150A_CBC-Part-1.mp3

otter.ai

08.03.2023

no

Unknown Speaker 1:21
Anjali enhancement Halina Britton McLeod, thank you very much as those are obviously winning filling ways. Now, we're gonna take a break here for the CBC News with Patrick Monroe and then Jeff Weaver is going to inveigle somebody into doing the sports and the weather with him. You've been warned. And in the next half hour, we're going to talk about community. Well, someone's got to pay for how to live this wonderful lifestyle. We're on Saltspring.

Unknown Speaker 1:48
CBC Radio News, British Columbia. Good morning. I'm Patrick Monroe. At least six people have been killed on BC roads this long holiday weekend ACEF Saltspring

Unknown Speaker 1:59
Island.

Unknown Speaker 2:09
And we thank Mary and Marshall very much for allowing us to have the folks from 88.9 and Kelowna this morning along with the books that we normally have from 90.5 FM in Victoria, that normally Marian and Neil Gillen, do daybreak and that's how the Okanagan in the Kootenays in the Columbia is wake up. Normally Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast and amazing part of other portions of the province. Listen to 90.5 FM from Victoria, which is where I do the thing five days a week, along with a very capable gentleman by the name of Jeff Weaver who's got here in row one who's sitting in row one and skirty as you inveigled some volunteers into doing your work for you

Unknown Speaker 2:50
again, have such good news today. No problem finding people who want to read the weather.

Unknown Speaker 2:53
Nobody wants to wait where are they in the fall when it's starting to rain?

Unknown Speaker 2:57
The sun streaming in our doors here Eric who's beside me Eric has the weather for for coastal BC today. Go ahead here.

Unknown Speaker 3:03
Good morning, Victoria in the south coast, including Greater Vancouver, Sonya with morning cloudy periods, highs from 19 to 23. Highs for the northern half of Vancouver Island around 13 degrees and some fog patches for the western half of the island. For the Central Coast. Cloudy with occasional rain and some sunny periods inland highs from 11 to 14. The North Coast and the Queen Charlotte's Periods of rain and drizzle and becoming windy at the coast. Southerly winds from 40 to 60 kilometers per hour is near 11.

Unknown Speaker 3:43
You say could you say this is Jefferson Airplane and White Rabbit your voice it belongs in 1973.

Unknown Speaker 3:54
And here's here's how it's shaping up for the interior for the Peace River District in increasing cloudiness today highs around 17 The central interior Mainly cloudy some showers and highs near 16. Columbia cookie region some morning sun that increasing afternoon cloud and and highs 18 and for Thompson and Okanagan today's sunny, cloudy periods. And highs are 22 to 25. And Dave, meet your new sportscaster give us your name.

Unknown Speaker 4:16
Somebody wasn't born in 1973

Unknown Speaker 4:18
Go ahead. What's your name? Elizabeth. What if you live on Saltspring? Yeah, what grade are you in? For a sports fan?

Unknown Speaker 4:25
What sport do you play?

Unknown Speaker 4:26
Soccer? How come? Because I like it.

Unknown Speaker 4:30
There's a big soccer tournament Dave as we know,

Unknown Speaker 4:32
is there anybody here is not playing soccer this weekend. Oh, good. Well,

Unknown Speaker 4:38
and Elizabeth has a couple of couple of lines of sports scores for you go ahead.

Unknown Speaker 4:41
After taking Sunday off the NHL playoffs resume today with Lewis facing the elimination in Denver Colorado leads the best of seven Western Conference Final three to warm Eastern final resumes Tuesday in New Jersey. The Devils lead Pittsburgh three to one And one win away from a ret trip to Stanley Cup final I think there's some

Unknown Speaker 5:06
typos there I think there's some type

Unknown Speaker 5:08
I think you're doing this on purpose just to save your job Weaver thank you

Unknown Speaker 5:23
is now before eight o'clock before nine o'clock in the Mountain Time Zone right about now on any ordinary weekday Jen Bowlby would be on board the Skeena Queen 735 Sailing this word Spacey. Jen is a member of Saltspring Island commuter culture. Every day she catches an early sailing to her job as coordinator of a busy after school childcare program in Victoria. And she's been doing it for six years now. And she's not alone. In fact, one of her fellow commuters. Laurie Smith has been doing the same for oh, gee, just 17 years, though he's just retired and Laurie and Jen are here to share some of the secrets of the Saltspring commute. Good morning to you. Morning. So, Laurie, did you get a gold pan or a free sunshine breakfast when you actually retired from?

Unknown Speaker 6:07
Well, no. I mean, if even from my employer, I got a cheesy little plaque from the provincial government, you certainly don't get anything. Which was totally cheesy, but I was happy to get out of there. But that's an awful long time resting

Unknown Speaker 6:24
feelings here.

Unknown Speaker 6:28
Yeah, well, you know, it's curious because last, last week, went over to Victoria. In the three months since I stopped doing it regularly. I've been over twice and on this occasion coming home the I could feel the anxiety rising up in me as I left Victoria heading out of there and it was at work thing. Am I going to make it? Are there going to be too many tourists in the lineup is what's going to happen if I'm riding with a friend, am I going to have to make a decision? Am I going to have to bolt on the bleeding in the car or run across and jump aboard the boat? Right? Do I have a commuter ticket? Am I organized? Any case we get on there we get back we get to Russell Island which is about halfway over and the Skeena queen is back or the screaming Skeena is back and it stops dead in the water and starts pure wedding it's just going around in circles. And where they're both places for tourists people coming over for the long weekend. And people are looking at each other all of a sudden there's an announcement. And the announcement is unintelligible on the Skeena Queen my writing here you can understand or whatever they're saying. It just says and this cacophony of the engines running and people are looking at each other I thought about the cruise ship thing and I thought well right on the screen at runtime you know talk about fear if you felt that you can pick out you can definitely pick out who are the locals who does it and who doesn't because the ones that do it all the time are nonplussed by it. They just sit there like you know 50 Fairies of course it's the SEC and the others are running around in circles frightened and worried about it, you know, you know and I got back and I said well 17 years enough for me

Unknown Speaker 8:06
Jen, what was what was commuting like when you started?

Unknown Speaker 8:10
What I think I first noticed about it was just the feeling of community. I mean, when I started it was the bone queen. And the tables upstairs are kind of set up like little restaurant booths. And when I first got on people make friends so fast if they see you as a regular getting on the same boat every morning. I remember two people that right away let me know where to park for free on the other side because I was a walk on any any one of us that are fortunate enough to live close enough to Fulford so you can just walk from home to get on the boat. Yeah, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 8:44
So is there is there a hierarchy? I mean, do you have to know somebody to get a good table on the screen or clean?

Unknown Speaker 8:50
Maybe that's how it works. Good table. That's a good point there is there are no good there are no tables there are no and yeah, the tables that are there aren't working usually. But anyway, know this, this schema I think we've all moved around from you oddly Utah ones you love. You move around from pod to pod trying to decide if one of them is quieter on a given day, and we've decided that outside is quieter, alright, but the bowling queen was definitely a different atmosphere and perhaps my the pleasure if there was pleasure in writing the bowling queen in real community. And I remember one of my big surprises was when I changed for a year to the first sailing and I think that there is a hierarchy I think the people that do the the first sailing every day that takes some persistence. Their own rugged people are rugged people. And some of them have Camino car commutes on either side, too. They have a 20 minute drive on this and do the saline and then another 20 minutes there and I think you know, they probably have jobs that pay very well to up with that. But let's say I mean, when I look at a government job, exactly.

Unknown Speaker 10:07
who commutes? What kind of people kind of people commute? And where do they go? Well,

Unknown Speaker 10:11
you know, it's a whole broad range of students, there are a number of students coming in now pick your daughter commute. And just, you know, a broad spectrum of people, you know, professional people, people in service industries, any number of people and of course, a lot of commercial traffic going back and forth. So why every day there? Why not just move

Unknown Speaker 10:31
to Victoria?

Unknown Speaker 10:33
And I love Victoria don't want to be the Victoria any longer. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 10:39
The pain is worth it of the commute. Well,

Unknown Speaker 10:42
yeah, it's pain and pleasure. It's a mix. And it's definitely it's quite true. But Jen says echo that about the Bolin queen. You know, when I start I know we get into this nostalgia stuff. But the crew would provide coffee in the morning on on there. And there was really was a sense of community and people formed friendships at last, you know, they last forever. It was fabulous on there. For that reason, the scheduling and all the rest of it became a tedium. It really did. And it was a nightmare. I don't get to watch it slowly change as, as more and more people moved on, and there was more tourist traffic there leaving people behind on either side, the pressure was on the corporation to get a larger ferry, they got a larger ferry, and that took that and it became impersonal.

Unknown Speaker 11:25
You know, so it sounds like whining. But I mean, the winery life is like unbelievable. I mean, it's

Unknown Speaker 11:34
misery loves company. And so thank you very much. John Bowlby and Laurie Smith have been commuting to work from Saltspring for six and 17 years respectively. And that's the BC Ferries version of the morning commute. But there are other Saltspring islanders to whom technology has made it possible to have kind of an ethereal kind of trip to work, and they are the telecommuters. our next two guests are among a growing legion of Saltspring Islanders who make their living that way. halen Murer is a website developer, Lynne Biscoff is a software tester. She also runs a b&b with her husband, who is a telecommuter as well. Good morning. Morning. So let's start with a lens describe the kind of work you do.

Unknown Speaker 12:16
Well, I think one thing about the technology that we're working with these days, and that allows a lot of us to be telecommuters Is that you, you don't turn it off too easily. You tend to be like the very commuters here, they leave their jobs behind in Victoria, and they come back to pristine Saltspring Island and upgrade time. But I don't know about Lin, for myself. I'm pretty much plugged in most of the day, and I are not out in the garden as much as I'd like to be.

Unknown Speaker 12:48
You say you haven't got even got a wireless out in the garden yet? No. Lynn, how did you wind up here?

Unknown Speaker 12:55
We came on a vacation. We were one of those tours that came and sort of went back home and said, Okay, how can we move there?

Unknown Speaker 13:01
So, what's it like when you communicate with somebody that they say, on the internet, no one knows you're a dog. Well, no one knows you live on Salzburg. And you might be wearing your jammies, as you write this email. What is what kind of reaction do you get from clients in other places?

Unknown Speaker 13:15
I think the reaction that you get is based on how you work as a as an individual and the kind of relationship that you develop with the other individual that's at the end of that email connection. And speaking personally, I have really, really good connections. And I don't know that people consider where I live so much as how I work.

Unknown Speaker 13:40
When let's talk about the connections, what is what is the technology like on the island here?

Unknown Speaker 13:45
Well, right now, where I am the highest speed, I can only go to 56k for speed of connection so that it works for what I'm doing. Technology has improved over the last few years. So that for the type of work that I do, that's fast enough. I've been they've come and tried to give me the satellite connection type thing, but I'm not in a good area at the moment yet.

Unknown Speaker 14:13
Is that isn't the kind of thing that there's a there's an association of folks on the island that you can all quote unquote, band together?

Unknown Speaker 14:23
Not really, because if you're telecommuting, you're in your little space at your computer and you're busy working there. And you know, you're lucky if you see anybody else, sometimes probably for days. Because you're you're just busy doing what you do at your

Unknown Speaker 14:39
space. You're more likely to see somebody somewhere else in the world first. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 14:43
I frequent frequently linked to the work that I do. I'm working with people in Australia, and some days I'm connected at the same time they are so we're busy passing forth emails real real time. They've just gotten to work and I'm working around four o'clock in the afternoon but They're tomorrow's morning so

Unknown Speaker 15:03
oh you know Saltspring was stepping back in time but I'm even more confused now. Elon you did that you did the you didn't think I was going to be totally polite while I was here Did you trying to fit in

Unknown Speaker 15:25
you did the way you did the web page for the for the Saturday market. How does a web page like that affect the artists and the crafts people who are featured on it?

Unknown Speaker 15:35
Well Saltspring market.com is a is a free representation on the worldwide web for the artists and the farmers and the food producers at the market. And what it does is it allows the the rest of the world to to connect with them and it gives them a certain amount of exposure that they just wouldn't get otherwise. We had one fellow who was approached to do a television show back east based on the fact that someone found him through that website and he didn't went there and demonstrated his craft. So he got some nice exposure through that.

Unknown Speaker 16:11
Would you do it any other way?

Unknown Speaker 16:15
Well as my friends in Vancouver remind me you can still see this you can see the stars at night when you step outside, so I don't think so.

Unknown Speaker 16:29
And I was amazed that last night you can if you step outside, you can still see the glow of Vancouver too, which is one of those constant reminders. Thank you all very much for coming in this morning. It's greatly appreciate LM euro and Lynn Biscoff are two of Saltspring islands telecommuters, but don't tell anybody they're here. Thank you

Unknown Speaker 16:58
you take minutes now before eight o'clock and it's time for a little dance.

Unknown Speaker 17:53
The magic of radio this is where I had to describe what we've just seen. Wow. You or are you winded?

Unknown Speaker 18:03
I'm okay. Learn a new word. The

Unknown Speaker 18:05
word is hypoxia. It's what happens when the body tries to do something without the supply of oxygen attach

Unknown Speaker 18:11
up to like that to bring nice bright yellow gumbo. Yeah, but

Unknown Speaker 18:14
I noticed that I was that I've already been branded.

Unknown Speaker 18:19
Yeah, no tender. I think there's a 537 boots so these are 653.

Unknown Speaker 18:30
Okay, now there are people, myself included, who have no idea what you just said. Why do I teach? Why do I think I've just become one of them?

Unknown Speaker 18:42
Oh, well, actually, we've got some five, three sevens in our dance troupe. It's, we're not prejudiced or anything. It's just we're different. We're distinct society on the south end. So we have a different telephone exchange.

Unknown Speaker 18:54
Ah sorry, if the truth be known, I'm actually in a three three but that's all. So, Shawn, what is it? What is the term Shia?

Unknown Speaker 19:09
Well, she actually means stop. And I call that when we're going to stop a routine and we'll start another one. And I'm the self styled shear master because I call the stock

Unknown Speaker 19:24
so we're just I mean, is gumboot dancing. There's really are lovely foods, ladies.

Unknown Speaker 19:30
Well, it's from the deep on the south end of Saltspring from Beaver point Hall. At least that's where we landed and, but it originally came from the minds of South Africa. As did you, oh, I come from a little island in the Indian Ocean called Mauritius. Okay. So

Unknown Speaker 19:46
what brought it What? What penny dropped for you that said you know, I think we could probably come vote on this.

Unknown Speaker 19:51
Well, it was actually it was O'Brien he's vote Ronnie pan Lady Godiva. She heard of her? Yes, she bought a gumboot guru to Salt Spring. By the name of sherry curveballs who's a naturalist and guide from Victoria. This is Victoria Day. So we have some Victoria content. So,

Unknown Speaker 20:11
do just get together and put it on Tuesday night or whatever.

Unknown Speaker 20:15
Friday night Friday night to get together and Buddha. Yeah. We always do that. What's the nature

Unknown Speaker 20:20
of the choreography here? Because because it's not just the there's

Unknown Speaker 20:31
Kindra at the same time, it's got to be sort of, yeah. Okay, that's one of the moves.

Unknown Speaker 20:37
That's one of the moves. Did others

Unknown Speaker 20:49
for the folks on the radio, I'd never done it before

Unknown Speaker 20:57
step by step, right. And

Unknown Speaker 21:12
how do I feel like this is delivered dancer something.

Unknown Speaker 21:16
I've always wanted to dance on the radio. So that's great. Now, the

Unknown Speaker 21:26
word Hypoxi, folks. You're seeing it in live right now. Why do people do this? Is this just I'm trying to figure out what was killing slugs or?

Unknown Speaker 21:43
Well, that doesn't it's like why do we find bananas? Because they're there, you know? Well, they weren't to begin with. But that's what we found the now so it's just that you got gunboats, you dance. That's what they did in South Africa to the miners had gumboots and they were from many cultures just like Saltspring many origins and different tribes, different languages, no common songs or stories. And so the thing that they had that was together was rhythm. So in the South African minds then they did gumboot dancing as a means of communication and also of expression and sharing.

Unknown Speaker 22:17
Stop talking start dancing let's see this.

