Local News | Salt Spring Exchange

Fire News: Chief’s Response Report – 2019 October

Response Report: Salt Spring Island Firefighters responded to 32 calls for the month of October. Operations As part of our ongoing community education and outreach SSIFR is hosting the 1st series of Resiliency training for the community organized by the Salt Spring Island Emergency Program. The first block consists of four three-hour training sessions covering several key areas that will help our community be more resilient during emergencies. Registration is full for the 1st and 2nd series but there are plans to continue this community education program with the Salt Spring Island Emergency Program. Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue conducted our annual hose testing with over 25,000 feet of fire hose tested. Thanks to the testing we were able to find several hose lengths that were in need of replacing and failed the test. The C.R.E.S.T. roll out of the P25 digital radio system is only months away. Our department will be outfitted with new Motorola radios thr…

2019 Salt Spring Chamber Salty Awards Winners

Salt Spring community members gathered last night at the Harbour House hotel to celebrate business and community award nominees and award winners. The awards and dinner were organized by the Salt Spring Chamber board and staff members to celebrate the best parts of our Salt Spring community and the entrepreneurial spirit of the island. Twenty-nine awards were given out across two business and community award categories. Thank you for voting the Salt Spring Exchange your favourite Local Media Choice again this year. We're grateful for all our supporters and advertisers who help make the service of the Exchange possible. We'd like to thank all the other local media organizations on the island, The Gulf Islands Driftwood, The Fish Bowl and the Islands Marketplace who all work tirelessly to help share the news and events of our very special island community. We all benefit from their work engaging people on and off island in stories about our island. Our Local Media Choice aw…

Leaves, Mulch for Winter

This is my annual note to remind you to collect as many leaves as possible now, both to mulch your garden for winter and to stockpile for mulching next summer. Here are some notes addressing misconceptions and questions that appear every year at this time: What kind of leaves can be used for mulch? All leaves are usable, but black walnut leaves shouldn’t be used on some plants until the leaves have been well composted first (this breaks down a chemical called juglone in the leaves, which suppresses the growth of some plants). One hardy perennial myth is that maple leaves shouldn't be used (luckily, no one told my garden, which has been heavily mulched with Bigleaf Maple leaves for 18 years). Even oak and Arbutus/Madrone are fine, but they do take longer to break down. Mixing oak leaves with other tree leaves works well for a fluffy winter mulch and I reserve Arbutus leaves for pathways where their toughness is an advantage. Should they be shredded? Not for winter mulching…

Listen: Changing Our Climate with the Food We Eat

I’m on the Salt Spring Gulf Island Community Radio interviewing people near and far who are making good news on the planet by helping to shift the outcome of our future. These people and companies have created solutions to local and global issues we’re facing at the moment. Sharing the good news that’s happening on the planet is key at this time as there are people out there who are making big changes and we need to see the turning tides. In this episode I’m talking with Dan Jason the owner of Salt Spring Seeds. Dan has a vision to help communities around the world let go of their dependence on the food industry and fulfill their communities grocery needs at home - without compromising the varieties of food we love! He is committed to helping people grow their own food and save their own seeds. In this episode we're exploring how to relate with our future through the foods we choose. We're also diving into: How the design of seeds can effect our longevity on the …

Make Less Than $80K? Maybe You Can't Live Here

Every month that goes by, fewer and fewer homes for regular people are available on Salt Spring. Rentals continue to leave the market due to the dual pressures of high real estate prices (encouraging homeowners to sell), and tourism / Air bnbs (encouraging homeowners to rent short term rather than long). A few affordable housing projects are happening, sort of, though the one that recently broke ground took 24 years of planning. That's one housing unit a year. As for homes for sale, as this former Islands Trust trustee recently wrote, there are literally zero properties listed for sale today on Salt Spring that anyone making less than $80,000 a year could afford. There are reportedly hundreds of people commuting on the ferries each day (one sailing wait anyone?) while more and more middle and working class people and families are looking at the unthinkable: packing up their lives, in some cases after decades of investing in this community, and moving elsewhere. But it'…

