News Alert! What you need to know as a resident residing under the Islands Trust

February 3, 2022

Please share this newsletter with your neighbours, friends & family.

News Alert! What YOU need to know as a resident residing under the Islands Trust.

The Islands Trust, our local government, is unilaterally giving itself new powers that will severely restrict your ability to farm, dictate the size of your home, require approval to cut a tree on your private property, eliminate future dock spaces, ban desalination, threaten the livelihoods of local small businesses and artisans. Sadly, most people have not taken the time to read the latest Draft Policy Statement.

YOU Need to GET involved. Thank you!

First and foremost, we would like to draw your attention to Islands Trust seeks input on its proposed 2022/23 budget. This has a February 6th deadline. Please complete asap.

TO COMPLETE THE ISLANDS TRUST BUDGET SURVEY

The Island Trust budget process is not complete yet – we still have an opportunity to make sure that our message gets through clearly.

Complete the Islands Trust Budget Survey. Deadline is Feb. 6th 11:59 pm. The QR code is at the bottom of the page.

Forward this email ASAP to all your island friends to act on now. Each member of a household can submit a survey response by using separate devices and email addresses.
Do not assume for a minute that anyone has received it or will complete it. We need to push all our circles to complete the survey.
If you already filled out the “2 Simple Questions” Citizen Survey – DO THIS THIS ISLANDS

TRUST BUDGET SURVEY TOO please.

Use your camera to open the Islands Trust Budget Survey

YOU need to GET informed. Thank you!

www.facebook.com/gulfislandscoalition www.instagram.com/southerngulfislandsgroup/

JANUARY 21, 2022 – CRITIQUE ON ISLANDS TRUST DRAFT BUDGET

BY FINANCE PROFESSIONAL & VOLUNTEER JEFF GREEN

The Trust is asking for a $9.1 million budget. The increase (5%) is to largely to conduct additional studies, hire new staff (e.g., endangered species specialist) and expand their mandate into several new areas (marine management, housing, climate change, endangered species). Most of these regulatory areas are already handled and done well by provincial and federal agencies.

The Trust, even with hiring, does not have the knowledge, expertise, experience or resources to

take on these roles. Plus these new areas are outside the Trust’s core mandate of land planning, development review and permitting, and managing the Trust Conservancy areas. The Trust should be advocating in these new areas — as directed in their Act — not expanding roles and staffing.

The Islands Trust levy in our taxes has increased from $2.1 MILLION in 1994/95 to $7.1 MILLION last year (2020/21). That is over a 300% increase in 28 years.

The proposed increase this year does not include the multiple additional areas the Trust is trying to

secure in the new Draft Policy Bylaw, so next year’s budget increase will likely be even higher.

The Islands Trust only plans and reviews development applications. Other than bylaw enforcement, the Trust is NOT responsible for any physical improvements or maintenance of infrastructure such as roads, bicycle trails, parks, schools, hospitals and medical clinics, paramedics, policing, fire response and the other services that make our community work.

I leave you to your own decisions on the budget. I indicated I support a decrease for almost all areas with staying the same for several areas (I.e., conservation areas). I think the Trust is out of control and needs to be reminded of who they serve and how. Jeff Green

This is the 2 minute talk John Money gave to the Islands Trust Select Committee last week: My name is John Money, and I was a Trustee for 21 years and on the Executive for 6 years.

The Islands Trust was created to supply planning services to 13 island communities in the southern & central Salish Sea. I believe all, except maybe 1, already had their Official Community Plan & Land Use By-laws in place.

These Plans were created with the planner help of several Regional Districts.

The Islands Trust was created to make a federation of these different island communities. Their very different Official Community Plans and Land Use By-laws were tied together because they are islands.

The Islands Trust was charged to help conserve the unique amenities in the area while supplying planning services. The flora and fauna in all these gulf islands is very similar, transportation problems are similar…..the real uniqueness comes from each and every different community.

The Islands Trust has lost its way.

They are trying to create a Policy Statement that strips the goals and individuality of each and every community and their individual Official Community Plans and Land Use By-laws without proper community input.
They have lost focus on supplying planning services and become a tax payer funded

advocacy group stripping the property rights given to land owners by their Official

Community Plans & Land Use By-laws.

They show no concern for community health or an economic base. Their bloated budget is growing at an alarming rate while development and land use applications are becoming less and less!

The Islands Trust is no longer supplying proper governance in the Gulf Islands in my opinion.