Unknown Speaker 23:57
There you have John Brewer and Saltspring islands gumboot dancers and I hope that was as exciting on the radio as it certainly was here in person. And if it wasn't just come to Saltspring and try it out or you know, I'm sure you could find a pair of gum boots somewhere in the closet and just let yourself girl we're just about to the end of the second hour here you guys having as much fun as I am there's a lot of time and I sort of made Debbie and standing the way the clock there there's been a lot of talk about celebrities on this island and and I we needed to find a way to sort of address them. So what we're doing is we're assembling some of Saltspring islands best known celebrities in the next half hour. We're going to see how much they know about this island little game we're calling. You don't know salt. It's eight o'clock

Unknown Speaker 24:58
Good morning, I'm Dwight Smith. Since World Report in the news today, a prominent us report is released on the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Residents of a major Siberian city are on flood alert. And the man charged in the death of Jessica Koopmans appears in court tomorrow. And now to our top story. The authors of a high level report on the Israeli Palestinian conflict released their recommendations a short while ago, the American lead Mitchell commission calls on both sides to cease hostilities. But as Steve McNally reports from Jerusalem, much of the document was known hours ago,

Unknown Speaker 25:37
the Mitchell road clock capture nine Mountain Time. Good Monday morning Victoria Day. It's a special show here on the island.

Unknown Speaker 25:56
Good morning, I'm David gruesome with Jeff Weaver your best greetings from the on the island crew who are on Saltspring this morning. For the folks who normally wake up to Rick cliff and Cecilia Walters on 690 Rick and Cecilia having a much deserved sleep in this morning. Thank you for loaning us your audience for the morning. We'll give him kind of a taste of Saltspring in this hour. Well Saltspring has a lot of celebrities and you know they know a lot about stuff but we don't know how much they know about their island home and we're gonna find out in this half hour in the half hour after that. Well, this cat can play Saltspring newcomer Harry Manx and his various guitars are in the house and before the hour is out if you if you've ever seen me in person or you're here at the moment, you know that food is on my agenda on a regular basis. And they can't come to Saltspring without eating so we're gonna have some food before this hour is out or I'm not leaving and taking you all hostages. Jeffrey refreshed with some headlines on the weather morning. I

Unknown Speaker 26:53
can hear your stomach stomach grumbling over here if you cannot. The BC news headlines at least six people have been killed on BCS roads as long holiday weekend among them a 17 year old girl riding an ATV that collided with a logging truck near Port Alberni and a native leader has gone missing in his presumed around Sam Douglas chief of the GM ran into trouble while gillnet fishing on the Fraser River deer Chilliwack. More on those stories with Patrick Munro coming up here at half past we Victoria Day weather forecast it's just been great for most of the province so far more sun today for the most part for the South Coast highs 19 to 23. The interior increasing cloud though it's looks like you'll escape most of the day with sun for Thompson and Okanagan and Heiser as warm as 25 degrees today. Occasional rain for the Central Coast Periods of rain some sunny breaks inland for the North Coast.

Unknown Speaker 27:42
Well, if your lawn happens to be full of those pretty little flowers this time of year you'll know they're called dandelions. And if you're off on holiday today, you may be planning to tackle the uninvited guests in your garden and this morning, Alison Dyer of St John's Newfoundland says, don't reach for the weed spray. On commentary. She says think of the health of your children and neighbors first. My

Unknown Speaker 28:07
brand is characterized by defined sprouts of an alien maple, whimsical dandelions and other accidental botanical tourists. Like many of my neighbors, I'll go out and scrutinize the visitors route out some target others, but often I need them if not embraced and unmolested. But as I travel up, been over the hills of downtown St. John's, where streets are wider, straighter, and houses don't shoulder each other. there occurs a bizarre springtime rituals centered around these adventurous botanicals. A ritual that is anachronistic at best criminally negligent at worst. It's a ritual that comprises trips to the gardening center for bottles and spray cans with paramilitary brand names like seed and slay pest to be purged and waste the worms then it's out to the lawn. A place supposedly manicured is a pleasure ground. Why else would one maintain such a monotonous landscape to drench it with a toxic, malevolent brew the next stage in the ritual if a hired gun is overseeing the ceremony, signs as tall as a blade of grass are placed on the lawn. They show a circle with a bar across it. This is supposed to warn neighbors with no sense of smell, but high powered binoculars that a miniature meltdown has occurred in the neighborhood. So why is it an anachronistic and negligent act? First, it's anachronistic to put faith in slow to act federal regulatory bodies. Many of these pesticides were registered decades ago. scientific understanding of pesticides and their effects on health has grown significantly since then. We should have more faith in the precautionary principle. If you don't know they're safe, and we shouldn't use them. We now know that there are health problems this associated with pesticide use leukemia, breast cancer, brain cancer, non Hodgkins lymphoma, birth defects, learning disabilities, asthma, liver and kidney dysfunctions. It's negligent because we know that children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of pesticides. They like rolling around on the ground and putting things in their mouths. And what about those flimsy little pesticides finds? They neglect to inform that when you spray your lawn, aerial drift can ensure that 14 neighbors share the experience. The trend is now turning away from astroturf chemical junky lawns, which birds only differentiate from ashphalt by its color. The healthier trend is to encourage visits from bees and butterflies with Hardy native plants. Thankfully, more communities are putting in place policies to reduce or eliminate the cosmetic use of pesticides. It's time to put down the nozzle, pick up the child and commit to a new springtime ritual, one that welcomes diversity of life cherishes imperfections and values health over vanity for commentary. I'm Alison Dyer in St. John's Newfoundland.

Unknown Speaker 31:16
Alison Dyer is a gardener a mother of two and a writer in St. John's Thank you very much for your words this morning. I even on a holiday Monday, all things commentary must continue. It's kind of a national mandate. Now there are well it is and it's valued two and a half minutes I noticed you all set very attentively. Now I noticed that to that there are a lot of people on this island who have been very very polite and correcting me on the things that I don't know about this island. And I'm just kind of wondering you know, there's an awful lot of people who are on this island who will probably spend as much time off his arm because that's the nature of their job and so we thought let's let's find out just how much they know about their island so we put together a celebrity panel to just lovingly poke them about their Saltspring savvy. We have quite the quartet for you this morning. And officially we call them Saltspring islands least known law firm. Will you'll understand that in a moment. Our first panelist this morning is a two time winner of the Stephen Leacock Award winner for humor and he's the host of CBC Radio's Basic Black ladies and gentlemen Arthur black

Unknown Speaker 32:31
now our our second contestant is well how do I describe him? I'll just use one word ladies and gentlemen, baldy.

Unknown Speaker 32:51
Now our Our third panelist this morning is someone who you know he's a visual kind of guy and this is an oral kinda mediums so I think 15 years ago the first time we met I convinced him to greet me as he would a boyhood friend ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Robert Bateman

Unknown Speaker 33:20
over there if

Unknown Speaker 33:21
you wish that was actually that was Robert Bateman doing this? It was the was it the Barbie doll it's the bar darling isn't always he does still does our fourth and final victory test and he's a man who is was born and raised on as we like to call it the Big Island who now lives on this island. Please welcome Bill Henderson

Unknown Speaker 33:51
so let's find out how much they know about their island. Yes, Canva hunky bunches

Unknown Speaker 34:07
we're Bill Richardson. Here's how this is going to work. Okay, I'm going to ask the questions, you get to answer them. And I have both written down your questions and answers now if you don't know. This has always been my my byword in my job is if you don't know guess it's half the time. There's no shame in guessing and if it's really clever guess people get lost in the in the guest. And they don't worry about it. So if you get the answer right, you get appointed to get the answer wrong. Well then we'll ask someone in the audience here at artspring and if they get the answer, right, they get one of these really lovely pens. Tim is lovely pens. You don't get this pen. You get one of the lovely pens it has it says 90.5 on it. I wonder why? Cuz it's spelled Anyway, we are keeping we are keeping score. But the most important thing is just to is just to have fun, which is kind of the object of this whole thing. And so I'm going to just add throw the first question out. It may not be that easy to answer, but the question is pretty simple. How big is Saltspring? Island and square kilometers? Oh a dumb question. The audience should now know that heads are being shrugged in any arms are going in Ireland. It's 12 miles long. No in kilometer I don't care about kilometers. is a child of the 60 613 kilopascals.

Unknown Speaker 35:39
I guesstimate 505 128 528

Unknown Speaker 35:44
kilometer square kilometer square

Unknown Speaker 35:45
kilometer square square.

Unknown Speaker 35:49
I think 529.

Unknown Speaker 35:54
There's always a difference of opinion on the island.

Unknown Speaker 35:57
I hadn't noticed. Actually, that's the 27th. In actual fact, according to the Encyclopedia of British Columbia, it is 193.5 square kilometers. 190 193.5 square kilometers

Unknown Speaker 36:13
is 27 miles or 30 Miles was 27

Unknown Speaker 36:15
for 30 miles now. I had a friend that applied to the military once and they asked her a question in pounds of miles and stuff. She had no idea because she was gone. She was brought up in the metric system. And he said oh just guess how could it be? I mean, it's 25 miles long and maybe it's a typo. Maybe it's

Unknown Speaker 36:41
because you know, Charles and Charles called in in Charles Khan's book. Lovely. It's actually 180 square kilometers next question. Alright, let's move on to politics something that's sure to unite. Yeah. Have you didn't give the audience a chance? No, cuz you guys were all wrong. And on the Quizmaster? Shaping so we had we had we had an election last week. Anyone knows? Well, I'm just curious. Do you know who the new MLA is? He's not new.

Unknown Speaker 37:20
He's a liberal. glimmery. Cool.

Unknown Speaker 37:23
It's very cool. Yes. In fact, who was your old MLA? All right. Let's go to I think, you know, I make the snide remarks here. You gotta get a mic on those guys. No, that's precisely where the mics go away from it. So in what year if you were up really early this morning? You wouldn't know this. Actually. What year did the first boatload of settlers arrive on Saltspring? Just the years? Tell me a year

Unknown Speaker 37:53
when you take the century.

Unknown Speaker 37:59
I'll ask the questions aren't. Okay, I'll give it to you as the night Lord.

Unknown Speaker 38:05
It was a they came in separate votes for years and years, but I think they came in droves around the 1880s

Unknown Speaker 38:14
I'm guessing at 46.

Unknown Speaker 38:16
And what about First Nations? Did they come by boat or they swim?

Unknown Speaker 38:26
If you were to cut down the apple tree in the garden of Eden where their growth rings Well, if ever there was a place you could get existential I would think Saltspring would be yet. I really wanna take if you want to take a plan and

Unknown Speaker 38:40
guess what? At the date? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 38:44
I don't know. 1870 Okay, let's go to the audience now, because there were quite a few people here first thing in the morning. Jeff gets to pick somebody. 1859 It was July 27 1859. Give that man a

Unknown Speaker 39:05
feel when did you come to pleasure come to Salt Spring 1972 You stay three years. And then he went away and returned 20 years later? 93 I guess which changed more it are you? I really don't know. I

Unknown Speaker 39:24
don't know the answer to that question. Saltspring certainly changed. But so did I ask the audience no better night? Who was there was

Unknown Speaker 39:36
here in 1970. Okay, show of hands on the radio. That's a really good. That's good.

Unknown Speaker 39:47
Who's changed their name over the last 20 years. I mean, over the over the years, this island has been called Saltspring. But it's also been known by any other names, including by people who live here. Who can give me too who have the other names? That this island has been known for keeping one eye? All right, Arthur which one to n? That's good, which is couching for facing the sea

Unknown Speaker 40:08
of the rock?

Unknown Speaker 40:10
The rock

Unknown Speaker 40:13
because that's that's for people who have who have toiled on the soil here and realize there's just a thin skin over a great black rock.

Unknown Speaker 40:21
And black is the correct geological term.

Unknown Speaker 40:25
I'm a microbiologist. I don't know about those big things. I was appointed microbiologist

Unknown Speaker 40:33
Newfoundland, they're all

Unknown Speaker 40:37
dig deep enough or not. We shouldn't be living there. Who wants to toss another name in there? There's a couple more I have on the list here. Because the audience is large mumbling noise. Admiralty Admiralty. Yes, Admiralty, our name by the British survivor. Survey hit surveyor George Henry Richards,

Unknown Speaker 41:02
David, somebody pointed out your bed spring

Unknown Speaker 41:06
who is actually responsible for bed spring? All kinds of people it's nice that we can come to some unanimity there. Sorry. Let's let's let's go to another. Let's go to another name question. How did Ganges harbour get its name? Mr. Bateman served.

Unknown Speaker 41:31
There was a pig war went on south of the border down here in the San Juan's a dispute over a pig that got into somebody else's property. And the Americans and the British went to battle on it and the British sent a great man of war under sail named the Ganges because it used to be hanging around to protect the East India Company over there. And after the big war after the the clean their clocks down there, and they got everything settled down south the border. The Ganges came up and did a little bit of r&r in the harbor up here. That's a story. Who believes

Unknown Speaker 42:18
now, aren't you? You traveled to Vancouver every week to put basic black on the air. We should have had Vegas during one of those commuter panels. What is it about Saltspring that makes the commute worthwhile. I'm not sure

Unknown Speaker 42:33
that commute is worthwhile, but Saltspring is the commute is kind of interesting. If you have to make it as inexperienced it takes something to eat, lots to read. And you know a novel that you're working on or something like that, because it's about it's about six hours door to door for me if I go by ferry, and if somebody else gives me a plane right, it's 24 minutes.

Unknown Speaker 42:54
So I guess which I like

Unknown Speaker 42:55
how it gets you to sort of lead towards the

Unknown Speaker 42:58
quality how often you actually on the island. You're the hardest working man in show business. I mean,

Unknown Speaker 43:03
not anymore, but I'm still doing about 200 gigs a year but I'd say that puts me here. A fair bit

Unknown Speaker 43:15
the fairies I think use up about 10% of my working budget. And when I do my taxes every quarter, which I have to do now like most Canadians that the ferries and why buy my tickets in advance so I can save a little bit, but it's a huge lack of money. And also the the the culture of the fairies as you discussed earlier, I find very enlivening and it's a way of immersing myself back into the island when they get here. Just looking at all the people with the day's look in your eye leaving the city coming home.

Unknown Speaker 43:50
But not the Skeena cleaner.

Unknown Speaker 43:51
Now notice Geeta Queen

Unknown Speaker 43:52
Robert who drives her ace courier I like to quote him at the Skeena queen as a bridge with four city buses welded to it

Unknown Speaker 44:07
thank you all very much for for taking. We're taking part in the good fun. You're just back aren't you? Someplace exotic.

Unknown Speaker 44:16
The Peonies are painting in the plein air in the Pyrenees last week.

Unknown Speaker 44:20
That's right when will we see the results?

Unknown Speaker 44:23
Are there I've already finished them I don't know if you'll ever see

Unknown Speaker 44:30
yes, we'll see them on the radio. That's very clear. Thank you very much our unofficial law firm of Bateman Henderson baldy in black.

Unknown Speaker 44:56
You're listening to a special holiday Monday program from artspring on saw on Spring Island My name is David Grierson. I usually wake folks up with a little program called on the island which serves Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast from Victoria. This morning. We are quite happy to welcome folks around the province. Thanks to Mark Harvey and Prince George. Thanks to Mary and Marshall and Kelowna. And thank you very much for Cliff and Vancouver for loaning us your audience's for this morning so we can bring you all a taste of something that these folks hold near and dear that being Salt Spring Island. It's coming up on 830 and Patrick Monroe has the news.

Unknown Speaker 45:32
CBC Radio News, British Columbia. Good morning. I'm Patrick Monroe. At least six people have been killed on BCS roads this long holiday weekend. A 17 year old girl riding an ATV collided with a logging truck near Port Alberni. On Saturday three people were killed in two separate accidents on the Lower Mainland. Early yesterday a man died when his vehicle rolled over in the Prince George area. And Friday evening and a 24 year old Abbotsford man died while riding a motorcycle along a logging road north of Chilliwack. The Insurance Corporation of BC says three people died on BC roads during the Victoria Day weekend last year.

Unknown Speaker 46:43
About a rider who went over a cliff on his ATV, the Labrador helicopter medivac the man to hospital he suffered a broken leg. A grand chief with the stalo First Nation is missing and presumed drowned. 60 year old Sam Douglas was out gillnet fishing early yesterday morning during an Aboriginal salmon fishery on the Fraser River. Douglas is a former chief of the GM band. His sister June quip is the GMs current cheese. She says her family's not sure exactly what happened but it appears her brother's boat flipped over. Webb says her brother was well known for his continuing fight for Aboriginal fishing rights.

