Pique Newsmagazine 3035

Both Sides Now

Hiking trips on either side of Rogers Pass reveal the stern but different faces of Mount Sir Donald. - By Leslie

14 POLICE PLANNING

The Sea to Sky RCMP unveils its 2023-2028 strategic plan, built using feedback from townhalls held in the corridor earlier this year.

16

BACK TO SCHOOL

A Q&A with SD48 superintendent Chris Nicholson ahead of the new school year.

30 GUN CONTROL

After locals raised concern about potential back burns at Gun Lake, fire crews and residents are working together to protect the remaining structures.

50 MENTAL METTLE

A pair of Sea to Sky locals are joining forces for a new mental-health/mountain bike coaching initiative.

20 RARE AIR A rare bird sighting sparked excitement in Whistler last week, and drove dozens of birders to the resort to catch a glimpse.

54 GALA NIGHT

Local author Alpha Villanea is organizing Whistler’s first Philippine Art Gala Night on Sept. 7.

COVER Do you like big miles and big vistas? Best to take care of your knees, Whistler generally doesn’t go easy on them. - By Jon Parris // @jon.parris.art

Founding Publishers KATHY & BOB BARNETT

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Contributors G.D. MAXWELL, GLENDA BARTOSH, LESLIE ANTHONY, ANDREW MITCHELL, ALISON TAYLOR, VINCE SHULEY

President, Whistler Publishing LP

SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@wplpmedia.com

Opinion & Columns

08 OPENING REMARKS From dragonflies to rare birds and an abundance of wasps, editor Braden Dupuis slows it down to appreciate the little things.

10 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This week’s letter writers make the case for fuel-thinning in Whistler’s forests, and continued action on reducing plastics.

13 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST Making friends in a revolving-door tourist town isn’t always easy— losing them is even harder, writes Megan Lalonde.

70 MAXED OUT Max offers up some helpful tips for having fun at university, while also keeping in mind the fact that you’re probably going to be very broke.

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Environment & Adventure Lifestyle & Arts

40 THE OUTSIDER The “Idaho stop” isn’t the law in British Columbia, writes Vince Shuley—but maybe it should be.

52 FORK IN THE ROAD The fabled Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have a fifth member in climate change, writes Glenda Bartosh.

55 MUSEUM MUSINGS Remembering the Whistler Skiers’ Chapel, one of Canada’s first interdenominational churches.

The birds and the bees

WHEN YOU FIRST start out in journalism, you aren’t given the most hard-hitting of assignments.

Case in point: my first byline for a major daily newspaper, nearly a decade and a half ago, was about dragonflies.

I remember feeling somewhat underwhelmed. Surely there are some recent, unsolved murders I could write about, or some seedy corruption somewhere that needed uncovering?

But like any job, you have to work up to the big stuff. So I set out to do my little story on dragonflies, and why there appeared to be

so many in Saskatoon that particular summer.

And of course, I ended up learning a whole lot about the winged insects that I hadn’t previously known—or even began to consider.

Like how they can take up to five years to fully mature and develop, and some species do so in a synchronized fashion, such as the Emperor Dragonfly—which is why you might see more of them in some years than others.

Not only was it the perfect introduction to community journalism—a constantly challenging and engaging job in which you learn something new almost every single day—but it also further opened my eyes to the sheer enormity of this world and all the life it hosts; the impossibly complicated, often interconnected series of systems lurking just below the water’s surface.

So I was humbled in more ways than one, with that particular assignment. But I’m

grateful for it.

I was reminded of it this week by a visit from legendary local outdoorsman, glaciologist and bird-watcher Karl Ricker, who carried with him into Pique’s office the excitement of dozens of birders from all across the world (not to mention a very hefty and comprehensive book about all of British Columbia’s birds).

He wanted to talk about the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, which was spotted in Whistler for the first time ever on Aug. 21, sending bird nerds near and far into a frenzy.

People drove from across the province just to catch a glimpse of the rare and unique bird—only the 39th time it has been recorded in British Columbia—and Ricker estimated

sense that tells it where to go during migration?” wrote local birder Dea Lloyd in an email to Pique. “Hard to tell, but we are lucky it showed up here. It appears to be a juvenile, likely hatched this year.”

Indeed, it could be any number of butterfly-effect happenings that led the Flycatcher to Whistler.

The cause of an increase in the local wasp population, however, is somewhat easier to track.

In fact, Orkin Canada, one of the country’s biggest pest control operations, even predicted it back in April.

“The mild winter of 2022 has resulted in fewer wasp colonies being naturally controlled. Wasp queens that have survived

Trail than I can ever remember seeing in Whistler—and it’s not even close.

The insects have so far clogged up two separate traps I installed for them near my home, and they’re working on a third.

I won’t pretend to know all the intertwining secrets behind these animal and insect machinations, or attempt to draw lines or correlations where they might not actually exist. I am perfectly content to marvel at the small wonders of our world, and take time to appreciate the tiny systems, structures, and rules at play we too often overlook.

But it’s worth remembering, when life gets too hectic and demanding, the importance of hitting the brakes every once

up to 100 people showed up over the span of four days or so (read more on page 20).

This bird is basically The Beatles in 1964—albeit on a much smaller, more adorable scale.

No one seems to know exactly why it decided to pop up in Whistler this year, when it would typically be found in places such as Texas.

“Was it pushed here by extreme weather events like the hurricane in California? Is it a climate change refugee? Is there something awry with its internal magnetic direction

will come out early, and they’re going to start populations earlier in the year,” Orkin wrote in a blog post on its website.

The mild winter and early, warm spring also led to vegetation sprouting early in the season—much of it attracting the plant-feeding insects on which wasps feed, according to Orkin.

Cause leads to effect. Action spurs reaction. On and on it goes.

Anecdotally, Orkin’s April prediction was spot on. This year, I’ve seen more wasps in my yard, in the parks and along the Valley

in awhile; to just allow yourself to be still in the moment and wonder.

When you do, you will more often than not discover something fascinating, or at least learn something new.

On a different note, if you saw the headline of this column and were hoping to use it as educational material for that dreaded “talk” you’ve been putting off with your child, I apologize for the bait-andswitch.

But I had to get your attention somehow, and sex sells. ■

But it’s worth remembering, when life gets too hectic and demanding, the importance of hitting the brakes every once in awhile; to just allow yourself to be still in the moment and wonder.

Critics or crickets!

While Whistler burns, critics of the fueltreatment program will have high-tailed it from the resort—that is, if the road stays open.

Fuel-reduction thinning is based on science. Flame height and intensity objectives are the cornerstone to reduce the rate of fire spread. A low-burning ground fire can be suppressed, a wind-driven crown fire cannot. A treated area provides a defensible zone for suppression. When thinned areas are bombed with retardant or water, it remains on site longer, altering humidity and hopefully fire growth. Recent criticism of the practice from a few list changes in soil moisture, aesthetics, and, even more preposterous, a concern over the disturbance of the moss layer—really?

Anyone with an inkling of forestmanagement knowledge understands decreasing crown closure (thinning) increases snowpack, as snow intercepted by the tree canopy is rapidly melted and evaporated. Those who attempt an early spring bike ride know that retention of snowpack, even by days, is of benefit for the inevitable drying trend of summer, whether for tree and shrub uptake or the eventual dust-up on the single tracks.

We live in a region that acts as the Interior some years and like the Coast in others. Any forest research comparing year-to-year soil

moisture, stand relative humidity, or snowpack depths is troublesome. I know—as part of a cadre of local foresters, we used forestscience research to improve forest seedling survival for more than a decade in this region. Our conclusion: weather is far too variable to compare stand-level practices from year to year. Not that research is not valuable, but to

use it as a reason to hold off wildfire reduction treatments can only be called foolhardy. Our geologically young forest soils on our upslope areas around Whistler are extremely robust and capable of ground disturbance. The forest types targeted for fuel reduction are not rare or unique in this region. Our unique and rare forest types are in fact our valley-

bottom areas, adjacent to wetlands and large rivers, which have already been converted to residences, golf courses, or pavement.

After another summer drought and frightening wildfire events across the province, it is high time this community supported the expansion and completion of the primary fuel breaks. The money is there, I have been told, it just needs our support.

I, for one, would like to hear more from the “crickets!”

Plastics are a real problem

Mr. Ladner’s Aug. 18 letter in Pique, (“Plastic isn’t the real problem”) asserts that we should not be addressing the plastics issue in favour of action on climate. However, we are facing multiple environmental issues, foremost of which are the biodiversity and climate crises. These both reflect the main problem—our society’s overconsumption of the Earth’s resources. We need to be addressing this root cause of overconsumption to be able to maintain a habitable planet.

Single-use plastics may seem like a small piece of the puzzle, but consider that there has been a growing transition to more and more of these plastics away from reusables or other more easily recycled materials like glass. And for what? We use them for a very short time, but they have a larger footprint than we think. Ninety-nine per cent of plastics are made

“[I]t is high time this community supported the expansion and completion of the primary fuel breaks.”

- TOM COLE

of fossil fuels. Plastic packaging currently accounts for 17 per cent of petrochemical production globally, and the oil/fossil-fuel industry is planning to triple its production by 2060. This is how these companies are planning on continuing extraction levels as people transition from gasoline-powered cars to electric vehicles. It is also why Imperial Oil (along with Dow Chemicals, Nova Chemical,

Through that lens, we have a long way to go—45 per cent of GHGs come from the way we make and use things (including food), according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Not only that, but microplastics are showing up everywhere (our lungs, our blood, rain, soil, food) and plastics represent a source of exposure to hazardous chemicals such as PFAS, bisphenols and plasticizers—so human

American Chemistry Council and others) is part of the lawsuit against the Canadian government for its actions to tackle the burgeoning plastics problem.

While we have been trained to only look at the scope of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that we generate locally, for effective change we really need to be thinking about what GHGs are created elsewhere on our behalf to provide us with all the food and materials we consume.

and environmental health is another reason to focus on minimizing their use.

We need to be seeking solutions that resolve multiple symptoms of overconsumption. The more that Canadians can support the upcoming Global Plastics Treaty negotiations (which Canada will be hosting) and push for a strong system to reduce plastic use and pollution, the better off we, and the planet, will be.

Write to us! Letters to the editor must contain the writer’s name, address and a daytime telephone number. Maximum length is 450 words. Pique Newsmagazine reserves the right to edit, condense or refrain from publishing any contribution. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer and not that of Pique Newsmagazine. Send them to edit@ piquenewsmagazine.com before 11 a.m. on Tuesday for consideration in that week’s paper.

n

“We need to be seeking solutions that resolve multiple symptoms of overconsumption.”

- SUE MAXWELL

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The friends you make in a mountain town

“IT’LL BE SO easy to make friends—it’s such a transient town; everyone’s in the same boat.”

That’s the phrase I kept hearing over and over when I decided to move to Whistler seven-and-a-half years ago, when I was 22.

Usually that statement would be followed by, “I hear there’s a lot of Australians there,” or “It’s a town full of ski bums who came for

winter and stayed for summer.”

They weren’t completely wrong.

There are, however, a few important facts those well-intentioned words-of-wisdomgivers conveniently left out. First of all, they neglected to mention the kind of friends you’ll make in this town.

With family thousands of kilometres away more often than not, the friendships you form here can turn into so much more than a group of people to grab an after-work drink with.

The casual acquaintances you meet up with in the lift line quickly become the people you call for a boost when your car battery dies in the cold. They’re the people who you celebrate birthdays, Thanksgivings and Christmases with; who make sure you stumble home safely after a big night, who

never hesitate to share their favourite hidden spots on the mountain.

They’re the people you endure tough climbs and appreciate mind-blowing views with, who you can complain or laugh about the peculiarities of life in a mountain town for hours on end with—sentiments your friends back home might never be able to understand. They’re the people who take care of you after a breakup or an injury, who you turn to for advice, who have your coffee order memorized, who come sit in a cold arena to cheer you on when your beer league team makes it to the finals, who take care of your pets when you’re out of town. Stay long enough, and they’ll be the ones attending your bachelor party, wedding or baby shower. They quickly become your people. After all, Whistler tends to attract the good ones.

That’s why it’s so difficult when some of those friends inevitably leave town.

The other fact those advice-givers forgot to mention? Whistler’s transient nature might mean an endless stream of new arrivals looking for new friends, but it also means goodbyes are just as frequent.

You eventually get used to the two-yearlong revolving door of new coworkers or neighbours here on working holiday visas, and an ever-growing list of longtime locals who decide they’d rather chase waves than snow, who follow their hearts or career ambitions to the other side of the globe,

or decide that the cost or availability of housing in Whistler has finally tipped the scales in their hometown’s favour.

In the past four years, I’ve been to countless going-aways—two words I never would have thought to use as a noun before living in Whistler. I’ve been to two in the past two weeks alone.

No matter how happy you are for a friend embarking on their next chapter or how accustomed you’ve become to people coming and going, there’s always going to be a slight sting of disappointment when your favourite riding buddy or your most reliable coworker hits the road.

time isn’t worth the effort—I think we can all agree saying goodbye is never a good time.

But through the countless goodbyes Whistler has forced me to say, I’ve learned that sting is more painful if you dwell on the disappointment of another departure rather than focus on feeling grateful for everything that friendship added to your life.

Sure, some of those relationships will inevitably fizzle out as those friends move on and create new lives elsewhere. It takes more work to make a friendship function in different time zones than it does when you live a few minutes apart, after all.

The closer friendships will pick up where they left off the next time you find yourself in the same place, or better yet, stay just as strong despite the distance. Others will fade into nothing but fond memories and a supportive Instagram comment here and there. But that doesn’t negate the very real connections and memories you once made.

Sometimes you don’t know whether your paths will ever cross again. In other cases, the friendships are strong enough you know you will, but you just don’t know when or where. Best-case scenario, you know that person well enough to know Whistler will lure them back in a winter or two. Either way, experiencing that sting enough can trick you into believing that making friends with someone the federal government will kindly kick out in two years’

So cherish the friends you make in this not-so-little mountain town and the experiences you’re lucky enough to share with them. Do your best to keep in touch with the ones that leave, but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t. Be open to welcoming new ones into your circle.

And, always, remember to look on the bright side: racking up goodbyes in Whistler means racking up the number of couches you have to crash on across the globe. Because it’s not goodbye; it’s see you later. ■

[I]t’s so difficult when some of those friends inevitably leave town.

