West Kootenay Advertiser, April 18, 2024

1 stitch at a time: Local woman sews 5,000 items for global good

The first thing you see when you enter Pauline Kabatoff Weinert’s home is a wall quilt filled with stitched handprints of varying sizes labeled with names.

When she made the quilt in the mid-90s, she turned the traced hand prints of almost all of her family members into the stitching that holds the quilt together.

The work of art is a representation of Weinert’s priorities: family and sewing.

“I give so much with the hope that it will inspire others to do something,” she told the Castlegar News as we visited her home in March.

Weinert started basic quilting at age 14, but it was after taking quilting lessons four decades later that her passion really came to life.

For the last 30 years, 86-year-old Weinert has focused her passion for sewing into creating things to give away.

Between 1996 and 2023, she gave away 1,430 quilts of varying sizes, 858 pillows, 267 receiving blankets and 3,023 various other items.

With such ambitious aspirations, Weinert occasionally solicited help from her sisters, Anne Gretchen and Irene Mallow, as well as a few friends, including Nellie Makortoff. But the bulk of the work was done by her own two hands on her two vintage sewing machines and with needle and thread.

Over the last three years, she has focused a lot of her efforts towards Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, donating 400 comfort quilts for snuggling, 256 doll quilts and 718 crocheted soap bags. Makortoff added another 50 soap bags and 472 decorative crocheted roses to the shipment.

Other recipients of Weinert’s handiwork include the BC Easter Seal Society, Vancouver Children’s Hospital, Castlegar Rotary humanitarian trips, RCMP Victim Services, Doctors Without Borders, Kootenay Family Place, Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery, Catholic Charities and others.

In 2005, Weinert was given a Rotary International Paul Harris Award in recognition of her world-wide contributions.

Weinert says she has also sewn a lot of things for her extended family over the years.

“But since 2013, after my husband was gone, I have just been concentrating on charity stuff,” said Weinert.

Sitting on her sewing table now is a pile of 50 receiving blankets and 30 baby quilts that will soon be headed to Guatemala with a group of Selkirk College nursing students on an inter-

Pauline Weinert sits in front of receiving blankets and baby quilts that will be headed to Guatemala with a group of Selkirk College nursing students next month. The other items will also be sent off to good causes in the coming months.

national community health practice experience as well as another 50 receiving blankets and more quilts intended for a Rotary trip to Bolivia this summer.

Weinert still has piles of fabric around her Castlegar home and jokes that she may need to live another 50 years to use it all up.

She plans to keep up the sewing as long as she is able and is already planning her next project.

Just like Weinert’s family has left their hand prints on her quilt, Weinert is leaving her hand prints all over the world.

by Betsy Kline

Photo: Betsy Kline

Pauline Weinert stands in front of her family hand print quilt. Photo: Betsy Kline

Selkirk College presents renowned environmental activist Tzeporah Berman

Submitted by Selkirk College logging in ancient Vancouver Island temperate rainforests, the Clayoquot Sound camp that Berman helped establish saw more than 10,000 people show up during a tumultuous summer that ultimately helped change how government directs the forest industry.

From behind the bullhorn at one of Canada’s largest acts of civil disobedience to working diligently behind the scenes with the leaders of the nation’s fossil fuel industry, environmental activist Tzeporah Berman has spent three decades as a crusader for urgent change. In 1993, Berman was one of the main voices of what became known as British Columbia’s “War in the Woods.” A protest to stop clearcut

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Currently the international program director for STAND.earth and chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, Berman’s determined work on climate change is respected on all sides of the table. A compelling speaker with an incredible career of activism, Berman is touching down in Nelson on May 1 for Selkirk College’s latest Mir Lecture Series event at the Capitol Theatre where she will talk about lessons learned and strategies going forward.

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“When I came out that second summer, I started to feel a sense of urgency thinking that the science was going to take too long and the legal strategies will take longer than I imagined,” she recalls. “I thought we were going to lose it all.”