Unknown Speaker 47:26
He really believed that we had a right deficient he never ever gave up on that idea. He was quite well respected for the work that he did. He was the chief for since he was very young. When my father passed away. He was the chief and he was one of the youngest chiefs in Canada at the time.

Unknown Speaker 47:47
RCMP DFO and people in the community have all been involved in the search for Douglas Douglas was chief of the CIM band until 1992. And investigator with the Canadian Transportation Safety Board says it appears the captain of a cruise ship did not properly report an incident off the coast of Vancouver Island on the weekend. The investigation has now been turned over to the board's us counterpart 16 passengers were taken to hospitals in Victoria after the ship listed sharply in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Eric Aslan of the Safety Board says any vessel having an incident should be reporting it to the vessel traffic system or the Rescue Coordination Center

Unknown Speaker 48:31
was not done as far as we know. That's why the Tofino base got involved by looking at their radars as they were monitoring the vessel seen it under screen making a sharp turn stuff in the water. And it just made a follow up on it just to make sure that everything was fine. The master was not forthcoming by giving any information at that matter. And the matter was been taken upon the Rescue Coordination Center. And later on the master reported that they had a problem with their autopilot.

Unknown Speaker 49:04
Most of the passengers returned to Seattle where the cruise ship was headed. He's hurt us continuing on the Sunshine Coast this morning for a Powell river man reported missing after a canoe outing on Saturday for man's canoe has been found partly submerged. Brian kennela Marine controller at the Rescue Coordination Center in Victoria, says the man appears to be an experienced outdoorsman, a Labrador helicopter in Buffalo aircraft had been helping out in the search. Searchers have been combing Malla subpoenas straight between tech Seda island and the mainland. 50 days and counting until along the transit strike in the Lower Mainland has been dragging on. A bus riders advocacy group is once again calling on TransLink to offer a taxi voucher system for low income earners. A spokesman for TransLink says something may be in the works. Leslie Pritchard for Martha Robert

Unknown Speaker 50:00
speaks for the group that calls itself the bus riders union transition group. She says while some on social assistance are getting taxi vouchers for health reasons, many others also need to get around. We've heard a lot of stories about people losing jobs or not getting jobs because they don't have a way to transport themselves to and from work about parents having to walk incredible distances to medical appointments with their children, people, especially the elderly, who have absolutely no social contact at this time. Robert is calling on TransLink to create a taxi voucher system similar to one offered low income earners in Calgary during its recent transit strike. But TransLink spokesperson Ken Hardy says the Calgary situation is different because that city administers both transit and social assistance programs. But he says he's not ruling out some sort of help for low income earners.

Unknown Speaker 50:54
The problem that we would have a TransLink is that we do not know who these people are. We don't know how to reach them. We would need assistance in setting something up but we're trying to figure out what we can do at this point.

Unknown Speaker 51:06
At the moment. However, Hardy says all TransLink can offer is a list on its website of other services available to those who are having difficulty getting around. Lesley Pritchard CBC News Vancouver

Unknown Speaker 51:17
friends and family of 15 year old Tracy basher from Langley are still mourning the teenagers violent murder. She was beaten to death at home 11 days ago. A funeral service attended by 900 people was held at the weekend. The 17 year old boy charged with Tracy's murder is being held on remand, RCMP Corporal Gary Beggs says he'll appear again in Surrey Provincial Court on May 30.

Unknown Speaker 51:43
My understanding of the next appearance is that it is been called for what is called a proof of age hearing. In other words, one of his parents will be required to take the stand merely to indicate that he was born on a specific date, which would make him either 16 or 17 years old and indeed, person who is a candidate because of the offence to be dealt with by adult court,

Unknown Speaker 52:07
RCMP Langley spokesman Corporal Gary bag. I'm Patrick Monroe. This is CBC Radio News in British Columbia. We'll have our next news at nine o'clock right now it's back to on the island with David Grierson.

Unknown Speaker 52:21
Thank you Patrick. It's 23 Now before nine o'clock before 10am Mountain Time on Saltspring Island

Unknown Speaker 52:39
you're listening to 90.5 FM in Victoria 860 on the am band in Prince Rupert and we are pleased to bring the province a taste of that most desirable of Gulf Islands Saltspring Island we're at artspring We have been here for long enough and we have half an hour to go have a variety of things of how you're going to hear some great music in this half hour you're going to have some thank yous. I think I just saw food come in. I had that kind of radar for those sorts of things. Jeff, we were somewhere with a willing victim over here

Unknown Speaker 53:08
row three or account back here. I'm with beside how that led all this has the weather forecast for the coast. Morning. How are you? Fine.

Unknown Speaker 53:17
Victoria in the south coast, including Greater Vancouver sunny with morning cloudy periods, highs from 19 to 23. Highs for the northern half of Vancouver Island around 13 degrees and some fog patches for the western half of the island. For the Central Coast. Cloudy with occasional rain and some sunny periods inland highs from 11 to 14 for the North Coast, and the Queen Charlotte's Periods of rain and drizzle and becoming windy at the coast. Southerly winds from 40 to 60 kilometers per hour. Highs near 11.

Unknown Speaker 53:59
Anyway you want to say hi to NBC listening this morning.

Unknown Speaker 54:01
I think my family's was seen a nice Swiss connection is over from Switzerland. What's the Swiss connection? Oh, that's my son in law's mother and brother and we celebrated her 70th birthday yesterday. So good morning, rosemary, Davey Ralphie. Carol and Barbara Michael

Unknown Speaker 54:21
are just saving the longest. And the Dave Larry Larry woods here on my other side has our morning sports

Unknown Speaker 54:27
report. Good morning. in Major League Baseball yesterday San Diego defeated the Montreal Expos five to three Texas beat Toronto three to two and the amazing Seattle Mariners defeated the New York Yankees six to two

Unknown Speaker 54:39
no editorializing.

Unknown Speaker 54:43
In frisbee golf Vesuvius beat beaver point three to one.

Unknown Speaker 54:52
In the NBA the Raptors were eliminated from the playoffs, Toronto lost 8887 to Philadelphia, the hockey playoffs recently Tonight on CBC with the St. Louis Blues FACING ELIMINATION in Denver, Colorado leads the best of seven NHL series three games to one meantime the Eastern final resumes tomorrow night in New Jersey with the devils leading Pittsburgh three games to one Thank you Larry. I gotta make a deal

Unknown Speaker 55:21
I'll make you a deal here. You stay out of broadcasting I'll stay away from GM booty okay so it's very good Thank you Larry it's 20 minutes before nine o'clock on a holiday Monday morning it's Victoria day ladies and gentlemen please welcome Harry Max

Unknown Speaker 56:31
had a trade put it on a track you're on to the Lord knows

Unknown Speaker 56:44
me child loan oh my god

Unknown Speaker 56:55
Well Bob can go came on she came in some other

Unknown Speaker 57:07
challenge my mom sick

Unknown Speaker 57:34
will ride that trail runner drill one day you will be taken

Unknown Speaker 57:50
song

Unknown Speaker 57:57
and put it on a track you're on it now to

Unknown Speaker 58:08
me my wobbly mom coming down

Unknown Speaker 58:18
I believe on common common.

Unknown Speaker 58:55
know there's no train on Saltspring with that's a pity that's Rubens train. That's Harry max. And you can find that on this CD. He said holding it up to the microphone, dog, my cat Harry. Manx. Merci, Harry. When did you come to Saltspring

Unknown Speaker 59:07
I actually moved here about in the August last year.

Unknown Speaker 59:11
Why did you pick Saltspring?

Unknown Speaker 59:13
Well, I wanted to I'd be living many years about 15 years around Japan and India and I was looking for a place to settle in North America and I thought well, Canada is great. And probably the warmest place here is the west coast and Saltspring sounds about the ideal location

Unknown Speaker 59:29
sounds like a healthy process of elimination. Now it's also seems to be the kind of place I wandered into the music store here is as is my wont, and saw one of those the SPG played first but you put in the cases that is the Mohan Veena and, and Geordi who ran the music store said oh yeah, Harry brings them in. Like it's no big deal. I mean, it looks like a regular electric guitar but it's got all these sympathetic strings all over it. It looks like it looks kind of

Unknown Speaker 59:57
it's well it's has sort of half sitar half Guitar. It has sympathetic strings. Yeah, it has about 20 strings all together. And it was designed by a man in India Vishwa, Mohan Bhatt who I studied with many years, named assaults.

Unknown Speaker 1:00:14
But you know, you come to Salt Spring and it just kind of fits in here. Does it? Does it also fit with the blues? I mean?

Unknown Speaker 1:00:22
Well, it's a bit of a stretch, but I'm working on that. I try. I love the sounds, Indian sounds and the Indian approach to Tona. And I want to use some of that, with the blues together and with my own tunes to kind of add a new flavor to it, if you will.

Unknown Speaker 1:00:40
Where do you come from musically?

Unknown Speaker 1:00:43
Well, I was a busker. I was a street musician for 1520 years around Europe and Japan, mostly. And that was my practice throughout the case.

Unknown Speaker 1:00:54
And here's one you all know, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 1:00:57
I played a lot of different music, but I pretty much grew up listening to blues. And that's where my roots are more.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:04
How can you how can you write about the blues in a place like this? I mean, don't you have to hurt in some way?

Unknown Speaker 1:01:10
I heard that the blues are actually the cure for the illness. They're not the illness itself.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:25
But what's the what's the musical community like on this? Because if you're not carrying a paintbrush, or wearing rubber boots, they're carrying a guitar, it seems. Yeah, it's

Unknown Speaker 1:01:35
I bet you that there's an incredible large percentage of the people that live and work here are also musicians. It seems a lot of the carpenters are good players. And you know that people work around town. There's an amazing kind of supportive network of musicians on this island that have places that they can get together and jam and there's a lot of venues for local artists and it's great to see

Unknown Speaker 1:01:59
last night I couldn't get in to see you at talent. We went over and they're there the treehouse is Paul Pugach I mean, every time to turn around there's somebody else playing here. Great. Bob Mueller was here on Thursday and ivaldi was at the tree house on seems like there's work Why leave

Unknown Speaker 1:02:18
Yeah, you can get spoiled here. It's true.

Unknown Speaker 1:02:20
Well, it wasn't welcoming when you first came here or did you have to sort of

Unknown Speaker 1:02:24
know it's a very welcoming community and it's and you quickly get to know a lot of the people that especially if you're an artist, you get to know the artistic community pretty quick and it's great to see it in my concerts I recognize a lot of the local people in the audience and

Unknown Speaker 1:02:40
is there anyone locally who does not have a copy of dog my cat Yeah, I

Unknown Speaker 1:02:44
think most of them do.

Unknown Speaker 1:02:46
Let's hear one more tune from the from the CD Oh yeah, you get to if you put them on a put the straight up six string on your lap.

Unknown Speaker 1:02:54
I'm gonna play a tune from the CD cold bring that thing. Mary Max

Unknown Speaker 1:03:51
swore off just trying to see if your face will need some lovin Girl No no I have a just decorate dog my cat can't you scratch that itch? Things was so much more more simple when we didn't have Steve brain back whoa, whoa whoa bring that thing. Back home.

Unknown Speaker 1:05:10
Well Lord I need forgiveness methods I believe I believe I can overcome them when I'm talking These are times they're sent you down like a stone don't you stop friend or to stop rain shower you gonna make it home brain thing

Unknown Speaker 1:06:26
some folks tried and some folks failed without love or somehow that might float you no doubt and shoving fun up yeah might be the silver down in your hand will ever else chat I may or may not be I'll always be

Unknown Speaker 1:07:03
back

Unknown Speaker 1:07:15
chat

Unknown Speaker 1:07:58
Harry is going to be in Victoria, we come back to Saltspring you're hanging out to do a little laundry head back out on the road. Harry is in Victoria at the George and Dragon on Tuesday night in Nanaimo for dirty show on Wednesday night at the Queen's hotel in Vancouver. You've all heard of Vancouver, haven't you on Thursday night at their wives Hall and then he's gonna hit the rest of the provinces sometime during June which we can so if you live outside of the south coast, there's still your chance and also I am led to believe that on this wonderful little weekend morning program called North by Northwest. You can hear Harry and performance from last weekend. There you go. Those are all the details now the fun stuff. Eight minutes before nine o'clock. For the past two and a half hours we've had a taste of Salt Springs rich history and culture. But you know, you don't need to look at my Corpulence to believe that a visit to this island just wouldn't be the same without a real taste of salt spring. After all, agriculture has been a cornerstone of life here for more than a century. It's a place that's become justly famous for a local delicacies such as the lamb. The cheeses, the fruit, the tea, and it is a little early in the season to sample a full bounty of what this island has to offer but even on Saltspring the gardens they need a little more time but we've we've done rather well here the executive chef of the renowned Hastings House Restaurant in Ganges has dropped by with a sampling of what this island has to offer at the moment in the form of a Salt Spring Island brunch. Marcel Correct. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you very much for coming in this morning. Oh, you're welcome. This is a lovely he just rips it off. I mean, I mean the top of the thing you gotta be careful on Saltspring when you talk about taking tops off things that people get I'm gonna sidle down here are selling you have to tell me what you get. Oh, to just move all this stuff here.

Unknown Speaker 1:09:49
I produced some Saltspring lamb Lake. Only a little lamb leg. Smoked salmon with some onion and sweet pepper marmalade. Goat Cheese wrapped in eggplant. Go cheese Tareen and some homemade lamb sausage. Oh very healthy so can you smell

Unknown Speaker 1:10:06
it? Because that's all you're gonna get what is it? What's life like for for a chef on this?

Unknown Speaker 1:10:16
Pretty good for me.

Unknown Speaker 1:10:17
Yeah. What did you know about the about the food on this island when you before you got here?

Unknown Speaker 1:10:23
Well all I heard about was lamb before I got here that's 10 years ago. Got lots of food now. How

Unknown Speaker 1:10:32
much has that been a relationship between you and the producers? I mean when you say you know what I really could use white asparagus. Somebody will make some real growth for you. I don't

Unknown Speaker 1:10:43
know about the white spirit because I was just a lot of words. But yeah, we have somebody just for the lamb somebody just for the chicken NPH somebody just for the smoked salmon. And it goes on and on about that cheese. Let's stay with what's goat cheese?

Unknown Speaker 1:10:58
What happened to this island when David would show it up here from Toronto?

Unknown Speaker 1:11:04
Because well known

Unknown Speaker 1:11:07
Do you have do you find that that you can satisfy your palate with with the food from the island?

Unknown Speaker 1:11:13
There's lots of I still buy stuff oh fire and obviously but there's lots most times of the year. She was local stuff in their own gardens to all the stuff in the basket is from our own garden. Like I just look at the size of that asparagus now in may come July August will be a lot more stuff. That'd

Unknown Speaker 1:11:31
be only two or three batters. Do you find it Do you find it to focus on Saltspring he's like this on a daily basis.

Unknown Speaker 1:11:41
I don't know. But people that come to Hastings for going on

Unknown Speaker 1:11:47
the road to get there. I just thought I'd let you know. Do you Do you still make a good spesa I know how that makes me. William Tell you're gonna have to learn Yeah. What's the what's the difference in cooking on an island as opposed to cooking in the big smoke

Unknown Speaker 1:12:04
to where you Hastings house works because we have a set menu changes every day. It's five courses. So you never get tired of cooking everyday something else.

Unknown Speaker 1:12:14
When you actually think up the menu you come up with a prefix a dinner and you do it first thing in the morning or you know

Unknown Speaker 1:12:21
we come in around noon have coffee and write out the day for them and see what's available on what we have available. That's where we make them put on the menu

Unknown Speaker 1:12:31
excuse me while I'm asked to go help yourself

Unknown Speaker 1:12:35
okay

Unknown Speaker 1:12:45
all right, everybody

Unknown Speaker 1:12:56
needs to learn herbs

Unknown Speaker 1:12:56
on a no it needs a Pinot Noir to go whoa. Thank you, Marcel.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:01
We will have one soon.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:03
Soon we'll have one yes, I know. Marshall coward Madryn. Executive Chef. And restaurant on Saltspring on all manners good. Three months. Three minutes before just really rude but

Unknown Speaker 1:13:29
it's good.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:31
Three minutes before nine o'clock. And while we're over here, believe it or not, there are people in Victoria at this moment are working very hard. They're lined up for the Victoria Day parade. And listen carefully to hear the sounds in the background. I think Virginia Woolf is at this very moment standing in a line are you

Unknown Speaker 1:13:52
Hi, David. Boy, what is seen here. I'm at the Mayfair parking lot and we're just getting ready for the parade to start it's a cacophony of sound there's marching bands from from the states here from Canada. As you may know this, this parade is a big tradition. This year marks the 100 and third year for it. Last year 90,000 People came so you can imagine this year there's probably going to be more this year there are 141 entries and and that includes floats and marching bands as I mentioned. And the floats are fantastic. We just saw the one from the wax museum go by. And Judy Garland is on it. Elvis Elvis is alive and well at the Mayfair mall. I know you wonder what happened to him and he he says his special hello to the people and assaults from Ireland. Okay, great. Thanks.