John Money, Saturna Island

“Ten percent cut backs are always opposed but HAVE been successfully imposed–so take a look at personnel costs versus services delivered.” Pat Carney, former senator

Subject: Questions for tonight’s webinar on IT Budget Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2022 From:Pat Carney

To:Peter Luckham pluckham@islandstrust.bc.ca

CC:Paul S Brent <pbrent@islandstrust.bc.ca>, Lee Middleton <lmiddleton@islandstrust.bc.ca> Dear Peter.

Great virtual presentation on budget tonight. You and staff did good job on answers. I hope you

continue using virtual presentations. Two notes.

First despite the comments of your financial person some of us DID read in detail the actual budget and comparison with previous years and many of our questions were asked and answered. It insults the audience to suggest otherwise!

Second I was president (first woman) of federal Treasury Board back in the day. Ten percent cut backs are always opposed but HAVE been successfully imposed–so take a look at personnel costs versus services delivered.

Please note that my questions below which relate to what areas are covered in budget planning were NOT addressed. I waited until all Q and A’s were answered. Two hours later I need that one scotch and supper! Pat Carney PC, former senator, Saturna Island.

Wasteful expenditures. Nothing has changed in 16 years. (Mar 2020)

I am here today speaking on behalf of all property owners in the Trust Area who are or should be outraged at the state of affairs of application processing in the Trust Area as I outlined in my recent letter to you all. As a taxpayer I was shocked last year to find just how poorly the Trust has been operating when it comes to processing land use applications, and, the resulting impact on taxes.

To be clear, when I say “the Trust” I am collectively referring to the corporate body, Trust Council, its appointed CAO, the provincial government employees employed as planning staff, including the Director of Local Planning Services and the Regional Planning Managers, all of whom have a

statutory duty to follow established Trust Policies. In 2004 I was likewise shocked to find the average cost of processing an application within the Trust Area was $17,000. When I brought the matter to the attention of Trust Council senior staff could not provide a substantial explanation of why it was costing so much, or where the time was being spent. I recommended to Council that time tracking software be purchased and implemented, and, I understand my recommendation was followed in 2006 after I left office. However, at the time there was already Trust Policy, established circa 1993 through 1996, which should have acted as a failsafe to protect taxpayers. However, that failsafe has failed because the Policy has not been followed by Staff, and, has been ignored by Trust Council as a whole. As a result of that failure, I estimate that over $20 million of subsidy to development within the Trust Area has been inappropriately placed on the backs of the very same taxpayers who elected every local trustee sitting around this table to represent their best interests…as local trustees who have a duty to ensure the trust placed in their elected representative is upheld and not broken. Ok It was

reported to you last year at this time that 92.7%, or $2,092,000, of the cost of application processing was paid by taxpayers. How much should have been paid by taxpayers if the failsafe Trust Policies were followed? Zero dollars. How then has this been allowed to continue since 2004 when I first rang the alarm on behalf of those I represented? Eric Booth, Trustee 2002-2005

Please use your camera to open the links to more letters.

https://concernedislandresidents.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ Eric-Booth-March-2020.pdf

Right now, despite perhaps best intentions, we have a document very much divorced from the needs of the islands’ ecology and people that cannot serve as a policy guide to 2050.” Lee Middleton, Saturna Island Trustee

https://concernedislandresidents.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ lee-middleton-letter.pdf

More Letters can be found here:

https://concernedislandresidents.ca/concerned-current-and-or-former-politicians- trustees/

https://concernedislandresidents.ca/concerned-residents/

Your future is at stake here. Thank you for participating and considering taking action. Stay well. Stay strong.

-Ron Spencer, Jamie Harris, Mary Beth Rondeau, Mairead Boland

on behalf of the

—Southern Gulf Islands Resident & Business Coalition (SGIRBC)

www.southerngulfislandscoalition.org/

Trucking Highway #1

February 3, 2022

TRUCKING HIGHWAY #1 by Amanda Hale January 31, 2022

In Canada today, we have the attention of the mainstream media internationally, thanks to our brave truckers, who are being supported by tens of thousands of proud Canadians across the country, and by many of their fellow US truckers.

Now let’s take a look at mortality, and the reasons why so many people refuse the Covid-19 injection. The CBC tells us that more people are dying of Covid than at any time during these past two years. What they don’t say is that many of these deaths are caused not by Covid, but by the toxic gene manipulation they call “a vaccine.” (See chart of official figures below) *

We cannot vaccinate our way out of this nightmare. Already 54,000 at the very least, (in the UK, Europe and the US alone), are dead from Covid injections, and these fatalities, usually following close on a Covid-19 injection or booster, are excused as “coincidences.” Pfizer’s liability protection is now in question, forcing the corporation to reveal responsibility for one million adverse events in the US alone, including miscarriage, permanent disablement, and death.

