An event celebrating a planned “sister” relationship between islands on opposite sides of the Canada-U.S. border is moving full steam ahead — and will get a financial boost from island government.
Under its grants-in-aid authority, Salt Spring’s Local Community Commission (LCC) voted Thursday, July 17 to approve in principle up to $5,000 in funding to the island’s Chamber of Commerce for the Hands Across the Water event, spearheaded by the Orcas Island Yacht Club in Washington state.
Some still-to-be-determined number of vessels are planning to sail from Orcas Island up to Ganges Harbour on Friday, Sept. 19, kicking off three days of Salt Spring events organizers hope will strengthen bonds between neighbouring island communities. Still in the planning stages, according to LCC members, events shaping up thus far include welcome receptions and friendly sailing competitions for islanders young and old.
Also still in the planning stages is the “sister island” relationship itself. On Wednesday, July 9, at Capital Regional District (CRD) director Gary Holman’s recommendation through the Electoral Areas Committee, the CRD board tasked staff with providing a brief report on the process necessary for Salt Spring to establish that relationship with Orcas.
“I support this initiative; it came at the request of folks living on Orcas,” said Holman on Thursday. “The person who contacted me was a former MP who just happens to have friends in the area.”
LCC chair Earl Rook said the chamber was “quite gung-ho on the whole thing,” and were well into organizing events and wrangling local businesses eager to participate.
“They’re expecting quite a big impact on what would otherwise be a shoulder-season weekend,” said Rook. “We don’t know what their expenses are going to be; based on the most recent conversations, they’re talking about targeting $135 per person coming up from the U.S.”
Holman said he felt it was prudent to show LCC support but added the “up to $5,000” to similarly indicate a preference that the chamber wouldn’t use the whole amount — and most commissioners agreed. LCC member Brian Webster said he was willing to “grudgingly” support the motion, in the hopes it would be a bit less.
“If we assume the management of this grant is going to be prudent, so that if the event only needs $3,000 then it only [uses] $3,000, then I feel comfortable with it,” said Webster. “I think there are benefits to the event, economic but also cultural. These are our very near neighbours, and it amazes me how little interaction we generally have with these people who live a couple of kilometres away from us.”
The sole vote against the motion came from LCC member Ben Corno, who said while he supported the event itself, he’d always looked at the grants-in-aid service as “helping the little guy” that might not otherwise be able to find funding for a community effort, and that the chamber-organized event didn’t seem appropriate for that sort of taxpayer funding.
“This is not how we do this [grants-in-aid] service, and this is not an emergency,” said Corno, who bristled at the lack of a detailed budget accompanying the request, and that the amount — “a little bit big for me,” he admitted — was being requested outside the planned fall grants-in-aid application intake schedule guiding the island’s other potential applicants.
“[In 2024] we spent a good deal of our time trying to figure out how to best use our funds for the good of our community,” said Corno. “We didn’t offer $5,000 to community groups.”
“‘Up to,’” added Rook.
Although this is the first significant cross-border cultural event in recent memory, regional government officials from both nations have met often, most recently in March through the framework of the Southern Gulf Islands Forum. That gathering included members of the San Juan County Council (the county where Orcas Island is located), Islands Trust trustees, First Nations representatives and Washington state’s Second Congressional District U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen.
The Islands Trust Council and San Juan County Council also have a long record of transboundary cooperation, dating back decades and including partnerships of public awareness and stewardship. In the past, those two governing bodies have sent joint letters to their respective provincial, state and federal governments on island-related issues, from environmental and maritime safety concerns to housing and economic development.
A website for the September event has been established at acrossthewater.org.