Unknown Speaker 1:14:46
Thank you very much, Virginia enjoy the parade. Good new idea to technology took to get Virginia here with to hit a moving target. Anyway, someone had to drive the van in the parade today. And someone had to work hard to make this show possible we've come to the end. It's hard to believe three hours has gone by so oh yes, but I have I have a list of people I have to thank. I have to thank Lynn Partridge, a dear dear friend, who made artspring available to us, Ned. It's just been wonderful to be here to mark Coulthard, a great friend as well. And Richard Moses for getting up at the ungodly hour to make this happen this morning. Thank you folks in artspring. You have a beautiful facility. We'll be back. Our thanks, of course to the driftwood and the barnacle to Hastings house. I'm coming back for that salmon, thanks to the fox club nursery, lovely trees, and Phil Hayden, and the ship's officer of the Skeena queen. Thank you very much despite what we said, thanks to Mickey McCobb from Salisbury roasting to Trinity McPhee for the bonds. Bye everybody.

Unknown Speaker 1:15:46
Hello, I'm Sheila Rogers. Coming up on the Victoria Day edition of this morning another edition of song tag as singing game with a competitive twist. CBC radio personalities Michael Enright, Bill Richardson, Bob McDonald, Judy Madryn, and Katie Malik. Join me for a sing off which dares to stretch our collective musical knowledge to the limit. It's a winner take all event for the entire first hour of this morning, which begins as ever right after the news on Radio One.

Unknown Speaker 1:16:21
Good morning. I'm Dwight Smith, this is World Report. In the news today, a prominent us report is released on the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The man charged in the death of Jessica Koopmans appears in court tomorrow. And Walkerton marks the first anniversary of Canada's worst E coli crisis. And now to our top story. Israeli tanks and attack helicopters returned to the Gaza Strip again today pounding Palestinian police stations there. Meanwhile, the American led Mitchell committee investigating the conflict released its recommendations this morning. They released drew a comment from US Secretary of State Colin Powell. Addressing a news conference in Washington. Steve McNally reports.

Unknown Speaker 1:17:06
Colin Powell welcomed the report and the general acceptance of it by Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He endorsed its recommendations saying they contain the ideas necessary to end the downward spiral of violence which has gripped the parties. The report calls on Palestinian leaders to end attacks on Israel, but also tells Israel that it needs to calm the atmosphere by freezing construction and Jewish settlements on disputed land. Israel has rejected the idea of linking a ceasefire with a settlement freeze, but State Secretary Powell made it clear that the US expects a ceasefire to come first to be followed by the freeze as a confidence building measure. The Bush administration has been reluctant to get directly and publicly involved in what it views as a near hopeless situation. But with its hand apparently forced by the worsening situation and international pressure, Powell took the first step toward taking on a mediating role. He announced that he's appointing two high level officials from his office to help the parties work out a timeframe for implementing the Mitchell report recommendations. Powell also appointed the American Ambassador to Jordan as a special assistant, who will report directly to him and to President George Bush on the effort to end the violence. For CBC News. This is Steve McNally in Jerusalem.

Unknown Speaker 1:18:17
A fire during a prison riot has killed 26 inmates in Chile. It happened in the city of Ki K north of Santiago. The Regional Governor says inmates set fire to their mattresses and blankets. Officials say the fires were started during a riot following an apparent jailbreak. Pope John Paul the second has opened a three day meeting of cardinals at the Vatican. They are examining the challenges facing the Roman Catholic Church in the new millennium. The Vatican says the pope will attend the entire meeting which includes morning and afternoon sessions. The pontiff turned 81 last Friday. Here at home the man charged with the murder of a five year old Lethbridge girl will make a court appearance tomorrow. Jessica Koopmans disappeared from outside her Lethbridge home on May 4. Her body was found a week later in a field just south of Fort Macleod Alberta, about 50 kilometers from home. As Derek to bolt reports, the man now in custody is described as a friend of the Koopmans family.

Unknown Speaker 1:19:16
I consider them a friend

Unknown Speaker 1:19:18
Sylvia Koopmans fights back tears as she talks with reporters about the man police have charged with her daughter's murder. She describes 31 year old Harold Anthony Gallup as someone she trusted with her two daughters on the day just could disappear. The man in custody was at the Koopmans home visiting now. Silvia Koopmans feels betrayed. He was trying

Unknown Speaker 1:19:39
to protect them from strangers. But how do you know you're not allowed to trust people now can you not trust your friends?

Unknown Speaker 1:19:47
Police announced gallops arrest at a news conference yesterday afternoon. He had been in custody for a week after being arrested on charges unrelated to the murder of Jessica Koopmans. Now he's being charged with first degree murder. Gallup makes his first court appearance tomorrow. There are two bold CBC News Lethbridge.

Unknown Speaker 1:20:07
Joe Clark has

Unknown Speaker 1:20:07
suggested he could stay on to fight another election. The Federal conservative leader made the comment last night in an interview with CBC television. But Clark also says he'd be happy to step aside if the party told him it had someone who was better able to beat the liberals. Clark was also asked to comment on the eight Canadian Alliance members who've left their caucus over the leadership of Stockwell day. We

Unknown Speaker 1:20:31
want them to know I guess two things. One is that they'd be very comfortable working with us. And the second is that large is their duty us as members of parliament. They also as members of the alliance, they also have duties as a member of parliament. So they've got to make this parliament work, and so long as there is a sideshow going on at the Canadian lions. That just gives the Liberal government in effect a free ride. We're doing the best weekend. We're doing a pretty good job for 12 people in the Florida House, but it would obviously better if we if we had a stronger larger group working with us.

Unknown Speaker 1:21:05
Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark, the town of Walkerton, Ontario marked the first anniversary of the E. coli tragedy this weekend. Seven people died in 2300. Others became sick from contaminated tap water last year. As Jean Carter reports many in the town say it's time to look to the future.

Unknown Speaker 1:21:27
This weekend has been a time to remember the people who died in Washington and the ones who were sick. Dorothy macaque, his three year old grandson was one of them.

Unknown Speaker 1:21:36
I think we'll be remembering it because our grandson is now fine. But you can't forget the ones who aren't going to be okay.

Unknown Speaker 1:21:45
But turn is trying to get past the fresh memories and look to the future. One of Elizabeth Critchfield daughter was sick last year. She hopes other communities look to walk, it's an learn. It's a

Unknown Speaker 1:21:57
heck of a way to learn lessons, as far as care of the environment and our water. And let's hope that we've learned those lessons and we can go on here.

Unknown Speaker 1:22:07
An environmental fair was held yesterday. Bruce Davison is Vice Chair of the group concerned workers and citizens.

Unknown Speaker 1:22:14
We want people to see that there are certain steps that they can take to be less impactful on the environment. And if we start to change subtly, then hopefully, we can make the bigger changes once we get used to the idea that there are easier ways or better ways to do things and hopefully move ahead

Unknown Speaker 1:22:29
and not repeat the same mistakes.

Unknown Speaker 1:22:31
While the people of Walkerton are attempting to look to the future. They know with some people still sick, they'll never be able to forget the past. Jeanne Carter, CBC News Walkerton Ontario,

Unknown Speaker 1:22:44
people in the Siberian city of Yakutsk are preparing for the worst as they await the arrival of a flood crest on the Leonard River. The lenah is one of the world's largest rivers, ice jams and the heavy spring runoff have caused flooding that's already destroyed most of the city of lensed Bill Gillespie has this report for Moscow.

Unknown Speaker 1:23:04
Heavy Equipment Operators aided by university students have worked through the night building four meter high clay dikes, helicopters are standing by to evacuate people to 14 tent camps set up around the city if it becomes necessary. Already floodwaters have invaded a low lying suburb of Yakutsk, forcing 3500 people to higher ground with a population of 200,000 Yakutsk as central Siberia is largest city. The waters of the Lennar river that flow through it are now a meter above flood level and rising residents aided by disaster relief workers flown in by Russia's Federal Emergency Department are working nonstop. an icebreaker is smashing ice jams downstream, hoping to open the relief channel. Russian military bombers have dropped six tons of explosives on ice jams upstream. Despite all that the water is still rising 10 centimeters and our local officials say if it keeps on rising at that pace. The newly built dikes will be breached the people of your cuts will know their fate within the next 24 hours. Though Gillespie, CBC News,

Unknown Speaker 1:24:16
Moscow. The United Nations Environment Program is starting a campaign to save the world's great apes from extinction. It wants $1 billion to start the program. Great apes include gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and Gibbons. Experts say many could be extinct in five to 10 years if nothing is done to stop the destruction of their habitats, and their slaughter for meat. Three of the projects would protect gorillas in southern Nigeria, chimpanzees in the Ivory Coast and Durang tans in Indonesia. Indonesia as political crisis continues. In the latest twist, President Abdurrahman Wahid has had to downplay reports he plans to replace the military reach top leaders and dissolve parliament. That retraction comes just days before Wahid faces possible impeachment in Parliament. Patricia Noonan reports from Jakarta.

Unknown Speaker 1:25:10
A spokesman says President Waheed has asked military leaders to double check with him about any unclear or questionable information they receive. The spokesman says the president regrets the rumors that led to a misunderstanding between what he did and the armed forces. The Indonesian capital was tense all weekend after vice president Megawati Sukarnoputri cut short a trip to Singapore late Friday to return to Jakarta for meetings with senior Armed Forces officials. Local media were first to report that she did so after the President spoke of replacing top military officials as a precursor to declaring a state of civil emergency and dissolving parliament. A spokesman for the president says those reports are not true. But he admitted that he'd had spoken hypothetically about those options. Parliament meets later this month to debate whether to call for formal impeachment hearings have Wahid because of alleged corruption charges the president denies for CBC News This is Patricia Noonan in Jakarta.

Unknown Speaker 1:26:22
And now Summing up, a US committee has issued its report on the Israeli Palestinian conflict. It demands both sides halt the violence and calls for Israel to freeze Jewish settlements. The man charged with the murder of a five year old Lethbridge girl will make a court appearance tomorrow. And the town of Walkerton. Ontario marks the first anniversary of the E. coli tragedy this weekend. And that's World Report. I'm Dwight Smith.

Unknown Speaker 1:26:58
Now we'll look at today's weather a ridge of high pressure will bring mainly clear skies to the inner South Coast over the next few days. In contrast, the north coast will see rain and wind from a front stalled over that area. In the interior cloudy with scattered showers in the north sunny with cloudy periods in the south the highs 15 to 23. And on the south coast sunny with some cloud eyes 90 near the water up to 22 inland you're listening to CBC Radio One in British Columbia your information station.

Unknown Speaker 1:27:37
Hello, I'm Sheila Rogers Welcome to this morning for Monday, May the 21st.

Unknown Speaker 1:27:50
It feels like the first of the summer long weekends. I know it's still spring, but in this climate change world. I've got summer plants zooming up in my garden. And if that's happening in the greater Guelph area, I don't even want to speculate on what's happening on the West Coast although I bet Bill Richards

150B_CBC-Part-2.mp3

otter.ai

08.03.2023

no

Unknown Speaker 0:12
Well, good morning. It's a beautiful sunny morning here. It's David Grierson with Jeff Weaver and morning we're on an island but we're not on the island.

Unknown Speaker 0:23
We're on an island off an island we're on Saltspring

Unknown Speaker 0:26
I'm totally confused Jeff we wake up every morning and we're on the island but we're in Victoria and this morning we're not

Unknown Speaker 0:31
okay tell her where East is because we can see the sun coming up. We don't usually see the sun in the city. I know. Too many buildings I guess are too rushed are heading in the wrong direction not

Unknown Speaker 0:40
heading a good direction. We've already we've already decided we're gonna move here so and we had the show already hasn't even begun yet. It's a Victoria Day holiday Monday. Good morning. I'm David Grierson with Jeff Weaver. And this morning between now and nine o'clock we try and bring you a taste of probably the best known of all the Gulf Islands hit Saltspring we're outside of art spring the beautiful new concert facility that was built here I guess, almost two years ago now. And that's beautiful wood building lovely building. It was opened by Robert Bateman. Bateman will be here later in the hour in the in the morning along with a variety of other salt Springer's. I have to find out what the correct term is for for folks on Saltspring. Other than just lucky.

Unknown Speaker 1:20
I hear the birds birds over the broadleaf maples. It's more traffic other than I thought there would be at this hour of the day.

Unknown Speaker 1:26
The Gulf Islands but the scary thing is they're all coming here. Yeah, I

Unknown Speaker 1:28
guess that's why that explains it.

Unknown Speaker 1:31
I'm not sure what are normally happens at this is there's usually marine weather or the weather and and and since this is kind of a marine community I think it's probably a good idea that we do. At least a passing version of the marine weather

Unknown Speaker 1:43
was lovely day here yesterday. I'm going to be another one today. There's good weather around the marine weather for the South Coast for stray Georgia winds light becoming variable five to 15 knots near midday. That's the story for most of the south coast. It's a great day. light winds for one to few country Johnson Street and Queen Charlotte. It's a bit more action along the north coast right.

Unknown Speaker 2:02
It is indeed on the outlook for Queen Charlotte sound is when suddenly 15 to 20 knots rising to suddenly 25 over northwestern sections this afternoon. Over the central coast from McKinnis Island to Pine Island Winds SE easing to five to 15 this morning. For Hacket straight sticks and entrance east and west. The gale warning is continued. Winds south to South East 15 to 25 knots, rising to southeast 25 to Gales 35 this afternoon. We are outside artspring. We're going to bring you a program this morning that covers as much salt spring as we can three hours we're going to talk about the history of this island, which is the more I read about it, the more varied it is and certainly the more difference of opinions there are and what part of the history is is what we're going to talk about commuting from this island as well because there are folks who who choose to live and work on this island and there are those who choose to live on this island and work.

Unknown Speaker 3:01
Take a PC ferry twice a day. I imagine it's more

Unknown Speaker 3:05
sunshine breakfast than the body can take. We're going to talk about trees as as this

Unknown Speaker 3:14
here's the CBC News by Mike Oldham. The man charged with the murder of a five year old girl will make a court appearance tomorrow, Jessica Koopmans disappeared from outside her horm home in Lethbridge Alberta on May the fourth. Her body was found a week later in a field south of Fort Macleod about 50 kilometers from home. As Derek the bolt reports the man in custody is described as a friend of the girl's family.

Unknown Speaker 3:40
I consider him a friend

Unknown Speaker 3:42
Sylvia Koopmans fights back tears as she talks with reporters about the man police have charged with her daughter's murder. She describes 31 year old Harold Anthony Gallup as someone she trusted with her two daughters. On the day Jessica disappeared. The man in custody was at the Koopmans home visiting. Now Sylvia Koopmans feels betrayed. You

Unknown Speaker 4:03
know he's trying to protect them from strangers. But how do you know you're not allowed to trust people now can you not trust your friends?

Unknown Speaker 4:11
Police announced gallops arrest at a news conference yesterday afternoon. He had been in custody for a week after being arrested on charges unrelated to the murder of Jessica Koopmans. Now he's being charged with first degree murder. Gallop makes his first court appearance tomorrow. directable CBC News Lethbridge.

Unknown Speaker 4:31
The town of Walkerton Ontario marked the first anniversary of its E. coli tragedy on the weekend. A year ago seven people died and more than 2000 became ill from contaminated water. Jeanne Carter reports

Unknown Speaker 4:45
as service held yesterday help the 10 Remember those who've died and suffered. Elizabeth Critchfield says lessons must be learned from what happened in her community. One of her daughters became ill last year.

Unknown Speaker 4:57
I just hope we all learned later across North America in the world, not to take a lot of for granted, because there's nothing more precious to life lifeline.

