Bowen Island Undercurrent December 16 2021

CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT: Annual avian enumeration is Jan. 2

$1.50

PAGE 8

inc.

GST

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021

LIFE LESSONS FROM RIPTIDES

VOL. 47 NO. 49

BIUndercurrent

BowUndercurrent www.bowenislandundercurrent.com

Mary Letson’s latest PAGE 5

What I learned at COP26 AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR BOWEN, B.C. AND CANADA

CHARLES MCNEILL

Contributor

DARRYL DEEGAN PHOTO

‘BETTER THAN MACY’S’: The mini Santa Claus parade in the Cove last Sunday saw many favourite

Christmas characters, including the nutcracker, snow king and queen, Santa’s favourite elves and Santa’s reindeer, descend on Bowen’s business district for the festive event. See more photos on p. 9.

I have been encouraged, and even inspired, over the years by the high level of awareness and activism of the citizens of Bowen Island on environmental sustainability and climate issues – more than I see on that other island, Manhattan, where I have lived. Many New Yorkers still don’t even separate out organic waste or recycle as seriously as on Bowen.

I therefore write to report on outcomes from the recent UN Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland (the 26th ‘Conference of the Parties’ or ‘COP26’) with implications for Bowen, British Columbia and Canada.

My overall assessment of COP26 is that, relative to where we were, the world community made significant strides. But relative to where we need to get to, agreements at this COP will not protect our planet from unacceptably severe climate impacts.

Who can forget how last June 27 the town of Lytton, BC registered the highest temperature in the history of Canada – and a few days later burned to the ground due to a wildfire? And the countless other examples of devasting fires, floods, droughts and extreme weather events we witnessed around the world last summer. Now, right after COP26, destructive floods in BC are causing enormous suffering. And this disruption is happening at our current temperature of 1.1° Celsius warmer than pre-industrial times. Imagine what the 2.4° future we are headed towards will bring? COP26 was a tale of two cities, a story of a glass half empty and half full.

CONTINUED ON P. 7

A2 • Thursday, December 16, 2021

bowenislandundercurrent.com

Development in hazardous areas: What do you think?

Events Bowen Island Municipality will be closed from December 24 at noon until Tuesday, January 4, 2022 for the holidays.

Changes to Building Regulations coming in 2022

Bowen Island Municipality is considering regulating development in hazardous areas on Bowen Island and is considering a future Hazardous 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. Staff are actively seeking input from the public now, before the preparation of a draft amendment.

We’re interested in what you think about the proposed Development Permit Area. Please help us by completing a 5 minute survey on Citizenlab:

Effective January 1, 2022, Bowen Island Municipality is changing how measurements are taken for Building Permit applications, including calculating lot coverage, floor area, and building height. Building Permit applications submitted in 2022 will be reviewed under the new definitions.

If you are planning on submitting a building permit application, please visit our website for more information.

www.bowenislandmunicipality.ca/building-renovating

www.bowenisland.citizenlab.co

2022 Garbage Collection schedule The 2022 Garbage Collection Schedule is now available!

Download a copy from our website or pick one up from Municipal Hall. www.bowenislandmunicipality.ca/garbage-collection-schedule

Help stop COVID-19:

2022 Council meeting schedule Council has set its meeting scheule for 2022. Regular Council meetings are scheduled at 6:15 PM on the second and fourth Monday of each month, unless a statutory holiday falls on that Monday, in which case the meeting is held on the Tuesday following. The Council Agenda is published by 4:30 PM seven calendar days prior to the meeting. The Council Procedure Bylaw regulates procedures to be followed for the conduct of business at meetings of the Council.

Get vaccinated - everyone 5 years and older is eligible.

Stay home if you’re sick

To read the 2022 Regular Council meeting schedule, please visit our website for more information.

www.bowenislandmunicipality.ca/council-meetings

Wear a mask in indoor public spaces

Contact Bowen Island Municipality PAID ADVERTISEMENT December 16, 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

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Thursday, December 16, 2021 • A3

USSC Marina water lease inches forward: Council briefs COMMUNITY ENERGY & EMISSIONS PLAN OUTLINES HOW BOWEN ISLAND IS DOING WITH ITS GHG EMISSION TARGETS

BRONWYN BEAIRSTO

Contributor

‘Twas the last regular meeting before Christmas and, despite the Garden Club’s holiday party competing for attention, the municipality’s crew of councillors took one last gander through the island’s civic affairs.

The following are briefs from the Dec. 13 Bowen Island Municipality regular council meeting.