Over the last three decades, Berman has forged pathways to tangible change in a variety of areas and with a number of different of organizations. In 2000, she co-founded ForestEthics to take on companies that engaged in practices that damaged the environment. A prominent example of success was shining a spotlight on Victoria’s Secret’s massive distribution of glossy catalogues that used paper from old growth timber. Through street theatre demonstrations and fake fashion ads, public pressure resulted in the clothing brand changing its business practices.

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“If we care about these issues, our job is to take a breath and listen,” says the 55-year-old. “We must try to listen to the people and not just hear the positions. But that doesn’t mean we need to weaken our bottom line and it doesn’t mean agreeing to activity that you know in your gut is wrong. We have to be willing to try and find some common ground or shared values in order to be open to solutions that might not be what you first thought they should be.”

Working with a small group of five other Friends of Clayoquot Sound volunteers, Berman took her first bold steps into environmental activism. Using the relatively sparse communication tools of the time — phone books and fax machines — the team began to get the word out with hopes of attracting 100 people to join their camp at the logging roads that led to old growth forests. With the idea to create a big tent where people from all walks of life would feel welcome to take a stand, thousands showed up over the summer and more than 850 people were arrested.

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Stopping the destruction of giants Berman grew up in London, Ont., and entered post-secondary at then-Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) with sights set on a career in the fashion industry. After a summer backpacking through Europe in the late-1980s where she witnessed decaying cities and damaged ecosystems caused by overwhelming pollution, Berman switched academic gears to focus on environmental protection as a student at the University of Toronto. Her first trip to Canada’s west coast came in 1992 to volunteer for Western Canada Wilderness Society in the Carmanah Valley. When Berman returned the next spring to continue her work and write a master’s thesis, the 24-year-old was devastated to witness clearcutting methods in ancient rainforests being carried out by forest industry behemoth

Though Berman had never gotten involved in any type of protest until that summer, a combination of stellar speaking ability and deep academic understanding of the issues thrust her to the forefront. The young Berman was featured on the front pages of national newspapers and on the nightly news, becoming a leading voice of a generation determined to

In the hallways of power, Berman has become a respected advisor to policy makers on issues of the environment. She helped advise the former BC Liberal government under then-Premier Gordon Campbell on North America’s first economy-wide carbon tax that was implemented in 2008. In 2016, Berman was appointed by the premier of Alberta to co-chair the Oil Sands Advisory Working Group that was tasked with creating policy recommendations on how to implement the climate plan and address cumulative impacts of oil sands.

The cumulative impacts of industrial extraction have never been more dire and the polarization of Canadian society never more evident. At the Mir Lecture Series event, Ber man will tell stories of her career, impart wis dom and talk about a way forward.

The toil and persistence by those involved in the Clayoquot Sound peace camp during the summer of 1993 did make a difference. Over the next few years, government began to work actively with conservationists, First Na tions and the industry. Harvesting techniques changed and ecologically fragile areas like the Great Bear Rainforest on B.C.’s central coast were protected.

“It was an amazing time,” Berman says of her summer at Clayoquot Sound. “Today I am an activist, an advocate and a government advisor 30 years later … the experience of that summer is where I found my voice. It changed

“I want people to be inspired by some of the stories of success and change that I have been so lucky to be a part of,” she says. “My hope is that it empowers them to go out and make their own stories. They should leave with a sense of urgency to engage in these issues that are going to shape their lives and some ideas

Tickets for the Mir Series Lecture on May 1 (7 p.m. to 9 p.m.) are now on sale through the Capitol Theatre website (adult $27, se nior $20, student/youth $15). You can find out more information at: https://selkirk.ca/events/ mir-lecture-tzeporah-berman.

History

Verigin’s Nelson carriage rescued from basement

by

J.

Second of three parts.

Last week we started looking at Doukhobor leader Peter Vasil’evich (Lordly) Verigin’s carriages, carts and sleighs, of which at least seven survive, including three in B.C. A barouche-style carriage that Verigin used in Nelson was manufactured by McLaughlin-Buick and intended to be drawn by two horses.

Anton F. Strelaeff (1890-1935), the Community factotum stationed there in the 1910s and 1920s, would meet Verigin at the train station with it when he arrived in Nelson, even though it was only a couple of blocks from the leader’s residence at 509 Falls St. Verigin reportedly always drove.

