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FOCUS<br />
Victoria’s monthly magazine of people, ideas and culture January <strong>2012</strong><br />
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2 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
contents<br />
January <strong>2012</strong> VOL. 24 NO. 3<br />
STERLING & GASCOIGNE<br />
Certified General Accountants<br />
16 30 32<br />
4 REFLECTIONS OF VICTORIA<br />
Good medicine from local poets and artists.<br />
Leslie Campbell<br />
8 DERAILED<br />
What happened to the plans for commuter rail<br />
Ross Crockford<br />
10 PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MUNICIPALITY IS<br />
On January 31, a panel of local experts will talk about new ways<br />
to ensure your savings, RRSPs, and investment dollars help strengthen<br />
our community sustainability and resilience. We offer a preview.<br />
Rob Wipond<br />
14 LRT = TAIL WAGGING DOG<br />
Two competing visions emerge on how to mitigate<br />
climate change at the regional level.<br />
David Broadland<br />
16 TOTALLY VULNERABLE<br />
Megan Dickie’s sculptures critique the status quo.<br />
Christine Clark<br />
30 LOVE, ART AND TRANSFORMATION<br />
Phyllis Serota often tells stories in her paintings. Now she tells the stories<br />
behind the paintings.<br />
Amy Reiswig<br />
32 AT THE TIPPING POINT<br />
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Ah-in-chut Atleo thinks<br />
the situation at Attawapiskat is one of many signs Canada is at a tipping<br />
point in its relationship with First Nations. The system has failed, says<br />
Atleo: it’s time to “smash the status quo” and start over again.<br />
Katherine Gordon<br />
38 SPRAWL BUSTER<br />
With a vision of environmental and social justice informed by travel and<br />
history, Ben Isitt is keen to shake things up at City Hall and the CRD.<br />
Aaren Madden<br />
40 A NATURAL HISTORY OF CONCRETE<br />
It all starts with ooids. Next thing you know, there’s a parkade.<br />
Gene Miller<br />
44 RE-ENCHANTING OURSELVES WITH THE LOCAL<br />
The story of bees could possibly be the great allegory for our times.<br />
Briony Penn<br />
46 JUST SAY “HELLO”<br />
Confessions from an introvert enroute to a more social <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Trudy Duivenvoorden Mitic<br />
January <strong>2012</strong> • www.focusonline.ca<br />
editor’s letter 4<br />
readers’ views 6<br />
talk of the town 8<br />
palette 16<br />
arts in January 18<br />
coastlines 30<br />
focus 32<br />
island interview 38<br />
urbanities 40<br />
natural relations 44<br />
finding balance 46<br />
ON THE COVER<br />
“The Spirit of Lekwammen,” at<br />
Songhees Point (called P’alac’as by<br />
the Songhees). Photographed by<br />
Christian J. Stewart. The original<br />
180-foot pole was created by First<br />
Nations carvers, led by Coast Salish<br />
artist Richard Krentz, in 1994, as<br />
part of the Commonwealth Games<br />
commemoration. In 2001 the pole<br />
was cut down to a height of 40<br />
feet after it was deemed a hazard<br />
to float planes approaching the<br />
Inner Harbour.<br />
Alison Gascoigne, CGA Ruby Popp<br />
Ashley Stanford, CGA Kim Sterling, FCGA<br />
Experienced • Knowledgeable • Approachable<br />
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3
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The world-famous Cape Cod Screwball Bracelet utilizes<br />
a unique hidden clasp designed by John Carey. Though<br />
simple and elegant, its production requires painstaking<br />
craftsmanship. Carey’s grandson Alex Carey carries on<br />
the family tradition of crafting artful jewellery, including<br />
customized Screwball Bracelets, in his downtown shop.<br />
jewellery<br />
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Old School Woodworks<br />
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commissions welcome<br />
Reflections of Victoria<br />
LESLIE CAMPBELL<br />
Good medicine from local poets and artists.<br />
If there’s a theme to this edition (indeed of <strong>Focus</strong> in general), one that<br />
provides a good direction for the New Year, it is to “go local”—to<br />
contemplate and celebrate the bounty we have in our environs, to<br />
nurture its health, to protect it fiercely.<br />
Briony Penn’s piece, aptly entitled “Re-enchanting ourselves with<br />
the local,” argues that this localizing project is the “the most powerful<br />
antidote to globalization, inequity, corporatization, degradation, poverty<br />
and despair.” She is speaking about it largely in relation to the<br />
natural world, but it applies to virtually every aspect of out lives, from<br />
art through business, food and travel. Rob Wipond’s contribution in<br />
this edition also turns our attention to the power of local in its<br />
discussion about re-directing some of the dollars that go into RRSPs<br />
into local ventures through “community investment funds.”<br />
I was thinking about such matters just before Christmas when I<br />
attended the launch of Framing the Garden, a new book edited by <strong>Focus</strong><br />
regular and just-retired Victoria Poet Laureate Linda Rogers. The 35<br />
poems in the book, all by local writers, are awash with images and<br />
reflections about this place. Indeed the subtitle of the book is “Reflections<br />
of Victoria.” We hear of Garry oak meadows, gulls, rocks, barnacles<br />
and kelp—and of Government Street, Mile Zero, a carver on a sidewalk,<br />
and a blue bridge. And of the human spirit, grief, and cherishing<br />
“Planet Earth” (thanks to P.K. Page). The poets each chose a visual<br />
artwork that inspires or otherwise reflects their words. These too are<br />
by local artists and evoke our experience here, both urban and wild,<br />
personal and political.<br />
Here’s an excerpt from writer Robert Hilles’s poem “Distorted Facts”:<br />
I’m reminded of Victoria<br />
Where in winter, walls of wet rock<br />
Are broken only by a few stubborn red sedums<br />
Bunched with cladonia lichen.<br />
Fifteen foot rhododendrons<br />
Crowd the sides of buildings<br />
And persist in their green despite inches of snow.<br />
editor’s letter<br />
Framing the Garden is a gift to the city and its citizens. Says Linda,<br />
“The purpose of the book was to celebrate a city of artists, whether<br />
they be poets, painters, dancers, musicians or gardeners.” Originally<br />
conceived as a protocol gift for the City, a “legacy project” of her term<br />
as Poet Laureate for the City of Victoria, it was scuttled by the powersthat-be.<br />
“I may have failed bureaucracy,” admits Linda.<br />
But Linda being Linda carried through. She had, after all, already<br />
Tues-Fri 12-5 Sat 12-4<br />
www.oldschoolwoodworks.com<br />
2031 Oak Bay Ave 250-896-8073<br />
Editor: Leslie Campbell Publisher: David Broadland Sales: Bonnie Light<br />
ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: Phone 250-388-7231 Email focuspublish@shaw.ca<br />
EDITORIAL INQUIRIES and letters to the editor: focusedit@shaw.ca<br />
WEBSITE: www.focusonline.ca MAIL: Box 5310, Victoria, V8R 6S4<br />
Copyright © <strong>2012</strong>. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without written<br />
permission of the publishers. The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publishers of <strong>Focus</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>.<br />
Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40051145.<br />
4 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
<strong>Focus</strong> presents: Iyengar Yoga<br />
ADVERTISEMENT<br />
Iyengar yoga is fun and challenging<br />
rounded up the contributors and set her sights on raising funds for<br />
Slangspruit, South Africa school children through book sales. She<br />
just needed a bit of help from her friends, which included publisher<br />
Ekstasis Editions, Island Blue Print, and launch hosts Martin Batchelor<br />
Gallery and Victoria Gin.<br />
It was exciting and inspiring to see the scores of artists and literati<br />
who showed up at the launch, a veritable who’s who of the arts<br />
scene. Missing in action, though, were representatives from the City<br />
of Victoria, unless you count Janet Marie Rogers, one of the book’s<br />
contributors and the new Poet Laureate. (But that hadn’t been officially<br />
announced at that point.)<br />
Linda, who fittingly just won the Broadside Prize (visual artist Eric<br />
Fischl chose her poem “The Grasshoppers’ Silence” to incorporate into<br />
a work of art), part of the Montreal International Poetry Prize, is thrilled<br />
at Janet’s appointment as Poet Laureate. Interviewed about her most<br />
recent book, Unearthed, in <strong>Focus</strong>’ November edition, Janet Rogers,<br />
like her predecessor, is an empowered, righteous woman who insists<br />
on authenticity, and is willing and able to make things happen.<br />
Have no fear: Our tax dollars will get excellent value in this appointment,<br />
as they did with Linda’s. The bargain-basement $2500-per-annum,<br />
three-year appointment requires acting as a sort of ambassador for<br />
the arts, building community through poetry at events, fundraisers,<br />
council meetings, etc.<br />
It would be nice to think that in <strong>2012</strong>, Linda and Janet and the many<br />
other local artists and arts organizations who contribute so much to local<br />
culture and economy would be more supported. But too often they are<br />
the first things to be cut, as if art was an unnecessary, expensive frill.<br />
In reality, supporting local arts is one sure way to build the local<br />
economy without breaking the bank. “BC government’s own data…clearly<br />
demonstrates that for every dollar invested in arts in BC, at least $6 is<br />
returned to BC government coffers within one year.” (www.stopbcartscuts.ca)<br />
A study by Dr Brock Smith of the Peter B. Gustavson School of<br />
Business at the University of Victoria has conservatively pegged the<br />
local economic activity generated by the Greater Victoria arts and<br />
culture sector in 2010 at $127 million in net income (GDP) activity,<br />
“supporting the equivalent of more than 4600 person years of employment,<br />
and almost $18 million in property tax revenue.” (See<br />
www.crd.bc.ca/arts for the report done by the CRD, Victoria Foundation<br />
and other organizations.)<br />
Other studies show the benefits of the arts towards creating a healthier<br />
population (thereby saving health dollars). And it’s worth noting that<br />
the arts sector is one of the greenest industries around.<br />
But despite the empirical evidence of benefits, local arts groups are<br />
struggling, largely due to funding cuts. BC has by far the lowest arts<br />
funding per capita in the country.<br />
Wanna be a great city—or province or nation Build a healthy<br />
local arts community.<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
Leslie Campbell didn’t mean to spend the day before<br />
<strong>Focus</strong>’ press deadline reading poetry, but it sure<br />
felt good. As Janet Rogers says: “The essence of poetry<br />
is medicine—good things for the spirit and the mind.”<br />
Wishing all <strong>Focus</strong> readers and advertisers more poetry<br />
in <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Shirley Daventry French teaching Reclining Big Toe Posture.<br />
Looking to make some changes in habits and health for the New Year New<br />
to yoga or looking to try a new style of yoga The Iyengar Yoga Centre of<br />
Victoria has 22 well-trained teachers and offers classes seven days a week<br />
for every age and every body.<br />
Shirley Daventry French, founding member, who turned 80 in October, is respected<br />
world-wide and continues to teach yoga classes, workshops and retreats.<br />
“Yoga is for all of us! No one is too old, too young or too stiff,” says French.<br />
“Iyengar Yoga is fun and challenging and can be viewed as the great equalizer<br />
among yoga styles offered today,”says Wendy Boyer,general manager and teacher<br />
at the Iyengar Yoga Centre.<br />
“Whether you are a first time student or familiar with yoga, you are in good<br />
hands with Iyengar teachers,” says Daventry French. “We teach a progression<br />
of poses to boost mobility, stability, strength and stamina.We have a well-developed<br />
eye!”The Iyengar Yoga Centre of Victoria offers one of the most comprehensive<br />
teacher training programs in North America and certificates issued by the Iyengar<br />
Yoga Association of Canada are respected and accepted world-wide.<br />
The founder of the Iyengar method, BKS Iyengar, says “The effects of yoga practice<br />
are beauty, strength, clarity of speech, calmness of the nerves, increase in<br />
digestive powers and a happy disposition that is revealed in a smiling face.”The<br />
93-year-old master lives in Pune, India, and still practises many hours a day.Victoria<br />
teachers travel regularly to India to study at the Iyengar Institute.<br />
The Iyengar Yoga Centre runs 55 classes a week, including Introductory to<br />
Advanced; Pre-Natal; Family; 50+; Gentle; Special Needs; and Restorative.The first<br />
class is free...choose from any of the regular classes offered seven days a week.<br />
Classes by-donation are being held Saturdays from 11:30-1pm on Jan 7, 14, 28;<br />
Feb 4, 11, 18, 25 to prepare teacher trainees for the Level 2 Iyengar assessment.<br />
If you are looking for a January workshop, Boyer recommends the Heart of<br />
Yoga workshop led by two of Canada’s best Iyengar teachers—Shirley Daventry<br />
French and Ann Kilbertus.“Strengthen your backbends and inversions,” says Boyer<br />
of the January 21-22 workshop. “It is intended for students familiar with yoga,<br />
and will be a mix of standing poses, backbends, forward bends and inversions.<br />
Iyengar Yoga Centre Victoria<br />
202-919 Fort Street (above the Blue Fox Café)<br />
250-386-9642 • www.iyengaryogacentre.ca<br />
Visit us on facebook at www.facebook.com/IyengarYogaCentre<br />
5
eaders’ views<br />
Re: Hunter, Luton and Lucas booted off council, Dec 2011<br />
Thank you for the article by David Broadland writing about Victoria<br />
City council electoral changes. Almost all of my friends and acquaintances<br />
here in Fairfield were unusually concerned with this last election.<br />
Nearly all wanted much more clarity and transparency from the City,<br />
particularly with respect to financial issues. Many of us want a Council<br />
that knows the difference between needs and wants. Canada’s<br />
rough times are far from over, so we must deal only with essential<br />
issues for the near future.<br />
Ron and Alexandra Stewart<br />
One of the major bricks in the City’s platform to sell a new Johnson<br />
Street Bridge was that it needed to be seismically safe. But if Victorians<br />
were asked to vote tomorrow on which project is more pressing as<br />
far as the safety of the city goes, would it be a new bridge, or would it<br />
be a seismically safe Number One Fire Hall<br />
If the Blue Bridge collapses in a major quake as the City fears, or if<br />
the Bay Street Bridge—with its water and gas mains—suffers major<br />
damage, what would be the consequence if the fire hall is buried in<br />
rubble Unfortunately, the question was not asked leading up to the<br />
bridge referendum.<br />
I trust that the City will live up to its pledge to move the decommissioned<br />
rail bridge to Rock Bay, to become part of the waterfront walkway.<br />
Dennis Robinson<br />
Re: Breaking news on the yellow brick road to calamity, Dec 2011<br />
What do I think Journalism and activism go well together at a<br />
time of community, national, and global crisis. Particularly so when<br />
the activism is well considered versus off-the-cuff and for its own<br />
sake. I appreciate Rob Wipond for taking the time to send City council<br />
six pages of discussions and detailed suggestions for the City of<br />
Victoria’s Economic Development Strategy. His writing is always<br />
relevant and clear, and—in my opinion—it is always respectful and<br />
fair. I read his articles in <strong>Focus</strong> every issue and I read every issue of<br />
<strong>Focus</strong> cover to cover. I am grateful to the business people who advertise<br />
in the magazine and I will go out of my way to be their patron<br />
if/when possible. Public conversation in this city would be the poorer<br />
without Rob and the other <strong>Focus</strong> writers.<br />
Julie Graham<br />
Rob Wipond asks his readers to respond to the question: “Are we<br />
satisfied with the news media that we have” That question is easy<br />
to answer: No. Using a detached, “objective” style of reporting, readers<br />
are led to believe that the truth is being represented without bias. But<br />
most readers are sophisticated enough to know that no reporting is<br />
without bias when media need corporate sponsorship in order to<br />
survive. The most honest reporting is done by publications that openly<br />
acknowledge their bias, and like-minded readers seek them out.<br />
Rob Wipond is a reporter whose commitment to investigative<br />
reporting is at least locally recognized and appreciated. It is refreshing<br />
to read about the workings of local policy makers with some insight<br />
into the motivations that make them take the decisions they do.<br />
Rob has done this at the city council level, school board level, environmental<br />
advocacy level…And his voice makes a difference to<br />
the decisions that citizens make when choosing whether or not to<br />
vote for particular politicians or support particular environmental<br />
groups, or to be sceptical about mental illness treatments, or<br />
care protocols for the elderly, to name a few of the topics he has<br />
covered recently.<br />
Rob doesn’t pretend “objectivity” but does a thorough job of interviewing<br />
a range of people in the know and researching documents<br />
to substantiate his claims. This kind of journalism motivates readers<br />
to want to learn more and to do our own investigations to come to<br />
our own conclusions. This is the ideal kind of reporting required in<br />
a truly functioning democracy and I applaud him for it. It is the kind<br />
of journalism that can be found in the Washington Post, the Manchester<br />
Guardian, and even occasionally in the Globe and Mail. I just hope<br />
we don’t lose Rob to one of these well-financed papers that can afford<br />
to print the complexities of truth once in a while.<br />
Starla Anderson<br />
We moved here from Edmonton 10 years ago. I used to work in the<br />
oilsands industry, where I tried to lend my expertise to green the industry<br />
from within. The fact that I’m here suggests how successful that initiative<br />
was. But you see, in Alberta, “left-necks” act versus talk.<br />
Being a long-term supporter of the David Suzuki Foundation, I expected<br />
to find the environment, climate crisis and related issues to be the dominant<br />
concern or focus in Victoria. How wrong that assumption was!<br />
Much of what I’ve heard from politicians at all levels of government<br />
sounds like regurgitated Kleinisms which are basically re-hashed<br />
Bush/Cheneyisms.<br />
Yes, Mr Wipond, we definitely need activist-journalists like you. We<br />
also need to “work” from the inside, because standing outside with<br />
signs doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.<br />
Garry Pigeon<br />
Re: The poppy and the dove, Nov 2011<br />
Thank you Trudy Duivenvoorden Mitic, for your comments about<br />
the militaristic aspects of Remembrance Day events in Canada. I<br />
haven’t worn a poppy for many years; instead I wear a small button<br />
that says, “Honour veterans...no more war.” As each Remembrance<br />
Day goes by, the celebrations seem to focus more on military routines<br />
and the “heroes” of war, which I find alarming. I usually attend the<br />
November 11 assembly at our local school, and although there is<br />
some acknowledgement of the importance of peace, most of the event<br />
centres around the speeches and marching-in of veterans and people<br />
from local military detachments.<br />
For the past 15 years, during the week of November 11, I have<br />
spent several days reading stories about peace to all of the children<br />
in our elementary school. I keep thinking that as the years go by,<br />
maybe we will stop worshipping the uniforms, authority, and power<br />
of past wars, and instead focus on events that specifically promote<br />
peace. So far, that is just a dream—this year saw the biggest assembly<br />
yet at the military cairn in my community, with enough medals on<br />
uniforms to stock a war museum.<br />
Susan Yates<br />
LETTERS<br />
Send letters to: focusedit@shaw.ca<br />
Letters that directly address articles<br />
published in <strong>Focus</strong> will be given preference.<br />
6 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
<strong>Focus</strong> presents: All Organized Storage<br />
ADVERTISEMENT<br />
Resolution #1: Get Organized<br />
Many people feel that their life is out of<br />
control; they feel stressed and overwhelmed<br />
by too much stuff in their homes,<br />
and are constantly in “reaction mode,” unable to<br />
fully enjoy the present moment. Relationships,<br />
family life,and friendships all suffer.Socializing gets<br />
postponed indefinitely, since it’s hard to find the<br />
confidence to entertain guests in a cluttered home.<br />
If you’ve made a resolution to take control of<br />
your life,the first step is to take control of the clutter—<br />
by organizing and installing storage solutions.Janet Janet Young<br />
Young,a Trained Professional Organizer and owner<br />
of All Organized Storage, believes adequate and appropriate storage is the key to<br />
reducing clutter: “With smaller homes and downsizing, as well as the constant<br />
stream of stuff that enters our lives, we need to maximize the storage we have.”<br />
Since 1997, Janet has established herself as Victoria’s “organization authority.”<br />
Her expertise and comprehensive product lines can help anyone convert a<br />
kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, bedroom or garage/workshop into an attractive,<br />
high-functioning oasis—providing them with a sense of peace and order, not to<br />
mention saving them precious time because things can be found quickly. (Research<br />
shows most people spend an average of an hour a day just looking for things.)<br />
During the past 15 years, Janet has researched and sourced the best organizing<br />
and closet systems available so that she now offers the largest selection in Western<br />
Photo:Tony Bounsall<br />
Custom made cherry wood storage unit with fudge stain.<br />
Just a few of the organizing solutions available at All Organized Storage.<br />
Canada, ranging from locally manufactured green wood storage, melamine, slated<br />
wood shelving,to a sleek modern,adjustable German-made modular organization<br />
system.These come in numerous finishes and can be blended to meet each client’s<br />
individual needs, budget and style.While she provides installation, some lines are<br />
perfect for do-it-yourselfers.<br />
And now,with her new showroom,store and attached warehouse,All Organized<br />
Storage has once again expanded its solutions for those of us keen on introducing<br />
more order into our lives. She is also launching an online store for organizing tools<br />
and accessories in mid-January.<br />
Her store is a veritable treasure chest of affordable, small but life-enhancing<br />
ideas to keep your belongings in check. Organizing “accessories” include shelving<br />
solutions (stacking,rollout,drawer trays) for kitchens,grid boards and tool storage<br />