USSC lease agreement

Union Steamship Company Marina has applied for a renewal of its 30-year lease agreement with the province. The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development referred the matter to BIM for comment. Council passed a motion saying it has no objection to the renewal though asking that the sewage management plan be updated within the application.

The request came as the staff report noted the abnormally high E. coli counts in Snug Cove.

“On two occasions over the past two years, the beach water samples taken from the Festival Field beach registered the highest coliform counts compared to any other samples in British Columbia.

Consistently throughout the late spring and summer months, coliform levels in Snug Cove are above

the safe threshold for swimming,” said the report.

Mayor Gary Ander wanted to ensure that the marina didn’t have to do a separate comprehensive environmental plan, clarifying that there were other influences in Snug Cove that have driven up the e. coli counts, “It’s not necessarily them.”

Manager of planning and development Daniel Martin said that they would ask something similar of any other applications in the Cove “knowing that we hit these high E. coli counts, we can’t determine the source.

“We would want to know that all of the possible sources in Snug Cove are being inspected and monitored.”

The marina’s several float homes, an office and shower house as well as liveaboard vessels connect to the Snug Cove Sewer System. Coun. Alison Morse said that when it comes to the boats coming and going, the marina has no control over what boaters do with their bilge and grey water, other than posting signage.

There were also concerns that asking for anything more of the marina could hold up the application further.

Coun. Michael Kaile noted that this application had taken three years to get through the referral process and suggested the municipality ask it “get expedited with reasonable speed.”

Emitting gasses

Council received the municipality’s first Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP) since declaring a climate emergency and then adopting the Climate Change Strategy last year. (BIM’s first CEEP came out in 2016.) The updated, BC Hydro-funded CEEP covers seven areas: transportation (though not the ferry as that’s outside of municipal control), buildings, waste, renewable energy, sequestration, local food production and organizational leadership.

The plan will be used in updating the Climate Change Strategy next year, said a staff report.

Where the 2010 greenhouse gas emissions were calculated to be approximately 3.74 tonnes per capita, in 2020 they were 2.82 tonnes per capita (though the target was 2.2). The target for 2030 is 1.4 while the projection is for 2.62.

One line of particular note in the CEEP: “The electrical vehicle suite is projected to result in a 6% - 7% transportation emissions decrease by 2030 given the market growth of this sector.”

Read the entire plan: https:// bowenisland.civicweb.net/document/254655

Will it stay or will it go?

Council deferred considering whether it will allow a staircase that crosses into a municipal right of way and in front of a neighbouring property to remain. Or,

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whether it will order the stairway demolished.

In 2019, council ordered the stairway partially demolished and rerouted so that it no longer passes in front of the neighbouring property. (The neighbouring property owners are upset with the build).

However, the stairway has remained and the property owners asked the municipality to reconsider given that the rerouting would damage or kill a couple of nearby, potentially slope stabilizing, trees.

Director of engineering Patrick Graham agreed with the assessment, recommending that the stairs either stay or they go.

Councillors were split on how to deal with the matter. Coun. Sue Ellen Fast pointed to an unfairness in some people being able to build what they wanted without a permit and then pay the penalty, while others couldn’t afford that.

She was worried about the precedent that could set.

Others, such as Coun. Kaile, wanted to see the neighbours work together to sort out an agreement for the stairs. (Apparently the neighbours also have plans for building a beach access.)

There was general agreement that the builders of the delinquent stairs should compensate BIM for staff time.

Watch for this item in the second council meeting of the new year.

Ride on

Council approved budgeting $5,000 for a municipal e-bike as part of electrifying the BIM fleet.

The hefty price is for a bike that can go off-road as well as on roads (obviously) as staff are to use the bike while on municipal business – patrolling trails, chalking tires, visiting properties. Coun. Fast was among the councillors voicing support for the initiative. “It sets an example,” she said, adding that it’s part of bringing climate action into the future.

Mayor Gary Ander said he wanted to be allowed to ride the bike too. Coun. Rob Wynen suggested branded Lycra.

Congratulations!

Council thanked Judy McLeod for her 10 years of service with the municipality as a consultant with the planning department and congratulated her on her retirement.

Because the old editor never covered it

In early November, council was presented the Community Economic Development Plan. The plan was referred to the Community Economic Development Committee for consideration and recommendations on how to move forward with adoption and implementation.

Read the entire plan at: https:// bowenisland.civicweb.net/document/254329.

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

A4 • Thursday, December 16, 2021

bowenislandundercurrent.com

VIEWPOINTS LETTERS

With deep gratitude

Editor: On behalf of the Bowen Island Jewish community, I’d like to extend our deep gratitude to the Bowen Island Community Foundation for their funding of the Jewish Community Education and Equality Project.

