (LUB) in hopes of improving the mix of housing types on offer to our working community. However, this brings to mind that famous quote from Einstein: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”

With the complexity of our local governance and the lack of consistent public communication of the facts, advancing any planning initiative on this island is more than challenging and presents fertile territory for the rumour mill. For example, if you believe what some are saying about the upcoming OCP and LUB updating project, you’d think that we’ve already decided to “pave paradise” from Southey to Isabella Point and build rows of rows of housing for tens of thousands of new residents. I cannot say it more plainly; we are not.

I know that people are fed up with waiting for results. I’m fed up too. Please don’t check out now. Our best ideas for how to proceed will come from the community. I want to co-create solutions for the OCP and LUB with you through a collaborative approach. I’ve been fighting an uphill battle since the last election to get the organization to agree to a new way of engaging with the community. Doing things differently is probably a stretch for the Islands Trust. It has grown accustomed to hearing the opinions of those who show up to meetings on a weekday afternoon. And those who show up on a weekday afternoon have grown accustomed to dominating the Trust’s engagement processes. This must stop. The doors must be opened, and the fresh air of new voices must be let in.

My attempts to lead improvements have attracted the ire of those who fear change. What you might not know is that both the current OCP from 2008 and its predecessor from 1998 recognize that things change. One of our jobs is to monitor and see if the community goals are being achieved and, if necessary, amend the policies to better reach our community objectives.

The mandate of the Islands Trust in the context of today’s challenges and priorities remains valid. In 2025, let’s fulfill our OCP objective to “identify creative and proactive ways through which a diverse, livable and vibrant community can be created within the confines of our island’s finite land base and resources.”

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