units for workshops, and for the bedroom, belt and tie racks, clear stacking<br />
boxes, a valet stand, a compact pant trolley and jewellery inserts.<br />
“It may seem small,” says Janet,“but when you open your closet or pantry and<br />
see order, it frees up energy for you to make other changes as well.A beautiful and<br />
well-organized room can start a chain reaction to begin a process of improvement<br />
in all areas of life.What I hear over and over again from my clients is, ‘Why did I<br />
wait so long I wish I had done this sooner!’”<br />
In fact, many of Janet’s clients have started with one room and quickly<br />
become converts, relying on her services for other projects. Designers and builders<br />
often get Janet involved in outfitting houses they are renovating or building.<br />
Chris Walker, of Christopher Developments, says All Organized Storage is his closet<br />
vendor of choice for all his custom homes. “Janet has completed a number of<br />
demanding installations for us. Her attention to detail, exceptional planning skills<br />
and customer service have been impressive, to say the least.”<br />
With her new showroom displaying numerous ways from large to small to<br />
transform your home into a well-functioning and beautiful oasis of calm and<br />
order,All Organized Storage can help you keep that resolution to get organized<br />
this year.<br />
All Organized Storage<br />
3370 Tennyson Avenue (near UpTown)<br />
Showroom hours:Tues–Fri, 10–5; Sat 10–3 pm<br />
250-590-6328 • www.AllOrganizedStorage.ca<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
7
talk<br />
of the<br />
town<br />
Ross Crockford 8 Rob Wipond 10 David Broadland 14<br />
Derailed<br />
ROSS CROCKFORD<br />
What happened to the plans for commuter rail<br />
For a few hours in 2008 and 2009, residents<br />
got an idea of what it would be like<br />
to take a commuter train between Langford<br />
and Victoria.<br />
One Saturday in August, in both those years,<br />
Jim Sturgill ran a 70-passenger VIA Rail “Budd”<br />
car back and forth between Goldstream Avenue<br />
and the old CPR roundhouse in Vic West, as<br />
part of E&N Days, a summer celebration of<br />
the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway. “It worked<br />
very well,” says Sturgill, a veteran trainman<br />
who operated locomotives on the E&N for<br />
30 years. During 2008’s one-day test, he made<br />
six round trips, taking about 25 minutes each<br />
way—a challenge for any car driver trying<br />
to reach the same destination by navigating<br />
the stop-and-go traffic on Douglas Street or<br />
Craigflower Road.<br />
In 2009, Sturgill made seven round trips,<br />
carrying 680 people. “There were so many<br />
people wanting to take the ride,” he recalls.<br />
“Four teenagers got on the train at Langford,<br />
and I asked them if they were going to E&N<br />
Days. ‘Oh no,’ they said, ‘we’re just doing this<br />
so we can catch a bus to the Mayfair shopping<br />
centre. We wish a train like this was running<br />
all the time.’”<br />
Back then, that wish looked certain to become<br />
a reality. In 2006, Canadian Pacific donated<br />
the E&N to the brand-new Island Corridor<br />
Foundation, and ideas flourished along the<br />
tracks. In January 2008, a group of officials<br />
from Victoria, Esquimalt, View Royal and<br />
Langford called Communities For Commuter<br />
Rail (C4CR) released a study showing that an<br />
hourly train service would cost $16 million<br />
to build, and $2 million a year to operate—a<br />
sum requiring lower per-rider subsidies than<br />
BC Transit's buses. Riders would pay $5.<br />
In the November 2008 municipal election,<br />
Langford and Colwood asked voters if they<br />
wanted the BC and federal governments to fund<br />
the E&N, and BC Transit to provide commuter<br />
rail; 93 percent said Yes. Two days later, an allparty<br />
finance committee of the provincial<br />
government said the E&N and commuter<br />
rail should be a capital spending priority. Victoria<br />
mayor-elect Dean Fortin chimed in: “Commuter<br />
rail from Langford to downtown Victoria is an<br />
idea whose time has come.”<br />
PHOTO: DALLAS AREA RAPID TRANSIT<br />
VIA’s old Budd cars are being used for commuter service—in Texas<br />
Then it fizzled. In June 2010, consultants<br />
hired by the province to study the E&N’s<br />
viability issued reports stating it would cost<br />
$123 million to rehabilitate the entire line [TO<br />
COURTENAY], and at least $69.5 million for<br />
Victoria-Langford commuter rail, with new<br />
stations and trains—slamming the brakes on<br />
any immediate prospect of provincial investment.<br />
The ICF tried to get a pilot commuter<br />
service running that autumn, but the BC Safety<br />
Authority demanded new assessments of all<br />
24 crossings between Langford and Victoria,<br />
even though VIA had used the same route for<br />
decades. The following spring, Victoria councillors<br />
voted rail permanently off the new<br />
Johnson Street Bridge. And all the while, BC<br />
Transit poured time and money into its $950-<br />
million plans to electrify the region with<br />
Uptown-centred Light Rail Transit.<br />
Now the E&N is in a perilous state. Last<br />
March, VIA’s Budd cars stopped running<br />
because of poor track conditions, and in<br />
November, VIA shipped the cars off the island.<br />
The province has said it will give the ICF $7.5<br />
million for track improvements, but only if<br />
the federal government does too—and the<br />
feds’ decision may hinge on a just-completed<br />
assessment of the E&N’s bridges, including<br />
the huge span erected in 1910 across<br />
Goldstream’s Niagara Canyon. Many fear that<br />
if the bridges don’t pass, the E&N is doomed.<br />
But would that automatically kill commuter<br />
rail Maybe not.<br />
The fact is, we’ve invested considerable<br />
sums in the tracks already. CRD Parks says 30<br />
percent of the $14 million it’s put into the<br />
E&N Rail Trail has gone to rail infrastructure,<br />
such as its new Four-Mile Bridge over the<br />
Island Highway. Langford has concentrated<br />
new developments around the tracks, including<br />
its new Eagle Ridge recreation centre. And<br />
Esquimalt and the province have spent $5<br />
million on the rail crossing at Admirals Road,<br />
the potential site of a station for hundreds<br />
of people working across the street at CFB<br />
Esquimalt and Victoria Shipyards.<br />
The key, rail advocates say, is to build up a<br />
commuter service incrementally, which would<br />
be far less expensive than the all-at-once, “platinum<br />
or nothing” mentality of the LRT plan.<br />
8 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
“<br />
I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE LRT PROPOSAL. It doesn’t make sense<br />
to me... With the E&N, we could use the track that’s existing, and spend<br />
a few dollars to upgrade it. It’s mind boggling to me that that wouldn’t<br />
be the first thing we would do.” —Jim Hartshorne<br />
“Municipal operations is totally different from<br />
a provincial-scale, BC Transit way of doing<br />
things,” says Geoff Pearce, the chair of C4CR,<br />
and Langford’s former clerk-administrator.<br />
“We do what’s necessary, and if something<br />
doesn’t work, we fix it and then we go on.<br />
What we envisaged with commuter rail, starting<br />
small and growing, was quite different from<br />
what the Ministry of Transportation or BC<br />
Transit says, which is, ‘You’ve got to put in<br />
$60 million up front.’”<br />
That incremental approach has worked elsewhere.<br />
Cash-strapped and desperate for transit,<br />
several American cities have converted old<br />
freight railways over to commuter service:<br />
one example is New Jersey’s River Line, which<br />
uses diesel-powered vehicles that roll into<br />
downtown Camden like streetcars. Another<br />
example, even closer to our circumstances,<br />
comes from Texas: in 1994, Dallas’s transit<br />
authority bought 13 Budd cars from VIA (used<br />
ones cost as little as $100,000) and started<br />
running them on a bankrupt freight line for a<br />
commuter service called the Trinity Railway<br />
Express. Today, TRE carries 9,800 daily passengers<br />
on new trains, and has loaned its Budd<br />
cars to build up a new commuter line in nearby<br />
Denton County.<br />
Local commuter rail does face challenges<br />
beyond finding vehicles and money. C4CR’s<br />
$16-million scheme depended on rail coming<br />
across the Johnson Street Bridge—and so far,<br />
the City of Victoria has refused to investigate<br />
whether the new bridge could have rails embedded<br />
in its roadway (an idea pushed by this author),<br />
fearing increased costs and construction delays.<br />
“It’s going to take somebody to say, ‘Hey,<br />
this is important enough, we’ll put in $30,000<br />
to help Victoria look at that alternative. And<br />
let’s do it now rather than later,’” says Pearce,<br />
who wants to see the CRD create a regional<br />
funding formula for rail on the bridge.<br />
There’s also the question of which entity<br />
would run the commuter service. Southern<br />
Rail, which is currently contracted by the Island<br />
Corridor Foundation to operate the E&N,<br />
doesn’t have passenger insurance. Pearce says<br />
VIA would be the logical choice, if it brings<br />
back its Budd cars, and can be persuaded that<br />
connecting Langford and Victoria meets its<br />
intercity mandate. Alternatively, a whole new<br />
intermunicipal service could be created, or<br />
the rail system could be operated by the CRD<br />
or BC Transit.<br />
Unfortunately, the last two bodies currently<br />
seem entranced by LRT. The CRD board, the<br />
regional transit commission, and some local<br />
politicians have already endorsed BC Transit’s<br />
shiny $950-million plan—without much worrying<br />
about whether austerity-preaching federal and<br />
provincial governments will actually pay for it,<br />
or already-public opposition from the CRD<br />
Taxpayers’ Association and businesses afraid<br />
of losing two car lanes along Douglas Street.<br />
The LRT fantasy may also cost us opportunities<br />
that are staring us right in the face.<br />
Langford’s Westhills development has set aside<br />
$1 million for a commuter-rail station, and<br />
a park-and-ride system connecting it to buses.<br />
But there’s a time limit, and if rail doesn’t materialize<br />
by the end of 2013, Westhills will spend<br />
that money on other infrastructure.<br />
Jim Hartshorne, the prime project consultant<br />
for Westhills and president of the Westshore<br />
Developers’ Association, sat on BC Transit’s<br />
community-liasion panel for LRT. “And I can<br />
tell you: I don’t understand the LRT proposal.<br />
It doesn’t make sense to me. It is, in my opinion,<br />
doomed for failure,” Hartshorne says, even<br />
though the LRT plans include Westhills. “We<br />
will have to spend millions just to acquire<br />
rights-of-way, and design a system for a billion<br />
dollars that doesn’t appear to have a population<br />
that could support it. With the E&N,<br />
we could use the track that’s existing, and<br />
spend a few dollars to upgrade it. It’s mindboggling<br />
to me that that wouldn’t be the first<br />
thing we would do.”<br />
Ross Crockford is a director<br />
of johnsonstreetbridge.org<br />
and the author of Victoria: The<br />
Unknown City.<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
9
talk of the town<br />
During her presentation at the Community<br />
Social Planning Council of Greater<br />
Victoria’s recent annual general meeting,<br />
economic development expert Nicole Chaland<br />
brought out a perspective-shifting number:<br />
$360 million.<br />
That’s how much Greater Victoria residents<br />
invested last year in Registered Retirement<br />
Savings Plans (RRSPs)—enough to effectively<br />
double last year’s growth in Greater Victoria’s<br />
entire gross domestic product. Yet instead of<br />
boosting our economy or helping improve<br />
our community, most of that enormous wealth<br />
of ours was simply drained away into globalized<br />
mutual funds.<br />
If we could create some sort of local pool<br />
for RRSPs, Chaland said, “What we’d be doing<br />
is capturing money that’s already being invested,<br />
and we’d be making sure it’s invested locally.”<br />
And that, says Community Social Planning<br />
Council director Rupert Downing, is what<br />
he’s setting out to do in the wake of Chaland’s<br />
feasibility report on community investment<br />
funds (CIF).<br />
“This is a very exciting opportunity,” says<br />
Downing, who envisions such funds helping<br />
develop local affordable housing.<br />
“There is a capital gap,” explains Downing.<br />
“The availability of subsidies [from governments]<br />
and mortgages from banks or credit<br />
unions doesn’t cover the full cost of developing<br />
market rental housing.” What we need,<br />
he says, is “patient capital,” where loans are<br />
relatively cheap and investors don’t need or<br />
expect to pull their money out in a hurry—<br />
like with RRSPs.<br />
The Community Social Planning Council<br />
(often called the Community Council) recently<br />
coordinated meetings between BC provincial<br />
government representatives and their counterparts<br />
in Nova Scotia, where such community<br />
investment funds are already in operation,<br />
discussing tweaks to RRSP and venture capital<br />
tax credits that could facilitate the process here.<br />
“The funds that work need a tax incentive,”<br />
says Downing. “That’s the optimum.”<br />
A Cape Breton community investment fund<br />
has already captured two percent of their local<br />
RRSPs—if we could merely equal that here,<br />
that’d be $7.2 million annually.<br />
Put your money where your municipality is<br />
ROB WIPOND<br />
On January 31, a panel of local experts will talk about new ways to ensure your savings, RRSPs, and investment dollars<br />
help strengthen our community sustainability and resilience. We offer a preview of some of the ideas they’ll address.<br />
Left to right: Nicole Chaland, Lisa Helps, Stephen Whipp, Rebecca Pearson, Rupert Downing<br />
Community investment funds around North<br />
America generally focus on supporting locallyowned<br />
businesses but, because of their broader<br />
mandate to foster overall community development,<br />
they usually come with an additional<br />
focus on improving local environmental sustainability,<br />
social justice, economic resilience and<br />
self-reliance. So aside from affordable housing<br />
developers, Downing points to City Harvest<br />
(an urban farming cooperative), City Green<br />
Solutions (a home-energy retrofitting nonprofit),<br />
and Community Micro Lending (a<br />
provider of small loans to new entrepreneurs)<br />
as examples of the kinds of companies which<br />
often fall between the cracks when trying to<br />
raise conventional loan capital, but which<br />
could be readily helped through a CIF.<br />
The Community Council is gathering a<br />
steering group to begin developing the business<br />
plan and legal framework for a regional<br />
community investment fund. So to anyone<br />
with business, financial, tax, legal or marketing<br />
expertise willing to do a little pro-bono work,<br />
says Downing, “We’d be very pleased to hear<br />
from them.” Downing will be speaking about<br />
the initiative at an upcoming community<br />
investment forum sponsored by Transition<br />
Victoria, Vancity and <strong>Focus</strong>. Along with<br />
Chaland, Downing, and new Victoria councillor<br />
Lisa Helps, who is a director of<br />
Community Micro Lending (see <strong>Focus</strong>, April,<br />
2010), several other speakers will outline<br />
additional options for redirecting your dollars<br />
back into our local community.<br />
One of those speakers will be Vancity<br />
community business banking account manager<br />
Rebecca Pearson.<br />
“Just by banking with Vancity, you are<br />
investing in community,” notes Pearson,<br />
explaining that credit union regulations require<br />
virtually all of Vancity’s $14.5 billion in assets<br />
to be invested in British Columbia. And most<br />
of that, she says, stays in the Lower Mainland<br />
and Southern Vancouver Island.<br />
“On top of that, we are focusing on community<br />
impact,” she adds. “So we’re not just<br />
investing locally, but we’re also making an<br />
effort to invest in the building blocks of a<br />
sustainable economy.”<br />
Pearson points to the Root Cellar Village<br />
Green Grocer, Dockside Green, and the<br />
Victoria Car Share Co-op as examples of<br />
progressive local enterprises with which Vancity<br />
has been involved.<br />
But exactly where your savings are invested<br />
is often not under an individual’s direct control,<br />
and so some Vancity members remain frustrated<br />
by the credit union’s investments in<br />
more conventional or less ethical businesses.<br />
Pearson says Vancity is developing options for<br />
those people, too.<br />
“The most interesting thing that we’re<br />
working on right now for more direct connections<br />
between your dollars and where they<br />
get locally invested is the Resilient Capital<br />
Program,” says Pearson. Just starting up now<br />
in Victoria, but with a pilot project underway<br />
in Vancouver, the program gathers investors<br />
who can contribute $50,000 or more into a<br />
multimillion dollar pool. “Their money<br />
will be made available to social enterprises to<br />
help build resilient communities.”<br />
In Vancouver, Vancity’s Resilient Capital<br />
Program recently helped support a major<br />
expansion to a non-profit that runs women’s<br />
shelters, and a revisioning of Save on Meats<br />
as a multifaceted social enterprise benefiting<br />
its impoverished Downtown Eastside neigh-<br />
10 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
ourhood through a restaurant serving all<br />
income levels, accessible work opportunities,<br />
and a rooftop vegetable garden.<br />
“We’re still looking for depositors,” says<br />
Pearson. And to entrepreneurs with great ideas<br />
for improving local resilience, she adds, “We’re<br />
looking simultaneously for investment opportunities<br />
on the Island.”<br />
That’s good news to Stephen Whipp, an<br />
ethical investment advisor with Manulife<br />
Securities Incorporated and vice-president of<br />
the Westshore Chamber of Commerce, who’ll<br />
also be speaking at the forum. Whipp says he<br />
constantly hears from prospective clients with<br />
a hunger for ethical investment opportunities<br />
that are specifically local.<br />
“One issue that comes up over and over and<br />
over is people want to help,” says Whipp.<br />
“[Investors ask] ‘How do I help Other than<br />
growing my own food, other than cutting back<br />
on how much I drive or increasing how much<br />
I use transit, how do I make my community a<br />
better place’”<br />
Due to regulations to protect us from scams,<br />
however, licensed brokers and investment<br />
advisers like Whipp are restricted to recommending<br />
opportunities that are listed on<br />
mainstream capital markets. So instead, Whipp<br />
provides financial and business advice to “put<br />
tools in the toolbox” that help people do their<br />
own “due diligence” when they examine local<br />
investment opportunities. Another approach<br />
Whipp suggests people explore is community<br />
“investment clubs,” an ad hoc version of a<br />
community investment fund where small<br />
groups of people get together to share the costs<br />
and efforts of doing such due diligence.<br />
But these are makeshift solutions which<br />
shouldn’t have to continue this way, argues<br />
Whipp. He hopes growing public demand will<br />
push governments, regulators, and investment<br />
firms with sufficiently large expert infrastructures<br />
to more proactively facilitate targeted,<br />
ethical, community investment opportunities.<br />
“I think the credit unions have an ability to<br />
make a huge play in this area,” comments<br />
Whipp. “That in itself may make others pay<br />
attention to it.”<br />
AT THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM,<br />
of course, some would argue that trying to<br />
make money from money, while participating<br />
within a global financial system that’s arguably<br />
Invest Your Money<br />
IN LOCAL CHANGE<br />
A forum on present and future options for<br />
putting savings, RRSPs and investment dollars<br />
into local, sustainable, ethical businesses to<br />
build a more self-reliant economy<br />
Nicole Chaland, Sustainability Solutions Group, Program<br />
Director for Simon Fraser University Certificate Program for<br />
Community Economic Development<br />
Converging Global Crises and the Benefits of Local<br />
Investment Models for Businesses and Communities<br />
Stephen Whipp, CFP, Senior Financial Advisor with Stephen<br />
Whipp Financial and Manulife Securities Incorporated, specializing<br />
in Socially Responsible Investing and Financial Planning<br />
Challenges and Possibilities for Ethical, Local Investing<br />
Rupert Downing, Executive Director of the Community Social<br />
Planning Council of Greater Victoria, former director of<br />
the Canadian Community Economic Development Network<br />
Building Affordable Housing and Social Enterprises with<br />
Community Investment Bonds<br />
Rebecca Pearson, MBA, Account Manager, Vancity Community<br />
Business Banking<br />
Invest in Community Impact through Banking Locally<br />
John Ehrlich, Owner/manager of Alderlea Farm & Cafe,<br />
and Farmer at TLC's Keating Farm in Duncan<br />
Food Security through Community Supported Agriculture<br />
Lisa Helps, City of Victoria Councillor, Executive Director of<br />
Community Micro Lending<br />
"We need each other to flourish": Small Investments, Big<br />
Paybacks through Local Investments<br />
ADMISSION FREE<br />
7 pm Tuesday, January 31, <strong>2012</strong><br />
Ambrosia Conference Centre<br />
638 Fisgard St. Victoria, BC<br />
sponsored by Transition Victoria, Vancity and <strong>Focus</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
FOCUS<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
11
“<br />
I THINK WE’RE AT AN INCREDIBLE CROSSROADS.<br />
We have a huge opportunity which may never<br />
be there again, to show people that you can do<br />
business in a different way.” —Stephen Whipp<br />
dubious at its core, is inherently antithetical to sustainability, social<br />
justice and community development. From this perspective, ethical<br />
investing is a tiny bandage over the gaping wound that’s brought our<br />
society to the brink of environmental, social and financial collapse.<br />
Yet it’s difficult to deny that Vancity’s $14.5 billion, or Greater Victoria’s<br />
own $360 million annually in RRSPs, are amounts that could have farreaching<br />
and profound societal impacts if directed creatively and progressively<br />
back into their source communities. Those aren’t mere bandage levels<br />
of money. And even if, after some hypothetical apocalypse, we were to<br />
pull out of the global economy altogether through an alternative local<br />
currency, we’d probably still need some infrastructure guided democratically<br />
by members, not unlike a credit union or community investment<br />
fund, to help manage that currency and provide expert guidance on where<br />
to funnel our collective financial resources. So why not explore what’s<br />
possible if we put our financial shoulders to the wheel right now<br />