Sea to Sky RCMP lays out top priorities in comprehensive new strategic plan

FIVE-YEAR PLAN LARGELY BASED ON FEEDBACK GATHERED DURING TOWN HALL MEETINGS ACROSS THE CORRIDOR

EARLIER THIS YEAR, the Sea to Sky RCMP held a series of town hall meetings in Bowen Island, Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton— one in each community its officers serve.

The intent, as Insp. Robert Dykstra explained, was to connect with locals faceto-face to hear about their expectations for policing in their community.

A handful of questions “were specifically chosen in order to spark certain types of conversation,” said Dykstra, Officer in Charge of the Sea to Sky RCMP.

One, “How does our community want to be policed?” garnered some interesting responses, according to Dykstra. “One answer was, ‘We don’t want to be policed,’” he recalled during an interview in his Whistler Village office on Friday morning, Aug. 25. “Which is fine, because that actually generated a whole other conversation around, ‘No one wants to be policed, so what is the role of the police in

the community?’ That kind of evolved into keeping people safe, making people feel safe, working with kids and youth, preventiontype activities, safe community spaces for everyone—those kinds of things.”

But the town hall meetings and the approximately 30 locals in attendance at each also served a more specific purpose: to inform the Sea to Sky RCMP’s 2023-2028 strategic plan.

The result of that community engagement officially rolled out this August, after stakeholders worked over the past several months to distil feedback gathered during the meetings—and from past consultations, surveys, and strategic plans—into what is easily the Sea to Sky RCMP’s most comprehensive, detailed strategic plan to date. The report serves as a data-driven roadmap laying out a mission, vision and three overarching focus areas for police in the corridor over the next five years, as well as a set of core values (see sidebar). It’s all displayed in a bright, colourful illustration designed by the same graphic recorder Dykstra enlisted to sketch live drawings during each town hall meeting, encapsulating ideas and key themes raised during the discussions.

At first glance, creating a one-size-fits-all plan is a lofty task for an agency covering such a wide surface area. Though each community within the Sea to Sky RCMP’s jurisdiction is unique, the strategic planning process proved

locals from Bowen Island to Pemberton have far more in common than a shared officer in charge of their local detachments. As those graphics show, similarities include overlapping views about what those communities expect from their police, said Dykstra.

“The mission, vision, and core values become the framework for all of our decisions,” said Dykstra. “If we’re making a decision that’s not consistent with those things, then you have to ask yourself, ‘Is it the right thing to be doing?’ That’s the idea of having core values—it’s not just to put up on a piece of paper that says, ‘These are our values,’ and then go on and do whatever you want. We have to live these every single day.”

The point of strategic planning is to create a living document highlighting areas where there is room to grow, Dykstra continued. “It’s all well and good to have a strategic plan that lists a bunch of priorities that you’re really good at, and a list of objectives and activities that you’ve already achieved, but [in that case], you’re just documenting the good work you’re already doing,” he said.

In the Sea to Sky RCMP’s case, “We already do a lot of really good work, so the idea here isn’t to be a complete picture of absolutely everything that we do—we’re going to continue to do everything that we normally do on a regular basis, but what are the areas that we want to improve on and actually move ourselves forward as an organization?”

POLICE PRIORITIES

The Sea to Sky RCMP’s new strategic plan lists its three main priorities as “Enhance public safety,” “Employee excellence and workplace culture,” and “Accountability and governance.” Under each priority is a short list of associated objectives, and a desired outcome.

In terms of enhancing public safety, for example, the plan names four distinct goals: enhance the use of restorative justice, focus on crime prevention and reduction, make Sea to Sky roads safer, and ensure each detachment is prepared to respond to an emergency.

The ultimate desired outcome? “Safer and more secure communities where residents and visitors feel safe, and trust between the community and the police is strengthened.”

Though Dykstra had a fairly accurate idea of what the Sea to Sky RCMP’s priorities might look like prior to the first town hall meeting, some aspects of the final plan— valuing a commitment to “foster wellness,” both in-house and in the community, for example—stemmed directly from unexpected conversations that arose during the public meetings.

“I was really interested and surprised to hear the concern for our members’ mental health,’” Dykstra said. “People in the community were like, ‘We want you to be well, we understand that there’s a lot of work that you’re doing, we understand that you’re understaffed, we understand that you’re

dealing with all these negative issues—you have to be healthy as well, because if you’re not healthy, then you can’t do your job properly, which means community safety is at risk.’”

HOW WILL SEA TO SKY RCMP ACHIEVE THOSE OUTCOMES?

The answer is a detailed list of specific initiatives and actions each local detachment will carry out to meet its community’s needs, while helping the Sea to Sky RCMP achieve its broader goals. Operations commanders from all four detachments and the Sea to Sky’s general investigation team will lay out those initiatives in business plans, due to arrive on Dykstra’s desk by September.

“The strategic plan is for the Sea to Sky as a whole, just like for the RCMP as a whole, we have a national plan,” Dykstra said. “But that national plan can’t apply to every aspect of every activity the RCMP does across the country—the mandate is way too broad. There’s way too many different types of activities, priorities, types of service that we provide.”

With the Sea to Sky RCMP now functioning as a “hybrid-integrated” police agency, covering four provincial police service contracts and two municipal police contracts with the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) and the District of Squamish, working within four detachments all reporting to the same officer in charge, it’s the “same thing for Sea to Sky, just smaller,” Dykstra explained.

Actions “could be simple things, like targeting excessive speed, or winter tire checks, or getting into schools and working with the kids,” said Dykstra, turning one of the two computer monitors on his desk around to point out a list of initiatives the

MISSION

To provide exemplary policing services that prioritize community safety, foster trust and accountability, and embrace the needs of our residents and visitors.

VISION

We are a trusted police service deeply connected to our communities and a model of excellence exhibiting the highest levels of professionalism, accountability, and compassion. We are effective partners in building safe community spaces and creating a culture of inclusivity where every individual is respected and treated with dignity.

VALUES

Act with integrity

Show respect

Demonstrate compassion

Take responsibility

Serve with excellence

Foster wellness

PRIORITIES

Enhance public safety

Employee excellence & workplace culture

Accountability

Bowen Island detachment proposed in its draft business plan.

In line with the corridor-wide objective of enhancing restorative justice, for example, Bowen Island RCMP’s operations commander suggested an initiative to maintain relations with the North Shore Restorative Justice Society. Obtaining a digital speed sign to ultimately help improve road safety is another idea.

While initiatives will vary by community, all should be SMART—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant to regional priorities, and time-bound, said Dykstra. Once business plans are complete, the initiatives will be entered into an RCMP reporting system the agency will use to track its progress and performance.

Quoting Einstein, Dykstra acknowledged “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted,” even in terms of the Sea to Sky RCMP’s strategic plan.

When it comes to the perception of safety, or increased trust between the community and the police, “How do you measure that? There are ways—you can do surveys, and you can do meetings—but how do you ensure that you’re actually getting to the core of what that looks like? Some of those things will be hard, but we’ve got to at least try,” Dykstra said.

“Otherwise, we can’t really know if we’re improving or not.”

‘WE ARE YOUR RCMP, NOT JUST THE RCMP’

Dykstra plans to use that data internally to influence decision-making and assess whether initiatives are making their intended impact, but also plans to release the information to the public, likely in the form of an annual report.

“We talk about trust, we talk about accountability, and we talk about governance, and part of that means we need to be open with the people that we serve, who are spending their tax dollars on our service, [about] how we’re doing,” he said. “We can talk anecdotally all day long about different stories, but I know people want to know the data; they want to see where we’re performing well.”

RCMP regulations mean the strategic plan needs to be translated to French before it can be posted to the agency’s official channel, but it should soon be available to view on the RMOW’s website. Dykstra said he also hopes to have the plan translated into Squamish and Ucwalmícwts, Lil’wat Nation’s traditional language.

Reflecting on the strategic-planning process, “I’m really proud of the work that was done,” said Dykstra. “I’m really proud of the team, in terms of the effort that was put into putting it together. I’m really proud of the citizens and our stakeholders that came forward to express their points of view. I think this is a really solid step forward in terms of not only what we’re going to be doing in the Sea to Sky going forward, but how we want to interact with the public, and how I want us to be accountable and show that we are your RCMP, not just the RCMP.

“I’m really committed to that community policing element—it’s huge for me,” he added. “We’re no different than Delta or Vancouver or Calgary or Edmonton—we are the local police force.” n

Back to school: Q&A with SD48 superintendent Chris Nicholson

ENROLMENT IS LOOKING STEADY, BUT FINAL NUMBERS HAVE YET TO BE DETERMINED

THE CALENDAR FLIP makes it official: another summer has blown by. As the days shorten and start to cool down, Sea to Sky public school students are getting back into the routine and heading back to the classroom.

One week before schools officially open their doors to students on Sept. 5, Pique caught up with Sea to Sky School District 48 (SD48) superintendent Chris Nicholson to hear what’s on tap for classrooms across the corridor in 2023-24.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

PIQUE: B.C. is experiencing its worst wildfire season on record. Have mass evacuations prompted the district to reevaluate its emergency protocols? What can Sea to Sky students expect if there was to be a natural disaster, like a wildfire, in their community during the school year?

CHRIS NICHOLSON: Obviously, our hearts go out to any families affected out there. [Most Sea to Sky locals] have been very, very, very lucky. We’re keeping a close eye, obviously— we’ve got a large school district, so whenever

things pop up, we hear about them—but our firefighters are doing an incredible job of keeping everybody safe.

What I would have people reference is … policy 301, which is our emergency preparedness policy that outlines our response to things like environmental catastrophes or natural disasters, and then each school has a school emergency response plan, which outlines everybody’s rules, and we follow the same sort of command structure as the police and fire—that’s sort of a standard across school districts, to ensure that we’re speaking the same language. Of course, in all [situations] we defer to the local authorities, so they become the incident commander. I will say—and this is probably good timing—we review our policies every five years, and emergency preparedness, that 300 series, is being reviewed this year. We will attend to any necessary changes, but our district has comprehensive policies and procedures to follow in the event of a disaster. We’d encourage folks to take a look at the current one, if they have questions or concerns, and know it’s actually being reviewed.

With September around the corner, how is enrolment looking across the school district heading into this year?

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Our first board meeting of the year is coming up on Sept. 13, and that’s when we do the preliminary enrolment review. Currently, registration is still going on. There’s lots of things that may change between now and the first day of school, but we’re looking relatively stable. We’re not looking to see any big jumps in enrolment—increases or decreases—so I think it’s going to be pretty stable, but again, lots can happen between now and then.

We do our enrolment submission—the student count, it’s called … throughout September. By the end of the month of September, all final numbers are provided to the ministry, and then in the October board meeting, we do a presentation on our final enrolment. So that’s when we’ll have the actual numbers. But again, right now we’re not seeing any trends that are concerning, either increase or decrease. We look to be relatively stable across the district, but we’ll have details about specific regions later on … it’s too early to tell right now. We have folks on waitlists and requests to move to the schools right now, so it all needs to shake out over the next couple of weeks.

Speaking of enrolment trends, a few years ago, the district named opening a new middle school in Whistler as a top capital priority. Is that still the case?

We’ve seen a change in the Baragar [Systems], the demographer [behind custom planning software used by B.C. school districts].

They’re the professionals who look at in-and-out migration and housing, and all of those things, and with our local knowledge, provide that information to us. We had seen what looked like a big spike in population in Whistler, and that’s when the [idea for a new] middle school came into being, but as time has gone on, Baragar has readjusted and changed their projections. We’re actually not seeing a spike in population in Whistler, that at this time, makes a middle school the No. 1 priority. It is still on a priority list, but our No. 1 priority that we reported out on our capital plan that we submit to the ministry is the expansion of Howe Sound Secondary [in Squamish], where we are also slated for a seismic upgrade. So to save the public money, we proposed doing a seismic upgrade and an expansion at Howe Sound Secondary to become a Grade 9 to 12 school. [Currently, the school accommodates students in Grades 10 to 12.]

That would mean the reconfiguration of Don Ross [Middle School] to [accommodate Grades] 6 to 8, and our elementary schools in Squamish to all be K-to-5. In terms of projecting forward, for projected growth for Squamish over the next couple years, that

SEE PAGE 18 >>

would be the best way forward to support students coming in.

The middle school for Whistler is still on the docket—we don’t want it to go away in case there is that need in future years—but our No. 1 priority is the seismic upgrade and expansion of Howe Sound Secondary, because of course we’re competing for limited dollars from the ministry for all the other capital asks out there, in big districts like Surrey that are growing exponentially. We know that there’s going to be lots of focus on those sorts of districts, so we’re hopeful. We learn in the springtime each year if our major capital projects have been approved or not.

Do you have a timeframe in mind of when that expansion might be able to take place?

Following the approval from the ministry, because they control the purse strings on those sorts of developments, it can be anywhere from—just a ballpark, when it’s an expansion and upgrades … it can be as much as a three- to five-year process to get that done, because of all the requirements.

Another big topic of conversation around SD48 leading up to the pandemic was a pilot project about “communicating student learning” that started in 2017. In 2019, that appeared to be going pretty well, and more teachers and classes were jumping on board. What’s the status of those “gradeless report cards” now?

We’ll be discussing it at the board meeting, and we’ve shared out information to parents in the lead-up to [the end of the school year], the Ministry of Education has now made official the reporting order that all districts follow. We were a pilot district long before that, but [Kindergarten to Grade 9] is now on a provincial proficiency scale—so there are no letter grades for K to 9, just still in Grades 10 to 12. Because of the wonderful work of our teachers jumping on board early, being a part of the pilot project, I feel we’re in a very good position to transition into the new reporting

order … Many of our parents have not had letter grades on their [children’s] report cards, K to 9, for a number of years.

That seems like it goes hand-in-hand with the shift to a more personalized learning in B.C.’s curriculum over the past few years.

One-hundred per cent … We’re really thrilled that we feel that we’re aligned with a progressive ministry who you know has a real future orientation focus for our students.

Because of course we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, right? We can’t possibly imagine what sort of jobs are going to be out there, so we know that more than content, knowledge, it’s really that ability to be flexible, to collaborate, be a critical thinker, that’s so important for students moving forward.

