Ger Lyons - Focus Magazine

OCUS
Victoria’s monthly magazine of people, ideas and culture March 2012
PM 40051145 FOC

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contents
March 2012 VOL. 24 NO. 5
18 34 38
4 COLLECTIVE WISDOM
The A-word and other tales of participatory democracy.
Leslie Campbell
8 ROLLING THE DICE IN THE HARBOUR
The long-term environmental consequences
of a mistake made by City Hall are uncertain.
David Broadland
10 POLICING POVERTY IN VICTORIA
In its desire to keep streets safe, has the City spent too much
on ineffective and discriminatory policing?
Gordon O’Connor
14 PRIVACY COMMISSIONER SLAMS SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM
Documents suggest BC Solicitors General and the RCMP
have been misleading the public for years.
Rob Wipond
18 PERFECTLY RENDERED
A physician and reproductive rights advocate
has returned to her first love: art.
Christine Clark
34 THE MYSTERY OF LIFE
John Shields’ journey from priest to union leader to spiritual seeker.
Amy Reiswig
36 DIGGING FOR COPPER IN THE SISTINE CHAPEL
Author Wade Davis will be in Victoria March 7 to talk about efforts
to save the Stikine, Skeena and Nass headwaters.
Briony Penn
38 THE INCREMENTALIST
Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard weighs the pros and cons
of the “big bang” approach to municipal politics.
Aaren Madden
40 CONNIE ISHERWOOD, QC
Ninety-two and still working, she credits genes,
work, family and faith for her longevity and health.
Leslie Campbell
42 THE ART OF DRIVING BUS
We begin our series on the everyday jobs that hold our community together.
Amy Reiswig
44 THE PARACHUTE PROBLEM
Three local events, three ways of looking at what the future might hold.
Gene Miller
46 A BUMPY BEGINNING
Nobody wins when environment and economy are pitted against each other.
Trudy Duivenvoorden Mitic
March 2012 • www.focusonline.ca
editor’s letter 4
readers’ views 6
talk of the town 8
palette 18
arts in march 22
coastlines 34
island interview 38
the survivors 40
on the job 42
urbanities 44
finding balance 46
ON THE FRONT COVER
“Can U Canu” by Mary Conely,
16 x 12 inches, oil on canvas. See
story on page 18.
ON THE BACK COVER
“Opportunity Lost” by Denton
Pendergast, digital photo composite.
Pendergast, proprietor of Victoria's
Rocket Science Design, wanted
to commemorate the beauty of
the Blue Bridge, and says, “Sadly,
we shall not see her like here again!”
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Collective wisdom
LESLIE CAMPBELL
editor’s letter
The A-word and other tales of participatory democracy.
There’s a global movement afoot—participatory democracy—
which empowers people to play a more central role in directly
shaping their communities. You can see it erupting in everything
from communities that engage in participatory budgeting and “conversation
cafés” to the occupy movement. It generally involves large
assemblies of ordinary citizens coming together to learn about and
discuss issues, and eventually decide on action.
While participatory democracy might be a bit cumbersome and
slow, its benefits are numerous and deep: inclusivity and engagement,
higher quality of life, greater transparency, accountability and trust.
When citizens are cut out of decision-making—or debate is shortcircuited—the
decisions made usually backfire in a costly way. The
HST and Juan de Fuca lands sagas are great examples of how topdown
decision-making can squander time, resources and trust. So is
the City of Victoria’s initial decision to forego a referendum on the
Johnson Street Bridge—and its recent rejection of the option citizens
voted for (why bother voting?) around garbage pickup. With such
potentially divisive issues as a deer cull and the $1-billion LRT proposal
on the horizon at the CRD level, a more participatory approach might
prove very helpful.
The government’s best role in this new paradigm is to help create
structures and processes through which the ideas of citizens can be
heard early on, rather than after key decisions are made, as is so
often the case. Thorough discussion would be encouraged by politicians
and bureaucrats, knowing that the best decisions are those arrived
at slowly, almost organically, through dialogue among a broad spectrum
of well-informed citizens.
Recently I witnessed a great example of bottom-up citizen engagement
at “A Conversation about Amalgamation,” instigated by five local
citizens (including Victoria city councillor Shellie Gudgeon) who sensed
Victorians wanted to start conversing about the A-word, even if their
elected representatives didn’t. The energy of the 200 people in the gym
at SJ Willis was palpable. The set-up of 15 or more round tables with
8-10 people apiece, facilitated conversation. At my table, we each took
up to two minutes to address such questions as “What don’t we know?”
and “What can we share?” As one organizer explained, “These questions
were presented in the hopes that the attendees would be able to
transcend dualistic ‘pro/con’ discussions.”
My table mates, and others during the wrap-up, made many astute
comments and I left the gathering feeling both more informed and less
decided about amalgamation than when I went in the door. Though I
can see advantages to consolidating our municipal efforts, especially
on transportation and policing, we don’t know enough about (for example)
Editor: Leslie Campbell Publisher: David Broadland Sales: Bonnie Light
ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: Phone 250-388-7231 Email focuspublish@shaw.ca
EDITORIAL INQUIRIES and letters to the editor: focusedit@shaw.ca
WEBSITE: www.focusonline.ca MAIL: Box 5310, Victoria, V8R 6S4
Copyright © 2012. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without written
permission of the publishers. The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publishers of Focus Magazine.
Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40051145.
March 2012 • FOCUS

WHEN CITIZENS ARE CUT OUT of decision-making—
or debate is short-circuited—the decisions made usually
backfire in a costly way.
the costs of amalgamation. But it was a start, and a good one, a breath of
fresh air. Knowing this community can spontaneously engage without
being led or paid, and tackle a complex issue like amalgamation is exciting.
(See http://victoriawave.ca for a description of the event.)
Another event I attended in the past month (sponsored by Vancity,
Transition Victoria, and Focus) showed how local citizens are ready to
take action around the question: Why can’t we invest our money in
local enterprises in the same manner we do RRSPs? Small farms and
businesses, affordable rental housing units, and other social needs could
be nurtured through such means. We already have community
micro-lending, but we need more options for people to invest locally
and the tax breaks to encourage them.
The economic resiliency that would flow from such a move is obvious.
Over 200 people came out to learn about the possibilities. Some seemed
ready to invest. Many signed up to be kept informed or get involved
and it looks like at least one fund, initiated by the Community Social
Planning Council, will launch about a year from now.
This event, too, proved to me that Victoria’s citizens are keen to cocreate
this community in a way that is sensible and sustainable, that
serves us all well.
At yet another event, I witnessed over 150 people come together to
strategize how to change the way Victoria City Police engage with
the street community. The Vancouver Island Public Research Group
hosted it, but the citizens in attendance came up with the strategies
through a half-dozen conversation circles. See Gordon O’Connor’s
article in this edition for more background.
Readers will likely be able to tell me of more instances of participatory
democracy at work right here in Victoria. Something I’d
love to see is what’s called “participatory budgeting,” which is used
in over 100 cities world-wide to choose priorities for capital expenditures
in municipal budgets or other public bodies (see
www.participatorybudgeting.org). Toronto Community Housing
has been using the process for eight years. Each year the tenants of
the city’s public housing projects generate and ultimately decide on
ideas for how to apportion the budget—last year it amounted to $9
million divvied up among 150 projects all dreamed up and decided
upon by the tenants. As its website notes: “It’s about more than
sharing power. It’s also about increasing transparency, accountability,
understanding and social inclusion.” People love it.
Given the turbulence of these times, the looming infrastructure
expenses and other competing needs, broadening the decision-making
among more Victorians makes sense. It’s comforting to know there are
tested models.
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
Leslie Campbell is the editor and founder of Focus.
She is thankful to all those who became Supporting
Subscribers last month—and for their encouraging
words. For more information on how you can become
a Supporting Subscriber, please see page 17.
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5

Re: Hidden surveillance, Feb 2012
Am I the only person who had alarm bells with Rob Wipond’s
article on surveillance? Combine this vehicle surveillance with the
“communication devices” we will soon have on our homes (Smart
Meters), the soon-to-be BC Identity Card, internet providers
giving us updated wireless devices, and we have something frightening
going on. Do the government and the police think we are stupid?
There is no doubt in my mind that everything about us will soon be
known to these agencies. Everything. The computers for these agencies
will be “talking to each other” and gathering data about all of us.
The days of privacy are soon to be a thing of the past unless we rise
up and do something about it. Great article, Rob.
Lia Fraser
I wonder how Rob Wipond will react when Canada begins buying
unmanned drones like the ones being operated along the 49th parallel
by the DEA/Homeland Security?
Nevertheless, I congratulate him and Focus, for bringing toxic
sludge like this to the surface, in an attempt to shake us out of our
somnambulant state regarding all things governmental.
Richard Weatherill
Thank you for the investigative reporting and seeing that accountability
is being kept in place with your article on ALPR.
I’m also interested in a tangential item to stay on the radar for
accountability. There has been a trend toward using cameras for traffic
light sensors, to replace the buried inductive loops at intersections.
The loops are failure prone and need to be replaced every few
years when repaving happens, hence the shift to visual camera detection
which pays off after a couple loop re-installs have been avoided.
They’ve sprung up all over the lower mainland. I was curious
about them and made some inquiries through the City of Coquitlam.
The technology makes sense for what it does. However I was
surprised to learn that they don’t process the sensor data at the
intersection only. Each camera sends the data back to the municipal
maintenance facilities.
Apparently, from time to time, the police have asked for intersection
footage. Coquitlam’s traffic department claims not to archive
it, and so they have turned the police away, saying the information
isn’t stored and available.
It is somewhat unsettling that should that policy change in the
future, or it fails to be noticed by those who keep an accountability
watch, you could have location data available for a majority of cars
across the lower mainland. It’s installed and ready to go but for a few
municipal agreement signatures, the caveat being that the image data
would still need to be processed.
Craig Bowers
Editor’s Note: See Rob Wipond’s follow-up in this edition. Also, he
has posted hundreds of pages from his access to information requests
about Automated Licence Plate Recognition at http://robwipond.com/?p=831.
Re: Alarmist distractions, Feb 2012
Thanks to Briony Penn for the excellent deconstruction about the
interests behind the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.
I love how she reframed the conversation so that we all can understand
that the “socialist billionaires” influencing the process are not
readers’ views
the environmentalists but rather the Chinese. The Federal and BC
governments are no longer representing our interests because they
are actually owned by the Chinese government. This explains their
mad rush to sell off all of our resources.
It is up to us to stop the insanity, and we are going to have to put
our money where our mouths are. I’ve written to the main groups
opposing the pipeline asking them if someone will set up a fund so
we can support the First Nations and other groups in the north in
their front-line fight.
Jenny Farkas
Re: Limited transparency, Feb 2012
There is an old story about a man offering a woman a million dollars
for sex. She agrees and when he shows up, he hands her $50. “What
is this?” she asks. “What kind of woman do you take me for?”
“We know what kind of woman,” says he. “Now we are just haggling
over the price.”
That comes to mind with David Broadland’s article on the price
of transparency at Victoria City Hall.
The information sought by Focus is so sensitive and so crucial to
be kept secret, that the City refuses to release it.
However, when it has a price tag of $1,070 attached to it, it is a
different matter and the City will now readily sell it. Criteria is price
in Victoria.
Why secret? Does this not affect Victorians and have we not already
paid for the information?
Now you have two councillors talking to the enemy and having
the gall to suggest taxpayers can be trusted with the facts. How
long before they are frozen out of council and staff reports?
It is interesting that we pay spin doctors a half-million dollars a
year to manipulate and massage public information which is the same
amount we pay elected councillors to act as a board of directors
and represent us. Instead they use their flacks to hide from us with
the aid of a compliant media.
Staff and council will efficiently stifle the sham of the Alto motion
for transparency. After all, the mayor has already questioned open
meetings because the press may not report exactly what council wants.
Heaven forefend a free press.
There is another story: Apparently, after his election victory,
Stephen Harper flew to Victoria to consult with City council
6 March 2012 • FOCUS
ILLUSTRATION: KEN CAMPBELL ©IMAGECRAFT STUDIO LTD 2012

about how to shut down opposition. Council
brought out its training manual for him and
he flew back to Ottawa and promptly hired
several hundred more “communications”
people to ensure only group-hug news got
out and the federal government now has the
biggest PR department in Canadian history.
Patrick Murphy
Re: Sale of church lands
The sale to a developer, set to close on
April 1, of St Albans Church and Church Hall
in Oaklands, which has been designated
surplus property by the Anglican Diocese of
British Columbia, raises important questions
for Victoria residents about property owned
by religious institutions.
Is it right that the diocesan council may
sell both church and hall, even though the
hall, long rented to such groups as a preschool
and a children’s dance class, is central
to community life in Oaklands? Or that
Victoria City Council should choose development
over acquiring this largely green
space and maintaining the hall and the public
services it has provided? Will the City save
the sequoia beside the church, probably
the oldest planted tree in Oaklands, from the
bulldozer? Generations of children from all
over Greater Victoria have taken part in activities
in the church hall and on its surrounding
property. Such activities risk being prohibitively
expensive or no longer available to
anyone when this unique public property is
no more.
Given the special tax-status of Victoria
churches and the community services which
they provide, are they not all a kind of public
property? Should the Anglican church be
able to sell any of its long-established churches
and attached property on the open market?
Surely such churches and halls serve as community
centres for all kinds of people.
Is it appropriate that local governments
invariably promote development rather than
the preservation of public space? Why not
involve citizens in deciding the future use of
“surplus” church property in their neighbourhoods?
Does it have to be too late to do
this for Oaklands?
D. Gillian Thompson
LETTERS
Send letters to: focusedit@shaw.ca
Letters that directly address articles
published in Focus will be given preference.
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
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7

talk
of the
town
What’s the purpose of federal environmental
regulations as they
pertain to construction projects
like the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline?
Are they intended to protect the environment
from negative impacts caused by construction?
Or are they intended to protect construction
projects from the negative impacts caused
by public concern and scrutiny?
These questions floated to the top of my
mind recently after I posed a series of question
to Transport Canada about the Telus duct relocation
project in Victoria Harbour. It appeared
that a key stipulation of a Canadian
Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) environmental
assessment had been ignored or
misunderstood by the City of Victoria, and the
regulatory body that was supposed to be enforcing
the law was instead defending the City. Let me
give you some context to set this up. My conversation
with Transport Canada will follow.
Work recently done by Ruskin Construction
under a contract with the City of Victoria
involved dredging a large trench across an area
of Victoria Harbour that has been registered
with the federal Contaminated Sites Inventory.
The trench was dug in order to relocate
communication cables belonging to Telus. The
relocation project had been subject to a CEAA
Environmental Assessment Screening Report
carried out by Transport Canada.
Studies have shown the area that was trenched
is badly contaminated, with at least 19 environmental
toxins present, each at concentrations
that would qualify the site as a “Contaminated
Site” under the BC Contaminated Sites
Regulation Guidelines (see list to right).
The consequences of stirring up those contaminants
was laid out in a report prepared by
Stantec Consulting for the City of Victoria.
Stantec noted, “Both sediments and contaminants
have the potential to affect marine
biota. Increased turbidity may interfere with
fish respiration, feeding activity and result in
direct smothering of marine organisms.
Resuspended contaminants may be ingested
and result in bioaccumulation within the food
chain, decreased invertebrate diversity, abundance
and growth and physiological and
behavioural alterations.”
Rolling the dice in the harbour
DAVID BROADLAND
The City of Victoria was given permission
last September by Transport Canada to go
ahead with dredging the trench through the
contaminated site. Transport Canada’s environmental
assessment of the project accepted
recommendations made on behalf of the City
by Stantec that the work could be done without
significant harm to the environment if certain
precautions were taken. But in addition to the
mitigation strategy put forward by Stantec,
Transport Canada stipulated “that the proponent
installs a sediment curtain around the
area to be trenched to ensure suspended sediments
are contained within the immediate
project area.” (Emphasis added.)
On reading Transport Canada’s assessment,
any reasonable person would, I think, come
David Broadland 8 Gordon O’Connor 12 Rob Wipond 14
The long-term environmental consequences of a mistake made by City Hall are uncertain.
Concentrations of contaminants
in surface sediments
under the Johnson Street Bridge
in relation to
B.C. Contaminated Sites
Regulation Guidelines
2-Methylnapthalene 2-5 times
Acenaphthylene 2-5 times
Antimony 2-5 times
Arsenic 1-2 times
Benz(a)anthracene 5-10 times
Benz(o)pyrene 10 times
Benz(o)fluoranthene 10 times
Benzo(ghi)perylene 10 times
Benzo(k)fluoranthene 10 times
Cadmium 1-2 times
Chrysene 10 times
Dibenz(ah)anthracene 10 times
Indeno(1,2,3-c,d)pyrene 10 times
Silver 1-2 times
Copper 1-2 times
Lead 1-2 times
Mercury detected
Napthalene 1-2 times
Phenanthrene 2-5 times
Total PCB concentration 1-2 times
Source: Morrow Environmental Consultants Inc.; Douglas
A. Bright, Ross Wilson; Transport Canada, 2007.
to the conclusion that a legitimate process to
protect the environment was at work. After
all, Transport Canada was demanding that a
significant action, above and beyond what the
City was offering, would have to be included.
As it turned out though, Ruskin Construction
dredged the trench through the contaminated
site without deploying the required sediment
curtains. Headquartered in Prince George,
the company had the lowest of five bids the
City received from companies pre-qualified
to bid on the Telus relocation project.
When asked why sediment curtains were
not used, a spokesperson for the City of Victoria,
Katie Josephson, said an “environmental
monitor” had been on the site and any decision
not to use a sediment curtain would have
been made “under their guidance.”
Josephson told Focus the environmental
monitor’s work was done “in consultation
with Transport Canada and according to their
regulations.”
Josephson first identified the “environmental
monitor” as an employee of MMM Group,
the City’s prime consultant on the relocation
project, but two weeks later clarified that Ruskin,
the company that did the dredging, had done
the environmental monitoring.
Adding two of Josephson’s pieces of information
together, we arrive at the startling
conclusion that the company doing the dredging
also made the decision not to use sediment
curtains. (Ruskin Construction did not respond
to a request for information)
Josephson also said, “A silt fence or sediment
curtain is required for work on land as the issue
is to prevent runoff with contaminants from
entering the harbour... No sediment curtain is
required in-water—only mitigation measures.”
(Emphasis added.)
But a spokesperson for Transport Canada,
Sau Sau Liu, contradicted the City’s claims
about what they were expected to do and what
consultation had taken place.
“Transport Canada,” Liu said, “did not
advise the City of Victoria, or any other entity,
to not use the sediment curtains.”
Transport Canada was also at odds with the
City’s interpretation of what “sediment curtains”
and “mitigation” meant.
8 March 2012 • FOCUS