John Ehrlich, another speaker at the forum, has already shown what’s<br />
possible, even with just a little upfront investment and no complicated<br />
legal or regulatory frameworks.<br />
While family farms are disappearing across Canada, his Alderlea<br />
biodynamic farm near Duncan has been expanding at 30 percent annually<br />
since 2003. This year, 200 families will invest on average $450<br />
each as “shareholders” in exchange for weekly veggie bins. Aside from<br />
being emotionally uplifting to have so many people “committed” to<br />
helping your farm survive, says Ehrlich, this “Community Supported<br />
Agriculture” system improves cash flow, efficiency and marketing.<br />
“The biggest thing is having the money up front, before the season<br />
begins, purchasing seeds and tools and other things,” he explains. “And<br />
we know exactly what to grow and how much to put out for the families<br />
each week.”<br />
Starting a community-supported farm, says Ehrlich, is as simple as<br />
bringing some community members together to help stabilize a farmer’s<br />
livelihood by providing upfront payments for produce at near-retail<br />
rates. But our next regional hurdle is figuring out how to rally enough<br />
local resources to actually purchase land for farming. Ehrlich has been<br />
closely involved with The Land Conservancy’s experiment with Keating<br />
Farm, and will outline those efforts at the forum.<br />
“I think we’re at an incredible crossroads,” summarizes Whipp. “We<br />
have a huge opportunity which may never be there again, to show<br />
people that you can do business in a different way.”<br />
The Community Investment Forum is 7 pm Tuesday, January 31 at<br />
Ambrosia Conference Centre, 638 Fisgard Street. Admission is free. For<br />
more information see “Events” at www.TransitionVictoria.ca.<br />
Rob Wipond discloses that he has $200 invested in<br />
a maintenance and landscaping company through<br />
Community Micro Lending.<br />
12 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
<strong>Focus</strong> presents: Joseph Barry Martin<br />
ADVERTISEMENT<br />
Take hold of your life—move joyfully toward your dreams<br />
We’ve all experienced it: That burning<br />
passion to fulfill a dream, only to have<br />
fears and doubts insidiously creep in<br />
to suffocate the spark before it flames into fruition.<br />
In this new year, forge past the fear and fan<br />
the flame!<br />
Maybe you thrill to the idea of the ease and<br />
flexibility of living in a low-maintenance home<br />
that supports travel, freedom, and new experiences.<br />
Or perhaps you’ve always wanted to leave<br />
the city and enjoy country life—yet you’re holding<br />
back on selling your property because the media<br />
is banging its wearying drum about the “slow<br />
market.” But what, if anything, do you gain by<br />
buying into the hype instead of buying your<br />
dream home<br />
Laurie Klassen and Stacey Toews, owners of<br />
Level Ground Trading, recently made an inspired<br />
move—from their house on a busy corner in<br />
Brentwood Bay to their dream home, a hobby farm<br />
with acreage. If they’d listened to the media,<br />
they might have panicked and stayed put, but real<br />
estate agent Joseph Martin’s support and guidance<br />
kept them grounded and focused on their<br />
true inspiration. Now they are celebrating the<br />
unforeseen gifts of their new life every day. “I’ve<br />
learned that you can’t know in advance all the<br />
ways it’s going to be such a great thing for you in<br />
the end,” Laurie says of pursuing the dream they<br />
had.“The new property opens up all sorts of opportunities<br />
for us—there are so many things we could<br />
never have done at our other place.”<br />
After discovering the farm on a bike ride, Laurie<br />
and Stacey made the bold decision to buy it without<br />
making the offer conditional on the sale of their<br />
Brentwood home.There were times in the process<br />
when they became quite anxious,and Laurie appreciated<br />
the way Joseph kept them positive and on track.<br />
“He understands the stress of putting yourself in a<br />
vulnerable place and taking a risk in order to pursue<br />
something. On the phone, when we were secondguessing<br />
ourselves, he’d say,‘Okay, I’m coming<br />
over—let’s celebrate the steps we’ve made,let’s make<br />
a plan for the future,’ and he’d remind us where the<br />
light is at the end of the tunnel.”<br />
At their very first open house last summer, no<br />
one came, and Laurie felt discouraged. “He was<br />
really calm,” she says of Joseph’s take on the situation.“He<br />
said, ’It’s okay, lots of people are going<br />
to come through here in a few weeks’—and that’s<br />
exactly what happened! It was so helpful that he<br />
had the clarity of why we had called him in the first<br />
place, what he was helping us achieve, and what<br />
was going to happen.”<br />
Photo: David Broadland<br />
“<br />
You can create your own reality.<br />
Don’t listen to the market, the media,<br />
the naysayers, the fence-sitters. Go<br />
ahead and live your life the way you<br />
want to. Do you intuitively feel it is<br />
right to sell Then list to sell now. Make<br />
your dreams come true!<br />
”<br />
—Joseph Martin<br />
“With me, they trusted that their house would<br />
sell, and it did, on the very day we thought it would<br />
sell!” exclaims Joseph.“You can create your own<br />
reality. Don’t listen to the market, the media, the<br />
naysayers, the fence-sitters. Go ahead and live<br />
your life the way you want to. Do you intuitively<br />
feel it is right to sell Then list to sell now. Make<br />
your dreams come true!”<br />
Laurie has a message for those waiting out the<br />
“down market”before making a move.“I think a few<br />
years ago, we got accustomed to the idea that we<br />
had all this money in the bank, but it wasn’t really<br />
true.The reality is,we have a house,and we can change<br />
that house into a condo or a townhome or a farm<br />
or whatever we like.The numbers are such a shortterm<br />
perspective,so focusing on the pricing is just not<br />
worth it.Would I put myself back on that busy corner<br />
The answer is no,” she says with a laugh.“I’m not<br />
getting any younger!”<br />
She is grateful that Joseph helped assuage the<br />
fears that might have prevented her from fulfilling<br />
her dream of growing food on the scale that the<br />
farm allows. While every square metre of their<br />
suburban spec house’s yard had been made into<br />
an edible garden, it still wasn’t the perfect fit, and<br />
she knew it. “We were not looking around, we<br />
were happy enough where we were, the house<br />
was big enough for us—but it was this niggling<br />
feeling in the back of our minds.” Now, every day,<br />
she looks out the window onto acres of pristine<br />
farmland, wildlife, and wide open sky, and says<br />
that while growing food was her initial inspiration,<br />
the unexpected rewards of their new situation<br />
are affirming over and over again that they made<br />
the perfect move.<br />
Joseph, who jokingly calls himself the “House<br />
Whisperer,” is recruiting people who are excited<br />
to move ahead with their new lives and want to<br />
sell their homes. That’s because he’s now sold a<br />
number of his listings over the last few weeks of<br />
a slow December market—a feat made even more<br />
astounding given the fearful “can’t do” attitude<br />
that is coming at us from all sides. How does he<br />
do it “You must ignore the comments of the<br />
media and others about the current real estate<br />
market. Move from real estate ‘worrier’ to real<br />
estate ‘warrior.’ Be one of those for whom the<br />
market is a ‘perfect fit’ right now. Your ‘in the<br />
zone’ dream home awaits!”<br />
Joseph Barry Martin, Ph.D., REALTOR®, Feng Shui & Prepping<br />
Pemberton Holmes Ltd Real Estate<br />
MLS® 2008 & 2009 Bronze Awards (Top 30%)<br />
Accredited Seniors Agent ASA, National Association of Green Agents and Brokers NAGAB<br />
Office: 250.474.4176 • Cell: 250.361.8167 • Fax: 250.294.3871<br />
Email: josephmartin@shaw.ca<br />
www.JosephBarryMartin.com • www.HouseOfLightHarmony.com<br />
To get local market conditions go to: http://bit.ly/MLSMarketSnapshot<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
13
talk of the town<br />
True enough. But part of that discussion<br />
would involve carefully working out how much<br />
of that “inevitable urban growth” should take<br />
the form of sprawl: low-density development<br />
on the western edge of the CRD in Colwood<br />
and Langford (or on the Saanich Peninsula).<br />
Such development chews up farmland, Garry<br />
oak meadows, wetlands and Douglas-fir forests,<br />
and then spits out blasted rock, low-density<br />
subdivisions and more cars on the roads, all of<br />
which exacerbates climate change.<br />
Yes, there is a Regional Growth Strategy. But<br />
the RGS is a compromise that allows Langford<br />
and Colwood to sprawl to their borders if they<br />
so choose, even if that’s not in the best interests<br />
of the rest of the CRD or the planet. So<br />
is sprawl in Langford and Colwood inevitable<br />
One aspect of the LRT study released last<br />
spring by BC Transit (and later endorsed by<br />
the CRD Board) that received little public<br />
discussion was this question about the<br />
inevitability of population growth in Langford<br />
and Colwood. Without a much larger population,<br />
there’s no good reason to build LRT<br />
to Langford. So where does the idea come<br />
from that vast sprawl is inevitable<br />
The ridership projections presented in the<br />
BC Transit study (co-authored by SNC-Lavalin,<br />
a company that designs, builds and operates<br />
LRT systems all over the globe) actually<br />
rely heavily on another study delivered to the<br />
CRD in 2009 by the Vancouver planning firm<br />
Urban Futures. That study, A Context for<br />
Change Management in the Capital Regional<br />
District, predicted that over the next 30 years<br />
the population of the CRD would grow by<br />
111,000 with the West Shore receiving 51<br />
percent of that growth. The numbers gath-<br />
This community’s most notable response<br />
to the threat of climate change—BC<br />
Transit’s proposal to spend $1 billion on<br />
light rail transit (LRT) from Downtown to<br />
Langford—has been guided by the belief that<br />
the bulk of population growth in the CRD over<br />
the next several decades will inevitably occur<br />
in Langford and Colwood. The idea is that LRT<br />
will lower the carbon emissions associated with<br />
more people travelling between Langford-<br />
Colwood and the core municipalities (Saanich,<br />
Victoria, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, View Royal).<br />
Although support for LRT has not come<br />
exclusively from politicians aligned with the<br />
NDP, that party’s local elite, including MPs<br />
Denise Savoie and Randall Garrison, MLAs<br />
Rob Fleming, Maurine Karagianis and Lana<br />
Popham, Victoria mayor Dean Fortin and<br />
various municipal councillors, have given the<br />
project its most substantial support.<br />
The current provincial NDP position on the<br />
LRT goes back to just before the 2009 provincial<br />
election when the party flip-flopped on its<br />
previous support for a carbon tax and launched<br />
their low-brow “Axe the Tax” campaign. The<br />
NDP’s regressive position threatened to turn<br />
green voters off and local NDP MLAs no doubt<br />
wanted to reassure those voters they weren’t<br />
going completely Neolithic. So the Victoria<br />
NDP MLAs attacked the Liberals for supporting<br />
LRT in Vancouver but not in Victoria. At the<br />
time, Maurine Karagianis said, “The Campbell<br />
government’s transit plan focuses almost entirely<br />
on projects in the lower mainland while the rest<br />
of BC, including Victoria, has been ignored.<br />
The Capital Region seeks to avoid sprawl by<br />
building an innovative, high quality public transit<br />
system with LRT between downtown and<br />
the western communities.”<br />
At that same time Rob Fleming said, “The<br />
region should stick with its Regional Growth<br />
Strategy and pursue an LRT system between<br />
Downtown and the western communities.”<br />
Fleming seemed to forget that the 2003 Regional<br />
Growth Strategy actually called for bus rapid<br />
transit. So the NDP’s LRT position evolved<br />
not out of any detailed study that made a<br />
rational case for it in this city, but rather as a<br />
strategy that could help in an election. More<br />
recently, in a letter to <strong>Focus</strong>, Fleming wrote,<br />
“The debate that small and large cities in Canada<br />
and around the world are having is about how<br />
to positively link inevitable urban growth with<br />
enhanced economic prosperity that is green<br />
and sustainable. That’s the debate we should<br />
be having in Victoria.”<br />
LRT = tail wagging dog<br />
DAVID BROADLAND<br />
Two competing visions emerge on how to mitigate climate change at the regional level.<br />
Bear Mountain subdivision. An LRT to Langford will mean much more of this.<br />
ered by Urban Futures to define the trends<br />
they thought would play out were heavily<br />
influenced by data from the years 2006-2008—<br />
the height of the building boom in the CRD.<br />
Now an interesting fact about that time is<br />
that there were a number of proposals for highdensity<br />
developments in Langford that would<br />
have been tallied by Urban Futures but that<br />
were later cancelled, or were started but never<br />
completed. Not least among those doomed<br />
projects for which a building permit was obtained<br />
was Robert Quigg’s $1.4 billion 650-unit fourtower<br />
luxury condo/vineyard project on the<br />
east side of the Bear Mountain development.<br />
Quigg apparently killed his project after learning<br />
Bear Mountain had inflated their real estate<br />
sales figures. Other victims of those wildly reckless<br />
times were Bear Mountain’s own 14-storey<br />
Highlander project and the South Skirt Mountain<br />
development. The Bear Mountain and South<br />
Skirt Mountain developments triggered<br />
construction of the $30 million Spencer Road<br />
interchange, now widely known as Stew<br />
Young’s Bridge to Nowhere. That overpass<br />
now sits unfinished—and obviously unneeded—<br />
across the Trans Canada Highway, its only<br />
useful purpose being a monumental warning<br />
to passing drivers about unrealistic projections.<br />
So it was out of this over-wrought period<br />
that Urban Futures’ report, which formed the<br />
statistical backbone of the LRT study, was born.<br />
Urban Futures predicted that as the region’s<br />
population aged, there would be a long-term<br />
shift towards multi-storey housing. They went<br />
on to predict—and who could blame them<br />
given the condo-mania hype that was coming<br />
out of Langford and Colwood at the time—<br />
that over the next 30 years, the West Shore’s<br />
14 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
share of multi-storey housing would grow<br />
while the core municipalities’ would shrink.<br />
But the last three years have seen the opposite.<br />
The core’s share has held steady while<br />
West Shore’s has steadily declined.<br />
Moreover, Urban Futures noted that its projections<br />
assumed there would be no substantial<br />
changes to any of the municipalities’ policies<br />
around density. The numbers it came up with<br />
didn’t take into account the possibility that,<br />
over time, the City of Victoria could adopt new<br />
policies that would encourage and expedite<br />
dense residential development in and around<br />
the Downtown core. Urban Futures projection<br />
didn’t foresee someone like recently-elected<br />
councillor Ben Isitt coming along and changing<br />
the City’s direction. Isitt has said he will work<br />
to increase the Downtown residential population<br />
and thereby shift future population growth<br />
away from the western periphery of the CRD.<br />
So there are two competing visions emerging<br />
about how to mitigate climate change in terms<br />
of how the region develops.<br />
On one hand you have the tail-wagging-thedog<br />
vision that sprawl in Langford and Colwood<br />
is inevitable, and so transportation infrastructure<br />
should be reshaped in the hope of reducing<br />
the accompanying traffic congestion. The LRT<br />
proposal, which depends heavily on future<br />
growth in Langford and Colwood to make it<br />
viable, plays right into that vision. You accept<br />
sprawl’s deforestation and destruction of rare<br />
ecosystems, the loss of farmland and the immense<br />
emissions price tag of the LRT itself, and hope<br />
that, on balance, you are reducing emissions.<br />
On the other hand you have the dog-waggingthe-tail<br />
vision: the core municipalities develop<br />
new policies that encourage and expedite<br />
denser residential development, which would<br />
then out-compete the West Shore for the lion’s<br />
share of future population growth in the region.<br />
That vision doesn’t need a billion-dollar LRT<br />
to Langford. That vision understands the<br />
proposed LRT would only encourage urban<br />
sprawl and thereby defeat the long-term goal<br />
of reducing carbon emissions by shortening<br />
distances travelled. It encourages denser, more<br />
energy-efficient forms of housing, and avoids<br />
deforestation, destruction of wetlands and<br />
loss of farmland. And more people living closer<br />
to Downtown would strengthen the economic<br />
prospects of businesses there.<br />
Currently, most regional politicians seem to<br />
prefer that the tail wags the dog.<br />
David Broadland is the publisher of <strong>Focus</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>.<br />
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15
Creative<br />
Coast palette16 the arts in january18 coastlines 30<br />
Totally vulnerable<br />
CHRISTINE CLARK<br />
Megan Dickie’s sculptures critique the status quo.<br />
PHOTO: TONY BOUNSALL<br />
Megan Dickie with “Submission”<br />
In the short video called Ready to Rumble you will see a slim young<br />
woman wearing a form-fitting black dress, tied at the waist, with<br />
black leggings and tall black boots. Her high heels clatter against the<br />
cement floor of a white room as she wrestles with a free-standing and<br />
uncooperative wall of bricks. She is wearing a flesh-coloured leather<br />
Lucha mask, a decorative full-face covering traditionally used in Mexican<br />
wrestling. After hauling the wall up from its prone position on the floor<br />
and struggling to keep it vertical and straight for a few uncertain moments,<br />
the young woman falls beneath the unwieldy weight of the bricks, only<br />
to extricate herself almost immediately. Freed, she crouches beside the<br />
fallen wall, smoothing down its tousled bricks and returning it to its<br />
benign original position.<br />
Meet Megan Dickie: MFA, sessional instructor at UVic, printmaker,<br />
sculptor, video-artist.<br />
While watching Ready to Rumble, Dickie’s first video project,<br />
completed in 2007, you might primarily be struck by the strangely<br />
beguiling visual image. It’s amusing. Not exactly in a laugh-out-loud<br />
kind of way; it’s almost too austere for guffaws and chuckles, but the<br />
incongruity of the set-up is in itself quite arresting.<br />
The ramifications come later, at least for this observer. The archetypal<br />
woman, the fragility and shapeliness of her body, in stark opposition<br />
to the hard brick (which it should be noted is not brick but was made<br />
by the artist from wax), the falling wall and at the end, the womanly<br />
ministrations, the smoothing and the straightening, the returning of<br />
the disturbed to a state of order. It makes one think of Haiti, and of<br />
other terrible forces, both natural and human.<br />
Although the work is not specifically feminist, the clothing is carefully<br />
planned and is meant to demonstrate the validity of the feminine<br />
and to highlight the artist’s own identity as a feminine creature. Her<br />
sculptural projects normally begin with a series of drawings or prints,<br />
and usually end with a video (often taking up to three years to complete<br />
the entire cycle). They all tend to illustrate the way in which the sculpture,<br />
itself can be used. And they always feature the artist dressed to<br />
kill in various interactive poses.<br />
The presentation of the feminine is not incidental; it is a constant.<br />
Dickie says, “ the majority of sculptors are not women, and many sculptors<br />
make work that is solemn and not fun;” work that is perhaps more<br />
concerned with supposedly masculine (or shall we say serious) trends.<br />
As Ms Dickie says herself, “it’s good to bring humour into the work<br />
to draw people in. Then you can point out things that are more significant,”<br />
which she describes as being science, math, architecture and<br />
value systems.<br />
In her newest project, called “Submission,” value systems are under<br />
scrutiny. This is just one of her recent projects; she has several under<br />
way. The other piece under construction in her studio at the moment<br />
is called “The Gleamer” and is a 15-by-15 foot blanket made up of<br />
aluminum triangles and reflects her growing interest in geometry, as<br />
well as—not surprisingly—light. It is also a tongue-in-cheek response<br />
to Buckminster Fuller’s ideas.<br />
Megan is an incredibly hard worker and says, “If I’m not making art,<br />
then I’m gardening or making pasta by hand. I like to be constantly<br />
making things.”<br />
“The Gleamer” will be shown at Calgary’s Stride Gallery in<br />
February, but for the moment it’s “Submission” that is centre stage<br />
and in final preparation for a group show called Throw Down with<br />
five regional artists, which opens at the end of January at the Art<br />
Gallery of Greater Victoria.<br />
16<br />
January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
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“Submission” (video still from Step into the Ring), 2011-12<br />
Leather, vinyl inflatable, lead shot, 42 x 30 x 84 inches<br />
“Submission” is a seven-foot-tall realization of the logo used by<br />
the Canada Council for the Arts. Like much of her sculpture work,<br />
“Submission” is intended to be a full body experience. Dickie explains<br />
that “the work is participatory—it comes alive when people interact<br />
with it.” In this case, her sculpture is made of soft tan leather and leather<br />
stitching, encases a bop bag (of Bozo the Clown fame) so that you<br />
can punch, push and grapple with the piece without ever completely<br />
knocking it down. It always comes right back at you. “Submission” is<br />
fun and beautiful too, but it’s intended as a critique of the Canada<br />
Council’s granting system.<br />
Every year, artists from all over Canada submit applications for grants;<br />
grants that, if received, will help cover the burdensome costs of art<br />
making. Megan Dickie received a grant in 2004; she’s also been rejected<br />
several times, so she understands the impact the Canada Council can<br />
have on an artist’s career and on an artist’s sense of self. She says, “They<br />
control what we value in arts. Receiving a grant adds enormous credibility<br />
to your practice. You feel like you are doing something significant.<br />
If you don’t get it then you feel the opposite, which isn’t necessarily<br />
true. I want to acknowledge that it’s a driving force in the Canadian<br />
