Bowen Island Undercurrent November 25 2021

MENORAH LIGHTS UP COVE: a first for Bowen PAGE 3

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25 , 2021

KNITTING FOR CHRISTMAS

VOL. 47 NO. 046

BIUndercurrent

BowUndercurrent www.bowenislandundercurrent.com

The craft fair is back PAGE 20

Permit-less cottage may prompt $50,000 donation to affordable housing fund MARTHA PERKINS

editor@bowenislandundercurrent.com

Property owners who rebuilt a cabin next to their house without any permits may soon have to pay the piper.

Bowen Island Municipal councillors seem intent on asking them for a community amenity contribution to the island’s affordable housing fund. The question will be, “How much?”

The cabin is on Smith Road on the north side of the island. It was built on the footprint of a previous cabin that was on the property before the permanent residence was built.

However, not only did the owners not ask for any building permit or go through the proper inspection process, the property’s zoning did not allow for the construction of a secondary suite at the time.

Council became aware of the cabin when it came on the radar of BC Assessment.

“The cottage is a substantial home,” said councillor Maureen Nicholson. It’s 133 sq.m, or roughly 200 sq.ft larger than what is now allowed as an accessory residential suite. It’s also closer to the lot line than it should be.

The municipality’s planning department has been in negotiations with the owners. There were two choices for moving forward: a development variance permit or a re-zoning application.

CONTINEUD ON PAGE 18

In the final leg of the Monsoon Madness Mudder, Kay McPhee and Christian Ridley slide towards the finish line in Saturday’s event. The first-time event attracted about 150 participants who raised approximately $100,000 for Island Pacific School. The monies are earmarked for the Colin Ruloff Community Field House. Story and more photos page 21.

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STONGS.COM

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A2 • Thursday, November 25, 2021

bowenislandundercurrent.com

We’re hiring: Snow Plow Drivers

Events

Development in Hazardous Areas: What do you think?

Bowen Island Municipality is looking for contractors for:

November 29, 2021 7:00 pm

Ice Patrol - Temperature Dependent Snow Removal - Weather Dependent

Tunstall Bay Community Information Meeting

Please provide a written response expressing interest in the On-Call position(s) by email before Friday, November 26, 2021 at 4:00 PM to:

December 1, 2021 5:00 pm

Public Works EMAIL: publicworks@bimbc.ca Phone: 604-947-4255

Heritage Commission

December 2, 2021 4:00 pm Public Art Advisory Committee

Please contact ICBC (1-800-663-3051) to request a driver’s license abstract and ask ICBC to forward it directly to BIM by fax at 604-9470193.

www.bowenislandmunicipality.ca/jobs

All meetings are online via Zoom and

open to the public, unless noted

Community Information Meeting: Tunstall Bay water reservoir tank

otherwise.

You can watch all Regular Council meetings at Municipal Hall. You will be watching a livestream of the

Bowen Island Municipality is considering regulating development in hazardous areas on Bowen Island and is considering a future Hazardous Areas Development Permit Area. The establishment of a new Development Permit Area would require an amendment to Bowen Island Municipality Land Use Bylaw No. 57, 2002.

The Municipality is interested in what you think about the proposed Development Permit Area. Virtual open houses will be held from 2pm – 4pm on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 and Thursday, December 9, 2021 on Zoom. Printed Information will also be available at the Municipal Hall the week of December 6-10.

Information about these open houses, including login information, is available at www.bowenislandmunicipality.ca/voh For more information on this please visit

www.bowenislandmunicipality.ca/planning

Inquiries regarding the proposed bylaws may be directed to Daniel Martin at 604-947-4255 or by email at dmartin@bimbc.ca

meeting on a television set up in Council Chambers.

Get local emergency notifications with Alertable Bowen Island Municipality’s free emergency notification service is now powered by Alertable. Subscribe to get notifications about emergencies or advisories on Bowen Island that may impact you.

Signing up is easy and can be done from your mobile phone, tablet, or computer.

Help stop COVID-19:

Get vaccinated - everyone over 12 is eligible. Vaccines for children ages 5 - 11 are coming soon.

We’re holding a Community Information Meeting of property owners within the Tunstall Bay Water System, to talk about installation and financing of the Tunstall Bay water reservoir tank. We’ll have a presentation about the need for the tank and the financing plan, followed by a Question-and-Answer session with staff.

Monday, November 29, 2021 7:00 pm On Zoom

Or watch live on Youtube

www.youtube.com/bowenislandmunicipality

Wear a mask in indoor public spaces

If you don’t have access to a computer, you can come watch the meeting at Municipal Hall. You will be watching a livestream of the meeting on a television set up in Council Chambers.

Contact Bowen Island Municipality PAID ADVERTISEMENT November 25, 2021

Phone: Fax: Email: Website:

604-947-4255 604-947-0193 bim@bimbc.ca

Bowen Island Municipal Hall 981 Artisan Lane Bowen Island, BC V0N 1G2

www.bowenislandmunicipality.ca

Hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm Monday to Friday Closed statutory holidays

Once you have the app installed on your smartphone, you can go into “Settings” to customize location and types of notifications you will receive. We recommend you go into “Advanced Advisory Settings” and ensure that all of the various alert types have been selected.

In the event of a local emergency, social media and Alertable will play a key role in communicating information and instructions to the community.

Meeting ID: 859 2207 8654 Passcode: 685002 Stay home if you’re sick

If you previously subscribed to BowENS, your contact information was moved to Alertable, but you will only get CRITICAL alerts. To get ADVISORY alerts, we recommend that you get the Alertable app on your smartphone.

Be informed: Follow Bowen Island Municipality on Facebook and Twitter, bookmark the Emergency Operations Centre page, and sign up for Alertable.

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Thursday, November 25, 2021

bowenislandundercurrent.com A3

Stepping into light

Why a driftwood menorah is joining the Festival of Trees BRONWYN BEAIRSTO

Contributor

In the depths of December, humans look for light.

Just as islanders have decorated Christmas trees in the Cove with lights for nearly two decades as a Bowen Children’s Centre fundraiser, this year Shirat HaYam (Bowen’s Jewish community) will display a lit-up driftwood menorah.

Matthew van der Giessen spent the past couple of months collecting driftwood on along Bowen beaches and affixing it to a six-foot menorah in the Belterra workshop.

The initiative came about following an anti-Semitic encounter on Bowen this past summer. The idea is to raise the visibility of the Jewish community on the island and educate people about Jewish culture and experience.

But the decision to let the symbol shine in the Cove, alongside the habitual suite of Christmas trees, wasn’t an easy one.

“For many Jews, that there’s this tendency to not want to ask for trouble, to keep a low profile,” van der Giessen says. “There was certainly some very serious discussion about whether this was even something we should do.”

But everyone decided that it was important to step forward.

A Hannukah menorah is a ninebranched candelabra. Its eight candles represent the eight nights of the holiday and one candle to help light the others. The holiday follows a lunar calendar so can start in early November or late December.

The driftwood menorah will join

the Christmas trees that are part of the Bowen Children’s Centre’s Festival of Trees in the grassy area next to USSC Marina.

Shirat HaYam will start lighting the lights with the first candle on the evening of Nov. 28, the first night of Hannukah this year. They will light a candle each of the following nights.

They invite all of the Bowen Island community to join for the seventh night of lighting, December 4. “There will be songs, treats and perhaps even that quintessential Jewish gambling game, the dreidel,” says van der Giessen.

Van der Giessen, the son of Unitarians, converted to Judaism as an adult and as a part of that process, studied Jewish scriptures and religion. He says that the early language used to describe Hannukah was as a festival of light.

“It seemed like this was a really interesting place to join with the rest of the community, around the season of ‘how do we find light in darkness?’ and to make our contribution to that.”

The Bowen Children’s Centre has hosted the Festival of Trees since 2002. When BCC’s executive director Ann Silberman asked a long-time staff member why they didn’t call it a festival of light back then, the answer was that the name was to honour Bowen – the island full of trees.

The wooden menorah – itself covered in pieces of trees – is an exciting addition to the festival for Silberman.

“We’ve been trying to make this festival more inclusive for years,” she says. “We want to keep hon-

With some help from fellow members of Bowen’s Jewish community, Matthew van der Giessen built a wooden menorah in the Belterra workshop. The community is invited to a lighting ceremony on Dec. 4. BRONWYN BEAIRSTO PHOTO

ouring Christmas and people who celebrate Christmas, as I think the majority of people in our culture on Bowen Island do, but we want to open it up, to bring in some education and awareness.