Their Neighbourhood Small Grant funds, with support from the Vancouver Foundation and Bowen Island Municipality, culminated in the building of a community menorah for Hanukkah celebrations in the Cove and was a wonderful example of how just the right amount of seed money at the right time can lever big results.

Along with the generosity of the Family Centre who invited us to share the site of their Christmas tree fundraiser, and Bronwyn Bearisto’s inspired three-part Undercurrent series on Bowen Island’s Jewish community, the Foundation’s support had a greater effect than any of us could have imagined.

For many of us in the Jewish community it was a change in the story that has been handed down from Holocaust survival - a reflex towards safety through not standing out - as well over 100 people gathered to sing, dance and snack at the menorah lighting during Light Up Bowen festivities on December 6th. It was a truly transformative event, ably supported by the ‘can do’ practical skills and boundless enthusiasm of Basia Liekse.

For Bowen’s Jewish community, standing with the broader Bowen community, and contributing the Jewish story of nurturing the sparks of light through times of darkness, helped create a legacy of joy and healing for all, something that the Bowen Island Community Foundation can justifiably be proud of.

Matthew van der Giessen

Thank you, first responders Editor: A huge amount of thanks to the great ambulance guys and Cormorant Marine who managed to negotiate ice and very low tide, late in the evening of Dec 4 for a trip to LGH. I will always remember their strength and kindness.

Judy Willoughby-Price

EDITORIAL

Winding down 2021, looking to 2022 What. A. Year. We may not know what’s in store for 2022 but it’s coming, ready or not!

Next week will be our last edition of 2021 as Team Undercurrent is taking a rest for the week of Dec. 30.

If you have reflections on 2021 – what Bowen Island achieved, what we missed, how we grew – please send them into editor@bowenislandundercurrent.com before Monday evening (Dec. 20). It’s always good to take a moment to reflect on the good, the bad and the awesome of our community. (And there’s a lot of awesome.)

A lot has happened this past year. We’ve faced heat waves and floods together, more waves of COVID-19, divergent perspectives on vaccines and have faced figuring out how to knit back our community after the pandemic pushed us apart. So. Send in your stories!

We’d also love to hear your hopes for 2022 – let’s start the new year with some optimism.

Then, we’ll be back, rested and renewed, Jan. 6!

–Bowen Island Undercurrent

Bowen Island Undercurrent Subscription Rates: Mailed 1 year subscription on Bowen Island: $55, including GST. Within Canada: $85 including GST Newsstand (Single Copy) $1.50 per copy, including GST

ISSN 7819-5040

It’s been a while since we’ve looked at the COVID-19 numbers on-island. The case rate appears to have stayed low in the past week: BC CDC statistics show that there was one new COVID-19 case in the Bowen Island – Lions Bay Community Health Service Area between Dec. 7 and Dec. 13.

The data display at public.tableau.com/ app/profile/bccdc/viz/BCCDCCOVID19SurveillanceDashboard/Introduction now shows actual number of cases and not just rates per 100,000 people.

Seventy per cent of adults over 70 in the CHSA have had their third vaccine dose.

Forty per cent of kids between the ages of five and 11 in the area have had their first vaccine dose.

Eighty nine per cent of people 12 and older have had two vaccine doses.

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.

All Advertising and news copy content are copyright of the Undercurrent Newspaper. All editorial content submitted to the Undercurrent becomes the property of the publication.

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

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COVID-19 numbers on Bowen Island

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EDITOR Alex Kurial editor@bowenisland undercurrent.com

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SPECIAL THANK-YOU Audrey Grescoe

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Thursday, December 16, 2021 • A5

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARY LETSON

Mary Letson was pulled into a riptide while on vacation in Maui in 2009 – an off-duty waiter and sage guidance saved her life.

Riptides and the purpose of patience

HOW A LIFE-THREATENING EXPERIENCE TAUGHT MARY LETSON THE WAY FORWARD ISN’T ALWAYS THE SHORTEST ROUTE Contributor

what if Mai Tai sales had been brisk that day?

I figure the same kind of thing can happen in life when one day we look up from our routine and see we are miles away from where we want to be.

To right our course, we logically attempt to swim the shortest route possible to reach our destination. Maybe we don’t reach out to accept help offered from the sidelines; we fight the pull and manage only to become more exhausted.

Maybe we are too stubborn, or proud, to take the longer route back to where we want to be. Maybe we don’t want to go sideways.