art scene. And it’s ok to be critical of the driving force.”<br />
She goes on to say that it’s “not just critiquing granting systems,<br />
but [rather] the relationship we have with them. They are a huge organization,<br />
based in Ottawa, and not very personal. This project is about<br />
creating an intimate relationship with the Canada Council.”<br />
This is what we all want, isn’t it To feel that we have some control<br />
over the governing bodies in our lives, or any force larger and more<br />
powerful than ourselves, for that matter. Often times it’s much easier<br />
to concede defeat, to simply bask in the complacency of powerlessness.<br />
Questioning the status quo is not for the weak at heart; there’s such<br />
potential for ridicule and defamation. Fortunately there are a few artists<br />
and others, people like Megan Dickie, who are willing, as she says, to<br />
make themselves “totally vulnerable.”<br />
Christine Clark is a Victoria-based artist who writes<br />
about artists in Victoria and beyond. See her blog at<br />
http://artinvictoria.com.<br />
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www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
17
the arts in january<br />
Continuing to January 2<br />
ALICE IN WONDERLAND<br />
St Luke’s Hall<br />
Alice, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts and others<br />
get the panto treatment by the St. Luke’s Players. 2pm Jan 1-<br />
2 at 3821 Cedar Hill X Rd, $5/$13/$15. 250-884-5484,<br />
www.stlukesplayers.org.<br />
Continuing to January 7<br />
SMALL WORKS<br />
Eclectic Gallery<br />
Featuring smaller pieces by Robert Amos, Pat Martin Bates,<br />
Jenny Waelti-Walters and many other artists. At 2170 Oak<br />
Bay Ave, 250-590-8095, www.eclecticgallery.ca.<br />
January 1<br />
A VIENNESE NEW YEAR’S<br />
Royal Theatre<br />
Participate in a 60-year tradition, started by the Viennese<br />
Philharmonic Orchestra, by spending the first day of the new<br />
year with the Victoria Symphony. 2:30pm at 805 Broughton<br />
St, $35.50-$87.50. 250-386-6121, www.rmts.bc.ca.<br />
January 4<br />
RANDALL ANDERSON<br />
University of Victoria<br />
Hailing from Montreal, multidisciplinary artist Randall<br />
Anderson speaks about the intersection of drawing, painting,<br />
sculpture and performance. 8pm at Room A162 of UVic’s<br />
Visual Arts Building, free. 250-721-6222, www.finearts.uvic.ca.<br />
The Arts Centre at<br />
Cedar Hill<br />
We have<br />
Pottery Classes<br />
for All Ages!<br />
Adult Art Classes<br />
Drawing<br />
Artistic iPad<br />
Creative Watercolour<br />
Acrylic Painting Studio<br />
Watercolour 101<br />
Classes start soon. For details<br />
on dates and times check out<br />
our Active Living Guide<br />
or call 250-475-7121<br />
www.recreation.saanich.ca<br />
January 6-29<br />
JOAN RICHARDSON: EYE THRILL<br />
Xchanges Gallery<br />
Joan Richardson’s abstract colour field paintings bring<br />
disorder to chaos. Opening reception 7pm Jan 6 at 2333<br />
Government St. 250-382-0442, www.xchangesgallery.org.<br />
January 6-February 1<br />
YOUTHFUL EXPRESSIONS V<br />
Goward House<br />
Vibrant works from young artists at Frank Hobbs, Arbutus,<br />
Lambrick Park and Mount Douglas schools. Opening reception<br />
1:30pm Jan 8 at 2495 Arbutus Rd. 250-477-4401,<br />
www.gowardhouse.com.<br />
January 6-February 12<br />
WAX POETIC<br />
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria<br />
Chin Yuen BFA, MA, an international award-winning<br />
Canadian painter, who does encaustic painting and printing,<br />
joins forces with abstract expressionist painter Irma Soltonovich<br />
to offer an artistic exploration of what it means to “wax poetic.”<br />
Opens with reception 6-8pm, Jan 12 at 1040 Moss St, in the<br />
Macey Gallery. 250-381-1688, www.chinyuenart.com and<br />
www.soltonovich.com.<br />
January 6-May 6<br />
THE SALISH WEAVE COLLECTION<br />
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria<br />
Chief AGGV curator Mary Jo Hughes shines the spotlight<br />
on works from Coast Salish artists such as Susan Point, lessLIE<br />
and Luke Marston from the extraordinary, contemporary Coast<br />
Salish art collection of Victoria residents George and Christiane<br />
Smyth, who have lent and donated far and wide to promote<br />
to a broader audience the Coast Salish artists. 1040 Moss St,<br />
regular gallery admission applies. 250-384-4171, www.aggv.ca.<br />
January 9-14<br />
SMUS STUDENT FUNDRAISER<br />
Eclectic Gallery<br />
See story on page 20.<br />
18 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
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January 11<br />
GALIANO ENSEMBLE<br />
University of Victoria<br />
Yariv Aloni conducts the ensemble as they<br />
perform a program of English suites. 8pm at<br />
UVic’s Philip T. Young Recital Hall, $30/$33.<br />
250-704-2580, www.galiano.ca.<br />
January 12-31<br />
AMAZING SEA STORIES<br />
Maritime Museum of BC<br />
Secrets of the ocean’s depths, featuring<br />
discoveries made by Ocean Networks Canada<br />
and their Venus and Neptune observatories<br />
here in Victoria. Opening reception 1-3pm Jan<br />
12 at 28 Bastion Sq, museum admission applies.<br />
250-385-4222, www.mmbc.bc.ca.<br />
January 13-February 6<br />
ABSOLUTE ABSTRACT<br />
Slide Room Gallery<br />
Three abstract artists and students of Bill<br />
Porteous—Victoria Clarke, Joan Richardson<br />
and Gordon Shukin—offer up work that<br />
ranges from spontaneous expression to experimental<br />
process. Opening reception 7:30pm<br />
Jan 13 at 2549 Quadra St. 250-380-3500,<br />
www.vancouverislandschoolart.com.<br />
January 14<br />
AN AFTERNOON IN VIENNA<br />
St Mary the Virgin<br />
The <strong>2012</strong> Diemahler Chamber Series kicks<br />
off with Diemahler String Quartet, led by<br />
Maestro Pablo Diemecke, former Victoria<br />
Symphony concert master and one of Canada’s<br />
greatest virtuoso violinists. This first of five intimate<br />
concerts will feature Viennese music.<br />
Samples from Diemecke’s latest CD can be<br />
heard at www.pablodiemecke.com. 2:30pm<br />
at 1701 Elgin Rd, $22.50/$25 or all five concerts<br />
for $100, at Ivy’s Books, Cadboro Bay Books<br />
or www.rmts.bc.ca or 250-386-6121.<br />
January 15<br />
CHINESE NEW YEAR GALA<br />
University Centre Auditorium<br />
Ring in the Year of the Dragon with both<br />
modern and traditional performances by Ocean<br />
Rain Chinese Arts Academy, Victoria Society<br />
Of Chinese Performing Arts, Victoria Chinese<br />
Culture Club, and Victoria Chinese Public<br />
School. Presented by the Victoria Chinese<br />
Community Association and the Victoria Chinese<br />
Students and Scholars Association. 7pm at<br />
3800 Finnerty Rd, $8-$15. 250-721-8480,<br />
www.tickets.uvic.ca.<br />
January 15-February 2<br />
SNOW SCUD<br />
Polychrome Fine Arts<br />
A group exhibition of abstract works by<br />
Charles Campbell, Cody Haight, Lance Olsen,<br />
Ingrid Mary Shawn Shepherd and many others.<br />
Opening reception 12pm at 1113 Fort St. 250-<br />
382-2787, www.polychromefinearts.com.<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
January 16<br />
ENIGMA VARIATIONS<br />
Royal Theatre<br />
Victoria Symphony performs the piece that<br />
cemented Edward Elgar in the classical music<br />
pantheon, as well as two other compositions.<br />
Featuring guest pianist Sara Buechner. 8pm<br />
at 805 Broughton St, $26-$6, student and<br />
senior discounts available. 250-386-6121,<br />
www.rmts.bc.ca.<br />
January 16<br />
PEN IN HAND READINGS<br />
Cook St Village Serious Coffee<br />
Readings by Deborah Willis, Sandy Pool<br />
and Holly Adams. Open mic sign-up 7:15pm,<br />
readings 7:30pm-9pm at 230 Cook St. $3.<br />
250-590-8010.<br />
January 16<br />
STORYTELLERS GUILD<br />
1831 Fern Street<br />
Hear and tell stories. 7:15pm. $5 ($3<br />
students); includes goodies. 250-477-7044.<br />
January 16<br />
OC87: THE OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE<br />
MAJOR DEPRESSION BIPOLAR<br />
ASPERGER'S MOVIE<br />
Eric Martin Pavilion Theatre<br />
An innovative film that takes you inside<br />
another person's experience of the challenges<br />
of mental illness, but also hope. Plus: Oh<br />
Me 2, a film by and about Canadian bipolar<br />
animation artist Jonathan Amitay and his<br />
psychologist son, Oren. 6:30pm at 1900 Fort<br />
St, free. 250-595-3542, www.moviemonday.ca.<br />
January 17, 24 and 31<br />
SIN CITY IMPROVISED SOAP OPERA<br />
Victoria Event Centre<br />
This ongoing improvised serial tells the<br />
story of a travelling sideshow in the 1930s<br />
dustbowl. Featuring Morgan Cranny, Kirsten<br />
Van Ritzen, Wes Borg and others. 8pm at 1415<br />
Broad St, $12/$15. www.sincityimprov.com,<br />
250-480-3709.<br />
January 17-February 4<br />
RESIDENT STUDIO ARTISTS<br />
Gallery 1580<br />
Marjorie Allen, Irma Argyriou, Maggie Cole,<br />
Malene Foyd, Richard Pawley, Mette Pedersen<br />
and Lynda McKewan. Large and small abstract<br />
paintings, with Foyd’s pottery. 1580 Cook St.<br />
January 18<br />
OPEN CINEMA<br />
Victoria Event Centre<br />
A screening of “Crazy Wisdom,” a documentary<br />
about controversial Buddhist guru<br />
Chogyam Trungpa. Allen Ginsberg considered<br />
him his guru; Thomas Merton wanted to write<br />
a book with him; Joni Mitchell wrote a song<br />
about him. A panel discussion will follow with<br />
the Victoria Shambhala Meditation Centre’s<br />
Leyth Matthews, financial advisor Elizabeth<br />
Hazell and others. Doors 5:30pm, film 7pm<br />
at 1415 Broad St, $10-$20 suggested donation.<br />
250-381-4428, www.opencinema.ca.<br />
Meet us at the Victoria Health Show<br />
“Look younger, be sexier, feel better ... than you’ve ever felt before.”<br />
While this may be the mantra of Victoria’s <strong>2012</strong> Health Show,it’s also what<br />
Diane Regan has been delivering to the customers of Triangle Healing<br />
for years.<br />
This year will mark Triangle’s 23rd year at the Victoria Health Show and they<br />
are as excited about it as ever.<br />
“We love participating in this popular show.We’re able to introduce incredible<br />
products to people who might otherwise have not come across them. It’s a place to<br />
connect with people and help them achieve their health goals.Whether it’s looking<br />
younger,living pain-free,or elevating their<br />
wellness and fitness level,Triangle is uniquely<br />
suited to connect people with solutions,”<br />
says Regan.<br />
One of the stars of this year’s show will<br />
no doubt be the Sonic Vibration Exerciser.<br />
This is a revolutionary product that is taking<br />
the wellness industry by storm.This advanced<br />
system works with sonic vibration to move<br />
blocked energy,increase bone and muscle<br />
mass,remove blockages in your lymphatic<br />
system and increase the potential of the<br />
body’s cells.“We’re hearing about amazing<br />
results from everyone from highly fit athletes<br />
to people who have been coping with<br />
chronic pain for years.Ten minutes a<br />
day on the Sonic Vibration Exerciser gives<br />
a similar cardiovascular, musculoskeletal<br />
and hormonal workout as an hour of exercise,”<br />
explains Regan.<br />
Sonic Vibration Exerciser<br />
Another system that has helped literally hundreds of Triangle’s customers get<br />
relief from pain and discomfort is the Barefoot Science Foot Strengthening System.<br />
This system helps to restore feet to a healthy,pain-free state.Whether you’re suffering<br />
from sore feet (bunions or hammer toe), hips or back pain, Barefoot Science will<br />
help you walk away from pain. “We love fitting people with the Barefoot Science<br />
insoles.It’s such an effective system,people can feel the difference immediately and<br />
we instantly create very happy customers,”says Regan,noting,“the Barefoot Science<br />
insoles are a fraction of the price of orthotics.”Triangle is sweetening that already<br />
good price by offering a $5 in-store coupon for Barefoot Science products at the<br />
Health Show.<br />
Other featured products will include the new German-made Bellicon Mini Trampoline—<br />
one of the best ways to get an indoor whole body workout without putting stress on<br />
your joints.The Circulator Foot Massage Mat will also be on hand.This little mat is the<br />
ultimate stress reliever, improving your health in just two minutes per day.<br />
“We’ll have coupons,and free samples,and a contest to enter along with product<br />
demonstrations,” says Regan. “Our booth is always full of exciting products just<br />
waiting to be touched, tried, and explained.”<br />
Make sure to stop by Triangle Healing’s booth at the Health Show. January<br />
28th and 29th at the Victoria Conference Centre—your one-stop shop for<br />
looking younger, feeling sexier, and better than you’ve ever felt before.<br />
Triangle Healing Products<br />
770 Spruce Avenue,Victoria, BC<br />
250-370-1818 • www.trianglehealing.com<br />
Triangle Healing Products, its owner, its employees do not provide medical advice or treatment.They provide information and<br />
products that you may choose after evaluating your health needs and in consultation with health professionals of your choosing.<br />
19
the arts in january<br />
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To order follow the links<br />
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or call 250.595.6729<br />
January 9-14<br />
VISUAL POETRY WITH SMUS STUDENTS<br />
Eclectic Gallery<br />
THERE IS A GREEK WORD THAT SAYS<br />
it all—Ekphrasis—poets in conversation with<br />
visual artists, the place in the universe where<br />
words and images collide to make beautiful<br />
music that inspires and energizes the Earth.<br />
In this time of war and natural disaster, we<br />
deserve to be led by a new generation with<br />
their heads in the stars, who have been given<br />
permission to use their ability to think and<br />
act beyond the normal limits.<br />
Good teachers teach to the right brain,<br />
where creative thinking links the worlds of<br />
body and spirit, where practical solutions<br />
rise out of abstract ideas. Poet Susan Stenson<br />
and artist Jennifer McIntyre of St Michael’s<br />
University School are cut from cloth made<br />
in the firmament. The student collaboration<br />
that will result in a world handshake was their<br />
idea and the students took their suggestion<br />
with enthusiasm.<br />
Their prints made in response to poetry<br />
written by creative writing students responding<br />
to visual imagery in Stenson’s classroom will<br />
hang in Eclectic Gallery from January 9-14.<br />
John Taylor, Eclectic co-owner with wife Vijaya,<br />
says, “Jennifer McIntyre proposed this collaboration.<br />
We both thought it would be a great<br />
idea to have the exhibit be a fundraiser for<br />
international children’s rights. We personally<br />
feel committed to giving to those less fortunate.<br />
This is an important lesson for SMUS<br />
students as well, and what better way to express<br />
this idea than through art. Art transcends all<br />
boundaries, and allows children to communicate<br />
with others both locally and globally.”<br />
Exposure is not new to SMUS poets who,<br />
along with writing students from Claremont<br />
and Reynolds Secondary Schools have<br />
drawn a lot of positive attention in student<br />
literary competitions.<br />
All the money will go to two charities: War<br />
Child Canada, chosen by the SMUS students,<br />
and Amma, which builds schools in India,<br />
chosen by Eclectic Gallery. The beauty of<br />
raising money to send overseas is that its value<br />
increases in translation and the SMUS students<br />
will see their contributions multiply.<br />
Beyond the satisfaction of creating beautiful<br />
works of art, students will assume the<br />
integrity of spirit that comes from understanding<br />
world family, the politics of poverty,<br />
and an appreciation for marketing what is<br />
precious, the gifts they channel. It is a perfect<br />
partnership. They give knowledge just as they<br />
receive it themselves.<br />
The poem “Stop” by Harrison Kim inspired<br />
Alex Davies’ “Time,” a two-colour reduction<br />
of stasis and movement that is now and<br />
never again, the human condition.<br />
Stop<br />
Clouds surround the clock tower<br />
keeping the town oblivious as men<br />
staring at camel hump roads<br />
waiting for the red bus.<br />
The bus stops at Kensington Road<br />
waits for the tall dark man<br />
who brings with him an old lady:<br />
Time will not wait.<br />
“Time” by Alex Davies<br />
Indeed. Time will not wait for children in<br />
need or for a world in crisis.<br />
Eclectic Gallery is at 2170 Oak Bay<br />
Avenue. Opening is Jan 9, 5-7 pm. 70 prints<br />
with poems will sell for $35 unframed and<br />
$60 framed. —Linda Rogers<br />
(Linda Rogers recently edited Framing<br />
the Garden, a book combining the work of<br />
local poets and artists—see story page 4.)<br />
20 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
January 18-February 4<br />
THE DROWSY CHAPERONE<br />
Langham Court Theatre<br />
This Tony-winning contemporary Canadian<br />
musical, penned by Bob Martin and Don<br />
McKellar, is a humorous love letter to the jazz<br />
age that tells the story of a lonely man’s<br />
escape from reality. Opens Jan 19 at 805<br />
Langham Ct, $17/$19. 250-384-2142,<br />
www.langhamtheatre.ca.<br />
January 19-21<br />
A SALUTE TO THE RAT PACK<br />
Royal Theatre<br />
Multi-instrumentalist and singer Matt<br />
Catingub reinvigorates celebrated classics<br />
from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy<br />
Davis Jr and others. Expect “I’ve Got You<br />
Under My Skin,” “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”<br />
and other memorable melodies. 2pm Jan 19<br />
and 8pm Jan 20-21 at 805 Broughton St,<br />
$26-$66, student and senior discounts available.<br />
250-386-6121. www.rmts.bc.ca.<br />
January 21<br />
WORLD DRUMS<br />
McPherson Playhouse<br />
Hand Drum Rhythms presents this concert,<br />
featuring Amadou Kouyate, Weedle Braimah,<br />
Kinobe, Sam “Lobo” Lopez and dozens of<br />
local performers. 7:30pm at 3 Centennial<br />
Sq, $19.75-$24.75. 250-386-6121,<br />
www.drumvictoria.com.<br />
January 21<br />
COUGAR ANNIE TALES<br />
Intrepid Theatre Club<br />
The Other Guys Theatre Company present<br />
a workshop performance of this musical play<br />
by local singer/actress Katrina Kadoski about<br />
the West Coast pioneer Cougar Annie. In the<br />
early 1900s, she trapped over 70 cougars,<br />
homesteaded a rainforest bog, opened a remote<br />
post office, and outlived 4 husbands. Kat Kadoski<br />
lived in Clayoquot Sound for three years caretaking<br />
Cougar Annie’s garden and immersing<br />
herself in the folklore surrounding the legendary<br />
pioneer-settler. 2-1609 Blanshard St (at Fisgard),<br />
250-590-6291, www.intrepidtheatre.com.<br />
January 21<br />
CONTINUUM CONSORT<br />
Lutheran Church of the Cross<br />
Soprano Elizabeth MacIsaac, alongside<br />
Pat Unruh (vielle) and Douglas Hensley (gittern<br />
and lute), perform songs of love by 14th and<br />
15th century French composers. 7:30pm at<br />
3787 Cedar Hill Rd, $10/$15. 250-477-6222,<br />
www.lutheranvictoria.com.<br />
January 22<br />
UNDER THE MANGO TREE<br />
Mary Winspear Centre<br />
This touching semi-autobiographical solo<br />
show about a woman’s journey from Fiji to<br />
Canada first visited Victoria in March 2010,<br />
and is back for another performance in Sidney.<br />
2pm at 2243 Beacon Ave, Sidney, $15. 250-<br />
656-0275, www.marywinspear.ca.<br />
January 22<br />
THE LAUGHING SYMPHONY<br />
Royal Theatre<br />
Norman Foote takes kids on a symphonic<br />
journey that reaches from Beethoven to “Old<br />
MacDonald.” 2:30pm at 805 Broughton St,<br />
$11-$30. 250-386-6121, www.rmts.bc.ca.<br />
January 24-February 26<br />
ON THE EDGE<br />
Belfry Theatre<br />
A world premiere of Michele Riml’s play<br />
documenting a chance encounter between<br />
three very different women. One actress, Susinn<br />
McFarlen, in a tour de force performance, gives<br />
voice to three ordinary souls, challenged by<br />
the world around them. Opens Jan 26 at 1291<br />
Gladstone Ave, $23-$38. 250-385-6815,<br />
www.belfry.bc.ca.<br />
January 25<br />
LAILA BIALI<br />
Hermann’s Jazz Club<br />
Jazz-pop artist Laila Biali returns to Victoria<br />
after a sold out JazzFest performance. The<br />
singer-pianist will perform with George Koller<br />
on bass and Larnell Lewis on drums. 7pm at<br />
753 View St, $22 advance, $25/door. 250-<br />
386-6121, www.jazzvictoria.ca.<br />
January 25<br />
LEGENDS AND FAIRY TALES<br />
Royal Theatre<br />
Enjoy a cup of tea as conductor-in-residence<br />
Giuseppe Pietraroia bring fairy tales like<br />
Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella and Swan Lake<br />
to life with stories and, of course, music. 2:30pm<br />
at 805 Broughton St, $26-$31. 250-386-<br />
6121, www.rmts.bc.ca.<br />
January 26<br />
THE VICTORIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY<br />
James Bay New Horizons<br />
Robert Griffin’s talk, “Feeding the Family:<br />
100 Years of Food and Drink in Victoria,” is<br />
based on his new book that documents the<br />
history of our city’s food suppliers. 7:30pm at<br />
234 Menzies St, www.victoriahistoricalsociety.bc.ca.<br />
January 27<br />
MUSICA ANGELICA<br />
Alix Goolden Hall<br />
This special performance features the<br />
Los Angeles-based early music ensemble<br />
alongside star Canadian soprano Emma Kirkby<br />
and countertenor Daniel Taylor. 8pm at 907<br />
Pandora Ave, $30/$32. 250-386-6121,<br />
www.earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca.<br />
January 27-28<br />
HEIDI OF THE MOUNTAIN<br />
Mary Winspear Centre<br />
Triple Threat Musical Productions presents<br />
their take on the classic Swiss tale of Heidi,<br />
Clara and their adventures. 7pm Jan 27 and<br />
2pm Jan 28 at 2243 Beacon Ave, Sidney,<br />
$5/$10. 250-656-0275, www.marywinspear.ca.<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
21
“ALMOST MIRROR” CHIN YUEN, 10 X 10 INCHES, ENCAUSTIC COLLAGE ON WOOD<br />
January 6-February 12<br />
WAX POETIC<br />
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria<br />
Chin Yuen BFA, MA, an international award-winning Canadian painter, who does encaustic<br />
painting and printing, joins forces with abstract expressionist painter Irma Soltonovich to<br />
offer an artistic exploration of what it means to “wax poetic.” Opens with reception 6-8pm, Jan<br />
12 at 1040 Moss St, in the Macey Gallery. 250-381-1688, www.chinyuenart.com and<br />
www.soltonovich.com.<br />
“WE ALL NEED A WARM PLACE TO REST OUR BONES” LIAM HANNA-LLOYD, 11.5 X 11.5 INCHES, MIXED MEDIA<br />
Throughout January<br />
LIAM HANNA-LLOYD: COLLAGE<br />
Victoria Emerging Art Gallery<br />
Introducing the exceptional collage artist Liam Hanna-Lloyd to VEAG: “The layers of<br />
paper, patterns and paint build the piece outwards to represent time, evoke tactility and to<br />
procure a landscape. The imagery…can come to me in dreams; can be hidden in old photographs,<br />
found within First Nations legends, or simply though experiences.” Also featuring local artist<br />
Carollyne Yardley’s quirky squirrel paintings and new work by Samuel Jan, Logan Ford, Jen<br />
Wright, Pete Kohut and Lisa Rose. 977A Fort St. 778-430-5585, www.victoriaemergingart.com.<br />
“BLUE MAGIC TEAPOT” BILL BOYD, 5.5 X 7.5 INCHES, CLAY WITH CRYSTALLINE GLAZE<br />
Throughout January<br />
BILL BOYD: NEW CERAMIC WORKS<br />
The Avenue Gallery<br />
Bill Boyd of Galiano Island began making pottery in 1970, in Sweden, where he worked<br />
