People & Places

Incorporation Debates Proposal Announced by Salt Spring Island Elected Officials

As initiators of the Salt Spring Island governance review process, the three elected officials, George Grams, Peter Grove and Wayne McIntyre, recognize the benefit of engaging the community in a process of formal structured debates to allow the full implications of incorporation to be explored. The debates would be a means of providing a forum for reasoned, civil discourse within the community that would allow the opportunity for counter argument and refutation on both the actual and potential consequences of incorporation. In short, the debates would facilitate the exploration and discussion of subjective issues as well as the factual and technical. This would be a means of addressing the concerns of some in the community to deal with these issues. The debates would be conducted following the completion of the incorporation study process and subject to the Minister’s decision to hold a referendum. That decision could be published as late as the first quarter of 2017. The…

Photos: 2016 Round Salt Spring Race

The annual Round Salt Spring Race has evolved over 42 years into a whole weekend of celebrations, and has been called “the best regatta on the coast” by participants. Up to 120 boats participate in the Saturday race around the island, from maxi-boats to small club racers. By Friday night the Club docks are alive with activity as boats raft together, flags flying. Because the course offers unique challenges such as tidal currents and variable conditions, it’s a great test of tactics, seamanship, navigation and sailing ability. From year to year, it can be anyone’s race to win. Here are some amazing aerial photos taken by Maggie Argiro onboard Don Arney's helicopter piloted by Don himself. Video courtesy of Bill Warriner / Salt Spring Live.

GISS and Middle School Receive Enhancement Program Funds

The Government of B.C. has awarded $45 million worth of improvement projects to schools throughout the province, as part of the Province's School Enhancement Program. School districts were asked to identify priorities for routine capital upgrade projects to support healthy, efficient schools for students, teachers and staff. Approved projects include: Electrical upgrades (power supply and distribution systems) Energy upgrades Health and safety upgrades (traffic safety, indoor air quality) Mechanical upgrades (heating, ventilation, plumbing) Roofing upgrades “This fix-it fund will help make sure B.C. students have safe, healthy and modern places to learn. Not only will this help make schools in every district in the province more comfortable for students and staff, it’s also going to make sure we are protecting and enhancing infrastructure worth millions of dollars.” - Mike Bernier, Minister of Education SD64 Gulf Islands received funds for Gulf Islands Seco…

2016 Film Festival: Debris

The following article was written by Robert McTavish as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 4-6, 2016. Filmmaker John Bolton will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Stonehouse Bed and Breakfast. Debris It's not every coastal dweller who keeps an organized library of flotsam and jetsam. But over the years Tofino parks worker Pete Clarkson has seen alot come in and tucked it away for use in his often fun and irreverent artwork. Then, near the end of 2011, something new began washing up on shore. It was debris, and it had crossed the Pacific ocean from the Tōhoku area of Japan, where in March of that year, a 9.0 earthquake and the resulting tsunami killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands. When Clarkson mentioned the estimated 1.5 million tonnes of incoming marine debris in a talk at the Vancouver Aquari…

Snuw’uyulh and the Sansum Narrows Monster

An important part of snuw’uyulh (putting the thought in the child’s head/cultural teachings) is sxwi’em’ (“sh-why-m” approximately)— a great Hul’q’umi’num’/Sencotlen word that describes ancient times, places in the landscape, and narratives. The root of the word is “change” or “transformation” —the only constant thing in the universe. These stories are connected to landscapes that by their form reflect aspects of the story. The narratives associated with these places do not explain the landscapes— rather the landscapes explain the narratives. The stories are not a projection by people onto landscape but encode 4 millenia of intergenerational experience. There are variations of sxwi’em’ according to different families, but the fundamental structure of each narrative is the same. It is up to the listener to bring what they know already—prior knowledge of time and place —or a willingness to go there. Salt Spring Island has sxwi’em’ manifest in certain landscapes that serve as visi…

Salt Spring Island Photos of the Week

Salt Spring Island and the people of our community are very photogenic. Here are some of the best photos of the week from our Facebook and Instagram accounts taken on and around Salt Spring Island.