Work on the Telus duct relocation was done without proper environmental mitigation in place.
As Liu explained, “A sediment curtain is a
fine-mesh fabric suspended from floats and
weighted at the bottom to control silt and sediment
from entering or spreading in the water,
and allows suspended particles to settle in a
confined area of water.”
Liu also said, “The mitigation required was
the use of a sediment curtain around the area
to minimize the spread of suspended sediments.”
Liu clarified that “the immediate
project area” stipulated in the environmental
assessment “refers to the area adjacent to where
the work was done.” In other words, the
dredging across the contaminated site should
have involved sediment curtains strung from
one side of the channel to the other, on either
side of the dredged trench. A City employee
had, by mistake or neglect, misinterpreted the
intended mitigation.
Now this sounds like a clear-cut case of
the City failing to abide by the terms of a
CEAA environmental assessment. Fulfilling
the stipulations of that assessment was part
and parcel of a federal contribution agreement
to provide up to $21 million to fund
the new Johnson Street Bridge project. The
funding agreement said failure to abide by
the terms of the environmental assessment
could lead to “default.”
But the studies and the terms of the funding
agreement, so far as they purport to protect
the environment, appear to be a farce.
I suggested to Transport Canada’s Liu
that since her agency had stipulated use of a
sediment curtain to prevent environmental
damage, it followed that, since curtains were
not used, environmental damage would occur.
Liu responded, “No. Transport Canada
and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans
required the proponent to have an environmental
management plan and an approved
environmental monitor on site responsible
to the environmental management plan. The
environmental management plan and use of
an environmental monitor mitigate environmental
damage.”
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
Just how deployment in the field of the
“environmental management plan,” or even
the “environmental monitor” could physically
replace the missing sediment curtains in
preventing the spread of contaminant-laden
sediments was unclear.
Would Transport Canada follow up to determine
whether any environmental damage was
done? Liu said, “Transport Canada has received
environmental monitoring reports for all works
conducted to date on this project. We are satisfied
with the work to date.”
Although the City claimed Ruskin was
the environmental monitor, Liu said the “environmental
monitoring reports” were provided
by the City of Victoria. And when we asked
Liu what specific actions had been taken by
Transport Canada that allowed them to conclude
“there has been no environmental impact,”
she said, “Transport Canada reviewed the environmental
monitoring reports provided by
the City of Victoria...” But can simply reading
a report prove anything?
It gets worse. Scrutiny of Transport Canada’s
CEAA Environmental Assessment Screening
Report for the Telus Duct Project shows that
much of the report is simply a word-for-word
copying of paragraphs from a report written
for the City by Stantec Consulting. Transport
Canada provides attribution for some of this
copying, but some copied passages are given
no attribution. It boils down to this: the
Environmental Assessment is largely written by
the proponent. Is that how it works for Enbridge’s
Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, too?
It’s not surprising that the City of Victoria
bungled the very first shovels-in-the-ground
operation in building the new Johnson Street
Bridge. It’s harder to understand why Transport
Canada would, at considerable taxpayer
expense, first insist on an action they said
would mitigate environmental damage, then
look the other way once they learned their
instruction had been ignored.
David Broadland is the publisher of Focus Magazine.
9

Policing poverty in Victoria
GORDON O’CONNOR
talk of the town
In its desire to keep streets safe, has the City spent too much on ineffective and discriminatory policing?
The majority of people in our community
appreciate the role that police play
in society. Excepting the frustration felt
after being stopped for a speeding ticket, most
adults have faith in and feel protected by police.
Statistics Canada reports that 83 percent of
Canadians have a high level of confidence in
law enforcement agencies.
Recently, however, a number of reports
from across the country have demonstrated
that the opposite is true for people experiencing
poverty or homelessness. This inspired
the Vancouver Island Public Interest Research
Group (VIPIRG) to investigate the relationship
between Victoria’s street-involved people
and its police department by interviewing over
100 members of Victoria’s street community.
VIPIRG’s report about this research—Out
of Sight: Policing Poverty in Victoria—found
that street-involved people experience discrimination,
harassment and other abuses of
authority by the police, primarily in relation
to minor infractions in public spaces, rather
than criminal activities.
The survey determined that most streetinvolved
people are dealing with mental health
or disability issues and that police are ill-suited
to effectively handle them. “Interviews point
to deleterious effects of policing on the physical
and mental well-being of members of the
Victoria street community,” said research coordinator
Tamara Herman.
Such findings led VIPIRG to suggest sweeping
changes at the federal, provincial and municipal
levels to reform the relationship between
police and the street community and create
more effective strategies for confronting the
issues presented by urban poverty.
ONE OF THE KEY FINDINGS of VIPIRG’s
study was that health problems are endemic
in Victoria’s street community. Only one of
the 103 participants did not report having a
mental health, chronic disability or addiction
issue, and 52 percent said they were
living with all three. This was juxtaposed
with the fact that 32 percent of respondents
reported having their safer drug use supplies
(for injecting or smoking) confiscated by
police, making it more likely they would
compromise their health.
Victoria police arrest a man on Johnson Street in front of Salvation Army.
A majority of the interviewees spoke of
personal belongings such as photos, identification
cards and sleeping bags being confiscated,
actions by the police that made their difficult
lives even moreso.
Research coordinator Tamara Herman
suggests that “these forms of interaction
contribute to a criminalization of mental illness
that unjustly and unnecessarily undercuts the
health and well-being of street-involved people.”
Heather Hobbs, a community activist with
Harm Reduction Victoria agrees that encounters
between the street community and police
may be exacerbating health issues and social
problems. “Meeting human suffering with
surveillance, harassment and punishment
causes significant stress for people whose only
learned coping mechanism for stress may be
their next hit.” She went on to say that “beating
people down, literally and metaphorically,
when they’re living a life of social exclusion
and neglect serves to further isolate, traumatize,
and dehumanize the very people our
community should be drawing closer.”
Many in the street community perceive
themselves as being discriminated against
based on their social status. “Who is treated
unfairly?” asked one survey participant rhetorically:
“Anybody that’s not in a business suit,
that doesn’t look clean or professional.”
Another remarked, “If you look like a homeless
person [the police] automatically treat
you differently and unfairly.”
VIPIRG researchers queried subjects about
police behaviour in relation to specific aspects
of the BC Police Act’s Code of Professional
Conduct. While 38 percent of respondents
reported having at least one positive interaction
with police over the past five years, a
striking number of people reported witnessing
abuses of authority: 78 percent report witnessing
police search, detainment or arrest without
sufficient cause, while another 48 percent claim
to have experienced that themselves. Eightysix
percent report witnessing incidents of
unnecessary force being used (39 say they’ve
been victims of it themselves). And 83 percent
report witnessing police acting rude, uncivil
or using abusive language (64 percent claim
personal experience).
One interview subject said: “The other day,
[I] was sitting on a bench and the police asked
[me] to move. It took a bit of time so they
threw [me] against a wall and handcuffed [me]
even though [I] was compliant.”
Research from Statistics Canada demonstrated
street-involved people in Victoria are being
approached by police at a frequency dispropor-
10 March 2012 • FOCUS
PHOTO: PETE ROCKWELL

VICTORIA HAS MORE POLICE
per capita than any other Canadian
city and in 2009 it had the highest
per capita police budget of any city
in BC. Policing poverty likely
accounts for a significant portion
of these resources.
tionate to the general population. Sixty-four
percent of respondents had been ticketed in the
past three years and 30 percent had been
arrested—mostly for minor infractions in public
spaces rather than Criminal Code violations.
The most common reasons cited for being
approached or stopped by police were loitering,
sitting, intoxication, trespassing, and using drugs.
There was also specific correlation between
the experience of homelessness and encounters
with police related to the use of space. Of
77 research participants who had been homeless
in the past two years, 83 percent were
approached to move off of public property
(70 percent off private property). One interview
subject said, “It makes my life incredibly
difficult. You have to constantly be on the move
and on the lookout. You can’t sit or stand
anywhere because you’re asked to move on.
They treat you like non-people.”
Herman points to such testimony as evidence
that “‘Safe Streets’ acts and certain municipal
bylaws criminalize the day-to-day activities of
the street community by targeting activities
most residents are able to perform in the privacy
of their homes.”
THESE PROBLEMS RELATED TO “social
profiling” are not unique to Victoria. Reports
from other Canadian cities draw similar conclusions
and the issue has become pervasive
enough to attract attention from national
service agencies. For instance, the Canadian
Mental Health Association has raised concerns
about the “criminalization of mental health”
and the capacity for police to meet the needs
of this population.
“The fact that police have become de facto
‘first responders’ in the mental health system
has a number of implications,” notes the report.
“Traditional policing, with its focus on the
use of force, does not adequately prepare
police to intervene with people with mental
health issues.”
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
GENERAL CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT CHARACTER RENOVATION
David Dare
250-883-5763
roadsend.ca
11

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noun [nir-vah-nuh]:
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Day Care • Grooming • Boarding • Training
Nirvana Pet Resort
2000 Government (corner of Discovery)
250-380-7795
www.NirvanaPetResort.weebly.com
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every year. At least it does to me!”
Conveniently located in the
Saanich Plaza (across from Uptown)
We offer
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Suite 203 – 3542 Blanshard Street
250-590-3991 • gail@gkperkins.ca
www.gkperkins.ca
PHOTO: GARY UTLEY
“ BEATING PEOPLE DOWN, literally and metaphorically, when they’re
living a life of social exclusion and neglect serves to further isolate,
traumatize, and dehumanize the very people our community should
be drawing closer.” —Tamara Herman
The Canada HIV/AIDS network has similar
concerns about interactions between police
and drug users: “Intensive policing…can lead
to a number of behaviours with health and
safety consequences. These include a reluctance
to carry safer drug use supplies, the
unsafe disposal of injecting equipment…the
dispersal of people who use drugs…”
Even some police departments agree that
law enforcement is a poor response to poverty.
Several have gone on record demanding
improvements to social and mental health
services so that police will not have to play
the role of social workers. The report quoted
the 2007 Mayor’s Task Force on Breaking the
Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and
Homelessness as stating that “years of enforcement
have not had much impact on the
problems of homelessness and drug use in
downtown Victoria or anywhere else in the
world…enforcement simply moves homeless
residents around so that another set of
businesses and neighbours end up with the
problem.” When finding housing for 60 individuals
who generated many calls was made
a priority through the Victoria Integrated
Community Outreach Team, calls related to
them were reduced by 74 percent.
With such a consensus of opinion and
evidence that policing is an ineffective mechanism
for addressing poverty, and with the
admission of this by the Mayor’s own task
force, it bears asking why the City of Victoria
devotes so many resources to this strategy.
Victoria council spent years in court fighting
to ban camping in city parks and having lost
(twice), their-fall back was to legislate that
temporary shelters be taken down at 7
am. Council passed the infamous chattel
bylaw that instructs police to confiscate
possessions left in public areas and the new
streets and traffic bylaw amendment that
outlaws anyone who sits, squats, kneels or
lays down on a city boulevard. These decisions
make poverty a criminal problem and
put police on the front lines to deal with an
inherently social issue.
Victoria has more police per capita than
any other Canadian city and in 2009 it had
the highest per capita police budget of any
city in BC. Policing poverty likely accounts
for a significant portion of these resources.
VicPD’s own strategic plan makes clear that
the police have aimed at a decrease in public
disorder calls, an increase in drug enforcement
arrests and an increase in “citizens’ feeling
of safety.” This has led to a heavy policing of
the street community, despite the apparent
ineffectiveness of their approach.
“Police argue that they are under-resourced,
but the problem is that resources are being
deployed in an inefficient way,” said City
Councillor Lisa Helps. “If we took money out
of the police budget and put it towards treatment
for mental health, harm reduction and
employment creation, we would watch the
demand for policing go down.”
THE OUT OF SIGHT REPORT CONCLUDES
with recommendations for reform at the federal,
provincial and municipal levels that would
end the practice of regularly stopping, searching
and ticketing street- involved people. It also
suggests changes to hold the Victoria Police
Department accountable to all people regardless
of social status, and urges funding be
redirected from enforcement to mental health
and addiction services.
“We can’t police poverty out of sight and
expect it to disappear,” said Tamara Herman.
“If we want to live in a sustainable community
we need to stop targeting our most
marginalized people and create an environment
that is safer for everyone.”
On February 16, VIPIRG launched its “Safer
for All Campaign” at a public meeting that
drew close to 200 people. One of its first moves
is to get as many people as possible to attend
and speak at a Victoria City Council meeting
on March 8 at 7:30 pm. On their agenda will
be asking the City to rescind bylaws around
confiscating personal possessions and to rethink
its spending on policing.
Out of Sight: Policing Poverty in Victoria
is available for download at www.vipirg.ca.
Gordon O’Connor is a community organizer on
Coast Salish Territories (Victoria, BC) and a member
of the VIPIRG coordinating collective.
12 March 2012 • FOCUS

Focus presents: Coast Mountain Expeditions
I’ve just made the three-hour drive from Victoria to
Campbell River, followed by a 10-minute ferry ride
over to Quadra Island.After driving across the island,
I’ve landed at the Heriot Bay government wharf.
A group of us have gathered around the Chico
Mendes, Coast Mountain Expeditions’ “seabus.”
Everybody’s new to each other, but we’re all on the
same mission so chatter with excitement about what
lies ahead.Today we’ll take the Chico to Coast
Mountain Lodge on Read Island.We learn later the
sturdy little vessel was an icebreaker-crewboat in the
Arctic Ocean near Tuktoyaktuk. It looks strong and
reliable—a fitting metaphor, as it turns out, for the
way Coast Mountain runs its kayaking operations.
Ralph Keller,skipper,guide and company co-founder,
loads our gear and the boat engine rumbles.As Heriot
Bay recedes we’re apprehensive and also enthralled
by the wild and rugged Discovery Islands ahead.Ralph
points to portside where barnacle-encrusted rocks are
awash with swells, and dozens of seals perch—all
watching us. Near Read Island there’s ocean pandemonium
and an enthralling show as splashing dolphins
chase prey towards the trap of a narrow bay.And when
mountains dominate the horizon, Ralph stops the
boat. Drifting on the calm sea, he entertains us with
the area’s history of glaciers,rising ocean levels,bears,
forests and First Peoples.
We’ve arrived when Coast Mountain Lodge comes
into view and two kayak guides greet us at the
dock: Liz and Albert, soon to be friends. Gear goes in
the quad trailer,and we follow Liz over the creek bridge
and along a forested footpath.The lodge is a big
wooden building perched on pilings between the forest
and the sea,and Lannie is pulling off her apron when
she meets us at the path.The guides have joked about
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
A guest’s eye view: Day One of the adventure
her being the “Mom”—and she is efficient as she
directs us to cabin rooms,promising drinks and cookies
after we change into paddling clothes.
Aromas lure us back to the lodge where a huge
cedar table is set with fresh flowers and heaping plates
of “Welcome Cookies.”The dining room is bright and
homey; the kitchen is piled with garden produce
and bustling with dinner prep already underway.Around
the table we share a little about ourselves and there’s
more info,this time the lay of the land,the composting
outhouse and renewable energy systems.We are joined
by off-duty guides and lucky “wwoofers”here to help
with Lannie’s gardens. It’s laid back—but then,
fortified with the healthy snack,it’s time to go paddling!
Kayaking 101 starts with boat anatomy;then Albert
and Liz explain and demonstrate perfect paddling and
techniques for getting in and out,manoeuvres,sculling,
bracing, and, theoretically, what to do if you tip over.
They fit kayaks for each of us according to age, size
ADVERTISEMENT
Paddling through the wild and rugged Discovery Islands A toast to friendship in the lodge’s dining room
Harbour seals watch kayakers
and ability—and then we’re onto the water to try it
all.The bay is sheltered and the windless sea is perfect
for learning.We practice the basics (easy!) and then
we’re kayaking: exploring the forested shoreline,
enjoying the kayak’s gliding momentum and a panorama
of purple sea stars and red urchins in clear water below.
Too soon, time’s up. But fresh air has piqued our
appetites and we eagerly paddle towards dinner.We’ve
heard about Lannie’s food and it measures up:barbecued
wild salmon,fresh grainy breads,garden vegetables
and flower-bedecked salads… Just when we’re feeling
“called” by the upstairs couches, we are informed
kayak rescues are next and everyone is encouraged to
participate. Somebody promises a sauna and freshly
baked raspberry pie as reward. So, towels in hand, it’s
back to the dock. Everybody does a “wet exit” and a
rescue—some of us with reluctance, some enthusiastic,
all with laughter.We’re bonded and glad of
the experience—and we’ve also learned it’s not all
that easy to tip over a kayak.The hot sauna is magic
under a maple tree by a waterfall in the forest.The
creek pool makes this my best-ever sauna.
Back at the lodge there are pots of tea,warm raspberry
pie, and more laughs.What a great day! When
my head hits the pillow I’m dreaming in no time. Of
tomorrow when, after breakfast, our actual expedition
gets underway. Four more days—and it already
feels like a best-ever adventure.
Coast Mountain Expeditions
& Discovery Islands Lodge
Surge Narrows, BC
250-285-2823
www.CoastMountainExpeditions.com
13