“In the month of December, there are 15 cultures that celebrate with light. They’re all about the end of the growing season, the end of the year and light and the newness that’s coming.”

At the beginning of December, Silberman invites BCC families to bring their traditions into the classroom. So where Santa Claus no longer visits as part of BCC programming, he’s more than welcome — encouraged! — to visit as part of families’ holiday tradition.

At the Festival of Trees, it’s no longer just Christmas tunes playing in the background but a more eclectic mix.

“We’ve moved forward in small

steps in several ways and this is a big way,” says Silberman. “It makes a gentle opening so that people are not threatened by other cultural celebrations and it opens a door for discussions.

“They can embrace it in the sense that ‘isn’t it great that more of our community are standing up together to celebrate whatever it is?’”

Silberman professionally and personally knows of what she speaks. She has worked in early childhood education since 1980 (and at BCC for 20 of the past 30 years). She also started celebrating Hannukah as an adult while raising her son in a multi-cultural household. Silberman’s husband is Jewish (although not religious); Silberman is not.

Ideas about other cultures and other people come from what you build as a child, says Silberman.

“Giving your child ideas about

other cultures is really important.

The way that you can do it is by exposure, because if you don’t understand it yourself, what you may give them is fear.

“And the way to work through fear is to face it. It’s to find out more about another culture, to honour it. To respect it by trying to understand it. And by trusting that your child will make the right decisions in their life.

“You don’t have to lead them to the conclusions. All you have to do is invite the to explore – they will come to their own conclusions.”

The inclusion of the menorah also comes as people try to figure out how to celebrate the holidays in the second year of COVID-19.

As van der Giessen puts it, the early descriptions of Hannukah are like those of many of the December celebrations: lighting of lights in darkness.

BEST NEIGHBOURHOOD BEST RESIDENTIAL DISPLAY BRIGHTEST DISPLAY BEST CHILDREN THEMED & BEST TREE DISPLAY If you would like to be a contestant please email: lightupbowen@gmail.com

A4 • Bowenislandundercurrent.com

Thursday, November 25, 2021

VIEWPOINTS EDITORIAL

Threads that bind us

There can be a bewildering disconnect between the Bowen one experiences when you are out and about on the island and the Bowen of social media threads.

In person, Bowen Island is inhabited by people who are, in general, happy to be here. They love the close connection to nature without having to sacrifice the stimulation of a nearby city. They appreciate the sense of community and feeling that they belong to something bigger than the sum of its parts.

Those strengths are also its weakness. People who have a busy work day in town may seek the solitude of home as soon as they get off the ferry. There’s the stress of ferry schedules, the financial challenge of owning or renting a home, the frustrations of the intermittent internet service and, underlying it all for the past year and a half, the anxiety of the life-and-health risks of even the tiniest of decisions.

Perhaps the disconnect, especially during a pandemic, is between the life you expected to be having and the life that’s happening to you. People’s emotional tipping point is lurking just under the surface of feeling that they’re simply trying to hold it all together.

Social media does have the positive potential of bringing people together. But what happens when people who don’t know each other have only an online platform on which to connect?

Strong communities are created by weaving together thousands of tiny threads. A hello from a passerby. A conversation among parents on the side of a soccer field. Discovering the person who you disagree with on social media shares your love of music. To do that, you actually have to see each other, live and in person. You have to get to know each other — not necessarily know each other well or deeply — and the best way for that to happen is by having your lives intersect.

People are less likely to say mean things — one person’s mean thing is another person’s “truth telling” — when they know they’ll bump into each other in the grocery store line up (and actually recognize each other.) If your kid plays baseball with the kid whose mother is on council, you might not feel as comfortable saying out loud that you disagree with the mother’s opinion and therefore she’s a corrupt idiot out to gouge your bank account. You’ll be more aware that it’s real people you’re commenting about. And that most real people, you included, have faults but, like you, are all just trying to do the best with the reality they’ve been presented with.

Martha Perkins, interim editor

Concert raises $2,250 for community

The Bowen Island Community Foundation expresses our heartfelt thanks to the Bowen Island Pub and The Sixties Band for putting on one heck of a show this past Saturday night. All proceeds from the evening went to our annual fundraising campaign and what they showed us is that Bowen is definitely “Better Together”!

Special thanks go out to Glenn and Merideth Cormier and band mates Terry McKeown, Peter Clarke, David Graff and Peter McLean.

They donated their time and talent and, together with the generosity of those who enjoyed the fabulous music, $2,250 was raised for our community.

The Board, Bowen Island Community Foundation

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Reconciliation and reality You cannot imagine someone with a deeper gratitude for what Canadian freedom fighters meant for the Netherlands: Liberation from the Nazis.

That’s why I wanted to see Canada for myself. I first did in 1994.

I met nice people but something wasn’t right. During that first trip the image of Canada I was brought up with started to show cracks.

Those have only widened over time after I moved here in 1999 as I learned more about Canada’s colonial past and witnessed ongoing colonialism. It has come to the point that I stopped attending the Remembrance Day ceremony.

And that is a big deal for me.

The cause was the attack by a heavily armed RCMP force on the Unist’ot’en and Wet’suwet’en protection camps on January 7, 2019.

The Wet’suwet’en are fighting for their lands and waters to be returned, and for their Indigenous Rights and Title to be recognized as it is in the Delgamuukw Supreme Court ruling. The Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en peoples won this case in 1997.

Canada and B.C. are unwilling to do so and instead support a pipeline to be constructed over Wet’suwet’en territory.

Since then, we have seen multiple blockades, and multiple attacks

THE WRITE STUFF. The Undercurrent encourages reader participation in your community newspaper. You must include your full name and a daytime phone number (for verification only). The editor reserves the right to edit for clarity, legality, brevity and taste. Please limit to under 500 words. HERE’S HOW: To submit a letter to the editor mail it to PO Box 130, Bowen Island, BC V0N 1G0 or email editor@bowenislandundercurrent.com.

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The Undercurrent is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, art work and photographs.

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by the RCMP, in 2020 and last week.

These attacks are in violation with the Delgamuukw ruling, but also with multiple articles of the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted into law by the federal and B.C. governments.

This is the ugly face of colonialism, of which we settlers benefit every single day.

But we also value freedom.

Canada went to war for it and we show up en masse to honour the people who fight for ‘our freedom’.

But what than do we say when the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en peoples fight for theirs?

Anton van Walraven

National NewsMedia Council.

EDITOR Bronwyn Beairsto editor@bowenisland undercurrent.com

ADVERTISING Tracey Wait ads@bowenisland undercurrent.com

CARTOONIST Ron Woodall

PUBLISHER Peter Kvarnstrom publisher@bowenisland undercurrent.com 2011 CCNA

CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2011

SPECIAL THANK-YOU Audrey Grescoe

The Undercurrent is a member of the National NewsMedia Council of Canada, which is an independent organization established to deal with acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please email editor@bowenislandundercurrent. com or call 604-947-2442.

If you are not satisfied with the response and wish to file a formal complaint, visit the website at mediacouncil.ca or call toll-free 1-844-877-1163 for additional information.

bowenislandundercurrent.com • A5

Thursday, November 25, 2021

In Memory of Norman James Davis Norm passed away November 7, 2021 at age 82. He was born November 10, 1938 in Kimberley, B.C. His parents Jim and Lornetta Davis (predeceased) were wonderful, caring parents that instilled kindness, gentleness and humility into Norm’s upbringing. Norm loved to ski and the Rocky mountains offered the opportunity to excel and compete in the sport he loved. He was a Boy Scout and learned to survive in the wilderness and loved the outdoors, the animals and the unprecedented beauty.

Norm’s first job was Park Ranger at Wasa Provincial Park. Norm graduated from McKim High School in Kimberley then attended the University of British Columbia where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree.

Executive director Jami Scheffer is striving for The Hearth to become even more of a welcoming cultural hub on the island.

Bend your mind to something new THE HEARTH HAPPENINGS

Submitted

Have you noticed the refreshed cultural vibe at the Hearth Gallery in the past year?

A mix and variety of art shows from the elementary school Primary Colours Art Show to the current Hidden Gems of the Rock fundraiser?

Did you notice the innovative and exciting gallery art shows this past summer featuring local artists such as Art by Di and Eleanor Rosenberg?

Have you had a chance to ‘bust-a-move’ on our patio deck, spinning to the DJ tunes

by Jamie Woodall?