Floating on the fog. #saltspringisland #saltspring

A photo posted by Salt Spring (@saltspring) on Feb 23, 2016 at 8:38am PST

Moon on the water. #saltspring #saltspringisland

A photo posted by Salt Spring (@saltspring) on Feb 22, 2…

2016 Film Festival: Sea Blind

The following article was written by Robert McTavish as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 4-6, 2016. Filmmaker Sarah Robertson and editor Jennifer Abbott will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. Sea Blind When filmmaker Sarah Robertson began work on a wide-ranging project dealing with the future of the Arctic, she quickly realized her first sub-topic was just the tip of its own iceberg. All of a sudden she was racing to make a different film, about pollution issues in global shipping, and to finish in time to screen at the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Paris. "Some people deep in the emissions talks didn't even know about the issues!" she says, while the industry's huge fleet and increasing impact on the north make it a crisis hiding in plain sight. Sea Blind is the resulting documentary, and it's message is unforgettable. More than 100,00…

Salt Spring Reads: Ganbaru

Salt Spring Reads is an online book club/review. For this column I try to find books that you might love to discover, books with a Salt Spring connection. Reviewed books are available at the Salt Spring Library and in local bookstores. Feel free to share your comments to discuss this book with others. Ganbaru, the Murakami Family of Salt Spring Island by Rose Murakami This small booklet might only be 40 pages long, but it tells a big story, an important part of our island’s history. Author Rose Murakami traces her family’s history and shows its ties to the community. This is the story of how Japanese-Canadians were among the first non-native settlers to Salt Spring. Hard work and dedication enabled them to be successful settlers and farmers, producing some of the finest tomato crops anywhere. They also grew asparagus and ran chicken and berry farms on what is now the edge of Ganges, produce that was readily bought by mainland and Vancouver Island stores. However, …

People Profile: Charles Kahn

Community People Profiles are a series on the Salt Spring Exchange featuring local personalities on our island home. These profiles are short interviews, with one answer questions to share with you a little about what each of these folks are thinking about as they go about their lives living on Salt Spring Island. This weeks featured local people profile is: Charles Kahn Here’s a bit about Charles; I have lived on Salt Spring for 24 years. I have an editing and writing background, mostly in educational publishing (textbooks and government publications). I have been president of the island's Historical Society, Friends of Saltspring Parks, and the Channel Ridge Homeowners Association. I have also coordinated Salt Spring Island Restorative Justice for several years and continue to volunteer with the organization. I have worked on the Public Library Board, on a focus group in the first revision of the island's community plan, and with BC Parks and CRD Parks on an ongoing …

Indigenous History of Salt Spring Island

In this series we will look at the Indigenous history of Salt Spring Island from the perspective of snuwuyulh (“snuh-WHY-ulth” approximately)—a Hul’q’umi’num’ word broadly translated as “cultural teachings.” The word has a literal meaning of “putting the thought into the child’s head”—a reference to a learning process that occurred from an early, indeed, prenatal stage of life to those born here. Early exposure to cultural teachings through stories and place-names produced knowledgeable people and a sustainable economy that persisted for thousands of years until the 19th century. Snuwuyulh reminds us that learning is an ongoing process and that everyone here is “like a child” when it comes to the human history of the island. Salt Spring Time offers some bare grounding in local “cultural teachings”—putting the thought in there— thanks to the many teachers past and present from Salt Spring Island, Saanich, Cowichan, Penelakut and Nanaimo. Salt Spring Now and Then Salt Sprin…