Rest assured my impatient, type A personality has landed me in this position on numerous occasions (albeit only once in the water – never again). But if there is anything I’ve learned along the way, it’s that some of the most powerful, and lifesaving (literally and figuratively), experiences come with accepting a helping hand and taking the longer way home.

BOWEN

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If you’ve ever been caught in a riptide you’ll know what I mean when I say it’s all about going sideways.

As you feel the tide sucking you out into oblivion, all you want to do is swim directly back to shore. Why wouldn’t you do the most logical, instinctual thing and take the direct route back to safety?

This happened to me back in the ’90s when the women and children in our family made the winter pilgrimage to Maui, leaving behind our beloved men to fend for themselves so we could enjoy a stretch of pure mother/daughter restorative togetherness in paradise.

It was my last day and I was on my own with the plan to have a quick dip/float close to shore. I made my way down to Napili Bay – the same bay I had swam in every day for the previous three weeks and, in fact, for years with never a care in the world.

The difference that day was I was in a hurry. I didn’t sit on my towel and people/wave watch while chatting with my family. Instead I dropped my towel and slid into the seemingly calm water, flipped onto my back and surrendered to the salty buoyancy.

Thinking back on that afternoon, I realize now, the locals never just dive into the ocean.

Instead, the Hawaiians stand at the top of the beach leaning on their skim or surf boards and watch the ocean for what seems like eternity before jumping in to work the waves in their effortless, athletic way. They are always watching and observing, both in and out of the water. The purpose of that patience and observation never occurred to me until that day.

After what felt like only a few moments I popped up to look back to shore and realized with a start that the beach was far, far away. At the time I was in the midst of triathlon training and was as strong as I have ever been so, without a thought, I started swimming directly back to shore.

Within moments I could see I was going nowhere. When I stopped swimming the tug of the water continued to pull me out towards Molokai and the coast of China beyond.

I remember that moment as if it was yesterday. Two thoughts hit me like a truck: 1) my epic stupidity 2) how could I have done this to my family and, more specifically, my son?

As my predicament filled me like a lead weight I saw a man dressed in black slacks and a white shirt striding out along the point trail. He wove with a life ring in one hand and gestured to me to swim towards him with the other.

Swim away from the beach his arms were saying. Swim sideways.

I immediately followed his commands and eventually found myself clambering up on the lava rocks to safety. This was a tricky and exhausting manoeuvre in itself to time the waves so I didn’t end up like a heap of mashed potatoes in front of the Napili Kai Resort.

It turns out my pseudo-lifeguard was in fact the waiter at the local beach restaurant. With Mai Tai sales apparently slow that afternoon he had his eyes on the water and not on his tables. Lucky me. My legs shaky, we clambered back along the point trail to the beach with me thanking him profusely along the way.

(Thinking back, I probably should have done something more meaningful – like buy him a car).

I then collapsed on my towel exhausted and shaken to recover from the shock of swimming for my life.

As I think back on this incredibly lucky life experience —

bb

MARY LETSON

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A6 • Thursday, December 16, 2021

bowenislandundercurrent.com

Remembering islander John James (Jim) Moore THE 98-YEAR-OLD SECOND WORLD WAR VETERAN AND LONGTIME ISLANDER DIED DEC. 2 It is with sadness that we announce that Jim Moore passed away at Lions Gate Hospital on Dec. 2.

Jim had lived a remarkably long life; he was 98 years old and set to turn 99 this February.

Jim was a Second World War veteran. He served in the Canadian Navy, deployed in the North Sea. Being one of the few remaining veterans, he was a regular staple at the Bowen Island Remembrance Day memorial service, which he proudly attended each year.

After the war, Jim, who was part of the merchant marine, circumnavigated the globe by sea. He started in Nova Scotia and sailed through the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal, to Mumbai, Singapore, and then California. One purpose of his trip was to transport monkeys to a zoo in California, so much of the trip involved sailing with a population of monkeys.

Throughout his life, Jim remained an avid fisherman, and made many fishing trips around Bowen and up the coast of

B.C., including as far as Haida Gwaii.

Following his journey around the globe, Jim served with the Vancouver firefighters. There are several stories of instances where he heroically saved the lives of others and had his own life saved by his colleagues.

It was during this part of his life that Jim met Marion — while playing badminton in downtown Vancouver. They married 64 years ago, in 1957.

Marion will be celebrating her 100th birthday in June.

After retirement, Jim and Marion settled in a log house, on which Jim did a lot of the finishing, on Bowen Island, and have lived there for the past 38 years.