Or are you planning to find all the items on your holiday list at the upcoming December Art Market?

Well, hopefully you have! The Hearth team of staff and volunteers have been busy revisioning what we do, what we’d like to do and where we’d like to go at our gallery here in Snug Cove. Our main agenda remains supporting the arts on Bowen and creating a welcoming cultural hub for painters, writers, makers and performers to showcase their skills to our locals and visitors to the island.

Bringing life and vibrancy to the new Hearth Gallery space was the first priority for Jami Scheffer she arrived 20 months ago to become the executive director. “I wanted to build on all the hard work that came before me to create this welcoming and inclusive space for our island community,” she says. “And I feel that we are well on our way. The numbers of visitors to the gallery are up from following years, the artists who are hosted in the gallery and gift shop are seeing their art sell. We notice a variety of locals visiting the gallery while passing by or

waiting for the bus and ferry or shopping for a greeting card, gift for a friend or that perfect piece of art. They love the opportunity to combine a trip to the library, the local café and the gallery for a literary, culinary and visual art experience.

“That’s what we are striving for — providing this creative space to bring arts to our community and our community to the arts.”

Following a very successful 2021 season, Scheffer says that “we have exciting and innovative things up our sleeves for 2022.

This includes a new performing space outside the gallery and library to showcase live music, performances, storytellers, artist demonstrations, art workshops and more.”

The Hearth is also partnering with the library and Bowen Island Municipality’s recreation staff to bring a festival celebrating National Indigenous Day, Multicultural Day and Canada Day. The gallery we will continue to bring a variety of art shows that feature our local artists, as well as themed shows that Scheffer says will “bend your minds to something unconventional, unusual and avant-garde. Art that celebrates a diverse community. Fresh art from fresh minds. Art created from trash collected from our waterways.

Art made from glass, clay, wood and paper.

Really, there will be something for everyone.”

Please visit our community gallery anytime you are coming through Snug Cove.

We are open daily from 11 am to 5 pm (closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays). To learn more about the exciting 2022 schedule of events happening here at the Hearth, plan on attending the upcoming annual general meeting on Wednesday, December 1. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

At nineteen he married Dolores Lockwood (predeceased 1993), a vivacious, woman full of unlimited energy and enthusiasm. She introduced Norm to the Wholesale Ladies Wear business, they did well professionally and made friends all over B.C. and Yukon Region. For the next 60 years Norman Davis Agencies Ltd. operated with integrity and honesty. Norm also loved boating and enjoyed taking trips up the coast of B.C. It was Bowen Island that caught his eye, the house on the Lagoon stole his heart. It was their first home and it was loved.

Norman met his second wife, Louise, on Bowen Island. After a lengthy friendship and love affair of over 20 years, Norm and Louise were married at the Little Red Church on Bowen Island May 27, 2015.

“I looked at him as a friend until I realized that I loved him.”

December 10, 2009 life took a sharp turn for Norm. Cleaning up after his retirement party he took a horrific fall and hit his head on a concrete pillar.

Ambulance and Life support were summoned. He broke his neck, he was paralyzed! An operation to relieve the pressure on his spinal cord was performed

by Doctor Dvorak, a friend and doctor to Rick Hanson. His availability during Christmas was a miracle in itself. Following months of rehabilitation at GF Strong, he walked out of the facility February 28, 2010.

One year later, Norm participated in the “Man in Motion” tour with Rick Hanson and was celebrated at Granville Island. Trips to Europe, Great Britain, USA and Mexico followed, life was precious to us and we were living it to the fullest.

However, we always enjoyed coming home to Bowen Island, no place in this world could rival the peace and beauty that surrounded us daily.

Our last trip together was Las Vegas in February 2020. I convinced him to take a ride on the Zip Line. We took in all the sights and enjoyed every moment together.

Covid took over in March and Norm was not doing well, it was a slow transition over the years. Subtle changes were noticeable but we managed. By July 2020, Norm needed more help than I could provide. Everything was spiralling out of control. On July 27, 2020 Norm was provided a room in the Sensitive Care Unit at Inglewood Care Centre. A difficult journey followed and the Covid outbreak only amplified the stressful time we all faced. Norm passed away peacefully November 7, 2021, three days shy of his 83rd birthday.

Norm leaves behind his wife Louise and Angel (his beloved dog), his stepdaughter Stacey Powers (John) and grandchildren Ave and Sophia. His stepson Michael Carachelo (Corrina) and grandchildren Jake, Amy (Shayne) Devon, and Sarah.

Norm also shared a special relationship and love for his cousins, Howard Davis (Diana) their sons Bryan (Vesna) and Scott (Katie), Allan Davis (Shawn O’Neill), Karin Davis and family, Marion Porter and family, Gordon Porter and family, Jim Porter and family.

A special mention to Michael Davis (Marquis and Family) and Aunt Clara and Uncle Mike Davis (predeceased).

Norm rekindled his relationship with his Mother’s side of the family, a special mention to Dave and Carolyn Shaw and Arnold and Marcia Shaw, for their thoughtfulness and kindness over the years. Norm enjoyed being included in family functions and meeting up with his cousins, the Shaw family. Aunty Grace you will be forever in our hearts.

Norm had many friends. He exuded kindness, gentleness and transmitted an aura of warmth, always with a ready, open smile. To our friends, we are grateful for your love and support. To our family our undying love.

No service will be held. Please consider contributing to the Alzheimer’s Society of B.C. No cure has been found for this insidious, crippling, disease but it will come!

Special thanks to Inglewood Care Centre for their compassion and ongoing commitment to the health and well being of people in their care. Kudos to the Nurses and Care Aids, Administration and Support Staff for their kindness and diligence. No words can express the gratitude.

Life is a celebration of the Soul

A6 • bowenislandundercurrent.com

Thursday, November 25, 2021

‘Tis the season to be bright

BIM considers new privacy protocol

MARTHA PERKINS

Interim editor

If you think the holiday decorations in Snug Cove are beautiful now, wait until the light switch gets turned on.

At 7 p.m. on December 4, Rondy Dike will sound the cannon at USSC Marina. With such appropriate fanfare, the lights on a myriad of decorations will suddenly twinkle, there will be a special light show and the Yuletide season will feel officially “on.”

This year’s Light Up the Cove celebration is a pandemic-modified version of the annual Light Up Bowen community gathering.

Santa Claus knows it will be a bit too crowded if he arrives by boat and invites children to tell him all their Christmas wishes. Instead, he’s going to limit his annual trip to the island to his Christmas Eve fly-by to individual homes.

Friends of Santa, however, will be at the turning-on-the-lights ceremony to hand out candy canes.

Basia Lieske, Jewal Maxwell and Cathi Westrop have dedicated hours of volunteer time to transform Snug Cove into a festive seasonal wonderland. MARTHA PERKINS PHOTO Basia Lieske, who is once again heading up the volunteer effort to transform the Cove into a winter wonderland, is also hoping there will be a Santa Claus parade on Sunday, December 12. For this to happen, she needs help: • trucks with drivers • flatbeds • and people who want to dress up in a multitude of costumes she already has avail-

able. Size-dependent, you can take your pick of gingerbread cookies, elves, toy soldiers, snowpeople, candy canes and, of course, a Snow King and Snow Queen.

The parade is pencilled in for 1:30 p.m. on December 12.

If you’d like to volunteer to help with any of these events, please contact Basia at lightupbowen@gmail.com or text her at 778957-0947.

When someone gets up to speak at a public municipal hearing or writes a letter to council, they are asked to give their address.

Up until now, this information has remained on the public record.

Does this discourage people from speaking up?

Many Bowen Island councillors are worried that it does.

“Nowadays, some people are reluctant to speak in public if their home address will be broadcast, especially women,” said councillor Sue Ellen Fast at Monday night’s Bowen Island Municipality council meeting. “The current rule about disclosing your address might discourage some people from speaking, which is not what we want.”

Barring any provincial rules that require a precise address, council wants its new policy on protocol to discontinue the practice. If council wants to know whether someone has a direct tie to the island, they can borrow from the Islands Trust, says Fast. She’s on the Islands Trust council and, when someone is hesitant to say where they live, she simply asks “And your interest in the islands is…?”

The discussion was part of council’s response to the new draft administrative policy. It more clearly outlines the format of public hearings, verbal submissions and what sort of bylaws will go to public hearing.