BC Ferries Awards Contracts for 'Island Class' Hybrid Electric Vessels

Ships are designed to be fully electric when electric charging technology matures - BC Ferries continues to roll out its Clean Futures Plan and has awarded Damen Shipyards Group of the Netherlands contracts to build four more battery electric-hybrid Island Class vessels scheduled to go into service in 2022. In the spring of 2017, BC Ferries awarded Damen contracts to build two “first in class” of these battery electric-hybrid vessels. These vessels have successfully completed sea trials and will arrive in Victoria, B.C. by January 2020. With the extension of the partnership between BC Ferries and Damen now confirmed, Damen will extend its agreement with Point Hope Shipyards of Victoria, B.C. to provide technical and warranty support for the new vessels with their local staff. “Our Clean Futures Plan spells out our strategy to reduce GHG emissions by replacing our legacy carbon intensive fossil fuelled vessels with ships using clean energy,” said Captain Jamie Marshall, BC…

Breaking: Elizabeth May Steps Down as the Leader of The Green Party of Canada

“Effective today, I am no longer leader of the Green Party of Canada,” said announcing her resignation. “I wanted to choose a moment when we had a lot of success before leaving.” Effective today May is no longer the leader of the Green Party of Canada. The new acting leader is Jo-Ann Roberts. May will be staying on as Parliamentary Leader and the MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

“Effective today, I am no longer leader of the Green Party of Canada,” said @ElizabethMay announcing her resignation. “I wanted to choose a moment when we had a lot of success before leaving.” #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/zdewK28iik

— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) November 4, 2019

Proposed New CRD Community Safety Service FAQ

The Capital Regional District ("CRD") Board proposes to adopt Bylaw 4325, “Salt Spring Island Community Safety Service Establishing Bylaw No. 1, 2019”. The new Salt Spring Island Community Safety Service is proposed to assist, administer, promote, organize, implement, and monitor community safety initiatives and programs in the Salt Spring lsland Electoral Area. Here is an list of Frequently Asked Questions about the service. Why the need for this new service? A recent increase in vandalism and civil disorder in Ganges Village prompted a series of meetings organized by the Chamber of Commerce, United Church and islands residents, resulting in the formation of an ad hoc committee to share information. These meetings identified constraints on resources for existing agencies (including repeated, unsuccessful attempts by the RCMP to acquire additional officers) and the lack of consistent and focused local funding support for community engagement with the RCMP and social se…

Voting for the 2019 Salty Awards - The People Have Chosen!

Voting for the Community and Business Awards is Now Closed - The Salt Spring Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that the Salty Awards for Business and Community will be presented at a Gala Dinner on November 14th at the Harbour House Hotel at 6 pm. Online voting took place on saltspringchamber.com between October 8 and 25, and once again the number of votes was significantly greater than in the previous two years. 2840 validated ballots were cast for the Business Awards and over 2300 for the nine Community Award categories Several categories were hotly contested ‐ a dozen or fewer votes separated the top three finalists in several categories ‐ Market Vendor or Artisan, Top Green Business, both Entrepreneur categories (over and under 40), and Top Customer Service. A single vote separated the first and second place Barber, Stylist or Spa Service category and two tiny votes separated the first and second place winners among the 109 Tradespeople that were nominated. …

Fire News: Chief’s Response Report – 2019 September

Response Report: Salt Spring Island Firefighters responded to 66 calls the month of September. Operations Our wildfire season has come to an end with far fewer fires on Salt Spring and throughout BC compared to 2017 and 2018. Below is an overview of the burning prohibitions over the past three years. Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue follows the BC burning restrictions. This summer we worked with the Salt Spring Exchange and launched a daily Fire Danger Rating public notice that was well received with 751,006 views this summer. With the new changes to the Open Burning Smoke Control Regulations (OBSCR) there has been a change in how the air quality “Venting” is reported. There is now 1 Day venting that displays in blue, as where the 2 day more stringent venting is displayed in a light green. Map locations that are in red are areas with poor no venting. With the new update of the OBSCR Venting is now required for all burning where the material is gre…

Artists from the Fringe: Jessy's Story

In this series, we share stories from Art Jam participants. Art Jam - a volunteer-run program of the Salt Spring Arts Council supported by the Social Justice Committee of the SSI United Church - provides a safe, welcoming space for members of our marginalized community, where they can be defined as creators and artists, rather than by the challenges they regularly face. By celebrating their unique creative accomplishments and reinforcing the value of their work through public exhibitions we promote positive self-identities and help build self-esteem. My story starts off well enough, although at a young age my father started drinking heavily and got quite angry with his life and started abusing me, my sister and my mom. When I was nine my mom, sister and I ran away from that toxic scenario. I was raised by my mom and sister for the next nine years. Although it was hard for me as a young man with no father, it worked well for the most part. Shortly after my 18th birthday, m…