Science, (observable results of medical experiments), has shown us that the “vaxxed” are no more protected than the “unvaxxed.” Israel’s Director of Public Health, addressing the Food and Drug Administration Advisory Panel reported, “Sixty percent of the people in severe and critical condition were, um, were immunized, doubly immunized, fully vaccinated. Forty-five percent of the people who died in this fourth wave were doubly vaccinated.” (Page 928 of the Kindle edition of Robert Kennedy Jr’s book, The Real Anthony Fauci). This begs the question, what exactly is killing them?

Back in November 2021, Suzanne Coles, former Provincial Offenses Prosecutor for the Ministry of the Attorney General in Ontario, reported: “Front line nurses have contacted me. Still-births have increased from 6 per year (average), to 86 in 6 months. Within 48 hours, one hospital had 9 still-births. That’s an 800% increase. All mothers were vaccinated.” (At 5.10 on video link) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5gAhfGA3zs

And now, Arne Burkhardt, German pathologist, has discovered the reason for so many “coincidental” vaccine deaths and injuries. Post mortems have revealed that autoimmune cells have been attacked by killer lymphocytes that invade and destroy heart, lungs, and other soft tissue organs.

Why does this happen? Because of the viral spike proteins that trigger the attacks.

* December 2021 Official Figures of Covid-19 injection damage.

Deaths: UK 1,822 Europe 32,652 US 19,532

Injuries UK 1,314,659 Europe 2,970,644 US 4,421,178

Sources: MHRA – Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency

EMA – European Medicines Agency

VAERS – Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System

This information can be verified at https://rokfin.com/post/65615 in a 16 minute video, released in December 2021 with an explanation by Dr. Bhakdi

PORTRAIT OF A PSYCHOPATH

Robert Kennedy Jr. is an environmental lawyer. From 1986 to 2017 he served as senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit environmental organization. In 2011 he founded Children’s Health Defense. His recent book – The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health – is an exposé of a criminal career.

So, who is Fauci? An American physician-scientist and immunologist serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the Chief Medical Advisor to the US President. He has been director of the NIAID since 1984, involved with HIV/AIDS research and other immunodeficiency diseases, both as a research scientist and as head of the NIAID. Wikipedia adds, “Some falsely claim he was involved in creating the virus in a Chinese lab.” Why mention “false claims” in a Wikipedia article if not to point at the truth?

Kennedy’s book documents in excruciating detail the career path of Fauci, his involvement with Bill Gates, and the horrors that these men have perpetrated on the world with vaccines and medical mismanagement in the cause of personal power and financial gain. The most alarming aspect of the book is the complete transparency of their machinations, and the impunity with which they operate. Dr. Jonathan Fishbein, former director of the US National Institutes for Health has this to say:

“Dealing with Tony Fauci is like dealing with organized crime. He’s like the godfather. He has connections everywhere. He’s always giving money to people in powerful positions to make sure he gets his way. These connections give him the ultimate power to fix everything, control every narrative, escape all consequence, and sweep all the dirt and all the bodies under the carpet, and to terrorize and destroy anyone who crosses him.”

Fauci is known as Teflon Tony for obvious reasons, Teflon being not only a non-stick agent, but a highly toxic one.

Those experimented on are the easy victims – babies, orphans, foster children, the poor and destitute from Black, Hispanic and African populations.

Vera Sharav, holocaust survivor, and founder of the Alliance for Human Research Protection – a medical industry watchdog organization – has spent her life trying to defend children against practices of the biomedical industry. Examples of these atrocities are reported in Kennedy’s book:

“Fauci’s NIAID and his Big Pharma partners turned Black and Hispanic foster kids into lab rats, subjecting them to torture and abuse in a grim parade of unsupervised drug and vaccine studies … known to cause genetic mutation, organ failure, bone marrow death, bodily deformations, brain damage, and fatal skin disorders.”

If you can stomach more of this, see page 529 in the Kindle edition of Kennedy’s book.

Readers may remember Beagle Gate from last October – cruel animal experiments by the NIAID using American tax dollars. Beagle puppies were starved and had their vocal cords removed so that they couldn’t howl. Their heads were trapped in cages with sand fleas that ate them alive.