It is unclear whether this carriage was used after Verigin’s death in 1924, but at some point, it was stored and maintained by the Nelson Transfer Co. Ltd. at 323 Vernon St. Later, it ended up in the basement of the Ellison’s Milling warehouse on Front Street, where manager Joseph Kary discovered it in the 1950s and recognized its significance. This was directly across the street from the former Kootenay-Columbia Preserving Works, operated by the Doukhobors from 1911-15. But it’s not known how the carriage’s provenance was established.

Subsequently the Nelson Diamond Jubilee committee secured the carriage’s loan and Nelson queen Jane Miller rode in it for a parade in July 1957. A few months later the carriage was donated to the city and placed in the museum at 502 Vernon St.

In May 1960, the

City of Nelson notified the museum it would be moving city offices onto the main floor of their building, but the museum could use the second floor. That fall, the carriage was dismantled, hoisted through a second-floor window, and reassembled as a centrepieceof aDoukhobor display. At that time, the carriage still had at least one brass lamp that threw off a beam of light when a candle was lit.

The museum relocated to Lake Street a few years later and then to Anderson Street in 1974. While the barouche remained part of the collection, the museum no longer had room to display or store it, so it was

kept at the Nelson fire hall until the fire department required the space for other purposes. In 2006, the carriage was placed in storage at the former museum site on Anderson Street after the museum moved back to 502 Vernon St.

In June 2010, the Nelson Museum offeredthecarriagetothe Doukhobor Discovery Centre in Castlegar where it could receive the visibility and attention it deserved. In 2013, the Doukhobor Discovery Centre received a grant to create a better shelter for the carriage. However, it is seldom on display due to its fragility.

The carriage can be described as follows:

• Body: black body,

canopy (with a piece torn or missing) and undercarriage;

• Seats: black fabric drivers seat with red exterior metal trim; rear enclosed passenger seat upholstered with leather-covered buttons; upholstery on both seats is severely torn/worn;

• Headlamps: two original lamps are missing;

• Wheels: four wheels are intact with carriage shaft, axles, tongue, and spokes; and

• Misc: driver’s dashboard and carriage steps. The carriage is in relatively weathered condition.

In the last installment in this series, we’ll look at three surviving vehicles in Grand Forks.

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Anton F. Strelaeff tends to Peter V. Verigin’s new Barouche coach in Nelson, circa 1910s. This picture reportedly shows Strelaeff bringing the carriage home after its arrival via sternwheeler, but looks to have been taken on Nelson Avenue. Photo: Paul Strelive collection

Redstone, Champion Lakes ready to tee off

opening day tee-off times.

Greater Trail golf courses at higher elevations announced their respective early openings last week.

Both Redstone Resort and Champion Lakes golf courses are weeks ahead of previous year’s

Redstone Resort Golf Course announced its opening on April 10, but will start with the front nine until the stubborn snow melts on the mountain slopes of the back nine.

“Everything is looking green and lush to kick-start the season,” Redstone announced.

“We look forward to opening the full 18 holes shortly, so make sure to keep an eye out for more updates.”

All cart riders are asked to follow the 90-degree rule.

supervisor Dave Duncan and his team.”

A couple of tree hazards, most notably on hole No. 2, have been removed, and the view from the deck overlooking the par-3, hole No. 5 is now wide open.

Golfers can make tee-times online at golfchampionlakes.com., carts are available, and the restaurant should be open.

“The course is still working its way to completion, so please make sure to adhere to this rule while using the carts. This ensures a safe round and better conditions for the future.”

Golfers can book their tee times for the front nine online at redstoneresort.com.

Champion Lakes Golf Course opened on Monday, April 8 and has a fresh new look in the proshop, restaurant and on the course.

Golf course manager Kevin Nesbitt says the greens are in great condition, after covering five of them over the winter; and the fairways are lush, void of snow and almost any winter kill.

“For this early, it’s really amazing how well this course is playing. Huge credit to our greens crew

For more information or to make a tee time call Champion Lakes at 250-367-7001.