What are some of the biggest priorities for the district for the school year ahead?

Our continued focus on student health and well-being is absolutely a priority; our focus on equity continues, because while we’re proud of how our kids are doing, and of our grad rates, we still have that gap between students of Indigenous ancestry and resident students, so that’s obviously a concern. Truth and reconciliation is still a top priority, and obviously, student learning. Coming out of COVID, we want to ensure kids are feeling supported academically as well, so we have that continued focus on literacy and numeracy … and of course, we are still very much aware of concerns around bussing. We’re continuing to recruit bus drivers and custodians.

Nicholson invited all interested families to attend the first SD48 board meeting of the year in-person or virtually on Sept. 13. The school board’s regular public meetings usually take place on the second Wednesday each month, beginning at 6 p.m. at the School Board Office on 2nd Avenue in Squamish. More information is available at sd48seatosky.org n

Rare bird sighting sparks excitement in Whistler

IT’S THE FIRST RECORDED SIGHTING OF THE SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER IN THE RESORT

KARL RICKER CAN RECALL only a couple of instances where a rare bird sighting has sparked excitement in the local and regional birding community, driving bird enthusiasts to the resort just to try and catch a glimpse.

“It happened about 20 years ago for a common ground dove, which was also way out of range. We saw it briefly two days in a row—as soon as he saw you he’d take off and then he’d show up again. The big Vancouver gang arrived on the third day, no luck,” Ricker recalled.

“So that was definitely the excitement bird of the half century for Whistler, ever since we lost the spotted owl in 1946.”

More recently, there were two American white pelicans, spotted by Dea Lloyd on Green Lake in April 2022, Ricker recalled.

This year, it’s all about the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher—a unique and beautiful bird with a distinctive, forked tail that fans out in flight.

First spotted by Ellen Ramsay at Green Lake last week, the bird drove dozens of birdwatchers to Whistler to try to catch a glimpse.

Ricker said he spoke with birdwatchers from 16 different B.C. communities, as well as one from Seattle, and people from four different European countries.

It’s the 39th sighting of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in B.C., and the first this year.

“And the only place where it’s been seen more than once is Hope, B.C.,” Ricker said. “It’s been seen as far north as the Alaska Highway, near the Yukon border, and the

article in [The Birds of British Columbia] says the bird is not known to hang around for longer than three days, and that’s exactly what happened with us.”

Spotted on Monday, Aug. 21, the sighting prompted a “parade” of bird enthusiasts on Tuesday that carried on into Wednesday. By Thursday, it had apparently moved on.

Ricker estimated up to 100 people came to the resort just to catch a glimpse of the rare bird.

“All the bird honchos, guys who have life lists and all that sort of stuff, they were up here big time to see it, and the ones that arrived on Thursday … they hung around all day, no luck,” Ricker said. “And another lady from Osoyoos, she stayed at the site until 6 o’ clock in the evening before she finally gave up.

“So they sold lots of gasoline and they sold lots of lunches.”

Ricker can’t say why exactly the bird chose to make an appearance in Whistler this year.

“I did know there was a bad storm in California, but I can’t prove it,” he said, adding that the bird is most typically found in southern U.S. states such as Texas.

The sighting speaks to the value of conserving critical habitat for the diverse wildlife that depend on it to survive, Lloyd said in an email.

“While a special, beautiful bird, hundreds of other local species rely on wetlands that are rapidly disappearing in B.C. due to development and imperiled by climate change,” she wrote. “It’s been hanging around in the same area that has sometimes been the subject of illegal tree and vegetation cutting by homeowners wanting to improve their view of the lake.” n

Five-year-old Whistler cycling phenom rides 60 km in bike race

ONE OF THE BIGGEST OBSTACLES FACING THE YOUNG RIDER IS FINDING A BIKE THAT CAN KEEP UP WITH HIM

LOOKS OF SHOCK and surprise marked the faces of the 80 or so adult cyclists passed by a five-year-old in a 60-kilometre race last month.

On Saturday, Aug. 17, Michael Greenway of Whistler and West Vancouver crossed the finish line in the Tour de Victoria, clocking a time of 3 hours, 27 minutes and 35 seconds on his bright green, 20-inch mountain bike.

Exuding cool, the surrounding crowd reflecting off the lenses of his sporty sunglasses, one might wonder if he even broke a sweat. How does Michael describe the race? “Easy,” he says.

With about 700 metres of elevation gain, what makes his performance even more impressive is that the kid racer had to work much harder to pedal than his competitors.

“The problem is he spins out the gears,” explained his dad, Andrew Greenway, who raced with his wife Ching Ling Ma alongside their son. “He’s got to spin at a much higher cadence to try and keep up, and to get going.”

Last year, Michael rode the 45-kilometre Victoria race at age four, and the 30-kilometre route in 2021 at age three. So far, one of the biggest challenges has been finding bikes that can keep up with him.

“We’ve tried everything, but we just have

to wait,” Greenway said.

Given Michael’s history in the race, he’s gained acclaim among the other riders, including race founder and B.C. cycling legend Ryder Hesjedal. In 2012, Hesjedal won the Giro d’Italia, becoming the first Canadian to win one of cycling’s three Grand Tour events.

At the Victoria race, Hesjedal asked if Michael was looking forward to the race. “I want to win,” the five-year-old replied.

“He’s very competitive,” Greenway said. “Sometimes we think he’s a little too mature. But in the end, he’s still a five-year-old and likes to play and do kid things.

“But on the bike, he’s very focused. He switches and he’s just in that competitive mode,” Greenway continued, adding that the next-youngest person in the race was age 12.

Michael started on a pedal bike at age two, and is an avid cross-country skier in

the winter months. In terms of academic pursuits, he’ll begin kindergarten at Cypress Park Primary School in September.

While he can’t always choose his competitors, Greenway said his son would love to see more kids his age speeding around on bicycles.

“He always wants to race,” Greenway said.

The Greenways are homeowners in Whistler, so of course Michael doesn’t limit himself to just one sport. The phenom has been cross-country skiing at Whistler Olympic Park since he was two.

“He really wanted to do skate skiing, so he learned figure skating and was the youngest member of the Whistler Star Academy at age three,” Andrew said, adding that Michael then returned to Olympic Park for skate skiing— but “he needs to use classic boots as his feet are too small for the skate boots.”

By the time he was two-and-a-half years old, he was riding his bike on the Valley Trail without training wheels, and at three years old he joined the Sea to Sky Nordics Jackrabbit program, where he was its youngest skier.

“He also joined the Pemberton BMX club at age three, and had a great time even completing the Sea 2 Sky BMX series,” Andrew said. “He has cycled by many bears on the Valley Trail over the years. Maybe this is what keeps him fast.”

- with files from Braden Dupuis n

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Sea to Sky Invasive Species Council resumes invasive mussels monitoring in Whistler lakes

NEW REPORT SHOWS ZEBRA AND QUAGGA MUSSEL INVASION COULD COST B.C. UP TO $129 MILLION ANNUALLY

After a year-long pause, the Sea to Sky Invasive Species Council (SSISC) returned to Whistler’s lakes this summer to resume its longstanding search for invasive mussels in local waters.

The non-profit organization started scouring Sea to Sky lakes for zebra and quagga mussels as part of B.C.’s Early Detection Lake Monitoring Program back in 2017, but funding challenges forced SSISC to put the project on hold last year.

That’s not because the SSISC crew’s monitoring efforts weren’t important: though neither freshwater species is native to North America, both zebra and quagga mussels have already spread throughout Ontario, Quebec, and south into the U.S., where they’ve become well-established in 24 states stretching as far west as California. The species took hold after being introduced to the continent by ships travelling to Canada’s Great Lakes region from Europe in the 1980s.

Researchers have also discovered the invasive species in Manitoba and Montana, but neither mussel has been found within British Columbia’s borders—at least, not yet.

“So far, so good,” said SSISC executive director Clare Greenberg. “No invasive mussels have been found in Alta Lake or any other waterbody in B.C this year, which is great.”

Zebra and quagga mussels could thrive in B.C. lakes and rivers if they were introduced, according to the experts—with big repercussions.

“If they do arrive and establish in B.C., the cost would be huge in terms of economic impacts and environmental impacts,” said Greenberg.

HOW DO ZEBRA AND QUAGGA MUSSELS SPREAD?

Unlike the five species of freshwater mussels native to British Columbia—those are usually about 10 to 15 centimetres long—the tinier zebra and quagga varieties can easily latch onto solid surfaces like boat hulls, trailers, motors, equipment, vegetation and other organisms.

“Basically by hitchhiking on watercraft,” said Greenberg, “and that can be boats, standup paddleboards, kayaks, canoes—anything like that.

As long as they’re left in a cool, moist environment, the mussels are capable of

surviving out of water for up to a month, she added, further increasing their likelihood of spreading when boats, trailers or other equipment inadvertently carry those mussels between bodies of water.

Additionally, the mussels often attach to these surfaces when they’re just a few millimetres in size, meaning their tiny shells are exceptionally difficult to detect. Fully grown, they reach a maximum length of about three cm. Meanwhile, microscopic, free-swimming zebra and quagga larvae are invisible to the naked eye, but can live in the smallest, shallowest pools of water for several weeks—even if that standing water is found inside boats or other equipment.

“It only takes a small amount of water, that can either be in the bilge or in any sort of cavity in a watercraft,” said Greenberg.

The mussels “reproduce quickly and are extremely difficult to eradicate once they become established in an area,” the provincial government explains in a zebra and quagga mussel facts page posted to its website. “In larger water bodies and complex ecosystems, they may be impossible to eradicate unless they are detected and dealt with early.”

Often forming in clumps, their propellershaped shells are brown or cream-coloured,

and sometimes display zebra stripes. A mature female zebra or quagga mussel can produce one million eggs per season, according to the SSISC.

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

The tiny mussels pose a host of serious environmental and economic threats to B.C. According to the SSISC, zebra and quagga mussels filter out nutrients and microorganisms like plankton, the base of the food chain for the region’s native aquatic species.

Beyond the species’ ability to disrupt aquatic ecosystems and already-vulnerable salmon populations, the miniscule mussels overgrow to the point of blocking pipes and even dirtying municipal drinking water. The razor-sharp creatures are also known to damage boat propellers and injure swimmers near shores or docks—not exactly ideal for recreation and tourism operators.

They can even “coat beaches, docks, and the propeller and hulls of boats to the point that they become unusable,” the SSISC explains on its website.

In terms of costs, “the estimates used to SEE PAGE 26 >>

Full-service real estate company launches office space in Whistler's Olympic Plaza

rennie expands network of workspaces to seven, their second in the Sea-to-Sky corridor-complete with a team of real estate advisors

rennie, a Metro Vancouver real estate company, is officially moving into Whistler summer 2023, with their new satellite office-also known as an rspace-at Whistler’s Marketplace in the Olympic Plaza.

Whistler is their second rspace in the Sea-to-Sky Corridor (a Squamish rspace opened in 2020), and seventh across the Lower Mainland.

As a full-service real estate company, rennie stands apart for its industry-leading, data-focused approach. An in-house intelligence team-composed of a senior economist, demographer and market analystsempower their developer clients, realtors, institutional advisory clients and rennie team with comprehensive data and a trusted market perspective.

Additionally, rennie’s website now features a neighbourhood guide to Whistler with tailored market intelligence and homes for sale, updated daily

Coming to Whistler has been a natural extension for the company Greg Zayadi, president of rennie says, “Whistler represents a real opportunity to bring a fresh perspective to a market that we have strong, existing connections to. It was natural for us to formally move into Whistler and strategically grow the brokerage.”

Carleigh Hofman, Caronne Marino, David Lewis, Rob Palm, and Justine Levenberg make up rennie’s growing group of realtors based in Whistler—offering their local market insight, so their clients can make informed decisions when buying and selling their home.

Connecting with clients and community

Underpinned by a people-first culture instilled by founder Bob rennie, rennie’s rspaces represent the company’s ongoing effort to provide thoughtful service to their clients within their own communities—while maintaining a deep-rooted passion for building strong relationships.

“Real estate is hyper-local and hyper-personal,” says Zayadi. “It’s about the people, the homes, and the locations. Having a local rspace is an opportunity to showcase the rennie brand and our investment in the community ”

“From a real estate point of view, Whistler has become a smart and safe place to invest your money because it’s grown into a four-season community,” says Zayadi.

Zayadi believes that people are excited to make Whistler a home, not just a secondary property This sentiment is echoed by Statistics Canada reporting, which shows that the population of Whistler increased by 18% from 2016 to 2021. British Columbia, on the other hand, grew by 7.6% between the same census periods.

The latest real estate data in Whistler and the Lower Mainland housing market is published monthly in the rennie review, with neighbourhood-level stats and commentary on current market conditions by rennie’s intelligence team.

For more information, visit rennie.com. rennie’s Whistler rspace is located in Whistler’s Marketplace at 110 – 4350 Lorimer Road.

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be about $30 million annually, but they’ve really looked at the [threats] and economists have come up with a much larger number,” Greenberg said.

An economic impact study released in May of this year estimated an invasion would cost B.C. between $64 to $129 million annually, taking into account potential impacts on hydropower, agricultural irrigation, municipal water supplies, recreational boating, tourism, and property values.

“B.C. has a lot of hydropower infrastructure, and invasive mussels do things like clog water intakes and damage infrastructure, so that sort of economic cost is one of the things we’re trying to prevent,” Greenberg said.

WHAT DOES MONITORING LOOK LIKE?

Each summer leading up to last year’s hiatus, SSISC seasonal staff ventured out onto several lakes across the corridor to sample their waters. This time around, “we’re only sampling Alta Lake, because the province has looked at prioritizing which water bodies are most likely to see both the arrival of mussels, and then also lakes that have the most favourable conditions for them to establish,” explained Greenberg.

With Alta Lake named on the priority waterbody list the province published this year, staff from the SSISC grabbed their kayaks and sampling devices and headed to Alta

Lake to collect water samples on a monthly basis throughout the summer season, said Greenberg.

“Those samples get sent to a special lab that tests for the presence of villagers, which are early larval life stages of invasive mussels,” she explained.

At the provincial level, the B.C. government supports an entire Invasive Mussel Defence Program dedicated to preventing an invasion. Provincial regulations also mandate anyone transporting a watercraft within the province must stop at all inspection stations along their route.