Unknown Speaker 5:08
Bruce Davison of the group. Concerned walkouts and citizens helped organize an environmental fair held yesterday. It was a way to help the channel take a positive look to the future. One of the

Unknown Speaker 5:19
things that this tragedy has taught us is that the status quo is not sustainable for people. It's not sustainable for our children. And so well, today is about remembering those people we've lost. We also want to go beyond that. And in honor of them, we have to move ahead and say we don't want this to happen to other communities.

Unknown Speaker 5:36
While the people of Washington are focusing on the future. They can't forget about the ones who are still sick and those who died. Jeanne Carter, CBC News Walkerton, Ontario,

Unknown Speaker 5:48
Joe Clark is suggesting he could stay on for another election. The Federal conservative leader made the comment last night in an interview with CBC Television, Clarke talked about the possibility that his party might want him to lead an effort to unseat the liberals. He said he would have to discuss it with his family. Clark was also asked to comment on the eight Canadian Alliance members who've left their caucus.

Unknown Speaker 6:11
We want them to know I guess two things. One is that they'd be very comfortable working with us. And the second is that March is their duty us as members of parliament, they also as members of the alliance, they also have duties as a member of parliament, they've got to make this parliament work. And so long as there is a sideshow going on in the Canadian Alliance, that just gives the Liberal government in effect a free ride. We're doing the best we can. We're doing a pretty good job for 12 people on the floor of the House, but it would obviously better if we if we had a stronger, larger group working with us, like conservative

Unknown Speaker 6:46
leader Joe Clark. A report on the Israeli Palestinian conflict is being released today. The Mitchell report analyzes the causes of the violence and make makes recommendations for ending it. Among other things, the report calls on Yasser Arafat to take steps to stop attacks on Israelis. And it says Israel should freeze construction of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza to calm the atmosphere in the region. report was prepared by a commission headed by former US Senator George Mitchell. In Siberia. The flood crust on the Lena river has reached Yakutsk, a city of about 200,000 people thick ice jams in the river are causing the flooding. Russian fighter jets have been used to bomb the jams in an effort to let the water pass through. The river burst its banks near the town of LEDs gone Friday flooding about 5000 homes. And that's the CBC News.

Unknown Speaker 8:03
Five minutes after six o'clock on a holiday Monday morning, good morning. I'm David Grierson. We are on the island we're on the island of Saltspring this morning from artspring a special program for this Victoria Day Monday.

Unknown Speaker 8:22
It will be much music in this hour in this morning actually brought to you by folks from Saltspring like tequila cunninghamii here now, how it all began. We've gotten some Islanders who know all about Saltspring that existed long before the hippies and the tourists and the celebrities arrived. We'll hear their stories coming up. Before the hour is not your everyday logging protest. We'll take a look at the startling success of an anti logging campaign will expose the naked truth about logging on Saltspring to the world. Jeff Weaver Good morning. Morning. Time for your first beauty of the morning. Getting me back inside it was very hard to come back inside of the standing outside. Look at the weather.

Unknown Speaker 9:00
I've gotten NBC News headlines and investigator with the Canadian Transportation Safety Board says it appears the captain of a cruise ship did not properly report an incident off the coast of Vancouver Island this weekend. 16 passengers were taken to hospital in Victoria after the ship leaned sharply in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Patrick Monroe of I believe has our news this morning. It doesn't say doesn't 630 he'll have more on that story. We're going to put our audience to work together to help me with the weather. It's all good news. So they're going to love it. Another great day for this long weekend. For the South Coast we're expecting some morning cloudy periods but otherwise lots of sunshine again, and highs anywhere from 19 to 23. A little more action for the Central Coast. We mentioned just before six o'clock there will be some occasional rain some sunny periods inland highs anywhere from 11 to 14 and another great day for most of the interior, though there'll be a bit of increasing cloudiness for the peace and for the central interior and some showers look for highs around 16 But if you're listening to us in the Okanagan this morning, some cloudy periods but otherwise lots of sunshine and highs anywhere from 22 to 25. We may hit Hit the 27th Saltspring date. Do you think

Unknown Speaker 10:02
we can find that out? Well, maybe we can just make it up.

Unknown Speaker 10:05
I didn't bring it home. ometer I didn't bring it to monitor with us. Good

Unknown Speaker 10:08
morning, who's gonna hold us accountable? D It's 400 degrees Kelvin right now in downtown Ganges. And I think we're in for a really wave today. Thank you, Jeff. And thank you for coming. I'm surprised that you know the number of shows that you do in the morning show you don't expect to see as many bright eyed people that don't work for the CBC this hour of the morning. It's very nice to see you here. I think it's probably the coffee that did it. Were better to begin our exploration of Saltspring island in the beginning, I think that's a probably a logical place to start. For most of us. Saltspring is a place in the imagination, a place of unconventional thought, a place of creative souls, warm, warm weather, but it wasn't always that way. In the beginning, no one would have thought as Saltspring as a springboard to an easy life. I'm joined now by Charles Kahn, who is the author of Saltspring the story of an island. It's published by harbor press. Good morning, Charles. Good morning. So what was life like for the original inhabitants on this island?

Unknown Speaker 11:03
Well, it's funny to us, I was coming in this morning, I was thinking how much different it must have looked when people first came here, with all the land covered by huge trees, cougars, bears, wolves, we've got rid of all those by now. It would have been quite a formidable place to come. People who came had nothing, or hardly anything. They landed, who were they? Who are they? Well, they were quite a mix. Most of the people who first came, had come to this part of the world to take part in the gold rush. And they weren't successful at that. And they were heading back to where they come from, a lot of them were Americans. About half the first people who came to Saltspring were black. They had come from San Francisco, they weren't slaves. They were free people. But they didn't like life in us in California, the laws were not very good for them. So they decided to come north. And when they got to Victoria, there wasn't really a place for them there. As was the case with the miners. And the governor Douglas decided to start sending people here. And that's, that's how they got here.

Unknown Speaker 12:26
What was the what was the their biggest cause the biggest impediment to life here in those days for them, probably all

Unknown Speaker 12:33
the big trees because these people hoped that they would settle on the land and farm and grow things and have a have a good life. And the line was covered with these big trees and they didn't really want those big trees. Now of course we love those big trees for various reasons

Unknown Speaker 12:55
why do I think that's gonna be a recurrent theme this

Unknown Speaker 12:59
trees trees are very much in our in our in our mental set here on Saltspring these days, so

Unknown Speaker 13:06
don't take this the wrong way. Did everyone always get along?

Unknown Speaker 13:11
Well, a lot of people didn't really see much of each other because there weren't any roads on the island. So people came by water. They settled in different places all around the island. They had more to do with other places than they did with other people on Saltspring it was easier if you lived say down in the south end to go over to Vancouver Island than it was to come around to the north end of Saltspring. I remember talking to people even much later than these early days. Who said back in the you know not that long ago 50 years ago perhaps it took a whole day to go from from Fulford to Ganges. Lotus Rocco told me that she she when she went to high school in Ganges she had the board and you couldn't you couldn't go back and forth twice a day. Just took too much time. What was

Unknown Speaker 14:05
the this the status of the of the other islands around them was it it was was Saltspring early on in the in the development came it was settled first?

Unknown Speaker 14:13
It was pretty well the first but they the others came along Saltspring got started in 1859. With with non Aboriginal settlement, and the other islands were pretty close. I mean, the 1860s 1870s settlement settlement is very slow in those days. The population hardly changed from year to year, unlike today, where we seem to be getting perhaps a third increase every five years.

Unknown Speaker 14:43
So what impacted the arrival of the non Aboriginals in 1859 have on the on the first nations that were here.

Unknown Speaker 14:50
Well, they weren't too happy about that. They were this was their their land, different different times. Aboriginal nations had different parts of the island. If you look at the at the Treaty Negotiations today, you can see that various peoples have claimed different parts of Saltspring. I think where I live, there's about three different nations who claim ownership. So I'm not quite sure what that means. But anyway, they were quite used to having this land to themselves. And all of a sudden, here were people from from elsewhere, fencing things in telling them that they didn't belong here with quite a different way of life, different values, different social structure. And they weren't very happy about it.

Unknown Speaker 15:42
Was that preemption?

Unknown Speaker 15:44
Yes, the what the system that they set up was there. Douglas allowed people to come here and preempt land, which meant that they could basically take the land and work on it, and it didn't have to pay anything. So you if you had no money, this was a way of of getting a start. And if you made improvements to the land, eventually, you could buy the land. Initially, they wanted to charge $5 An acre but they soon found that that wasn't going to work out and the eventual price was more like $1 an acre. So a lot of people

Unknown Speaker 16:18
rattling loons in their pocket right now thinking they could be.

Unknown Speaker 16:23
Because you have to remember that $1 An acre was a lot of money for these people in those days. They didn't have anything.

Unknown Speaker 16:27
That's true. So when did you come to this island?

Unknown Speaker 16:31
I've only been here about nine years. I came here in 92.

Unknown Speaker 16:34
Only is am I going to find it only nine years is is is a newcomer status.

Unknown Speaker 16:40
Oh yes. I think you have to pretty well be born here to be anything but a newcomer

Unknown Speaker 16:44
i think i think I'm going to find that in the in my next three guests. Thank you, Charles. The great beginning Charles Kahn, the the author of Saltspring story

Unknown Speaker 16:59
so what about those

Unknown Speaker 17:00
early settlers, they came here for land and for freedom, impoverished gold seekers immigrants from Europe in Japan black Americans fleeing prejudice in the US. From the 1850s waves of settlers arrived here on this island. Some of their names are still on the street and road signs you will find Roland and Starks and Bettis and here and there on the island, you can still find some of the descendants of the earliest settlers and three of them are caught up at this ungodly hour to join us this morning and I'm so thankful for that. Glen Ruggles grandfather Henry was one of Salt Springs best known pioneers. He preempted land in 1872 gradually built up a largest farm on the island. The property is now a Provincial Park. And on some sites, you can actually find Glen in the old barn where she gives slideshows of utterly farm life here. Nadine Simms is the great granddaughter of Louis and Sylvia Stark. They were among the first wave of black pioneers to arrive on salt spring after leaving the US and rosemary counties. Japanese grandparents settled here on Salt Spring in 1909. And she had her brother Richard, still if you're good morning to you all.

Unknown Speaker 18:09
Quinn Raquel, I'm gonna start with you. How did your great grandparents forebears wind up here?

Unknown Speaker 18:16
Well, my great grandfather left Ontario in to go to California at the time of the California gold rush, and he came up the coast and said, Hey chips, looked at the land in the Fraser Valley and decided it was going to flood so he went to Vancouver Island where there was a family in Sydney did he knew. And when he got the bank around, he discovered that land on Saltspring could be was free for if you preempted 160 acres, so he scuttled over and got the first 27 acres in 1872.

Unknown Speaker 18:56
What exists in your family in the way of history? Is there other stories passed down from generations? Which one sticks out the most in your mind?

Unknown Speaker 19:05
The fact that there's well why the well named when he and grandma Rocco first had the children were young, they had to be the only way he could sell produce and the only way they could get produce was for him to roll from the bay. It'd be replying to Sydney in Vancouver Island.

Unknown Speaker 19:25
To give me a sense of how far that is. I mean, I just I don't know how far it is.

Unknown Speaker 19:32
Lot of rowing is a lot

Unknown Speaker 19:33
of rowing. And then later on, he and a group of farmers on Pender and main island declared long boat and they rode to New Westminster

Unknown Speaker 19:43
that's what was life like on this island at that point? It's sort of bucolic and welcoming now from a weather stamp it was

Unknown Speaker 19:54
it was hard work, because landed Grampa took up was, as Charles said, was big trees by big trees. I mean six to eight foot cross cedars and for which they cut down. I have record that they've done surveyor left in 1874 Grandpa had already got a cabin built. He had cows and sheep and pigs to root out the roots of the trees, but he also had fenced two fields was 7000 cedar fence rails. One way of getting rid of the cedar trees.

Unknown Speaker 20:40
So you were were you born on this island? Yes. And you stayed on this island?

Unknown Speaker 20:47
Yes. Why? Because I like it.

Unknown Speaker 20:53
But life is certainly easier for you here than it was for your, for your parents and your grandparents.

Unknown Speaker 20:59
Yes, but we we farmed. I now have a farm manager but I worked on the farm until about five years ago.

Unknown Speaker 21:09
So what do you think like what do you think life is like now for a farmer as opposed to life when your great grandparents grandparents were here? Because there's still lots of farming on the island.

Unknown Speaker 21:19
The biggest problem is marketing. We raise sheep, and it's a big struggle.

Unknown Speaker 21:28
Thank you, Nadine. Simms. When did your great grandparents come to Saltspring?

Unknown Speaker 21:31
They came in 1860. They came to Canada in 1858. Were when they arrived on the island in 1860.

Unknown Speaker 21:42
Where was the states that they come from? Missouri.

Unknown Speaker 21:45
They came from Missouri. And they go all the way? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 21:49
I mean, how did they land up here to the just spin the globe? And

Unknown Speaker 21:53
no. They went from Missouri to California and a covered wagon, believing that they could work in the gold fields. And when they got there, they found there were so many laws discriminating them against doing working. The only thing they could do was menial jobs. They had nothing really concrete to work with. And they were being treated pretty badly in all phases of their life. So they thought, well, this isn't the place. We're not going to stop here. And they started up the coast. And they ended up in Placerville, California that's on the way north. And my Silvia Stark met her husband on this journey and married him there in California at Placerville. And it's in the records there the archives of her marriage there. But they joined with a few blacks who decided that America wasn't the place to be. So they wrote a letter to Governor Douglas, James Douglas, and he said, you're welcome to come here. And we will give you land, you can have it preempt the land. And we'd just be happy to have you. Well, that's all they wanted to hear if the fellas were welcomed. Yes. And so he took this, the Commodore or the Jonathan, two old ships, and they got on these ships and came up and some of them the men brought their cattle up by the Overland Trail, the old Overland Trail. They bought their cattle that way. And I guess they must have been the first cowboys if I'm not mistaken. But anyway,

Unknown Speaker 23:49
this all sounds terribly safe and ordered but it was it was a dangerous and very,

Unknown Speaker 23:54
very sad. It was hard. It was a hard time for them. And it was still a hard time even after they came to Salt Spring because they had very little and it was just work work all the time that you had many, many animals, many cows. I remember my grandmother when my grandma my uncle, my great grandfather became ill she had to go and milk 14 Cows every day 14 You know for a woman and she was strong she could do anything she was about this draw

Unknown Speaker 24:35
for the radio audience that's short. No one asked you to be on the radio. They need to what happened to the black community on this island?

Unknown Speaker 24:48
Well, most of them felt that there was nothing here for them no industry. There was a school teacher Jones and my A great aunt, my grandmother's sister was the first school teacher in Nanaimo, black school teacher in Nanaimo. Her father took her up there and they had another farm in Nanaimo. And that's where he was killed. You know, we had a coal mine there. And they sandbag in trusty mover, Cliff. And, anyway, so my grandmother carried on. And she stayed here all those years after his death and raised her families. They all died early age, a lot of them. The school teacher was I think she was about, oh, gosh, she was about 4038 or 40 when she died. Well, thank you for coming in this morning. Thank you. It was a pleasure meeting. You.

Unknown Speaker 25:59
I think I think we're going to we're going to come a little later, we're into the 20th century. Now we get to Rosemarie Cami, am I right, Rose when your family came here

Unknown Speaker 26:07
1909. My grandfather will cancel. My maternal grandfather came to Canada in 1896. And he was in the fishing business in stevenston. My mother was born in 1904. And she was the first Japanese Canadian, a child to be born and steep Stan, and he used to have he built up his fishing fleet to five and used to come to Salt Spring Island sometimes to get firewood etc. But they did settle for a little while. And duck Bay in 1909. And I think there are about five Japanese families there. And when they were on the waters, there were a lot of tragedies late, they lost a two year old child to drowning in the ocean and one of their homes on the barge burnt down. And so they went back to Japan for just a short while and then came back to do some fishing again. But they decided that they wanted to leave the ocean and come to become land lovers, I guess

Unknown Speaker 27:21
it was you're gonna fall in love with land. This is good land to love. So they

Unknown Speaker 27:24
chose to come to Salt Spring Island in 1919. They first bought my grandfather first bought 50 acres and then another 50 and another 50 to the total of 200 acres and at the foot of sharp road and, and the mouth of the booth canal and up the mountain on Rainbow Road. In fact, the area where they're having problems rainbow grove with water belonged to my grandfather there. And what happened

Unknown Speaker 27:54
what happened when when when war broke out what happened to the to the mark how my family?