The course at Birchbank in Trail teed off on March 22 and has been playing in midseason condition, but with spring rates ever since.

Birchbank Golf Course is a highly rated course with generally friendly lies but a challenge to even the most impressive golfer. Enjoy dining at the Bistro, hit some balls at the driving range, and/or take advantage of some of their great deals in the pro shop.

To book, go to birchbankgolf. com or phone 250-693-2255.

Redstone Resort golf course and Champion Lakes opened early this year, so book your tee-time now.

Photo: Jim Bailey

by Jim Bailey

Our History in Pictures

Did you know that the Rossland Museum and Discovery Centre is located on the official Mining in the Kootenays National Historic Site? Today happens to be the International Day for Monuments and Sites! This photo from June 1, 2002 of Jack McDonald (Museum President), Dr. Mouat (Athabasca University), and Roger Terhune (Museum Board Member) captures the ceremony celebrating this designation with the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The official plaque — behind McDonald and Mouat in this picture — resides on our lawn today.

Photo preserved by the Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre and digitized courtesy of Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History. Do you have original photos capturing Rossland’s storied history? Consider donating them to the Rossland Archives. We can also scan them and you retain the original.

Celebrate Law Day at Rossland Courthouse

By Times Staff

The public is invited to participate in Law Day at the Rossland Courthouse on Saturday, May 4.

The Rossland Law Courts in association with the Kootenay Bar will open their doors to residents and allow them to wander through the historic walls of the Rossland Courthouse building, and participate in special events.

“Law Day is an annual national event (typically in April) celebrating the signing of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” said

the release. “It is an occasion for the public to learn about the law, the legal profession and the legal institutions that form the cornerstones of Canadian democracy.”

The celebration offers something for everyone with building tours, mock trials, scavenger hunts, and a little bit of history showcased by the Rossland Museum.

Law Day activities across Canada are an excellent opportunity for the legal profession to educate the public about the vital role lawyers and the judiciary serve in guaranteeing an open, independent, and unbiased judicial system.

The Kootenay Bar will also conduct mock bail hearings, with a few laughs along the way, Sheriffs will be on hand to open the holding cells and multiple other law partners will also be in attendance to answer questions.

The event goes at the Rossland Courthouse at 2288 Columbia Ave. on May 4 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m

Rossland Museum upcoming events and announcements

by Jim Bailey

The Rossland Museum invites the public to its April Speaker Series and Melanie Mercier’s talk on Rethinking the Ornamental Garden.

“Join us at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24 for a conversation with landscape horticulturist Melanie Mercier about how we can rethink traditional ornamental gardens,” said museum marketing manager Fiona Lane.

Mercier will discuss efforts that help counter the alarming trend of beneficial pollinator populations and native plant decline. and how to create pollinator pathways and resilient flora retreats in your own backyard.

“We’ll learn some easy steps to consciously optimize our gardening habits into ecologically-minded practices that serve to attract and support pollinators, conserve water, and reduce maintenance.”

She will explore the pollinator species native to the Rossland area and show how to attract them with beautiful plants that can bridge the gap between the wild and urban landscapes.

“Melanie aims to plant seeds of change to cultivate a future where humans thrive in harmony with nature. One home garden at a time, we can grow together towards a more sustainable today.”

Entry is by donation. More info and to RSVP go to rosslandmuseum.ca/news/2024/ april-speaker.

Rossland Museum is also celebrating Earth Day on Saturday, April 20.

Join us for a day of activities all about the wild world we live in. Drop by for showings of the stunning documentary The Human Element at 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., a special S.T.E.A.M. activity including a mock oil-spill experiment between 1 and 3 p.m., and a community engagement wall where we can share how we are contributing to a healthy planet.

This Earth Day at the Museum is sure to bring a climate-change of pace to your family’s weekend! Entry by donation.

More info: rosslandmuseum.ca/news/2024/ earth-day.

Help Wanted: The Rossland Museum is also

looking for full-time employees to deliver its upcoming summer programs.

All positions are funded by programs for youth employment, so candidates must be between the ages of 16 and 30.