“
Privacy Commissioner slams provincial surveillance program
There’s nothing, in my view, to be alarmed
about,” said Victoria Police Chief Jamie
Graham. He was speaking at February’s
Reboot Privacy and Security Conference in
Victoria, to 200 privacy experts, academics,
and government and corporate executives
from around North America, including Alberta
Privacy Commissioner Jill Clayton and BC
Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham.
Graham was on a panel with Christopher
Parsons, a UVic PhD candidate in political
science and surveillance studies. Parsons
was presenting findings from research done
by him, me and tech expert and civil rights
advocate Kevin McArthur into Automatic
Licence Plate Recognition (findings first revealed
in February’s Focus, “Hidden Surveillance”).
Automatic Licence Plate Recognition
(ALPR) involves equipping police cruisers
with cameras and software that can read
thousands of licence plates per hour and
compare those plates to crime “hot lists.”
The program operates as a joint effort between
the RCMP, BC government and local BC
police forces, ostensibly to primarily catch
stolen vehicles, unlicensed drivers, and
prohibited drivers.
ROB WIPOND
Documents suggest BC Solicitors General and the RCMP have been misleading the public for years.
I WANT THAT NON-HIT DATA. I make no bones about it. What would
I do with it? I don’t know what I would do with it. But if I need it, I’d like
to have it.”—Victoria Police Chief Jamie Graham
However, in some other countries, ALPR
captures data about all cars on the road, which
helps create comprehensive intelligence profiles
about innocent people’s behaviours. ALPR
has then been used, for example, to identify
individuals with “suspicious travel tendencies”
and intercept citizens headed to protests.
And during our research, our team found
disturbing evidence that ALPR has already
been used here, and is intended in the near
future to again be used, for tracking and
recording the movements of all citizens.
(Retention of ALPR data about most innocent
citizens has been temporarily suspended after
the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of
Canada expressed concerns.)
After eight months of digging, our research
team had managed to ascertain this and some
other facts about the ALPR program—though
it only took minutes for Graham, at the conference,
to recast or contradict many of them.
We have documents indicating that Victoria
police have purchased an ALPR system—but
Graham said, “We borrow the Mounties’
car.” Sources and documents explained to
us that updated hot lists are put into that
cruiser daily, whereas Graham said weekly.
talk of the town
The BC Privacy Commissioner’s office told
us they’d been “briefed a number of times”
about the ALPR program, while Graham
described that as ongoing discussions with
the Commissioner’s office about ALPR data
retention: “We’re in the middle of kind of
working that out…”
Graham added that he wanted to see open
discussions about ALPR between police and
concerned citizens and “be up front, here’s
what we want, here’s what we’re doing, let’s
work together…” This, even though VicPD
refused to provide anyone to talk with Focus
about the ALPR program.To top it off, during
the Q&A, I pointed to several such inconsistencies
and asked a question, and Graham
took the opportunity to describe my Focus
article as “inaccurate” and engage in some
back and forth with me. In reply to my question
as to why he wanted to keep the ALPR
data, he then said, “If what we’re trying to
achieve and what we’re trying to search and
locate require judicial authority, not your okay
but judicial, we get it. If we don’t, we’ll axe it.
Our standard is what the courts say, not by a
marginal journalist.” This comment was
met with a chorus of disapproving “ooo”s.
Graham later said he was being “facetious.”
For the record, Focus has not been contacted
by VicPD or the RCMP with corrections to
any supposed inaccuracies in our article about
ALPR. But we invite—indeed encourage—
any corrections or clarifications that the
authorities would like to provide.
“It’s symptomatic of the trend we’ve been
finding, that we get documents and then we
have an interview with someone and we hear
a different story,” observes Parsons afterwards.
“It’s deeply concerning that we can point to
a document, and then we’re told the document
is inaccurate, misleading or out of date.
But a lot of times what people say is not official,
either. It’s frustrating. It actually challenges
a cornerstone of democracy: your right to
know what your government is up to and why.”
In any case, Graham gave general reassurance
to the conference audience. “Right now,
there is a big fear that there’s this database
where all the non-hit data [records of the movements
of cars belonging to innocent people]
…is retained by police for some nefarious
14 March 2012 • FOCUS
PHOTO: PETE ROCKWELL

THE JULY 2009 REVIEW shows Steven Morgan, Director General of the
Audit & Review Branch of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of
Canada, describing the RCMP’s ALPR program as “a generalized and ubiquitous
form of surveillance” with “real and substantial” privacy risks, and
he repeatedly questions the entire program’s very legality.
purpose,” he said. “That is not true.” Nevertheless,
Graham then explained, like the RCMP has
as well, that such a database is essentially what
he wants to build. “I want that non-hit data.
I make no bones about it. What would I do
with it? I don’t know what I would do with it.
But if I need it, I’d like to have it.”
“Chief Graham professes there is no nefarious
purpose,” comments McArthur, “but even
the most basic documentation on the program,
like the RCMP Privacy Impact Assessment, has
been designated as ‘particularly sensitive,
Protected B’, and pages were redacted [removed]
when it was released to us.”
And indeed, startling documents newly
obtained by Focus show the Office of the
Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC)
has expressed even more serious concerns than
we have, and also reveal that the BC government
and RCMP seem to have been misleading
the public since day one.
It began in November of 2006. A BC government
press release announced the ALPR
program, and stated “the federal privacy
commissioner has reviewed the technology.”
Soon, the Richmond Review, Burnaby News
Leader, Chilliwack Progress and other news
outlets covered the story, reporting that,
according to then-Solicitor General John Les,
“the system was approved by the federal privacy
commissioner.” In mid-2009, when ALPR
expanded to more BC police forces and RCMP
detachments, the Victoria Times Colonist and
Nanaimo Daily News reported that RCMP
Sgt Warren Nelson told them, “Both federal
and provincial privacy commissioners have
approved the system[.]”
However, the BC Office of the Information
and Privacy Commissioner has never officially
reviewed the ALPR program. And confidential
correspondence from the Office of the
Privacy Commissioner of Canada to the RCMP,
obtained through an access to information
request, contradicts these government and
RCMP claims.
The federal Privacy Commissioner first
received a copy of a “Preliminary Privacy
Impact Assessment” about the RCMP’s ALPR
program in 2005. However, the OPC was
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
struggling with staff shortages and never
reviewed the document. In 2007, the OPC
finally indicated readiness, and asked the
RCMP for an up-to-date ALPR privacy impact
assessment. But that updated version didn’t
arrive until two years later. The Office of
the Privacy Commissioner of Canada finally
conducted and issued its first review of the
RCMP’s ALPR program on July 15, 2009.
But by that time, the ALPR program had already
spread to numerous police forces and areas
around BC, and the BC government and RCMP
had been telling the public for three years that
the federal Privacy Commissioner had both
“reviewed” and “approved” the program. And
as recently as December of 2011, RCMP officers
leading the ALPR program were still
making such claims.
“Permission was obtained from both the
federal and provincial privacy commissioners
to use [ALPR] as a pilot project [in 2006],”
Sgt Nelson told Focus.
“Generally, [the Office of the Privacy
Commissioner of Canada has] been very
supportive,” said RCMP Superintendent
Mike Diack.
Yet in fact, the July 2009 review shows Steven
Morgan, Director General of the Audit &
Review Branch of the Office of the Privacy
Commissioner of Canada, describing the
RCMP’s ALPR program as “a generalized and
ubiquitous form of surveillance” with “real
and substantial” privacy risks, and he repeatedly
questions the entire program’s very legality.
For example, the RCMP has long claimed
licence plate numbers are not personal
information, and so they need not abide
by most privacy laws when tracking
Canadians with ALPR. But Morgan writes,
“Licence plate numbers and images of individuals
captured by ALPR equipped cruisers
would in fact qualify under the [Privacy]
Act as personal information.”
Morgan further expresses concern that
the ALPR program has no clear lines of governance
and accountability within the RCMP,
and no plan to ensure program changes are
legal prior to being implemented. This situation,
he states, contravenes directives issued
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15

“
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT DOING in this case, it would appear, is appropriately regulating this, so that we
can get the right balance. When we allow the police to decide what the balance is, it’s police one hundred, citizens zero.
We would have barcodes on our foreheads.”—BC Civil Liberties Association policy director Micheal Vonn
by Treasury Board (Treasury Board is responsible
for ensuring federal government programs
comply with Canadian privacy laws). “[W]e
request that the RCMP explicitly identify
those individuals responsible for ensuring
compliance with applicable policies and legislation
for the ALPR program,” writes Morgan.
Morgan also challenges the RCMP’s right
to gather so much information about citizens
for no clearly defined reasons, adding, “We
therefore request that the RCMP provide
explicit reference to legal authorities (both
federal and provincial) under which the ALPR
program is being conducted.”
Morgan questions how the RCMP will
manage ALPR errors. The RCMP’s own studies
show 8-10 percent of plates are misread. This
could translate into thousands of false records
daily from the Victoria area alone identifying
people’s cars in places where they haven’t
been. Yet these false records would still be
stored automatically in RCMP databases.
Citing subsection 6(2) of the Privacy Act,
Morgan writes, “[W]e ask the RCMP to provide
our office with details of the measures in place
to ensure that records…are accurate.”
Morgan adds that the RCMP has not provided
any procedures for people to access or correct
information about themselves in the database,
even though such access and correction procedures
are requirements under privacy law.
And notable in light of the difficulties our
research team has had obtaining information,
Morgan describes “unease” in the Commissioner’s
office “over the lack of RCMP communication
to the public on this initiative,” and states,
“The public has a right to know about the ALPR
program and its purpose.”
If all this isn’t disturbing enough, the most
startling comments emerge in relation to an
aspect of the ALPR program which has never
been publicly revealed before—aspects possibly
discussed on the two redacted pages in the
Privacy Impact Assessment obtained by Focus.
Morgan notes with concern that the RCMP’s
Privacy Impact Assessment discusses “the
collection of a series of additional data elements—
race, ethnic origin, gender, blood type, financial
transactions etc—which do not clearly fit
within the purview of the ALPR program.”
What does collecting information on our
blood types and financial transactions have to
do with catching unlicensed drivers?
“Wow,” says BC Civil Liberties Association
policy director Micheal Vonn, reading and
repeating these “data elements” aloud. “That
is dazzling in terms of its overbreadth…Shocking
on so many different levels, it’s hard to know
where to begin.”
Is this evidence that police are planning to
use the ALPR database as a foundation for a
much more expansive repository of diverse
intelligence information?
Vonn, a lawyer, is more circumspect: “This
is further information to show that the
program is not being used for what the public
is being told.”
Where would they even be getting information
about our blood types or financial
transactions?
“What they’re planning to tap into, I can’t
tell you,” says Vonn. But she points to the
Liberals’ recent privacy legislation changes and
notes, “I can tell you the government of British
Columbia is actively attempting to create huge
data linkages between all kinds of databases
that exist within government programs.”
Vonn isn’t sure what agendas are driving
the ALPR “overbreadth,” but points out
that police, somewhat understandably, always
want as much information as they can get their
hands on. Consequently, she says, it’s government’s
responsibility to ensure this “voracious
appetite” is properly balanced against the
privacy rights of law-abiding citizens.
“What the government is not doing in
this case, it would appear, is appropriately
regulating this, so that we can get the right
balance,” says Vonn. “When we allow the
police to decide what the balance is, it’s police
one hundred, citizens zero. We would have
barcodes on our foreheads.”
I provided the OPC report to federal
Conservative Tony Clement, President of the
Treasury Board, and Liberal Shirley Bond, BC
Minister of Justice, and asked how they’d bring
the ALPR program into compliance with
the law. The Treasury Board stated their responsibility
“does not include an enforcement role.”
The BC Justice Ministry issued no reply.
The OPC’s Morgan summarizes concerns
with an overarching recommendation: “To
the extent that ALPR’s program leaders are
unfamiliar with the requirements of the [Privacy]
Act…we would strongly recommend that the
RCMP engage its internal privacy experts and
legal counsel in assessing the organization’s
obligations for privacy protection.”
Vonn says that’s as close to declaring a
program flatly illegal as the Privacy
Commissioner’s office would ever get in such
a review. This is because the OPC must adjudicate
complaints from the public about
government programs, and so cannot appear
prejudiced. “The advice of ‘please review’ is
as strongly worded as you can get without
prejudging the issue,” says Vonn. “Which is
why it is very, very important to take the recommendations
seriously, because they do indicate
serious problems.”
However, following this rebuke, the RCMP
and OPC held a conference call in January,
2010, which Morgan later summarized in a
letter. “[W]e note that the RCMP asserts that…”
begins Morgan, and what follows is a pointform
list of virtually every major concern the
OPC had expressed, framed in the form of a
dismissal from the RCMP: The ALPR program
does indeed have adequate safeguards and
controls, asserts the RCMP. Everything is
indeed being done “in accordance with applicable
laws.” There is indeed proper governance
and accountability in place. And so on.
“This is clearly the RCMP telling the federal
Privacy Commissioner that it doesn’t want
to do what it’s being requested to do,” interprets
Vonn. “[The RCMP] have not
implemented the changes. They have not
addressed the concerns.”
Yet with that, the OPC parked its file. Their
office has little authority to do anything more
unless someone complains about the ALPR
program. But how, asks Vonn, do we complain
about a surveillance program about which we
can learn almost nothing? So Parsons, McArthur
and I have decided that precisely that question
itself will be the starting point for a letter to our
federal and provincial privacy commissioners.
Rob Wipond has been a freelance writer and
investigative journalist for over two decades. Last
year he was a finalist in the Western Magazine
Awards for his Focus column, and previously won
for business writing.
16 March 2012 • FOCUS

www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
A Notice to FOCUS Readers
If you would like to support MORE INVESTIGATIVE
JOURNALISM in our city, please consider becoming a
Supporting Subscriber (12 editions). Send a cheque (payable
to Focus Magazine) for $33.60 (includes tax) to PO Box
5310 Victoria, V8R 6S4 or call us at 250-388-7231 to put
it on your VISA or Master Card.
Many of you have had this magazine delivered to your
door EVERY MONTH by Canada Post. We are about
to change the pattern of our home delivery, which means
you will no longer receive it each and every month
UNLESS YOU REQUEST IT.
If you would like every edition of FOCUS delivered to
your door AT NO CHARGE, send an email (please don’t
phone) to: focuspublish@shaw.ca. Put “Focus request”
in the subject line and include in the body of your email
your name, your street address including postal code, and
your phone number. All information you share with FOCUS
will be treated with strict confidentiality and will NOT be
shared with any third party.
This offer is only available to readers in Victoria currently
receiving FOCUS through Canada Post.
FOCUS will continue to be available at the usual pickup
locations around the city. To find a location near
you, go to www.focusonline.ca and look for “Where to
find a print copy of FOCUS.”
17

PHOTO: TONY BOUNSALL
18
Creative
Coast palette18 the arts in march22 coastlines 34
Perfectly rendered
CHRISTINE CLARK
A physician and reproductive rights advocate has returned to her first love: art.
Mary Conley
Growing up in St Andrew’s by the Sea in New Brunswick, population
1500, Mary Conley always wanted to go to art school,
but says, “I didn’t even know where they had them.” She says
that the public schools didn’t offer arts programming back then in the
late ‘50’s. Instead, after graduating from high school, this daughter of
a lobster wholesaler and his wife (a retired telephone operator),
won a scholarship to the University of New Brunswick to study science
and began what would eventually develop into a long and storied
career in medicine as a champion of human rights, and in particular,
women’s reproductive rights.
In her home studio, a clean spacious room on the main floor of an
old mansion where Mary now lives with her husband and collaborator,
retired fisherman and sculptor David Gray, you can see the birds coming
and going at the feeder right outside of one of the many large whitesilled
windows. The bright light softens everything, but the room has
an almost clinical atmosphere in spite of its purpose, which is to
make art. There are papers on the table in profusion and a work in
progress on an easel, but there are none of the usual tell-tale signs of
an artist at work, at least not glaringly so: no accidental paint on the
carpet or on the walls, no smell of turps, no rotting brushes in tubs of
water. Nothing black or dirty or grimy.
Is this apparent need for cleanliness somehow a reflection of her
career in medicine? I ask her about that career, and am transported
back several decades. Probably it’s difficult to imagine, especially for
people born after 1970 or so, but contraception was actually illegal
in Canada until 1969. That year, under Pierre Trudeau’s Liberal government,
safe medical abortion became legally available, but only
under strict conditions: abortions had to be performed in a hospital
setting and only after a panel of three, predominantly male, doctors
had reviewed the circumstances of the pregnancy and had decided
whether the case for abortion was morally allowable.
“Owl” 14 x 14 inches, pastel
March 2012 • FOCUS

www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
“Lili” 12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas
Mary Conley says “women were desperate. They took a lot of risks.
They died.” And so, in protest and because they felt it was right, certain
doctors began to take on the risk; people like Dr Conley and Dr Henry
Morgentaler, a survivor of Auschwitz and Dachau, with whom she
trained in 1980 and who spent 10 months in a Canadian prison during
the mid ‘70’s for providing women with safe abortions outside of a
hospital setting.
And the danger for doctors was not confined to the threat of prosecution.
Referring to a period during the 1990s when an American,
James Kopp, subsequently convicted for killing a doctor in New
York state, was suspected of shooting and injuring three Canadian
doctors as well, Conley explains that, “They began shooting doctors.
[I had] seven years of terror wondering if I was going to be shot. The
government even offered me a flak jacket, but they were using highpowered
rifles and a flak jacket doesn’t prevent you from being killed.
My friends told me to quit so that I wouldn’t get shot, but I said no. I
would have been a coward.”
She goes on to say, “Anyone can have an unwanted pregnancy. Women
with AIDS, prostitutes, drug addicts. Women with cancer. Women with
disabilities. And what happens to…[unwanted] children? Why did they
close all the orphanages when birth control became legalized? No woman
ever came back and said that having an abortion was a bad thing.”
It’s very difficult to reconcile Mary’s career as an award-winning
doctor (she won the Nobel Prize in 1984 as a member of Physicians
for Social Responsibility, among other distinctions) with her work as
an artist, other than to say that this is an incredibly passionate
woman with her feet firmly grounded in the highly regimented world
of science. (As a young woman, she worked as a medical researcher for
four years in the chemistry lab at UBC, earning money to complete her
medical degree, and she describes this experience as profoundly influential.)
It’s a most awkward combination to dissect and quite challenging
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19