Other puppies were injected with lab-made “mutant” variants of tick-borne bacteria before being exposed to hundreds of ticks that then sucked their blood for up to a week. Their blood was drawn twice a week for eight weeks before they were euthanized.

Fauci, along with a host of accomplices in his murderous campaigns, is one of the big players in the Covid campaign, which has a long history, going back in this case to 1984 and the AIDS crisis. AIDS didn’t quite work for them because it became associated with a certain lifestyle. There have been several attempts over the years, and now they’ve hit the jackpot with Covid.

“Governments do like epidemics, just the same way as they like war. It’s a chance to impose their will on us, and get us all scared so that we huddle together and do what we’re told.” Dr. Damien Downing, President, British Society of Ecological Medicine (Al Jazeera, 2009)

You need to read about it. It will shock you. These criminals cannot operate without us, without our ignorance, our turning away, our self-satisfied blaming of the “unvaxxed” for everything, as the bearers of “misinformation,” i.e. anything that departs from the official propaganda used to control us.

That is how Fauci, Gates, and the rest of them manage to operate with impunity. They will go down in history as the tyrants and destroyers of humanity that they are; and we as their silent collaborators.

There are multiple lawsuits in progress across the globe – against Fauci, Gates, our fugitive prime minister, and against all the players in this incredible descent into moral corruption.

To name a few, the Honourable Brian Peckford, former Premier of Newfoundland, and the last living signatory of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is suing the Canadian government over travel mandates; Canadian lawyer, Rocco Galati is suing the Canadian Government for human rights violations, the CBC for misinformation and fear-mongering, and the BC health authorities; German-American lawyer, Reiner Fuellmich is suing the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), and Klaus Schwab and his Davos group. The lawsuits are national and international, and the charges will trickle down to everyone accountable, everyone who has in whatever capacity cooperated in these crimes against humanity. Murder is a crime, and the guilty are being named.

The issues we face today go beyond borders. Our prime minister is entangled internationally with grave tyrannies. He was named by his father for the just society; and indeed, he will be brought to justice, as will Fauci and Gates.

*

Shirley Gnome to Expose Herself at the Denman Island Community Hall

February 3, 2022

Musical Comedian Shirley Gnome to Expose Herself at the Denman Island Community Hall.

Saturday, February 12, Doors at 7:30, show starts at 8pm

Just in time for Valentines Day, raunchy and award winning musical comedian Shirley Gnome is set to entertain us at the Denman Island Community Hall.

From the west coast of Canada comes this multi-award winning cabaret musician, whose all original music is hilarious, uncensored, honest, subversive, irreverent, witty, empowering, and taboo. Her clever lyrics go down smooth with her gorgeous vocals, and her charm will disarm you through topics both provocative and silly. With genres as wide ranging as country, folk, rock, EDM, electro pop and r&b, her versatility as a musician and songwriter lends itself to her hilarious sensibility.

Her one-woman cabaret shows have wowed audiences and critics alike, with sell out shows across Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. She’s appeared at JFL Northwest, The Melbourne International Comedy Festival and CBC’s The Debaters.Her latest release Decoxification also went to #1 and was nominated for a Juno Award for Comedy Album of the Year. She also has a four song EP of pandemic themed erotic lovemaking tracks called Quantity Time which will hopefully not be relevant for much longer.

Also taking the stage to warm us up for this hilarious woman will be local comedy sketch trio Intolerant But Not Allergic(Joel Fox, Megan Rose, Amber Cella), and standup comedian Josh Lichti.

Tickets to this show are 20$ per person and will be available at Abraxas Books, The General Store and www.concertsdenman.com. As with any event held at our Community Hall, vaccine passports will be required to attend.

For more info head to www.shirleygnome.com

Valentine’s Day fundraiser for the Denman Sponsorship Group

February 3, 2022

Free Hot Chocolate on the Porch of the Denman Store with the Purchase of a Locally Made Mug on Saturday February 12^th to honour St Valentines Day and Fund Raise for The Denman Sponsorship Group (who are raising money to support two Afghan women coming to Denman).

Over the course of the next two years, you will probably see advertised many events/fundraisers for the Denman Sponsorship Group as we work to raise enough money to allow these two sisters to enter the Canadian immigration system. We hope that you will enjoy our many ideas for sharing this project with the community as we combine community fun with fund-raising.