— Martha Perkins

The Magic of Christmas COME CELEBRATE THE MAGIC LIGHTS OF CHRISTMAS AT ENDSWELL FARM 1461 Mount Gardner Rd

Friday December 3 and Sunday December 19 6pm to 8pm.

Visit with Santa, see over 40,000 lights, have some hot chocolate or warm apple cider, make a Christmas tree ornament, light up a sparkler, roast marshmallows on a stick and take home a box of Christmas treats made special for you by Mrs. Claus herself.

Minimum donation of $15 per person with all proceeds going to support the BOWEN ISLAND FOOD BANK Call or email Yvonne at 604 726 5277 / ymuzak@telus.net or Noah at 604 341 7244 / noah@homefarm.ca to purchase tickets Please bring your own utensil or stick for marshmellow roasting

bowenislandundercurrent.com • A7

Thursday, November 25, 2021

GIVING ON BOWEN

Not even a pandemic can beach SwimBowen MARY LETSON

SwimBowen

The ocean may be frigid and the skies a sodden grey but the SwimBowen team is already scheming to put together the best swim ever for our comeback event July 16,, 2022.

And, yes, some of us are still swimming. It’s all about good gear: we suit up with neoprene booties, hoods and gloves to go along with our wetsuits leaving only a few inches of skin exposed. Once in and swimming, it’s remarkably comfortable. Truly.

The hardest part is the few moments standing on the beach before we submerge, bulldozing past the mental disconnect of a winter beachscape and ocean swimming. After the initial chill, the wetsuit magic kicks in and we are cozy-warm, extra buoyant and swimming our short, safe triangle route in Bowen Bay, each of us towing our fluorescent safety floats.

Once back on the beach we hightail it home still clad in our dripping gear to enjoy the best hot shower known to humankind. We will see how far we can keep swimming into this deep, dark winter but the exhilaration of doing something we didn’t think we could do is the most amazing fuel for future swim adventures.

Keeping the SwimBowen Society and Cancer Care Fund afloat through the pandemic has been hard work and, like everyone else, you either sink or swim. Thankfully, the SwimBowen Society has managed to tread water through this challenging time thanks in part to a solid board of directors, an incredibly supportive community and an ocean of enthusiastic swimmers cheering us on from afar.

The world may have come to a standstill but SwimBowen’s “Unevents” (only a few swimmers, no official registration or fundraising) for the last two summers

Caring prevails at BI foundation HOLLY GRAFF, CHAIR

Bowen Island Community Foundation

Sue Schloegl, Mary Letson and Anna Fenn suit up through the winter. have kept the Cancer Care Fund love alive. We have continued to gift Bowen Islanders when they need it most during the hardest time of all. To date, SwimBowen has sent 30 gifts totalling $42,300 to Bowen Islander residents in

active cancer treatment.

Thank you SwimBowen enthusiasts, sponsors and donors!

If you love what we do, please consider donating to the Cancer Care Fund by going to swimbowen.com/donate.

Macaroni and cheese.

Peanut butter and jam. Ferries and being at the front of the line.

Some things are just better together.

This year continued to test us. But Bowen Islanders’ resilience proved to be indomitable in the face of challenge. Kindness prevailed.

Caring prevailed. Bowen prevailed.

Bowen Islanders and the Community Foundation together provided 29 young people with access to professional counselling through our Youth at Risk Fund when other options weren’t readily available.

We partnered together with 16 individuals through our Neighbourhood Small Grants program to develop and deliver creative ways to tackle social isolation, build community strength and resilience, and foster community creativity and wellbeing.

CONTINUED PAGE 9

Thursday, November 25, 2021

A8 • bowenislandundercurrent.com

GIVING ON BOWEN

BIRCH zooms in on advancing affordable housing projects We want to reassure you that Bowen Island’s Resilient Community Housing’s low profile the last while doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy. We have a lot to share!

The housing crisis on Bowen Island has of course not gone away. And COVID-19 has affected virtually every aspect of everyone’s lives. But in spite of these interesting times, BIRCH has been able to advance our project

in many ways, and we are even working on a second potential rental housing project.

Since our last update we received two grants that will allow us to continue advancing our project on Lot 3. The first is $15,000 from Bowen Island Community Foundation; these funds are being used towards project specific needs, such as land preparation and consultant fees. The second is an $8,500

better together

operational funding grant from Bowen Island Municipality. It will be used to cover ongoing administrative costs and are critical to ensuring that we continue to make progress. BIRCH is strongly encouraging the municipality to prioritise implementing the Municipal & Regional District Tax, as it would provide a revenue source to fund affordable housing on Bowen.

We have now completed the schematic design of our building on Lot 3 on Miller Road. With the support of our development consultants, CitySpaces, and Boni Maddison Architects, we have applied for project funding from three levels of government.

As for the external funding required to advance towards construction, our application to BC Housing in their January intake window was unsuccessful. Of the record 190 applications they received, only 50 were funded. We received considerable positive feedback and may re-apply in the next window.

In the meantime, we are working with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation on alternative funding options. In support of this we have signed an MOU with Lookout Housing and Health Society as a potential partner for the Lot 3 project. We have also partnered with Lookout to submit a joint response to the Municipality’s Request for

Expressions of Interest for Lot 1 Area 2 of the BIM Community Lands. BIRCH and Lookout are proposing an approximately 20-unit rental housing project there.

In the next year we hope to move forward with CMHC funding for Lot 3, with Lookout as our partner. We will revive our community working group, BARC, and conduct our second community housing survey. This survey will provide a “pulse-check” on current community housing needs.

Lastly, we would like to thank our volunteer board directors Aaron Davison, Adam Lougheed, Jack Resels, Amy Seabrook, Tim Wake, Marla Zucht, and David McCullum for their time, our friends at CitySpace Development Consultants and Greenbooks Accounting for all their hard work. Additionally, the BIM Community Foundation, and Bowen Island Municipality for their financial support. And the Bowen Island community as a whole for your ongoing support.

One more thank you is due to our fearless executive director Robyn Fenton. Robyn is the driving force behind BIRCH. Her endless enthusiasm and energy, her industry experience and insight, her contacts, and her relentless optimism are what has enabled our progress to date.

Peanut butter and jam. Ferries and being on time. Some things are just better together.

Like the Bowen Island Community Foundation and Bowen Islanders. Together we do a lot of really good things.

But we need your help.

We can’t do it alone!

Please give today at bowenfoundation.com

Give the gift of health care closer to home this holiday season!

Make a donation in the nam me of someone you love at bowenhealthcentre..com/donate-online

bowenislandundercurrent.com • A9

Thursday, November 25, 2021

GIVING ON BOWEN

A school built on philanthropy Foundation projects have lasting impact FROM PAGE 7

JULIA MCCAIG

Island Pacific School

Many hands have reached out since our earliest beginnings, supporting Island Pacific School in becoming a destination for self-discovery, inspiration and excellence.

A small, independent school by definition will always rely on the generosity of its families. The philanthropic heart of one particular Bowen family enabled the realization of Island Pacific School, Walt and Laura Ruloff and their Smooth Stones Foundation.

The future community field house will be dedicated to the memory of the Ruloffs’ son Colin. Colin loved music. He composed original songs and performed as a Country Blues singer and guitar player under the name Scottie Collins. His early work can be found on SoundCloud under Colin Ruloff Country Singer. He was gentle, kind, and able to see good and admirable qualities in everyone he met. Colin passed away in 2018 and he is greatly missed.

The field house will be on property shared with Cates Hill Chapel. Not only will this covered outdoor space provide much needed sheltered space for student activities and for Chapel events, the possibilities are endless in terms of broader community use — weddings, outdoor concerts, workshops and

IPS students Charlotte B, Stephanie M and Abby W volunteered at Grafton Community Garden.

outdoor recreation.

Our students are very involved in community service. Over the past year, they have volunteered at Grafton Gardens (recently helping get the raspberry beds ready and some raspberries planted), Collin’s Farm and with the Bowen Island Horse Owners and Riders Association, helping to bag manure to be sold. We spent an afternoon working with Bowen Island Municipality planting trees at Terminal Creek.

The Bowen Island Museum recently featured some of the students’ Remembrance Day posters. The kids also helped with putting up and taking down this exhibit as part of our community service work.

Our children, youth, parents, seniors and everyone in between benefitted from the street library box, gardens on Captains Way and the golf course, Low Hanging Fruit picking project, TEDx Bowen, Jewish community education, solar panels for Neighbourhood Emergency Response Program Kiosks, and even a neighbourhood basketball hoop.

