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Public Feedback Sought on Draft Strategy for Private Marine Docks

Summary Public survey on the draft Strategic Management Plan will be open from Sept. 3, 2026, until Oct. 18, 2026 The plan proposes guidelines for the management of private marine docks on Crown foreshore areas in southern Gulf Islands and southeastern Vancouver Island Feedback will help determine whether the draft approach strikes the right balance and identify opportunities for improvement __________ Public feedback on a draft strategic management plan is invited to help shape the path for private marine docks in southern Gulf Islands and southeastern Vancouver Island. The B.C. government, in consultation with First Nations and an advisory group that included representatives of waterfront property owners, dock owners, science and conservation organizations, recreation groups, tourism and economic development organizations, and local governments, has developed a draft long-term strategy to manage private docks in the area, and is seeking public input. The draft pla…
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Let’s Bring The Rink Home!

LACE UP SALT SPRING AND HELP BRING THE RINK HOME! Generations of kids have grown up on Salt Spring without ever lacing up a pair of skates. Not for lack of wanting to. To skate, an island family has to catch a ferry, drive to a rink in another community, and come home late. That isn't an afternoon — it's an expedition. So mostly, it doesn't happen. Kids grow up here, move away, and have children of their own without ever having skated at home. Salt Spring is one of the largest communities in Canada without a rink. That is about to change. You may have read earlier this month that our rink project had lost its major donor. Here's the good news: the rink is still coming. The Salt Spring Island Healthy Living Society has secured the backing needed to keep the rink on track. Nobody has bought this island a rink. What we have been given is something better — time. Time for Salt Spring to bring the rink home itself. Here is how we finish it, together. Country Grocer…
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Convergence Festival Is Thriving Against the Odds, but for How Long?

It’s no secret that it’s increasingly difficult to present live music. News headlines are full of cancelled festivals, several of them local. From Salt Spring’s very own SOCS (Summer Outdoor Concert Series), to Rifflandia and Harbour Blues & Roots in Victoria, to Kaslo Jazz Fest and Vancouver Island Music Fest (Courtenay) regionally, to dozens more across the country and continent, the trend is rampant. With rising production costs, lack of available government funding, climate risks, and barriers to artist travel, these grassroots cultural events are sinking beneath their own weight at a time when society may need them most.

Amidst these circumstances, it feels like a small miracle that Salt Spring’s mighty little Convergence Festival is not only on the books, but growing to two full days this year. Started in 2022 by Tommy van Deursen, Convergence was initially conceived as a “parking lot takeover” - an off-the-cuff music festival in an unusual location to …

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Ferries Fixed, Webcams, Newsletters, Fall Fair & Apples Absolutely Everywhere

Summer Was Full. Now Comes the Harvest.

Well, that went quickly.

At the beginning of summer we announced that the tomatoes needed us more than your inbox did, paused the Saturday newsletter for a few months, and headed outside to try to keep up with the garden.

We’re not entirely sure we succeeded with the tomatoes, but somehow it’s September anyway.

Salt Spring did what Salt Spring does in summer: filled right up, got hot, got busy, put on approximately seventeen things at the same time every weekend, and made us all develop very strong opinions about ferries.

And now, almost overnight, we’ve moved into harvest season.

Apparently, the apples have taken over

For the second year in a row, Salt Spring is having a bumper apple crop. Trees are loaded, apples are dropping, and if you have an old tree in your yard you may currently be wondering what exactly you’re supposed to do with 400 pounds of fruit.

Fortunately…

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Habitat for Humanity Comes to Salt Spring to Pilot its Critical Repair Program

Twelve joined this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome Habitat for Humanity’s CEO Carmen Rempel and Tiffany Gates, Director of Human Resources and Family Services. Despite the relatively low number joining this conversation, throughout our two hours together, it was clear that Carmen has generated a large number of important housing conversations throughout Salt Spring, some of which are the result of her first visit to ASK Salt Spring six months ago.