100 Men Who Care Present $10,500 Donation to Greenwoods

In their inaugural meeting this past month, the men who gathered raised $10,500 for the Greenwoods Eldercare Society with funds earmarked for a family communications room where residents can connect with families via video conference. Over eighty men of the 105 members gathered at their first meeting at the Harbour House Hotel to select a local charity to support. The randomly selected nominations were from Greenwoods Elder Care, The Salt Spring Island Rowing Club, and the Salt Spring Island Soccer Association. In a close vote, Greenwoods Elder Care gained the most votes. 100 Men Who Care have now shared those funds with Aletha Humphreys, Executive Director at Greenwoods who accepted the cheque for $10,300 on behalf of the board, staff, and residents of Greenwood’s Elder Care. The money was raised by the newly formed 100 Men Who Care, Salt Spring Island, and will go to refurbishment of the activity room.

Harbour Air - Seaplanes to ePlanes

We are thrilled to share the completion of significant project milestones in the conversion of the world’s first seaplane to ePlane! Our incredible maintenance team along with our partners at magniX have created dedicated space in our aircraft hangar and have been working diligently to make this a success since announcing our partnership this past spring. With the delivery and successful installation of the magniX motor, we are working hard to connect the internal systems in preparation for its first flight. With incredible work being completed each day and a number of integral components being delivered over the next few weeks, we are in the midst of some of the most exciting and critical development work. Currently, we are on track for the first test flight to take place before the end of the year. By mid-November, we expect to have a concrete time-frame to test the first fully electric flight. As of October 23, 2019, the following work has been completed: Air…

Alternative Approval Process Begins for Salt Spring Island Community Safety Service

Alternative Approval Process for Bylaw 4325, Establishment of a Community Safety Service on Salt Spring Island - The Capital Regional District (CRD) has announced an Alternative Approval Process (AAP) will be conducted for a community safety service on Salt Spring Island. The CRD Board endorsed creation of a Salt Spring Island community safety service at their September 11 meeting, with the goal of funding community programs across the electoral area. Establishment of any new CRD service requires voter approval of a bylaw defining the mandate and maximum tax requisition for the service. With Provincial approval secured, the AAP (“counter petition”) has been initiated. Elector response forms in relation to Bylaw No. 4325 must be received by 4:00pm on Friday, December 6, 2019 to be counted. “There is a gap in our services on Salt Spring and this is an opportunity to prioritize and advance community safety initiatives and programs,” said Gary Holman, Electoral Area Director.…

Detailed: Martin Galen Vandenberg Not Criminally Responsible in Death of Mother

Read the full detailed judgment that found Martin Galen Vandenberg not criminally responsible in the death of his mother. The identity of the deceased in the death on Salt Spring Island that occurred on Dec 6th, 2017 was confirmed to be that of 47 year old Heather Jones. 22 year old Martin Galen Vandenberg was released from police custody and was apprehended under the Mental Health Act. Mr. Vandenberg was suffering from a serious mental disorder at the time he killed his mother, and was not capable of knowing that what he was doing was morally wrong. The judgement also details a problematic pattern of cannabis use that lead to clinically significant impairment or distress and that there was ample evidence that schizophrenia existed in the absence of cannabis. He was under the delusional belief that killing his mother would save her from a worse fate.

DETAILED JUDGEMENT

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

…

Healthy Ways to Deal with Anxiety with Salt Spring's John Bateman

Join host Elizabeth Heinz and guests Judith Law and Salt Spring Island's John Bateman from Anxiety Canada, to understand what anxiety disorders are and how to recognize when help is needed. https://youtu.be/91no0Qek3Eg Q&A with John Bateman, Anxiety Canada Champion How did you get involved with Anxiety Canada? I met Judith (Anxiety Canada Executive Director) through the Robert Bateman Foundation which I’m Chair. My enthusiasm for mental health and your organization resonated with Judith, so she immediately asked me to be a Champion. How has anxiety impacted your life? I’ve dealt with anxiety my entire life – it started at a young age. At the time, there wasn’t a system in place for anyone – let alone children, but, my mom recognized it and helped me a lot. I started having panic attacks that were brought on by stressful events. I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder in high school, and I also battled depression. There’s a lot that I blocked out abou…