Together with the Knick Knack Nook, we assisted high school graduates with 23 scholarships and bursaries.

We responded together with the Bowen Island Health Centre to bring federal funding for various social, mental, and physical-health services to those in need on Bowen during the pandemic.

Together with a number of local charitable organizations, we provided Community Impact Grants for BIRCH’s affordable housing project; an upgrade to the Crippen Park riding ring; a soon-to-be installed water bottle-filling station in the Cove; training in diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging at the Bowen Children’s Centre, and a lovely chestnut pollinator tree for Davies Orchard.

With assistance from the Bowen Island Municipality, together we continued our funding of CPR and AED training for local neighbourhood coordinators, the construc-

THANK YOU to everyone who ran the race, came out to cheer, sponso ored a racer, donated to the auction, sponsored the event, donated food, supplies and voluntteer time or donated funds. We are so grateful to everyone who supported this kick off eventt to the campaign for e are well on our way the new Colin Ruloff Community Field House and Student Bursaries. We to building our Field House and continuing to ensure Island Pacific Scho ool is accessible to as many families as possible — thanks to you, the community — who support us.”

tion of four Neighbourhood Emergency Response Program Kiosks, funding for a part-time, temporary administrator for the BI Health Centre Foundation, and helped the BI Food Resiliency Society with their Grafton Agricultural Gardens soup-making project for the food bank.

Last but definitely not least, together with your donations, our Helping Hand Fund continued to provide short-term assistance to individuals and families in our community who faced personal and sometimes invisible emergencies.

A community foundation’s function is to raise, grow, and grant funds to local initiatives that will have a lasting impact on our community. We rely upon others to generate and execute the ideas for these initiatives.

I’d encourage you to consider many of the ways that you can help. For throughout this year, we’ve learned that we’re better together. One way is to make a donation with personal meaning for you and one that will have an impact on the community we all love.

No gift is too small and tax receipts are issued for all donations over $20 at bowenfoundation.com.

For it’s only together that we can continue to be responsive to our community’s needs.

A10 • Thursday, November 25, 2021

bowenislandundercurrent.com

... for making our second year a great success.

Thanks also to program partners, Bowen Island Municipality & the Vancouver Foundation. And special thanks to the dedicated and thoughtful volunteers that made up the Neighbourhood Small Grants Committee: Murray Atherton Frazer Elliott Joyce Ganong Katherine Gish Jane Kellett Kevin Manning Nicola Murray Donna Scorer Jessica Slater

2021 PROJECTS & PROJECT LEADERS: Captains Way Plant Colour - Anne Boa Neighbourhood Basketball Hoop - Francoise Janssens Street Library in Tunstall Bay - Harmony Shire Davison TEDx Bowen Island - Sophie Walters The Bruce’s Garden - Linda Elliott Low-Hanging Fruit - Meribeth Deen, Jennifer Zdril, Elaine Cameron, Lusungu Kayani, David Adams Captains Way Plant Colour Part 2 - Kiersten Enemark Jewish Community Education & Equality Project - Aryana Rayne NERP Kiosk Emergency Hub Solar Panels - Doug Nash, Kathryn Thomson, Robert Dufty, Cynthia van Hoof Barthel

Please visit the NSG page on the Community Foundation website to read all the details and get inspired for next year’s Neighbourhood Small Grants: bowenfoundation.com/responsive-neighbourhood-small-grants/

bowenislandundercurrent.com

Thursday, November 25, 2021 • A11

• WI N T E R 2 0 2 1 •

BOWEN ISLAND

REAL ESTATE GUIDE • WHAT SOLD WHAT’S NEXT

1558 Mount Gardner Road

New Listing • Rare Ra arely e Availa lable a

LOW BAN ANK N WATERF RFRONT F HOME WITH ACRE REAGE E

$1,999,000 SHOWINGS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY More details inside and at buyonbowen.com

Macdonald Realty AWARD of EXCELLENCE 2020

604.220.7085

buyonbowen.com

A12 • Thursday, November 25, 2021

bowenislandundercurrent.com

THINKING OF SELLING?

With a historically-low number of listings on the market, and plenty of eager buyers out there, now may be a good time to list.

For a free market analysis of your property, or just a discussion about Bowen real estate, please feel free to call or email any time.

FRAZER’S OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER 2021 SALES:

935 WINDJAMMER ROAD LIST PRICE: $2,250,000

740 MINNOWS LANE LIST PRICE: $1,699,000

960 SEAVIEW PLACE LIST PRICE: $1,375,000

955 HARBOURVIEW PLACE LIST PRICE: $1,425,000

1540 WHITESAILS DRIVE LIST PRICE: $1,449,000*

LOT 2 FORSTER LANE LIST PRICE: $525,000

LOT 3 FORSTER LANE LIST PRICE: $525,000

LOT 4 FORSTER LANE LIST PRICE: $525,000 * Buyers’ agent

LOT A MOUNT GARDNER ROAD LIST PRICE: $654,000

891 HUMMINGBIRD LANE LIST PRICE: $1,199,000

THE LAKELANDS

Congratulations to all these Buyers and Sellers!

LOT 3 EVERGREEN LANE LIST PRICE: $1,275,000

Interested in learning what’s happening at Grafton Lake? Please call for a personal tour of this special offering of sun-soaked hillside properties.

With views of Mount Gardner, the Ecological Reserve, and the Lake, these bare lots represent a unique island lifestyle that is already attracting plenty of attention.

LOT 6 FORSTER LANE: $600,000 LOT 7 FORSTER LANE: $600,000 LOT 8 FORSTER LANE: $700,000 LOT 9 FORSTER LANE: $850,000 LOT 10 FORSTER LANE: $700,000 (PLUS GST) FRAZER ELLIOTT Realtor®

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Mount Gardner Dock

Lot lines and highlighted areas are approximate and do not necessarily represent the accurate size/location of the property

on the cover

1558 Mount Gardner Road, Bowen Isla lan and n waterf rfront f One of the most stunning settings on Bowen is on the northwest side, where landscapes of nearby islands create picture-perfect Pacific Northwest vignettes. It also happens to be the best place to see the Northern Lights.

Living on the water here is a nature lover’s dream come true. Whether it’s pulling out the binoculars hoping for a glimpse of frequently sited Orcas, or jumping on your paddleboard and checking out the sea life in the intertidal zone, you’ll be filled with the wonder that surrounds you in beautiful Galbraith Bay. 3 bedrooms • 2 bathrooms • 3.3 acres 1765 square feet finished plus 1296 square feet unfinished Approximately 150’ of waterfront frontage

$1,999,000

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buyonbowen.com

Thursday, November 25, 2021 • A13

A14 • bowenislandundercurrent.com

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Upward trend in prices continued to slow in October INVENTORY LEVELS LOWEST IN 16 YEARS TIM RHODES Contributor

The upward trend in detached home prices on Bowen Island continued to slow during October. The year-over-year Average Sale Price in October was up 0.5 per cent compared to September, the Median Sale Price was up 0.6 per cent, and the MLS® Home Price Index was up 2.0 per cent.

Over the 12 months ending 31 October 2021, the Total Inventory and Number of Sales slowed dramatically—Total Inventory dropped to its lowest level in 16 years. Both Total Inventory and New Listings were down -39 per cent YoY mirrored by while the Number of Sales slipped -5 per cent.

The last five years have seen the gap narrow significantly between Bowen Island prices and those of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (including Metro Vancouver, Whistler, Squamish, and Sunshine Coast).

In October 2016, the YoY MLS® HPI for the REBGV was twice that of Bowen, while in October 2021 it was just 31 per cent higher, and comparing the same period, the gap in the YoY Average Sale Price was 93 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively. The gap has not been this narrow since Q2 of 2010.

YoY in October, 19 per cent of homes sold for less than $1.0 million vs 32 per cent in 2020 and 60 per cent in 2019. As of November 14, 2021, there were 12 homes and 14 lots listed for sale on Bowen Island.

YoY Land Sales increased 69 per cent due to

developers bringing new lots to market.

Modest price increases and continued low inventory is likely over the coming winter is likely to continue.

On August 1, 2021, BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) became the regulator of real estate services in BC. “As part of the decision to introduce a mandatory cooling off period for residential real estate transactions, the Minister of Finance has asked BCFSA to consult with key industry stakeholders and experts to determine the parameters of this new measure.

The province has also instructed BCFSA to investigate and consult on other potential changes to help protect consumers,

including the practice of blind bidding.