with several talented potters and taught ceramics. Over time, the Scandinavian influence melded<br />
with an Asian aesthetic, bringing Boyd to his signature work of classic simplicity. Since 2002,<br />
his traditional forms have become the playground for explorations into crystalline glazing; he<br />
is one of the leading names in this challenging, relatively new process that involves growing<br />
zinc-silicate crystals in the glaze at high temperatures. 2184 Oak Bay Ave. 250-598-2184,<br />
www.theavenuegallery.com.<br />
“LIGHTNING” DYLAN THOMAS, 13.75 X 21.25 INCHES, SERIGRAPH EDITION 100<br />
Throughout January<br />
GALLERY ARTISTS<br />
Alcheringa Gallery<br />
Featuring new serigraph releases by Coast Salish artists lessLIE and Dylan Thomas, handpulled<br />
lino prints from Ake Lianga, and more. Shown here is a work by Qwul`thilum (Dylan<br />
Thomas), a young<br />
Coast Salish artist<br />
from the Lyackson<br />
First Nation, originally<br />
from Valdes<br />
Island, whose influences<br />
include Rande<br />
Cook, Art Thompson,<br />
Susan Point and<br />
Robert Davidson.<br />
Alcheringa’s new<br />
website features treasures<br />
from throughout<br />
the Pacific Rim,<br />
including graphic and<br />
three-dimensional<br />
work. 665 Fort St.<br />
250-383-8224,<br />
www.alcheringagallery.com.<br />
22<br />
January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
Coastal Celebration<br />
January 7 – 28<br />
Group Exhibition<br />
Opening Reception January 7, 1– 4pm<br />
Francis Baskerville,Don Berger,Karel Doruyter<br />
Graham Forsythe,April Mackey,Fredwin Perry,<br />
Michael Stockdale,Corrinne Wolcoski<br />
“Warm Arrival”by Corrinne Wolcoski,36 x 60 inches,oil on canvas<br />
606 View Street • 250.380.4660 • www.madronagallery.com<br />
“Journey of an Ancient Soul #23” John McConnell, 30 x 40 inches, oil on canvas<br />
John McConnell, AAI<br />
A Celtic Journey<br />
January 16 - February 25<br />
Reception Monday, January 16, 6 - 8pm<br />
www.eclecticgallery.ca<br />
2170 Oak Bay Avenue • 250.590.8095<br />
handmade gifts from local woods<br />
Live-edge birdseye yellow cedar bowl<br />
Heartwood Studio<br />
bowls and spoons, wooden utensils, urns, lamps and more<br />
Visit the artist in his studio or online:<br />
250-746-5480 • www.heartwoodstudio.ca<br />
or see us at Eclectic Gallery<br />
2170 Oak Bay Avenue<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
23
the arts in january<br />
“Brilliant!<br />
The festival just keeps<br />
getting better!”<br />
“This festival<br />
isatreasure,agiftto<br />
Victoria.”<br />
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH<br />
FEBRUARY 9-12, <strong>2012</strong><br />
Discover the musical<br />
brilliance of Versailles<br />
and beyond<br />
Marc Destrubé directs the Pacific Baroque<br />
Orchestra and soloists in music by Lully, Couperin,<br />
Rameau, Bach and Telemann<br />
FEATURING: Paolo Pandolfo, (viola da gamba),<br />
Soile Stratkauskas (baroque flute), Byron Schenkman<br />
(harpsichord), Victoria Children’s Choir<br />
and St. Christopher Singers<br />
Details at www.pacbaroque.com<br />
January 27-May 6<br />
THROWDOWN<br />
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria<br />
Five BC artists work in sculpture, video, photography,<br />
drawing and public intervention to address socio-political<br />
issues, economic struggles, to invoke a call to action or an<br />
invitation to play. Featuring Sonny Assu, Gregory Ball, Megan<br />
Dickie, Tyler Hodgins, Alison MacTaggart. (See story about<br />
Megan Dickie, page 16). In addition, a new public project<br />
by Tyler Hodgins, “Sleeping Bag,” will place his temporal<br />
sculptural interventions at various locations throughout<br />
the city during the run of the exhibition. Opening reception<br />
7pm at 1040 Moss St, regular gallery admission applies.<br />
250-384-4171, www.aggv.ca.<br />
January 28<br />
THAT’S JUST CRAZY TALK<br />
Eric Martin Pavilion Theatre<br />
See story om page 28.<br />
January 28-29<br />
CROW PLAYS MENDELSSOHN<br />
Royal Theatre<br />
Gifted BC-born violinist Jonathan Crow and the Victoria<br />
Symphony perform Brahms’ “Symphony No. 1,” Bruckner’s<br />
“Overture in G Minor” and Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto.”<br />
8pm at 805 Broughton St, $26-$66, senior and student<br />
discounts available. 250-386-6121, www.rmts.bc.ca.<br />
January 29<br />
JAZZ AT THE GALLERY<br />
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria<br />
See jazz vocalist Joe Coughlin sound off surrounded by<br />
art. Presented by the AGGV and UJAM. 2pm at 1040 Moss<br />
St, $30. 250-384-4171, www.aggv.ca.<br />
Throughout January<br />
IMAGES OF INTERNMENT<br />
McPherson Library, UVic<br />
Paintings by Henry Shimuzu document the artist’s teenaged<br />
years spent in a New Denver internment camp between<br />
1942 and 1946.<br />
Throughout January<br />
SCHOOL OF MUSIC CONCERTS<br />
Philip T. Young Recital Hall<br />
All events free or by donation. Every Friday: Fridaymusic<br />
concerts featuring School of Music students, 12:30pm. Jan<br />
11: Lieder at Lunch presents an exploration of the German<br />
Lied repertoire with Sharon and Harald Krebs and Benjamin<br />
Butterfield, 12:30pm at MacLaurin B307. Jan 14: faculty recital<br />
featuring Eugene Dowling, Tzenka Dianova and Stephen<br />
Brown and the Bastion Jazz Band, 8pm, $17.50/$13.50. Jan<br />
20: Piano students of Eva Solar-Kinderman perform R. Schumann<br />
and Janácˇek, 8pm. Jan 21: Wendell Clanton’s saxophone<br />
class recital, 8pm. Jan 22: Piano students from the studio of<br />
Bruce Vogt performing works by composers from Scarlatti<br />
to Bartók, 2pm. Jan 24: Harald Krebs presents a lecture<br />
entitled “Robert Redeemed: The Beauty of Schumann’s Late<br />
Songs,” with soprano Sharon Krebs, 7:30pm. Jan 27: UVic<br />
Concerto Orchestra performs works by Wagner, Mozart and<br />
more, with soprano Mary-Ellen Rayner, 8pm at University<br />
Centre Auditorium, $17.50/$13.50. Jan 28: faculty recital<br />
featuring Suzanne Snizek (flute), Charlotte Hale (piano), Arthur<br />
Rowe (piano) and Benjamin Butterfield (tenor), 8pm,<br />
$13.50/$17.50. Jan 31: Annual Solo Bach Competition and<br />
Concert, where a jury elects three winners from UVic string<br />
students performing Bach’s suites and sonatas, 7pm.<br />
24 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
HARVEST<br />
by Ken Cameron<br />
January 25<br />
VCM PRESENTS—JANUARY JAZZ<br />
Alix Goolden Performance Hall<br />
THE JANUARY BLUES WILL BE SENT PACKING WITH AN<br />
upcoming concert featuring jazz maven Brad Turner together with<br />
Gordon Clements and Conservatory of Music colleagues.<br />
Gordon Clements, head of the Jazz Studies Department at the Victoria<br />
Conservatory of Music, has always straddled two musical worlds. His<br />
formal training is in classical music and<br />
the clarinet. But from his teenage years,<br />
he has maintained a high standard of<br />
performing the entire saxophone family<br />
of instruments in numerous Jazz bands.<br />
Playing saxophone for the house band<br />
at the Strathcona Hotel six nights a week<br />
actually helped to finance his Classical<br />
clarinet studies at UVic. “It was kind of<br />
a schizophrenic personality that I had,”<br />
says Clements of those years: “Kind of<br />
Classical by day and Jazz by night. I’ve<br />
always loved that.”<br />
Gordon Clements While many agree that music is a<br />
universal language, Clements knows it<br />
to be a fact, especially in the case of Jazz.<br />
During a trip to Cuba, he introduced<br />
himself to the house band at a Jazz club<br />
he was visiting, and they let him sit in<br />
and play with them. The experience was<br />
exhilarating. As he explains, “We couldn’t<br />
even converse. They didn’t speak any<br />
English at all. I didn’t speak any Spanish,<br />
but we managed to figure out some song<br />
titles, and right away it was a huge success.”<br />
He has since repeated that experience in<br />
a number of different countries and cities.<br />
Brad Turner<br />
There is a special thrill and excitement<br />
to a concert of Jazz music that is not really<br />
found in performances of any other musical genre. This derives in part<br />
from the importance of improvisation in Jazz. It is a chance to be<br />
part of a one-off event; to watch musicians create on the spot. Clements<br />
confirms, “If it’s done right, the improvisation not only reflects the<br />
music and the other musicians on stage, but it also involves the<br />
audience…and the people that I work with and play with would all<br />
agree that bringing our audience to us, to the music, is absolutely fundamental<br />
to what we do.”<br />
Internationally renowned Jazz trumpeter and recording artist<br />
Brad Turner is the guest performer for the event. Clements enthusiastically<br />
concedes that, besides Turner’s virtuosic command of the<br />
trumpet, “he can sit down on drums and piano and make that sound<br />
like his first instrument as well!”<br />
All of the performers taking part in this event are also composers,<br />
so the program will feature many original compositions. It will be<br />
rounded out by other works from The Great American Songbook and<br />
Duke Ellington’s oeuvre. The afternoon of the event, students will have<br />
a chance to participate in a masterclass with Brad Turner.<br />
January Jazz is at 7:30-9:30pm. Adults $25; seniors/students $15. 907<br />
Pandora Ave. 250-386-5311, www.vcm.bc.ca. —Lisa Szeker-Madden<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
CELEBRATING 20 SEASONS!<br />
ALL SHOOK UP<br />
featuring the songs<br />
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NOISES OFF<br />
by Michael Frayn<br />
(contains strong language)<br />
JOSEPH AND<br />
THE AMAZING<br />
TECHNICOLOR ®<br />
DREAMCOAT<br />
lyrics by Tim Rice, music<br />
by Andrew Lloyd Webber<br />
CHICKENS<br />
by Lucia Frangione, music by<br />
Royal Sproule, Lewis Frere, Mark<br />
Lewandowski and Jason Bertsch<br />
WINGFIELD’S FOLLY<br />
by Dan Needles, starring<br />
Rod Beattie (Bonus Show!)<br />
THE GIFTS OF<br />
THE MAGI<br />
from O. Henry stories, book &<br />
lyrics by Mark St. Germain, music<br />
& lyrics by Randy Courts<br />
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<strong>2012</strong><br />
Colin Sheen SeaShine Design David Cooper Photography
“CULTURALLY MODIFIED” KAREL DORUYTER, 30 X 36, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS<br />
January 7-28<br />
COASTAL CELEBRATION<br />
Madrona Gallery<br />
This group exhibition will include exquisite works inspired by our local geography,<br />
including Corrinne Wolcoski’s superb seascapes and Karel Doruyter’s masterful handling<br />
of the rainforest. Also featured are new works from Francis Baskerville, Fredwin Perry, Michael<br />
Stockdale, Don Berger, Graham Forsythe and April Mackey. Opening reception January 7,<br />
1-4pm. 606 View St. 250-380-4660, www.madronagallery.com.<br />
“HANDS AND ROCK REFLECTION” MYFANWY PAVELIC, 9 X 12 INCHES, CHARCOAL/CONTE<br />
Throughout January<br />
MYFANWY PAVELIC ESTATE SALE<br />
Morris Gallery<br />
An exhibit and sale of the last seven pieces from the estate of Myfanwy Spencer<br />
Pavelic. Born in Victoria in 1916, Pavelic was mentored by Emily Carr, who discovered the<br />
young girl’s talent at six years old, and arranged a show of her work when she was 15. In<br />
the ‘40s she lived and painted in New York where she was part of the art scene, before<br />
returning to the Saanich Peninsula. Renowned for her portraits, she painted the likes of Yehudi<br />
Menuhin, Glenn Gould, Pierre Trudeau (his official portrait), and Katharine Hepburn. On Alpha<br />
St at 428 Burnside Rd E. 250-388-6652, www.morrisgallery.ca.<br />
“WINDY DAY” JOHN MCCONNELL, 12 X 24 INCHES, OIL ON CANVAS<br />
January 16-February 25<br />
JOHN MCCONNELL: A CELTIC JOURNEY<br />
Eclectic Gallery<br />
Each painting in John McConnell’s “Journey of an Ancient Soul” series features the image<br />
of a soul travelling from this life to the next, along with the vessel in which it undertakes the<br />
journey. Each image has its own individual personality. For some the journey is easy and calm,<br />
for others it is a difficult and tumultuous experience. The artist never knows the image before<br />
he begins a new work and just follows the painting as it evolves before him on the canvas.<br />
2170 Oak Bay Ave, 250-590-8095, www.eclecticgallery.ca.<br />
UNTITLED, RICHARD RAXLEN<br />
January 13-February 25<br />
RICHARD RAXLEN<br />
Open Space<br />
This co-presentation with MediaNet, entitled “introspective!*√º"ç¥å!, ” looks at the diverse<br />
work created by this local filmmaker, animator and visual artist who has long been a Victoria<br />
staple. Watch for images of Mutt & Jeff, historical footage and well-known literary figures in his<br />
work. His work is idiosyncratic, aesthetically rich, unabashedly hand-crafted, and borderless.<br />
He has produced scores of experimental films, including some award-winning ones. In conjunction<br />
with the exhibition, Open Space will publish a book with essays by Peter Sandmark and<br />
Marilyn Brakhage. Opening reception 5pm Jan 13 at 510 Fort St. 250-383-8833, www.openspace.ca.<br />
January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
“Pots of Flowers” Sylvia Armeni, 7 x 10 inches, fabric collage<br />
Masterworks of Contemporary Aboriginal Art<br />
Canadian Northwest Coast • Papua New Guinea<br />
Solomon Islands • Australia<br />
Visit our new website at:<br />
WWW.ALCHERINGA-GALLERY.COM<br />
or in person at:<br />
665 Fort St. Victoria B.C., Canada Tel: 250-383-8224<br />
Sylvia Armeni<br />
New fabric collages<br />
2184 OAK BAY AVENUE VICTORIA<br />
www.theavenuegallery.com 250-598-2184<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
27
the arts in january<br />
January 28<br />
THAT’S JUST CRAZY TALK<br />
Eric Martin Pavilion<br />
WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW: IT’S AN ADAGE WE’RE ALL FAMILIAR<br />
with, and one that Victoria Maxwell took to heart when she decided<br />
to write what would become her first play. The topic Her experience<br />
being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, anxiety and psychosis at age 25,<br />
the subsequent five years she spent coming to terms with her disorders,<br />
and her eventual recovery. It was a call<br />
for submissions for KickStart’s disability<br />
arts festival that first motivated her to write.<br />
“I thought, ’Well, if I’m going to do something,<br />
this might be the place to do it, because<br />
there will hopefully be a warm audience<br />
there,” says Maxwell, who worked as an<br />
actor before her diagnosis. “I applied and<br />
more or less said, ‘Hey, I have a book and<br />
I can read excerpts.’ And they said, ‘Great!’<br />
Then I realized shit, I don’t have a book. I<br />
don’t even have excerpts.”<br />
Since then, the self-proclaimed Bipolar<br />
Princess has become a premiere presenter<br />
on issues surrounding living with mental Victoria Maxwell<br />
illness, and has penned four acclaimed onewoman<br />
shows: Crazy For Life, Funny...You Don’t Look Crazy, Head<br />
Over Heels and her most recent, That’s Just Crazy Talk, which is coming<br />
to Victoria on January 28 as a special presentation of Movie Monday.<br />
“I would say it’s probably my most personal, mainly because it<br />
goes into my family history on both my mom and dad’s side,” says<br />
Maxwell. “My other ones were obviously very personal because they<br />
were based on my life, but somehow, I guess because I wasn’t describing<br />
things that had to do with my mom and dad, it didn’t seem quite<br />
as revealing or risky.”<br />
The play has been performed three times as part of a research<br />
project by CREST.BD, or Collaborative RESearch Team on the Psychosocial<br />
Issues of Bipolar Disorder. The project’s goal is to study the impact that<br />
lived-experience theatre presentations can have on attitudes towards<br />
mental illness, both in people living with bipolar disorder and healthcare<br />
providers. While the Victoria performance isn’t part of the research<br />
project, CREST.BD team leader Erin Michalak will be attending the show<br />
and they will be making a presentation about the project during the Eric<br />
Martin Pavilion's psychiatric grand rounds a couple days later.<br />
“There is a lot of lip service to the lived experience being so valuable<br />
in helping people to recover, but it doesn’t really find its way to really<br />
being supported,” says Bruce Saunders, who has been organizing the<br />
Movie Monday film screenings at Eric Martin Pavilion for nearly 20<br />
years. “I’ve been trying from all different angles all the years that I’ve<br />
been doing Movie Monday to try and influence the mainstream professional<br />
community and this is a bright spark for me, to see that someone<br />
is doing it and doing something scientifically and with some credibility<br />
to the mainstream.”<br />
That’s Just Crazy Talk will be performed at 6:30pm Sat, January<br />
28 at the Eric Martin Pavilion Theatre in the 1900 block of Fort<br />
Street. It’s free and open to the public. Visit www.crestbd.ca/events to<br />
register. For more information on Victoria Maxwell, visit www.victoriamaxwell.com.<br />
For more on Movie Monday, visit www.moviemonday.ca.<br />
—Amanda Farrell-Low<br />
28 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
Throughout January<br />
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR<br />
Royal BC Museum<br />
See the 108 winning images in this 47-year-old international<br />
competition, run by BCC Wildlife <strong>Magazine</strong>, on its only<br />
North American stop. Regular museum admission applies.<br />
675 Belleville St, 250-356-7226, www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca.<br />
VARIOUS EXHIBITIONS<br />
Art Gallery of Great Victoria<br />
“Collected Resonance,” works by three South Asian<br />
Canadian women, to Jan 8. “Promising Objects,” Alison<br />
MacTaggart uses parameters from the Canadian Intellectual<br />
Property Office to guide this exploration of inventors and<br />
artists and their ongoing desire to find solutions to problems<br />
and ideas, to Jan 15. “The Enduring Arts of China,” decorative<br />
elements and motifs that have been passed down<br />
by Chinese artists for centuries, to May 6. “Emily Carr: On the<br />
Edge of Nowhere,” semi-permanent Emily Carr exhibit. All<br />
at 1040 Moss St. 250-384-4171, www.aggv.ca.<br />
Celebrating Local Artists<br />
Fine Art, Jewelry, Gifts<br />
& Crafts by Local Artists<br />
Great selection of<br />
Gemstones & Findings<br />
2000 Fernwood Road<br />
250.361.3372 • www.shesaidgallery.ca<br />
THE EMERGENCE OF<br />
ARCHITECTURAL MODERNISM II<br />
Legacy Art Gallery<br />
Subtitled “UVic and the Victoria Regional Aesthetic in<br />
the late 1950s and ’60s,” this is the second in a series of exhibitions<br />
and publications exploring the relationships, personalities<br />
and projects contributing to the development of a regional<br />
modernist aesthetic in the post-war Victoria urban landscape.<br />
630 Yates St, 250-381-7645, www.legacygallery.ca.<br />
PHOTO: HUBERT NORBURY<br />
Council Chamber Wing, Pandora St. Entrance<br />
(Wade Stockdill & Armour Architects)<br />
ALL STARS CONTINUED<br />
Dales Gallery<br />
Works by Stephanie Harding, Ira Hoffecker, Bob McPartlin,<br />
Clive Powsey. 537 Fisgard St, 250-383-1552, www.dalesgallery.ca.<br />
Tuesday Nights<br />
NEWCOMBE SINGERS REHEARSALS<br />
St Mary’s Church<br />
This non-audition community choir is on the hunt for<br />
tenor and bass voices, but welcomes all new members.<br />
7:30-9:30pm weekly at 1701 Elgin Rd. 250-480-5087,<br />
www.newcombesingers.com.<br />
Sundays in January<br />
FOLK MUSIC CONCERTS<br />
Norway House<br />
Check website for performers. Open mic at 7:30pm at<br />
1110 Hillside Ave, followed by the featured concert. $5. 250-<br />
475-1355, www.victoriafolkmusic.ca.<br />
Send ARTS-RELATED listings to<br />
focusedit@shaw.ca<br />
by January 10 for events in February.<br />
Placement cannot be guaranteed.<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
29
coastlines<br />
Love, art and transformation<br />
AMY REISWIG<br />
Phyllis Serota often tells stories in her paintings. Now she tells the stories behind the paintings.<br />
Phyllis Serota<br />
In chilly midwinter, golden monarch butterflies approach and even<br />
settle on Victoria artist Phyllis Serota’s father. This frozen imaginary<br />
moment lives in a large canvas in Serota’s sitting room and tells a<br />
very private story of reconciliation and forgiveness—a long-sought<br />
breakthrough regarding the man who, years ago, beat his daughter<br />
so regularly that the family joked about Daddy breaking her glasses<br />
every Tuesday night.<br />
Relaxing in front of this painting in her Oak Bay home is the warmsmiling<br />
Phyllis Serota, now far from the west side of Chicago where<br />
she grew up in a Jewish family under what she calls the “contradiction<br />
PHOTO: TONY BOUNSALL<br />
of love and terror” that was her father. The only reason I know the<br />
story of this painting, and what it means to see her laugh beneath it,<br />
is because she told me—and not just me. While she has been telling<br />
stories in her paintings for years, Serota now bravely takes readers into<br />
the world behind her work with a new book, Painting My Life: A Memoir<br />
of Love, Art and Transformation (Sono Nis, October 2011).<br />
Serota has been a fixture in Victoria’s visual arts scene for over 35<br />
years, and not just as a painter working away in isolation but involved<br />
in the community. Her work has been shown at galleries in Victoria,<br />
Vancouver (including the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre),<br />
Edmonton, Washington and Oregon, and she has been involved with<br />
Open Space Gallery, the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, and<br />
the Victoria Holocaust Remembrance and Education Society. Serota’s<br />
work is currently held in many private collections, including local institutions<br />
such as UVic and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, as well as<br />
at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.<br />
While readers will learn that Serota, born in 1938, took classes at<br />
the Art Institute of Chicago, at Malaspina College and eventually graduated,<br />
at the age of 41, with a BFA from the University of Victoria, and<br />
while we see over 100 colour reproductions of Serota’s work, the book<br />
is not specifically about her paintings. Rather, it is about the person and<br />
the people behind them—everything that has gone into the art of living<br />
her life. What she writes regarding her series of Holocaust paintings<br />
serves also as a good description of the artistic and humanistic<br />
project of this book: “I also recalled Tikkun Olam (a Hebrew concept<br />
of repairing the world), and the idea that you can’t heal a wound unless<br />
you clean it out by looking at it carefully.”<br />
Serota tells me that the very fact of the book is surprising to her, but<br />
the jump in genre, the transformation of painter to author, has not<br />
proven too much of a stretch since both art forms are ways of personal<br />
storytelling. While she’s been writing in various ways since she was 10<br />
years old, Serota says her textual family chronicling began in earnest<br />
when she was invited to join a memoir-writing group. “Everything<br />
comes from this little moment of saying yes,” she muses.<br />
Some sections of this 230-page book originated years ago as part<br />
of that memoir-writing group, but many were newly written specifically<br />