“Bald Eagle” 16 x 12 inches, pastel
20 March 2012 • FOCUS

to understand, possibly because she herself hasn’t as yet reconciled the
two, at least not in her art. As a doctor she was, without a doubt,
extremely brave; a ground-breaker and not at all averse to risk. As an
artist, an endeavour she committed herself to after her retirement in
2003, she is rational, orderly and careful.
About her approach to art-making she says, “I can’t do anything
that’s messy. It doesn’t appeal to me. I see art as clean and neat. I don’t
like things that are messy. It’s not my personality. If something is worth
doing, it’s worth doing well.” Her approach has earned her a good few
awards from art shows, including the Sooke Fine Arts (people’s choice)
and a number of Federation of Canadian Artists juried shows both in
Victoria and Vancouver.
Conley, who works in pastels, oil and watercolour, considers herself
to be an academic artist. She explains that “to learn new things is the
most exciting thing about painting.” A self-described “workshop junkie,”
she has taken classes in calligraphy, sign painting, airbrushing, watercolour,
oils, pastels, silk-screening, batik, greeting card and book making
to name just a few. She sees herself essentially as a student. “I consider
the people I take workshops from to be better than myself. I’ve tried
to do it on my own and it was a big mess.”
This is what she says, but the truth is that Mary is extremely talented.
Better, I think, than she knows. I would like to see her so-called messes.
Messes can be very revealing, very honest, and isn’t that, too, what art
is supposed to be?
For now you can see Mary Conley’s perfectly rendered, perfectly
beautiful, photo-realist portraits of children and birds at Morris Gallery.
Who knows what’s coming next?
Mary Conley’s work is on exhibit at Morris Gallery, and she is one
of the featured artists at its 12th Anniversary Reception, March 2, 7-
9pm, on Alpha St at 428 Burnside Rd E. See http://www.morrisgallery.ca
and http://www.artworksbymaryconley.com.
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
“Blue Raptor” 12 x 16 inches, pastel
Christine Clark is a Victoria-based artist. See her blog
at http://artinvictoria.com.
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21

Gloria Snider (left) and Lorene Cammiade, in Rabbit Hole
March 8-24
RABBIT HOLE
Langham Court Theatre
THE UNIVERSE WORKS IN STRANGE WAYS; THIS INTERVIEW
is just one example. I’m at Langham Court Theatre, speaking to director
Sylvia Rhodes about the company’s latest production, Rabbit Hole.
She’s explaining that David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer-winning play tells
us of how a family deals with the sudden death of their four-year-old
son, two weeks to the day after my own parents lost their own boy—
my brother—at far too young an age. It’s an assignment I was given
two months earlier, long before this fog of grief settled upon my family.
I’m not sure if the powers-that-be are flipping me the bird or offering
me a challenge.
Perhaps it’s a bit of both. As I’m reminded in my conversation with
Rhodes, grief is universal; it’s something that almost all of us will have
to overcome at some point. And a play like Lindsay-Abaire’s accomplished
work can maybe help us along the way.
“This particular play, it illuminates an event that most of us have to
cope with in our lives at least once,” she says. “It sounds like a real
downer, but it deals with it so honestly and with such wit. It’s also funny.
A play that can make you leave the theatre laughing or crying or making
you think—that, to me, is the best kind of theatre.”
While a play like this can be a tough (but rewarding) experience for
the audience, it’s also a difficult one for the cast, which in this case
includes newcomers Kate Harter and Malcolm McLaren as well as
Lorene Cammiade (The Memory of Water) and The Laramie Project’s
Eric Holmgren and Gloria Snider.
“Of all the plays I’ve directed, this one draws on the actors’ emotional
reactions more than any other play,” says Rhodes, who has been involved
with Langham Court Theatre on and off since 1965 as both a performer
and, more recently, a director. “I have to be able to ask them to put
themselves in a place where they may not necessarily want to go, which
has happened in rehearsals. I have tried to help them get there, and
sometimes it’s emotional for me too.”
But Rhodes says that just because the play isn’t a light one doesn’t
mean we should avoid it—or that we won’t be entertained or even
delighted at points. “I say people will enjoy it, and it seems an inappropriate
word to use about a play with that sort of subject, but it’s something
that we all have to deal with,” she says. “I think that’s why we read
books, that’s why we go to the theatre. It’s to show us our lives and
help us to deal with them and realize that we’re not alone.”
Wise words, Sylvia. I’ll see you at the theatre.
Rabbit Hole runs Mar 8-24 at Langham Court Theatre, 805
Langham Ct, with a special preview performance Mar 7. Tickets
$17/$19, or two for $20 on the preview. Visit www.langhamtheatre.ca
or call 250-384-2142 for tickets and times. —Amanda Farrell-Low
22 March 2012 • FOCUS
PHOTO: DAVID LOWES / ART STUDIO 21

the arts in march
Continuing to March 25
GIVE A DUCK
Two locations
Fired Up! Studio creates clay duck figurines,
allowing folks to “adopt” and paint them, then
fire them in their kiln. $15 to adopt a duck,
with $5 to the Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary.
Ducks on display at 3870 Swan Lake Rd
and 1636 Cedar Hill X-Rd. 250-818-4543,
www.firedupceramics.ca.
Continuing to April 2
TED GRANT
Maltwood Gallery
Known as the “Father of Canadian
Photojournalism,” Grant is the only photographer
to hold both Gold and Silver medals
for Photographic Excellence from the National
Film Board of Canada. This exhibit portrays
young men and women medical interns in
classrooms, operating rooms and rural clinics.
Reception 4-5pm Mar 6, the McPherson Library,
Room A003. 250-381-7618, www.uvac.uvic.ca.
March 1
ANNE SCHAEFER CONCERT
Alix Goolden Hall
Award-winning singer/songwriter Anne
Schaefer launches “The Waiting Room” with
fellow musicians Sean Drabitt, Kelby MacNayr,
Sara Marreiros, Brooke Maxwell, Adrian
Dolan,and Zavallennahh Huscroft. $20; VJS
and UJAM $18; Seniors/Students $15. Doors
7:30pm. Tickets: Larsen’s Music, Lyle’s Place.
250-896-9096, www.anneschaefer.com.
March 1-3
THE BARRA MACNEILS
Royal Theatre
The Victoria Symphony fuses Celtic and
classical for this concert with music, dancing
and storytelling. 2pm Mar 1 and 8pm Mar 2-
3, 805 Broughton St, $11-$66. 250-386-6121,
www.victoriasymphony.ca.
March 1-3
GUYS AND DOLLS
McPherson Playhouse
Presented by St Michaels University School.
7:30pm Mar 1-3, 2pm March 3, 3 Centennial
Sq, $24.75. 250-386-6121, www.smus.ca.
March 2
TANIA GILL QUARTET
Hermann’s Jazz Club
Canadian jazz pianist and composer Tania
Gill. 8pm, 753 View St, $17.50. 250-386-6121,
www.victoriajazz.ca.
March 2
CRUSH
The Metro Studio
Spoken-word artist Missie Peters collaborates
with soprano Taylor Pardell, baritone
Alan MacDonald, saxophonist Gordon Clements
and pianist Michael Drislane for a night of
poetry, song and dance. Cocktails 7pm, performance
8pm, 1411 Quadra St. 250-386-6121,
www.saltwaterinc.ca.
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
March 2-3
SALT FESTIVAL
UVic/Open Space
This contemporary music festival features
local and international artists, including the
UVic Orchestra, Ensemble Nikel, German
percussionist Olaf Tzschoppe, Sonic Lab and
more. 8pm Mar 2, University Centre Auditorium,
$17.30/13.50; 4pm through evening on Mar
3, 510 Fort St. $25 for all-day pass. 250-
383-8833, www.openspace.ca/SALT.
March 2-31
LYNDA MCKEWAN: SOLO
Gallery 1580
Lynda McKewan’s colour-focused geometric
abstracts. Opening reception Mar 10, 1-5pm.
Gallery hours: Tues, Thurs, Fri, Sat, 11am-4pm,
1580 Cook St, 250-415-5480.
March 3-29
LEAVING CHARLIE: WILL GORDON
Martin Batchelor Gallery
Mixed media work. Opens 7pm March 3,
712 Cormorant St. 250-385-7919.
March 4
LINDEN SINGERS
First Met United Church
“Northern Lights Northern Echoes” features
music from Scandinavia and Canada. 3pm,
932 Balmoral Rd, $17/$20. 250-652-9851,
www.lindensingers.ca.
March 4
WIZARD OF OZ
Metro Studio
A collaboration between Kathryn Popham’s
acclaimed Erewhon Theatre and Kaleidoscope.
2pm, 1411 Quadra St. 250-386-6121,
www.kaleidoscope.bc.ca.
March 4
STRIKE FORCE 4
Royal Theatre
A kid-oriented percussive journey with
the Victoria Symphony. 2:30pm, 805 Broughton
St, $11-$30. www.victoriasypmhony.ca,
250-386-6121.
March 4
PHYLLIS SEROTA
Congregation Emanu-El
Artist and author Phyllis Serota reads from
her new memoir, “Painting My Life.” 2pm,
1461 Blanshard St. 250-382-0615,
www.congregationemanu-el.ca.
March 4-28
FEDERATION OF CDN ARTISTS
Goward House
The Victoria Chapter of the FCA showcases
original art, cards and prints at their juried
spring show. Reception 1:30-3:30pm Mar 4,
2495 Arbutus Rd, www.victoriafca.com.
March 4, 18
SUNDAY PAINT-IN
BC School of Art Therapy
A place for aspiring artists to try their
hand at art. All ages welcome; materials
provided. 2-4pm, 125 Skinner St, by donation.
250-598-6434, www.bcsat.com.
23

“FREEDOM” LUKE RAMSEY, INK ON PAPER
March 3-17
LUKE RAMSEY: COMPATIBLES
Madrona Gallery
This Pender Island artist is recognized internationally for his art and design work, with
exhibitions from L.A. to Berlin. Luke describes his work as “Organized chaos—a play with
paradoxical themes.” The content is influenced by a beautifully strange cosmos of organisms
and comedy; the approach is fluid and not forced. “Compatibles” inspires a meditative
contentment in the moment, just in the way the drawings are made, and celebrates acceptance
and change in any compatible relationship, whether it be simple and complex, or
improvised and free.” Opening reception with artist March 3, 1-4pm and 7-10pm. 606 View St.
250-380-4660, www.madronagallery.com.
“THE LIGHTHOUSE” (DETAIL) CAITLIN AMBERY, 36 X 48 INCHES, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
Throughout March
NEW WORKS
Victoria Emerging Art Gallery
VEAG welcomes the spring with new work by Caitlin Ambery (3rd place winner of VEA
Awards 2010), Tom McCabe, Carollyne Yardley, Liam Hannah Lloyd and Mandy Auger. The
gallery is also facilitating a fun beginners workshop on “accidental art”: Splatter, Drip & Splotch—
An Adventure in Aqueous Media & Quirky Characters, Mar 11, 3pm-5pm. $25 including all
materials and refreshments. Wed-Fri and Sun: 12pm-4pm; Sat: 11am-6pm, Tues by appointment.
977 A Fort St, 778-430-5585, www.victoriaemergingart.com.
24
(TOP) “POLARIS” (DETAIL) BLU SMITH, 54 X 60 INCHES, MIXED MEDIA
“TIDAL POOLS” RON PARKER, 20 X 30 INCHES, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
March 17-23
RON PARKER & BLU SMITH
The Avenue Gallery
The Avenue Gallery introduces “Artistic Pairings,” a series of mini-shows featuring two or
three artists showcasing up to six pieces. These week-long events will take place in March,
April, May, September and October. On the opening Saturday of each show, the artists will talk
about and/or demonstrate their process. The gallery is planning to feature a wine pairing for
each event to stimulate repartee. This month’s artists’ reception, with abstract painter Blu Smith
and Ron Parker, with his stylized, “essentialist” landscapes, is on Mar 17, 1-4pm. 2184 Oak
Bay Ave. 250-598-2184, www.theavenuegallery.com.
“MORNING CALM” JEFFREY J. BORON, 24 X 36 INCHES, OIL ON CANVAS
March 29-April 15
JEFFREY J. BORON & LINNY D. VINE
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Boron and Vine present their first co-exhibit since 2008, this one featuring en plein air
works from their travels around the province. Linny D. Vine’s distinctive contemporary
paintings are known for their joyful energy that celebrate the wonderful character and joyous
imperfectness of life. Jeffrey Boron’s paintings are recognized for their strong sense of light
and confident brush strokes. Reception 2pm Mar 31, 1040 Moss St, 250-384-4101,
www.linnydvine.com, www.jeffreyboron.com.
March 2012 • FOCUS

Discover the
Legacy Art Gallery
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
Divergence:
Insight into Studio Practices
of UVic’s Art Educators
February 29 to April 14, 2012
Opal Ice by Bill Zuk
630 Yates St. | 250-381-7645 | Hours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wed to Sat | uvac.uvic.ca
Deryk Houston
“Blackbirds, Stooked Wheat & Prayers”
February 27 - April 7
Reception Thursday, March 1, 7 - 9pm
www.eclecticgallery.ca
2170 Oak Bay Avenue • 250.590.8095
25
“Time for Rest” Deryk Houston, 11 x 14 inches, acrylic on canvas

www.victoriaemergingart.com
Phone/Fax: 778 430 5585 info@victoriaemergingart.com
Victoria Emerging Art Gallery 977 A Fort Street Victoria, B.C., V8V 3K3
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Featuring Kristi Bridgeman’s
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250.361.3372 • www.shesaidgallery.ca
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Pottery classes for all levels
Earth & Fire Pottery Studio
1820 Government Street
250-380-7227
March 10
QRISTINA & QUINN: ST PATRICK’S CELTIC CEILIDH
Fairfield United Church
QRISTINA (yes, with a “Q”) and her younger
brother, Quinn, are a formidable musical
duo. At just 21 and 16 years old, respectively,
the Bachands have two critically acclaimed
CDs, Relative Minors and Family. They have
also won a host of prestigious folk and Celtic
music awards, including the Irish Music Award
for Top Traditional Group in multiple venues,
and just weeks ago, they were honoured with
the Irish Music Award for Top Duo. For their
March 10 Ceilidh, they’ll be joined by piping
champion Zac Leger and Juno-nominated
multi-instrumentalist and co-producer of
their album, Adrian Dolan, as well as other
special guests.
Both siblings began classical violin studies
at an early age. After seeing a concert with the
outrageous Canadian Celtic group, Barrage,
however, Qristina was immediately hooked
on all things Celtic. “It was really exciting, and
fun, and upbeat,” she explains. As Qristina
honed her skills with fiddle lessons and sessions
with the Victoria Fiddle Society, Quinn eventually
put away his violin, and took up the
guitar to accompany her.
Quinn has since proven to be a Celtic guitar
prodigy. He’s just been invited to perform in
two shows with award-winning fiddler Natalie
MacMaster. And for years—since he was 13—
he has accompanied renowned Canadian Celtic
fiddler Ashley MacIsaac. Young Quinn has
learned a lot in his travels with MacIsaac. The
fiddler has helped him to coax unique and
original sounds from his guitar, and has shown
him a thing or two about showmanship: “He’s
got the biggest stage presence of anybody that
the arts in march
Qristina & Quinn Bachand
I’ve ever played with before,” says Quinn. “He
knows how to work a crowd.”
Not that Qristina doesn’t. Rather than
bombast and lightning, however, hers is a
gracious, sweeter style of performing, with a
greater emphasis on melodies. She is a delight
to watch, playing with obvious joy and passion
for her craft, easily carrying the audience along
with her. “[Performing] is a good feeling, for
sure,” she explains. “It’s sort of like when
you’re off [the stage] you’re like ‘when can I
get back on,’ cause that was really fun!’”
Quinn is Qristina’s mirror opposite on stage.
With his dark, curly locks and his intense,
introspective performance style, he is a young
Bob Dylan, doing with music what Dylan did
with poetry. They have a unique chemistry on
stage. Once, Quinn even tuned one of Qristina’s
strings in the middle of a piece! Says Quinn,
“We grew up together and our minds are somewhat
in the same place.”
The Bachands are delighted to be performing
again at Fairfield United Church. Qristina has
fond memories of jamming in the Church basement
with the Victoria Fiddle Society. “It’s a
place where we grew up,” she explains. But
now, they’re coming home to play on the
big stage!
Fairfield United Church is at Fairfield and
Moss St. The show starts at 7:30pm. Tickets
at Ivy’s, Long & McQuade, Larsen Music, and
Ditch Records. The duo also performs Mar 17
at Six Mile Pub (1:30) and the Roadhouse Bar
& Grill (6pm). See www.qbachand.com.
—Lisa Szeker-Madden
26 March 2012 • FOCUS