Records show program staff inspected more than 20,000 watercraft in B.C. in 2022, and found 13 mussel-fouled boats.

“The risk is real,” said Greenberg. “This is one example of where the province has

come in with resources and taken it really seriously, to actively try and prevent these mussels from establishing. Because other states and other provinces in North America have had to deal with it the hard way … We’re learning from the other provinces and states that it’s better to spend money on the prevention side, rather than the much larger amount of money that would need to be spent if [the mussels] do establish.”

HOW THE COMMUNITY CAN HELP

A potential invasion “is a problem that can be solved by cleaning, draining and drying watercraft,” Greenberg explained. “So that’s what we’re asking people to do if they’re moving watercraft between water bodies. The

best practice to prevent any spread of invasive mussels and other invasive species is to clean, drain, dry your boat, or your canoe or kayak.

“It’s especially important for Whistler because we do see so many people coming from outside of the region and outside of B.C.,” she added.

Whether you’re launching a yacht, fishing boat, paddle board, or stepping into a stream with fishing gear like boots, waders and bait buckets, that means using proper techniques (and a power wash station, if one is available) to clean all plants, animals and mud from your equipment, drain water from all buckets and bilges onto land, and completely dry each item and watercraft before venturing into another body of water.

The SSISC also offers a free Aquatic Invasives 101 course, a 30-minute online endeavour featuring Sea to Sky-specific curriculum for anyone who spends lots of time near lakes, rivers, or the ocean and wants to learn more.

If you spot a mussel that looks suspicious, either on your boat or near local waters, get in touch with the SSISC via email or its “report an invasive species” feature at ssisc.ca/report, or contact the province directly at cos.aquatic. invasive.species@gov.bc.ca.

“Send a picture,” Greenberg encouraged. “If people see a mussel and they’re not sure what it is, we definitely want to get those reports and make sure to double-check the ID.”

While prevention is the best defence, early detection is the next best thing, Greenberg explained.

Find more info at ssisc.ca. n

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Sea to Sky’s Howe Sound Women’s Centre to be renamed

NEW NAME REFLECTS COMMITMENT TO GENDER DIVERSITY, SAYS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

THE HOWE SOUND Women’s Centre (HSWC) is getting a new name and expanded focus.

The organization announced Monday, Aug. 28 that the new moniker will be unveiled on Sept. 27 after its AGM.

The rebranding reflects that the centre and organization welcomes more folks than its current name suggests.

It is “inclusive of all Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse individuals impacted by gender-based violence,” the HSWC said in a news release.

“Over the past four years, the organization has been doing intentional work to align our values of feminism, anti-oppression and intersectionality, and de-colonization into all aspects of our work, internally and externally,” said Ashley Oakes, executive director of the HSWC, in the release.

“This work to align has seen explicit new and emerging commitments to Two-Spirit, trans and gender-diverse communities and a deepening renewal and revival to the organization’s commitment to Indigenous communities and people of colour.”

The organization’s work to rebrand began in the early fall of 2021.

“From the very beginning, a Rebrand Committee was formed to help retain feminist communication and design. Brand experts were brought in to [collaborate] and helped guide a deeply reflective and strategic process of choosing a new name,” the release stated.

The process also included a GenderDiverse Inclusion Committee, which assisted in examining the needs of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community.

Earlier this summer, the HSWC learned it is among 56 service providers across British Columbia that are set to receive stable, annual funding beginning this year.

The B.C. government is spending just over $6.6 million to establish 68 sexual assault response programs facilitated by those providers.

The funding means sexual assault response services will continue to be available

the number of sexual assaults reported in the resort increased 18 per cent last year, rising from 28 offences in 2021 to 33 reported in 2022.

Statistics Canada data shows 34,242 sexual assaults were reported to police nationwide in 2021, representing 90 incidents per 100,000 people. It’s not an entirely fair comparison considering Whistler’s tourist economy, but the 28 offences reported in the resort in 2021 translate to 200 incidents per 100,000 people—more than double the national rate.

Self-reported data from 2019 shows only about six per cent of sexual assaults in Canada were reported to police that year.

“We’ve started to see the numbers of people contacting us for help increase steadily over the last two years and we anticipate that that will continue with this new funding,” Oakes said.

Everyone is invited to the celebration of the new name and brand. There will be light snacks and refreshments at the event.

The HSWC AGM will be held Sept. 27 at the Squamish Drop-In Centre at 38021 3rd Ave., from 4:30 to 6 p.m., followed by the brand launch at 6 p.m.

(Membership is required to vote at the AGM.)

24 hours a day, seven days a week to survivors throughout the entire Sea to Sky corridor and Stl’atl’imx/Lillooet region.

On average, sexualized violence occurs at a higher rate in the Sea to Sky corridor than it does at provincial and federal levels.

In a report to Whistler’s mayor and council this March, Sea to Sky RCMP said

Slowly but surely, the stigma around sexualized violence also appears to be diminishing, she added. “We’re improving how we talk about it,” she explained. “We’re empowering people to talk about it more, and that is resulting in more disclosures coming forward as well.”

For more information on the centre and the programs HSWC offers, visit its website at hswc.ca.

-with files from Megan Lalonde n

“We’re improving how we talk about it. We’re empowering people to talk about it more, and that is resulting in more disclosures coming forward as well.”

- ASHLEY OAKES

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NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ELECTORAL AREA D

Wednesday, September 6, 2023 at 7pm at the Britannia Mining Museum multi-purpose room, 150 Copper Drive, Britannia Beach

Public Notice is hereby given in accordance with Section 466 of the Local Government Act that a public hearing will be held in person regarding the following bylaws:

1 Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Electoral Area D Official Community Plan Bylaw No 1135-2013, Amendment Bylaw No 1739-2021; and

2 Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Electoral Area D Zoning Bylaw No 13502016, Amendment Bylaw No 1740-2021

PURPOSE OF BYLAW No. 1739-2021:

Bylaw No 1739-2021 will amend the Electoral Area D OCP The key aspects include:

• Designating South Britannia as a “Planned Community”, which is the same designation that has been applied to the Furry Creek and Porteau Cove communities

• Adding an illustrative concept plan and a pedestrian, parks and open space plan for South Britannia.

• Capping the maximum permitted number of residential units at 1,050, of which 150 units must be affordable

• Requiring at least 1 5 hectares (3 75 acres) of community parks and playgrounds and an additional 10 hectares (24 7 acres) of publicly accessible passive parks for the Britannia South (including 5 2 hectares (12 8 acres) for Minaty Bay, which is already designated as Park in the OCP)

• Increasing the commercial floorspace from the currently permitted maximum of 1,500 square metres (16,000 square feet) to a required minimum of 1,800 square metres (20,000 square feet) as part of creating a more complete community with more jobs and services for local residents

• Increasing the maximum permitted number of tourist accommodation units from 100 to 190, including for hotels, lodges, cabins and similar short-term tourist use

PURPOSE OF BYLAW No 1740-2021:

Bylaw No 1740-2021 is a Comprehensive Development zone (CD4) that is in conformity with the proposed OCP amendment bylaw Key aspects include:

• Creating three land use definitions that are specific to South Britannia (“Minaty Bay Tourist Accommodation”, “Surf Village Commercial” and “Village Commercial (South Britannia)”)

• Dividing the CD4 zone into 11 subzones, each with a specified set of permitted uses, densities and other regulations (e g , building setbacks and heights)

• Setting the maximum building height at six storeys

• Setting the maximum number of dwelling units at 1050, of which 150 must be affordable housing units subject to a housing agreement

• Requiring a minimum of 185 square meters (1,990 square feet) for a child care facility

• Enabling 190 units of tourist accommodation

• Enabling a surfing facility

• Excluding campground and recreation vehicle park uses from tourist accommodation

• Requiring that off-street parking and loading comply with Section 5 of the Zoning Bylaw, with the added requirement that a driveway apron a minimum length of 5 5 metres (18 0 feet) must be provided in front of the private garage door of a dwelling unit

The Zoning and OCP amendment applications are being processed concurrently

The area covered by Bylaw 1739-2021 and 1740-2021 includes the following legal descriptions as outlined on the map included in this notice:

Legal Descriptions:

1 Part of District Lot 1583 Group 1 New Westminster District Except: Firstly;

Part In Reference Plan 4390, Secondly; Part in Reference Plan 4878, Thirdly; Part on Plan 21576, Fourthly; Part Shown as 8 31 Acres on Highway Plan 76 Fifthly; Part Shown as 0 08 Acres on Highway Plan 76, Sixthly: Portion on Plan BCP29232 PID 010-026-151

2 Lot A, Except Part Dedicated Road on Plan BCP28651, District Lots 1583, 2001 and 7034 Plan 21576 PID 010-077-227

3 Parcel 1 (Reference Plan 4878) of District Lot 1583 Group 1 New Westminster District Except Part on Plan 21576 PID 010-025-952

4 Parcel 1 (Reference Plan 4878) of District Lot 2001 Group 1 New Westminster District Except Part on Plan 21576 PID 010-025-901

5 Part of Lot A Except: Part Dedicated Road on Plan BCP25632 District Lot 2001 and 7035 Group 1 New Westminster District Plan 20309 PID 006-646-921

6 Part of District Lot 4008 Group 1 New Westminster District Except: Firstly: Part on Highway Plan 76, Secondly: Part on Plan BCP29235 PID 010-025-766

INFORMATION

A copy of the proposed bylaws and relevant background documents may be inspected at the Regional District office, 1350 Aster Street, Pemberton, BC, during office hours

8:00 am to 4:30 pm from August 21, 2023 to September 6, 2023 not including weekends and statutory holidays or on the SLRD website at h t t p s : / / w w w s l r d b c c a / p l a n n i n gb u i l d i n g / p l a n n i n g - d e v e l o p m e n ts e r v i c e s / c u r re n t - p ro j e c t s / t a i c h e n gdevelopment-application-0

The public hearing is to be chaired by Electoral Area D Director Tony Rainbow as a delegate of the SLRD Regional Board

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

All persons who believe that their interest in the property is affected by the proposed bylaw shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to be heard or to present written submissions respecting matters contained in the bylaws at the public hearing All persons can 1) submit written comments; and/or make oral representations in person at the public hearing

1 Submit Written Comments to the Board:

Written submissions must be addressed to “SLRD Board of Directors,” and include your name and mailing address Until 4:00pm on September 5, 2023, written submissions will be received at the following:

Email: planning@slrd bc ca

Hard Copy: Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Planning Department PO Box 219, Pemberton, BC V0N 2L0

Written submissions will also be accepted on September 6, 2023 between 8:00am and the time when the motion to close the Public Hearing is made During this timeframe, written comments must be submitted by email to: kneedham@slrd bc ca

2. Participate in Person:

The public hearing will take place September 6, 2023 at 7:00 p m at the Britannia Mine Museum multi-purpose room, 150 Copper Dr, Britannia Beach

Tension eases near Gun Lake amid cooler temperatures

AFTER LOCALS RAISED CONCERN ABOUT POTENTIAL BACK BURNS, CREWS AND RESIDENTS ARE WORKING TOGETHER TO PROTECT REMAINING STRUCTURES FROM OUT-OF-CONTROL WILDFIRE

EVEN AS WILDFIRES continue to burn out of control, leaving a trail of devastation in their path, a Gun Lake homeowner who has defied evacuation orders to remain at his property said the tense situation in the Upper Bridge River Valley finally appears to be easing on several fronts.

“It’s raining lightly here and things are finally starting to feel like we’ve got a bit more of a hold on it,” said Noah Reid in a phone call on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 29.

For more than a month, Reid has remained at the property where he typically lives full-time between April and October, despite the evacuation orders officials at the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) issued in response to a pair of fast-spreading fires in the area.

“A lot of it comes down to just the vested interest you have in it,” he said. “I’ve owned this place for six years now, constantly working on it and improving it, and it’s something that I don’t want to just let go that easily.

“No one else is going to have that same kind of dedication to protect your place as you do—not to say that the crews aren’t out there,

and they are doing a lot of good work, but there’s just a whole other level of commitment if it’s your own place.

“I’m not willing to die for my place or anyone else’s,” he clarified, “but I think if you can make educated and rational decisions, you can do it fairly safely.”

In a bulletin posted earlier on Tuesday, Aug. 29, the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) said crews and heavy equipment were focused on securing the fire’s edge along the West Tyaughton guard, while structure protection personnel in the area worked to maintain sprinkler systems in the Pearson drainage and south of Gun Creek Road.

“Firefighters and structure protection personnel are working overnight to monitor and patrol the fire edge,” the bulletin read.

In an Aug. 26 community update, the

SLRD credited consistent cooler temperatures and precipitation with limiting fire activity in the area, though the BCWS estimated the Downton Lake fire at 9,506 hectares as of Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 29.

That’s good news for Reid, but not much consolation for residents who have already begun grieving the loss of their homes—it only means assessors are one step closer to being able to return to the shores of Gun Lake to gauge the damage.

According to the BC Lakes Stewardship Society, Gun Lake has about 260 residentially zoned properties, with 30 year-round residents and three commercially zoned properties.

On Aug. 6, The SLRD initially announced the fire had destroyed two single-family

recreational properties and at least 12 outbuildings in the Gun Lake area. The SLRD more recently confirmed more structures had been lost since, particularly around the northwest side of Gun Lake, but could not provide a number. The SLRD said crews began conducting Rapid Damage Assessments (RDA) on Aug. 22, but were interrupted when shifting wildfire activity forced the RDA team to evacuate.

“I’m sitting on my dock right now looking across at just devastation on the other side of the lake,” Reid said Aug. 29. He estimated there were “probably 50-plus burnt cabins,” but couldn’t pinpoint a specific number.

Some residents in the area believe backburn operations exacerbated the fire.

The small group of property owners who have stayed behind have “been fighting tooth and nail” to protect their properties, he said, “and to see all that effort be lost would be a real shame.”

Back burning is one strategy crews use to eliminate fuel in a wildfire’s path, in an effort to control the blaze.

“It’s not to say there isn’t a time and place for it, but on hot, windy days, near residential properties, it doesn’t seem to be a very effective technique,” Reid said. “It’s just too high-risk. Sitting down and talking with forestry [crews], I think they’re starting to realize that, and I think it took some pressure.”