This event is a great example of this kind of fun. Almost all of the potters on Denman have contributed generously to this project and so we have examples of some truly beautiful ceramic art to sell complete with some warming drinks to keep the chill off as you do your Saturday shopping. Complete with whipped cream or vegan marshmallows, you will enjoy this traditional Valentine treat in your brand new personally chosen mug that you get to keep. Prices range from $20 to $50 for the mugs. Mugs and drinks will be available from 9 am to 1 pm or until we run out of mugs!! See you there. Danni Crenna & friends

Distories

February 3, 2022

^BLaboratory rats^b in cages. Laboratory rats are used in medical research because they are easy to breed and examine. These rats have been genetically modified for use in the laboratory. Photographed in the Health and Pollutants Laboratory of the INRS (the French National Institute of Research and Safety), Nancy, France. Tests are carried out here to establish the toxicity and cancer-causing properties of different materials, chemicals and pollutants.

Distories

by Thomas Provençal

The medical establishment

has their testes in a squeeze

while king pin pharmaceuticals

are doing as they please.

Their condescending attitude

proves that they are prigs.

They use the hapless human race

as lab rats, guinea pigs.

Government and media

are two arms of the mob.

They dissect and distort stories;

that’s how they keep their job.

Evidence is out there

to prove conspiracy.

People must awaken

and TURN OFF YOUR TV!

Doctors back in Nuremberg

were convicted for their crimes.

Now brainwashed people clamour

for return to draconian times!

Green Wizardries; Celebrating Imbolc

February 3, 2022

Green Wizardries, Celebrating Imbolc, by Maxine Rogers

Here is a reason to celebrate: February third this year is the day the Imbolc season starts. Imbolc is an old Irish Gaelic word meaning ewe’s milk. This is the season the lambs start being born. Mine are not expected until May when it is nice and warm and there is a lot of nice grass for the ewes but that is another story.

Imbolc is all about the spark of life returning to the land: little dandelion seedlings bravely thrusting their leaves up from the cold soil, tiny red flowers promising nuts on the hazel bushes, snowdrops shouldering aside the cold clay to bloom in the frost. That is what Imbolc is all about. It is a season of beginnings, hope and unstoppable life force.

Imbolc is celebrated by a lot of modern Pagans. It is a nice holiday because we also share it with the Christians. They used to call Imbolc, “Camdlemas,” and used to bring out every candle to be used in the church that year to be blessed in a candlelit mass. They saw Imbolc as Christ’s light coming back into the world. The lambs of Imbolc must have reminded them of their Lamb of God. I say they used to celebrate because they have gone all modern and neglect this lovely holiday. Maybe some of them will read this and be inspired by our celebrations.

I am a Druid and we only recently came to celebrate Imbolc and the other three Celtic fire festivals. The modern pagan calendar was made up in the middle of the twentieth century by Ross Nichols, head of a Druid order in Britain, and Gerald Gardner who was one of the creators of the modern Wiccan tradition. The Druids contributed the Solstices and the Equinoxes and the Wiccans the four Fire Festivals and that, dear readers, is how we got the Eight Great festivals of the pagan year.

Imbolc is sacred to the Mother Goddesses and the Irish fire Goddess Brighid in particular. Brighid seems to me to be an awful lot like the Roman Goddess Vesta who was the Goddess of the hearth. Brighid pushes the world to live again and brings back the sun. That is why we make Brighid’s crosses. These are not replicas of torture devices to hang a man on but, rather, equal-armed crosses made of sedge grass that are sun symbols. The crosses are kept by the heart of the home whether that is the fireplace or the kitchen. They are also placed in the stables to protect the livestock.

We also make Brighid dolls by taking a handful of long sedge grass and bending it over in the middle. The top is Brigid’s head and is tied at the neck with twine or yarn. More yarn is tied at her waist and below that, the grasses are spread out to make her skirt. A smaller bundle of sedge is passed through the torso of the doll to make arms. Then, we dress the doll in a cloth cape because Brighid is famous for her encircling, protective cape. The last act of dressing the Brighid is to slip a leaf under her belt to act as her apron. The leaf can come from an oak if you are lucky enough to have one or, because this is the West Coast, we could use a bit of red cedar bark or a salal leaf.

On the night of January 31, the old crosses and dolls from the past year are respectfully burned and replaced with the new ones made of fresh sedge. In Ireland, they call sedge grasses, reeds which causes some confusion.

