Happy August everyone!
Be sure to mark these dates down!
Next SEA meetings: Sept. 13, Oct. 11, Nov. 8
(Location TBA)
__________________________________
Hey, do you have 30 seconds to spare?
Please take our survey to help us better prepare for our
2016 SEA Fall Speaker Series.
What topics would you be most interested in hearing about?
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3R6YMLN
Thanks for letting us know!
VICTORIA CELEBRATES
THE UN INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE
JOIN US IN CENTENNIAL SQUARE ON SEPTEMBER 21
TO CELEBRATE PEACE WITH LOCAL MUSIC ACTS,
COMMUNITY ART PROJECTS AND IDEAS ON HOW TO MAKE OUR WORLD A MORE PEACEFUL PLACE FOR ALL BEINGS!
11-11:30 - Opening ceremony
11:30- 1:30 - Lunch hour concert series
(featuring Solaris and other local musicians)
1:30-3:30 - Educational workshops
3:30-5:30 - More local music
(featuring Mike Cooper, and Masala Diaspora)
7pm - Documentary film presentation and discussion
at the Intrepid Theatre
FOR MORE INFO, CHECK OUT THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE
OR http:// Peaceoneday.org
WHEELS FOR THE WALBRAN CAMPAIGN!
Do you have or do you know someone who has a passenger van or small bus they can donate in the campaign to save one of the last remaining old-growth forests on Vancouver Island?
The backstory
It is exactly 25 years ago this summer that the first protests against logging of old-growth forest on South Vancouver Island commenced with the campaign ‘The Road Stops Here’. It is through the tireless activist efforts of the Friends of Carmanah Walbran (FOCW), the Wilderness Committee and other environmental organizations that an area of 160 square kilometres was eventually designated as a provincial park and is now protected from industrial resource extraction. From towering thousand-year-old trees, to clear emerald river pools and extraordinary limestone formations, this verdant enchanting oasis of old-growth is truly unlike anywhere else in the world, providing a habitat for thousands of species including those yet undocumented and an opportunity for humans to encounter a place literally untouched since the last Ice Age.
The current situation
We wish the story would have ended there. A large swath of the forest, however, was left out of the original provincial park designation. This ‘heart’ of the Walbran Valley, an area no less significant than that which is now protected, is under immediate threat of destruction by a logging company, Teal Jones, and a provincial government determined to blindly plod along with antiquated forestry practices no longer in line with public sentiment. The opposition is clearly mounting from all sectors of the economy and society-at-large. Now more than ever, strong voices of resistance are needed to demand a stop to this massacre.
The vision
The recent convergence in the valley this summer of activists and supporters to commemorate the 25th anniversary of ongoing resistance also brought out many newcomers to Kaxi:ks (pronounced caw-hex), the original name of this special place. The importance of introducing individuals to this ancient forest cannot be understated. Everyone leaves touched, inspired and committed to defending the integrity of this ecosystem, simply because they have experienced its majesty firsthand. It is this firsthand experience that the Friends of Carmanah Walbran wish to provide to a wider segment of society. This will become especially important as Teal Jones continues to escalate their operations in the area.
How you can help
As it is almost 80 km along logging roads to get there, accessibility to Kaxi:ks has always been an obstacle for many individuals, especially those of limited means. Lacking proper reliable transportation to and from the valley, most resign themselves to visiting when the occasional carpooling opportunity arises. This is where we need your help. The FOCW are now soliciting local businesses and individuals who may no longer have any use for their passenger van or mini-bus and would be willing to donate their vehicle to the cause. A donation of such a vehicle would go a long way to ensuring even more opportunities in the future for folks to experience Kaxi:ks firsthand, opportunities previously unavailable to them. We will even name the vehicle in your honour! Cash donations are also being accepted to cover the costs of vehicle maintenance.
If you cannot help out with the donation of a used vehicle, perhaps you know someone who can. We encourage you to share this call-out with at least three others, whether it’s a business, organization, group of friends. Spread the word far and wide. It never hurts to ask. Let’s get this done together!
To learn more about this important campaign, visit https://friendsofcarmanahwalbran.com/
If you can donate a vehicle or have questions regarding donations or the work of FOCW, please contact Erika at
Labour Day Celebration 2016!
Interested in community organizing?
Then check out
ORGANIZE BC's Core Training, September 24-25
Based off of successful organizing practices from the Obama for America campaigns and the engagement organizing framework developed by Marshall Ganz, this interactive two-day training with Organize BC will give participants a grounding in organizing practices to successfully create distributed leadership teams to work on campaigns. As a participant, you can expect to walk away with a deeper understanding of what it means to be an organizer in your community, and have practical next steps to implement.
Core Trainings provide a holistic overview of the engagement organizing framework, based on five leadership practices: Telling Stories, Building Relationships, Structuring Teams, Strategizing and Taking Action. Using a mix of lecture, small and large group discussion, activities, and role play, participants learn a framework for empowering people in their community to make change.
