Music makers A Night of Music comes to Monterey Page A11
NEWS: Heavy turnout for advance polls /A3 GARDEN: Good gardening help is hard to find /A12 SPORTS: Weekend rugby action in Oak Bay /A22
OAK BAYNEWS Friday, October 16, 2015
www.oakbaynews.com
Parents urge council to deal with cougars Police suggest residents be vigilant, but not panic Christine van Reeuwyk Oak Bay News
Christine van Reeuwyk/Oak Bay News
Resident Jacques Sirois hopes to spur conversation about Oak Bay’s seaside infrastructure and the natural and cultural history he says the community needs to share.
Resident holds savvy vision for seafront Shoreline needs rethinking, future planning says nature-lover Christine van Reeuwyk Oak Bay News
Oak Bay’s seafront needs to be more savvy, says Jacques Sirois. The longtime Oak Bay resident wants to spur discussion on how to reinvigorate infrastructure and share stories about what he calls – in flawless French – “Canada’s Cote D’Azur.” “I’m an ocean lover, a bird lover and
“We need an Oak Bay a heritage fan,” he says. “We seafront initiative that will have a lot of interesting natuunfold in the next decade. ral and cultural heritage in Oak We have to be thoughtful Bay.” Q Find the Friends and savvy,” Sirois says. Sirois sees it as taken for of Victoria Harbour “We have the best granted, saying for example, Migratory Bird marine environment in that people don’t realize Oak Sanctuary on urban Canada. We’ve got Bay is part of the Victoria HarFacebook an incredible package for bour Migratory Bird Sanctuary a city.” established in the 1920s. Another example Sirois “There was a need to rein in the hunting,” Sirois says. “The city grew cites is the Trial Islands ecological reserve and industry grew … everybody forgot that also boasts a federally designated heritage lighthouse. about this bird sanctuary.” He wants to resurrect the sanctuary, just one of the “unknown stories” of local PLEASE SEE: shorelines that should be shared through Marine heritage needs to be celebrated, signage. Page A3
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Parents of two different families voiced frustration over wild animal activity in Oak Bay during Tuesday’s council meeting – both pleading for action. “We’re all starting to feel unsafe in the community,” said Parminder Basran, an adjunct associate professor at the University of Victoria, who delivers the Oak Bay News with his children twice a week in the evening. Last week they learned of a cougar sighting, minutes before, on their regular route. In another incident, a large buck jumped from the bushes to the sidewalk where the children stood. The kids check the trampoline area before going outside to play, as deer frequent the yard, he said, and the family of regular walkers, now routinely call for a ride home from the bus stop. “The entire family has to walk through a series of regions where there is inadequate lighting,” he said. Basran was careful to point out he understands the risk of injury and probability of attack are minimal – but the exist. “I carry a knife … in my back yard,” Valerie Irvine told council. Her daughter has nightmares about cougars and the family dogs are living inside more. Her children were put in a scary “hold and secure” at two separate schools due to a cougar sighting nearby. These all add up, she said, to a loss of quality of life. Irvine called on council for proactive movement, and intolerance of the wildlife, both cougars and deer. “I want the urban area restored to urban,” she said. “I did not sign up for rural.” PLEASE SEE: Conservation working with police Page A8