Earlier this year we officially took over ownership of Salt Spring Media, the parent company of the Salt Spring Exchange and the day-to-day operations of the Salt Spring Exchange. At the time, the previous ownership had kept a fairly low profile and recommended we do the same at least for a time. Quite honestly, it felt like the right call at first. We didn’t have a full understanding of what it took to run the Exchange on a day-to-day basis, and we were quite overwhelmed.

But we have heard from many people within the community that they felt it would be lovely for our fellow Salt Springers to know who we are and what our intentions are. To that end, or beginning as it is, we have also decided to make the Salt Spring Exchange a BC “Benefit” Company. If you are wondering what that means, here is a direct reference from the BC Government:

A benefit company is a for-profit company that commits to conducting its business in a responsible and sustainable way. It must also promote one or more public benefits.

When we took over the Exchange, we knew that we were at the beginning of a journey to leverage our efforts as a force for good. In hindsight, we seriously underestimated both the amount of work it would take and the need for clarity within the community. We were motivated by the positive outcomes that could result from running a purpose-focused and values-aligned business. Thus, we are not under any illusions: we know that we’re just getting started. We have so much more to learn and so much more work to do. But here is our statement of Benefit written into our Corporate Articles:

Salt Spring Media Inc. is a benefit company and, as such, is committed to conducting its business in a responsible and sustainable manner and promoting a positive effect of artistic, charitable, cultural, economic, educational, environmental, literary, medical, scientific or technological nature, for the benefit of the residents of Salt Spring Island and the environment.

Like most Salt Spring residents, we are uninvited settlers on this island, and with mostly white, European backgrounds (bios below), we recognize the significant privilege that we have benefitted from throughout our lifetimes and in our ability to call Salt Spring home. We are taking responsibility — personally and through our business — for working to improve social justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, decolonization, and reconciliation.

We also have ongoing concern over the devastating impact of climate change, and we take responsibility to do everything that we can to minimize our negative effect on the environment. As part of becoming a Benefit company, we have implemented a decision-making framework where every key decision that we make is now passed through a filtering process to make sure that it is the right choice socially and environmentally for everyone and everything that is touched by our business.

Living on Salt Spring Island is a privilege. Owning the Salt Spring Exchange is a privilege. We are committed to using our privilege for good. We already know many of you are aligned and ready. We hope we can count on you when the time is right to activate for the sake of our community, for the sake of social justice, and for the sake of our environment. We can do this together.

We will look to improve the Exchange in the coming months with small steps. It works well as it is, and we don’t want to break it or change it just for change's sake — so we are collecting feedback. We are motivated to use the platform that reaches all of Salt Spring to lift up our community in new ways. We can see the potential impact of using a community-based platform like the Exchange for good. We are actively figuring it out and look forward to hearing what that could look like from others in the community! We will be getting our first survey out shortly (to save the inbox from overload) we are really looking forward to hearing your input.

We are excited to be launching the “Storytellers Lab” this fall. We have committed $10,000 to funding new, original stories told by Salt Springers about Salt Spring. We believe local stories told by locals are not only wanted but needed to develop a common understanding within our community and as a way to align on the challenges and opportunities of the present day.

We believe in supporting those who are most vulnerable: We are also looking at new ways to offer services with lower or no cost to those who are marginalized in our community, including new or struggling businesses.

We believe in collaboration: We are currently in meaningful partnership discussions with several local organizations and will be making some announcements in this regard very soon. We are also open to exploring new partnerships, so please reach out if you have something in mind.

We feel honoured to have had and continue to have the opportunity to experience deep, mutually respectful, values-based relationships and to continually learn more about Indigenous worldviews. We know that we have much to learn from our Indigenous neighbours about what is most important in life and in business.

When we purchased the Exchange, a couple weeks into it, the previous owner and founder said, “How does it feel to own and operate a community asset?” and to be honest we didn’t fully understand what he meant. Now we do. We are both honoured and excited to take on the responsibility for our community. We love this.

Thank you for taking the time to read this first message and for sharing this journey with us.

With gratitude,
Leslie Ash and Colin How,
Salt Spring Media Inc. and the Salt Spring Exchange

Leslie Ash Bio

For the past 15 years, I have been studying ways of village-building through community and farming. I have my Permaculture teacher certification, Ecovillage Design & Regenerative Community Building training. I have studied natural building, herbalism, sacred activism, various methods of farming, sustainability, and empathetic communication models. I have lived and practiced these teachings in many community home/homesteading/farming situations. In the past 25 years, event production has been a constant in my world, specifically centered around bringing people together for higher causes: personal/collective healing, fundraising, and various social impact ventures. On a personal level, I have spent a lot of the last half of my life in reclamation of my ancestral spiritual healing ways. Three of my grandparents grew up farming, first generation born in Canada from Scottish-born parents, and my maternal Grandmother is Lakota Sioux who spent her youth in residential school. Finding Elders that could help me heal the roots that were severed by my Grandmother being kept away from her Indigenous family has been the most profound healing piece to my story, healing that spread throughout my family!

I moved to Vancouver Island at 5 years old and have moved all over the island and Vancouver area. The beginning of my deep ties with Salt Spring started in 1993 when my best friend moved here — I do have some wild teen-time stories from here, lol! I'm so happy that 2 of our 5 children (blended family!) get the opportunity to graduate and have built such strong foundations over all their years here. My daughter has received so much from the traditional teachings from the GISS Youth on the Land program! The birth of my children started me on a long journey of learning how I could use my life force energy to build a better world for many generations, I’m grateful to be in a community of so many people who wish to do the same. I am deeply in love with and in service to this land, its people, and its culture. It’s a wild but wonderful community to be a part of (I have lived in MANY - this one is by far my favourite). I am dedicated to working together to help it be the best it can be.

Colin How Bio

I grew up in Port Hardy so small town living is not new to me. I started coming over to Salt Spring in the early 90s and spent too much time at the Fulford Inn! Fast forward thirty plus years, and I have such deep gratitude to call Salt Spring Home. Between us, Leslie and I have 5 kids, but in the next couple years, we will be approaching empty nest reality so have a couple dogs and a parrot to ease the transition. When not working, we love to care for our land, grow our food, and host our family and friends.

The early part of my career was spent building software companies, but about ten years ago, there was a big shift. I went through a pretty big transformation and started focusing on where I could do more good with what I am able to do. The two areas of impact I continue to work in today are Indigenous economic development and mental health. I have immense gratitude that I am able to do the impact work I love with people I love. I currently do advisory work with the founders at Animikii and OneFeather and often work with the team at Raven Capital. I am also now working with my very good friend, who founded and runs Cognito Mental Health.

I have always loved the classifieds — ever since I was a kid I was reading the newspaper backwards. But to me, the Salt Spring Exchange is so much more. It is a community platform. Yes, a core component of the platform is the buy/sell that is both wanted, needed, and necessary to keep as much out of the landfill as we possibly can. But as a community platform, the Exchange is also a communication platform. But unlike social media, the Exchange is intentional, moderated, and constructive. It is and will continue to be a force for good. I look forward to building it with you.

Salt Spring Media and the Salt Spring Exchange operates on unceded Coast Salish territory and our organization recognizes, honours and respects the Hul’qumi’num and the SENĆOŦEN speaking peoples stewardship of the territories of Salt Spring Island.