During his retirement, Jim was an active volunteer for the Terminal Creek Fish Hatchery and the recycling depot and helped out on Collins Farm.

He will be sadly missed by his wife, Marion, children, Wendy (Ron) and Patrick (Sylvia), grandchildren, Graham and Melanie, and many relatives and friends.

–Submitted

Pettit and Company Family and Children’s Law

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Wendy Moore (daughter), Pat Moore (son), Jim Moore, Malou Rosal (the Moores’ caregiver), Graham Moore (grandson) and Marion Moore (Jim’s wife) at Remembrance Day 2019.

FILE PHOTO

PHOTO SUBMITTED

As a Second World War veteran, Jim was a staple at Bowen Island’s annual Remembrance Day service at the cenotaph.

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Thursday, December 16, 2021 • A7

What COP26 Forest Pledge needs to mean for our Crown lands

WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED, WHAT WASN’T AND OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE UN CLIMATE CONFERENCE IN GLASGOW CONTINUED FROM P. 1

These annual UN Climate Conferences feature both multi-nation negotiations and associated civil society engagement. In COP26, the dynamism, creativity and impact of civil society activities – including powerful new partnerships, commitments and announcements, in and outside the Glasgow negotiating area – was beyond anything I have seen before and was amplified by new opportunities for virtual participation and social media outreach. The voices of youth, women and indigenous peoples – as well as religious leaders and faith communities – stood out and were stronger than ever in Glasgow.

Progress made

Countries (including Canada in each case), companies and investors announced major plans to shift away from coal power, dramatically cut methane emissions, halt forest loss and align trillions of dollars of private investments to net-zero emissions.

All 197 governments at COP26 re-asserted and strengthened a global commitment to keeping temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

This agreement is critically important even though the sum total of national climate action promised to date takes us to a 2.4° C rise – a disastrous future that must be avoided at all costs. COP26 bent the curve in the right direction but by no means far enough.

In Glasgow, the first-ever references appeared in a COP decision about fossil fuels (as in “phasing down” coal power and phasing out oil and gas subsidies). This, I hope, signals the death knell of our fossil fuel-based economy. My former organization, the UN Development Program, estimates that fossil fuel subsidies are at a level of $423 billion/year – that money would go a long way to help vulnerable low-income countries address climate change.

Instead, as a negotiator from a Pacific island lamented, “fossil fuel subsidies are actually paying for the destruction of our country.”

How perverse that Canada

and many other nations are subsidizing the very industry that is causing the climate-induced suffering we are seeing all around us? At last, the dirty little secret of outsized damage caused by fossil fuels and their subsidies is in the open.

This COP decision has serious implications for Canada’s energy policy and certainly argues for phasing out the tar sands industry as quickly as possible for the sake of all life on the planet.

This new global commitment to move away from fossil fuels forecasts a short lifespan for other Canadian – and B.C. – industries that are highly subsidized and polluting, such as proposed liquified natural gas (LNG) projects in Howe Sound and elsewhere and the forest biomass industry that burns wood for electricity – neither of which should be considered as a climate solution.

I believe that Canada – and BC itself – should join with Denmark, Costa Rica and many other governments and stakeholders in the Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance (BOGA) to facilitate the managed phase-out of oil and gas production.

Another important advance at COP 26 was the agreement that all countries should report again next year on their climate plans instead of waiting for the five years stipulated in the Paris Climate Agreement.

Since this 2020-2030 decade is truly the make-or-break period for climate action, we can’t wait until it is half over to ratchet up collective commitments – and Canada should take a lead in increasing ambition.

The call for doubling of industrialized country financing to developing countries for adaptation – to about $40 billion/year by 2025 from 2019 levels – was also a positive. Canada and the U.S. announced their first-ever contributions to the Adaptation Fund. Developing countries’ access to finance and technology was improved slightly but not nearly enough to empower low-income countries to participate fully in the clean energy transition or protect vulnerable people on the frontlines of climate hazard and harm.

I was particularly encour-

aged by the Glasgow Leaders Pledge on Forests and Land Use. It was agreed by 137 countries, including Canada, to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030. It was underpinned by $19 billion in public and private funds, including $1.9 billion to support indigenous peoples. I am personally gratified that this pledge – which covers more than 90 per cent of the world’s forests – builds on, and goes far beyond, the New York Declaration on Forests that I coordinated in the 2014 UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit.

This Forest Pledge makes a strong case for B.C. to immediately stop all cutting of Old-Growth forests.

I believe it also argues for Bowen Island to support the creation of a substantial new park on the remaining Cape lands, and to prevent logging on Bowen’s Crown lands.