First Wetland Restored at Xwaaqw’um Village

After many decades of deteriorating ecological conditions at Xwaaqw’um Village (Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park), Quw’utsun Elders, along with support from Stqeeye’ Learning Society, Cowichan Tribes, BC Wildlife Federation and BC Parks have completed installation of the first wetland at Xwaaqw’um. Along with a first priority of mending relationships between Local Indigenous and Non-Indigenous people by learning how Hul’q’umi’num culture can guide the work of enabling highly productive local endangered ecosystems and local foods to once again thrive at Xwaaqw’um Village. Releasing the natural inland water flows at Xwaaqw’um Village from the rapid diversion by agricultural ditches and buried drain lines will help bring rare wetland plants used for weaving and other culturally important plant and animal species back. A 660 square metre wetland was created at Xwaaqw’um Village on the east boundary of Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park. Wetland construction was completed in September 201…

Student Vote Canada 2019 - How Would/Did They Vote?

More than 1.1 million elementary and secondary school students from 8,000 schools participated in Student Vote Canada 2019. Votes were cast in all 338 ridings. More than 1.1 million elementary and secondary school students participated in Student Vote Canada 2019, coinciding with the 2019 federal election. After learning about the electoral process, researching the parties and platforms, and debating Canada’s future, students cast their ballots for the official candidates running in their school’s riding. 1,181,053 votes were reported from 7,855 schools, with results from 338 federal ridings. The Liberal Party took 22.3% of the popular vote and won 110 seats, forming a minority government. Justin Trudeau won in his riding of Papineau. The NDP will form the official opposition with 24.8% of the popular vote and 99 seats. Jagmeet Singh won his seat in Burnaby South. The Conservative Party took 25.1% of the popular vote and won 94 seats. Andrew Scheer won his s…

May Wins Reelection - 2019 Federal Election Saanich-Gulf Islands Results

Saanich—Gulf Islands is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1988. It is named for its geographical location across the Gulf Islands and Saanich Peninsula in the Vancouver Island region. More than 21 percent of Saanich—Gulf Islands' residents are immigrants, and more than 19 percent are older than 65, making this the riding with the third largest senior population in Canada. The riding has a median age of 48.3, making it the riding with the highest median age in Canada.[2] The average family income is $70,814; unemployment is 5.9 percent. Candidates for the riding this year were Ron Broda, People's Party of Canada; David Busch, Conservative Party of Canada; Elizabeth May, Green Party of Canada; Sabina Singh, New Democratic Party; Ryan Windsor, Liberal Party of Canada Watch the All Candidates Debate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKsa7ANxkWo Riding History The electoral …

2019 Salt Spring National Art Prize Exhibition Exceeds Expectations

Salt Spring National Art Prize organizers are thrilled by the enthusiasm shown by the national and local artists who attended, as well as art lovers who revelled in all three art showcases. Winners were announced at a gala awards night before a packed house at Mahon Hall on October 19. Hailing from Winnipeg, the winner of the Salt Spring Prize (The Joan McConnell Award) is 28-year old artist Luther Konadu. His photograph, Figure as Index, captured the jury and held their attention in a way one juror described as “clever and confrontational; humorous and challenging and expansive in its interrogation of photography as meaning and form,” and another referred to his work as “a slow burn.” Konadu receives $15,000 and a Salt Spring Island artist residency of $5,000. Konadu was not expecting to win the Salt Spring Prize, “It never crossed my mind that it could be me out of the 50 plus finalists. I knew I couldn't attend and I thought there was a lot of great work being shown. …

BC Ferries Replaces Skeena Queen With Queen of Cumberland

Skeena Queen to be Replaced With Queen of Cumberland on Swartz Bay to Salt Spring Island Route During Mid-life Upgrade - BC Ferries announced today the vessel serving the Swartz Bay – Salt Spring Island route, the Skeena Queen, will be undergoing a mid-life upgrade from Oct. 28, 2019 to mid-March, 2020. This mid-life upgrade is necessary to provide required maintenance on the vessel and enhance the customer experience. Queen of Cumberland Replaces Skeena Queen during Mid-Life Upgrade BC Ferries will replace the Skeena Queen (92 Automobile Equivalent – AEQ) with the Queen of Cumberland (112 AEQ) for the majority of the time, providing equivalent capacity on the regular schedule. The Queen of Cumberland has vehicle ramps, unlike the Skeena Queen, and some customers may be loaded onto an upper level ramp. Customers must exit their vehicle when the ramp is in motion. With one ramp, the Queen of Cumberland can load 94 AEQ. The crew will mainly use one ramp because the regula…