for this publication. And Serota’s prose, perhaps not surprising<br />
for a painter, is vivid and visual, extraordinarily detailed yet still conversational.<br />
One can see, smell and practically taste her family dinners,<br />
feel the air on her back porch or the rush of people dancing. Every character<br />
in her life’s drama is delineated with care—the way her very<br />
beloved mother cleaned the red-and-grey tile kitchen floor every day<br />
on her hands and knees, laying newspaper on it while it dried; the way<br />
her Aunt Rosie and Uncle Jake ground horseradish with a small machine<br />
at the back of their fish store. In one of the book’s many reflective<br />
moments, Serota writes: “I believe it’s important to get very specific<br />
about your life. Then it becomes universal.”<br />
“Writing wasn’t hard,” Serota laughs. “I’m a good talker.” There is<br />
a lot of laughter during our meeting. But also, and for the first time in<br />
my experience as an interviewer, there were tears I had to fight. Not<br />
because of painful topics or difficult personal revelations such as the<br />
30 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
<strong>Focus</strong> presents: Nirvana Pet Resort<br />
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THIS IS A PROFOUNDLY GENEROUS BOOK, one in which<br />
the author does nothing less than make a gift of her family,<br />
of herself. From that perspective, it is a humbling read.<br />
family violence, but from a very deep sense of gratitude. This is a<br />
profoundly generous book, one in which the author does nothing less<br />
than make a gift of her family, of herself. From that perspective, it is<br />
a humbling read.<br />
In some ways, to tell too much about her life here would be cheating<br />
you from the pleasure of reading about Serota for yourself in these 29<br />
short chapters. So I will say<br />
that it is raw, funny and disarmingly<br />
open as she shares both<br />
beautiful and brutal moments,<br />
all pointing to that theme<br />
of transformation: growing<br />
up in and away from a childhood<br />
of both violence and<br />
love; becoming a wife and<br />
mother; the move to sexual<br />
openness and drugs in a hippie<br />
BC coastal community;<br />
divorce and discovering the<br />
gay scene in Victoria in the<br />
1970s; the issue of definitions—rejoining<br />
the Jewish<br />
community she had<br />
temporarily left or feeling<br />
comfortable calling herself<br />
an artist or a lesbian (“There’s another work of art, at the computer,” she<br />
tells me, beaming and pointing to Annie, her partner now of 38 years).<br />
“I have no time for BS anymore,” the resilient Serota tells me. “There’s<br />
not enough openness in the world; there’s so much pretense all the<br />
time. There’s nothing better than when we can just be ourselves.” The<br />
book also conveys a deep sense of the freedom that comes from so truly<br />
and publicly being yourself for all to see.<br />
“I always feel exposed when I have a show, and I thought I would<br />
feel worse than I do about exposing myself like this in the book,” she<br />
admits. “I thought it would be terrible. But at the launch”—at the Art<br />
Gallery of Greater Victoria—“I felt just so much love coming from<br />
so many people,” she exults, somewhat humbled herself. As the old<br />
saying goes, you get what you give.<br />
As the new year symbolically offers the opportunity for personal transformation,<br />
Serota’s is a beautiful example to follow in terms of deciding<br />
to live reflectively, give generously of oneself and share without shame.<br />
It makes you wonder what a work of art all our lives could be.<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
Writer, editor and musician Amy Reiswig is reminded<br />
of what unexpected gifts may come into your life and<br />
the lives of those around you when you flatten your<br />
fears by saying “yes.”<br />
Nirvana Pet Resort is a happy place for humans and non-humans.Those<br />
who peek in the large windows of the 4400-square-foot facility on<br />
Government Street, or drop off their dogs for day care, leave with a smile<br />
on their faces.<br />
Whether it’s grooming, obedience training, boarding, or day care, Nirvana Pet<br />
Resort has the caring, experienced staff to guarantee top-notch care for your pet.<br />
Owner Chris Anctil, a certified obedience instructor who has worked in the<br />
veterinary field for over 12 years, opened<br />
Nirvana because of her passion for animals<br />
(her own include a Miniature Poodle, a<br />
Miniature Australian Shepherd and a<br />
Lagotto Romagnolo, a rare and ancient<br />
breed of dog).<br />
Chief groomer Jessica Elrod is another<br />
passionate animal lover—she owns two<br />
Poms, a Sheltie, and a Border Collie,<br />
along with several pet birds.She is comfortable<br />
with any animal, from cats and dogs<br />
to birds, rodents and exotics.<br />
Says Chris, “Our philosophy on<br />
grooming is that it’s not a production<br />
line.We take our time, especially with<br />
babies or nervous animals, so that it’s a<br />
positive experience from the start.”<br />
Among Jessica’s talents are hand stripping<br />
for terrier breeds.This helps maintain<br />
a proper coat. “She’s a perfectionist,”<br />
says Chris, proudly.<br />
Customer Mrs. Maureen Ross has<br />
been taking her 12-year-old Cairn Terrier<br />
Bobby to Nirvana for the past year, and<br />
is “so impressed. I’ve never seen as good<br />
a job,” she says.“They can’t do enough Chris Anctil with Mickey<br />
for you; it’s just delightful.”<br />
Both Chris and Jessica breed and show dogs so they know show cuts if that is<br />
what the client wants, but they do mostly comfortable pet cuts. “We recognize<br />
that people are putting their pet in the hands of someone they don’t really know.<br />
We understand how that feels.We take pride in treating every dog as if it’s our<br />
own,” says Chris.<br />
This applies to the daycare as well, which is roomy enough for the dogs to get<br />
lots of indoor exercise chasing balls or using the slide (an entertaining sight!).<br />
The wooden floor is easier on their joints than concrete. Staff keep the dogs<br />
physically and mentally stimulated and know how to curb territorial or possessive<br />
behaviour before disagreements occur. Small dogs have a fun space of their<br />
own, though each dog is evaluated as to where it will most happily fit, and no<br />
breeds are discriminated against.<br />
“Daycare is one of the best ways to teach puppies how to socialize—and to<br />
build confidence in any dog,” says Chris, pointing out that dogs are pack animals<br />
so isolation doesn’t suit them.<br />
Chris also offers obedience training. She knows what she’s doing and after<br />
eight 45-minute classes, your dog will be a model of good manners.<br />
Nirvana Pet Resort<br />
2000 Government Street (at Discovery)<br />
250-380-7795 • www.NirvanaPetResort.weebly.com<br />
Visit us on facebook: search for Nirvana Pet Resort<br />
31
focus<br />
reporting from the frontlines of cultural change<br />
At the tipping point<br />
KATHERINE GORDON<br />
Assembly of First Nations National<br />
Chief Shawn Ah-in-chut Atleo thinks<br />
the situation at Attawapiskat is one<br />
of many signs Canada is at a tipping<br />
point in its relationship with First<br />
Nations. The system has failed, says<br />
Atleo: it’s time to “smash the status<br />
quo” and start over again.<br />
PHOTO: FRED CATTROLL<br />
32 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
National Chief Ah-in-chut Atleo was speaking at a philanthropy<br />
conference in Toronto last October when stark images of<br />
families in Attawapiskat, Ontario, living in uninsulated tents<br />
without power or running water, started flashing across Canadian<br />
television screens.<br />
As Canadians learned that dozens of reserves across the country<br />
share Attawapiskat’s Third World conditions, Atleo told conference<br />
delegates that Canada is at a moment of reckoning in its relations<br />
with First Nations. “Since contact between European settlers and<br />
indigenous peoples in Canada,” said Atleo, “there has been a constant<br />
and aggressive erosion of First Nations economies, laws and ways of<br />
life. Statistics tell a tragic tale of communities with the highest youth<br />
suicide rate in the world, a rate of TB infection 30 times the national<br />
average, an education gap that will take over two decades to close<br />
and the reality that our children are more likely to end up in jail than<br />
to graduate from high school. This is completely wrong,” raged Atleo.<br />
Three months earlier, now-retired federal Auditor General Sheila<br />
Fraser had unleashed a scathing report on the state of First Nations<br />
communities in Canada, lashing out at the federal government for<br />
the appalling conditions on many Indian reserves. Canada had failed<br />
to implement numerous recommendations she had made over the<br />
years on ways to improve the lives and well-being of people living in<br />
First Nations communities in any way that had led to significant<br />
change. If anything, reported Fraser, conditions were worse.<br />
Unless the federal government works with First Nations to rise<br />
to this challenge, concluded Fraser sombrely, “living conditions may<br />
continue to be poorer on First Nations reserves than elsewhere in<br />
Canada for generations to come.”<br />
Atleo agrees wholeheartedly. He believes it’s time for bold action:<br />
“We’re at a tipping point. We have to unlock the full potential of First<br />
Nations, and sever the shackles of the Indian Act. The current system<br />
is failing,” he says unequivocally. “It’s time to smash the status quo.”<br />
Fighting for the children<br />
On a blustery west coast day in December, I spoke to Atleo by telephone<br />
from Ottawa. Atleo, 47, is from Ahousaht in Nuu-chah-nuulth<br />
territory on Vancouver Island. He sighed wistfully when I described<br />
the slashing rain and wind outside. Moving to Ottawa in July 2009 to<br />
undertake his three-year term as National Chief meant leaving behind<br />
his beloved West Coast. Except for fleeting visits with his wife Nancy<br />
to see their two children, Tara, 23, who will graduate from Vancouver<br />
Island University next month, and Tyson, 25, the youngest councillor<br />
ever elected to Ahousaht Council, Atleo is rarely home these days.<br />
But Atleo couldn’t turn the opportunity down. He was also tailormade<br />
for the position. Atleo had already served two terms as the<br />
AFN’s Regional Chief in BC. With an M.Ed in Adult Learning and Global<br />
Change from Sydney’s University of Technology in Australia, accounting<br />
and financial qualifications from California’s Stanford University, and<br />
extensive experience in treaty negotiations and human resource issues<br />
in Canada, Atleo is also no slouch on First Nations policy issues. An articulate,<br />
pleasant and diplomatic man, he is universally well-regarded in<br />
non-First Nations circles, and was invited to be Vancouver Island University’s<br />
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33
“I do for your investments<br />
what health clubs<br />
do for your body”<br />
“<br />
IT’S CLEAR FROM THE HISTORICAL RECORD that the intent of the treaties<br />
was that First Nations would always be full participants in designing a future<br />
for Canada together with the Crown.”—National Chief Shawn Ah-in-chut Atleo<br />
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Chancellor in 2009, the first indigenous individual<br />
in the province to attain such a position.<br />
He is also not afraid to call a spade a spade.<br />
In a recent editorial in the Globe and Mail,<br />
Atleo bluntly stated: “Our collective failure<br />
to address the long and lamentable list of<br />
challenges affecting First Nations means First<br />
Nations lurch from crisis to crisis with governments’<br />
responses motivated, to paraphrase<br />
Canada’s former auditor-general, more by<br />
headlines than by actually achieving change.”<br />
Atleo doesn’t mince words in person, either.<br />
Of working with the federal government, he<br />
says: “Sometimes it feels like pushing sand<br />
uphill. But this is a fight for our children,”<br />
he continues passionately. “We can’t afford<br />
to lose another generation.”<br />
A fundamental transformation<br />
Atleo has a novel but simple plan to change<br />
the status quo: hitting “the reset button” on<br />
the relationship between Canada and First<br />
Nations. “It’s critical, as the former Auditor-<br />
General pointed out, that the federal government<br />
makes a significant shift in how we work together.<br />
It’s time for it to stop imposing solutions on<br />
First Nations, go back to original principles<br />
and start working with us as real partners.”<br />
When Atleo talks about hitting the reset<br />
button, he means it quite literally. “We should<br />
return to the beginning, to the kind of relationship<br />
between First Nations and the Crown<br />
that was forged in the earliest days of Canada,<br />
in the treaties that were struck when Canada<br />
was first settled,” he says. The spirit and intent<br />
of those treaties have never been properly<br />
implemented: if they had been, things would<br />
look very different today.<br />
When Canada was formed as a country,<br />
explains Atleo, First Nations were, of course,<br />
already here. They had aboriginal rights and<br />
title in their territories, and where treaties<br />
were struck, rights under those agreements.<br />
Those treaty rights were reciprocal rights in<br />
a two-way partnership between equals,<br />
and that was how First Nations interpreted<br />
them. “If you want an example of that, you<br />
just have to look at the War of 1812 in which<br />
First Nations fought shoulder to shoulder<br />
with Canadians. We were allies in a treaty<br />
relationship with Canada. We were all treaty<br />
people—the people of Canada had signed<br />
up to those treaties just as much as First<br />
Nations people had, so we fought together<br />
to protect all of our rights.”<br />
In other words, treaty rights were always<br />
intended to be a two-way street, a sharing of<br />
the wealth of the land and its resources and<br />
providing mutual support for rights, culture<br />
and heritage. “It’s clear from the historical<br />
record that the intent of the treaties was that<br />
First Nations would always be full participants<br />
in designing a future for Canada together<br />
with the Crown.”<br />
But it hasn’t been that way since. The<br />
concept’s been forgotten, says Atleo, or worse,<br />
willfully hidden by governments. Instead, a<br />
history has prevailed of ignoring First Nations’<br />
inherent rights and unilateral control of their<br />
lives by governments. Far from working with<br />
First Nations as partners, governments<br />
step over their treaty and aboriginal rights<br />
as if they weren’t there.<br />
“That has led to a 100-year-old Indian Act<br />
that no one likes and no one can figure out<br />
how to get rid of, to endless conflict, and ultimately<br />
to the soul-destroying situation you<br />
see on reserves like Attawapiskat. It’s all based<br />
on ‘Ottawa knows best.’ It doesn’t make<br />
anything better. As the Auditor General<br />
pointed out, it’s made things worse. Unilateral<br />
decision-making and imposed solutions don’t<br />
work and never have.”<br />
Things are no better in BC. “Here, the land<br />
question remains a burning issue to resolve,<br />
but it needs to be done from a place that<br />
recognizes that First Nations have rights, and<br />
those rights must be reconciled.” As things<br />
stand, however, treaty offers are dictated by<br />
government policy developed behind closed<br />
doors, and there is little appetite on the part<br />
of government to recognize aboriginal rights.<br />
“That’s why you see Hulq’umin’um being<br />
forced to go to the Inter-America Commission<br />
to hear their land claim. Where else do they<br />
go if the federal government is acting as both<br />
judge and jury in their territory on these<br />
issues” The fact that the IAC decision will<br />
not bind Canada, or whether Hulq’umin’um<br />
will succeed in its claim, are almost irrelevant<br />
at this point: “I think the fact that the IAC<br />
even agreed that the case should be heard<br />
suggests there is something that desperately<br />
needs to be addressed here.”<br />
34 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
35
Will Atleo’s plan make any difference<br />
It certainly sounds like it’s worth a shot. After all, as Atleo points<br />
out, the paternalistic structure of the Indian Act isn’t serving First<br />
Nations well and the federal bureaucracy required to implement it<br />
is costing the Canadian taxpayer billions in operational expenses.<br />
No-one’s happy about the impoverished state of First Nations’ social,<br />
cultural and economic well-being.<br />
But calls for change are nothing new. The records documenting<br />
failed efforts to shift the relationship over the last three decades litter<br />
the filing cabinets of government departments. Attempts to scrap<br />
the Indian Act, including Atleo’s own call for its elimination, haven’t<br />
got anywhere so far, and a year after Canada finally signed up to the<br />
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,<br />
there has been no substantive shift in government policy to reflect<br />
its provisions.<br />
In BC the treaty process, touted as the way to a better future, is on<br />
shaky ground. Many First Nations have given up on the process.<br />
Vancouver Island’s Hulq’umin’um Treaty Group has resorted to taking<br />
its land claims to the Inter-America Commission to seek justice (see<br />
Briony Penn’s story “Pensions on Trial” in the November 2011 issue<br />
of <strong>Focus</strong>) and last October Sophie Pierre, Chief Commissioner of the<br />
BC Treaty Commission, introduced the Commission’s 2011 Annual<br />
Report by stating that unless there is significant progress by the time<br />
the twentieth anniversary of the process rolls around in September<br />
<strong>2012</strong>, it’s game over.<br />
So what’s different about what Atleo has in mind—and will his<br />
approach make any difference to communities like Attawapiskat<br />
Lorne Brownsey, who divides his time these days between Victoria,<br />
Hornby Island and Mexico, retired from his post as provincial deputy<br />
minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation in January 2011.<br />
Prior to that, he was the federal government’s executive director of<br />
its Vancouver Treaty Negotiation Office. Brownsey is unequivocal in<br />
his views about Atleo’s approach: “National Chief Shawn Ah-in-chut<br />
Atleo has identified the only path to reconciliation between First<br />
Nations and the rest of Canada.”<br />
Like Atleo, Brownsey believes that prosperity comes from a<br />
place of partnership. “That will never be achieved through endless<br />
disputes about who has what rights where. Governments and citizens<br />
must recognize existing treaty and aboriginal rights and move<br />
forward to conclude arrangements on how these rights, and responsibilities,<br />
can be given contemporary context.”<br />
Atleo has no doubt that the approach he passionately believes in<br />
will make a difference. “The old unilateral system has proved<br />
itself to be unworkable. But where you have shared vision and reconciliation,”<br />
he says firmly, “and agreements that recognize rights and<br />
support them, you empower health, well-being, good governance<br />
and independence. You don’t see terrible poverty and hear arguments<br />
about accountability. That’s how it used to be in First Nations.<br />
It can be again.”<br />
Atleo also points out that it is not just the economic and cultural health<br />
of communities like Attawapiskat, but of all of Canada, that requires a<br />
new approach to reconciliation with First Nations. “First Nations are<br />
the youngest, fastest-growing population at a time when the Canadian<br />
labour force is aging. Studies show that closing the education and employment<br />
gaps for our people would contribute as much as $400 billion to<br />
the national economy, and save at least $115 billion in government<br />
expenditures. It can be done, but it has to be done with First Nations at<br />
the table sharing the decision-making on how to get there.”<br />
PHOTO: FRED CATTROLL<br />
“<br />
STUDIES SHOW THAT closing the<br />
education and employment gaps<br />
for our people would contribute<br />
as much as $400 billion to the<br />
national economy, and save at<br />
least $115 billion in government<br />
expenditures. It can be done, but<br />
it has to be done with First Nations<br />
at the table sharing the decisionmaking<br />
on how to get there.”<br />
—National Chief<br />
Shawn Ah-in-chut Atleo<br />
We are all treaty people<br />
Atleo is optimistic about the potential for significant movement<br />
on the part of the federal government. A Joint Action Plan announced<br />
in June last year, covering governance, education, economic development<br />
and negotiations, resulted from intensive discussions between<br />
Atleo and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The agenda for the first<br />
meeting under the Joint Action Plan, scheduled for January 24, is<br />
focused on what action is required to put the relationship back on its<br />
original foundation.<br />
“We need to scrap the old policies, and jointly design a framework<br />
that will work for all of the parties. The prime minister will be there,<br />
and that’s appropriate. This discussion has to start at the top.”<br />
Lorne Brownsey agrees: “As the National Chief and many others<br />
have rightly noted, we can’t afford the social, moral or economic<br />
cost of not meeting this challenge.” As a former insider, he is more<br />
sceptical than Atleo about the federal government’s willingness to<br />
embrace the concept: “Unfortunately, the government of Canada<br />
has become an increasingly reluctant partner in the process of reconciliation<br />
in British Columbia and elsewhere. Hopefully, the January<br />
meeting signals its willingness to step up to the table and help reenergize<br />
or, as the National Chief puts it, reset a relationship of<br />
mutual prosperity.”<br />
Atleo remains confident, despite the scepticism. “We need to understand<br />
that if we can reach agreement on this issue,” he reiterates, “that<br />
will benefit every Canadian, not just First Nations. After all,” he<br />
reminds us, “we’re all treaty people.”<br />
Accepting the latter concept, says Atleo, is fundamentally important<br />
to improving the relationship between First Nations individuals<br />
and other Canadians. “I think if we start to understand that we are<br />
36 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
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all treaty people in Canada—every one of<br />
us, even the newest immigrant—that will<br />
shift us to the place we need to be. We’re<br />
all partners, and we all benefit when every<br />
First Nation is as prosperous as every other<br />
Canadian community. The path to that is<br />
joint action to support our rights and wellbeing.<br />
That’s where the understanding needs<br />
to be,” he says.<br />
“I believe there is a shift occurring,” he<br />
adds. “I read one report indicating millions<br />
of Canadians can trace their heritage to the<br />
indigenous peoples of North America. Those<br />