The federal and BC governments should use this Forest Pledge as an incentive to transition away from extractive practices towards more sustainable economic activities. And let’s remember that removal of forests increases the frequency and intensity of landslides and flooding and is surely linked to the tragic flooding events of the past few weeks.

In fact, my time in Glasgow began with a very unexpected call at 2:30 am on the first day of the COP from the BBC asking for a comment on this Forest Pledge for their live broadcast. I strongly endorsed the commitment by Canada and 196 other countries, explaining that there is no way to reach the Paris Climate goals without protecting and restoring tropical and other forests, but cautioning that now the countries and companies need to actually keep these promises.

What didn’t get accomplished

Although we saw the first-ever reference to “loss and damage” (referring to the call for compensation for the destruction of lives and livelihoods already caused by climate change), it was disappointing that in spite of industrialized countries’ historic responsibility

for the climate crisis there were no firm commitments nor a mechanism to channel those funds to developing countries. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports that a person every second is already being displaced by extreme weather, driving the immigration crisis, too.

Overall, countries’ announcements emphasized “net-zero emissions by 2050” (a necessary component of reaching a 1.5 C limit) but were light on nearterm concrete action.

Next steps

Canada and other countries need to be followed up and supported to deliver on all their commitments – including the significant ones on forest and land use, on methane, on coal – as well as their pledges to fund adaptation measures in developing countries.

Industrialized countries need to be more forthcoming with finance for climate change action since dealing with the symptoms rather than the cause of climate change is already extraordinarily costly. To give one example, a response to a single flooding event this

year in Germany is costing $30 billion.

All industrialized countries need to push for the phasing out of coal and of oil and gas subsidies and a transition to clean energy, domestically and internationally. The trillions of dollars spent on propping up polluting technology can be directed to stimulate growth, innovation and health. This may be particularly challenging for Canada given its extensive tar sand, LNG and forest bioenergy initiatives that can’t be part of the future.

CONTINUED ON P. 11

The Snug Cove House Society: Next Steps As most of you know, the Snug Cove House Society has been working on the development of a supportive seniors housing project for many years. An enormous amount of work has already been done, including expressions of support from community residents.

We have applied for funding from BC Housing and as part of that process we need to undertake a market study.

We have commissioned Lumina Services of Vancouver to conduct the study. Lumina is the leading provider in Western Canada of market and financial feasibility studies for seniors’ housing and care developments. Kate Mancer, Principal of Lumina and the author of The Future of Seniors’ Housing: Planning, Building and Operating Successful Seniors Housing Projects, will lead three lively and informative sessions about housing and aging in the 21st century. Bring all your comments, observations and questions.

The three sessions will be as follows, all at Collins Hall: Wednesday, January 5th 2:00 PM Wednesday, January 5th 7:00 PM Thursday, January 6th 10:00 AM To make sure we have enough refreshments, please RSVP to Graham Ritchie at info@snugcovehouse.com NOTE: In accordance with Provincial government requirements for indoor organized gatherings, proof of vaccination will be required.

A8 • Thursday, December 16, 2021

bowenislandundercurrent.com

How to help Snug Cove House SOCIETY WORKING ON SECURING A CONSTRUCTION LOAN BUT INPUT NEEDED FOR A MARKET ANALYSIS For many years now, the Snug Cove House Society has been hard at work planning a retirement residence for Bowen Island. This summer nearly 300 islanders completed a survey letting us know their hopes for retirement housing. Over 90% confirmed that it is important or very important that they stay on Bowen after retirement, and over half the respondent said it was likely or very likely that they would move into a Bowen retirement residence.

In addition to 24 self-contained balconied one bedroom apartments, Snug Cove House will have a top-floor view lounge, dining room and professional kitchen. The Miller Road land is fully-serviced and ready for construction. Plans, approvals and contracts are complete, and a sizable equity deposit standing by. The missing piece of the puzzle – and it’s a big piece – is a construction loan.

Last year, the Snug Cove House Society applied to BC Housing’s Community Housing Fund for the loan. It didn’t get it, which was not entirely unexpected as the Community Housing Fund tends to put its money into subsidized general housing, rather than specialized projects such as seniors’ housing. This year the society has applied to HousingHub, a division of BC Housing that does not provide continuing subsidies but is more flexible in the kind of

projects it finances. It operates more like a commercial bank, which is why the Bowen project has just undergone a formal business appraisal.

The project also needs a separate analysis of the market it hopes to serve. This is especially important in Bowen’s case because of our small population. The analysis is being done by Lumina Services, experienced specialists in supportive seniors’ housing.