The British Druids have a lovely ritual with many prayers for fertility and abundance and thanks for all nature gives us. Part of the ceremony involves filling a wide shallow bowl with the waters of life and placing eight candles in the water and lighting them as an offering to Brighid. The candles in the water symbolize the rising light of spring emerging from the creative feminine waters.

The celebrations of Imbolc include the usual feasting with friends. Milk and dairy products figure largely in the feasts as it is the time of ewe’s milk. Seed cakes, cookies and crackers are also served because of their symbolism of the spring planting of seeds and the life to come. All this is washed down with glasses of mead or cider. It is a poor heart that never rejoices!

Other things to do to celebrate the season include planting some seeds with prayers to Brighid that they flourish. Plant seeds in your life. Decide to renew a friendship or make a new friendship. Learn to sing, or play music. Decide to learn a craft. Clean your house and throw out anything that is neither useful nor beautiful. Do a one to three day fast to improve your health. Take a long walk and look for signs of spring. Read or write poems about spring. Have a long bath with candles floating in the water. Start a new garden bed.

It is certainly time to start the onion and leek seeds. They come first every year and a are a very grateful crop on our islands. Last year was my first year growing onions and like my leeks, no pest or insect bothered them. They were quite trouble free and so very tasty. I still have some onions from last summer’s garden and they are as crisp and perfect as they day we hung them on ropes.

We still have a lot of leeks standing proudly in the garden and they are wonderful in soups. It is also a good month to start celery and celeriac plants. I grew some celeriac plants last summer and have just been harvesting them for a very tasty grated salad. The rabbits love their green tops as a treat.

February is the last month you have to finish the pruning of fruit trees and bushes including kiwi and grape vines. Disinfect your tools between each tree!

It is already late if you haven’t obtained all your seeds. I really like the seeds from Sweet Rock Farm on Gabriola Island and buy a lot of seeds from them. Sweet Rock is a small family farm and grow all their seeds organically.

Letter to the Editor

February 3, 2022

Dear Friends and Neighbours on Hornby and Denman,

On January30 in broad daylight, we had a shocking incident here on Denman where a elder man who lives alone found someone climbing up his back steps and trying to open the door of his house. The person ran away when he saw Mr. Le Barron. Mr. Le Barron called out for the person to show himself but the coward ran away.

Please be extra vigilant with locking your doors and securing your persons and movable property.

Maxine Rogers

Murder

February 3, 2022

An Unpainted Portrait; Sorry, Surrey

February 3, 2022

Sorry, Surrey

Each Wednesday the campus Commandant – a man given to practising his tennis skills in full view of the classroom block on sunny afternoons – routinely took a moment out of his hectic schedule to ‘inspect’ the intakes. He was, I’m sorry to say, a rather pompous figure, and seemed to have been put out to grass for the remainder of his career. He spoke infrequently to mere mortals mostly because he had people of lesser ranks to do that kind of dirty work for him. As a result, any real contact with the nasty, smelly recruits, when it happened, was rather awkward. In his defence, we were probably smelly quite often due to the preponderance of physical training in our schedule and the lack of available showers.

One of the great characters amongst our number, and a man who became a good friend to both Bruce and I, was an intriguingly short and frighteningly hairy Scot who rejoiced in the highly improbable name of Bobby Watt. Varied height restrictions were still a reality among different forces in the mid-eighties, but the national minimum was five feet eight inches. Bobby had clearly bribed the person holding the measuring stick on the day in question. His vertical challenges only ever showed themselves in a parade environment when he was among – and a little below – his peers. In every other respect, Bobby’s charisma more than made up for his inability to grow any nearer to the sun.

He was in his late twenties, appeared to be in his early forties, and sported an impressive full beard and moustache of the kind that defied any human-devised cutting instruments. I envied him that beard. Bright, intelligent and mischievous eyes peeped out between his hairline and his exuberant moustache, his gleaming white teeth emerging every time he laughed or smiled, which was often. His rich Scottish brogue was a source of some amusement and occasional confusion to us ignorant Sassenachs, but despite the persistent fun-poking (albeit comradely), he proved to be one of the most delightfully level-headed and easy-going people that I had ever met.

Bobby was a proud native of the picturesque city of Stirling – apparently correctly pronounced ‘St’rrl’n’. If you almost swallow your tongue, you’ve just about got it. As the only Scot/Barbarian (it was surprisingly easy to picture him leaping over Hadrian’s wall painted blue, clad in animal skins and with a dagger in his teeth) in our midst, he added to the exotic nature of his presence by virtue of being the sole member on the campus of the Surrey Constabulary. I never got to the bottom of how he came to apply for a job so far away from his roots.