People Profile: Harry Burton

Community People Profiles are a series on the Salt Spring Exchange featuring local personalities on our island home. These profiles are short interviews, with one answer questions to share with you a little about what each of these folks are thinking about as they go about their lives living on Salt Spring Island. This weeks featured local people profile is: Harry Burton Here’s a bit about Harry; HARRY BURTON runs Apple Luscious Organic Orchard in the south end of Salt Spring near Ruckle Park. With it's over 200 varieties of apples, and the largest collection of red flesh apples in Canada, it is an apple lovers paradise, with all apples raised ORGANICALLY, just as Mother Nature would approve. I also started and now co organize the Salt Spring Island Apple Festival now heading into it's 17th year, this Sunday, Oct 2nd. Last year we displayed 372 varieties of apples, all raised ORGANICALLY on Salt Spring. That was the largest display of apples in Canada. Locals love t…

Ganges Boardwalk Vision Depends On Salt Spring Islanders

The Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee invites residents to learn about, and help set the vision for the island’s busiest commercial and social hub, the Ganges Harbour. “The Ganges Harbour and the boardwalk around it, is the commercial, cultural and community centre of Salt Spring Island and we want to plan now for its continued vibrancy and success,” said Peter Grove, Trustee of the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee. “As we draft the bylaws governing the use of this critical piece of infrastructure, we want to hear from the people who live, work, and play in the area to set the vision for the Ganges Harbour.” The current boardwalk, located between the Rotary Park and Peck’s Cove, was constructed in the 1980s as a collaborative initiative between public agencies and community volunteers. However, due to lack of statutory rights of way to ensure public access, many portions of the boardwalk fell into disrepair over the decades, with private landowners making r…

People Profile: Keith Picot

Community People Profiles are a series on the Salt Spring Exchange featuring local personalities on our island home. These profiles are short interviews, with one answer questions to share with you a little about what each of these folks are thinking about as they go about their lives living on Salt Spring Island. This weeks featured local people profile is: Keith Picot Here’s a bit about Keith; I am a professional Bull Fiddler and maker of silent films. I have lived on Saltspring Island for 8 years and spent the prior ten years on Mudge Island. I have built houses, barns and outhouses; cleaned gutters, floors and stalls; cut trees, lumber and hair; fixed tractors, mills and horse hoofs , and I loved every minute of it! Working around Hek's Half Acre Film Studio making silent films, and leaving for the occasional music tour along with pitch hitting at the Local Barber Shop keeps me busy and happy as a clam these days! What a grand place Saltspring Island is to be livin…

Salt Spring Reads: A Castle on the Frontier

Salt Spring Reads is an online book club/review. For this column I try to find books that you might love to discover, books with a Salt Spring connection. Reviewed books are available at the Salt Spring Library and in local bookstores. Feel free to share your comments to discuss this book with others. A Castle on the Frontier, an immigrant's life journey from Holland to the Yukon, 1921-1987 I have heard it said that, after English, Dutch is the most spoken language on Salt Spring Island. I know there are quite a few Dutch immigrants on the rock and many of them have interesting stories to tell. None more so then Dutch-born John Lammers who immigrated to Canada in 1948. He was born in 1921. Encouraged by people who listened to many of his exciting and interesting stories, John was finally persuaded to write down his memoirs. “Are the lifetime experiences of an ordinary individual worth writing about?” he wonders in the preface to his book A Castle on the Frontier. Bu…

Video: Kanaka-Salish Family of Isabella Point

Chris Arnett gives a talk at the Salt Spring Historical Society. He draws on many years of research and oral history. Archival photos and maps help illustrate local landmarks and significant historical events in the lives of Salt Spring's First Nations families, Hawaiian and European settlers. Video: Peter Prince / saltspringvideo

People Profile: Suzanne Little

Community People Profiles are a series on the Salt Spring Exchange featuring local personalities on our island home. These profiles are short interviews, with one answer questions to share with you a little about what each of these folks are thinking about as they go about their lives living on Salt Spring Island. This weeks featured local people profile is: Suzanne Little Here’s a bit about Suzanne; When we first moved to Salt Spring in 1992 my husband Tom Hooper and I were in our 20's. Our friends in Vancouver thought we were crazy - they said "What will you do there?" Well we started by building an organic garden, making our own preserves, wine, beer, all the homesteading stuff. We learned how to fix things, bring in our own firewood, live without electricity at times, and hitchhike into town for provisions during snow storms. All new for me, having grown up in a suburb. And at night, with no distractions of the city, we would write music. I think this really helped…