On Saturday, Aug. 26, the BCWS confirmed its crews had no plans to fight the Downton Lake wildfire with any large-

scale back burn ignitions, after residents in the unincorporated community of Gun Lake voiced concern about a potential back burn planned for Sunday, Aug. 27.

“The Gun Lake community has already suffered devastating loss, the highest ratio of loss in any Canadian community at present,” reads a letter signed by Gold Bridge resident Jessica Robinson, and addressed to BCWS officials and

installed “some amazing fire guards” in the area.

In a video posted to the SLRD’s YouTube channel on Saturday, Aug. 26, BC Wildfire incident commander Hugh Murdoch elaborated on the challenges fire suppression crews are facing this season.

“A guard in itself won’t always stop a fire, especially under the extreme conditions that

the last week of August, “it’s amazing to see how well that’s working and how they’ve been able to quell the fire and push it back,” said Reid.

After a rocky few weeks, the relationships between some crews and locals who’ve stayed in the area have improved, he said. “Hopefully, you know, there’s some positive change that comes with it—how local folks can work a little more with forestry and with local fire departments, because there is a lot of local knowledge here and a lot of skill and a lot of great people,” Reid said.

The Downton Lake fire is part of the Bendor Range Complex, which also includes the Casper Creek fire burning east of Gold Bridge, near Anderson Lake about 24 kilometres west of Lillooet. Crews estimated that fire remained at approximately 10,982 hectares as of Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 29.

elected representatives on Saturday.

“The community, including many on the ground crews that have been working on the fires for weeks on end, are deeply concerned about continued back burns.”

Reid praised crews for their continued efforts, and for being receptive to residents’ feedback. “I think they’ve totally re-evaluated,” he said on Tuesday. “I just got back from a tour around and there’s some great work that’s been done.”

He gave particular credit to the hardworking logging crews who he said have

we’re finding ourselves in this summer across much of the province. One might think that a lake would be a fantastic guard, but there’s examples here where Carpenter Lake has had fire jump across it, and then you could go into the Okanagan, Lake Okanagan [and] Shuswap Lake, they both had fires jump across them,” he explained.

“The width of a guard is still limiting, so there’s a time when you have to support those machine guards with burn operations.”

Still, between ground crews and helicopter support attacking flames from above during

Lightning is believed to have sparked the Downtown Lake fire on July 11. The fire burned out of control for weeks before a cold front sweeping across the province after a long stretch of hot weather earlier this month caused flames to intensify—even resulting in the “incredibly rare” occurrence of a “fire tornado” forming over Gun Lake on Aug. 18.

“That morning, I got up and I said, ‘This fire looks as good as I’ve seen it,’ and it was burning just across from my cabin. I saw no smoke, nothing happening,” Reid recalled. Fast-forward to mid-afternoon, “there was a raging fire.” After winds shifted later that night, “the entire side of the lake” was burnt by morning, he added.

-with files from Braden Dupuis n

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“A guard in itself won’t always stop a fire, especially under the extreme conditions that we’re finding ourselves in.”

- HUGH MURDOCH

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Lil’wat, N’Quatqua temporarily ‘shutting down’ access to Joffre Lakes Park

MINISTRY WORKING WITH NATIONS TO ADDRESS CONCERNS AROUND LAND USE

PARK RANGERS were stationed at Joffre Lakes Provincial Park in the last week of August, turning away people trying to gain access after two First Nations closed the park to the public.

Líl’wat Nation and N’Quatqua First Nation issued a joint statement on Aug. 23 stating they’ve made the decision to shut down the park so they can harvest and gather resources within the territories, known as Pipi7iyekw.

“We are asking you to help in honouring us by providing us with sufficient time and space that we require to conduct our Nt’akmen within our lands,” stated the release.

Joffre Lakes Park remained closed as of Pique’s press deadline, and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy is working to find a solution. “As conversations continue with local First Nations, the Day-Use Pass booking system has been paused,” said a BC Parks spokesperson.

The Líl’wat Nation translates Nt’akmen as “our way,” encompassing both culture and traditions, according to a community document describing the nation’s inherent rights.

In a follow-up release sent to Pique on Wednesday, Aug. 30, the Líl’wat and

N’Quatqua Nations said their decision comes following nearly five years of collaborative efforts with BC Parks.

Those discussions “were focused on addressing visitor management rather than prioritizing Nation member access and cultural use in the area,” the release said. The Nations said staff from Líl’wat Lands and Resources and N’Quatqua First Nation have been working with BC Parks since December 2018 to develop the Visitor Use Management Strategy. Implemented in 2021, the strategy includes a list of nine goals aimed at addressing land use and overcrowding in the park.

Goal No. 1 on that list is “Recognition of First Nations Territories & Increased Líl’wat Nation and N’Quatqua First Nation Stewardship,” while the second is “Celebrate First Nations Culture throughout the Park.”

The Nations said tourism has overshadowed those goals for too long.

“[W]hile successes have been gained through our partnership in terms of implementing a cap on the number of visitors and a day-use pass permit, access to the resources by Líl’wat and N’Quatqua has not been prioritized,” they said. “Concerns from the community regarding Joffre have been communicated for years.”

The Nations said they initially brought forth a proposal five weeks ago to close the

park, or Pipi7iyekw, for Harvest Celebrations. “The time has come to prioritize the Nation’s access to their resources, food sustenance, and to remove barriers that discourage our use of Pipi7iyekw for traditional use activities,” they said Wednesday.

As Lil’wat Nation Chief Dean Nelson told CBC News, “We’ve been requesting, we need to have time there as well ... but it’s never been granted.” (Nelson was unavailable for an interview before press time).

The ministry said it is actively working with the Lil’wat and N’Quatqua First Nations to find a solution to their concerns around space and privacy for cultural activities while ensuring public access to the park in a responsible and sustainable manner.

“To support these important conversations, Joffre Lakes Park will remain inaccessible to the public until Friday, Sept. 1,” a spokesperson said.

The two First Nations stated the temporary closure will last until Sept. 30, National Truth and Reconciliation Day in British Columbia.

In an interview between CHEK News reporter Rob Shaw and Minister George Heyman, it was revealed the minister has asked the leaders of both First Nations to sit down with provincial officers and himself if requested, to negotiate a solution that would reopen the park, but also give Indigenous residents the land access they require.

CANCELLING BOOKINGS

BC Parks said people who had a day-use pass or backcountry booking will be fully refunded automatically.

In 2021, the province entered into a partnership with Lil’wat and N’Quatqua Nations, later issuing mandatory day-use passes to visit the popular park under adjusted booking rules.

BC Parks says with the system in place, the park currently accommodates approximately 200,000 visitors per year.

“Overnight campers numbers are managed through camping reservations, with 26 backcountry camping sites available within the park,” the spokesperson said.

Glacier Media asked how many day-use passes and campsites had to be cancelled, but was not given an exact number; instead, a spokesperson said there are 1,053 dayuse passes per day. Not all passes are used, according to staff.

“The number of trail passes in Joffre Lakes was established through the Joffre Lakes Visitor Use Management Strategy, developed jointly with the Líl’wat Nation and N’Quatqua to protect Lílwat Nation and N’Quatqua cultural values ... and ensure resource protection, public safety, and minimal visitor conflict,” stated the spokesperson.

-with files from Megan Lalonde n

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Young people aren’t waiting around for climate action

I GREATLY ADMIRE today’s young people—but I sure don’t envy them. We older generations are leaving them a hell of a mess.

Granted, many people of all ages are trying to help the world shift to efficient, cost-effective renewable energy and avert the increasingly devastating impacts of a heating planet. But some don’t want to give up the conveniences and luxuries they’ve become accustomed to, from jet-setting vacations to private automobiles, so they don’t push too hard for change.

And despite international agreements and significant progress on many fronts, those with real power to effect change are

still propping up the fossil-fuel industry. As oil companies rake in record profits, the world’s biggest economies, the G20 countries, invested a record US$1.4 trillion in public money in coal, oil and gas last year—despite ongoing pledges since 2009 to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies.

It pains me to mention political “leaders” who oppose almost all climate policy and action—some publicly rejecting climate science altogether! The excessive support some show for polluting, inefficient energy sources makes me wonder who they’re really working for. They’re certainly not prioritizing the interests of those they were elected to represent, including those too young to vote.

It’s no wonder so many young people are angry—and sad, anxious and afraid. We’ve failed them. When they should be enjoying relatively care-free lives with friends and family, learning and gaining experience, many have become rightfully terrified for their futures. The resulting despair can be paralyzing.

It’s up to older generations to foster hope by taking concrete action to get off fossil fuels and stop destroying natural spaces. But we must also recognize the serious, often long-term mental-health effects youth can experience in facing this crisis. We need to ensure they have access to adequate mentalhealth support and tools for self-care.

After waiting too long for adults to make the right choices, many young people are finding that channelling their anger and fear into action is one antidote to despair. From climate strikes to community activism, they’re finding ways to connect with each

other and shape their future.

Some have courageously mounted legal challenges. In Montana, 16 young people successfully sued the state this month for violating their right to a clean and healthful environment.

“Because of their unique vulnerabilities, their stages of development as youth, and their average longevity on the planet in the future, plaintiffs face lifelong hardships resulting from climate change,” the judge wrote.

Many are hoping the landmark decision will energize other youth climate lawsuits, including one next year in Hawaii.

In Canada, seven young people are suing the Ontario government over climate issues. And in a case supported by the David Suzuki Foundation, 15 youth from seven provinces and one territory are suing the federal government for violating their rights to life, liberty and security of the person under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and violating their right to equality under section 15, because they’re disproportionately affected by the climate emergency.

Again, young people shouldn’t have to spend their time and resources going to court to compel governments to do what they should be doing in the first place: ensuring their constituents live in a healthy environment and that youth of all ages can expect a bright future.

It’s exhausting enough just living with the growing climate crisis, even if you aren’t in the midst of fires or floods or smoke-clogged skies—or worse. Knowing so many solutions exist and that change is possible offers hope, but can also be a source of frustration, as there are so many barriers to progress.

Young people are especially vulnerable. I urge all youth to talk about and get active in climate issues if you can—whether it’s

participating in a march, writing a letter or joining an organization—but remember also to enjoy your life. We still have each day, and it’s important and energizing to have fun, get out into nature, spend time with friends and family, listen to music, dance, play and just live.

Let’s not be overcome by despair. A better future is achievable. We older generations owe those coming after us our consistent, focused efforts to do whatever we can to get there!

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with David Suzuki Foundation Senior Writer and Editor Ian Hanington. ■

Let’s not be overcome by despair. A better future is achievable.

Learning to Idaho stop

HAVING RIDDEN a bike on roads for 30 years, I can’t say I was always the most compliant cyclist when it came to traffic laws. Getting around the Brisbane suburbs on my old Wheeler hardtail would usually involve shortcutting down pedestrian-only stairs, sprinting through train station underpasses and every sort of urban cycling tomfoolery you’d expect from a bored, teenaged mountain biker who didn’t have trails near their house.

I’d occasionally witness more serious road cyclists weaving around traffic and track standing for minutes on end at red lights, but in a bike lane-free city, I was content just to keep myself alive while getting around. Of course, that meant pissing off more than a few motorists along the way.

Thankfully, traversing Whistler isn’t nearly as hazardous. Our fabled Valley Trail makes it so much safer to get around, but with cycling traffic picking up on busy summer days and e-bikes already going faster than they should, bikes of all kinds will spill onto the regular roadways and Highway 99.

Given Whistler has more or less grown up with mountain bikes, it’s not the kind of community where you’d expect to get ticketed for rolling through a stop sign on two wheels, despite it being illegal. But as someone who

reads more than their fair share of cycling news, I recently found an interesting term that does its best to justify a bike rolling through red signs and signals. It’s called the “Idaho stop.”

The Idaho stop is the nickname for a “rolling stop” law passed in 1982 in its U.S. namesake state as part of an effort to reduce technical traffic infringements that were clogging up the courts. While seemingly late to the party, since 2017, a handful of other U.S. states have observed the benefits of the Idaho Stop and implemented their own version.

The law allows cyclists to treat red lights as stop signs and stop signs as yield signs, which, as someone who has been commuting by bike for a long time, makes perfect sense. Cyclists—and to a lesser extent, e-bikers— need momentum to make their chosen form

doing the Idaho stop wrong,” writer Matt Hansen described the kind of cyclist behaviour that triggered a ticketing spree by police in Toronto’s High Park. “The idea is you treat the stop sign as a yield, however, it doesn’t mean you race right through it. It means that you should reduce your speed,” Hansen wrote. “The Idaho stop is not legal in Canada, despite there being a big push for it.” Ironically, the same month, cyclists shared images on Twitter of Toronto bike cops rolling right through stop signs themselves. I guess they didn’t want to lose their momentum.

Whether or not B.C. or Canada ever adopts the Idaho stop, cyclists are going to do it anyway, e-bike or no e-bike. What’s in our control is how we approach this common traffic obstacle. Let’s take a look at a few

Northlands Boulevard. If I’m cycling straight through the intersection (in either direction) and staying on Lorimer, I’ll keep cruising. If the pedestrian light is flashing, I’ll slow down if it’s a couple of people, or I’ll stop if multiple groups (or say a family of six) are all crossing together.

If I need to cross Lorimer at this intersection, I’ll weigh the traffic conditions first. On a quiet Tuesday morning, I’ll approach the intersection like a vehicle and roll through with an Idaho stop with no problem. If it’s a hectic weekend with lots of motorists from out of town not knowing exactly where they’re going, I’ll play it safe by approaching from the sidewalk instead, coming to a full stop, and pressing the button for the pedestrian crossing signal. I’ll give those motorists on Lorimer Road a few seconds to react to the blinking lights before crossing. Way too many clueless e-bikers treat these pedestrian crossings as a right-ofway, switching between road and sidewalk and not giving motorists on Lorimer the crucial seconds they need to react.

of transport benefit them. Grumpy motorists will argue everyone using the roads should be treated the same, but in a town like Whistler where happy bikers outnumber grumpy motorists, we tend to get it. However, the Idaho stop is not the law in Canada. Every time you check both ways and roll on through, you are actually committing a traffic offence, so best make sure you are at least doing it right.

