On the evening of Thursday, November 8, Boodie Arnott gave a 5-minute presentation to the membership of 100 Women Who Care Salt Spring Island. Boodie explained that, as someone who benefits from the programs at the Salt Spring Seniors Services Society, she would like to see the society receive the funds that were being raised […]
The Salt Spring community came out last night for a beautiful evening to celebrate local businesses, people, places and the many charms of Salt Spring Island. After numerous years of experimenting with the format for honouring local businesses and people, the Salt Spring Chamber really seems to have struck a nice rhythm of creating a […]
Presenting the Salt Spring Community & Business Awards! Winners will receive a Salty Award and 30 awards will be given out two areas – Business and Community. You can also vote in new the “Fun and Games” category. Salt Spring residents, visitors and fans are nominating and voting for the winners online. You can now vote for 1 […]
After almost 6 months of work, the Xwaaqw’um Snuhwulh (canoe) was launched today to the delight of all the relations who joined to celebrate the launch. Dancing, songs and ceremony were led by local elder Tousilum (Ron George). The new Snuhwulh (Canoe) was named Xwaaqw’um and given to elder Tousilum as a gift for years […]
A young man has now been arrested and charged in the shooting death of a teenager on Salt Spring Island last September. In in the early hours of Sept 24, 2017, police responded to a residence on Salt Spring Island for a report of a shooting. When police arrived they found 6 youths present, a […]
Nominations time has been extended to October 10th!! – Presenting the Salt Spring Community & Business Awards! Winners will receive a Salty Award and 30 awards will be given out two areas – Business and Community. You can also vote in new the “Fun and Games” category. Salt Spring residents, visitors and fans are nominating […]
Free public Wi-Fi is now available to patients and visitors at Lady Minto Hospital thanks to financial support from the Lady Minto Hospital Auxiliary, Lady Minto Hospital Foundation, Country Grocer, Island Health and the Salt Spring Exchange. “We are thrilled to be bringing public Wi-Fi to patients and visitors at Lady Minto Hospital. We know […]
Carolling by canoe on Cusheon Lake, the Firefly Lantern Festival, public pianos, Earth Day in Centennial Park, Art Jam, and a neighbourhood potluck party on Park Drive. What do all of these have in common? They are all colourful and joyful expressions of Salt Spring culture, local projects and events run by people who are […]
“A World of Pride” on Diverse and Inclusive Salt Spring Island September 5th to 9th, 2018 – Salt Spring Island, BC – It’s almost here – 14th Annual Salt Spring Island Pride! From September 5th to 9th, join us for BC’s most unique, totally people-powered, non-commercial Pride Festivities! Experience and contribute to our celebration of […]
Saltspring Island Health Centre (ssihealth.ca), opens its doors on September 5th at 164 Kings Lane. It will be the practice location of 6 family physicians and a midwife. Four of the physicians, Drs. Anik Mommsen-Smith, Catherine Prendiville, Paula Ryan and Manya Sadouski are familiar to the community as family physicians already in practice here and […]
The Old Boys celebrated their 2017/2018 season with the Annual Awards Ceremony at the Tweedle residence on August 4th. This years Awards Ceremony had been held back due to the absence of stalwart Head Statistician, Columnist, and Sausage Roll connoisseur Fraser Hope while on his sojourns back to bonnie Scotland. Quite what Hope was up […]
Salt Spring makes the cover of the Vancouver Sun – but not for a good reason The severity of Salt Spring’s housing crisis is well known by the many hundreds who are directly affected, and by a few hundred more like me who know people who are. But as of yesterday, tens of thousands across […]
After years of consultation, planning, design and community engagement The Salt Spring Lions Commemorative Bike Park opened today with a big turn out from the community. Dozens of families, bikes in tow, joined the project sponsors, managers and supporters in the opening of the island’s first bike park. The family bike park is a dirt […]
The Salt Spring Island RCMP are requesting the publics assistance in locating 46 yr old Jeremy Daniel OAKLEY. Police received a report from OAKLEY’s ex-girlfriend advising that she had not heard from him in several days. The last contact with OAKLEY was on June 22nd. He possibly moved to Salt Spring Island to work on […]
Island Pathways is receiving a much-needed boost of $4100 to support its interpretive panels program, which will highlight the history of heritage locations and building along the Ganges Village Pathway Network. The funding comes through the Heritage Legacy Fund, the only provincial grant program that supports heritage conservation, awareness, planning and Indigenous partnership projects. Island […]
Would you be surprised to know that it now costs more for a family to live on Salt Spring than in Metro Vancouver? This is the bottom line of a new report just released by the Salt Spring Island Foundation. A Living Wage for Salt Spring Island, 2018, calculates the living wage required for a […]
Community People Profiles on the Salt Spring Exchange feature local personalities on our island home. These profiles are short interviews to tell us a little about what each of these folks are thinking about as they go about their lives and work on Salt Spring Island. Dr. Bob Richmond, affectionately known by many as Dr. […]
You’re Invited! – 2018 June 24, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Farmers’ Institute and on the Ganges Pathways Hard to believe Island Pathways has been going for 30 years. Here’s some of what we’ve accomplished: Our Partners Creating Pathways group has built nearly $1-million in Ganges Village pathways, complete with benches and map kiosks, costing local taxpayers […]
The 32’ foot-long snuhwulh (big canoe), carved from a single 710 year old X’pey (western red cedar tree) downed in a river valley windstorm will be finished over the next month or so for the Xwaaqw’um Project (aka Burgoyne Bay). “The Hul’q’umi’num word for canoe is snuhwulh, which means to transport people,” says Joe Akerman, local community organizer for the Xwaaqw’um Project […]