BCFSA will report back to the Minister of Finance with its findings and advice in early Spring 2022.”1 Until the consultation period is over, and the regulations are clarified, it is difficult to predict what impact this may have on the market, although uncertainty may cause some owners who are considering selling to act sooner rather than later.

1 https://www.bcfsa.ca/about-us/news/news-release/ cooling-off-periods-and-consumer-protection

Timothy Rhodes, REALTOR® tim@rhodesonbowen.com rhodesonbowen.com Angell Hasman & Associates Realty Ltd.

2 BED / 2 BATH / 2475 sq.ft.

Personal Real Estate Corporation

604-803-0012 (mobile)

bowenislandundercurrent.com

Thursday, November 25, 2021 • A15

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A16 • bowenislandundercurrent.com

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Council wants to discourage ‘build first, get permit later’ FROM PAGE 1

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The owners said they preferred the zoning option because they weren’t comfortable with having to make an unspecified amenity contribution through the variance application, said Daniel Martin, BIM’s manager of planning and development.

Council, however, is uncomfortable with the idea of a “one-off” zoning for the property.

“I’m quite concerned with the idea of precedent,” councillor Sue Ellen Fast said, noting zoning is there in part because of an overall vision of what should be built where. “To grant a one-off zoning without some kind of amenity benefit would seem to be declaring you can build something without permission and perhaps not pay taxes for several years. I’d like to set some kind of contribution so it’s a consequence for proceeding in this way of ‘build first and don’t ask for permission until you’re found out.’ I don’t think that’s a good way to run a municipality.”

There is a nuance to amenity contribution, Martin said. “They’re always voluntary You can’t require someone to provide the payment as part of a rezoning application.

However, council’s deliberation of zoning application is discretionary. Council can say there needs to be an amenity contribution before we proceed with rezoning and not proceed if it’s not provided.”

Councillor Michael Kaile called it an “old and dusty file” that dates back to 2017.

“As an alternative to demanding the property be demolished, can we not agree to

a sum which would permit the necessary work to be advanced. We need to draw a line underneath this and best way is to agree upon an amount. It’s unfitting that it drags on much longer.”

Usually the range of contribution for this sort of project is between $25,000 to $50,000.

Fast said she preferred the $50,000 amount as a way to discourage anyone else from doing it.

Councillor Maureen Nicholson agreed that $50,000 seemed reasonable. “Anyone who owns that type of house on Bowen Island probably has an additional $100,000 to $200,000 equity in that home as a result of the real estate market.”

Mayor Gary Ander said he was also concerned about setting a rezoning precedent and agreed that the municipality has to stop the old adage of “do it first and ask for forgiveness later.”

He said there were circumstances at the time that might have ben misunderstood.

Since the owners will have to pay for such things as plumbing and electricity reports, new home warranty and septic inspections — which may total $20,000 in expenses — he suggested taking the $20,000 off the $50,000 cap and asking for $30,000.

Martin has been asked to discuss a community amenity contribution with the owners. In the meantime, the file will be forwarded to council’s advisory planning commission. It is doubtful the application will be on the agenda again before the end of the year.

Alert! BIM moves to new emergency app The flooding caused by the recent “atmospheric river” was an unwelcome reminder that Bowen Island is not immune from the challenges posed by more intense weather systems.

Bowen Island Municipality is urging residents to sign up for its free emergency notification service.

It is now using Alertable to send emergency notifications. If you previously subscribed to BowENS, your contact information was moved to the new system, but you will only get CRITICAL alerts. To get ADVISORY alerts, the municipality recommends that you get the Alertable app on your smartphone.

In the event of a local emergency, social media and Alertable will play a key role in communicating information and instructions to the community.

Alertable provides you with important emergency information, such as imminent threats (e.g. wildfire) and local incidents that affect specific areas of Bowen Island (e.g. road closure).

Alertable can send emergency notifications island-wide or to targeted areas, which can be helpful for neighbourhood-specific emergency directions such as evacuation orders.

Once you have the app installed on your smartphone, you can go into “Settings” to customize location and types of notifica-

tions you will receive. BIM recommends you go into “Advanced Advisory Settings” and ensure that all of the various alert types have been selected.

Examples of ADVISORY (be aware) alerts: Road closure Water service interruption Weather alerts (from Environment Canada) Example of CRITICAL (imminent danger) alerts: Wildfire Evacuation order Amber alert You can sign up to receive emergency notifications by text message, email, or phone.

However, the municipality encourages residents to download the Alertable app for iOS and Android smartphones. Signing up is easy and can be done from your mobile phone, tablet, or computer.

If you have any questions, please contact BIM at 604-947-4255 ext 251 or bim@bimbc. ca, or read the Frequently Asked Questions section of the website, bimbc.ca.

People are also encouraged to follow Bowen Island Municipality on Facebook and Twitter and to bookmark the Emergency Operations Centre page on its website.

bowenislandundercurrent.com

977 Village Drive

$2,790,000.

Thursday, November 25, 2021 • A17

Bowen Island

2717 sq ft | 0.53 ac | 3-4 Bdrm + 3 Bath | Private Studio/Office + Bath The gate opens revealing a paving-stone drive leading to this charming home. Inside, the country kitchen, dining room with a beautiful ESSE stove, & sunny living room, all have ocean and mountain views, as do two of the three bedrooms up. Set among fruit trees, flowering shurbs, and colourful gardens, this combination of beauty, privacy, & convenience is walking distance to shops, dining, schools, & the ferry. Open House: Sunday, 28 November 2021, 10:30 am - 2:30 pm – by appointment only.

COMING SOON 10 New Lots at Seymour Bay Drive Perched above Seymour Bay and the neighbourhood of Seymour Shores, these homes will enjoy stunning sunrises and the serene view of the Strait of Georgia, Vancouver and Mt. Baker. This south Bowen location is becoming increasingly sought after with its year-round sunshine and its proximity to the Bowen Golf Club.

Timothy Rhodes

REALTOR® 604-341-9488 rhodesonbowen.com tim@rhodesonbowen.com

These fully-serviced view lots are planned to be released for presale in the latter part of 2021 or early 2022.

For priority information as it becomes available, please email us at info@bowenislandproperties.ca or call 604-947-0000.

This is not an offering for sale. Any such offering can only be made with the applicable disclosure statement.

Prices & descriptions of real estate in this publication are subject to change without prior notice. E.&O.E.

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A18 • bowenislandundercurrent.com An island tradition since 1984

CSA Christmas Craft Fair

Sunday, December 5, 2021 • 10:00 am – 3:00 pm BICS Gym

Entrance by donation, mask and proof of vaccination & ID Unique local crafts, artists, artisans, baked goods, raffle draw and more!

Please bring cash as most vendors can’t take plastic. ~Thank you for supporting this community event~

Legion Christmas Craft Fair

Nov. 27 & 28 10 am - 4 pm

The Rivendell Community invites you to join us for our pre-Christmas

Open House

Sunday, December 5, 2021 from 3 – 5 pm at Rivendell Retreat Centre at the top of Cates Hill, Bowen Island This year’s theme is

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS You are welcome to wander through the lodge and experience the stations that will be set up both inside and outside. Light refreshments and warm drinks will be served. Due to COVID, we will not hold an indoor gathering in front of the tree.

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Festival of Trees welcomes Shirat Hayam Many cultures celebrate special holidays this time of year — Christmas (Christian), Chanukah (Jewish), Fiesta of Our Lady Guadeloupe (Mexican), Kwanza (African), Omishoa (Japanese), Ramadan (Muslim) and St. Lucia (Swedish), to name a few.

Bowen Island’s Festival of Trees began in 2007 in honour of Bowen’s landscape even though most celebrations this time of year are called Festival of Light.

Shirat Hayam represents the Jewish community on Bowen Island and will be joining the Bowen Children’s Centre to add light to our Festival of Trees with a beautiful Menorah made of wood. We are so pleased to invite you, Bowen, and, especially your children, to learn more about this celebration and we hope this will invite questions and dialogue amongst families, spreading a sense of belonging to all. All children have a right to belong.

Family Place welcomes all cultures, race, religion and fosters a spirit of inclusion and belonging in all our programming – an opportunity to learn about other cultures is a path to understanding and peace. We are indeed fortunate to have different cultures on our small island as celebrating different cultures enriches all of us.

If you or your organization wishes to celebrate your holiday by putting up a tree next

This menorah, built by Matthew van der Giessen, will be part of the Festival of Trees.