In a September 2022 article for Canadian Cycling Magazine titled “You’re probably

Whistler examples. If I’m riding my Class 1 e-bike on Lorimer Road towards the village and come to the intersection with Highway 99, I’ll stop at the red light like every other car. If the highway is busy as usual, I’ll wait for my green light. If it’s early in the morning and the next car on the highway is barely cresting the horizon, I’ll go ahead and cross the highway without waiting for the green signal. No harm, no foul.

Just down the hill is Whistler’s most notorious intersection, Lorimer Road and

There are other habits I’m getting into in order to make my e-bike commuting safer. If I’m travelling at all on the highway, I’ll turn on a flashing, wide-beam front light so motorists notice me from the front, even during the day. I’ll turn on the flashing red rear light for greater visibility from behind. Most of all, I’ll use my common sense. I ride defensively and don’t suddenly surprise the cars around me with an unexpected move.

If we all employ common-sense tactics like the Idaho stop, we’ll all get around safer in the summer.

Vince Shuley is a fan of common sense. For questions, comments or suggestions for The Outsider email vince.shuley@gmail.com or Instagram @whis_vince. ■

The law allows cyclists to treat red lights as stop signs and stop signs as yield signs…

Both Sides

Hiking trips on either side the stern but different faces

Sides Now

side of Rogers Pass reveal faces of Mt. Sir Donald

Story and photos

TTo the Nłe kepmxc First Nation, everything in nature is interconnected. So it makes sense that this is an overlying theme as nation-member Tim Patterson of Zucmin Guiding leads us on a journey of understanding through the forests of Rogers Pass. As the sun bends its way down through the trees, the warming in open spaces is met by zephyrs of cool air that swirl over lingering snow patches. With airborne phenols from spruce, fir and cedar stirred in, the overall effect is one of marching through a giant, cosmic air freshener.

As an ACMG hiking leader, Master Educator with Leave No Trace, Field Instructor with the Outdoor Council of Canada, MA in Environmental Education, and Indigenous Interpretive Guide specializing in mountain environments, Tim is deeply knowledgeable and has much to share about Indigenous use of various tree species— whether for cleaning, sustenance or other purposes. He quietly passes on his greatest reverence, however, for “the boss tree”—the Interior Douglas-fir used in culinary, medicinal, cultural and technological applications. Not to overlook that these sentinels are also, as always, the most impressive, neck-craning arbour in the forest. Even smaller versions, as here, growing at the erstwhile foot of one of Western Canada’s most iconic glaciers, an ice flow once impressive enough to be called The Great Glacier, a template for geological, human and, eventually, climate stories.

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Although several local First Nations tapped the area we’re forging into for resources, they never actually occupied it, Tim explains, sticking to the valleys on either side of the Pass given the difficulty of its steep terrain, dense vegetation, prodigious snows, thundering avalanches and tricky glaciers descending almost to the river valleys. A more recent, European history of the area kicks off with Major A.B. Rogers, a surveyor employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) who discovered this much-sought singular route through the Selkirk Mountains. When the transcontinental railway was completed in 1885, Rogers Pass became one of Western Canada’s first tourist destinations. Glacier National Park was opened in 1886, and Glacier House, a small hotel, sprang up on the rail line near the glacier’s terminus, expanding in both 1892 and 1904. Swiss guides were brought in to lead hotel guests to the ice, which, by 1907, was the most visited glacier in the Americas.

Initially labelled The Great Glacier by Barnum & Bailey-inspired CPR promoters, the Interior Salish word Illecilliwaet (“big water”) was already in use to describe the glacier’s meltwater river, and gradually replaced the former appellation for the ice itself before being officially adopted by Parks Canada in the 1960s. The influx of visitors over the years has included both mountaineers and glaciologists, and thus, though they are sparse by European standards, studies made of the Illecilliwaet Glacier are among the most detailed available for North America. This proved fortuitous given a rapid retreat of the ice that began almost as soon as tourists arrived, pulling it back several kilometres over the course of a century. With the hotel’s raison d’être in slowmotion jeopardy, the CPR’s decision in 1911 to re-route its rail line to make it less vulnerable to avalanches (more than 250 people died during construction and the years following) put a final nail in the attraction’s coffin. Glacier House officially closed in 1925, after which it was deconstructed down to the foundations.

Beginning the hike, we’d walked the abandoned rail bed past the hotel’s historic remains, turning onto a path that guests would stroll after dinner to get a look at the ice. From that same gravel-bar lookout, we now ascend beside the Illecilliwaet River, the thinning forest constellated with house-sized glacial erratics and stranded mounds of rock and till—a Pleistocene souvenir of the glacier’s profound effect on the land. Above us, from every angle it seems, lords 3,284metre Mount Sir Donald, the sharp, Matterhorn-like peak whose imposing presence in many

ways defines Rogers Pass.

Though “Sir Donald” packs a colonial echo, it could have been worse. The mountain was originally named Syndicate Peak in honor of the robber-baron synod that arranged financing for completion of the CPR. Fortunately, sober second thought saw it renamed for Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, who led the effort. The peak’s good rock quality and classic shape had already made it popular among alpinists. Since the first ascent in 1890 by Swiss guides Emil Huber and Carl Sulzer, and their porter Harry Cooper, three or four parties a year were tackling Sir Donald by the time Glacier House packed it in. Today, the route up the Northwest Arête is included in the popular book  Fifty Classic Climbs of North America

Eventually leaving the river and forest behind, we labour up a steep, alder-choked slope where the substrate turns to fine dust mixed with gravel—the remains of a towering lateral moraine. If nothing else, the retreating ice has rendered this hike an excellent Glaciology 101. Rock-hopping a small stream flowing off the remaining ice—still high above us and out of sight—we step across glacier-polished rock whose iron content sees it rusting in the air, and lunch where the glacier once sat as recently as my teenage years. In fact, I’d first glimpsed the Illecilliwaet from the window of a van headed west to Whistler from Toronto, and though my memory of an alabaster cascade is all that remains of the ice at this location, I recognize waterfalls and landmarks from old photos included on interpretive panels at the bottom of the trail—a climate-change story writ large.

By conservative estimate, I’d driven through Rogers Pass probably 50 times, but had only ever stopped in one spot—the summit—whether to stretch my legs, use a bathroom, tour Parks Canada’s modest museum, or, when it still existed, log a night at the infamously decrepit megaA-frame known as Glacier Park Lodge for ski-touring. Seeing the waypoints of the Pass on the ground like this is a whole new ball game, and hiking them to learn how the area’s Indigenous, European, geological and climate histories weave together vastly enriches my perspective.

The ice might be gone, but fascination with the Pass doesn’t change. Later, as our group settles into chairs with cocktail in hand on the deck of Heather Mountain Lodge to watch alpenglow wash Sir Donald and what remains of his once-great glacier, it feels less like a sunset to the day than a coda to an entire era.

Glacier House was an early attempt

to bring Euro-style mountain tourism to Canada, with the added bonus, unlike the Alps, of a completely wilderness setting. And it worked. Even as the ghost hotel and the increasingly ghostly glacier it shilled for now pass into the mists of time, interest in the hiking and climbing they inculcated has only increased. You can still access “luxury” lodges in the mountains of Western Canada to have similar experiences, but nowadays you can’t just step off a train; instead, depending on the setting, you drive or fly to them.

In the former category is the aforementioned Heather Mountain Lodge, a cosy, wood-beam structure just off the TransCanada Highway on the east side of Rogers Pass. Fashioned from trees right off the property, it offers relaxed views into the Pass from both the main lodge and a cluster of private cabins, along with a wood-fired hot tub and massive barrel sauna. “Kindle,” the name of the in-house restaurant, is a nod to signature live-fire cooking that features plenty of innovation. My favourite was radish sprouts from an outdoor garden “planted” in a black olive tapenade that had been fire-dried to imitate crumbly soil. Other standouts included a sablefish and melon amuse-bouche, perfectly cooked elk tenderloin atop charcoal-coloured mint-and-pea tortellini, smoked trout, and a flourless chocolate torte.

Though it’s hard to leave behind such culinary delights, more hiking is on our menu, this time in the Purcell Range to the east. To reach our next destination we route through Golden, a town with enough of its own appeal

to warrant at least a day and night exploration. You can play it, as we do, like this: take the morning to go up Kicking Horse Mountain Resort to visit its popular resident grizzly bear, Boo, whose 21-year-old head rivals the size of the cub he was rescued as; grab lunch in Canada’s highest restaurant, the lofty Eagle’s Eye, with its signature truffle fries and outstanding views to three mountain ranges and five national parks; in the afternoon check out Golden Skybridge, an adventure concession whose rope courses, climbing wall and canyon-spanning suspension bridges, zip-lines and pendulum-swing deliver requisite gut-clenching.

Making the most of our last night in populous civilization, we stay in town at Basecamp Lodge, a new high-end, self-serve franchise taking hold in the intermountain west and dine at the town’s most beloved eatery, 1122, with its eclectic upscale homestyle menu and outdoor tables on the back lawn.

Next morning, we head to the airport for the 15-minute helicopter shuttle into Purcell Mountain Lodge, a wilderness backcountry eco-luxury affair at 2,200 metres in an unbeatable setting—one of the more notable dreamers’ passion projects dotting the subranges of B.C. Another bluebird day brings spectacular views of the local geological nexus—east to the Rockies, Rocky Mountain Trench and Columbia River Valley; west to the Purcells’ Dogtooth Range, Bald Mountain, Purcell Trench and Beaver River Valley, backed by the prominent, looming wall of the Selkirks—a great, silent sea of rock and ice. We’re greeted at

the lodge not only by manager Jackie Mah—a mama-bear type who immediately makes everyone feel welcome—but also owner Sunny Sun, a former Edmonton doctor now based in Vancouver. But a backcountry rube when he’d first visited the lodge, Sun was enamoured enough to eventually buy it.

After a quick breakfast orientation, we scramble out with hiking guides and head south to a ridge called Kneegrinder (though it isn’t really), hopscotching around an extensive snowpack that in early July has only recently started to melt, and between whose white corrugations flowers are beginning to bloom. From the ridge we follow a series of high, rolling meadows back north overlooking the deepcut Purcell Trench and its Selkirk keepers. Though we’re on the complete opposite side of Mount Sir Donald from where we’d hiked in Rogers Pass, the peak is even more impressive.

From this aspect, glaciers galore still sag from the Selkirk ramparts, including the flattopped Illecilliwaet neve that, without seeing, we’d sat below on the other side of the range. Columbia ground squirrels, a favourite grizzly bear snack, abound, and we encounter many extensive bear digs that document their patient search for these tasty morsels. Since the squirrels eat certain types of alpine plant material that the bears can’t digest, eating the squirrels facilitates a form of energy transfer from alpine ecosystems, whose riches the bears then spread far and wide. With the winter snowpack just

pulling back, there’s also a glimpse into the secretive subnivean world that exists beneath it—an exposed ecosystem of roots, snow algae, snow mold, insects and animal tunnels. We break at a jaw-dropping overlook of Mount Sir Donald called Poet’s Corner, then, having filled the senses, climb back up through the forest and out onto the meadow to the lodge.

After a 10-km hike, there’s only one thing on your mind: dinner. Our altitude-activated appetites are amply addressed by Chef Josef, who grew up in Austria’s Alps. His take on contemporary cuisine is influenced by the lodge’s pristine environment with its bounty of wild edible plants and berries. Sated by a round of appetizers and a knock-over dinner (thymecrusted rack of lamb with creamy polenta and asparagus, anyone?) we look forward to our final day—and last hike.

Next morning finds us tracking across extensive meadows in the opposite direction, through a small watershed divide between the Spillamacheen and Beaver Rivers, then back up the eastern side onto the shoulder of Copperstain Mountain, where we clamber up a still heavily corniced ridge to a lunch spot above treeline. From here, it’ll take us another hour to reach Copperstain’s rocky, wind-scoured summit, but clutching sandwiches, everyone appears silently fixated on another peak entirely. Having moved away from it but gained elevation, we now command a more distant view of Mount Sir Donald’s familiar pyramid—a sentinel B.C. landmark that we’ve happily embraced from both sides now. ■

Forest Stewardship Plan #752

Forest Licenses A19214, A19218, A19218 and

Timber Licenses TSQ04 (T0744, T0767, T0755 and T0771)

Notice of Exemption from Public Review and Comment for Forest Stewardship Plan Major Amendment #4

Notice is hereby given that major Amendment #4 to Forest Stewardship Plan (FSP) #752 has been approved by the Ministry of Forests, Sea to Sky Forest District. The approval was received on August 23, 2023. Amendment #4 was limited in scope to updating the names of the holders of the FSP. This amendment does not make any material changes, or changes which would be considered significant.

As a condition for approval of Amendment #4 under section 20(3) of the Forest and Range Practices Regulation (FPPR), the Holders of the FSP are required to post Public Notice that this amendment has been approved without the requirement for a public review and comment period

The approved FSP (approved 2020-12-08) completed a public review and comment period prior to approval. No comments were received during the previous review and comment period which identified any significant public concerns with the content of the approved FSP The approved FSP #752 identified the following four licence holders and the applicable agreements to which the Forest Stewardship Plan applied Squamish Mills Ltd. - Forest Licence A19214

Halray Logging Ltd. - Forest Licence A19217

Pebble Creek Timber Ltd. - Forest Licence A19218

Western Forest Products Inc. - Timber Licences T0735, T0744, T0767, T0755, T0767, T0771 and T0774.

In October 2021 the agreements applicable to this plan were purchased from the holders identified above and the agreements were sold and transferred to new licence holders, listed below.

Blackmount Logging Inc – Forest Licence A19214

Inlailawatash Limited Partnership – Forest Licence A19218

Lil’wat Forestry Ventures Limited Partnership – Forest Licence A19218 and Timber Licenses TSQ04 (T0744, T0767, T0755 and T0771)

The purpose of this major amendment was to remove the original licence holders from the approved FSP and to add the new licence holders and the agreements applicable to each of the new holders to approved FSP #752.

Regarding the public review and comment period, the new holders of this FSP requested the District Manager of the Sea to Sky Forest District to exempt this amendment from the requirements for a public review and comment period, under section 20(3) of the FPPR. This requested exemption was appropriate as there were no material changes to the FSP or to the Results or Strategies defined in the FSP The new FSP holders will continue to be required to plan and complete all primary forest activities consistent with the approved FSP from August 23, 2023

We’re Back!