Imagine, then, the scene: it’s a cool Wednesday morning in our fifth week, and we’re stood to attention in our class formation while the commandant makes his weekly (or do I mean weakly?) inspection, with the course inspector and ‘Orrible’ following, as always. Their presence is necessary just in case anything untoward happens, such as a recruit beginning to ask awkward questions, for example, “Who are you?”. The great man approaches the front rank and slowly examines uniforms, taking great care not to linger too long (just long enough, of course) upon my female colleagues’ not inconsiderable bosoms, to which are – either the authorities had cunningly planned it, or more likely, hadn’t thought it through at all – rather tactlessly pinned their names. Along the line he ambles, studiously pretending to have the merest glimmer of interest in the proceedings. He is not fooling anyone.

He reaches Bobby, whose force helmet and crest, while a little lower to the ground than those surrounding him, is a different colour – dark blue/purple rather than black. To add to the confusion, it is also smaller and a slightly different shape from the rest. This – which he has never previously noticed despite five previous inspections – is clearly something worth pausing to talk about!

What follows I couldn’t make up, and neither can I ever forget;

Great Man (with friendly, posh gusto): “Good morning, constable!”

Bobby Watt: (with matching, if less posh, gusto) “Gud morrrrrrrnin’ sah!”

There is a pause while the Great Man, surprised by this unexpected turn of events, silently translates for himself…

GM: “…And…ah…which constabulary are you from?”

BW (with pride) “Surrrrrey, sah!”

GM (another, slightly longer and more puzzled pause) “I said which constabulary are you from?”

There is a spluttering cough from someone. People are already clenching things; we’ve been here before, but not with such an important figure.

BW: “Surrrrey, sah!” Bobby knew exactly what was happening. Oh yes, he knew! He was used to not being understood.

The Great Man slowly turns towards ‘Orrible’ Harrison, somewhat perplexed.

“Sergeant, is there something wrong with this man?”

‘Orrible, a man who, despite his terrifying reputation and appearance, is in possession of a fully functioning sense of humour, stands a short distance away and wrestles with his face. “Not that I’m aware of, SAH!”

Another cough, followed by two more from other members of the class. Sergeant Rumple, standing at attention at the front of the class next to the immobile Sgt Fosbury, is beginning to shake.

GM (bending a little and speaking slowly, as if to a lost child): “Listen to me carefully; which-po-leece-force-do-you-come-from?”

I have tears pouring down my face. Pain, lots of pain in my head. Ian Armstrong, our friendly neighbourhood twitcher, is standing absolutely still for the first time ever. Rumple is now leaning forwards and slowly folding at the waist.

Bobby (unable to keep a giggle out of his voice): “Surrrrey…SAH!”

GM (by now thoroughly irritated, having exhausted his questioning technique): “Oh for Christ’s sake! Your name, constable?”

Everyone knows what’s coming now; Sgt Rumple is beginning to bend at the knees, there are open sounds of giggling which ‘Orrible cannot deal with because he is himself purple-faced and biting his lower lip. I have wet myself just a tiny little bit.

BW: “Watt, sah!”

There is a snotty, spluttering noise to my left. The Great Man looks up to see our contorted faces. We seem to be living out a Python sketch.

GM (only just suppressing his rage): “I SAID…” He paused and leaned towards Bobby “…are you mocking me, constable?” All around me there are sounds of people trying to control themselves, with varying degrees of success. Sphincters are suffering, of this there can be no doubt.

“No’ me sirrr, no sirrr. Neverrrrr!”

“SERGEANT!”

‘Orrible arrives at the great man’s side with a lot of rather unnecessary stamping and saluting, temporarily unable to speak and stalling for time. “Sergeant! I want that…that man’s name after the parade!” This is despite the fact that Bobby, like the rest of us, is wearing a name tag.

The brave, purple sergeant begins to form the first letter of Bobby’s surname; “W…” and then, thank God thinks better of it. In a strangled squawk, he instead manages: “Right you are, sah!”

At this point, the intake inspector – who was a decent fellow with a streak of mercy running through him – thankfully intervened, and the Great Man was quietly persuaded to move quickly along to the next group. He was, to everyone’s relief, dissuaded from trying to inspect the rest of the red-faced and teary-eyed rabble that `Z` class had suddenly become. Many of us, instead of standing very straight, had by that time assumed the shape of question marks, temporarily unable to keep our thumbs anywhere near the seams of our trousiz. It took most of us a couple of hours to fully recover from the pressure we had built up in our heads during that conversation, and several days to stop talking about it.