Some positions may be limited to candidates who were in full-time studies in the current school term and will be returning to full-time studies within the next year.

2024 Summer Opportunities include Collections Assistant, Museum Programs Assistant, Historical Interpreter, Operations Assistant, Museum Technology Assistant, Archives Assistant, Research Assistant,

The museum is also seeking students to fill its Graduate Internships, such as Archives Coordinator, Communications Coordinator, Collections Coordinator, Community Engagement Coordinator, Historic Site Coordinator, and Operations Coordinator.

Candidates age 15 may be considered for some positions with guardian permission.

Earliest start date is April 30. Go to www.rosslandmuseum.ca/news/2024-jobs for more details.

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Community

Bruins are waking: tips to keeping green bins bear-safe

Spring is upon us and the bruins are waking up from months of hibernation.

Of course they’re hungry and searching for good eats, so now is the time for locals to stay vigilant in managing refuse.

“As bears emerge, they will be seeking out fresh grasses and sedges [flowering plants] to feed on as well as winter-killed animals,”WildSafeBC advises. “Do not let garbage draw them into your community.”

Trash is the most reported attractant involved in human-bear conflicts, and as the saying goes, “a fed bear is a dead bear.”

To avoid luring in a bear and putting the community at-risk, WildSafeBC is offering some simple tips for managing household attractants.

Keep garbage, recyclables and other attractants secure, indoors is best.

Wash out containers that store garbage and recycling so they are clean and odour-free.

Minimize odours by freezing meat, fish and other smelly food

scraps, and don’t put them in the green bin until collection day or until you can transport it to the landfill.

Residents are reminded to store their garbage in a secure place until the morning of their scheduled pick up day.

New this spring are green bins provided by the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB).

The RDKB advises that while the 80-litre green bins are critter-resistant (to raccoons, rodents, etc.), they are not bear-resistant.

“With this in mind, it’s important that you store and manage your green bin properly,” the RDKB notes.

Tips to bear-safe green bins:

Store your green bins in a secure building when not out for collection, such as in a closed, locked garage or shed, even if empty — bins hold a residual smell.

If a bin is stored outside, anchor it to a post using a cable so that it can’t be dragged away.

Place bins at the roadside only on the morning they are collected, never the night before.

Take it out to the curb every

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week, even if you only have a small amount of organics in the bin. Set out your bins by 7:30 a.m. on your collection day and bring them in after collection as soon as possible.

Certified bear-resistant green bins are available for purchase through the bear bin trade-in program. These bins are for RDKB residents who live in bear-frequented areas and are unable to keep their bins secured.

For more tips on garbage, organics and recycling visit: rdkb.com. Click the “Waste”link on the home page.

Under the BC Wildlife Act, the public is legally responsible to secure waste and keep other attractants away from wildlife. Human-wildlife conflict

This is the first spring that green bins will be out for collection at curbsides from Rossland to Trail and the Beaver Valley.

Every year, hundreds of bears are destroyed as a result of conflicts with populated areas.

Bear Smart programs are in many towns and there is plenty of information online at: gov.bc.ca.

If you encounter a bear:

Do not feed bears, ever;

Remain calm — do not run or climb a tree;

Keep a healthy distance from the bear;

Stay together in a group if you can;

Go indoors if possible, and bring pets inside too;

Watch and wait until the bear leaves;

Make noise if you are outside and carry bear spray if you are planning an outdoor activity like taking a hike.

Photo: RDKB

by Sheri Regnier

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Graphic novel author talk on Kootenay wildfires comes to West Kootenay libraries

Submitted by the Kootenay Library Federation

The story of a Kootenay summer: forests are burning, old-growth activists are blockad-

ing, and a rookie wildfire fighter wrestles with her Doukhobor past while working to protect the future.

novelist Anne DeGrace joined the project, she brought her interest in history, and collaboration blossomed.

Scrapbooking April20th 1O:OOam-2:00pm

Now, the narrative draws from Wilkinson’s Doukhobor roots, as well as experience on a local contract crew, as rookie wildfire-fighter Lusha Wlasoff encounters cultural clashes and tests of loyalty through one wicked wildfire season in a forest full of homesteaders, ravers and environmental activists.