The RBC GranFondo Whistler is back and better than ever, with just over 5000 cyclists joining us this year on the Sea to Sky Highway as part of their journey from Vancouver to Whistler!

Date: September 9th, 2023

Duration of Impacts: 5:30am-4:30pm

60km/h on the Sea to Sky Highway

Plan for longer travel times or avoid Highway 99 if possible

Single lane traffic in both directions

Library Board of Trustees Applications

Please apply to join the Whistler Public Librar y (WPL) Board of Trustees (Board)

Trustees are appointed by the Resor t Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) Council

We are recruiting up to three Trustees for a two-year term star ting Januar y 1, 2024, through to December 31, 2025

Inter views will be conducted during the first week of October 2023 Only qualified candidates will be contacted for an inter view

Trustee Eligibility requirements:

• Must be a resident or non-resident proper ty owner of the RMOW

• Must not be a RMOW employee

• Must not be a WPL employee

Board Guidelines:

• The Board consists of eleven members Ten are appointed from the Whistler community and one member from the RMOW Council

• The Board meets at regular inter vals, at least six times a year

• The Board helps to determine strategic priorities, develops policies and has overall fiscal responsibilities for the librar y

• Meetings are generally held on the first Wednesday of each month, except August, from 5:00 p m to 7:00 p m

For fur ther information on the responsibilities of the Board members, please contact us at publicser vices@whistlerlibrar y ca and we will make a WPL Trustee available to you

Application packages will become to be available on August 30, 2023 at Whistler Municipal Hall or on our website at www whistler ca/municipal-gov/committees/whistler-public-librar y-boardtrustees/, and at the Whistler Public Librar y, 4329 Main Street, and on their website at whistlerlibrar y ca/about-us/wpl-board

Please submit your application to: Legislative Ser vices, Resor t Municipality of Whistler, 4325 Blackcomb Way Whistler, BC , V8E 0X5, or by email to corporate@whistler ca

Applications must be received by 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday September 20, 2023.

Resor t Municipality of Whistler

Parking Lot 4 will be closed from Sep 7th at 4:00pm to Sep 9th at 5:00pm

Expect some road closures and detours, including Blackcomb Way and Lorimer Road

For more information, please visit september9 info

TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP

The Resor t Municipality of Whistler is seeking a qualified applicant to serve in a voluntary capacity on the Technology Advisory Commit tee (TAC) for the 2023 to 2025 term.

The TAC is a Select Commit tee of Council comprising local stakeholder organizations and community representatives. The commit tee’s aim is to secure, share, and learn from Whistler’s digital ecosystem, while fostering data-driven innovation that enables bet ter decision-making and experiences.

Apply by submit ting a resume and brief statement that reflects your interest in par ticipating on this commit tee in PDF format to bsullivan@whistler.ca. Include ‘ TAC Membership’ in the subject line.

Submission deadline:

Friday, September 29th, 2023 at 4 p.m.

Committee Details:

Resor t Municipality of Whistler whistler.ca

The Mind Mountain offers the Sea to Sky a mental health-focused approach to mountain-bike coaching

SQUAMISH LOCALS JAKE JOHNSTONE AND TORI KELLY AIM TO COMBINE PROFESSIONAL COUNSELLING WITH TECHNICAL RIDING DEVELOPMENT

IT’S EASY FOR PEOPLE to fixate on the physical aspects of sport. Athletes are fast, strong and dexterous, and they train hard to maximize their impressive natural talents. They often project (or have projected onto them) an air of courage and confidence, even of invincibility. They are our heroes and we admire them for it. Oftentimes, we wish to be like them.

All the talent and training in the world matters not, however, if the mind is under siege.

When tennis star Naomi Osaka withdrew from the 2021 French Open due to concerns about her mental health, she helped kickstart a vital dialogue that continues to build steam today. As dismissive observers criticized her for what they labelled an act

of weakness, fellow sporting icons like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and Serena Williams made their support known. The following year, outstanding gymnast Simone Biles declined to partake in several events at

SELF-EXPLORATION

Johnstone and Kelly met earlier this year, on the former’s “Grit with Wisdom” podcast. They come from differing backgrounds: Johnstone is an Australian national who gave up his former

with Johnstone’s qualifications as a PMBIAcertified coach complementing Kelly’s master’s degree in counselling psychology.

A few months later, The Mind Mountain was born.

Johnstone’s dedication to the mental side of biking began years ago, with a former client who was haunted by a past accident involving broken bones. As he recalls, this woman found herself unable to translate her physical skills from a controlled environment to the trail. Her body was fit, her heart willing, but her mind was not on board.

Much like Maverick, Tom Cruise’s character in the 1986 blockbuster film Top Gun, she could not get back in the saddle— and Johnstone didn’t know how to help.

the Tokyo Summer Olympics for similar reasons.

The conversation about mental health in sport is arguably more prevalent than ever, and mountain biking is no exception. That’s why Jake Johnstone and Tori Kelly launched The Mind Mountain, a new bikecoaching company in Squamish that focuses on developing clients’ mental and physical abilities in equal measure.

career as an electrician once he moved to New Zealand (and eventually to British Columbia) while discovering his passion for mountain biking. Kelly is also from Australia, but has lived in B.C. for more than a dozen years and biked for five of them.

The two Sea to Sky locals discovered common ground regarding the intersection of sport and mental health. Before long, they realized they would make a good team,

“That led me on a journey of selfexploration,” he revealed. “I’ve worked with a couple of coaches within that time, mental trainers specific to mountain biking and sports psychologists as well, with the goal of trying to figure out: OK, which mental tools are available, which ones are applicable to mountain biking, and then how do we actually apply that in the physical?”

Kelly can empathize. As someone who has been riding professionally for a couple

“[P]eople are talking about how mountain biking is being used as a tool to enhance mental health.”

- TORI KELLY

of years, she knows competition and lofty benchmarks (as rewarding as they can be) do not always leave room for compassion towards oneself. Knowing that optimum personal growth can only take place with a balance of drive and self-care, she leaped at the opportunity to partner with Johnstone.

A CHANGING NARRATIVE

Mountain biking, like any sport, can bring a lifetime of achievement, physical health, personal growth and fellowship with others. And like any sport, it can also detract from one’s well-being by way of injuries, performance anxiety or the development of a warped self-image. Bikers have not always been ones to discuss their mental health, immersed as they are in a subculture that promotes resilience, risk-taking, and at times a devil-may-care attitude.

Fortunately, change is afoot.

“I feel like I’m still relatively new to mountain-biking culture, having only picked it up five years ago, but even in that time, through conversations with different people, I’ve noticed a shift … people understanding that their mental health does have a direct impact on their sport,” Kelly said. “And not only that, but people are talking about how mountain biking is being used as a tool to enhance mental health.”

“Especially in the local Sea to Sky biking community, I think we are seeing a shift, and it’s a shift I’ve seen within the last five or so years, particularly the 20-to-30-year-old male demographic that maybe wasn’t so open before,” added Johnstone. “A lot of the guys I ride with are now acknowledging that: maybe we do want to pay attention to our intuition and gut feeling a little bit more, so that’s really cool to see.

“I think it almost makes everyone feel more welcomed in the sport when there’s less of that stigma [against mental health] floating around on group rides.”

The question is, how does one translate counselling to the realm of mountain biking? As a sport, it differs from many others like golf, tennis or swimming in that the consequences to failing an objective can be much more physical. Miss a tee shot or a serve and you’ll feel it on the scorecards— miss a steep drop on the trail and you could end up in a hospital bed.

Johnstone’s coaching method revolves around his clients’ inclination to set certain goals. “Is it because they feel like they should be able to do it?” he said as an example. “Is it because they’ve seen it on Instagram? Is it because they feel like they should be on this constant treadmill of progression and never stop getting better?

“A lot of the work I do is about reframing their motivation, perhaps to be a little more task-focused rather than outcome-focused. If they want to do this double-black-diamond drop, that’s cool, but if they’re still riding stuff way below that, I say: let’s put 20 small steps in between now and then.”

Kelly has already experienced success in her own counselling career, helping bikers, skiers and mountain guides at all levels overcome a variety of mental blocks—from self-doubt to the fear of missing out. She too believes that having healthy intrinsic motivations is key to success, as is the ability to manage fear.

“The risk versus reward paradigm is really important, because fear is such a complex idea, right?” said Kelly. “Fear is there to keep us safe, but if we push through it [in certain situations], it can be incredibly rewarding. Fear is all about finding a balance, I think, and then matching that with the correct skill set, which is where Jake comes in.”

The Mind Mountain is very much in its infancy, yet there has already been an outpouring of support on social media and within Johnstone and Kelly’s personal circles. To find out more, visit themindmountain.com. ■

Fall 10% OFF Code: Tr ueFall10

September 8th, 9 am

Early bird pricing until September 30th!

Program information and sign-up is at our new website (whistlernordics.com)

• Youth programs registration opens on Sept 8th

• Adults programs registration opens on Sept 15th

Visit the website to view member benefits, coaching positions, and volunteer opportunities.

Follow us: @whistlernordics_bc

Getting excited!

World on fire

WINEMAKERS ARE STYMIED, FARMERS STUMPED—THE WORLD AS WE’VE KNOWN IT HAS ALREADY ENDED

MAYBE you’re a bit hoarse from all the smoke in the air. Maybe you’ve already sent your donation to the victims of wildfires across B.C. and the Northwest Territories, or mailed a card of thanks to the firefighters working their butts off, including around Gun Lake, home of the fire tornado. Maybe you or loved ones have been anxiously facing an evacuation alert or order. Worse, your life’s been upended by this latest round of disastrous wildfires.

Worst on record. Most land burned. From here to Quebec and up to Alaska; across the

entire Northwest Territories; south of the border—Maui!; throughout Europe and around the world. (Never mind the headlines, check out NASA’s Global Fire Map. It’s a brilliant tool— you can also see snow and ice, or water colour, around the world and over time.)

And those are just the fires. There’s the deadly heat and droughts. Catastrophic flooding in China, India, Eastern Canada, Italy. Tropical storms making their way into areas not normally hit. A fierce hurricane now bearing down on Florida, which will only get fiercer as it picks up strength from the warmest Floridian coastal waters on record—41 C. Yep, that’s been the water

temperature off the coast of Florida, where the web of ocean life—the corals, the reef fish, the plankton—are all struggling to survive in water as warm as a jacuzzi, water so warm that pregnant women are advised not to immerse themselves in it. (Air temperatures off Vancouver Island also passed the 40 C mark in June 2021 when that heat dome killed a billion animals on B.C.’s coast.)

The New Yorker, witty as ever, ran a cartoon last week by Maddie Dai. It features the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (like the ones Dürer created, above), in this case carrying helpful name banners, in case we’d forgotten: Famine, Death, War and Pestilence.

On the right side sits a new, fifth horseman in an ominous black robe: Climate Change, mounted on a white steed and waving at the other four. Between them stands a friendlylooking, middle-aged, bureaucratic kind of guy who’d be at home in any corporate or political office.

He addresses the other horsemen with a winsome smile: “You four have been iconic, but we’ve found a guy who can do it in half the time and at half the cost,” he tells them. Bring on The Apocalypse.

You know the old adage, the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach. True, true, true, true, true, as our old neighbour in Edmonton would say. Everybody can connect to food, so if you haven’t already flung your usual habits and attitudes out the window and started doing everything you can to keep that fifth horseman at bay, like the next generations around the world have been begging, pleading, exhorting us to do, let me toss a few tidbits your way that might hit you where it counts most.

In places with very uncertain futures, like South Africa, where the BRICS summit (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) recently wound up and unemployment is estimated by analysts to be an unbelievable 42 per cent—yes, 42 per cent—the climate crisis is only going to exacerbate the poverty, the hunger , the restlessness and frustration already unfolding, especially among the increasingly youthful populations around the world.

Speaking of which, before I get to the more apocalyptic stuff, I remind us all it’s the young people working on the right side of history (“right” as in not wrong) who offer one of the few slivers of hope. I tip my hat, and salute them all, and anyone else, for being open to new and useful alternatives, then putting in the elbow grease to make it so. Like the young ones who worked tirelessly with environmental groups in Ecuador to get the vote out for the historic referendum to ban oil drilling in a protected area of the Amazon. And the young people who just won a landmark case in Montana, where a judge wisely ruled they have the right to a clean environment.

You can’t cling to old ways when you’re staring down the Four Horsemen, never mind the fifth. Forty-five leading climate scientists interviewed for the Guardian agree. So here we go.

Winemakers around the world are dealing with extreme heat that can make grapes ripen more quickly. Either you pick grapes earlier and risk diminishing quality, or leave them to ripen longer and maybe get stronger, less-balanced wine. Okanagan vintners and brewers in Washington and Australia are already wrestling with ways to get acrid

“smoke taint” out of their wine and beer.

Warmer winters and summers, along with drought, or rain at the wrong time, are also impacting crops, including that good ol’ horseman, Pestilence. Growers worldwide are facing new invasive insect species and unprecedented challenges from mildew and fungus, and insect-transmitted plant diseases.

Cherry growers in the Okanagan this spring used low-flying helicopters to blow excessive rain off ripening fruit. Meanwhile, farmers and ranchers in central and southern B.C. and the southern prairies are facing a third year of severe to extreme drought.

Never mind nice things like cherries and wine, water scarcity impacts 2 to 3 billion people around the world, and it’s only getting worse. India, Pakistan, Egypt, South Africa, Italy, Iraq—all are facing severe shortages (remember BRICS and its new members?). Water levels are so low in California, which supplies B.C. with 70 per cent of its fresh produce, and Arizona that they’re rationing it permanently in some parts.

Do we need any more evidence, folks, to push us in the right direction on the climate file? Could I find any more colliding truths from opposite ends of the human spectrum?

VP Al Gore in a new TED Talk: “The climate crisis is a fossil-fuel crisis.” The world’s most infamous mercenary, Yevgeny Prigozhin: “Society always demands justice, and if there is no justice, then revolutionary sentiments arise.”

That would be one of those original horsemen.