March 6
MONIQUE MOJICA
University of Victoria
Toronto-based Mojica, a Rappahannock
and Kuna performer and playwright, who is
considered to be one of Canada’s most noted
aboriginal performance voices, will lecture on:
“Scoring the Body Through Guna Aesthetic
Principles: Indigenous Dramatic Arts in Theory,
Process and Practice.” 7pm, David Strong
Building’s Room C122, free. 250-721-6222,
www.finearts.uvic.ca.
March 6-10
FOUR CATS
Red Art Gallery
Works from students of the 4Cats Art
Studio, a professional art studio for artists
aged 4-10 who draw inspiration from the
masters. 2033 Oak Bay Ave, 250-881-0462,
www.redartgallery.ca.
March 7-31
SPRING SALON
View Art Gallery
Works by gallery artists. 104-860 View St,
250-213-1162, www.viewartgallery.ca.
March 8
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
LUNCHEON
St John’s Hall
Speaker Maureen Maloney, QC, the first
female Dean of Law in the province speaks.
Funds support Bridges for Women’s programming.
Registration 11am, lunch, 11:45,
925 Balmoral Rd, $50. 250-285-7410,
www.bridgesforwomen.ca.
March 8-11
VICTORIA FRENCH FEST
Various venues
This 15th annual celebration of all things
Francophone features performances by magician
Alain Choquette and clown Ben Labaroutte,
plus a Radio-Canada stage, traditional francophone
food and more. 250-388-7350,
www.francocentre.com.
March 9-10
LINES BALLET
Royal Theatre
Dance Victoria presents Alonzo King’s
acclaimed San Francisco-based contemporary
ballet company. 7:30pm, 805 Broughton St,
$25-72. 250-386-6121, www.dancevictoria.ca.
March 10
THE WYF OF BATHE
Intrepid Theatre Club
Julian Cervello (“Canterbury Cocktails”)
further delves into Chaucer’s “Canterbury
Tales” and flexes his Middle English muscles.
8pm, 2-1609 Blanshard St, $10/$15, Q&A to
follow. www.scrumpyproductions.com.
March 12
VICTORIA SYMPHONY
Royal Theatre
Pianist Anton Kureti (conducted by his
son Julian) and the Symphony perform
Schubert, Beethoven and Mozart. 8pm, 805
Broughton St, $11-$66. 250-386-6121
www.victoriasymphony.ca.
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
March 12-25
SPARK FESTIVAL
Belfry Theatre
This year’s festival of upcoming and innovative
theatre features works such as Toronto
playwright Michael Redhill’s accolade-ridden
“Goodness;” local performer Ingrid Hansen
and SNAFU Dance’s “Kitt and Jane” (the
Belfry’s Incubator Project); the latest from
Shane Koyczan, the engaging spoken-word
artist; Anita Majumdar’s “Fish Eyes,” a comical
tale of cultural appropriation; plus readings
of Matthew Payne’s Joan Mans tribute
“My Memory’s Not So Good;” plus workshops,
mini-plays, and more. 1291 Gladstone
Ave. 250-385-6815, www.sparkfestival.ca.
March 16
ERIC ST-LAURENT TRIO
Hermann’s Jazz Club
The Jazz Society presents award-winning
Montreal guitarist Eric St-Laurent, with bassist
Jordan O’Connor and percussionist Michel
DeQuevedo. 8pm, 753 View St, $17.50.
250-386-6121, www.jazzvictoria.ca.
March 16-18
CLAYWORKS
Mary Winspear Centre
Annual show and sale featuring works by
local ceramic artists. 5-9pm Mar 16, 10am-
4pm Mar 17-18, 2243 Beacon Ave (Sidney),
free. 250-656-0275, www.marywinspear.ca.
March 16-18
MURDER AT THE
HOWARD JOHNSON’S
Mary Winspear Centre
The Peninsula Players’ 60th season brings
us this tale of a love triangle, a motel, and
murder. 7:30pm Mar 16-17, 2pm Mar 18,
2243 Beacon Ave (Sidney), $15/$18. 250-
656-0275, www.marywinspear.ca.
March 16-April 28
TRIMPIN’S (CANONX+4:33=100)
Open Space
Seattle-based sculptor/composer/inventor
Trimpin, known for his stunning, functional
sound-art pieces, creates a new interactive
installation constructed with help from Dr
Andrew Schloss and UVic students. Opens
7pm Mar 16, artist talk 2pm Mar 17, 510 Fort
St. 250-383-8833, www.openspace.ca.
March 17
EMILY CARR STRING QUARTET
Lutheran Church of the Cross
Performing compositions by Shostakovich,
Mozart and Ravel. 8pm, 3787 Cedar Hill
Rd, $15/$20. www.emilycarrstringquartet.com,
250-477-6222.
March 17
ONE WORLD 2012
Royal Theatre
Music and dance performed by UWC
Pearson College’s international students. 2pm
and 8pm, 805 Broughton St, $15-$23. 250-
386-6121, www.pearsoncollege.ca.
GALLERY
JHG
1580
Introducing LYNDA McKEWAN
“SOLO”
March 6 - 31
Opening Saturday, March 10, 1 - 5pm
Gallery hours: 11 - 4 pm Tues, Thur, Fri, Sat
1580 Cook Street 250.415.5480
Old School Woodworks
one-of-a-kind furniture • artistic kitchens & built-ins
commissions welcome
Tues-Fri 12-5 Sat 12-4
www.oldschoolwoodworks.com
2031 Oak Bay Ave 250-896-8073
27
“Red Squares” by Lynda McKewan, 48 x 64 inches, acrylic on canvas

“GIJALORDI” EMILY MURRAY
March 10-April 17
GIJALORDI: THE KINGFISHER STORY
Alcheringa Gallery
Gijalordi explores the local Kingfisher story relating to the formation of the Tully River in
Queensland, Australia. This suite of 18 works was developed from a printmaking workshop
at Girringun Art Centre as a means of providing practical support to the artists after many
suffered devastating losses in the wake of Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi in February 2011.
Partial proceeds will benefit Girringun Art Centre. Opening reception on Mar 10, 2pm-5pm.
665 Fort St, 250-383-8224, www.alcheringa-gallery.com.
“COMMUNITY” DERYK HOUSTON, 36 X 36 INCHES, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
February 27-April 7
BLACKBIRDS, STOOKED WHEAT AND PRAYERS
Eclectic Gallery
Deryk Houston has completed large scale ground art projects in Iraq, Canada, and Scotland
in support of children’s rights. Much of his work is about the Earth and creating conditions for
seeds to grow—a metaphor for the search for peace. Houston’s work was featured in the
National Film Board of Canada documentary, “From Baghdad to Peace Country” and has been
exhibited in the former Soviet Union, Scotland, Iraq, and the US, and is in the collection of the
Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. Artist’s reception Mar 1, 7-9pm. 2170 Oak Bay Ave.
250-590-8095, www.eclecticgallery.ca.
28
“I WANT TO BE A SHINING EXAMPLE” MARK LAVER, OIL ON CANVAS
Throughout March
MARK LAVER: SHINING EXAMPLES
Legacy Gallery
Dark, wet Vancouver Island nights receive a painterly treatment in Mark Laver’s intimate “Night
Paintings” and ambitious “Rural Disasters.” Be it urban parks after midnight, trailer park fires,
nocturnal car crashes or rural highways, the exhibit reveals a battle between the psychological
and narrative power of nocturnal imagery and the allure of oil paint itself. Smeared, swirled, glazed
and dripped, the luscious materiality of paint is as much the subject of these paintings as the landscape
Laver calls home. At 630 Yates St, 250-381-7645, www.legacygallery.ca and www.uvac.uvic.ca.
“HEAVY METAL” GLEN MELVILLE, 16 X 16 INCHES, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
March 13-31
GLEN MELVILLE AND FRIENDS
Red Art Gallery
Glen Melville is a talented artist from South Africa who brings a mysterious mood to his
precisely executed paintings. Whether an abandoned truck in the desert, or an object
evoking nostalgic memories, he imparts a stunning level of intrigue to his subjects. New works
by other gallery artists include clay sculptor Leonard Butt, and painters Carolyn Kowalyk and
Marion Evamy. All have won major awards at the Sidney Fine Art Show. Opening reception
Mar 15, 6-8pm. View works online at www.redartgallery.ca. 2033 Oak Bay Ave. 250-881-0462.
Open Tues-Sat, noon-4pm or by appointment.
March 2012 • FOCUS

“Smoker”, ink on paper
Luke Ramsey
Compatibles
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
March 3 – 17
Opening reception: Saturday,March 3
1- 4 pm and 7 - 10 pm
Artist will be in attendance
606 View Street
250.380.4660 • www.madronagallery.com
Introducing
Doreen Schneider – jeweller
2184 OAK BAY AVENUE VICTORIA
www.theavenuegallery.com 250-598-2184
29
“Cosmic Nova” pendant by Doreen Schneider, amethyst, sage agate, chocolate pearls

Projection image from Four Seasons
March 16, 17, 18
BALLET VICTORIA: VIVALDI’S 4 SEASONS—WEST COAST STYLE
McPherson Theatre
IN THE BIG HUMAN ANT COLONY, CULTURAL WORKERS HAVE
the privilege of calling the dance of life. This is the mandate of Ballet
Victoria, which is local artists interpreting the world story for
local audiences.
Dancer, choreographer and artistic director Paul Destrooper calls
his mission Art Eco as he integrates small city with international art,
the microcosm with the macrocosm. Destrooper’s choreography focuses
on ballet as an “Art of Light”—shaping light with movement to reflect
musicality and trigger emotion. He “writes with light” to illuminate
significant moments as dancers become one with music that speaks
to the one story we all share.
In the post-modernist age, the conventions of classical ballet are
sometimes eclipsed by the sensation of the new. The intention of Ballet
Victoria is to make the transition, combining classical dance with the
storytelling of its interpretive sister genres.
Since Destrooper is a fine storyteller, this has become the trademark
of his company. He takes narrative risks while remaining secure in the
discipline of traditional technique.
The ballet’s Equinox celebration is an extravagant artistic collaboration.
Pianist Sarah Hagen and choreographer Sandrine Cassini
explore Chopin’s Preludes for emotional resonance, while Destrooper
and his dancers discover the universal themes in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
Destrooper has found in Vivaldi’s quest a relevant interpretation for
our coastal community.
The deep structure of mythology is the life cycle. Before the industrial
revolution and the age of technology disturbed our eco–patterns,
Coastal First Nations articulated archetypes that remain with us in their
music, dance and visual art. This is the language of the new ballet.
Raven, the Trickster, will guide audiences through a fresh understanding
of Vivaldi’s passionate music as the creation story is told
through the moon rituals of fall, winter, spring and summer. With
the help of the Honourable Steven L. Point, Chief Tony Hunt and family,
and Alcheringa Gallery, the universal narrative will maintain its integrity.
The “set designers” are First Nations artists—Tom Hunt, Dylan
Thomas, Rande Cook and lessLIE—whose work will frame the dance.
Vivaldi is alleged to have written the sonnets that accompanied his Four
Seasons, and Ballet Victoria has commissioned new poetry, which will
be read by the Lieutenant Governor.
The dancers will move inside lighting designed by Adam Wilkinson
and costumes created by Jane Wood. The Diemahler Quartet will interpret
Vivaldi’s composition. With music, painting, poetry and dance,
together they will improvise a unique retelling of the story of the life
cycle—West Coast style.
Ballet Victoria’s production of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons will be
presented in Duncan on March 10, and at the McPherson Theatre
March 16, 17, 18. —Linda Rogers
March 17
HOLLY ARNTZEN & FRIENDS
Hermann’s Jazz Club
Celebrate a Green St Paddy's day with
Holly Arntzen, Kevin Wright and David Sinclair.
8pm (doors at 6), $12 at door. Kids welcome.
753 View St. www.ArtistResponseTeam.com,
250-388-9166.
March 18-19
WORLD STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
Two locations
The Victoria Storytellers’ Guild, Arbutus
Singers, Choirkids, and the City of Victoria celebrate
trees in story and song. Concerts 2pm
and 7pm Mar 18, 932 Balmoral Rd, by donation.
Stories, 7:30pm Mar 19, 1831 Fern St,
$5. 250-386-7802, www.victoriastorytellers.org.
March 19
PEN IN HAND READINGS
Cook St Village Serious Coffee
Open mic sign-up 7:15pm, readings (TBA)
7:30pm-9pm, 230 Cook St. $3. 250-590-8010.
March 20
ENSEMBLE MADE IN CANADA
Mary Winspear Centre
Violinists Elissa Lee and Sharon Wei, cellist
Rachel Mercer and pianist Angela Park form
this award-winning Canadian piano quartet.
7:30pm, 2243 Beacon Ave, Sidney, $19.50.
250-656-0275, www.marywinspear.ca.
March 20-21
JOSEPHINA
Metro Studio
The Chaliwaté Company has come from
Belgium to perform this reality-bending play
about a man and a woman in love—or not.
8pm, 1411 Quadra St, $18-$31. 250-590-
6291, www.intrepidtheatre.com.
March 20-25
VICTORIA SKETCH CLUB
Glenlyon Norfolk School
This is the 103rd annual show and sale for
this local sketch group, and features recent works
from members of the collective. Opens 7pm Mar
20, 1701 Beach Dr, www.victoriasketchclub.ca.
March 21
ALLAN MCCOLLUM
University of Victoria
This New York-based artist’s work examines
how we attach personal meaning to objects
in a mass-market world. 8pm in Room A162
of the Visual Arts Building. 250-721-6222,
www.finearts.uvic.ca.
March 24
DIEMAHLER STRING QUARTET
St Mary the Virgin
Pablo Diemecke’s chamber series continues
with excerpts from Spanish and Italian operas.
2:30pm, 1701 Elgin Rd, $22.50/$25. 250-
386-6121, www.diemahlerenterprises.com.
the arts in march
March 24-25
JANINA PLAYS RAVEL
Royal Theatre
Pianist Janina Fialkowska joins Vic Symphony
to perform Ravel’s “Concerto in G” and other
works. 8pm Mar 24, 2:30pm Mar 25, 805
Broughton St, $11-$66. 250-386-6121,
www.victoriasymphony.ca.
March 24-25, March 31-April 1
HMS PINAFORE
Mary Winspear/Oak Bay High
The Victoria Gilbert & Sullivan Society
joins with the Civic Orchestra to present
“The Lass That Loved a Sailor.” 50 singers
and a 50-piece orchestra. 2pm Mar 24-25,
2243 Beacon Ave (Sidney); 2pm Mar 31-
Apr 1, 2151 Cranmore Rd, $25/$27.
www.gilbertandsullivanvictoria.ca.
March 25
L’ORCHESTRE D’HOMMES
PERFORMS TOM WAITS
Metro Studio
Quebec City’s “One Man Band Band” offers
its carnivalesque take on works by the gravelly-voiced
American singer-songwriter. 8pm,
1411 Quadra St, $27/$35. 250-590-6291,
www.intrepidtheatre.com.
March 25
JAZZ, THE GALLERY
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Joey Smith and friends get into the swing
of things. 2pm, 1040 Moss St, $30.
www.aggv.ca, 250-384-4171.
March 28
IN PARADISUM
UVic Farquhar Auditorium
Giuseppe Pietraroia conducts the Victoria
Choral Society and orchestra as they perform
Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Duruflé’s
“Requiems.” 8pm, 3100 Finnerty Rd, $20/$32.
250-721-8480, www.victoriachoralsociety.ca.
March 28
UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY
Maritime Museum
Writer and underwater photographer Barb
Roy. 7pm, 28 Bastion Sq, $10/$12, 12 and
under free. 250-385-4222, www.mmbc.bc.ca.
March 28
EVENING WITH SALLY ARMSTRONG
First Metropolitan Church
Author and activist Sally Armstrong speaks
about the resilience of the women of Afghanistan.
Proceeds in support of Canadian Women
for Women in Afghanistan. 7pm, 932 Balmoral,
$15. 250-727-9891, www.cw4afghan.ca.
March 28, 30
ELEPHANT PRESENTATION
Two locations
Dag Goering and Maria Coffey’s multimedia
presentation explores their work in aid
of elephants in Africa and Asia. Mar 28,
Camosun’s Gibson Auditorium; Mar 30, 2243
Beacon Ave (Sidney). Both at 7:30pm, by donation.
250-995-3003, www.hiddenplaces.net.
30 March 2012 • FOCUS

Traditional “Shoji” room dividers, available in eight
different styles and materials, including bamboo!
A practical and stylish addition to your home.
Best of Both Worlds Imports
2713 Quadra Street • 250-386-8325
www.bestofbothworldsimports.com
The BlendTec Blender, a commercial quality home
blender makes bread dough, ice cream, soups,
smoothies, fresh juice and more. Easy to clean.
Triangle Healing Products
770 Spruce Avenue
www.trianglehealing.com • 250-370-1818
Folding Commercial Garment Rack
Custom closets and organizing accessories.
All Organized Storage Ltd
3370 Tennyson Avenue (near UpTown)
Showroom hours: Tues–Fri, 11–5; Sat 11–3 pm
www.AllOrganizedStorage.ca • 250-590-6328
great finds for your home
One-of-a-kind furniture, artistic kitchens and
built-ins. Commissions welcome.
Old School Woodworks
2031 Oak Bay Avenue
250-896-8073
www.oldschoolwoodworks.com
Come and have a look at our
extensive selection of furniture,
home décor, and garden items.
Design Source Warehouse
553 Hillside Ave • 250-721-5530
www.designsourcewarehouse.com
Healthy, safe and toxin free. Make natural soaps
with do-it-yourself soap-making kits. Fun and
informative 2-hour workshops also available.
The Good Planet Company
764 Fort Street • 250-590-3500
www.goodplanet.com
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012 31