The public is invited to join the celebration of lighting one of the candles on Dec. 4. year, you have only to ask.

In the meantime, join the Bowen Children’s Centre and Family Place for hot chocolate, cookies and fun at our decorating party on Friday, December 3 from 10 a.m. to noon. Find us in the grassy area near the ferry docks. The decorating party is sponsored by The Village Baker and Save-on Foods.

Wishing you all happy holidays, Ann Silberman, executive director Bowen Children’s Centre

Keep your driveway culverts clear With more atmospheric rivers, and the potential for flodding, in the forecast, we reached out to Patrick Graham, Bowen Island Municipality’s director of engineering, for some advice for landowners.

“Landowners are responsible for their own driveway culverts; we just don’t have the capacity to be everywhere. [Problems arise when] somebody’s driveway culvert gets plugged. That causes overflow and the roadway or neighbouring property downstream gets eroded or flooded.

“We did have an issue with somebody who had installed essentially a lawn basin

connection when what was needed was an open culvert. It didn’t have the capacity to capture all the runoff and that caused water to flood the road and neighbouring property.

“It’s always helpful if residents check for culverts regularly, especially when there big rains predicted. People need to ask ‘Where’s the water going from my property? Is it making its way into the roadside ditch or is something impeding it?’ Make sure there is a clear pathway for the water to get ultimately into the creek or the ocean without creating property damage and erosion.”

The Little Red Church Christmas Craft Fair Collins Hall, 1122 Miller RD., 12-3PM, Saturday, Nov. 27th Local crafts, gifts and more. Masks required in the Hall.

Photo credit Anne Mann

Thursday, November 25, 2021

bowenislandundercurrent.com • A19

Are you ready for the next potential emergency?

JUDI GEDYE

NERP Zone Co-ordinator

Bowen has had some flooding and washouts recently but we’ve been spared the devastation shown in the photos and reports from other areas of the province. We may breathe a sigh of relief but we also realize it was pure luck and how advanced preparations can help.

First, have you subscribed to a notification system? There are advantages to both “Alertable” and “BowENS.” You need to do a little research about how much information you want to receive and how but, whatever you choose, sign up as soon as possible.

Second, do you have an emergency kit in your car: blanket, water, flashlight and batteries, some food (a really good storage place for fruitcake!) and a collapsible shovel. Consider what you might need and get it organized. If you get stuck in your car, how long could you safely stay there?

If you had to evacuate suddenly, do you have a grab-and-go bag ready? What about your pets/livestock? Where could they go and how would you get them there? Ahead of any need, consider what is precious and what you can do to protect it. Photos saved on one memory stick in a safe deposit box? Will and land title in a fireproof box near a door? Extra meds clearly labelled in watertight container in your kit? There are lists of things others recommend for you to consider.

LIGHT UP Bowen island

SATURDAY Dec 4th, 5:30 pm

Jewish Festival of Lights All of Bowen is invited to celebrate the 7th night lighting of the new community If there were a flood or road collapse, do you have more than one way to leave your home/ work/ school property? If there were an “event”, what plan is in place for your family to reunite and communicate?

Fuel supply has become an issue after the recent destruction of road and rail access, with rationing for all but emergency and essential vehicles. In future, once we’re past this crisis, keep your gas tank at least half full at all times, store some extra for emergencies and consider electric vehicles. There are problems with storing gas which need to be considered but it can be done.

Finally, any planning is better than none. NERP (Neighbourhood Emergency Response Programme) volunteers want to help islanders be better prepared.

If you want more information, resources, ideas, support, or to volunteer please go to Emergency Services on the BIMBC.ca homepage. You’ll find NERP under “Volunteer Organizations.”

MENORAH

SATURDAY Dec 4th, 6:30 pm FAMILY PLACE Festival of Trees & LIGHT UP OF THE COVE a canon will signal a small light show with some of Santas friends passing out treats

LOCATION: Festival of Trees Lawn & the USSC Marina BIG SHOUT OUT to all our donors!

Nance Mosely Christie Stashyn

Thursday, November 25, 2021

A20 • bowenislandundercurrent.com

Handknit sweaters make their return with Christmas craft fair MARTHA PERKINS

Interim editor

In two large bins beside Elise West’s couch are sweaters.

Oodles and oodles of sweaters. Red and blue. Yellow and pink. Beige and brown. A kaleidoscope of colours.

Almost every evening for the past few years, you could find the 82-year-old Bowen Court resident ensconced on that couch, knitting.

“I simply cannot sit and watch tv and not knit,” she says.

“It’s very peaceful and relaxing.”

The reason why there are so many sweaters in those bins is twofold.

West is a beloved vendor at the Community School Association Christmas Craft Fair at BICS. Surprisingly, not many of her customers are parents. Her one-of-a-kind creations appeal to aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends who delight in finding a handmade gift, something that speaks of the love of creation. Those customers return year after year as the children they are buying for grow into a new size.

But last year there was no craft fair. The pandemic put a freeze on one of the island’s favourite Christmas traditions.

With no access to her customer base, West just kept adding to the selection of sweaters she will have on offer this year.

West first learned to knit as a young girl after the Second World War. Her family had fled Latvia and her mother wanted to pass on many of the skills a girl was expected to know: knitting, cross-stitching and how to pen a nice letter. Elise didn’t pick up knitting again until she was in her twenties.

She asked her mother for a refresher course and hasn’t put down her needles since. Vests, cardigans and sweaters —

she’s made them all as gifts and for her own family.

Because she knits at night, West doesn’t like to make intricate designs. Instead, she expresses her creativity through her choice of colours, patterns and yarn.

When she started knitting children’s sweaters, she had one rule: the sweaters have to be machine washable. (Put them in a pillowcase, tie it up and wash in cold water, gentle cycle. Don’t put the sweaters in the dryer, though, because then they’re more likely to pill.) She also doesn’t use wool because it can be too itchy on a child’s skin.

And because her sweaters are handknit, they tend to be a lot more durable than mass-manufactured knitwear.

Sometimes, when she’s volunteering at the Knick Knack Nook, she’ll notice that someone has donated one of her sweaters. While known for their durability, if a sweater is showing some wear and tear, she’ll take it home and freshen it up before returning it to the Nook for sale.

Her upcycling also includes finishing other people’s knitting. People sometimes start a project and abandon it for a myriad of reasons. They donate it, and the wool, to the Nook and she picks up where they left off. Donations of wool are also welcome at the Nook. West says that people sometimes bring in wool specifically for her but she buys it from the Nook at the same price it’s offered to customers: 50 cents for a small ball and $1 for a larger one.

The CSA Christmas Craft Fair returns Sun., Dec. 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at BICS gym. Unique local crafts, artists, artisans, baked goods and raffle draw. Entrance by donation and proof of vaccination (with i.d.). Masks required. Please bring cash, since most of the 30-plus vendors can’t accept plastic, and reusable shopping bags.

Elise West is thrilled to be returning to the CSA Christmas Craft Sale on December 5. Her handknit children’s sweaters come in a kaleidoscope of colourful choices. MARTHA PERKINS PHOTO

Patient of the Week

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The Things Kids Say.

ROXY Meet Roxy, Roxy visited us after getting into a box of Purdy’s chocolates. As enjoyable as chocolates are for us, they are not a treat for our

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dogs. We induced vomiting and gave activated charcoal to soak up any of

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the chocolate still in her system. This is a good reminder to be very careful with where we put our chocolate as we enter the holiday season!

Middle School on Bowen Island

islandpacific.org

To schedule appointments, please call

604.947.9247

or email reception@bowenvet.com

bowenislandundercurrent.com • A21

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Melia Yasué, here at a music camp, is playing with the North Shore Celtic Ensemble at its annual concert at Centennial Theatre.

The gift of music For young Bowen Islander, sharing her love of music with others makes it feel even more special Wise Wild Women Wendy Alexander, Deb Thomson, Dyan Spear and Emily McCullum didn’t spill a drop from their cups as they slid to the finish.

Ring the bell for Team Lesotho whose enthusiasm was shared by almost 150 participants.

Scott Herrington and Ted Spear take a dip in the mud bath.

A muddy time was had by all

IPS fundraiser moves field house project $100,000 closer MARTHA PERKINS

Interim editor

They climbed. They crawled. They ran and they slid. And together the 150 people involved in last Saturday’s Moonson Madness Mudder were able to stay relatively dry while raising roughly $100,000 for Island Pacific School.