stories often used to be left in the family<br />
woodshed, but now they’re coming out<br />
again. That suggests to me people are growing<br />
closer to each other again and are starting<br />
to be proud of Canada’s First Nations’<br />
heritage,” he says happily. “It also tells me<br />
Canadians are embracing the concept that<br />
we’re all here to stay.”<br />
We need to move boldly<br />
For Atleo, in the end the most important<br />
thing is making life better for the children<br />
and desperate communities he sees almost<br />
every day in his job. “The children in our<br />
communities have been getting the message<br />
for too long that people don’t care about<br />
them,” he says. “I know there is fear about<br />
taking bold steps like this. I acknowledge that<br />
fear. But we need to move boldly. We need<br />
to tell the children we do care, by our actions,<br />
and we need to do it together,” he says.<br />
“That way we can not only stem the tide<br />
of despair and suicide but unleash the potential<br />
of these young people. Imagine what that<br />
would be like for Canada. That’s the hope<br />
I have. That’s what’s driving me.”<br />
A former lands claims negotiator, Katherine Gordon<br />
is a Gabriola Island resident. Her upcoming<br />
sixth book explores the connections between<br />
culture and self through the stories of young<br />
Aboriginal Canadians who discuss their lives as<br />
British Columbians of First Nations heritage.<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
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37
this<br />
place<br />
island interview 38 urbanities 40 natural relations 44 finding balance 46<br />
Sprawl buster<br />
AAREN MADDEN<br />
With a vision of environmental and social justice informed by travel and history,<br />
Ben Isitt is keen to shake things up at City Hall and the CRD.<br />
As we sit in the warm, wood-panelled glow of Ben Isitt’s partially<br />
renovated kitchen, it becomes clear he has wasted no time<br />
embracing his new positions as Victoria city councillor and<br />
CRD board member. Six days after the civic election, he has already<br />
pored over the 2008 orientation manual for new councillors, last year’s<br />
finances, and this year’s operating budgets for both the City of Victoria<br />
and the CRD. He’s met with numerous community and business groups,<br />
colleagues and the mayor. He is, he says, “trying to get my head around<br />
the numbers, seeing the whole range of projects and policies that are<br />
being undertaken right now.”<br />
As he comes up to speed, he searches for ways to “see some savings<br />
and make some changes to address social and environmental goals.”<br />
In their bottom lines, he believes, the City and the Region District have<br />
to account for not only economic concerns, but social and environmental<br />
ones as well. And though he allows that this is happening to<br />
some degree, Isitt plans to bring that lens to every single issue that<br />
crosses his desk. “There is no other option in the 21st century than to<br />
integrate social justice and the environment into every decision we<br />
make,” he declares.<br />
Isitt’s family moved to Victoria from Winnipeg when he was in high<br />
school, where he remembers arguing for socialism over capitalism in<br />
a debate class. Though he found himself in the vast minority, something<br />
clicked. Then, at 18 years of age, he backpacked solo through<br />
Canada and the United States and witnessed abject poverty for the first<br />
time. “Certainly in the large North American cities, seeing the gap in<br />
wealth crystallized my commitment to social change,” he says. He has<br />
since been to over 51 countries, and is planning an overland adventure<br />
from Shanghai to Singapore, hopefully with his now-five-year-old<br />
daughter. However, he smiles, “I will have to see how that fits in the<br />
City council agenda.”<br />
While feeding his love of cultural diversity and the unique human<br />
relationships that emerge on any journey, these days Isitt’s travels are<br />
in the service of his academic research. He studies and has taught the<br />
history of social movements in British Columbia and Canada and is<br />
now a research fellow at UVic, pursuing a PhD in law that examines<br />
the relationships between social movements and the state. “It’s a reflection<br />
of the academic job market,” he says of his decision to become<br />
“a double-doc” (his first is in history).<br />
He has been active in the NDP and ran for mayor twice previously,<br />
once in 2002 and again in 2005 as an NDP-backed candidate with a<br />
strong second showing behind incumbent Alan Lowe. He sought a<br />
council seat this time to accommodate demands of work and fatherhood,<br />
and to gain experience for future aspirations, which he will<br />
determine farther into his first term, he suggests.<br />
Seeing the results of civic policies world-wide has taught Isitt what<br />
kind of city he wants to help create. In Heidelberg, Germany, hundreds<br />
of years of industrial development (not to mention war) have done<br />
little to hinder the natural beauty of the medieval town and its envi-<br />
PHOTO: TONY BOUNSALL<br />
Ben Isitt<br />
rons. Contrast that with Athens, Greece, where ancient hills and mountains<br />
are paved over with concrete and housing, or Vladivostok, Russia,<br />
where privatization has brought rampant and unchecked development<br />
of “condos for the rich.” It taught him “the good life should be<br />
within everyone’s reach. In all the countries I have been to, there is<br />
more than enough wealth. So it becomes a question of how resources<br />
38 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
“<br />
I DON’T BELIEVE IN THE MAXIM of ‘growth at any cost.’ Citizens and<br />
public office holders have to push back against that mentality and ensure<br />
future growth happens in existing built-up areas, because once we pave<br />
over our paradise, it’s very hard to get it back.” —Councillor Ben Isitt<br />
are being distributed or not distributed to keep<br />
the good life out of reach for people.”<br />
For Isitt (who was nicknamed “Che” by one<br />
reporter in 2005), the good life is one in which<br />
we take care of each other and the environment.<br />
Isitt sums it up in the platform he ran<br />
on: a “fair, safe and green” Victoria.<br />
One of his first steps toward fairness will<br />
be convincing his council colleagues to support<br />
a $25 housing levy at the CRD level similar<br />
to the ten-dollar-per-year parks levy implemented<br />
ten years ago. It would spread the<br />
burden beyond the City of Victoria and “raise<br />
about four million dollars annually, which<br />
could then be used to leverage federal and<br />
provincial money to build everything from<br />
new co-op housing to supportive housing for<br />
the hardest to house,” he explains.<br />
The latter includes those dealing with addictions,<br />
and a safe injection site is a must to<br />
mitigate health and safety concerns for them<br />
and their neighbours. “Victoria needs to apply<br />
very quickly for an exemption from Health<br />
Canada to open a safe consumption site like<br />
Vancouver’s InSite,” he insists. “We have to<br />
treat addiction as a health issue, rather than a<br />
policing issue,” he says, adding, “I know many<br />
police officers share my view.”<br />
Urban sprawl is another problem Isitt intends<br />
to tackle. In 2007 he wrote a 32-page report<br />
on the Bear Mountain development that<br />
provided a history of how the controversial<br />
project had come into being. That report subsequently<br />
helped gel opposition to the hilltop<br />
development. In 2008 he took an active role<br />
in protests to stop the Spencer Road Interchange,<br />
which has now been sitting unfinished for over<br />
three years.<br />
While many share his concerns on sprawl,<br />
he warns, “There are groups in this community<br />
who would like to pursue more Bear<br />
Mountains. One of my major priorities at the<br />
CRD level is to prevent that from happening…If<br />
you look at all of the low-lying buildings<br />
and parking lots between Downtown and<br />
Uptown, there is a huge area there where<br />
we could densify with low-rise buildings<br />
and mixed-use development. We could house<br />
tens of thousands of people without going one<br />
inch further into our farmlands or forested<br />
lands. That’s just a policy choice.”<br />
If this drives some business away, he says,<br />
“so be it. Other, more forward-thinking developers<br />
will fill their boots. I don’t believe in the<br />
maxim of ‘growth at any cost.’ Citizens and<br />
public office holders have to push back against<br />
that mentality and ensure future growth happens<br />
in existing built-up areas, because once we<br />
pave over our paradise, it’s very hard to get it<br />
back. I sat in a CRD meeting the other day,<br />
and some of the other directors and planners<br />
do these gymnastics trying to justify why the<br />
development makes sense. I want to bring a<br />
common-sense approach to it. There’s more<br />
than enough land to build on without having<br />
to destroy these finite natural attributes and<br />
undermine food security,” says Isitt.<br />
On transportation issues, Isitt has recently<br />
written that he supports “commuter rail between<br />
downtown Victoria and the Western<br />
Communities (and eventually Cobble<br />
Hill/Duncan). I think the best location for<br />
resuming rail operations quickly is to use<br />
the existing E & N corridor, which would help<br />
to contain costs while avoiding the issue of<br />
cars vs trains (as is the case with the proposal<br />
for LRT along Douglas and the Trans-Canadian<br />
Highway).” He also wants the new Johnson<br />
Street Bridge to be “structurally capable of<br />
accommodating track and passenger trains.”<br />
As one of three new faces at the council table<br />
this term, Isitt feels the tide shifting toward<br />
policies like these. That’s partly why he’s hit<br />
the ground running. “There’s a real window<br />
of opportunity we can seize to start making<br />
some substantive changes in how the City and<br />
Region operate,” he says. “I certainly don’t<br />
want to miss this opportunity.”<br />
Aaren Madden salutes all<br />
councillors, new and returning,<br />
for their commitment to our<br />
city. She also hopes, next<br />
time, there will be more than<br />
26 percent of eligible voters<br />
at the polls!<br />
Dr. Maria Payne Boorman<br />
Naturopathic Physician<br />
Offering food<br />
sensitivity testing<br />
1726 Richmond Ave 250.598.3314<br />
www.hawthornehealthcentre.com<br />
The art and science of healing and prevention<br />
Dispute resolution support<br />
for your parenting, your<br />
family and your workplace.<br />
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250.598.3992<br />
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Salts<br />
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Eco Fashion and<br />
Fitness clothing<br />
designed and<br />
produced locally<br />
561 Johnson St, Unit 105 (Paperbox Arcade by Baggins)<br />
www.SaltsClothing.com<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
39
urbanities<br />
A natural history of concrete<br />
GENE MILLER<br />
It all starts with ooids. Next thing you know, there’s a parkade.<br />
Fossilized ooids<br />
Hellerwork works!<br />
“As a sculpter working in large stone, I put my body<br />
into compromising positions.Jane O’Keeffe has brought<br />
me back into alignment. I have renewed energy and<br />
strength! Your body is your best friend; invest in it!”<br />
—Maarten Shaddelee<br />
Jane O’Keeffe<br />
Certified CranioSacral &<br />
Hellerwork Practitioner<br />
250-661-6409<br />
Jaw and neck problems, whiplash, sciatica, vertigo, headaches<br />
E L E L<br />
www.aypsite.org<br />
EASY LESSONS FOR ECSTATIC LIVING<br />
What’s underfoot The question<br />
holds professional interest for<br />
geologists and mineral explorers<br />
and, I suppose, for folks who think hell is down<br />
instead of Calgary in winter; though Jon Stewart<br />
recently quipped on the Daily Show, “hell is<br />
watching eight straight hours of Fox News.”<br />
Think about it: we do a lot of digging and<br />
a lot of extracting—everywhere we can find<br />
riches to pluck. Adam, you’ll remember,<br />
was himself made from dust—earth itself; and<br />
Lilith, Eve’s precursor, from filth and sediment,<br />
as told in that collection of extra-biblical<br />
myths, the Midrashim. And as the Book of<br />
Common Prayer has it: “Dust thou art, and<br />
unto dust thou shalt return.”<br />
We’re deeply connected to the material<br />
beneath our feet. Literally, it’s in our bones.<br />
These matters have taken on currency and<br />
urgency because the planet is roiling: weather<br />
systems, ocean systems, land-based ecosystems,<br />
freshwater systems, soil systems. We<br />
don’t have rain, floods, tremors, high tides<br />
and big waves; increasingly, we have metaphors.<br />
There is the scientific thought that by releasing<br />
all that mineral energy underground with our<br />
extracting, drilling, blasting and fracking we<br />
are undoing Earth’s efforts, over millions of<br />
years, to balance the carbon budget.<br />
We have freed the genie from the bottle.<br />
We have woken something underground.<br />
Things are getting biblical.<br />
Locally, we believe we have more a tradition<br />
of gardening, husbandry and agriculture<br />
than a history of scraping, digging or delving.<br />
Still, sometimes, walking through sombre<br />
coastal woodlands in Gowlland Tod Park and<br />
other places, you can find incongruous weathered<br />
ruins of concrete foundations and low<br />
walls, and the occasional rusted remains of<br />
industrial machinery or piping. The crumbling<br />
vestige of ancient Mayan royal tombs Gun<br />
emplacements Martians<br />
At the bottom of Butchart Gardens, beyond<br />
the sunken garden which itself is a reclaimed<br />
limestone quarry, for example, still stands the<br />
tall brick chimney that expelled the heat and<br />
smoke from a cement works. Below, in the<br />
quiet coves of Tod Inlet, are remnants of<br />
the infrastructure that enabled vast quantities<br />
of this milled cement to be barged<br />
elsewhere—rotting wood pilings, paved staging<br />
areas now forested over, massive steel U’s<br />
sunk in concrete to secure marine ropes. And<br />
across Finlayson Arm sits the industrial remains<br />
of Bamberton—initially a friendly competitor<br />
of the Butchart operation, later merged with<br />
it to form BC Cement, itself later merged to<br />
40 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
<strong>Focus</strong> presents: Victoria Hospice<br />
ADVERTISEMENT<br />
A thrift boutique with a difference<br />
OUR CIVILIZATION NOW IS MADE<br />
of the stuff: most of our buildings,<br />
almost all of our roads, transportation<br />
and big energy infrastructure, and a<br />
couple of breakfast cereals I’ve tried.<br />
form Ocean Cement, in turn a division of the<br />
Leheigh Heidelberg Group, third largest global<br />
cement producer. Must be something binding<br />
about cement....<br />
Cement—I oversimplify as only the amateur<br />
can—is heated, pulverized (milled) limestone<br />
mixed with some other minerals. Wikipedia<br />
tells us that limestone is “a sedimentary rock<br />
composed of grains; however, most grains<br />
in limestone are skeletal fragments of marine<br />
organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Other<br />
carbonate grains comprising limestones are<br />
ooids, peloids, intraclasts, and extraclasts.<br />
These organisms secrete shells made of aragonite<br />
or calcite, and leave these shells behind<br />
after the organisms die.”<br />
I think it was John Wayne who said: “The<br />
only good ooid is a dead ooid.”<br />
Pour water on cement and something magical<br />
happens: the grains reach out to hold<br />
hands...tightly. Add sand and aggregate—small<br />
stones of various sizes—and the result is concrete.<br />
Our civilization now is made of the stuff: most<br />
of our buildings, almost all of our roads, transportation<br />
and big energy infrastructure, and<br />
a couple of breakfast cereals I’ve tried.<br />
While it’s impossible to know the number<br />
of exploratory digs in promising locations in<br />
and around the region, there is no missing<br />
the legacy of successful operations: enormous<br />
limestone pits now flooded; raw hillside gashes<br />
exposing a vertical hundred feet of the planet’s<br />
sandy history; and the still-lunar expanse of<br />
the so-called Construction Aggregates Producer’s<br />
Pit in Colwood, bisected by Metchosin Road.<br />
Though now recently decommissioned, it has<br />
been “in production” since 1919 (most of the<br />
cement-related activity in these parts dates<br />
from about that time) and in its day met local<br />
needs and also sent countless barge-loads of<br />
sand and gravel to the Mainland and Washington<br />
State. After 80 years, it’s fair to guess that<br />
there’s more Victoria in Seattle than meets<br />
the eye. Who knows Maybe the Pike Place<br />
Market is ours, all ours!<br />
If I have my science right, the friction and<br />
scraping from the formation and movement<br />
of continental glaciers ground up, then picked<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
Sally Crickman,Aileen Headon, Lou Green, Lisa McFarland, Jennifer Harley<br />
We want to become a household name,”<br />
says Lisa McFarland, supervisor of the<br />
Victoria Hospice Thrift Boutique. Lisa says<br />
the boutique does have many regular customers who<br />
will routinely pop in after work as they know that new<br />
items are always coming in.The boutique is known for<br />
its high-end, designer and vintage ladies clothes, as<br />
well as fashion jewellery and small household items,<br />
many of them collectible.And<br />
the best part, of course, is that<br />
100 percent of the profits go<br />
directly to Victoria Hospice, to<br />
support quality end-of-life care.<br />
The history of the Victoria<br />
Hospice Thrift Boutique is evidence<br />
of volunteerism in motion says<br />
Major Gifts Officer,Tom Arnold.<br />
Six years ago,Hospice volunteer<br />
Penny Peck returned from a<br />
conference in Vancouver where<br />
she had attended a session on<br />
thrift stores,very excited to establish<br />
such a shop here in Victoria.With the encouragement<br />
of Victoria Hospice staff, Penny gathered a volunteer<br />
team, got a friend to donate the use of a garage to<br />
store collected items and,in 2005,the Victoria Hospice<br />
Thrift Boutique opened at 1315 Cook Street.<br />
A team of upwards of 40 volunteers,ranging in age<br />
from 18 to 88, keeps the boutique running under<br />
the leadership of manager Pat Moench. Right from<br />
the start, Penny’s vision was to be true to the idea of<br />
a boutique, selling only quality items that are clean<br />
and in good shape or even new.<br />
Perhaps you’ve just received some items to donate.<br />
If you got some Christmas gifts that weren’t quite right<br />
for you,consider donating them to the Thrift Boutique<br />
Photo:Tony Bounsall<br />
to give them a more suitable home—and at the same<br />
time benefit Victoria Hospice. Do you have pieces of<br />
broken gold jewellery sitting in your drawer The Thrift<br />
Boutique will convert these items into cash that goes<br />
directly towards palliative care programs and services.<br />
Silent auctions, held almost monthly, are a distinctive<br />
and very popular feature at the Victoria Hospice<br />
Thrift Boutique. Donated items that are particularly<br />
high-end or collectible are<br />
appraised (by another volunteer!),<br />
and set aside for the<br />
silent auction.Auction items<br />
are posted on the website, but<br />
bidders must come into the<br />
store to bid. Lisa says extra<br />
volunteers are always needed<br />
for the exciting and busy closing<br />
time for each silent auction.<br />
Are you getting married in<br />
<strong>2012</strong> Keep an eye on the Thrift<br />
Boutique as they make plans<br />
for a special event in the New<br />
Year to sell 60 brand new wedding and bridesmaid<br />
dresses that were recently donated.<br />
The Thrift Boutique grosses about $250,000 a year<br />
to support end-of-life care at Victoria Hospice. If you<br />
like to shop and you want your shopping dollars to<br />
make a difference, or if you have some quality items<br />
that need new homes, consider the Victoria Hospice<br />
Thrift Boutique.<br />
Victoria Hospice Thrift Boutique<br />
250-361-4966<br />
1315 Cook Street (at Yates)<br />
www.VictoriaHospice.org<br />
41<br />
Photo:Tony Bounsall
up and pushed, vast amounts of rocky material<br />
which was then deposited selectively, based<br />
on land contour, during the melting glacial<br />
retreat. As well, material travelling down longago<br />
rivers collected in various places, while<br />
the rivers themselves moved on or chose other<br />
courses. Visit the mile-square Colwood sand<br />
deposit, or the cliffs of sand that form the<br />
current Sayward Hill and Trio Gravel Mart<br />
near Mattick’s Farm in Cordova Bay, or the<br />
enormous landlocked Butler Brothers sand<br />
and gravel pit near the intersection of Keating<br />
Cross Road and Oldfield. The meandering<br />
paths of extinct rivers Some long-ago delta<br />
A million years of glacial dripping<br />
Or, as a more authoritative, if less euphonious,<br />
online source puts it:<br />
Most of the surficial sediments in BC owe their<br />
origin to processes active during the last few million<br />
years (Quaternary).<br />
During the Late Wisconsinan (25,000-10,000<br />
years ago), much of the province was covered by<br />
a network of coalescing ice caps, valley, trunk, piedmont<br />
and cirque glaciers collectively termed the<br />
Cordilleran Ice Sheet. At this time, changes in base<br />
level resulting from isostasy and eustasy promoted<br />
sediment erosion and deposition. Subsequent climatic<br />
warming witnessed the decay of the ice sheet through<br />
active retreat and in situ melting. Sediment trapped<br />
in the ice consequently underwent active deposition<br />
beneath and adjacent to the melting glaciers;<br />
hence, deposits associated with deglaciation tend<br />
to reflect rapid and episodic events.<br />
Want a second opinion Here’s a rhapsody<br />
from the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines<br />
Quaternary Geological Map of Greater Victoria:<br />
Quaternary deposits in Greater Victoria overlie<br />
an irregular glacially-scoured bedrock surface.<br />
The depth to bedrock can vary from zero to as much<br />
as 30 metres within the space of a city block.<br />
Pre-Vashon sediments occur principally in the<br />
central and eastern parts of Saanich Peninsula, where<br />
they are up to 60 metres thick and have commonly<br />
been sculpted into a series of north-trending drumlinoid<br />
ridges and crag-and-tail features.<br />
The Vashon till is overlain by the Capilano sediments,<br />
which were deposited at the close of the<br />
Fraser Glaciation when sea level was higher than<br />
present. The principal units of the Capilano sediments<br />
in the Victoria area are the Victoria clay and<br />
the Colwood sand and gravel.<br />
The Colwood sand and gravel is a glaciofluvial<br />
outwash and deltaic deposit that occurs at the surface<br />
over much of Colwood and Langford. The maximum<br />
known thickness of the Colwood sand and gravel<br />
is 30 metres.<br />