Get your feet
sandal-ready
NEW laser therapy
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Toenail fungus affects 10% of the population and is very
hard to get rid of, even using potentially harmful drugs.
Now a new laser treatment designed especially for
eradicating it is fast, safe, painless and 80% curative.
Dr Bill Mirchoff & Dr Gregg Congdon
350 - 1641 Hillside Ave
250-592-0224
Learn more at
www.drgreggcongdon.com/apps/blog
March 29-April 15
JEFFREY J BORON & LINNY D VINE
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Boron and Vine present their first co-exhibit
since 2008, this one featuring en plein air
works from their travels around the province.
Reception 2pm Mar 31, 1040 Moss St, 250-
384-4101, www.linnydvine.com.
March 30
YEAR END SHOW & SALE
Victoria College of Art
Live music, treats, and, of course, art by
serious art students at this 39th annual event.
7pm, 1625 Bank St, free. 15% of art sales
support the Community Arts Council of Greater
Victoria. 250-598-5422, www.vca.ca.
March 30-31
BROADWAY SPECTACULAR
Royal Theatre
Students from the Canadian College of
Performing Arts collaborate with Vic Symphony
on Broadway classics. 8pm, 805 Broughton
St, $11-$66. www.victoriasymphony.ca,
250-386-6121.
March 30-31
GIFTS FOR MYSELF AND OTHERS
DaVinci Centre
The Island Artisan Association’s juried
spring show. 12pm-8pm Mar 30, 10am-6pm
Mar 31, 195 Bay St. www.islandartisans.ca.
March 31
VAGINA MONOLOGUES
Isabelle Reader Theatre
V-Day Langford presents Eve Ensler’s awardwinning
play. 7pm, 1026 Goldstream Ave,
$20/$15, with door and silent auction proceeds
going to support the Pacific Centre Family Services
Assoc’s Stopping the Violence Against Women
program. www.facebook.com/vdaylangford,
250-361-8212.
Throughout March
DIVERGENCE: INSIGHTS INTO
STUDIO PRACTICES
Legacy Art Gallery
From the studios of 19 UVic art education
instructors comes a rich and diverse exhibition
of images and objects that range through
traditional and newer media. This exhibition
invites visitors to experience the dynamic interaction
between teaching and studio practice.
630 Yates St, 250-381-7645, uvac.uvic.ca.
Throughout March
ENCOUNTERS
Dales Gallery
Author Maria Coffey and photographer
Dag Goering have travelled the world in
search of connections with people and places.
See their travels represented visually in this
show. 537 Fisgard St. 250-383-1552,
www.dalesgallery.ca.
Throughout March
FIVE SHOWS
Arts Centre, Cedar Hill
Community Arts Council Gallery: To Mar
12: John and Yoko Bed-In Photos by Gerry
Deiter (reception 11am Mar 3). Mar 15-24:
solo show by Nancy Murphy (reception 7pm
Mar 15). Mar 26-31: Victoria Art College’s
third year painters (reception 7pm Mar 26).
Gallery Cafe: To Mar 10: School District 61
Youth Exhibition (reception 11am Mar 3). Mar
19-31: Pagone Praparattanapan (reception
March 22). 3220 Cedar Hill Rd, 250-475-
7123, www.cacgv.ca.
Throughout March
FIVE SHOWS
AGGV
“Throwdown,” Five BC artists work in a
wide variety of media, to May 6. “The Enduring
Arts of China,” decorative elements and motifs
that have been passed down by Chinese artists
for centuries, to May 6. “Victoria Collects," an
exhibition of over 60 major pieces on loan
from the private collections of Victorians,
including the “Salish Weave Collection,” to
May 6. “Emily Carr: On the Edge of Nowhere,”
semi-permanent Emily Carr exhibit. All, 1040
Moss St. 250-384-4171, www.aggv.ca.
Throughout March
VICTORIA FOLK MUSIC SOCIETY
Norway House
Mar 4: Rio Ramaya Band. Mar 11: Ivonne
Hernandez and Jeremy Walsh. Mar 18: The
Sweet Lowdown. Mar 25: Anjopa. Open mic,
7:30pm, 1110 Hillside Ave, followed by the
featured concert. $5. www.victoriafolkmusic.ca,
250-475-1355.
Throughout March
UVIC SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Philip T. Young Recital Hall
Concerts by students and faculty throughout
the month. See www.finearts.uvic.ca/music/events
for details.
Tuesdays in March
SIN CITY
Victoria Event Centre
This improvised serial tells the story of a travelling
sideshow in the 1930s dustbowl. Featuring
Morgan Cranny, Kristen Van Ritzen, Wes Borg.
8pm every Tues, 1415 Broad St, $12/$15. 250-
480-3709, www.sincityimprov.com.
Wednesdays in March
LENTEN LUNCHTIME CONCERTS
St Mary the Virgin
Mar 7, 14: University Strings. Mar 21:
Bach Birthday Celebration. Mar 28: soprano
Marnie Setka-Mooney plus mezzo-sopranos
Kim Greenwood and Sara Weicker-Partridge.
12:10pm, 1701 Elgin Rd, by donation.
250-598-2212.
32 March 2012 • FOCUS

Focus presents: All Organized Storage
Victorians who yearn to get organized can
now easily check out just how beautiful that
can look and feel at All Organized Storage’s
showroom and store on Tennyson Avenue.Staff are
currently making room for new spring stock so
selected items are 20-40 percent off.
Since 1997,Janet Young,the owner of All Organized
Storage,has established herself as Victoria’s “organization
authority.” She believes that adequate,
functional storage is the key to reducing clutter in
the home.Her expertise and comprehensive product Janet Young
lines will help anyone convert a kitchen, laundry,
bathroom,bedroom or garage/workshop into an attractive,high-functioning oasis—
providing them with a sense of peace and order,not to mention saving them precious
time because things can be found quickly.
Janet is the only custom closet and storage provider in Victoria who is also a
Trained Professional Organizer.And over her 14 years in business she has developed
extensive premium quality organizing systems—from locally manufactured
environmental wood storage,melamine,slatted wood shelving,to a modern adjustable
German-made modular organization system.
Though the closet organizing systems are still the foundation of her business,
Janet is now carrying many organizing “accessories” (watch for the spring catalogue
in April).For instance,for kitchens,she offers a number of solutions to increase
storage and accessibility, including a number of different types of rollout shelving.
Utensil organizers, drawer trays, behind-the-door pantry organizers, and stacking
shelves are other simple ways to retrofit your kitchen.
For bathrooms, unique shelving solutions, towel rods, and shower caddies are
offered.And home handymen will be able to keep their garage or workshop tidy
Custom made cherry wood storage unit with fudge stain.
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
Organizing store offers inspiration to get organized
Photo:Tony Bounsall
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Showroom hours:Tues–Fri, 11–5; Sat 11–3 pm
250-590-6328 • www.AllOrganizedStorage.ca
33

PHOTO: TONY BOUNSALL
How do you approach mystery? Do you suspend disbelief and
assert with Hamlet that “There are more things in heaven and
earth, Horatio,/Than are dreamt of in your philosophy”? Or is
your instinct to look behind the curtain—seek out the facts, test and
prove? The seeming divide between faith and science has been the subject
of debate for centuries, and their dynamic tension has led to rich exploration
in many disciplines. In The Priest Who Left his Religion: In Pursuit
of Cosmic Spirituality (Influence Publishing, Sept. 2011), Victoria’s
John Shields—a former Catholic priest turned social worker and union
activist—shares his own exploration and conclusions around “the potential
of reuniting science and spirit into a unified way of knowing.”
The mystery of life
AMY REISWIG
John Shields’ journey from priest to union leader to spiritual seeker.
John Shields
coastlines
More than a memoir, Shields’ book is a spiritual autobiography,
a memoir of the soul that goes beyond “Here’s what I’ve done in my
life, why and with whom.” We move through his narrative of life in
the church, his dizzying array of secular work experience (Victoria
Family and Children’s Service, Victoria Day Care Information Services,
Vancouver Island University, Leadership Victoria, the BC Government
Employees Union, The Haven, the Centre for Earth and Spirit, among
others) to, finally, his spiritual reawakening. What becomes apparent
is that the book unfolds two stories: Shields’ and the readers’ own as
they react to his ideas, some of which offer bold challenges to
mainstream thinking.
The first part of the 230-page book chronicles Shields’ experience
of institutional religion: his childhood as the only son of Irish Catholic
parents in New York, Brooklyn Prep education, seminary studies and
eventual ordination in 1965. Backdropping Shields’ theological studies
and work was the civil rights movement, Kennedy’s brief presidency,
the Vietnam War and, most importantly for his spiritual development,
Vatican II. It was a time of profound national and global questioning,
and the potential for grand change was everywhere. Shields was particularly
excited by advances in areas like archaeology and textual criticism
that reoriented Biblical interpretation and, therefore, the role of the
church itself. This, alongside a growing involvement in social justice,
meant Shields’ life was brimming with a sense of sacred purpose.
However, Shields writes that when Pope Paul VI “rejected every
insight that emerged at the Council,” he felt profound disillusionment,
abandonment and betrayal. The silencing of theologians—including
Shields’ own removal from his teaching and preaching duties—and the
general suppression of new scholarship and ideas “shattered my sense
of spirituality,” Shields writes. He left the priesthood. “I was leaving
a failed relationship with the church…but I believed that my church
had left me.”
This sense of betrayal was shared by those who longed for meaningful
church reform, and Shields identifies them as a main audience.
“It’s that group in the middle who have left religion but haven’t yet
found anything else,” the bespectacled, avuncular and enthusiastic
Shields tells me over morning coffee in Cook Street Village. “I’ve crossed
that threshold and I want to report back. I’m like a pioneer who has
gone over the mountains into a beautiful valley and want to tell people:
‘Hey, there’s something really magnificent! Let’s go there.’”
But what is over the mountain of disbelief? Shields reveals years of
grief and confusion, of learning how to live, love and work in the secular
world, and it becomes clear that even defining the term “spirituality”
is a tricky task that can turn people away. For instance, over his 25 years
in union work and, eventually, as president of the BCGEU (the John
T. Shields building stands named in his honour), he came to see working
on behalf of others and integrating one’s inner values with outer action
as a spiritual endeavour. He explains “spirituality” to me as “a level of
quality, of value, of relationship—being in harmony with the deeper
nature of the universe.”
Which leads to another question: what is the nature of the universe?
Which is where the second story begins—that of what the reader believes.
34 March 2012 • FOCUS

“
I’M LIKE A PIONEER WHO HAS GONE OVER the
mountains into a beautiful valley and want to tell
people: ‘Hey, there’s something really magnificent!
Let’s go there.’” —John Shields
Shields became fascinated with “secular science,” and in it found the
basis for a new cosmology and spirituality. Citing various thinkers and
research initiatives, like NASA’s Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE),
Shields discusses evidence for the Big Bang, the expansion/evolution
of the universe and the idea
that all things are essentially
made of the same stuff. He
writes: “What shines out from
all the work done on the new
story is that everything in the
universe is interconnected.”
Influenced by Joseph
Campbell, Shields sees story
as key to how we perceive
our world and, therefore,
how we act within it. And
his version of the story is
science pointing to a universe
that is “not dead matter, but
a living consciousness.”
Seeing the universe as
conscious and “spirit-filled,”
where everything is interconnected,
purposeful energy,
means how we act matters profoundly because we are co-creating the
universe every day, which leads to Shields’ fervent call for an Earth-based
spirituality recognizing our connection to nature. It also means that
boundaries between life and death, body and spirit become fluid, and
Shields mentions using copper dowsing rods to communicate with his
first wife after she died from cancer.
“I know these ideas are controversial and that people will be twittering
me,” Shields laughs. “But being in the conversation of challenge
is why I wrote the book. I didn’t see anyone else saying these things.”
The Priest Who Left His Religion therefore opens a space for readers
to do some self-questioning on the nature of mystery, which Einstein
says is “the source of all true art and all science”: What do I think of
these ideas? Why do I have the reactions I do? What are my beliefs,
fears, assumptions, and in what are they rooted?
While Shields is clearly seeking converts to his new cosmology and
nature-focused world view, he also invites us simply to look through
his lens and enter the dialogue. As Einstein also says, and Shields quotes
him: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.”
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
Writer and editor (and lapsed Catholic) Amy Reiswig
thinks believing in what can’t be seen or proven makes
life much more interesting.
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35

“
Digging for copper in the Sistine Chapel
This isn’t a souvenir coffee table book that the mining companies
will take back home under their arms,” says Wade Davis about
his new book, The Sacred Headwaters: The Fight to Save tbe
Stikine, Skeena and Nass (Greystone, Oct. 2011).
The book could be a souvenir if you just look at the pictures—they’re
stunning, not surprisingly, as this is one of the most drop-dead beautiful
places in the world. The watershed of these three rivers forms
an essentially roadless wilderness three times the size of Switzerland,
bounded by the Alaskan border to the west, the grand canyon of the
Stikine to the north, Highway 16 to the south, and the Tatlatui
Range to the east. The headwaters themselves are just south of the
Spatsizi Plateau, which was designated an ecological reserve for
being the “Serenghetti of the north,” because of its abundant wildlife,
including mountain goats, moose, deer, and black and grizzly bears,
all represented in these fabulous plateaux smothered in wildflowers.
But the opening 30-page essay on the battle for this land—and what’s
at stake—delivers a punch that would discourage any mining company
executive from putting the book on his coffee table. With this book,
Davis has stepped up another notch in a long, successful career of
campaigner for, and storyteller of, the biosphere and ethnosphere
(the term he coined for the landscape shaped by indigenous cultures).
Fight is the operative word of the book’s title, for what has passed and
what’s to come. This isn’t just the sacred headwaters and home of the
Talhtan First Nation. It’s Davis’ home too, and he’s fighting hard for it.
The very, very, few of us lucky enough to have spent any time
there can rarely communicate the emotional impact these places have
on us. Like veterans coming home from the war, we don’t know where
to start and the experience is too far from the daily lives of urban
Canadians to find a connection—and increasingly so. With 90 percent
of Canadians living in cities and over half the population having no
cultural connection to the wild and the lure of the north, Davis iden-
BRIONY PENN
coastlines
Author Wade Davis will be in Victoria March 7 to talk about efforts to save the Stikine, Skeena and Nass headwaters.
Wade Davis
PHOTO: RYAN HILL
tifies the increasing challenge to reach an audience, let alone evoke
their outrage at the rape and plunder going on in the north in the name
of our urban energy and consumer needs.
Davis’ intention was to use the emotional power of the photographs
in the coffee table format, coupled with the words of Tahltan elders,
to speak to the place. And they do—Carr Clifton, Paul Colangelo, Davis
himself and the other photographers of the International League of
Conservation Photographers who donated their time and images to
the cause have created a powerful tribute. The Tahltan elders Rhoda
Quock, August Brown, Peter Jakesta, Dempsey Bob and others provide
equally strong words to accompany the images, words that ring true
against the clutter and noise of our modern lives.
But what saves the book from being just another captioned photo
essay of a rich watershed inhabited by “wise elders” about to be pulverized
(and God knows we have had too many of those in BC) is Davis’
essay. He has waded (no pun intended) into the taboo topic of how
decisions over land and resources are currently negotiated, with tiny
besieged aboriginal communities conveniently left alone to fend against
the world’s largest energy and mining companies.
Davis’ mesmerizing essay is a day-by-day factual account of how
individuals and families in these small communities are ripped apart
by the massive machinery of globalization. It’s an important contribution
to the national discourse about energy policy, aboriginal affairs,
and land use decision-making in the north.
I questioned Davis about why he took on a subject few have wanted
to touch. “Simple,” he said, “I believe that non-native Canadian understanding
of First Nations is still stuck between the left’s idealized,
untouchable noble savage and the right’s hateful images as featured in
Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry. When in reality, we are just talking
about the lives of people, some good, some less so, some with deep
connections to the land, others who are simply opportunistic. The question
is not mines or no mines, but rather how many, at what pace in
what places and for whose benefit? There is a lot of talk about
consultation and accommodation. But consultation with whom, and
accommodation for whose benefit? And what if these areas have global
importance?” The situation, according to Davis, appears to ultimately
benefit only the companies who can move full steam ahead without
the weight of full public review.
The story of the ascendancy of Chief Jerry Asp, described by the
Vancouver Sun as “government’s pro-development poster boy” reads
like a textbook case study of complicit opportunism between Asp, the
mining and energy companies, and government. The circumstances
that led to the 2005 occupation of the band office in Telegraph Creek
by 35 Tahltan elders, like Bobby and Roy Quock, who felt they were
being misrepresented and their land getting trashed for a pittance, are
now being repeated with the Gitksaan elders and the Enbridge deal.
In delving into the impacts of the 1999 Corbiere Decision that enabled
all tribal members, not just those living on reserves, to vote in elections
and the upheaval between resident and non-resident band members
this has created, Davis has written a story that white urban people
can understand. By drawing out these “complications” against the back-
36 March 2012 • FOCUS