The society is now asking for your help with the final step of this analysis – meeting with Bowen Islanders to ask them about their attitudes and inclinations towards community retirement housing. This will happen in early January, on Bowen at Collins Hall. There will be three sessions to give participants the best chance to find a time convenient to them: Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 2 p.m. and 7p.m.

Thursday January 6th at 10am.

Masks and proof of vaccination will be needed. Please tell a society board member or e-mail info@snugcovehouse.com if you’ll be there. The society hopes that you will continue to support Snug Cove House by your presence.

Sincerely, the Board of Directors of Snug Cove House Society Susan Munro, Pernille Nielsen, Chris Passier, Andy Powell-Williams, Martine Sampath, Graham Ritchie, Holly Mackintosh and Cindy MacLeod

DG Blair consults a bird book during the 2019 Christmas Bird Count. (Bruce Steele Photo)

It’s bird counting season!

CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT ON BOWEN ISLAND IS JAN. 2

MICAELE FLORENDO

Contributor

The National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is planned for this season on January 2, 2022. We are seeking birders of all age ranges to count birds over much of the island on foot, by car, and by boat. Realizing that our lives are a little different this year, perhaps this will be the year a birding walkabout starts your new year!

The CBC is a long-standing program of the National Audubon Society, with over 100 years of community science involvement. It is an early-winter bird census, where thousands of volunteers across the U.S., Canada, and many countries in the Western Hemisphere go out over a 24-hour period on one calendar day to count birds; volunteers count every bird they see or hear all day through a designated 15-mile (24-km) diameter. So, it’s not just a

species tally—it’s a tally of all birds counted all day, giving an indication of the total number of birds in the circle that day! If you’re interested in reviewing some of the historical data, it’s available online at https://www. audubon.org/conservation/ where-have-all-birds-gone.

As there is a specific methodology to the Christmas Bird Count, if you’d like to participate, feel free to contact me at 604-838-2321 or by email at mmaddison@ hotmail.com.

better together

In Loving Memory of Singe

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

This week we said goodbye to a very special cat.

Singe was a handsome and dignified boy and a beloved family member for seventeen years.

But we need your help.

We can’t do it alone!

Please give today at bowenfoundation.com

We know that he will be incredibly missed and we are sending our condolences to his loving family.

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

SINGE REGULAR HOURS Tuesday to Friday 9- 5 Saturday 9- 1 Closed Sunday and Monday

To schedule appointments, please call

604.947.9247

or email reception@bowenvet.com

bowenislandundercurrent.com

When Santa came to town

Thursday, December 16, 2021 • A9

CALENDAR 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

Snug Cove got a very special crew of visitors on Dec. 12. Here are some highlights.

TO DECEMBER 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.)

SUNDAY DEC 19

SUBMITTED DARRYL DEEGAN PHOTO

Holiday Crafternoon 1-2 pm at the

Bowen Library Annex. Learn the art of book folding. Simple ornament making and colouring pages available for younger patrons

DEC 21 TO JAN 2

Drop by and wander the Museum & Archives’ annual beloved winter wonderland outdoor and window exhibit. This year gets cozy with themes of “Joy, Love and Equality “ THURSDAY DEC 30

SUBMITTED

SUBMITTED

Afternoon at the Movies: The Little Prince

1pm at Library Annex Rated PG for 7 and up. Run time is 1 hour, 50 minutes. 50 seats available: come early to save your seats.

Masks mandatory five and up.

CHRISTMAS CHURCH SERVICES

DECEMBER 24

Cates Hill Chapel

6pm Candlelight Christmas Eve service Everyone welcome Bowen Island United Church

5pm A Family Christmas 9pm Lessons and Carols DECEMBER 25

St. Gerard’s Catholic Church SUBMITTED

DARRYL DEEGAN PHOTO

9:30am Christmas Mass Welcome, all of goodwill

OVER 30 entries last year competing for . . .