Unknown Speaker 27:59
Well, first of all, my mother and father were very successful farmers. And if the people on Salt Spring remember how beautiful our farm was now used to be on Rainbow Road, you can imagine a couple starting out, they had 17 acres at the foot of sharp Road, Dad and Mom cleared that using blasting powder getting the stumps and made it into a very productive 17 acre farm berries, vegetables. And also the My father built every building on that land, six chicken houses, bunk houses for people who came from humaneness to help them harvest the house that we lived in. And they had about 5000 chickens. And so they were very, very successful. And then 1941 When Pearl Harbor occurred, that was the year after nine years of really working hard. That was the year when they were going to pay off the debts. And the future look very bright. And of course when Pearl Harbor began that was just a flashpoint if you know the history of British Columbia, it was very racist, particularly towards the Asians. And so when the more measures that came in, if you know the board measures like you are confined to your land, the curfew was on. And the it was like Nazi Germany, people could look the police could come and search your house without a warrant, etc. So, in the end, what happened was in 1942 of March 17 1942, initially, five men were taken from the island and one of the men was my father because at the time he was a national Japanese national and it was very difficult for Asians to get naturalized. At that time, so here my father disappeared and my mother had 5000 Chicken, the entire farm ready to be harvested. And she had five children, the oldest being 14 and my youngest brother Richard at the time. Wasn't quite one. And we have another brother. I can't forget him because we call him the prison camp baby because he was born in the prison camp in new Denver. So Father disappears and mother really didn't know where dad was till about four months later. And then, in one month after dad left, we were forced off the island. I remember the CPR boat coming and gathering us all up from all the Gulf Islands. And we were taken to Hastings Park and Hastings Park

Unknown Speaker 30:48
facility, we

Unknown Speaker 30:49
have a lovely rose garden. Yes, but

Unknown Speaker 30:51
it wasn't beautiful at that time, because we were taken to the animal barns and miles, you could see like a child that loves like miles and miles of bunk beds. They weren't ready for us. I think we were one of the earliest families and the bunk beds were like really close together, and that you are assigned so many bunk beds, according to family, and my sister, my sister, one of my sisters had very bad asthma. And so we're into from our beautiful land home on Saltspring Island, to transition and a half. Yes, like the smell of animal feces and urine permeated the entire building. The food was very poor people got food poisoning, diarrhea, cetera. We stayed there for about a month, and then we were shipped to Greenwood. And there began our transition from one place to another. And in the meantime, in Greenwood, my mother found out where my dad was, he had disappeared from our life. But he had gone from here to the CNR to Hastings Park, they stayed for two nights and then they were taken to the CNR station. And then he went to Jasper, and he was on the group of men were forced to work on the roads there. And they lived in these freight cars in the middle of nowhere. And anyhow, the married men were most unhappy because they were forced to be separated from the families and that was a policy of the the Canadian government to separate the families. And then they said that if we went into the beet fields, we would be allowed to join up as a family again. And in the meantime, my grandfather Ocampo and his family chose not to go to the various camps and went to McGrath, Alberta to be a bank, he was assigned to farm to do sugar beets. And so that mom said we'll go to Alberta and we met our father on July the 23rd 1943 42 in McGrath, Alberta and we became a family again,

Unknown Speaker 33:12
and we're going to have to leave the story there. Okay, thank you, rosemary, economy, Lady and Sims and when ruffled three of the descendants of some of Saltspring islands, pioneer families, and fascinating stories all on an island that has much much below the surface both in terms of the of the land and its people. You're listening to a special holiday Monday edition of on the island from CBC Radio One 90.5 FM in Victoria 690 in Vancouver, and we'll continue after Patrick Monroe brings us the CBC News with a look at one of the most contentious issues on this lovely island the issue of logging.

Unknown Speaker 33:56
CBC Radio News British Columbia. Good morning. I'm Patrick Monroe. The search will resume this morning for a man who's gone missing from the Sunshine Coast area. A 29 year old Powell river man went out in a canoe on Saturday and failed to return is canoe was found later partly submerged. a Coast Guard helicopter and buffalo aircraft have been involved in the search. Brian Pennell is a marine controller at the Rescue Coordination Center in Victoria

Unknown Speaker 34:27
last night we searched until midnight and we had illumination flares for the units that were on the water. And we stopped searching as at midnight. And actually at this point, I'm just about to call out the crew again. And we're gonna have another look at the area this morning.

Unknown Speaker 34:43
panel says the Coast Guard and Coast Guard exhilarate had been searching the area of Malaspina, straight between Texada island and the mainland 50 days and counting that's how long the transit strike in the Lower Mainland has been dragging on a bus riders Advocacy Group is once again calling on TransLink to offer a taxi voucher system for low income earners. A spokesman for TransLink says something may be in the works. Let's do Pritchard reports

Unknown Speaker 35:12
Martha Robert speaks for the group that calls itself the bus riders union transition group. She says while some on social assistance are getting taxi vouchers for health reasons, many others also need to get around.

Unknown Speaker 35:26
We've heard a lot of stories about people losing jobs or not getting jobs because they don't have a way to transport themselves to and from work about parents having to walk incredible distances to medical appointments with their children, people, especially the elderly, who have absolutely no social contact at this time.

Unknown Speaker 35:44
Robert is calling on TransLink to create a taxi voucher system similar to one offered low income earners in Calgary during its recent transit strike. But TransLink spokesperson Ken Hardy says the Calgary situation is different because that city administers both transit and social assistance programs. But he says he's not ruling out some sort of help for low income earners.

Unknown Speaker 36:07
The problem that we would have a TransLink is that we do not know who these people aren't. We don't know how to reach them. We would need assistance in setting something up but we're trying to figure out what we can do at this point.

Unknown Speaker 36:19
At the moment. However, Hardy says all TransLink can offer is a list on its website of other services available to those who are having difficulty getting around. Lesley Pritchard, CBC News Vancouver,

Unknown Speaker 36:30
former adviser to premier ojo Dosanjh says the future of the NDP in this province is in serious doubt. David Shrek says the party receives about $70,000 Each month in pre authorized checks from party supporters. If the funding dries up in the wake of the party's decimation in last week's election. He says the NDP won't have a leg to stand on. Track also believes the party has to repay a loan which was taken out to fight the election, with its headquarters in Burnaby. used as collateral. A Chilliwack man was killed when his pickup truck rolled over on a gravel road in Saskatchewan. It happened Friday near the town of Macklin which is near the Alberta border. The victim was 24 year old Corey Hamlin, a 16 year old girl who was riding in the truck is in stable condition in Saskatoon hospital. And investigator with the Canadian Transportation Safety Board says it appears the captain of a cruise ship did not properly reported incident off the coast of Vancouver Island on the weekend. That investigation has now been turned over to the board's us counterpart 16 passengers were taken to hospitals in Victoria after the ship listed sharply in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Eric Aslan of the Safety Board says any vessel having an incident should report it to the vessel traffic system or the Rescue Coordination Center was

Unknown Speaker 37:57
not done as far as we know. That's why the fino bass got involved by looking at the radars as they were monitoring the vessel seen it under screen making a sharp turn, stopping the water and it just made a follow up on it just to make sure that everything was fine. The master was not forthcoming by giving any information on that matter. And the matter was been taken upon the Rescue Coordination Center. And later on the master reported that they had a problem with their autopilot.

Unknown Speaker 38:30
Most of the passengers had been returned to Seattle where the cruise ship was headed. A multi million dollar lawsuit against BC gas opens tomorrow and BC Supreme Court in Cornell 27 People are suing the company because of an a horrific gas explosion in a store that killed six people in 1997 and other 20 people were injured. The explosion blew some people a dozen meters clear of the flattened building. leaky condo owners say they're eager to work with the incoming Campbell government cache the compensation and accountability to soaked homeowners society is seeking compensation for 10s of the 1000s of homeowners. As Karen tankard reports the group hopes to meet with officials of the new government soon

Unknown Speaker 39:17
cash estimates 45,000 BC dwellings have been repaired for Water Damage. Another 45,000 will be in need of repair during the next decade. And it's not just condo units. The group is starting to see problems with newer single family dwellings. The outgoing NDP government initiated several measures aimed at helping leaky homeowners, among them sales tax relief and no interest loans to cover the cost of repairs. Cash now wants more. It's seeking 100% compensation for the owners of leaky dwellings. The group is urging the federal and provincial governments to work out some kind of assistance package. Carmen Moravec is the president of cash, she says The liberal candidates were non committal during the election campaign, but she has high hopes for the future.

Unknown Speaker 40:06
They claim that they would have the stakeholders at the table to negotiate some kind of settlement and move forward strategy. We welcome that. But we would like to see that roundtable discussion have a deadline so that we can move forward from the situation.

Unknown Speaker 40:23
Radek says moving forward will also mean protecting future homeowners from a similar fate. She says when she finally gets to sit down with representatives of the incoming government, she'll be urging them to toughen up residential construction standards in the province, Karen tankard, CBC News Vancouver

Unknown Speaker 40:41
national and international news this morning the man charged with the murder of a five year old Lethbridge girl will make a court appearance tomorrow and the town of Walkerton Ontario marked the first anniversary of the E. coli tragedy this weekend. We'll have more on those stories coming up on world report this morning at seven now on this Victoria Day morning. It's back to on the island with your host David Grierson. David a different island this morning though.

Unknown Speaker 41:07
It is a different island Thank you Patrick 23 minutes now before seven o'clock we are on Saltspring Island.

Unknown Speaker 41:43
Makayla Cunningham on the Constitution we will talk to her in just a moment but first a chance for Jeff Weaver to to the sports and the weather and I noticed that you're getting some high priced talent help this morning.

Unknown Speaker 41:54
We were yeah we're gonna put the audience to work I'm sitting up in the audience

Unknown Speaker 41:57
we introduce yourself. My name is John Rowlandson and and I live down on the South in the island near Fulford right info for and you

Unknown Speaker 42:05
are Susan Pratt and I John's neighbor Susan has

Unknown Speaker 42:09
the has the weather for the interior part of DC Go ahead. Okay. Okay. It's quite dark in the in the in the audience here. Can you see it? Okay. Just barely.

Unknown Speaker 42:19
Just here's the up where mom and dad live for the Peace River District increasing cloudiness today and highs near 17 for the central interior manded cloudy with showers and highs near 16. For the Columbia Cooney regions, morning sunny periods and then increasing afternoon cloudiness, highs near 18 There's a spelling error

Unknown Speaker 42:45
Well welcome to our word.

Unknown Speaker 42:48
For Thompson in the Okanagan sunny with cloudy periods and highs 22 to 25.

Unknown Speaker 42:54
Which word is spelled wrong there.

Unknown Speaker 42:56
I think it's for

Unknown Speaker 42:58
John Scott. The coastal weather is gonna be another great day on the coasts.

Unknown Speaker 43:01
Lots of weather on the coast Victoria in the south coast, including Greater Vancouver study with morning cloudy periods highs from 19 to 23. Highs for the northern half of Vancouver Island around 13 degrees and some fog patches for the western half of the island but I say this like I actually know the area. For the for the Central Coast Cloudy with occasional rain and some sunny periods inland highs from 11 to 14 for the North Coast and the Queen Charlotte's Periods of rain and drizzle and becoming windy at the coast. Southerly winds from 40 to 60 kilometers per hour. Highs near 11.

Unknown Speaker 43:39
Good job good job. Don't you think?

Unknown Speaker 43:41
It starts tomorrow? You're listening to on the island on Saltspring for a Victoria Day Monday morning from 90.5 FM and Victoria you'll find us at 91.5 FM in Prince George. Oh, Kayla Cunningham, I'm gonna go and sit by you for a second. And this you know, this is this is a concertina and this is not something that I would associate with a young woman this is why would you pick this of all the instruments?

Unknown Speaker 44:08
Well, I like it plain and simple. And I thought it would be kind of handy to carry around and I like the sound. And I sort of like the tradition that that it carries with itself. And

Unknown Speaker 44:25
then what's the tradition of this instrument in particular? What did you how did you come by this? Well, it's

Unknown Speaker 44:31
I couldn't say common, but it's fairly popular in Irish traditional music scene. And so there's people that play it, and there's people that play it. Fantastic. LEE Well, you know, so I was inspired by them. And so, I mean, it's not considered really really strange, like extra extra stress real compared to here. You know what I mean? Like it's really unusual, but also,

Unknown Speaker 44:57
it was always the five favorite concert at 5pm was concertina players of Salzburg. And you're on the list. And you're on the list and I noticed that you're on.

Unknown Speaker 45:10
Yeah, so that makes it.

Unknown Speaker 45:11
Now while I'm making lists here, we it's interesting if you run the if you run the name Mikayla calling Hamilton on the net, you find a lot of references to you in the concertina. But you were a part, though this thing was missing for some time.

Unknown Speaker 45:26
Just about three months to turn it off. I could say three months. Yeah. How did it go

Unknown Speaker 45:30
missing? And how did you get it back?

Unknown Speaker 45:32
Oh, I don't know if this is a good thing to bring up.

Unknown Speaker 45:41
Clearly, some secrets remain secret on assaults

Unknown Speaker 45:45
for the purpose of

Unknown Speaker 45:47
trying to protect my mother to some extent, because she left it on the bus. Yeah. So that's how it all started.

Unknown Speaker 45:54
All right, and in and you're prepared to play something for us now.

Unknown Speaker 45:59
I assure you, I've got cold fingers and you know, everything else but of course, how could you have cold fingers? I don't know. I don't know what I suffer from anyway.

Unknown Speaker 46:10
Well, thank you for musicians playing in this hour, there's a special place in heaven for you Mikayla Cunningham.

Unknown Speaker 48:05
Thank you very much Mikayla, it's just 60 minutes now before seven o'clock before eight o'clock in the Mountain Time Zone don't often get to say that when you live in Vancouver. Let's talk now about a logging protest. It's what started out as just another logging protest the kind of thing we're all too familiar with here in British Columbia. But somewhere along the line it became a particularly Saltspring sort of happening. Someone thought of publishing a nude calendar featuring local women Briony pan is Lady Godiva brought the protest of course and the media to downtown Vancouver and surprise, surprise, the whole world sat up and began to take notice. I'm joined now by three Saltspring islanders with very different roles and of course perspectives on this store story. Krishma is a professional forester and the owner of Salt Springs foxglove nursery. David Borman is one of the two trustees for Saltspring island on the Gulf Islands trust. And Andrea Collins is an activist who has been involved in the campaign to prevent logging around the Saltspring water supply. She's also known to some as Miss January. Good morning to you all. Morning, David. Andrea. What was the hardest part of deciding to take your clothes off for cause?

Unknown Speaker 49:16
I don't think it was difficult at all. We decided we wanted to do the calendar and it was for a good cause. And we just it just happened.

Unknown Speaker 49:26
What kind of reaction did you get?

Unknown Speaker 49:30
The reaction was actually really overwhelming. I don't think any of us thought it was going to be that. Just generally liked by the media and by everybody what was

Unknown Speaker 49:41
modified for a second and tell me how much money it meant.

Unknown Speaker 49:46
Well, we're still selling calendars. We sold about 14,000. And we have about 1000 left. So they're kind of selling more slowly but the initial amount of $100,000 This is what we raised and had donated to the water Preservation Society.

Unknown Speaker 50:06
So why did you choose this particular part of this whole discussion to to focus on us as as your your specific point of protest

Unknown Speaker 50:16
means woodshed? I think what is important, I think drinking water is really important. And here on Saltspring, we have a limited supply. And the three lakes that do supply water are very deteriorating rapidly, and they're in really bad shape. So, Maxwell is the last pristine lake that we have left and watershed. So I think it's important to protect it.

Unknown Speaker 50:46
How important is that is you're a fairly high profile person you have you've come from a fairly high profile position. And and the first thing that people say was, Oh, yes, she's Phil Collins ex wife. The second thing is, oh, yes, she's missed January. But the average or the other way around, depending on whether they've seen the calendar or not. But what I'm interested in is is is, how would you what kind of advice you would give others who are involved in in a protest of their own calendar, do a calendar, or use your connections, but they don't have them whenever you

Unknown Speaker 51:29
can do just to? I think the important thing is to try and be visible in some way, whether it's through lobbying, or protesting or letter writing, let people let the politicians know that you exist, and that you're concerned about whatever it is, you're concerned about, that you want results, you want answers, you want some kind of resolution, I think you just have to be just make sure you have a voice, and that you're heard. And however you have to do that.