I’ve copied so much of this material because<br />
I’ve been dying to use “drumlinoid” in a column<br />
and also because I intend to casually drop<br />
“glaciofluvial” into my cocktail banter and use<br />
“crag and tail” as a pick-up line. (Oh, get the<br />
disapproving expression off your face. You<br />
know you’re going to name your next two<br />
kittens Isostasy and Eustasy.)<br />
But I digress.<br />
The most common use for cement is in the<br />
production of concrete. Concrete is a composite<br />
material consisting of aggregate (gravel and<br />
sand), cement, and water. When water is mixed<br />
with Portland cement, the product sets in a<br />
few hours and hardens over a period of weeks.<br />
Science can tell us how cement cements. It has<br />
nothing to say about why it chooses to, why<br />
it dedicates itself to this purpose.<br />
Portland cement—so named because its<br />
colour resembled Portland Stone—was first<br />
produced about 160 years ago in England and<br />
Germany. The first cement production in<br />
Victoria came in the early 1900s courtesy of<br />
Robert Butchart at Tod Inlet and subsequently,<br />
in 1912, from the Portland Cement Construction<br />
Company of London, managed locally by Mr.<br />
H.K.G. Bamber. Both were drawn to Victoria<br />
because of the rich deposits of limestone. In<br />
the early part of the century, Victoria was the<br />
Portland cement supplier for much of the<br />
Pacific Northwest.<br />
Water, sand, and ground-up exoskeletons.<br />
We owe a significant part of our local<br />
wealth and industrial legacy to the turbulent<br />
extremes of natural systems, and the<br />
suicidal, unplanned self-sacrifice of a zillion<br />
ooids. Ain’t nature grand<br />
I’m not suggesting you stay off the sidewalks<br />
out of respect for the departed, or<br />
trying to introduce morbidity into your future<br />
Sunday drives; but if you had any lingering<br />
doubts about the absolute connectedness of<br />
everything, or lack the grounds for a fundamentally<br />
pantheistic view of existence,<br />
consider, the next time you see the raw earth<br />
exposed: you pass, your flesh melts, your<br />
calcified bones remain. Eventually, you may<br />
live again, as a parkade.<br />
This much I promise: and unto dust you<br />
shall return, you ooid, you.<br />
Gene Miller is the<br />
founder of Open Space<br />
Arts Centre, Monday<br />
<strong>Magazine</strong>, and the<br />
Gaining Ground<br />
Sustainable Urban<br />
Development Summit.<br />
In January, free latex pillows with the<br />
purchase of an In Bed Organic Latex<br />
Mattress. Also: 20% off dhurri rugs from $69.<br />
Hearth ECO Home<br />
2348 Beacon Ave, Sidney • 778-426-2762<br />
www.HearthEcoDesign.ca<br />
Charming, hand-carved wooden "spirit houses"<br />
from Thailand bring magic and whimsy to<br />
your home. Browse a large selection<br />
of these intricate miniature dwellings.<br />
Best of Both Worlds Imports<br />
2713 Quadra Street • 250-386-8325<br />
42 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
It’s a BBQ, an oven, a smoker and a stove. The<br />
award winning COBB weighs just 4 KG, runs on a<br />
handful of briquettes and can be used anywhere.<br />
Best of Both Worlds Imports<br />
2713 Quadra Street • 250-386-8325<br />
www.bestofbothworldsimports.com<br />
Luggage Rack<br />
Custom closets and organizing accessories.<br />
All Organized Storage Ltd<br />
3370 Tennyson Avenue (near UpTown)<br />
Showroom hours: Tues–Fri, 10–5; Sat 10–3 pm<br />
www.AllOrganizedStorage.ca • 250-590-6328<br />
Come and have a look at our<br />
extensive selection of furniture,<br />
home décor, and garden items.<br />
Design Source Warehouse<br />
553 Hillside Ave • 721-5530<br />
www.designsourcewarehouse.com<br />
great finds for your home<br />
Radiant Health Sauna with CarbonFlow<br />
heating—the latest far-infrared technology from<br />
Japan—at a price lower than most competitors.<br />
Low monthly payments OAC<br />
Triangle Healing Products<br />
770 Spruce Avenue • 250-370-1818<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
For a kitchen—or entertainment centre—to suit<br />
your dreams, budget, and space,<br />
talk with Sven Grosse.<br />
CDF Woodworks<br />
250-884-3211<br />
www.kitchenwoodworks.com<br />
glo (Green Living Organics) chunky cable knit<br />
throw with ribbed borders adds warmth to any bed<br />
or armchair. 50" x 60". Assorted colours.<br />
The Good Planet Company<br />
764 Fort Street • 250-590-3500<br />
www.goodplanet.com<br />
43
natural relations<br />
Re-enchanting ourselves with the local<br />
BRIONY PENN<br />
The story of bees could possibly be the great allegory for our times.<br />
It is a gorgeous Friday morning just outside<br />
of Bellingham. A flock of trumpeter swans<br />
are grazing in the fields, and I am with a<br />
large human flock hanging on every word<br />
of a hip young bee dude with a wicked sense<br />
of humour and two props—a collection of<br />
native bees and a bunch of sticks drilled<br />
with nest holes. The event is called Protecting<br />
Native Pollinators and there are farmers,<br />
students, scientists, teachers, grannies and<br />
young men jostling to learn the difference<br />
between a sweat bee and leafcutter bee; which<br />
native plants are best for bumblebees; and how<br />
to encourage mason bees (which mostly consists<br />
of doing nothing and being messy).<br />
The organizers from the Xerces Society,<br />
dedicated to the conservation of insects, weren’t<br />
anticipating quite so many people from so<br />
many corners of this region on both sides of<br />
the borders, and they tell me that there are no<br />
signs of the interest waning.<br />
Restoring and re-enchanting ourselves with<br />
the local and the native are becoming the most<br />
powerful antidote to globalization, inequity,<br />
corporatization, degradation, poverty and<br />
despair—of which there is no short supply. It<br />
is a simple mantra: stay local and support native<br />
in whatever you do and the structural foundations<br />
of inequity will begin to crumble, the<br />
water will flow, the meadow flowers will bloom,<br />
the neighbours will chat, and the birds and the<br />
bees will fill our lives again with music, food<br />
and sensuous times.<br />
As we buzzed our way through the workshop,<br />
briefly exploring why there are disappearing<br />
pollinators (no mean feat), then moving on to<br />
solutions, I had a thought. The story of bees<br />
could possibly be the great allegory for our<br />
times—the rise and fall of one worldview and<br />
the restoration of another, older one.<br />
Take the characters first. The antagonists<br />
are largely humourless financiers who direct<br />
operations from their tall glass towers and<br />
send impoverished indentured labour to work<br />
long hours applying chemicals to genetically<br />
modified crops in ugly landscapes. As hedgerows<br />
and the last patches of habitat for our native<br />
pollinators—the bees, birds and butterflies—<br />
are wiped out, agro-industry has resorted to<br />
mono-pollinating with European honeybees.<br />
Mono-anything doesn’t work, and the poor<br />
Mason bee<br />
overworked honeybees are now going down<br />
like flies (which they are not, flies have one<br />
pair of wings, bees have two). Viruses, the new<br />
synthetic pesticides, and general malaise from<br />
mall culture have caused colony collapse<br />
disorder in half of the hives already. There<br />
aren’t enough bees surviving to pollinate North<br />
America’s crops, so the industrialists have<br />
taken to importing bees from Australia (in<br />
China they hire children at $2/day to hand<br />
pollinate). But even the economists know that<br />
it all ends in tears. (And perhaps even the US<br />
Department of Agriculture, which has declared<br />
conserving pollinators a national priority due<br />
to the severity of the issue and allocated $30<br />
million this year to subsidizing restoration of<br />
lands back to pollinator preserves.)<br />
The protagonists in this story are hip young<br />
bee dudes like our presenter. This is a guy<br />
raised by a Dakotan farming family. He’s one<br />
of a breed of independent researchers who<br />
have proven that a farm makes more money<br />
(not to mention all the other advantages) if<br />
one-third or more of the land is put back into<br />
native habitat. This is because native pollinators<br />
greatly increase yield, productivity and<br />
pest management. And because the cost of all<br />
the chemicals and jetsetting bees around is<br />
rising at an exponential rate.<br />
The hip bee dude—whose name, by the<br />
way, is Eric Mader—has like many of his generation,<br />
discovered the correct formula for<br />
communication to the disenfranchised 99<br />
percent—make it real, make it funny, make it<br />
local and make it a party, bro’. He talked about<br />
the various collective successes, like converting<br />
a pesticide-drenched blueberry farm in the<br />
middle of Michigan to a pollinator preserve<br />
(wildflower meadow) that also grows blueberries<br />
with a 30 percent increase in yield, or<br />
transforming his own working-class yard in<br />
Portland to an oasis that swarms with native<br />
blossoms, bees and girls.<br />
Now take this same story, with a different<br />
set of characters, north and west to the heart<br />
of native blueberry country where the bees<br />
and butterflies still thrive—Fish Lake in the<br />
Chilcotin. The antagonist this time is Taseko<br />
Mines with the biggest mining proposal in<br />
North America—New Prosperity Mine. Last<br />
month, Taseko failed to win their injunction<br />
against the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation for<br />
blocking their road, and the consequences are<br />
huge for resource extractors in this province.<br />
The protagonist is Marilyn Baptiste,<br />
the new breed of hip young chief of the Xeni<br />
Gwet’in First Nation. She can catch a wild<br />
trout or tame a wild horse with the same<br />
skill as she wins over a court to stop Taseko’s<br />
application for exploration at Fish Lake.<br />
The case was won on the basis that the blueberry,<br />
trout and pollinators in the area would<br />
be threatened.<br />
From Bellingham to Fish Lake, the story<br />
is the same. Protagonists everywhere can<br />
win with their simple calls to a past ethic of<br />
the common good and the interconnectedness<br />
of life. What has changed from the<br />
old days is that the consequences for losing<br />
the wild are deadly, increasingly illegal, and<br />
decreasingly academic.<br />
Most of our food relies on the preservation<br />
of the wild, directly or indirectly. If we fail<br />
with diversifying the pollinators, then we start<br />
losing our food and we die in droves. Simple.<br />
There is no technological fix, nor global domesticated<br />
commodity species, nor silver bullet<br />
shot by a white knight to solve the problem,<br />
only the diversified efforts of the many at the<br />
local level.<br />
This is Mother Nature’s most basic kickback.<br />
And it’s an easy solution to sell since the<br />
story also brings us back to discovery, action,<br />
beauty, companionship and joy. That is what<br />
the Occupy Movement has discovered and that<br />
is why they are so dangerous to the status quo.<br />
Also add on, for more good news, the<br />
increasing intolerance of the public for divideand-conquer<br />
tactics by the vested interests<br />
44 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
<strong>Focus</strong> presents: Stephen Whipp<br />
ADVERTISEMENT<br />
A new approach to money in the New Year<br />
IT IS A SIMPLE MANTRA: stay local<br />
and support native in whatever you<br />
do and the structural foundations<br />
of inequity will begin to crumble,<br />
the water will flow, the meadow<br />
flowers will bloom, the neighbours<br />
will chat, and the birds and the bees<br />
will fill our lives again with music,<br />
food and sensuous times.<br />
in the status quo and the mainstream media’s<br />
role in exacerbating that division. Readers got<br />
angry last month when the media headlined<br />
a questionable and relatively minor Gitxsan<br />
First Nation deal with Enbridge while sidelining<br />
the real story—that over 130 nations spanning<br />
the province were now signed on to<br />
the ban against pipelines and tankers.<br />
As a result, the issue backfired spectacularly<br />
and brought these tactics under the spotlight<br />
where they belong. The media erred in<br />
not checking the facts about alleged negotiator<br />
Mr Derrick, his ability to represent the Gitxsan<br />
nation and his connections with industry,<br />
before leading with his story; but their biggest<br />
mistake was in misjudging the public mood<br />
on this issue.<br />
Closer to home, that public mood was<br />
reflected in Nanoose where residents challenged<br />
the government and TimberWest for<br />
trying to divide and conquer the locals and<br />
First Nations over the logging of one of the<br />
last patches of Crown old-growth Douglas fir.<br />
Worldview is shifting because it has to.<br />
Back in the field with the farmers, trumpeter<br />
swans, scientists, bumblebees, teachers, grannies,<br />
blueberries and cool dudes, I look around and<br />
feel mildly hopeful for this new year.<br />
For your new year’s resolution, pledge to<br />
protect or return any little patch you can back<br />
to native habitat for bees and butterflies.<br />
Google Xerces Society or The Land Conservancy<br />
of BC for their pollinator programs.<br />
Briony Penn cultivates wild<br />
bees on her wild piece of land<br />
by doing nothing—which<br />
she does very well.<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
In an era in which the government seems disinclined<br />
to take bold action to address climate change,<br />
you can now support—and make money from—<br />
corporations which are doing just that.“Corporations<br />
are supposed to be the bad guys, but some of them<br />
are doing more than the Peter Kents of this world,”<br />
says Certified Financial Planner Stephen Whipp in the<br />
aftermath of the Durban conference.<br />
Whipp has been working with socially responsible<br />
investments for 14 years after shifting away from more<br />
mainstream investing.“That shift,”says Whipp,“rejuvenated<br />
me as a person.Being able to help people use<br />
the wealth they have to impact the world they live in,<br />
I find very exciting.”He says the challenges of the past<br />
few years,“have given us the opportunity to become<br />
more financially literate and to take some control back.”<br />
Yet socially responsible investing is not about philanthropy.“Even<br />
in this economy,”says Whipp,“clients<br />
look at their statements and their eyes light up; they<br />
are making money,even while following their values.”<br />
Indeed they are making money.A majority of largecap<br />
SRI funds outperformed the S&P 500 over 10<br />
years.That’s likely because companies that are progressive<br />
and thinking about the environment and governance<br />
issues tend to be better managed—and therefore<br />
more profitable, which is reflected in their stock price.<br />
“Mutual funds that are managed for ESG [environmental/social/governance]<br />
criteria engage in constant<br />
oversight and dialogue with the companies in their<br />
portfolios,” says Whipp.“And if disagreements can’t<br />
be resolved, motions are brought to the AGM and<br />
shareholders get to vote their values.”This is influencing<br />
the way many corporations behave.<br />
The discussions Whipp has with his clients make<br />
investing come alive for them. “We talk about the<br />
actions companies are taking to better their communities<br />
or change their practices on the environmental<br />
or social justice front or around executive compensation.”<br />
Such discussions are key, because before<br />
Stephen and his team can develop a financial or estate<br />
plan,they must first understand their values.“We need<br />
to know what makes you tick and what helps you sleep<br />
at night.”With so many SRI vehicles,including stocks,<br />
bonds,mutual funds and private equity now available,<br />
it’s easy to develop a diversified portfolio based on<br />
one’s values and risk tolerance.<br />
Clients Aase and Michael Lium-Hall wrote to Stephen<br />
saying: “You prompted us to think differently and to<br />
create a different relationship with our money…[Money]<br />
has now become a tool for us to change the world.”<br />
Aase,who owns Leka,a new clothing design shop on<br />
Fort Street,describes Whipp’s approach as “accessible<br />
and collaborative,” someone whose “perspective is<br />
always clear and educated.”<br />
That trust is echoed by clients Lorraine and Bruce<br />
Hardy,who told Whipp,“We have a real sense of trust<br />
Photo:Tony Bounsall<br />
Stephen Whipp<br />
that what you are doing is not just right for us but<br />
right for the world…I must say as someone who is<br />
fairly skeptical of people who call themselves green,<br />
you have convinced us that you do walk the talk.”<br />
Whipp also helps individuals and couples with<br />
values-based estate planning.Assuming you have<br />
assets left at death, what do you want done with<br />
them “It’s not something that should be put off until<br />
after retirement,” says Whipp, who keeps up on the<br />
latest legislation. “There are certain strategies that<br />
you will be better off implementing earlier in life.”<br />
If you want your money to work profitably on behalf<br />
of your values, call Stephen Whipp to set up a confidential<br />
financial or estate plan or to learn more about<br />
socially responsible investment funds.<br />
Stephen Whipp offers a 2-hour course at Royal Roads<br />
University—Financial Planning to Build Wealth,<br />
Manage Risk & Build a Better World—on January 28,<br />
10 am-noon. Register at www.royalroads.ca. He’ll<br />
also speak on a panel on “Invest Your Money in Local<br />
Change,” 7 pm Tuesday, January 31, <strong>2012</strong> at Ambrosia<br />
Conference Centre, 638 Fisgard Street. Free.<br />
Stephen Whipp, CFP<br />
Senior Financial Advisor<br />
Manulife Securities Incorporated<br />
250-405-3550<br />
www.stephenwhipp.com<br />
Manulife Securities Incorporated is a Member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund.<br />
The opinions expressed are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those of Manulife Securities Incorporated.
finding balance<br />
Just say “hello”<br />
TRUDY DUIVENVOORDEN MITIC<br />
Confessions from an introvert enroute to a more social <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Ihad a good friend in high<br />
school who could connect<br />
with anyone. She had kind<br />
eyes, a beautiful smile and, as<br />
she would say about herself, the<br />
gift of the gab. She could speak<br />
about anything—within reason<br />
of course, this being high school—<br />
and unfailingly sprinkled her<br />
stories with the kind of self-deprecating<br />
humour that solicits the<br />
endearment of others. She cared<br />
about people and was comfortable<br />
socializing outside of her<br />
age and peer group.<br />
I envied her. I was, by nature,<br />
more of a sourpuss—well, not<br />
really, but I probably came across<br />
that way. I was shy and awkward<br />
and burdened with the curse of<br />
the blush. Even worse, my face<br />
would involuntarily pinch into<br />
a frown whenever I concentrated,<br />
a social impediment I wasn’t<br />
even aware of until years later<br />
when my young children would<br />
interrupt my reading or writing<br />
with an alarmed, “Why are you<br />
angry, Mommy”<br />
Given these quirks of personality,<br />
you’re probably not surprised to learn that I never really became<br />
adept in the social art of reaching out. For many years it felt awkward to<br />
say hello in passing to people I barely knew, and the timing always seemed<br />
off. An acquaintance spotted at my local Thrifty’s was apt to send me<br />
scooting my cart over to the next aisle because, you see, my hair was a<br />
mess and my jeans were ratty since I was dashing in just long enough to<br />
pick up milk and bread. Well, it wasn’t that bad but I must confess to once<br />
or twice digging deep amongst the frozen foods just to avoid a casual chat<br />
for which I had no energy on that particular day.<br />
My kids are teaching me to be better. Even as youngsters they<br />
were charming and gregarious. They could spot an acquaintance from<br />
a mile away and would insist we go to say hello. Even now they seem<br />
to know everyone in their age group and many of my generation as<br />
well. (This I credit to public speaking learned in school, a stint of scutwork<br />
in the retail industry and maybe a gene or two from their father.)<br />
I’m both proud and envious of them, and over the years they’ve bolstered<br />
my own resolve to do a better job of “connecting” in my community.<br />
Social aptitude is not a trivial skill and it can be learned, according<br />
to Howard White, an ordinary man who worked his way up to a vicepresidency<br />
with the Nike Corporation. In his essay, “The Power of<br />
Hello,” he relates how and why he developed the habit of always<br />
greeting any and all co-workers<br />
with a warm hello and genuine<br />
interest. “It’s not just something<br />
I believe in; it’s become a way<br />
of life,” he wrote. “I believe that<br />
every single person deserves to<br />
be acknowledged, however small<br />
or simple the greeting.”<br />
White learned the lesson early<br />
from his mother and has let it<br />
guide him through life. “I speak<br />
to everyone I see, no matter where<br />
I am,” he writes. “I’ve learned<br />
that speaking to people creates<br />
a pathway into their world, and<br />
it lets them come into mine, too.”<br />
In some ways that might sound<br />
like New Age fluff, but consider<br />
the alternative—to walk past<br />
people with your head held down<br />
and eyes to the ground so that<br />
the day is just one long protracted<br />
tunnel of isolation, a social ailment<br />
that burdens legions of us despite<br />
our texts and tweets and fingertip<br />
access to everything going on in<br />
the world.<br />
I’ll never be a gregarious<br />
person, and because social isolation<br />
is a particular hazard in my<br />
line of work, I have to guard against becoming a loner—even more so<br />
because I find reclusion appealing at a certain level. To be outgoing is<br />
hard work for me but it’s also enriching and almost always well received.<br />
I’m learning to ask about families and children and to remember the<br />
particular threads of connection from one chance meeting to the next.<br />
(Remembering, now there’s another challenge…) I’m trying not to<br />
daydream while trudging up a Cordova Bay hill in the morning so as<br />
to better appreciate the people I meet along the way.<br />
For me the territory and its bumps are as old as childhood and as<br />
new as yesterday but I’m resolved to continue making progress.<br />
It’ll help to call my old friend for a few updated tips, and to avoid<br />
wearing my concentrating face in public. It also helps to know that<br />
<strong>2012</strong> looks to be an especially good year for self-improvement.<br />
ILLUSTRATION: APRIL CAVERHILL<br />
Despite her good intentions Trudy Duivenvoorden Mitic<br />
doesn’t expect to become an extrovert overnight or<br />
anytime soon.<br />
46 January <strong>2012</strong> • FOCUS
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www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
47