Despite the veiled threat of retribution, Bobby never heard anything else about the incident, the most likely reason being that nobody in authority wanted to try to have a conversation with him.

The Magic of Arts and Culture Through an Economic Lens

February 3, 2022

The Magic of Arts & Culture Through an Economic Lens

By Laura Busheikin for DenmanWORKS

The relationship between business and the arts is not a one-way stream where businesses support the arts. It also flows the other way.

The arts support local businesses in many ways, in particular by drawing people to events and cultural spaces, creating a knock-on effect that spreads money through the community.

And of course, the arts play a huge role in creating a vibrant, place-based sense of identity. Arts and cultural spaces help tell the story of who and what a community is. All this feeds into a healthy economy and a healthy community.

There were some of the key messages at a presentation called Magic Happens When Arts and Business Meet, which I attended last October as part of the Vancouver Island Economic Summit, hosted by the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance (VIEA).

The presentation was based on a report called Impact Assessment of the Arts and Culture Sector for Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, carried out by Nordicity, a global consulting firm, and commissioned by Creative Coast, a Vancouver Island & Gulf Islands arts coalition.

Denman resident Kera McHugh, Community Engagement Director at Comox Valley Arts, was one of the presenters, along with Chad Rickaby and Louisa Plant from Nordicity.

Here are a few key findings from the report:

About the respondents

69% attend arts and culture events weekly
Each spends roughly $300/year on art and culture in the region
68% create art several times a week or more

About the arts sector

Arts added over $900 million to the island economy in 2019
- more than key regional institutions such as Vancouver Island University ($624 million), the cruise ship economy ($124 million) or the dairy industry ($32 million)
Arts support more than 20,000 jobs in the region (35 per cent more than the forestry sector)
There are over 1,100 arts organizations
There are 25 arts councils

About artists

Over 37,000 artists in the region
Average annual income of artists who generate revenue is $18,000; average expenses are $14,000
80 per cent of artists do not support themselves on their art alone

Cultural tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing tourism markets. Research shows that arts and culture travellers:

Spend more than other travellers
Are more likely to spend $1,000 or more during their stay
Stay longer than other travellers
Spend money at local businesses before/after cultural events
- 91 per cent spend at local businesses
- Average spend is more than $60 per single event

People who took the survey were also asked what social benefits they receive from the arts. The top response was “improves personal wellbeing (mental and/or physical).” As well, the arts create opportunities for personal learning and creativity, inspire new ways of thinking and creative solutions, help people grow personal networks and connections, and more.

And what about community benefits? Respondents identified creating a distinct local identity, providing a shared sense of belonging, creating educational opportunities, contributing to truth and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, and encouraging volunteering, collective action and civic mindedness. As well, the arts can raise difficult questions and inspire debate on important and complex issues.

The presentation included ideas for how to better support the arts and how to foster reciprocal relationships between arts and business. Also, there was discussion about the role arts and culture can play as our society emerges from the COVID pandemic. See the end of the article for info on where to find the report where you can read about these.

The presentation spurred me to reflect on arts and culture on Denman. I feel we are incredibly fortunate here. In non-pandemic times, we have so many wonderful events, some that rest on decades of tradition, others that are new and innovative. Some are mainly for locals, others draw visitors from all over BC and further abroad.

Classes, workshops, mentorships, creative collaborations, jam sessions, and more are continually bubbling up. Homes are full of local art. Every café has local art on the walls and the General Store has its own poet laureate.

We have more arts organizations than retail outlets. Also, we have a wildly abundant amount of community space for arts and culture (two multi-room halls, an arts centre, a summer gallery, a weaving centre, a church that hosts multi-genre performances, two arts-oriented cafes, a bookstore that hosts readings, and more). And by my count we have several hundred volunteers supporting the arts.

During COVID, Arts Denman pulled in grants to commission new public art and as a result we have a beautiful mural and some eye-catching sculptures, with more to come.

Yet the economic situation of artists on Denman is precarious, if we consider income statistics, the cost of housing, and the remoteness from work, education, and wider networking opportunities (not to mention COVID). I hope and believe that Denman’s long tradition of creating and supporting arts and culture will continue, with all the innovation, adaptation, and creativity that are needed in these unpredictable times.

Read the full report: digarts.ca/impact

Resources for island artists and arts organizers: creativecoast.ca