Unknown Speaker 52:02
Whatever it takes,

Unknown Speaker 52:03
pretty much.

Unknown Speaker 52:06
Thank you, Andrea, Andrea Collins.

Unknown Speaker 52:15
I'm gonna go to you next, what, to what extent has Saltspring Island been of one mind when it comes to the logging by text at land Corporation?

Unknown Speaker 52:22
Well, I

Unknown Speaker 52:23
guess when we review the way the media has presented the issues and the way that we've seen the community involvement on the very visible front of it, it seems to be on the face that everybody's on one side. However, I think that in the broadest sense, the community is quite divided in this. So why have we heard the other side of the story? Well, I guess part of it is the concept of whether it's politically correct. Harvesting is not a very popular term to use. And yet, this building is made of a significant amount of timber in our lives are very much involved with resource extraction, our roads, the mines, the mills, the factories, to quote Gordon Lightfoot, were all put here by the pioneers of this land, and we are really only 130 40 years from the very beginning. Professionally speaking, I think that the issue hasn't been brought forward. And there are a significant number of foresters on this island who have not spoken to it because to this point, there has been a lot of passion, a lot of information put forward which is scientific to a degree but not entirely. So and there are a million opinions on this issue. And I think that we are in a situation where we have to No, look to find some this is outside of the profession to find some community acceptance and broader tolerance and find the middle ground I think we have to listen to the other opinions. The people who have been activists and have taken this in hand now to this point, have done a commendable job of bringing it to an issue and it is an issue professionally as well as for the community. But I think that at this point now there if the lands are secure and become part of the community, we need to look at utilization of IP for every purpose there are lands which should be a great protected there are lands which should be protected for Watershed Management.

Unknown Speaker 54:20
Actually, this would be a good point to bring David Berman in because we've we've got David's you've given me you've given me a map here and we've got a sense of of how much land there is on this island. That is that is under the text data name. What can you describe the area that that could be purchased at this point?

Unknown Speaker 54:36
Well, tech Satan purchased about 5000 acres when they arrived on the island and that area pretty well. Overlays southwest to Salt Spring which doesn't mean a great deal to anyone except that the area has been the object of interest by the federal government, the province, probably negotiations going at this point. The problem This tells us that the negotiations are going well, that obviously, they're not showing any cards at this point. But they tell us that the atmosphere is cordial. And so we hoped for. That's what I'm told. And so we hope for significant purchases, which will mean that the province will be buying into an existing range of partnerships around especially around for going Bay on Southwest Saltspring.

Unknown Speaker 55:29
As Chris alluded to, I mean, there are many, many opinions. But everyone has a stake here and and your your role as a trustee for Saltspring. How hard is it to carry out the the island trust job of preserving and protecting the island?

Unknown Speaker 55:45
Well, the trust was set up in 1974, I suppose. And especially at this juncture, I should say, by an NDP government with the active support of the liberal opposition of the day.

Unknown Speaker 56:03
The trust was set up to preserve and protect the unique amenities of the Gulf Islands for the benefit of the residents and the province generally, that's the object clause of the legislation. Now that Job has become extremely difficult indeed, because the one thing that later provincial legislation says that we cannot protect is the tree cover. And I don't think that this kind of issue is going to go away in the Gulf Islands. One of the objectives of the trust, one of our policies is that we support sustainable forestry. And Chris is right that one of the outcomes of the provincial negotiations now could actually be community forest. I think we might be more comfortable on the island with the logging activities. If we felt that they had more to do with forestry than they actually do. What we seem to be seeing is real estate, a conversion of forested land to real estate.

Unknown Speaker 57:12
So I think we'd like to get back in step with some of the people that Chris was talking about, and maybe become a little healthier, a little more whole community in the

Unknown Speaker 57:25
well it's I'm very thankful that that all three of you have taken the time to come in this morning and and add to the discussion. I think for a lot of people around the province you hear the headlines, you see the pictures but you don't get a sense of the of the humanity of it all and there are many parts of humanity involved in this discussion. Thank you for this. David Berman is one of the two trustees for Saltspring island of the Gulf Islands trust. Christopher Shma is a professional forester and owner of Salt Springs Fox club nursery, and Andrea Collins is an activist who has been involved in the campaign to prevent logging around the salt spring water supply.

Unknown Speaker 58:07
This is a special program for a holiday Monday. It's Victoria Day. We are on the island on the island of Saltspring this morning instead of our regular perch on Pandora street downtown, downtown Victoria. My name is David Grierson. I'm with Jeff Weaver and a whole group of lovely Saltspring you always get up at this hour of the morning. Do you remember the story of Pinocchio because your noses are growing? Because everyone born here. Good. I'd hate to have any kind of any kind of unanimity of opinion on this island. You know, there are a few things that lured people here from afar but for some Saltspring island there's there's still something missing in their adopted home. And well, Barban Peter McCauley has think they've put their finger on just what's missing here. They're looking for transplanted East Coasters just like themselves to form a Saltspring chapter of the maritimers. Club. Good morning, Barb. I'm sorry,

Unknown Speaker 59:13
you said how's she going?

Unknown Speaker 59:15
Oh, okay. Did everyone understand what she said? Where's home?

Unknown Speaker 59:22
Nova Scotia?

Unknown Speaker 59:23
See that was a trick question. Because where do you live now?

Unknown Speaker 59:26
I live on Salzburg. What did you the idea

Unknown Speaker 59:30
for a maritimers Club?

Unknown Speaker 59:32
Well, we did live in Duncan for a little while and they had a maritimers club over there. So we thought it might be kind of fun since we've been here for a couple of years. So just to get to know the other maritimers on the island.

Unknown Speaker 59:46
What do maritimers do when they get together? Just sort of revel in the fact that someone says car

Unknown Speaker 59:52
No, we, we say that a lot. But we get together for potluck. see different traditional foods from Nova Scotia and such as? Well, you could go for cod and scrunch Ian's or blueberry grunt Banik.

Unknown Speaker 1:00:10
We've seen a lot of two of the latter two you can get out here, I

Unknown Speaker 1:00:13
think. But you can, you can, but you could get caught out here

Unknown Speaker 1:00:18
is me saying cod now.

Unknown Speaker 1:00:21
It's a very good card. Actually. It's different from back, back home, but it's very nice. Very nice.

Unknown Speaker 1:00:28
Do you understand that? What are they called? CFAs come from aways. Are you are you a comfortable way? Here?

Unknown Speaker 1:00:34
I am a comfortable? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 1:00:37
Do you understand now what it feels like to be a comfortable way down east?

Unknown Speaker 1:00:41
I certainly do. It's a culture shock. Actually, this is quite a melting pot out here. Back home. You know, we have more. I think groups not as many groups but Scottish and Irish and you have blacks and knickknacks. And you know you have the few others, but not as many in in such groups.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:04
Aren't our west coasters welcoming? Are they? The kind of warm feet

Unknown Speaker 1:01:09
are unbelievably warm and friendly. And I find it very strange back home. We you know, we don't hug and kiss when we see each other. But here they want to give you a big hug and really make you feel welcome.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:26
So how long have you been here?

Unknown Speaker 1:01:28
We've been here about three years on the West Coast.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:32
Have you found many displaced east coasters?

Unknown Speaker 1:01:36
We found a few actually. We put an ad in the driftwood. And

Unknown Speaker 1:01:44
go Don't go there. Great. Great newspaper.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:50
And we've had about we have about 10 couples actually that are interested so far. And we've only run the ad twice. So good.

Unknown Speaker 1:01:58
Have you found connections other than just place of origin? Yes. So trying to politely ask are you related?

Unknown Speaker 1:02:08
Well, I ran into a John McDonnell yesterday for at the sailing clubs. And he was from back home. So that was kind of nice to run into someone with a similar name. We were also members of the Royal Canadian Legion and we play in their pipe band. And that gives us the music that we miss the pipes and Viper or drummer, I'm a drummer. Really good for you. Well,

Unknown Speaker 1:02:34
vessel I do. Is there a secret handshake or somebody that could be an honorary maritime? Or? Or would you have to kill me afterwards?

Unknown Speaker 1:02:42
Just a good how's she going? Boy?

Unknown Speaker 1:02:45
Oh, you look good on you. Thank you very much for coming in this morning. Oh, thank

Unknown Speaker 1:02:48
you very much for having me. Barbara Colleen, her

Unknown Speaker 1:02:51
husband Peter are forming Saltspring islands first maritimers club. Now you know what she looks like if you're a maritime or come out of the closet. It's not so bad after all.

Unknown Speaker 1:03:09
It's on the island from Salt Spring from art spring on Salt Spring. There's a lot of pouring in this. And now we're going to go to Jeff weaver who has things to say where are you Weaver?

Unknown Speaker 1:03:18
I'm over here sitting by another maritimers from Prince Edward Island. Is that right? Sheila? Yes. What's your last name? Done? And you're just here visiting right? Yes, David and Jennifer. How long have you been on Saltspring? I'm leaving today. Oh, that's

Unknown Speaker 1:03:33
too bad.

Unknown Speaker 1:03:33
I've been here 10 days.

Unknown Speaker 1:03:35
She's been here 10 days. So

Unknown Speaker 1:03:36
those 10 days have achieved.

Unknown Speaker 1:03:40
I enjoy the solitude and I've never seen such large trees.

Unknown Speaker 1:03:45
Yeah, that's true. It's one thing the Maritimes don't have. Sheila and I will trade recipes for blueberry grant here in a minute but a couple of quick words on the weather a lovely day here on the south coast again. Same for the interior. Places like Kelowna will see little clouds moving in late in the day but high as well into the 20s day there will be a bit of rain for the North Coast and the highs around 13.

Unknown Speaker 1:04:03
There you go. That's great. And we're going to continue our program here from from artspring on Saltspring Island. It's it's kind of three hours about a place that a lot of us have misconceptions about I think a lot of the province thinks Gulf Island, they think Saltspring they think all you have to do is just find yourself a really comfy chair and look at the view all the time. But there are those who actually do live on this island and work elsewhere. You're going to meet a couple of commuters in the next hour you're going to meet a guy who can make bananas grow on this island you're going to be banana joke as you all know banana Joe promises no banana joke. Ross is going to dip into that whole notion about flag yogurt you designs in yet on the island continues for a Monday. It's a holiday and world Saltspring.

Unknown Speaker 1:04:54
Here's the CBC News. I'm Mike Oldham. People in the Siberian city of Yakutsk are preparing for the worst as they await the arrival of a flood crest on the Lena River. The Lena is one of the world's largest rivers. Ice jams and heavy spring runoff have caused flooding that has already destroyed most of the city of Lenski more from our Moscow correspondent Bill gillaspie.

Unknown Speaker 1:05:18
Heavy Equipment Operators aided by university students have worked through the night building four meter high clay dikes, helicopters are standing by to evacuate people to 14 tent camps set up around the city if it becomes necessary. Already floodwaters have invaded a low lying suburb of Yakutsk, forcing 3500 people to higher ground with a population of 200,000 Yakutsk is central Siberia is largest city. The waters of the Lenin river that flow through it are now a meter above flood level and rising residence aided by disaster relief workers flown in by Russia's Federal Emergency Department are working nonstop. an icebreaker is smashing ice jams downstream, hoping to open the relief channel. Russian military bombers have dropped six tons of explosives on ice jams upstream. Despite all that the water is still rising. 10 centimeters an hour. Go Gillespie, CBC News, Moscow.

Unknown Speaker 1:06:20
The man charged in the murder of a five year old girl will make a court appearance tomorrow, Jessica Koopmans disappeared from outside her home in Lethbridge Alberta on May the fourth. Her body was found a week later in a field south of Fort Macleod about 50 kilometers away. The man in custody was visiting the Koopmans home on the day the girl disappeared. He's described by the girl's mother as a friend of the family. Three people in New Brunswick are taking the RCMP to court the case goes back for years when police use dogs and tear gas to break up protests against school closures. Some people claim they were beaten and treated unfairly by the Mounties. As Catherine MacKinnon reports. The three intend to use a report that criticize the RCMP his actions.

Unknown Speaker 1:07:08
He was behind the wheel of his car when somebody opened the door and start to punch him and kick him and and tried to pull them out of the car

Unknown Speaker 1:07:19
into a hole says his client is emotionally scarred by the events that sense of and says you know, aside from being beaten through a hole also alleges Cristiano ad was arrested and detained overnight without ever being charged. And he'll use a federal report that condemns the actions of the RCMP to make his case. Surely He is the head of the Commission for public complaints against the RCMP. In her report. She mentioned Cristiano ad by name, and she says her investigators found nothing to justify the strong arm tactics used on him by police officers with dogs. Noel's lawyer says there are ongoing negotiations.

Unknown Speaker 1:07:57
The report that was released is a big step forward and I think it will probably help solving this. This action.

Unknown Speaker 1:08:07
Dr. Hahn says he's hoping for an out of court settlement. katsu MacKinnon, CBC News Monckton,

Unknown Speaker 1:08:14
the search for a missing Japanese adventurer continues in the Arctic he Oh he kono hasn't made contact with the support group since Thursday. A slide and some other items believed to belong to them were spotted by the pilot of a plane but there is no sign of kono. He was travelling through the Arctic to Japan. Kona walked to the North Pole in 1997. A fire during a prison riot has killed 26 inmates in Chile and happened in the city of E Keek. way north of Santiago. The Regional Governor says inmates set fire to their mattresses and blankets. Officials say the fires were started during a riot which began after an apparent jailbreak. Authorities in Hong Kong are killing more than a million birds in an effort to eradicate an outbreak of avian influenza. All the poultry in Hong Kong's markets has already been slaughtered. The bird flu detected last week is not believed to have spread to farms and no people have been affected. In 1997. A similar virus killed six people and that's the CBC News.

Unknown Speaker 1:09:26
It's five minutes after seven o'clock on a Monday morning it's a Victoria Day holiday Monday and you're spending it on the island.

Unknown Speaker 1:09:47
Good morning I'm David Grierson. Usually in Victoria serving Vancouver Island in the Sunshine Coast this morning on Saltspring Island at artspring with a wonderful and appreciative audience of folks who are bide with great coffee and I see the are undergoing down rather well. Are they good or why? And the coffee is very nice. Thank you Saltspring roasting we have a variety of things coming this hour where you're gonna meet banana Joe Clemente and this hour for those of us who are on the island here we know who banana Joe is, but well, you know, it might seem to be fixed and for some folks that you can grow bananas on any Island. kind of talk about how Saltspring has changed in one man's lifetime the man is Tony Richards, who is the publisher of the Gulf Islands driftwood. We're gonna talk about the flag of sovereign Saltspring Island and this hour, not as crazy a notion as you might think you're going to be two great fillers from the out and we're going to talk about well, commuting for a living, living on the island working somewhere else and before the hour is out, I'm led to believe that we're going to do some gumboot dancing Yeah, I think that's probably a good idea to Jeff Weaver first though where are you Mr.

Unknown Speaker 1:10:55
Weaver to your left stage left stage left to stage right

Unknown Speaker 1:10:57
I don't know you're out there somewhere as your coffee cup on refill. Just I'm gonna go and refill it actually

Unknown Speaker 1:11:02
while you talk about the BC news headlines a good morning a University of Victoria political analyst says it's like staring into the mouth of the whale. Michael Prince says VCs three remaining the Democrats will have to pick their spots battling the liberals in the legislature. The lower mainland bus strike is creating real hardship for some people even the long weekend. A bus riders advocacy group is pressing TransLink to offer a taxi voucher system to low income earners. More on those stories and the rest of the BC news headlines with Patrick Monroe coming up at half past the weather day three of the long weekend and more great weather for some parts of BC the coast including the Victoria area vancouver island here in Salt Spring and also the Greater Vancouver area some morning cloudy periods but otherwise sunshine. Highs 19 to 23. For the Central Coast cloudy occasional rain but some sunny breaks inland highs will be anywhere from 11 to 14. I get some more rain and drizzle along the north coast today. We'll also have the winds are going to pick up at the coast. The Peace River District increasing cloud today highs around 17 Central interior Mainly cloudy showers and highs of 16 a Columbia Kootenay region some morning sunny breaks but afternoon increasing afternoon cloud and for Thomson and Okanagan and places like Kelowna today just great weather sunshine, a few cloudy periods and maybe it's warm is 25 degrees Celsius five degrees in Whistler this morning then I must get eight the komax is 10 and Vancouver International Airport well I lost that on my list Dave I can't find it 11 degrees and cloudy I can't find David Where's Mr. Brewster

Unknown Speaker 1:12:28
is called hosting go seek Thank you very much Jeff and if you if you drive to the north end of Salt Spring and I mean like right to the top to to suddenly Point Road you'll wind up at Joe committees place and it's easy to tell which one is Joe's because it's the one with all the banana trees going around. Thus the name banana Joe Clemente Good morning.