Alert: Getting Help and Helping Those in Need

With sadness, we are receiving reports that a member of our community tried to take their life today in a tree during the Saturday market. The incident was witness by many who took action to help save the person. Their status is unknown at this time. This is a time of year filled with strong emotions and sadness for many. If you are experiencing any emergency mental health needs please call 911 immediately and please reach out for help. This is an important time of year in the long dark nights to look out for one another, particularly the more vulnerable. Be active with checking with one another and helping to alert others if you suspect someone might be in a place of need. Peace be with this person, their family and friends. For people in crisis the best route to go is: Call 911 call the crisis line – 24 hours a day at 1-888-494-3888 present to Lady Minto Hospital ER. There is the mental health nurse during the week 8 AM - 4 PM or ER staff and Emergency Mental Healt…

How John Turns Garbage into Charity Gold

When John Ellacott talks garbage, someone on the island benefits. For the past 12 years, the owner of Salt Spring Garbage Services has proved the old proverb that where there’s muck, there’s brass. And a lot of that brass has been plowed back into the community. Every year John and his wife Carla put the proceeds of the “Blackburn Mall,” the transfer station’s store of dropped-off jumble, to good use. Thanks to the Mall, that unwanted armchair, abandoned Teddy bear or well-thumbed book finds its way to a new owner. “One person’s junk is another person’s treasure,” says John. “If you can’t find it at the Mall, wait a bit . . .” And the many hundreds of small donations (never payments) from islanders who have found their treasures there go toward the Ellacotts’ chosen charities. Annually, they donate $2,000 to the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation and a further $2,000 to the Salt Spring Island Foundation. Every now and then a big-ticket item will find its way into John’s ca…

Fire Chief Tom Bremner No Longer with District

The Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District (the "District") regrets to advise that Tom Bremner is no longer with the District. The District thanks Mr. Bremner for his contributions and wishes him well in his future endeavours. The District will be considering its options for the Chief's position. We have full confidence in Acting Fire Chief George and the service's personnel, and their ability to protect our community. Board of Trustees of the SSIFPD

Canoe Trip to Our Local 'Hawaiian' Island

This past weekend was a beautiful sunny fall day, just perfect to take some friends visiting from Portland out for a kayak and canoe. We invited out friends to join us on a trip to our own Hawaiian Island, more commonly known as Russell Island, which is just a short paddle from Salt Spring Island. The history of Russell Island and the Hawaiian people are intertwined and this connection began with the Northwest Coast fur trade. In the late 1700s, Hawaiian, or Kanaka as they are known in their language, became involved in the maritime fur trade. Sea otter pelts were being traded in Asia and, at this time, the Hawaiian Islands became a natural stopover between North America and Asia. The Kanaka became employees of the various fur trade companies, including the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). Over time, small Hawaiian settlements began to form around HBC posts in both Canada and the United States. When the United States government began passing legislation which prevented the Kanaka…

Alleged Incident of Indecent Exposure at GISS

It has been reported to School District 64 that an adult was watching kids and masturbating in the bushes near Gulf Island Secondary School at the end of the school day on Monday, September 28th, 2015. The incident is now under investigation by the RCMP. For School District 64, the safety of students is a priority. The District is in the process of reviewing supervision details at all schools on Salt Spring Island. Additionally, the RCMP has indicated that they will be stepping up their patrols of the schools and the surrounding areas. The RCMP has suggested that until their investigation has been completed that schools and parents ensure that students are not alone outside their home. The use of a buddy system should in place in situations such as walking to and from school, waiting for the bus, and for youth waiting to be picked up by parents at playing fields and community events. Parents and students are requested to call the RCMP at 911 if suspicious activity is obse…