In her Acknowledgement, Carmen recalled that growing up on Salt Spring, she was unaware of its rich First Nations history, not even aware of anyone she identified as Indigenous. She spoke of the education and awareness that has grown dramatically in the decades since her teen years, giving her knowledge and an entirely different lens of respect and understanding. She concluded by describing a traditional First Nations’ arrival by canoe including a ceremonial greeting and welcome, wishing that we also participated in …

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How the LCC Can Serve You Better

As part of my learning curve while running for Local Community Commissioner, I’ve been attending LCC meetings, including the hours-long provisional budget meeting which was fascinating. (OK, I’m a deliberative process nerd) What struck me so strongly is how dynamic the LCC is, making decisions, advancing projects or turning them down. They get sh*t done over there! Now I realize the response from many readers to that will be: “What’s the LCC?” If you already know, please talk to people who don’t before the election, because the LCC has the capability of building on past progress to become a critical factor in all of our lives in the way it serves us. My short version is: “Our local government is divided into different agencies. The Islands Trust and its Local Trust Committee do the land use, including zoning. The CRD and its local arm, the LCC, do services. Then there’s our Fire Improvement District and our 17 water districts.” (A discussion for another time.) The LCC has…
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What's On This Week on CHIR-FM

A show about pet CPR, a recording of Measha Brueggergosman-Lee’s February performance at ArtSpring, a conversation with author Anna Byrne, and an interview with the Salt Spring Seeds team are among the nifty things coming your way this week on CHIR-FM, the Voice of the Gulf Islands.

Tune in to 107.9 FM (or 102.1 FM in the South End) or stream the station online to hear more than 25 unique local programs on your community radio station.

Highlights for the coming week include:

Tuesday (September 1) 1-2 p.m. On This Song, That Time, this week’s show is about superstitions. Host Lesley Grott will play music and talk about the history of some common superstitions and why we continue to pay heed to them despite logic. Show re-airs Thursdays at 1 pm and Saturdays at 1 pm.

Tuesday (September 1) 4-5 p.m. On Dr Jeff’s Natural Vet Broadcast, host Dr. Jeff Crognet shares how to do CPR in your cat or dog. You will hear how to recognize when your frien…

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Northern Steadiness

There’s a certain sound the continent makes when the gears begin to grind. It’s not loud. It’s not dramatic. It’s more like a low vibration under the floorboards, the kind you feel before you hear. And lately, Canadians have been feeling that hum.

Trade agreements that once seemed permanent are suddenly up for renegotiation. Cross-border cooperation that used to run on autopilot now sputters and coughs. And our neighbours to the south, who once strode forward with a single voice, are speaking in a chorus that doesn’t quite harmonize.

Moments like this can make people nervous. They can make people imagine futures that haven’t happened, and may never happen. They can make us forget who we are.

So tonight, on this broadcast, I want to remind us.

Canada has lived beside American turbulence for as long as we’ve existed. We were born next to a powerful neighbour that has gone through cycles of unity and division, confidence and doubt, expans…

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Weathering the Next Recession

The health of the financial system doesn’t get talked about much in the mainstream media. A cynic would say this is intentional, so the average person will be the last to know when the economy is circling the drain. That way they can bear the brunt of the financial pain in any recession.

I recently started paying attention to economics after I developed an interest in the precious metals markets. I am not a financial advisor, but I’m sharing what I've learned because I think it’s important. If you read further I belleve I make a good argument that hard times are coming and that diversifying into gold and/or silver would be prudent. Gold and silver have been money for thousands of years and every downturn has seen their prices spike as people try to preserve their wealth. The analysts I follow say to plan on holding these metals for five years because the timing of the next recession is impossible to predict, though many believe a downturn could occur before the end…

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🍎 Apple Palooza Is Here: Pick, Press, Preserve & Celebrate! 🍎

Salt Spring, it’s apple time.

For the second year in a row, it's a bumper crop: trees are loaded, the fruit is falling, and the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust is ready to help you pick it, press it, preserve it, identify it, dance about it — and even sail across the Salish Sea for it.

Here’s what’s coming up during apple season:

COMMUNITY APPLE JUICING

Got apples? We’ve got the press. Are you swimming in apples? Bring them to The Root, 189 Beddis Road, and leave with fresh, delicious juice made from your own fruit. Our first two juicing days are coming right up and will offer fresh, raw juice (not pasteurized):

Monday, August 31 Tuesday, September 8

After that, we’ll be juicing regularly through the fall, with the option to have your juice pasteurized — thanks to a generous donation from the Salt Spring Foundation — so it can be stored shelf-stable without taking over your fridge or freezer.

COST: $6 per 2-litre …

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