BEST NEIGHBOURHOOD BEST HOUSE DISPLAY, BRIGHTEST DISPLAY, BEST CHILDREN THEMED & BEST TREE DISPLAY If you would like to be on the map please email:

lightupbowen@gmail.com

A10 • Thursday, December 16, 2021

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Your Community

MARKETPLACE bowenislandundercurrent.com

Call or email to place your ad, Monday through Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

604-444-3000 • 604-653-7851 classifieds@van.net

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

SPROTTSHAW.COM

SUDOKU

BC WIDE CLASSIFIEDS MOVING

2 Guys With A Truck Moving & Storage 604-628-7136

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ANSWERS

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HEALTH & WELLNESS BOWEN ISLAND WELLNESS CENTRE 604-947-9755

at the entrance to Artisan Square Suite 597 7

To advertise here please call 604947-2442 or email ads@bowenislandundercurrent.com

Book online at bowenislandwellnesscentre.ca

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Thursday, December 16, 2021 • A11

‘Bowen citizens will need to continue their progressive tradition of walking the talk’ CONTINUED FROM P. 9

British Columbia should be rightfully proud of its success – environmentally and economically – and global leadership in putting a price on carbon emissions with its innovative and effective revenue-neutral carbon tax. It’s the first North American jurisdiction to implement such a tax. Establishing a carbon tax everywhere is urgently needed and BC offers a viable model for states and countries all over the world to follow.

On the other hand, Canada, and BC in particular, really need to get serious about stopping the loss of the last one per cent of Old Growth! This is long overdue.

Since Canada is part of that group of countries that comprise 12 per cent of the world’s population but are responsible for 50 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, Canada should provide thought leadership

and funding for adaptation, loss and damage.

And since Canada and the U.S. have the same sky-high levels of per capita greenhouse gas emissions (14.2 tons CO2/per person compared to India’s 1.8 tons), Canadians need to actively reduce its carbon footprint.

Reducing consumption of meat and other animal products is an important action each of us should take.

Religious leaders were particularly active and influential at COP26, a sector I have focused on over the past four years through the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative (www. interfaithrainforest.org.) In fact, the event I organized in Glasgow highlighted evidence of an exciting and historic new cooperation between religious leaders of all faiths and indigenous leaders from all regions – including Canada – to protect forests and indigenous peoples’ rights. The event entitled

“Making Peace with Nature: Heeding the Call of Indigenous Peoples” can be found on YouTube. This kind of reconciliation between religious and indigenous leaders must continue.

Personally, it was exciting to be in Glasgow, just 50 miles from where my father was born and where our McNeill ancestors came from. I was also intrigued to chance upon Glasgow’s Fossil Grove – remnants of one of the oldest forests on earth, at 330 million years old. How ironic that these forests were the source of the coal in the Glasgow region that sparked and drove the industrial revolution that created the climate crisis we have today! It was somehow appropriate that Glasgow would be the site where plans were made for a future of clean energy and heathy ecosystems.

It is clear that the focus must now urgently be all about implementation, follow-up

and follow-through on everything agreed in Glasgow. Significantly, the timeframe of the COP26 commitments is by necessity short and within the “watch” of mayors, parliamentarians and CEOs so there is a greater chance of accountability than under the previous longer-term goals.

In the meantime, Mother Nature will keep reminding us of the urgency of this task and politicians, at their peril, will oppose or delay this agenda.

So to ensure we have a chance to avert the climate catastrophe we are still headed toward, Bowen citizens will need to continue their progressive tradition of walking the talk and exerting strong political pressure at all levels.

Charles McNeill is a senior advisor on forests and climate with the UN Environment Program. He lives on Bowen Island.

BOWEN HOME SERVICES love the life you live Landscape Lighting Irrigation

Seascape Bruce Culver

Office: 604-947-9686

Cell: 604-329-3045 NEW CONSTRUCTION RENOVATIONS RESTORATION ADDITIONS SECONDARY STRUCTURES UNIQUE OUTDOOR SPACES SUB CONTRACT WORK

BUILT GREEN BC BUILDER CONTACT US FOR A FREE QUOTATION WWW.WHITEHART.CA ADDRESS 302-566 ARTISAN LANE BOWEN ISLAND, BC PHONE 1 (778) 999-3434

BOWEN ISLAND ROOFING

I&I TOWING HAULING LTD

Vehicles • Construction Equipment Sea-Can Containers • Tiny Homes Bowen Island • Greater Vancouver Vancouver Island • Sunshine Coast

ROOFING & REPAIRS

604-987-7663

Trade ticket certified #00012-RO-96

Michael Bingham • 604 947 1717 ianditowhaul@gmail.com

Window Blinds On Bowen 778-995-1902

live the life you love To reserve a spot on this page, contact us at 604-947-2442 or ads@bowenislandundercurrent.com

A12 • Thursday, December 16, 2021

bowenislandundercurrent.com

Joy to You and Yours

Village Square

HOLIDAY HOURS Christmas eve 9am to 7:30 Christmas Day closed Boxing Day 12pm to 8pm

Gift Cards available www.happyislecannabis.com 604-947-9888

New Year's Eve 9am to 8pm New Years Day 12pm to 8pm