“ THERE IS A LOT OF TALK about consultation and
accommodation. But consultation with whom, and
accommodation for whose benefit? —Wade Davis
drop of the involvement of behemoth Shell Oil, Imperial Metals and
Fortune Minerals—all comprised of armies of professionals and shareholders
that will never set foot on these landscapes—on top of the $130
million dollar federal subsidy for a transmission line to the mine, he
reveals our own complicity in the process.
A poignant moment in Davis’ account occurs when the elders participating
in that 2005 occupation, speaking only in Talhtan, demonstrate
their legitimate authority to speak on behalf of their nation. Asp doesn’t
speak or understand his own language, which made his last bid to represent
his nation, spoken in English, futile. Another memorable moment
is when a geologist flies into the area and Davis overhears her speaking
in amazement at the incredible beauty and richness of the wildlife. The
un-noble savage and the
un-evil corporate geologist
metaphorically bump
into each other in the
general store of Telegraph
Creek, and there’s the story.
It isn’t easy to write about
this stuff and not get
trapped in cultural quick
sand, which is why few
non-natives or natives are
doing it, especially in coffee
table books. But Davis does,
because these are his friends
and this is his home.
Davis asks the questions:
If these scarce and endangered
landscapes have
extraordinary value to all humanity, is it appropriate that we leave
their defence to a handful of courageous locals? What should the
nature of Canada’s involvement be? Should we be digging for copper
in the Sistine Chapel?
And he is saying, unequivocally, that in this pivotal time, when questions
about energy policy are coming to the fore, and resource scarcity
is putting power back into the hands of the resource holders, we resource
holders should be standing up and screaming from the top of our lungs:
“These places are too valuable to destroy.”
Wade Davis will be speaking on The Sacred Headwaters 7 pm
Wednesday, March 7 at the Royal BC Museum. $15 per person, 10
percent member discount. Tickets at www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca or
at the RBCM box office.
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
Briony Penn PhD is a naturalist, journalist, artist and
award-winning environmental educator. She is the
author of The Kids Book of Geography (Kids Can Press)
and a A Year on the Wild Side.
Jim loved to coach, not just because he loved
soccer, but because he believed sports could
teach important lessons. To continue those
lessons, Jim placed a bequest to fund camp
scholarships in his will.
Thanks to Coach Bindley, a few more kids will
reach their goals. Include your favourite cause
in your will or estate plan. Contact a charitable
organization, lawyer, financial advisor or local
LEAVE A LEGACY program to learn how.
Consider a gift in your will for your favourite charities.
Joy 250-415-6089 Natasha 250-721-6001
www.leavealegacy.ca/vi
37

this
place
Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard weighs the pros and cons of the “big bang” approach to municipal politics.
Frank Leonard is an incrementalist. The mayor of Saanich since
1996 and councillor for ten years previous illustrates what that
means by way of reminiscence. “I was appointed chairman of the
environment committee of the CRD in 1988. A day later, the recycling
depot burned down. I was off to a great start,” he chuckles. At first,
volunteers were handing out white pails. “Incrementally,” he says, “we
added recycling programs, including the blue box.”
Soon he was attending conferences, explaining to others how they
had succeeded in a mere five years. Step one? “Get it as a line item in
the budget, even if it’s small. Then you grow it. I find, in government
and bureaucracy, I can make more progress incrementally than by saying
‘I need this great big spending project all right now.’ It’s affordable. You
have more win-wins, as opposed to winners and losers,” he reasons.
It’s a philosophy borne from a combined interest in business and
politics reaching back to childhood: he remembers debating the Vietnam
War in cub scouts and, at the tender age of six, being fascinated by
the minority Pearson government repeatedly falling to Diefenbaker’s
challenges. He entered the family business, a Kal Tire dealership, while
studying history at UVic part time. Now he’s on faculty at UVic as a
business instructor. His family moved to the region in 1969, when he
was 15 years old. In winters back then, he skated on Panama Flats, a
green patch that he’s proud to have recently brought into the extensive
stock of agricultural and park land under the municipality’s purview.
Things like that make Leonard’s rough days worthwhile. For affirmation,
he sometimes has coffee amid the bustle of families at Saanich
Commonwealth Place, or drives past the Mount View Heights building
site. Fifteen years in the making thus far, the vast project will combine
housing and care for seniors, those with low incomes, and supportive
housing for the homeless. A state-of-the-art safety building and fire
dispatch now providing service to seven additional municipalities is
another recent win for Saanich.
In many ways, the municipality (which is five times the size of Victoria
and has 30,000 more residents) is sitting pretty—a side effect of which
is frequent calls for amalgamation. “If the provincial government wants
to expropriate Saanich and make it part of Victoria, that’s their decision,”
he says with nonchalance tinted by certainty that it isn’t likely
to happen: “I haven’t met a provincial government who wants to do
that,” he says. Victoria often argues it takes on a disproportionate share
of burdens on behalf of the region ranging from infrastructure to homelessness,
but Leonard is having none of it. “My answer always is, to
whomever the mayor of Victoria is, deal with your circumstances.
We are dealing with ours.”
Leonard always has. Though his mentor Frank Carson cautioned
it would be bad for business, Leonard was elected to the CRD board
in 1987 and chaired it from 1990 to ’95. Carson was right. There
was a group in the early ’90s advocating for LRT. Leonard regales,
“Since I sold tires, [they] figured I was biased against LRT, so they set
up couches on Herald Street [near the dealership] and had a sit-in one
day.” Not good for business.
island interview 38 the survivors 40 on the job 42 urbanities 44 finding balance 46
The incrementalist
AAREN MADDEN
PHOTO: TONY BOUNSALL
Frank Leonard
Now Leonard mentors local business owners new to municipal politics
on how to draw the line between making a living and serving
constituents. Ultimately, he chose to devote himself to public service.
“I became a full-time mayor two days after we took the sign down on
the family business,” he recalls.
LRT, sewage treatment and traffic were issues that loomed large
back in the day, Leonard remembers. (The more things change…) In
his tenure, he has seen the far-reaching consequences of decisions in
all of those areas.
Take McKenzie Road, for instance. On second thought, don’t—
you’ll be stuck in traffic for ages. Leonard explains how McKenzie
Road became the traffic bane of the region, and why that’s not likely
to change any time soon. “History is an interpretation of past events,”
38 March 2012 • FOCUS

“ MOST PEOPLE WOULD REFER TO THEIR TAX BILL as
a big bang if [the LRT plan] happens all at once. But I am a
pragmatist; I am an incrementalist.” —Frank Leonard
he prefaces, “and my interpretation was that
an interchange was planned for McKenzie and
Admirals at the time of the Island Highway
upgrading, but it would have involved taking
land from the southeast corner of Cuthbert
Holmes Park.” Andrew Petter, the cabinet
minister at the time, did not want to do that,
so Helmcken and Millstream were upgraded
instead. “I remember vividly Moe [Sihota] and
Rick [Kasper, MLAs] on bulldozers, turning
sod for their two interchanges and saying, ‘it
should have been in Saanich,’” says Leonard.
It became a federal election issue, but, he
explains, “I’m an old-fashioned guy and I figure
the mayor is supposed to stick to local issues
and not get involved in federal politics.
Unfortunately, people took it to mean we
weren’t in favour of an interchange at McKenzie
and Admirals. We’d welcome it,” he assures.
So why not press for it? It has since become
contentious, because rather than building
capacity for cars, current political winds blow
toward an environmentally-motivated focus
on public transit. Philosophically, that makes
sense to Leonard, but in practice, a problem
still needs fixing.
While all of those single-occupant vehicles
idle in traffic, there is growing advocacy for a
near-billion-dollar LRT project. “The plan
that’s on the table now is quite a big bang,”
Leonard observes. “Most people would refer
to their tax bill as a big bang if [the LRT plan]
happens all at once,” he adds. “But I am a pragmatist;
I am an incrementalist,” he reiterates.
“If you are a purist, you find it very frustrating
and inadequate,” he concedes. “I get
accused of not having vision.” It comes down
to whether you believe something is better than
nothing, he explains. In the case of McKenzie,
that something could have been a simple redesign.
In the case of LRT, it could be gradual growth
combining the existing E & N line with busways
that could, in future, give way to train lines. It
needn’t be a “big bang.” “We can afford this
right now, and it will help alleviate some of the
problems, and it doesn’t eliminate the ultimate
goal of LRT,” he reasons.
In an effort to resolve some of these issues,
he is “approaching getting local control of
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
transportation the same way.” It would be
more democratic for the communities served
by transit to vote on routes and rates as opposed
to the seven commission members (of which
he is one) who do now. Though it’s a common
goal right now, the path and the end result
look different to many. “We have to be very
careful we don’t end up with something like
[Vancouver’s TransLink], which is a private
board making decisions about transportation,”
he warns. His suggestion to Minister of
Transportation and Infrastructure Blair Lekstrom
is “simply draw a line through Victoria Region
Transit Commission, insert Capital Regional
District, and we’ve got the first step.”
Sometimes, with some issues, Leonard
admits, a big bang approach might be valid.
When he chaired the CRD, the east coast interceptor
pipe was put in to prevent sewage
pollution on beaches. Leonard recalls Denise
Savoie, a “mere” citizen at the time, taking the
CRD to court to try and stop it. “If it was built,”
he explains of her view, “it would only delay
what was really needed, which was sewage
treatment. She might have been right,” he
concludes. In this case, to put it too simply, a
small fix only prolonged the inevitable.
Still, for Leonard, the smaller steps generally
make the most sense. Similar lessons have
run parallel in his personal life. He has realized
in retrospect that when his children Daniel
(32) and Michelle (29) were kids, he spent
far too much time focused on business and
civic duties. Now, in addition to being a proud
grandfather, he and his wife, former Saanich
councillor Jackie Ngai, have a two-year-old
son, Atticus. This gift of a second chance is
reflected in Leonard’s perspective on home
and work, and his closing advice to me is,
“Don’t put off good days for future years.
You might not get them. Just make sure this
is a good day.”
Aaren Madden is taking
Mayor Leonard’s advice to
heart by penciling more tea
parties and lego building
sessions into her schedule.
“
Gail Lane
Registered Massage Therapist
I love Gail’s approach which is
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her kind determination, she is
able to open up the free flow
of energy in my body.”
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Pacific Pain Treatment Clinic
Sutton Building • 617-1207 Douglas St
250.384.3511
www.pacificpaintreatment.com
“I do for your investments
what health clubs
do for your body”
www.davidnicholsontoday.com
250-380-7505
david@queensbury.com
Purple Garden
Chinese Restaurant
Voted for best “All You Can Eat” restaurant
in 2009 and 2010 Best Best in in City City
138-1551 Cedar Hill X Rd
(Behind McDonald’s on Shelbourne St)
250-477-8866 www.purplegarden.ca
E L E L
www.aypsite.org
EASY LESSONS FOR ECSTATIC LIVING
39

Connie (Holmes) Isherwood greets me
graciously from behind her large desk
in her legal office in a heritage building
on Fort Street. Framed by a big bay window
behind her, she seems but much the same
as when I first met her—which hails back to
the heyday of the Women’s Business Network
over 20 years ago. Her hair is still strawberry
blonde; her nails carefully polished.
Now 92, Connie is the oldest practising
female lawyer in BC. Daily, she drives from
Sooke to work in the circa 1887 building.
She tells me her recently departed husband
Foster Isherwood restored this building—
along with the one next door—many years
ago. In her inner office, everything seems
orderly and calm. Despite Fort Street a few
metres away, it’s also quiet—except for the
secretary typing correspondence on a typewriter.
Connie informs me they only use
computers for research.
Connie is not interested in retirement. She
loves the problem-solving (she was nicknamed
“Sherlock Holmes” at law school)
Connie Isherwood, QC
LESLIE CAMPBELL
Ninety-two and still working, she credits genes, work, family and faith for her longevity and health.
With adopted children Charles and George in 1969
and using her skills to help people. For some
families she has served three generations;
she’s sometimes been able to tell clients about
the grandparents they never knew.
She also appreciates the variety afforded
by her practice of general civil law: “In law,
every client who comes in has some different
problem—no two are alike and everyone
thinks their problem is the worst problem in
the world and you must deal with it right
away, so you never have a chance to wonder
what you’re going to do next.”
Yet when Connie Holmes was growing up
in Nanaimo, she never thought she’d become
a lawyer, let alone one who would practice
for over six decades. Instead she dreamed of
music and performing. She sang and played
the piano and drums. In her early 20s, she
tells me, she toured with an all-girl dance
band across the Western provinces. “That
was really quite fun,” admits Connie, who
still loves listening to Big Band music.
In her mid 20s, she started working for
Victoria lawyer Ernest Tait in Victoria. He
Isherwood in 2012
the survivors
must have been impressed by the young
woman’s intellect and temperament, because
he was soon encouraging her to go to university
for a law degree. At first she said, “No
I don’t want to do that”—she still had “a
hankering to go into show business”—but
she gradually fell under the spell of the idea.
She spent two years working on getting
prerequisites from Victoria College and did
her first year of law school at UBC by correspondence
while working for Tait. During
the two years she spent on campus at UBC,
lectures were held in army huts. Her law
class had 208 students—200 of them men.
“Now,” reports Connie happily, “it’s more
like 50/50.”
At school she excelled—she was the first
woman to win the Law Society’s gold medal—
and in 1951 she was called to the bar, returning
to Victoria to work for Mr Tait out of his
office in the Stobbart Building on Yates (an
area now occupied by St Andrews Square).
“At that time,” says Connie, “there was a real
estate boom going on. The war was over, the
40 March 2012 • FOCUS
PHOTO: LESLIE CAMPBELL

“
IN LAW, EVERY CLIENT WHO COMES IN has some
different problem—no two are alike and everyone
thinks their problem is the worst problem in the world
and you must deal with it right away, so you never have
a chance to wonder what you’re going to do next.”
—Connie Isherwood
fellows were coming back, starting families and buying homes...there
was considerable building, so real estate transactions were a good
deal of the practice at that time. And always estates, always family
disputes of some kind.”
Tait was her mentor, encouraging her and introducing her to many
colleagues. “He was a very sound and solid lawyer who didn’t get
ruffled or upset about things and had a good philosophy about helping
people,” says Connie, who could also be describing herself.
Tait died in 1953 and Connie took over the practice on her own.
A decade later, she married a former classmate, and in 1964, they
merged their respective law firms into Holmes & Isherwood.
Over the ensuing years, Connie has rarely taken time off. After
adopting her two children, she allows, “I think I might have taken a
few days off.” These days she works about half-time—she is 92 after
all. A widow since November, Connie now lives with her son in the
Sooke house her husband built. She thinks she’ll move into town soon
to avoid the long commute.
Besides work and family, Connie points to “the value of faith as
the basis for life, work, and friendship.” In her case, that means
the Anglican Church, for which she has served as chancellor for BC
for 25 years.
An early member of the Women’s Business Network, she is also a
long-time supporter of the arts, particularly the Victoria Symphony,
the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Asian Arts Society. She’s
also active in the Canadian Scottish Regiment, something she got
involved with originally because of her then-young son. “As time went
on my son grew out of cadets, but I have stayed with them,” she
chuckles. This year is the 100th anniversary of the regiment so there
are big plans afoot for summer celebrations.
While she credits her good health, at least in part, to her genes,
Connie feels that keeping active, both in body and mind, are the main
keys to a happy elderhood. She truly believes “work is therapeutic.”
And her legal training has helped her learn not to worry: “In law there
are many things to think about, but you have to be objective and not
let it affect you personally.” She calmly does her best and doesn’t
stress about things: “If you can organize your life and feel as if you’ve
done as much as you can in one day, then carry on the next day; that’s
a good plan to follow.”
Before I leave, I ask if I can take a photo, and Connie quickly
gets up and starts pushing around the furniture to make room in front
of a bookcase. As she gamely tries different poses, I recall her early
aspirations as a performer—and how that pull was satisfied by “the
many roles given to me in my years in law.”
Leslie Campbell invites readers to send in profiles or suggestions of interesting
elders they know to focusedit@shaw.ca.
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
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41