Who is it for? Core Trainings are for anyone interested in grassroots engagement in their social change work. Staff organizers, engagement staff and volunteer coordinators at community organizations, labour unions, NGOs, social service agencies, as well as volunteers and community members wanting to run or join people-centred campaigns, are all great candidates for Core Training. This framework has been successfully applied to campaigns working on affordable housing, climate change, community mental health, elections, health care reform, public education, and women’s rights, among dozens of other issues. It has been applied by clergy, environmentalists, labour organizers, parents trying to improve their communities, political candidates and social workers, to name a few.
If you would like to participate, please contact Ocean athttp://www.organizebc.ca/victoria_core_training_sept24_25
Victoria! Time to Speak Out Against Kinder Morgan
AUGUST 23
August 23rd is our last formal chance to #TellTrudeau once and for all: No consent - no pipelines.
Trudeau has sent three people to listen to public opinion about Kinder Morgan's pipeline and tanker project. We're going to show them a "NO" they can hear in Ottawa.
We're asking those opposed to come wearing BLACK. We want the panel to not only hear from us but to clearly see the wall of opposition against this proposal.
We're also going to have a peaceful creative action at 3:30 and some speakers for the start of the townhall.
Bring your signs, your noisemakers, your kids and your 3 minute reason why you don't want 400 tankers a year through the Salish Sea. #StopKM
August 23: Victoria BC, Marriott Inner Harbour Hotel, Pacific Ballroom
4:00pm - 8:30pm: Public town hall
You can sign up here:
http://sierraclub.bc.ca/take-action-centre/pack-halls-speak-kinder-morgan/
**Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee are organizing the activites outside the public town hall. If you'd like to get more involved, contact Galen Armstrong at
If you can't make it to the meetings, you can send a letter to the panel here:
http://sierraclub.bc.ca/take-action-centre/write-letter-trans-mountain-ministerial-panel/
Site C Dam gets quiet federal approvals before a long weekend!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/site-c-dam-federal-approval-1.3703527
Petitions against Site C:
http://www.stopsitec.org/
https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/sitec
http://canadians.org/action/stop-site-c-dam
http://greenpartybc.nationbuilder.com/stop_site_c
http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1770&ea.campaign.id=40607%0A&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=FBAAA-SiteCYR-IndigenousRights&utm_content=HeadB
FB Stop Site C: https://www.facebook.com/STOP-SITE-C-119339814745241/
Xwaaqw’um Welcome Pole Unveiling Ceremony
Xwaaqw'um (Burgoyne Bay Salt Spring Island), August 20, 9:30 a.m.
We are excited to invite you along with friends and family to the Xwaaqw’um Welcome Pole Unveiling Ceremony on Saturday August 20th, time and location can be found below.
For the past several months Quw'utsum Carver Harold Joe Sr. has led the carving of the Xwaaqw’um welcome poles along with various Cowichan area school students and youth groups. The poles are nearing completion and will be ready for the unveiling.
Four generations of Quw’utsun Tzinquaw Dancers will dance the land in a special ceremony.
We are looking at renting a water taxi from Cowichan Bay to Xwaaqw’um (Burgoyne Bay SSI) Please rsvp to
The approximate times are:
9:00am Parking at end of Burgoyne Bay Road
(10min walk or shuttle to estuary at south side of bay, and mix and mingle)
10:00am Welcome pole unveiling, stories and speakers
11:30am Table
It has been another exciting year at Xwaaqw’um with the focus of programming going towards school and youth groups including the recent completion yesterday of our 2nd annual Youth Culture and Leadership Camp with Victoria Native Friendship Centre and the House of Friendship in Duncan youth participating in the week long camp.
As always we are happy to have volunteers help out, especially for setup, parking/ shuttle and take down.
See you there!
Farmland Protection Coalition Update
From Cheryl:
Langford Council's Block ALR Exclusion application is decided upon by
the Vancouver Isl. Panel of the ALC.
http://www.alc.gov.bc.ca/assets/alc/assets/applications-and-decisions/search-for-applications-and-decisions/2016-decision-minutes/54467d1.pdf
Looks like about 1/4 of the ALR lands were excluded
[5] Pursuant to s. 29(1) of the ALCA, the Applicant is applying to remove 43 parcels of land and various right-of-ways, totaling approximately 40 hectares, from the Agricultural Land Reserve
DECISION
[23] For the reasons given above, the Panel refuses the Application to
exclude 43 properties from the ALR.
[24] The Panel approves exclusion of 10.6 ha of land as identified by the properties and ROWs in Appendix B. The 10.6 ha includes 2 ha exempt from the ALCA, 3.7 ha of constructed ROW, and the remaining 4.9 ha for reasons as described in paragraphs 18 and 19 above."
The rationales for exclusion seem to be, from cursory reads, lack of quality soils or the property being too small to be viable, too isolated from other ALR lands due to past exclusions, or are less than .2 hectares as some of those properties is not legally covered by the ALC. .
And each decision noted that the $13.45 per sq. meter charge to Langford's ALR fund at the time of rezoning played no part in the decision. :)
3) Industrial uses, not allowed in most cases, are encroaching onto Saanich ALR and farmland - article covering Nathalie and Dave chambers fight to stop this.
http://www.saanichnews.com/news/388486151.html
4) Vick Huntington Ind. MLA speaks out on changes made to the ALC/ALR:.
http://vickihuntington.ca/FOIrecordsALR