We Were Found in the Fires, an in-progress graphic novel by Nathan Wilkinson with Anne DeGrace, is coming to several local libraries (see below) with a multimedia author talk and community discussion on the story and the process. If you’re an adult or older teen with an interest in graphic novels, our B.C. wildfire situation, or the challenging process of writing culturally relevant fiction, this event is for you.

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The West Kootenay is a complex region, historically, culturally, and environmentally. Artist and author Nathan Wilkinson initially set out to create a graphic novel for adult readers that would speak to our changing environment and increasing wildfire threat through the eyes of a wildfire-fighting crew. When

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“Wildfires are a pressing issue all around the world, and there’s really nowhere better to write about them than here in the Kootenays,” says Wilkinson. “We live through staggering, life-changing fires every summer, but they’re still such a small part of the stories we see in books and on screens. Hopefully the community events around this book will be a chance for people to think and talk about our expe-

riences with fire and our forests.”

Wilkinson and DeGrace are touring six libraries in the Kootenay Library Federation, with visits to Beaver Valley (May 2, 6:30 p.m.), Kaslo (May 3, 7 p.m.), Nelson (May 8, 7 p.m.), Salmo (May 15, 6:30 p.m.), Castlegar (May 16, 6 p.m.), and Trail (May 22, 6 p.m.).

At the Castlegar and District Public Library, they will be joined by local authors Leesa Dean and Renée Harper, who will share their own writing on wildfires from re-

cent poetry collections and take part in a conversation about wildfires in art.

The Nelson Public Library hosts an accompanying art show of pages from Wilkinson and DeGrace’s book from May 1 to June 29.

The tour is sponsored by the KLF and the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, a financial supporter of the graphic novel project. Additional funding from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Anne DeGrace (left) and Nathan Wilkinson. Photo: Submitted

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Get to the heart of the community

Because every neighbourhood has a story

Rearrange the letters to spell something pertaining to laughter

#1 999+ BUYER! WE BUY SELL TRADE ALL GOLD, SILVER & PLATINUM! Bullion, bars, wafers, ingots, rounds, coins, Maple Leafs! Also purchasing ENTIRE COIN COLLECTIONS, Royal Canadian Mint coins, Franklin Mint, US MINT, coin sets, Olympic coins, rare coins, old money, estate collections, jewelry, watches, Rolex, Omega, GOLD nuggets, gold dust, scrap, gold concentrate, coins, Sterling Silver, 999 bullion +++

TODD 25O 864 3521

Box Reply Service and to repay the customer the sum paid for the advertisementandboxrental.

DISCRIMINATORY LEGISLATION

Advertisers are reminded that provincial legislation forbids the publicationofanyadvertisement which discriminates against any person because of race, religion, sex, colour, nationality, ancestry or place of origin, age, andphysicalormentaldisability, unless the condition is justified by a bona fide requirement for theworkinvolved.

PURCHASING

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Salmo Community Services, a nonprofit Community Service Agency has an Executive Director position coming up. Start Date, September 30, 2024. 28 hr/week, $46.90 - $50.00/hr plus benefits. For further details, please check out our website employment opportunities and news on our website, scrs.ca.

To apply, email scrsboard@gmail.com

Job Opportunity

Temporary Labourer

BASIS: FULL-TIME FOR 14-16 WEEKS, COMMENCING MAY 21

CLOSING: MAY 10, 2024 AT 4:30 PM

We are seeking a temporary Labourer to perform routine maintenance in parks, playgrounds, boulevards, cemetery, water & sewer excavations, and landscaped areas throughout the City. Must have a valid Class 5 BC Driver’s Licence with clean abstract.

This position is a CUPE Local 2262 position attracting an hourly rate of $34.72 plus 10% in lieu of benefits.

Qualified applicants are invited to submit their detailed resume via email to hr@castlegar.ca by 4:30p.m. on May 10, 2024. Please visit our website for a full job description and more information on living and working in Castlegar.

hr@castlegar.ca castlegar.ca