“It’s amazing,” head of school Scott Herrington says of the day’s results, both in terms of everyone’s enjoyment and the amount raised. “We are thrilled.”

Inspired by Tough Mudder, the first-time event was a fundraising alternative to the annual gala. Covid restrictions make indoor events challenging and the obstacle course was seen as a fun outdoor replacement —

especially since the school already had the perfect location. The excavation for the new Colin Ruloff Community Fieldhouse had been completed and, with November’s rainy weather, organizers thought participants would have lots of mud to slip in. Although those hoping for mud might have been disappointed, the lack of rain gave them the chance socialize after the event.

It was the independent school’s first peerto-peer event in which participants were asked to raise money from family and friends.

There were at least 35 to 40 teams, Herrington says, and they came in a variety of fanciful costumes.

The money will move the school’s fundraising thermometer much closer to the $400,000 goal. There are talks about whether this should become an annual event.

Don’t believe the muddy face: the course was pretty dry.

A month ago, Melia Yasué visited the North Shore Hospice as part of the North Shore Celtic Ensemble’s junior ensemble.

“Wow. That was the most meaningful musical event that I have ever been to,” the 10-year-old Bowen Islander told her mother Mai. That was music to Mai’s ears.

“What I love about the NSCE is that they really teach Melia so much about how music can bring so much joy to others,” Mai says.

“As a young person — especially someone as young as Melia — it is hard for her to really give ‘gifts’ or provide service to others that people can really appreciate. The quality of music that she and the NSCE can pull together is so amazing. It is wonderful to see the responses of people in the audience and for Melia to realize that, even at her age, she can provide a gift to others.”

Melia began violin lessons with Alison Nixon when she was four. “It’s fun to play in big groups, especially for Celtic music,” she says.

This Saturday night, Melia will be joining the NSCE on stage at the Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver.

She won’t be the only face islanders recognize on stage. Ursula Frid, who lived on-island for a decade before recently moving to the mainland so she could be more active with NSCE, is part of the senior ensemble.

Last week was her first performance in two years. “It’s a really great group experience,” says the Grade 12 student. It’s also excellent bonding for the group, playing a two-hour show. We’re all getting through it together.”

The show, Connections, will be especially poignant because it will be the last performance with Cluade Giguère as the ensemble’s leader.

While the show isn’t typically a Christmas show itself – the group shows off the entire range of their exciting and eclectic repertoire – the late-November date has become a beloved annual holiday tradition.

Connection is Sat., Nov. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at Centennial Theatre. Guests ages 12+ must present proof of vaccination and all patrons must wear a mask inside the theatre. Tickets are $30 for adults and $20 for students and seniors; purchase at NVRC.ca

A22 • Thursday, November 25, 2021

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Thursday, November 25, 2021 • A23

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Places of Worship Welcome You BOWEN ISLAND UNITED CHURCH E BOWEN ISLAND UNITED CHURCH Sunday Worship 10:30 am v l Rev. Lorraine Ashdown M Lynn Williams - Minister of Music.

Helen Wallwork leads Sunday School.

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Queen of Capilano Ferry Schedule November 22, 2021 to March 31, 2022

DEPART BOWEN ISLAND

DEPART HORSESHOE BAY

5:20 am except Sundays 6:20 am 7:30 am 8:35 am 9:40 am 10:50 am 12:00 pm 1:10 pm 2:55 pm 4:00 pm except Wednesdays 5:10 pm 6:15 pm 7:40pm Except SAT 8:55 pm " - 8:30 pm 10:00 pm " - 9:30 pm 11:00pm " -10:30 pm

5:50 am 6:50 am 8:00 am 9:05 am except Wednesdays 10:15 am 11:25 am 12:35 pm 2:20 pm 3:30 pm 4:35 pm 5:45 pm 6:50 pm 8:20 pm Except SAT 9:30pm " - 9:00 pm 10:30pm " - 10:00 pm

Note: Schedules subject to change without notice: Please check BCFERRIES.COM

Schedule changes on statutory holidays

Thursday, November 25, 2021

A24 • bowenislandundercurrent.com

CALENDAR Supporter of the ARTS Annual General Meeting Virtual & in-person

The Hearth Arts on Bowen (Bowen Island Arts Council)

Wednesday December 1st at 7 pm Hearth Gallery Review our past year of Arts on Bowen Financial Update Plans for our future For those who wish to join the virtual event, please email us at hello@thehearthartsonbowen.ca Links to AGM documents & Zoom invite will be sent via email

@ @BowUndercurrent

SKY members and those interested in joining SKY, may be interested in knowing we are walking together on Wednesday afternoons. Please contact 778-886-3600

TO NOV. 29

Hidden Gems Hearth Gallery 11 to 5 daily except Tuesdays and Wednesdays

THURSDAY NOV 25

Trust Me concert series 7 pm at Tir-na-nOg Shari Ulrich, Cindy Fairbank, Kirby Barber and Julia Graff. Tickets $22, available on Eventbrite.ca or at the Phoenix (cash/cheques only)

SATURDAY NOV 27

Mosaic Art Workshop 2-5 pm Transform your old dishes into art with

A Bowen tradition, the 23rd annual dramatic reading of

A Christmas Carol Collins Hall Sunday December 12th at 7:30pm Tickets $25 from the Pharmacy

Masks and vaccination required and only 50 tickets available The event will also be livestreamed by Theatre on the Isle A fundraiser for Snug Cove House Society

artist Mariana Gassman.

Materials included, no experience required. For one class: $70; for 2 classes $135; for 3 classes $200.

More info / to register email: BowenMosaic@ marianartstudio.com Little Red Church Craft Fair Collins Hall Noon-3 pm Legion Craft Fair Legion 10 am-4 pm Email Maureen at rcl150manager@ gmail.com if interested in being a vendor.

BIHORA AGM Virtual or in person 6 pm Check facebook page or email seaberlystables@ gmail.com for more details Hidden Gems Public Party and Auction Hearth Gallery 6 to 8 pm Bid on one-of-a-kind artworks by community members

SUNDAY NOV 28

Teen Advisory Group Pizza, activities, book chats and planning a Dungeons and Dragons program.

Library 2:30-3:45 pm Legion Craft Fair Legion 10 am-4 pm Email Maureen at rcl150manager@gmail.com if your interested in being a vendor.

WEDNESDAY DEC 1

Hearth Arts on Bowen AGM 7 pm live at The Hearth Gallery and virtual by emailing hello@

thehearthartsonbowen. com for Zoom link. Review of past year, financial statements and future plans

DECEMBER 2 TO 26

December Art Market Hearth Gallery: Gift items from local artists and artisans. 11 to 5 daily except Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

(Note: the gallery will be open every day until Christmas.)

THURSDAY DEC 2

Squamish Stories with Kung Jaadee Library Annex 10:30 am Live streamed. All-ages event with Q&A. “Kung Jaadee willshare her telling of Squamish legends popularized by Indigenous activist and poet E. Pauline Johnson’s ‘Legends of Vancouver.’

DEC. 2 26

December Art Market Hearth Gallery “The 2nd annual December art market is meant to support our local artists providing a space for our December shoppers. Take this monthlong opportunity to sell your holiday gift items at the Hearth Gallery. A one-stop shopping Art Market.”

FRIDAY DEC 3

Christmas at Endswell Farm 6 to 8pm: Visit with Santa, see over 40,000 lights, have some hot chocolate or warm apple cider, make a Christmas tree ornament,

light up a sparkler, roast marshmallows and take a box of Christmas treats made special for you by Mrs. Claus herself. Minimum donation of $15/pp with all proceeds going to the Bowen Island Food Bank.

Call or email Yvonne at 604 726 5277 / ymuzak@telus. net or Noah at 604 341 7244 / noah@homefarm.ca to purchase tickets. Also on December 19

FRIDAY DEC 3

Festival of Trees decorating party Hot chocolate, cookies and decorating fun, 10 am to noon, grassy area in the Cove.

DECEMBER 4

Lighting of the menorah 7 pm at the grassy area near ferry: Bowen Island’s Jewish community invites everyone to join its celebration of Hannukah. Songs, treats and dreidel.

Light Up of the Cove 6:30 pm: canon will signal a small light show with Santa’s friends passing out treats and next to USSC Marina

DECEMBER 5

Pre-Christmas Open House Rivendell Retreat Centre 3 – 5 pm: This year’s theme is Light in the Darkness.

Stations will be set up both inside and outside. Light