Nominate someone in B.C.’s education system who has made a positive, long-lasting impact on your school community. The Premier’s Awards for Excellence in Education were created to recognize the enormous contributions of B.C.’s exceptional teachers, administrators and support staff that are vital to the cultural, economic and social well-being of the province. The Premier’s Awards provide students, […]
The students and staff of Fernwood School once again be walked in support of SOPAR’s village well projects in India. SOPAR is a non-profit, non-governmental, Canadian/Indian organization that supports community-driven development throughout the state of Andhra Pradesh. Classes walked to St Mary’s Lake to collect water and carry it back to Fernwood, experiencing what millions […]
The Tour des Iles Festival (TDIF) is big and getting bigger – and we want you to be a part of it! Our Fourth Annual Festival is taking place June 22, 23, and 24, 2018. All day inter-island small boat service will connect you to Pender, Saturna, Salt Spring, Galiano and Mayne Islands. Courtesy shuttles, […]
May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada. One of the very few Asian heritage sites on Salt Spring are the two charcoal kilns built by Isaburo Tasaka in the early 1900s in Mouat Park. Besides the two on our island, we have identified thirteen others in the Southern Gulf Islands. A new 68-page booklet published […]
A new nature reserve—a forested 62-acre area near Ford Lake, including small streams flowing into the headwaters of Fulford Creek—is now in the hands of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy. The Howard Horel Nature Reserve has been created largely thanks to a generous anonymous donor, with some grant support from Environment and Climate Change Canada […]
Birds are nesting, evenings are longer, buds are budding. Hints of summer’s imminent arrival are everywhere, including – of all places – a parking lot. Country Grocer is busy scheduling this season’s array of fundraisers and awareness campaigns. Rob Lowrie, a member of the Community Relations team, says, “it’s a community space as well as […]
Old Boys end season on a winning note – The pouring rain on Saturday April 7th complemented the Old Boys mood as only 9 hardy souls arrived at Finlayson Park, Victoria for their opening game in the Annual Bill Drew end of season tournament. Included in the 9 was a return after a 2-season absence of […]
A community open house for the proposed Salt Spring Lions Commemorative Bike Park in Mouat Park took place on Sunday, March 25 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Salt Spring Island Lions Hall. The event was hosted by the Salt Spring Island Parks and Recreation Commission (PARC) to share information about the project and […]
As was recently announced, Salt Spring Island Parks and Recreation Commission (PARC) has received a donation of $150,000 from the Salt Spring Island Lions Club towards the construction of a family bike park. The donation is made to the Salt Spring community in celebration of the club’s 60th anniversary. The Salt Spring Island Lions Club […]
On the evening of Thursday, November 8, Boodie Arnott gave a 5-minute presentation to the membership of 100 Women Who Care Salt Spring Island. Boodie explained that, as someone who benefits from the programs at the Salt Spring Seniors Services Society, she would like to see the society receive the funds that were being raised […]
The Salt Spring community came out last night for a beautiful evening to celebrate local businesses, people, places and the many charms of Salt Spring Island. After numerous years of experimenting with the format for honouring local businesses and people, the Salt Spring Chamber really seems to have struck a nice rhythm of creating a […]
This last March 23rd, I was arrested protesting in front of Kinder Morgan’s gate in Burnaby — now Trans Mountain Corporation, bought by all Canadians in August for $4.5-billion. I wrote an Exchange piece, published on March 29th, called “Thoughts on My Arrest”. Time for an update. In Vancouver’s B.C. Supreme Court last week, I […]
With many new pipeline projects stalled & existing ones running at capacity, oil patch producers are turning increasingly to rail to transport their product. How safe is this? Should we be concerned? What about ferries and floatplanes? Ferry accidents claim thousands of lives in other countries, but not in Canada. Floatplanes are one of the […]
Raised on Salt Spring by a family that supported the community through a variety of volunteer roles, it was only natural for me to follow that same path of volunteerism. In high school, I was a member of the Youth Coast Guard in Mill Bay. I was a member of the local Land Search and […]
Local proportional representation advocates gathered this past Saturday to share their support for changing our provincial voting system to a proportional system from our current first past the post system (FPTP). British Columbia is having a referendum on what voting system we should use for provincial elections. The referendum is being held by mail from […]
The “us versus them” rhetoric increasingly employed by politicians is endangering human rights around the world. What are some of the major human rights struggles of our times, and what we can do about them? Payam Akhavan – renowned human rights scholar, former UN prosecutor at The Hague, and 2017 CBC Massey Lecturer – has […]
Here is my usual seasonal reminder to collect fallen leaves for garden mulching while they are all around us and to be had for free. Do collect enough to mulch the garden for the winter and also to stockpile for mulching next summer. I store leaves for summer use in bags or covered bins, keeping […]
Did you know that chimney fires are the most common fire emergencies this time of the year? – As our weather cools, and you begin enjoying your roaring fire, there are important safety tips you should know. Each year, Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue (SSIFR) is called to between 7 and 15 chimney fires. As these fires […]