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When you think about the people
who hold our community together
through the work they do, where
better to start than with those behind the wheel
at BC Transit. Bus drivers ferry thousands of
us—on average over 90,000 per weekday—
to and fro on our daily adventures, be it for
work, play, family events, medical appointments,
job interviews, you name it. Whether
going up the peninsula, through the heart of
downtown or braving the crawl to the western
communities, bus drivers are the pilots we trust,
perhaps unconsciously, to get us to where we
need to go safely, on schedule and with a smile.
Given the ever-changing obstacle course that
is their asphalt workplace, this sounds a lot
easier than it really is.
Originally from Vancouver, Cathy Baker
has been driving for BC Transit since January
of 2008, after having driven university
passenger vans and the equivalent of
HandyDART buses in Ontario, as well as
non-driving community work.
She recognizes that bus driving is a bit of a
career stereotype-breaker for women and that
“People have the impression that you need to
be a big burly man to handle a city bus,” she
says, shaking her head. “Not at all. What it
takes are intelligent people with a high level
of awareness. It’s a very zen job,” she notes.
The art of driving bus
AMY REISWIG
on the job
We begin our series on the everyday jobs that hold our community together.
Cathy Baker
“You have to be really present, able to roll with
anything. The smaller your ego, the easier it’ll
be to drive a bus,” she explains, since major
aspects of your work change every day—route,
schedule, passengers, traffic, weather.
While Baker drives a variety of routes,
including the 15, 4, 28, 30 and 31, on this
rainy Sunday morning she’s driving the 14
and the 11, from 10:05 to 17:59.
The assumption that there are fewer people
on the road is bogus, she says, swinging assertively
onto Douglas. No matter what day of the week,
bus drivers provide a greener alternative to
car snarl and must deal safely with unpredictable
drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
“There’s a bus driver joke that says if you aren’t
drinking enough milk, go stand behind a bus.
Clearly there must be a calcium ray coming
out of the back lights, because as soon as I put
my turn signal on, people’s skulls get thicker.”
Witnesses to (and skilful avoiders of) some
scary driving, Baker explains that bus drivers
save people’s lives without anyone knowing.
“I don’t watch TV, so one time after a near
miss, when a passenger came up and asked
‘Have you seen Canada’s Worst Driver?’ I
didn’t know that was a TV show, so I just said:
‘Every day.’”
In addition to avoiding and even preventing
traffic carnage, bus drivers are a kind of commu-
42 March 2012 • FOCUS
PHOTO: AMY REISWIG

nity monitor, called upon to be tour guides,
disciplinarians, crowd controllers and sometimes
even extra eyes and ears for the police,
looking out for suicidal teens, wandering
seniors, stolen vehicles.
As a single mom with three kids, Baker says
the combination of excitement and solitude
suits her lifestyle. The schedule offers flexibility,
and what might seem like boring stretches
of isolation means: “Hey—I can have a thought
to myself, just hang out with an idea.” So what
occupies her mind while driving? “Memorizing
song lyrics”—Baker sings with the Gettin’
Higher choir—“and writing music. Like these
windshield wipers,” she says, pointing to long
blades sweeping the rain-sprinkled windshield.
“They can be a great instigation for rhythmic
possibilities.” Pause. “You work with what
you’ve got,” she laughs.
In fact, Baker tells of a huge artistic talent
pool among BC Transit drivers: one of the
members of Cookeilidh drives, as well as Joyce
“the Voice,” lead singer of The Soul Shakers.
Plus there are potters, painters, dancers, athletes,
PhDs. With over 500 bus drivers across the
Victoria system, “If there’s a life circumstance
or skill set you can imagine,” Baker says, “there’s
a driver who has that.” And artistic bus driver
talent isn’t the only hidden surprise Baker
reveals. “This key,” she says holding up a small
silver object as if it was one of Tolkien’s rings
of power, “opens bathrooms all across the city.”
As I prepare to get off, I ask if the Victoria
tradition of riders saying “thank you” as they
disembark matters to drivers. “A little kindness
goes a long way,” she affirms. “Therefore
it’s incumbent on me to initiate that. I want
to be a little bit of light for everyone who
walks by me.” With a clear sense of service to
the “public” that makes up public transit,
Baker philosophically observes: “This job
gives you a more realistic view of who makes
up your community. In so many professions,
you experience a smaller segment, a skewed
vision of who makes up the city. This job makes
me realize that we’re all just people trying to
get somewhere.”
“I’m not a counsellor, parole officer, police
officer or therapist,” she says. “I’m just a bus
driver.” As it turns out, that’s a lot more
than I think many of us expect or appreciate.
Without a driver's licence, writer, editor, pedestrian,
cyclist and transit rider Amy Reiswig figures
that, by now, bus drivers have driven her the equivalent
of at least a few times around the globe.
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
Focus presents: Victoria Hospice
Four-legged Hospice volunteers
Who can resist the attention of a little furry
animal with a happy disposition? That
is how Victoria Hospice volunteer Jim
Thomson describes his five-and-a-half-year-old Papillon
dog Theo, an official member of Victoria Hospice’s
Pet Therapy program.
Victoria Hospice provides a comprehensive program
of quality end-of-life care for their patients.The emotional
comfort of hospice patients is equally as important
as the physical comfort, and that’s where the Pet
Therapy volunteers come in.
Once a patient has agreed
to a pet visit, Jim says they
always “perk up” when he
comes in the room with Theo.
As for the people-oriented Theo,
he loves the attention, loves
to be cuddled and will even
give little kisses if allowed.
Toni Burnett has been a
Hospice Pet Therapy volunteer
for 12 years, the first 10 years
with Kara, and now with 18month-old
Ming,both dogs Shih Tzu and Bichon crosses.
She laughs when she says,“Everybody knows the dog’s
name; you’re just attached to the animal!” Kara was
so well loved at Hospice that several families of patients
who were very near the end of their lives asked for a
final visit from the friendly dog. In each instance,
Toni says Kara quietly licked and nuzzled the hand of
the dying patient.
Jim describes a patient who had been unresponsive
for a couple of days.When Theo hopped up on
her bed and started licking her hand,she started smiling.
Tony Burnett, Ming,Theo, and Jim Thomson
“ I think all animal lovers know
how soothing the companionship
of a pet can be.For someone
facing death, an hour spent
petting a little dog like Ming or
Theo can be just as important
as some other therapies.”
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Something had changed and the patient seemed
aware of this offer of comfort from the little dog.Toni
says the patients appreciate that an animal does not
judge. “It will look at you and agree with what you
say.The patient does not have to talk.They can just
lie there and stroke the animal.”
The presence of Theo or Ming is not only comforting
to the patients, but it often prompts them to recall
happy memories of their own pets, conversations
which Jim and Toni happily encourage.Tom Arnold,
Victoria Hospice Major Gifts
Officer, says that sometimes
visits by Pet Therapy dogs will
inspire patients to have their
own dogs visit them, which is
something that Victoria Hospice
encourages and facilitates.
Corporate and Community
Relations Officer Tamara Dean
is also a fan of the Pet Therapy
program. “I think all animal
—Tamara Dean lovers know how soothing the
companionship of a pet can be.
For someone facing death, an hour spent petting a
little dog like Ming or Theo can be just as important
as some other therapies. Of course pet therapy isn’t
covered by the health care system, which is why
Victoria Hospice is so lucky to have volunteers like
Toni and Jim, and so many donors who make such
programs possible.”
Victoria Hospice
250-952-5720
Give online at www.VictoriaHospice.org
43
Photo:Tony Bounsall

You wake from the dream dislocated,
exhausted, a sweaty mess. It was a scifi
doozy: a narrow wisp of silver-grey
dust, manifest and purposeful, blows in between
the bedroom window and the window-frame,
floats toward your sleeping form, settles on
your face; and within seconds, a tracery of
grey veins begins to spread across your cheeks,
moving toward your eyes, nostrils, lips....
Aaaarrggghhhh!
Hoping to smooth the corduroy in your
nervous system, you go to the darkened bathroom
and root around in the medicine cabinet
to find the Atarax. Your jumpy fingers grope
for the pill bottle and you turn on the light.
There it is, behind the lip cream. Waiting for
the water to run cold, you glance in the mirror.
Faint but visible, is a spreading web of grey
lines marching across your cheeks, moving
toward your eyes, nostrils, lips....
Aaaarrrggghhhh!
This nightmare setup parallels a Monday
afternoon event at the end of January that left
me drowning in worry and mentally sketching
an escape route to Zeballos.
Agent of all this anxiety was Nicole Foss,
co-editor of the blog site The Automatic Earth,
who delivered a doom appetizer to about threedozen
of us in the small gym of the Vic West
Community Centre—a windowless, hermetic
cube that felt increasingly like the express
elevator to hell, the longer she went on with
her more-than-two-hour threnody.
The parachute problem
GENE MILLER
Three local events, three ways of looking at what the future might hold.
Foss, an energy industry consultant, peakoiler
and economic analyst, believes that the
“recovery” (global, American, Canadian) is a
complete illusion—nothing but whistling in
the dark. She predicts a catastrophic loss by
Canadian real estate of up to 90 percent of its
value, especially in the bubble markets of
Vancouver and Victoria; makes a persuasive
case for the collapse of global wealth; anticipates
deflation triggered by numerous causes
including Europe’s insuperable economic
woes; and patiently ticks off the “knock-on”
consequences including paralysis of the credit
market, production and demand slowdowns,
increasing joblessness, collapse of global trade,
shredding of the social safety net as we know
it—in all, a Dark Age for the latter days.
We will survive, she comfortingly concludes,
by functioning within “hundred-mile economies”
(my phrase) featuring regional food production,
the exchange of skills, abandonment of
the consumption economy and a shift to the
production of essentials, greater levels of mutuality
and community, and so on—all the features,
in other words, described in the growing body
of transition towns literature, or maybe somewhat
less brutish and more cooperative versions
of the post-apocalyptic barter economies
portrayed in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
or Waterworld.
Her advice? Eliminate debt. Save. Go to
cash. Stay liquid. Make only very short-term
investments. Stock up on tools, supplies, a
urbanities
range of functional items, and things you can
trade. Grow food if you can. Learn a range of
practical skills. Plan for your safety and security
(“When I say this to US audiences, they
think I mean guns,” she quips).
She believes the hammer will drop in the
next two to five years, following which there
will be a years-long regime of worse-than-‘30’s
Depression-era conditions. Foss, in a surreally
matter-of-fact voice, given the catastrophic
content, reminds us that all of this has happened
many times before in many places, and that it
will happen again. She finishes on a nearly
chipper note, words to this effect: Stay in a
constructive, positive head space. Make an
effort to understand the financial situation to
develop your sense of urgency so you can build
a different world. If you know you’re going
off the cliff, Foss argues, better to have your
parachute securely strapped on than to be
scrambling for it in free fall.
Cliff? Parachute? Future-proofing ourselves,
our families, our communities? I’m 68, a frail
pensioner. My palsied hands are shaking. I’m
saddled with debt, have no marketable skills.
When the marauding mob comes to take my
few remaining cans of tuna fish (or worse, my
can opener), what can I do—shoo them away
with a broom? Foss’ snapshot of a crappy nearfuture
left me depressed and cursing myself
for all the failures and bad choices of my long
life. Future-proofing? I’m a war baby! Happiness
and the satisfaction of all my needs, not the
breadline, is my birthright! It’s right there,
written into my Contract With History!
Aaaarrrggghhhh!
Cue the pioneers. In a movie-like highcamera
cutaway, a mere 26 hours after Foss’
last words dissolve against the high gym ceiling,
an overflow crowd of more than 200 people—
a fairly good embodiment of the usual cast of
shoppers at the Moss Street Saturday Market
(the “do well by doing good” crowd, as someone
near me muttered)—fills the Ambrosia
Conference Centre downtown to listen to a
peppy speaker panel make the case for local
investment. The event, a barn-burner by Victoria
standards and relevantly titled “Invest Your
Money In Local Change,” was sponsored
jointly by Transition Victoria, Vancity Savings
and Focus Magazine.
It was as if Foss’ bracing advice, minus her
overt sense of urgency or her arguments about
collapse, had found incarnation. Honestly,
you couldn’t ask for a more constructive and
hopeful group. The panel of speakers, invoking
44 March 2012 • FOCUS

CLIFF? PARACHUTE? Future-proofing ourselves, our families, our
communities? I’m 68, a frail pensioner. My palsied hands are shaking. I’m
saddled with debt, have no marketable skills. When the marauding mob
comes to take my few remaining cans of tuna fish (or worse, my can
opener), what can I do—shoo them away with a broom?
images not of cataclysm, but community
empowerment, took ten minutes or less each
(thank you, panel) to focus on constructive,
homegrown economic possibilities. A basic
message during the evening: why not use
RRSP and other eligible funds to achieve positive
local impacts? Speakers included Stephen
Whipp promoting local investment; the enterprising
Lisa Helps, founder of a local
micro-lending initiative, small-time creator
of affordable housing and a new Victoria City
Councillor, discussing her work and ideas
for community self-improvement; Vancity
community business banking representative
Rebecca Pearson profiling Vancity’s extraordinary
business relationships with the
communities it serves; John Ehrlich, manager
of Duncan-area Alderlea farms which serves
some of the food needs of 200 “shareholder”
families; and Rupert Downing from the
Community Council.
The localizing idea is breaking out all over
(locally)—people articulating and creatively
acting on the niggling worry that most of us
harbour privately: that there’s far too much
system stress in our current social arrangements,
and that if there’s a really serious judder,
leave alone collapse, better to be constructively
prepared rather than shocked and
paralyzed. A recent commenter on social critic
James Kunstler’s blog writes:
“James, your amusingly serious words in
your books Geography of Nowhere and The
Long Emergency (among others) have been
buzzing in my head for years and I have urged
many to read them. My numerous years of
thinking about how to go from sprawl to a
sustainable social, economic, and environmental
reality is beginning to take shape. On
February 18 our (Los Angeles) group will hold
an advisory meeting to start laying our nonprofit
organizational foundation to take the first step,
“The Holigent Seed Project,” toward a local
to global transition program that could prepare
communities to survive and thrive in the
approaching collapse.” (See www.holigent.org)
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
It’s not hard to discern in this web of ideas
for renewal an outline of how things might
play out in the future. And even if things don’t
blow up, what’s the matter with local, anyway?
Two days later in the same week, I stood in
a very different geography, again in the company
of 200—the business suit and $40 haircut
crowd—noshing on teriyaki chicken skewers,
mini-wontons and other finger food at the
Colliers annual commercial real estate market
survey reception, held at the Grand Pacific.
After introductory remarks from Dave
Ganong, Colliers’ manager in Victoria, John
McLernon, eminence grise of Colliers
International, told us in his keynote remarks
that everything was basically all right. He has
lived a long life in business and seen it all—
bubbles, booms and busts. While he never
invoked oceanic imagery, I was put in a trancelike
calm as he spoke: cap rates get a little worse,
cap rates get a little better, vacancies trend up
or down, markets swell or contract. Yes, he
remarked in passing, there were the rocky
shoals of European debt...but the ship sails on.
As Colliers managers came to the podium
to deliver informative reports on apartment
investment, industrial, commercial, office
and other segments of the market, reality
slipped for a moment and I saw the entire
event as ritual—Pope John, Cardinal David
and the cowled acolytes of commercial real
estate intoning the ceremonial lines, us hopefuls
in the cheap seats ritually mumbling our
prayers. The message of this tableau: “The
Church endures.”
And after three bad nights of Nicole Fossinduced
weltschmerz and despair, I went home
and slept like a baby.
Gene Miller is currently
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Stories That Divide Us, Stories
That Bind Us and The
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45

Like most people, I’d never heard
of Klaus Schwab, a Germanborn
business professor and
founder of the decades-old World
Economic Forum for the ultra-rich
and powerful. That is, I’d never heard
of him until he opened his mouth at
the Forum’s annual gathering in the
Swiss Alps last January to announce
to his exclusive audience: “Capitalism,
in its current form, no longer fits the
world around us.”
Sounding like a man who’d been
doing some heavy pondering, he
spoke of the growing inequities within
and between countries and suggested
the time had come to “embrace a
much more holistic, inclusive and
qualitative approach to economic
development…A global transformation
is urgently needed and it must
start with reinstating a global sense
of social responsibility.”
No doubt Schwab’s words were
influenced by the current sombre
situation in Europe but I found them
courageously spoken nonetheless.
It’s time to see and do things differently,
and if the change must come from the top, then the occasion of
Schwab’s speech has the potential to be game-changing.
For decades we’ve been told that a healthy economy is based on
growth. Unless we created more, bought more, sold more, used
more and did more than the sum total of the previous year’s enterprise,
the economy would falter and the lifestyle we’ve come to take for
granted would surely deteriorate. Throughout all that industriousness
we never stopped to consider the impossibility of perpetual growth as
plotted on a graph. It didn’t occur to us that bad things in life often give
the economy its biggest boost—that social strife, wars, earthquakes,
and environmental disasters such as the oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico and, closer to home, the fuel carelessly decanted into Goldstream
River, all contribute robustly to the GNP.
That’s one of the biggest blind spots with a growth-based economy.
The concerns over negative long-term repercussions—even those
known to be imminent—don’t stand a chance against the boon of
immediate and often short-term jobs. And the environment typically
bears much of the strain because mostly it’s still being positioned
by our governments and old-order corporations as an obstacle to
growth and prosperity: “If you want a job, you must allow access to
the mine/forest/deep blue sea.”
But now this tack is being challenged in high circles, at least in
theory. Schwab declared to his peers that the time has come to
The folly of perpetual growth
TRUDY DUIVENVOORDEN MITIC
Nobody wins when the environment and economy are pitted against each other.
finding balance
shift the economic emphasis from
growth to quality. To also assess
future growth on the basis of sustainability
today and impact on the
environment down the road.
David Suzuki has long pointed
out that nobody wins when the
environment and economy are
pitted against each other. Jeffrey
Sachs, a leading international
economic advisor, proposes a bold
new perspective for future prosperity
in his new book, The Price
of Civilization (Random House,
2011): “As individuals we need to
regain the balance of our own lives
between work and leisure, saving
and consumption, self-interest and
compassion, individualism and
leadership. As a society we need to
establish the right relationship of
markets, politics and civil society
to address the complex challenges
of the twenty-first century.”
How do we get started in a new
direction? Make conscientious
consumer choices. Run our businesses
on a smaller ecological footprint and
incorporate more than just profit into the model for success. Support
local innovation and demand that our governments do as well. We have
companies in town working on some amazing technology, including
the development of a whole new generation of solar-powered outdoor
lighting that’s in demand around the world. I’d rather see them getting
financial assistance than the traditional auto industry.
Think locally. Support people who make and grow real things.
Champion projects that bolster both the economy and our finite environment.
(Imagine what could have been accomplished if the millions
spent on the ill-designed McTavish Road Interchange had instead been
applied to developing a transit system using the rail corridor between
Langford and downtown Victoria.)
Quality of life no longer equals quantity of stuff; if it ever did. Now,
if we could only convince our politicians.
Trudy Duivenvoorden Mitic is overcoming her
aversion to writing to politicians on issues that matter.
The power really can be with the people.
46 March 2012 • FOCUS
ILLUSTRATION: APRIL CAVERHILL

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Import & Design Emporium
2713 QUADRA (AT HILLSIDE) 250.386.8325
www.bestofbothworldsimports.com
www.focusonline.ca • March 2012
Dana Craft, Chartered Financial Planner
Megson FitzPatrick Craft Financial Services Inc.
Phone: 250.940.9043
Fax: 250.595.7076
email: dcraft@megsonfitzpatrick.com
website: www.danacraft.com
47

ILLUSTRATION: DENTON PENDERGAST
opportunity lost