Unknown Speaker 1:12:48
Good morning. Nice to be here. I'm

Unknown Speaker 1:12:49
gonna come over and sit here if that's what you wait a second. That's not a banana. No,

Unknown Speaker 1:12:53
no, no, we had no bananas today. But we will later on why do

Unknown Speaker 1:12:58
I feel like I've just been set up? No, I recognize those as some kind of

Unknown Speaker 1:13:04
barrier. Great. What do you think those are? Well,

Unknown Speaker 1:13:07
that was my second question. They're not bananas.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:09
They're not they're not bananas. They're actually palm fruits. They're local palm seed. And they're off that well, there's a palm sitting over in the corner. So each one of each one of the problems we grow here, we'll produce about six of these stocks. And they're actually off Bob's tree right there. He's got he's got a jungle in his garden. So I'm not the only banana you see. He's bananas too.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:30
So why bananas Joe?

Unknown Speaker 1:13:33
Well, it sort of personifies. I mean, I would say I shouldn't say an exotic climate. But when people step off the boat, and we have a lot of tourists here, it's noticed. It says something about our climate and they can get a mental picture of that. And you can take that back and say well, hey, we saw bananas growing on Saltspring.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:52
Now how do the ones that are on your place differ from this one o'clock club showed up whether they're

Unknown Speaker 1:13:56
exactly the same this is most about you. There are dozens of species of bananas. It's actually grown in southern Japan for fiber. So there it does produce fruit. The fruit isn't really palatable. It's quite small, but it has a big flowerpot you can eat and they grow monster size. You're up to 30 foot. They're the biggest I've seen are over 30 foot Bob's or 20 Bob's a 20 foot garden. Yeah. So

Unknown Speaker 1:14:18
what does it take to produce fruit? About three to

Unknown Speaker 1:14:21
four years they do it on their own and these are pops the little off side guys that is the technical term is pop pops are suckers. We call them pups, banana puffs. I understand

Unknown Speaker 1:14:32
that you've kind of become kind of the profit of bananas on this. It's kind of like a I don't want to say virus but maybe it is sort of a virus. How many people do you think are growing bananas and there's

Unknown Speaker 1:14:45
probably a couple 100 I would say bunches there's bunches of the

Unknown Speaker 1:14:52
you know your dream of getting up on someone like

Unknown Speaker 1:14:57
is there an industry that can come Um, from this, I mean, well, I mean, the MCS uses for fiber use it for fiber

Unknown Speaker 1:15:02
for making clothes and paper. So I would say, actually him the same way it would be grown like that you could you could use it the same way.

Unknown Speaker 1:15:11
Yeah. So when do you make the big leap? When do you actually find out with one of the Saltspring Island banana you can eat. I

Unknown Speaker 1:15:18
actually have one in my garden right now and I'm hoping when it reaches maturity, we'll have edible fruit. It's native to northeastern India. And it's it grows big. It grows really big here and it's fine through two winters now, you know, so I'm working on it, and working on it. Thank you, Joe. You're welcome.

Unknown Speaker 1:15:36
Thanks very much.

Unknown Speaker 1:15:37
I'll shake your palm

Unknown Speaker 1:15:45
you only do that when

Unknown Speaker 1:15:46
he can't throw fruit. That's banana jokes. lametti though. We are at the moment in the heart of downtown Ganges when it's busy main drag lined with shops and restaurants in other places, as Joe mentioned is he's fairly crawling with tourists on his is probably the I guess probably the busiest weekend of the year in Saltspring. Am I right? Even with a soccer tournament not on and the rest. It's it's a busy busy weekend. A far different Ganges. This is now then what greeted my next guest when he first arrived here as a callow youth in 1967. To take a look at the changes that have come in one man's lifetime. I'm John joined by Tony Richards, who is the publisher of the Gulf Islands. driftwood. Good morning, Tony. Good morning callow. Is that a good way to describe you? What brought you to centennial year I went to Expo in Montreal, what did you why did you come to Saltspring I followed my

Unknown Speaker 1:16:34
parents here. My parents bought the newspaper in 19, late 1966 And I joined them here was a bunch of

Unknown Speaker 1:16:41
what was Ganges like for a 16 year old at that point.

Unknown Speaker 1:16:44
It was pretty dead. It was pretty quiet. The summers were busy in those days too there was there was always the cottagers coming here that there were tourists coming in those days too but after Labor Day, the day after Labor Day Ganges was just dead and there were very few cars on the road or a gas station to hang out at yeah couple gas stations. So what what

Unknown Speaker 1:17:08
what was the what were the agents of change what made the made the the island change?

Unknown Speaker 1:17:14
The island is it has such an attraction to a lot of people look at all of us here were attracted to this place. And many of many of the people who live here today were tourists who stayed. And they they keep coming, the tourists keep coming and they keep staying.

Unknown Speaker 1:17:28
It's still a delightful place. It's still it's kind of a mixed blessing, isn't that? It is indeed Yes. At what point did the hippie show up?

Unknown Speaker 1:17:37
Late 60s service became hippies were already here.

Unknown Speaker 1:17:45
Was it part was it just because a function of the time it was a function of the time. But even an idyllic place like this? We I think a lot of people became hippies to sort of rebel against society and society here from what I gather is not necessarily the same as society was in the big cities. Well, I suppose

Unknown Speaker 1:18:03
we were a different breed of hippie we embraced the pot smoking culture and but we also went hunting and fishing. So we were slightly different from the city hippie

Unknown Speaker 1:18:19
Oh dear hippies that eat meat.

Unknown Speaker 1:18:24
They've they've morphed So have there always been artists and Saltspring?

Unknown Speaker 1:18:30
I think so. But not to the same degree, not to the same extent as there are today. And to give you an idea of how things have changed today, I'm very tired. I haven't had a good night's sleep for days. Thursday night. We were here for a re Bonneville concert got hurt. He just turned the place down Saturday. Saturday we were at baldy at the tree house Saturday nights and data movies last night Harry makes it talons. It's there's so much going on here that that kind of thing never happened 3540 years ago.

Unknown Speaker 1:18:59
So you telling me it's getting too busy for you? No.

Unknown Speaker 1:19:04
I think is some great things have happened. The other the growth in population has brought some great people here that diversity of our population is one of our strengths.

Unknown Speaker 1:19:14
So you know, you bring people in all of a sudden you need to have the the systems that support them. And I point first of all to the sewer system in Ganges because you need to have this kind of infrastructure to support the change in population. What what happened when the sewers came to Ganges.

Unknown Speaker 1:19:33
The development that had been held up by not having a sewer over the course of five or 10 years, everything was sort of put on hold all that development caught up. And a lot took place within a short space of time and Ganges it certainly grew after the sewer went in. But the challenge is is maintaining a balance is you've got all these. You've got all these additional people coming all the time who want more services and we want to preserve what we have the beauty of the place? We've got to strike a balance there somehow. And I don't think anybody, any of us knows where that balance.

Unknown Speaker 1:20:07
What was the debate? What was the what was the sewer debate like?

Unknown Speaker 1:20:11
It was, it was ugly. It was a very, very nasty period of Saltspring. History. And as the newspaper, we were caught right in the middle of it, because we had opinions, we expressed them. It was a very ugly period, we almost left my wife and I were

Unknown Speaker 1:20:27
quite convinced to to stay.

Unknown Speaker 1:20:30
Our families here, our businesses here, and and we got over it, you know, we did the sewer. protagonists talk to each other now, finally.

Unknown Speaker 1:20:43
We've got over it we're,

Unknown Speaker 1:20:44
well, you know, for as big and busy an island is it is it's a small place. How small is it?

Unknown Speaker 1:20:53
It's confined were confined by very distinct geographical boundaries. You can't get off after nine o'clock.

Unknown Speaker 1:21:04
You saying there's no place to hide? No place to?

Unknown Speaker 1:21:06
Well, I like a hole that I hide. Yeah. I have a very public job. And I'd like to go home and disappear on weekends when I can. Can people

Unknown Speaker 1:21:15
have a significant profile hide on this island?

Unknown Speaker 1:21:20
Yes, they do. And I think there's, I think we all respect people's privacy here. People like Stuart Margolin has lived here for years, you don't often see him around, and people like Al Pacino, come for a visit. And he's not even recognized by some people respect other's privacy here. So

Unknown Speaker 1:21:42
so he thinks people are they think people are bugging out of this island when people are leaving, because the way the island has changed?

Unknown Speaker 1:21:48
Oh, certainly somehow. Some of the some of the longtime islanders of old timers have gone, some of the families have have left on masks to places like the Comox Valley or up in the Kootenays and the interior. And people are still leaving, because it's changed so much in the last 20 years.

Unknown Speaker 1:22:08
But as I need to have to leave before nine o'clock. Thank you very much for coming in this morning. And all you've even great

Unknown Speaker 1:22:15
help me appreciate very welcome.

Unknown Speaker 1:22:17
Tony Richards is the publisher of the Gulf Islands.

Unknown Speaker 1:22:28
Guess it was probably a couple of months ago that Jeff Weaver and I made the trip over here ostensibly was to do research, it was basically just have lunch at Applebee's. But we came over and and and I had to, in some way justify the fact that we spent a day and come over here to sort of look around, I'd never been inside artspring before and as we came in, it looked around and I thought wow, it I gotta go back with some tape of some sort or some kind of a story. And it was then I tripped on the idea of this contest that that's underway right now to design a flag for this island. And we ran around the island talking to people. Truth be told, I stood outside, thrifty, nicely, just buttoned all people. What would you put on a Saltspring fight? A lot of people said dope. Probably equal number of people, I think put lamb on it, which I thought was was good idea. Whatever winds up on the flag at the moment, that flag if my next guest gets his wish will fly over the independent nation of Saltspring. Bob again, is a member of the Sustainable Saltspring Island coalition. Good morning, Bob.

Unknown Speaker 1:23:30
Morning, David.

Unknown Speaker 1:23:31
So the design contest is underway. Yes, it is. Now, When is the deadline when or when when when do they actually have to have the rubber hit the road on the

Unknown Speaker 1:23:39
deadline for entries is July the first and it's all geared to have a flag raising at the Fall fair in September?

Unknown Speaker 1:23:46
July. The first is a holiday but it's a holiday in a country that you know why I'm confused here. You want to be independent? Who's holiday would it be? Well,

Unknown Speaker 1:23:59
actually, I think it's just a coincidence that the entries end on July the first but it's something that we didn't plan. We didn't plan it that way. The flag contest is not an original idea. We were inspired actually by Galliano Island who already has their own flag. And we thought that it would be a fun thing for Saltspring as a unique bunch of people who like to have fun to to have their own flag and a sign of their identity and place of residence. Now,

Unknown Speaker 1:24:35
Galleon hasn't gotten the next step of of moving toward independence you have well, how do you think of Saltspring should be independent?

Unknown Speaker 1:24:44
Well, as as you have discussed earlier in the program, we've we've had a lot of challenges in the last few years. A lot of examples of the difficulty of living here and not being able to have any local control any, any autonomy of our own. And it's been very frustrating for many people on the island to what kind of frustrations? Well, we have four levels of government. And we're a very large population that is still unorganized, we're not incorporated. And those factors in themselves make it difficult for us to have local control. I don't think it's particularly unique. We live in a country with a lot of centralized power, where local communities have a lot less power than they used to a lot less control. And one of the things that the sustainable self spring coalition is doing is having a look at alternatives. And having a look at alternatives around the world. Other island states, places like Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man Cook Islands, et cetera, who are doing in a different way?

Unknown Speaker 1:26:03
What are they what have they benefited? Or how they benefited by by being independent?

Unknown Speaker 1:26:10
Well, a very obvious one is they have one level of government, that's very efficient. And I think because of the size of these communities, and we're talking, most of them being under 100,000, all the way down to 1700 people on Norfolk Island, they've been able to simplify government, make it more efficient, and more countable.

Unknown Speaker 1:26:34
Here's a question. Even Quebec has have a tough time answering what do you mean by sovereign?

Unknown Speaker 1:26:41
Well, sovereignty has to do with having having control of your political situation. And it doesn't mean we're going to be a kingdom. All it means is that we're going to be able to control our politics. And it's not, it doesn't mean that we're going to have an adversarial relationship with our neighbors. But it does mean that control comes back to the community. And we think that's a better better way to govern, then

Unknown Speaker 1:27:18
you think Saltspring can make it? Sure I do.

Unknown Speaker 1:27:21
Definitely.

Unknown Speaker 1:27:26
knew I had to ask that question.

Unknown Speaker 1:27:30
Well, one of the things we're exploring right now is how much money comes on this island relative to how much goes off?

Unknown Speaker 1:27:35
And what's the ratio? Like at this point?

Unknown Speaker 1:27:37
Well, it looks it looks very favorable, favorable, it looks very affordable. In other words, I don't think more money is coming. On this island and going off. We we pay our way. And I think we can do very nicely governing ourselves.

Unknown Speaker 1:27:56
How serious is this? I mean, I made a couple of jokes. But I don't I don't want to do want to sound like I'm clear. Because you you are you appear to be taking this very seriously.

Unknown Speaker 1:28:05
But it's serious. It requires a lot of education to a lot of people, the initial response is a bit of a bit of a laugh or a smile. And I think mostly because they've never really seriously considered it.

Unknown Speaker 1:28:18
How much support have you got on the island at this point?

Unknown Speaker 1:28:21
It's very difficult to tell we don't have a membership. But we have a lot of support from from the people that I meet, at least they're open minded to examining the possibility of considering that option.

Unknown Speaker 1:28:34
So what's the status of the plan now? And where do you take it from here?

Unknown Speaker 1:28:38
Well, we've got a number of plans. The flag was was an idea that we thought was a sort of a standalone project that the island would get behind and that that's going to be a lot of fun over the next few months. We, we also are now organizing, I guess it's not a membership, but it's a it's a citizenship of a sovereign Saltspring island, so that we can identify, trying to get an idea of how much support there is. So that's an ongoing project. And we've got some exciting plans for our own on islands currency, which we'll be revealing in the next month

Unknown Speaker 1:29:25
what's next and anthem and to become you become a father of Confederation? Are we going to see you want this off your face on this currency? Well,

Unknown Speaker 1:29:34
yeah, I know you'd have to kill me. Well, best of luck with it and keep in touch.

Unknown Speaker 1:29:41
Thank you, David.

Unknown Speaker 1:29:43
Maybe you need to start like the Saltspring Broadcasting Corporation maybe.

Unknown Speaker 1:29:47
Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 1:29:48
Well keep in mind.

Unknown Speaker 1:29:50
Bob again is a member of the Sustainable Saltspring Island coalition you can intimate

Unknown Speaker 1:30:03
If you'd like more information of course you can check out the website which is triple W fri Saltspring all one word all one thought.com Coming up next some great fiddle music from here on artspring?

Unknown Speaker 1:31:26
Nice those are the the fine fiddles the virtuals of islands of Angeline Henson and Helena Bryn MacLeod who are both 11. All right. Which one of you is Angelina once one's Helena? Your Angeline Lena I'm sorry. So I'm going to come between you and this is probably not a good thing. It shouldn't come between Duo's. And I'm going to ask tell you what do you play the fiddle?

Unknown Speaker 1:32:01
When I was younger guys, I watched a performance watch someone play fiddle and it really inspired me I love the music and our family. We each had to play an instrument. So I decided I wanted to play the fiddle.

Unknown Speaker 1:32:14
Now you're playing a full size aren't you? Yeah, that's a pretty big thing for an 11 year old.

Unknown Speaker 1:32:20
Is it not too big? Doesn't feel that you just get used to it if it's pretty easy. Then

Unknown Speaker 1:32:26
why did just Why'd you pick the federal?

Unknown Speaker 1:32:28
I really like hell dish music and that's what inspired me.

Unknown Speaker 1:32:32
So you want to be you have this sort of Natalie MacMaster fixation. So I guess yeah, she's not done, but there's not going to be dance as well. No, no, no. Somebody said you won an award in Victoria not that long ago.

Unknown Speaker 1:32:47
Yet we're in the Victoria festival for fiddle for twin fiddling, and whoever won the highest points got an award and each of us won $50