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Promising Primary Care News for Salt Spring
Coming This Week: Please join us this Friday, December 5, 11-1, in the SIMS classroom to welcome our Mental Wellness Initiative Team, including David Norget and Will MacPherson. Addressing the mental health needs of Salt Springers since 2021, this amazing group of volunteers and professionals, many of them with lived experience, are excited to announce the launch of its newest program, Reach Out Salt Spring (https://www.reachoutsaltspring.com),making mental health support available to all by the donation of 10 free sessions by our mental health professionals. Please join us to learn more about this program as well as the many other programs…
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Interested in Learning More About Co-Housing on Salt Spring?
Thirteen, including twolovely and well-behaved grandchildren,joined this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome cohousing (https://cohousing.ca/what-is-cohousing/) advocates Wendy Beatty, Bob MacKie, and Islands Trust Local Trustee, Laura Patrick. After our Acknowledgment and a chance for each of us to introduce ourselves, we learned how each of our guests had become enthusiasts for shared/cohousing, a tried and true model made even more relevant by today’s overheated real estate prices. Bob is “excited and delighted” by the concept of owning one’s own small home in a larger community of folks sharing common spaces and social opportunities. Generally called cohousing, this living arrangement generally…
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Hope and Resiliance for our Youth. . . Sometime it Begins with Eye Contact and a Smile
Nine joined this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome our Restorative Justice (https://www.rjssi.org/) team members Laura Dafoe and Tina Simpson. The intention of this gathering was to explore the challenges faced by our youth and how we as a community can offer them hope and resilience as they transition to adulthood. After our Acknowledgement and before we began this conversation, we reviewed and committed to the Group Agreements that would guide our time together: 1) Honour the talking piece.2) Speak with care. Listen with care.3) Speak from the heart. Listen from the heart.4) Honour confidentiality.5) Take care of yourself. We…
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Ganges Firehall – The Beginning of an Enticing Conversation
Eleven came to this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome Local Community Commissioner (LCC) Ben Corno (bcorno@crd.bc.ca). After he offered his Acknowledgement, noting that our governance decisions should be viewed through the lens of reconciliation, each of us had a chance to introduce ourselves. The group brought a wide variety of experiences and perspectives to this conversation, some having lived here for decades (one for over 50 years) with another only recently arrived. When asked what “excites and delights” him, Ben spoke briefly of his joy that he had just planted their Elephant Garlic, noting that he finds it more…
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It Takes a Village. . . And, You Can Make a Difference – Donate Now
October 31 The group who came to this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome IWAV Executive Director Alicia Herbert was small but enthusiastic. We got an added bonus by also welcoming our Library Director Karen Hudson, wearing her hat as one of seven advisory committee members meeting weekly to move the IWAV Norton Road initiative forward. (And, later in our time together, Alicia and Karen gave a “shout out” to Elizabeth FitzZaland who is also an invaluable member of this Norton Road committee.) In her Land Acknowledgement, Alicia spoke of respect and inclusion on our unceded land, noting that the…
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Whatever is Inclusionary Zoning?
The group welcoming Local Community Commission (LCC) Chair Earl Rook to this ASK Salt Spring gathering was small, causing a participant to question why more did not seem interested in learning more about the decisions and plans of our Local Commissioners. After our Acknowledgment, Earl shared something that had recently “excited and delighted” him: He had just participated in the Cross-Border Forum, a gathering of island leaders from both our local BC islands and the US San Juans. The forum focussed on building environmental and economic resilience across the Salish Sea bioregion, particularly given the potential economic impacts of tariffs.…
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Rescuing the Cats of Salt Spring in Need
Eight joined us to welcometwo members of the Cats of Salt Spring team, Jennifer McMillan (Founder and President) and Mary Beckett (Treasurer, as well as outstanding cat foster mom to 110 cats and kittens) to this ASK Salt Spring gathering. Also joining them was kitten Levi, a delightful 3-and-a-half-month-old little guy, eager for cuddles, who had been part of a large feral colony in the north end of Salt Spring Island. After our Acknowledgement, we learned a lot about this volunteer-driven charitable organization, Cats of Salt Spring https://catsofsaltspring.com/. When Jennifer and her husband moved to Salt Spring in 2020, intending to…
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Exploring the Challenges and Benefits of Tourism in our Community
October 10 Twelve joined all or part of this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome Restorative Justice Team members Tina, Laura, and Irina. Beginning with our Land Acknowledgment, Tina shared a heartfelt recognition of our past, adding a meaningful definition of the often-used but seldom understood word “unceded.” Reminding us that the core of Restorative Justice (https://www.rjssi.org/) is built upon indigenous teachings, we reviewed and agreed to the five principles guiding our time together: The topic of our discussion was to explore our values in the context of tourism and its impact upon our community. We began by introducing ourselves and…
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Envisioning a Better Healthcare System
Thirty-six came for this first ever evening gathering of ASK Salt Spring to welcome MLA Rob Botterell and discuss healthcare needs in our community.After our Acknowledgement, we began by giving each participant a chance to introduce themselves. A common theme in these self-introductions was concern about not having a doctor, interest in a team approach to healthcare on Salt Spring, and frustration that things appeared to be changing too slowly. After introductions around the circle, Rob shared his delight at being the very last car to get onto the early morning ferry to Salt Spring. He shared his appreciation for ferry…
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A Loving Welcome for the Lookout Society
Twenty-three joined this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome the Lookout Housing and Health Society’s CEO Shayne Williams and Lee Fox, Director of Operations for the Vancouver Island Region. After our Acknowledgement, all in our circle had a chance to introduce themselves, many expressing their delight that Lookout has been awarded the BC Housing contract to manage our new supportive housing community at 161 Drake Road. Lee expressed her delight in the imminent opening of Drake Road, confident that something wonderful would happen there. She is thrilled that Lookout will have a far larger presence on Salt Spring, an island…