Maury Young Arts Centre to host Philippine Art Gala Night Sept. 7

THE EVENT BEGINS AT 5 P.M. AND IS ORGANIZED BY LOCAL AUTHOR ALPHA VILLANEA

WHISTLER’S FIRST Philippine Art Gala Night is scheduled to take place next Thursday at the Maury Young Arts Centre. Curated by local author Alpha Villanea, the event aims to showcase more than 20 original paintings by Filipino artists such as Joey Labrador and members of his Piskay Art Group. General admission is free, while Mayor Jack Crompton and Resort Municipality of Whistler general manager of community engagement and cultural services Karen Elliott have been invited as guest speakers.

Villanea, who originally hails from Iligan City in the Northern Mindanao region of the Philippines, released her first children’s book Prince Juan in 2018. She wished to have a fellow Filipino do the artwork for her second book, but found it difficult to track down an illustrator.

What she did find were a number of talented painters, whom she quickly grew to admire.

“I was captured by the idea immediately that: why don’t I start collecting art and maybe showcase Filipino talent through art

exhibits?” she says. “And that’s how it all began. I started collecting in 2019.”

The turn of the decade was not an easy time for Villanea, and not just because of COVID-19. She divorced her ex-husband and moved to Whistler with her two kids, including a daughter with special needs. Even so, she remained determined to one day realize her goal of putting on some type of exhibition for Philippine art.

Four years later, the dream is about to be

realized.

Villanea’s passion for helping artists in her native country goes beyond her love of what they produce—though that is significant. Unlike in Canada, art materials in the Philippines are often prohibitively expensive, which discourages many aspiring artists from developing their craft before they can even truly start. However, Villanea sees the talent that some of her compatriots possess and is committed to supporting them however possible.

“With this art gala, I wanted to … raise

awareness to, not just Filipinos, but others as well,” she explains. “Being an ordinary person, you don’t need to have tons of money to be able to lend a helping hand to others. You could actually do it in little ways.”

‘MOTIVATE AND INSPIRE’

A large portion of Villanea’s personal collection is composed of works by Labrador and one of his top students, Jonathan Benjo Manigo. She

to pursue higher education.

“When I started collecting from the Piskay Group, [Labrador] was actually telling me how great it is that I was able to help these students to, you know, motivate and inspire them to keep going,” Villanea recalls.

Though caring for her daughter keeps her busy, as does a day job at the BC Liquor Store on Lorimer Road, the 42-year-old is not done. One day, she hopes to invite Labrador and Manigo to Whistler so they can put on an in-person exhibit. Meanwhile, her upcoming book, titled It’s Hard to be a Woman, is a memoir based on her own life. She ended up asking her adult son’s best friend to illustrate.

plans to have Labrador in virtual attendance on Thursday night, speaking on Zoom about the Piskay Group he founded to mentor fellow artists in the Philippines.

Many of Labrador’s pupils come from socioeconomically underprivileged backgrounds and families that cannot afford to send them to school. That’s why he came up with the idea to auction their paintings off. Thanks to collectors in Canada, Japan and the United States, a number of Piskay Group artists have thus received funding to continue their careers, and in some cases even

Upon her arrival to Canada in 2009, Villanea—like many immigrants—faced difficulty in acclimating to her new home, and not just because of differences in climate. Though hesitating to use the word “discrimination,” she at times felt looked down upon by those who perhaps did not have her best interests in heart. However, she feels that such experiences molded her into a better and wiser person.

Now, it is her aspiration that next Thursday’s gala will help individuals from all walks of life appreciate Filipino ideas and values in a more authentic way.

“I am captured by the idea of sharing our culture through the world of art in hopes to be able to gain deeper understanding and connection, regardless of our cultural differences or beliefs,” says Villanea.  n

“I am captured by the idea of sharing our culture through the world of art...”

- ALPHA VILLANEA

The Skiers’ Chapel

THE WHISTLER Skiers’ Chapel was one of the most iconic buildings from the early development of Whistler as a ski resort. Remembered for its distinctive A-frame design, the church was one of the first skier chapels in Canada, as well as one of the country’s first interdenominational churches.

From its inception, the chapel was designed with the surrounding ski culture in mind. A parcel of land was set aside by Franz Wilhelmsen, president of Garibaldi Lifts Ltd., in order to build a small skiers’ chapel. Wilhelmsen had fond memories of skiers’ chapels in the alpine villages of his home country of Norway, and hoped for something similar in Whistler. Likewise, the chapel’s status as an interdenominational congregation was envisioned at the outset. Marion Sutherland and Joan Maclean, who formed the original board of trustees and established the fundraising committee in 1966, ascribed to different denominations of the Christian faith; Sutherland was a Protestant, and Maclean belonged to the Roman Catholic Church.

Fundraising began in 1966 with Sutherland and Maclean seeking support from local faith communities, approaching both the Vancouver Council of Churches and the Kamloops diocese, both of which agreed to support the effort by supplying ministers.

Architect Asbjorn Gathe contributed by donating plans for the chapel’s design: a simple A-frame, the layout left intentionally devoid of specific denominational features. A stained-glass window designed by Donald Babcock was donated by the Southam family. Support also came from local ski culture. Warren Miller, colloquially referred to as the “dean of ski cinematographers,” held a benefit screening of his film Ski on the Wild Side, and donated a portion of the proceeds to the construction of the chapel.

The $15,000 needed was swiftly raised, and the chapel’s construction was completed in December, the first service being held on Christmas Eve, 1966. The dedication ceremony included representatives from the Lutheran, United, Anglican, and Jewish faiths. As Whistler expanded over the years, the chapel also grew and changed. It held regular services for many denominations, ranging from Catholic to Seventh-day Adventist. It also became a de-facto community centre, as local groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and community health services utilized the space.

The growth of Whistler and the chapel’s evolving role exposed the physical limitations of the A-frame building, forcing some groups such as the Whistler Community Church to split up services. Additionally, as the Creekside location developed, the chapel was forced to relocate multiple times, and was finally given the option to move to the new Village Centre. However, the projected moving cost of $10,000 and the growing spatial limitations prompted the Skiers’ Chapel Society to launch a fundraising campaign for a new building in 1989.

The vision for what the new chapel would be had changed by 1991, becoming more ambitious, with the hope of constructing a building that could fulfil the needs of both secular and faith communities in Whistler. The committee also exchanged its plot of land in Village Centre for one in Village North in 1996.

The fundraising process was further complicated when both the Catholic Church and the Whistler Community Church, two of the chapel’s largest congregations, pulled out to pursue their own buildings. At this point, it became apparent that financial support for a Christian community centre on a large scale was lacking. The committee adapted, and eventually moved services to Millennium Place (now called the Maury Young Arts Centre), in 2003. The last service held in the original skiers’ chapel was on Easter of 2000. n

Stay alert in school zones, at bus stops and on our roads. Slow down and plan ahead.

Scan for more back-to-school safety tips:

whistler.ca/backtoschool

This grom has a date with the World Cup in 2035. Together, let’s make sure she gets there.

PIQUE’S GUIDE TO LOCAL EVENTS & NIGHTLIFE

Here’s

CONTRACTORS CHALLENGE

WHISTLER FARMERS’ MARKET

SEP1-30

WHISTLER FARMERS’ MARKET

A feast for your senses, the Whistler Farmers’ Market features local produce, tasty food, local artisans, live entertainment and family activities in the Upper Village. Markets happen every Sunday until Thanksgiving on Oct. 8, with the addition of Saturday markets on Sept. 2 and Oct. 7.

> Sept. 2 and 3, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

> Upper Village

> Free

HEAR & NOW: IN THE PARK WITH THE BIG LOVE BAND

Don’t miss this vibrant community experience where live music meets the beauty of nature. On Sept. 3, meet The Big Love Band, a vibrant and riveting, five-piece group that combines consummate covers with powerful, emotional originals. Blending a classic Canadian country vibe with feel-good floor-fillers, they have a range of influences, from Tom Petty and The Fratellis to The Tragically Hip and Garth Brooks.

> Sept. 3, 1 to 3 p.m.

> Rebagliati Park

> Free

TEENY TINY ART SHOW

Get ready for the highly anticipated return of the tiniest art exhibit in the Sea to Sky region! The Teeny Tiny Show is back for its sixth year, proving that great things

indeed come in small packages. More than 80 local artists have poured their creativity into meticulously crafting original works, each measuring 3” x 3” or smaller.

The exhibit opens Aug. 30 and closes Sept. 30, with the Art Party—your first opportunity to purchase these mini masterpieces—set for Sept. 21 from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Find more info at artswhistler.com.

> Aug. 30 to Sept. 30; Art Party Sept. 21, 6 to 8:30 p.m.

> Maury Young Arts Centre

> Free

MAKING CONNECTIONS DEMENTIA FRIENDLY SOCIAL CLUB

MAC’s Making Connections is a weekly program for people with early stage dementia and their caregivers on Wednesday mornings.

More like a social club, this program starts with 45 minutes of gentle fitness, followed by games and brain-stimulating activities, and socializing over a light lunch.

The goal is to slow cognitive decline in the afflicted and allow caregivers to bond, share experiences and develop their own support network.

Register at whistlermac.org under the events tab, Making Connections Program.

Prepay by e-transfer to treasurer@whistlermac.org.

> Sept. 6, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

> Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church > $5

The Westin Resort & Spa, Whistler is looking for housing for our Staff Associates

We take pride in the homes we lease and you can rest easy knowing your home is looked after with The Westin. We have:

• A designated Housing Manager

• Monthly rent paid by the hotel directly

• Maintenance issues overseen by our Engineering team

• Scheduled Monthly Inspections

• No Visitors, smoking or pets allowed at any time

PLEASE CONTACT

Megan O'Donnell on 604.2037854 or people@westinwhistler.com

Free Will Astrology

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 1

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Climate change is dramatically altering the Earth. People born today will experience three times as many floods and droughts as someone born in 1960, as well as seven times more heat waves. In urgent efforts to find a cure, scientists are generating outlandish proposals: planting mechanical trees, creating undersea walls to protect melting glaciers from warm ocean water, dimming the sun with airborne calcium carbonate, and covering Arctic ice with a layer of glass. In this spirit, I encourage you to incite unruly and even unorthodox brainstorms to solve your personal dilemmas. Be wildly inventive and creative.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “When love is not madness, it is not love,” wrote Spanish author Pedro Calderon de la Barca. In my opinion, that’s naive, melodramatic nonsense! I will forgive him for his ignorance, since he worked as a soldier and celibate priest in the 17th century. The truth is that yes, love should have a touch of madness. But when it has more than a touch, it’s usually a fake kind of love: rooted in misunderstanding, immaturity, selfishness, and lack of emotional intelligence. In accordance with astrological factors, I assign you Tauruses to be dynamic practitioners of genuine togetherness in the coming months: with hints of madness and wildness, yes, but mostly big helpings of mutual respect, smart compassion, tender care, and a knack for dealing maturely with disagreements.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini author Iain S. Thomas writes, “There are two things everyone has. One is The Great Sadness and the other is How Weird I Really Am. But only some of us are brave enough to talk about them.” The coming weeks will be a favourable time to ripen your relationship with these two things, Gemini. You will have the extra gravitas necessary to understand how vital they are to your full humanity. You can also express and discuss them in meaningful ways with the people you trust.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A self-fulfilling prophecy happens when the expectations we embrace actually come to pass. We cling so devotedly to a belief about what will occur that we help generate its literal manifestation. This can be unfortunate if the anticipated outcome isn’t good for us. But it can be fortunate if the future we visualize upgrades our well-being. I invite you to ruminate on the negative and positive projections you’re now harbouring. Then shed the former and reinforce the latter.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The holy book of the Zoroastrian religion describes a mythical mountain, Hara Berezaiti. It’s the geographic centre of the universe. The sun hides behind it at night. Stars and planets revolve around it. All the world’s waters originate at its peak. Hara Berezaiti is so luminous and holy that no darkness can survive there, nor can the false gods abide. I would love for you to have your own version of Hara Berezaiti, Leo: a shining source of beauty and strength in your inner landscape. I invite you to use your imagination to create this sanctuary within you. Picture yourself having exciting, healing adventures there. Give it a name you love. Call on its invigorating presence when you need a sacred boost.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo journalist Anthony Loyd has spent a lot of time in war zones, so it’s no surprise he has bleak views about human nature. He makes the following assertion: “We think we have freedom of choice, but really most of our actions are puny meanderings in the prison yard built by history and early experience.” I agree that our conditioning and routines prevent us from being fully liberated. But most of us have some capacity for responding to the raw truth of the moment and are not utterly bound by the habits of the past. At our worst, we have 20-per-cent access to freedom of choice. At our best, we have 70-per-cent. I believe you will be near the 70-percent levels in the coming weeks, dear Virgo.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libra poet T. S. Eliot wrote the iconic narrative poem “The Wasteland.” One part of the

story takes place in a bar near closing time. Several times, the bartender calls out, “Hurry up, please—it’s time.” He wants the customers to finish their drinks and leave for the night. Now imagine I’m that bartender standing near you. I’m telling you, “Hurry up, please—it’s time.” What I mean is that you are in the climactic phase of your astrological cycle. You need to finish this chapter of your life story so you can move on to the next one. “Hurry up, please—it’s time” means you have a sacred duty to resolve, as best you can, every lingering confusion and mystery.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Addressing a lover, Scorpio poet Margaret Atwood says, “I would like to walk with you through that lucent wavering forest of bluegreen leaves with its watery sun and three moons, towards the cave where you must descend, towards your worst fear.” That is a bold declaration. Have you ever summoned such a deep devotion for a loved one? You will have more power and skill than usual to do that in the coming months. Whether you want to or not is a different question. But yes, you will be connected to dynamic magic that will make you a brave and valuable ally.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian theologian N. T. Wright writes, “The great challenge to self-knowledge is blind attachment to our virtues. It is hard to criticize what we think are our virtues. Although the spirit languishes without ideals, idealism can be the greatest danger.” In my view, that statement formulates a central Sagittarian challenge. On the one hand, you need to cultivate high ideals if you want to be exquisitely yourself. On the other hand, you must ensure your high ideals don’t become weapons you use to manipulate and harass others. Author Howard Bloom adds more. “Watch out for the dark side of your own idealism and of your moral sense,” he writes. “Both come from our arsenal of natural instincts. And both easily degenerate into an excuse for attacks on others.” Now is a good time for you to ponder these issues.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn playwright and novelist Rose Franken said, “Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.” That’s interesting, because many traditional astrologers say that Capricorns are the least likely zodiac sign to be silly. Speaking from personal experience, though, I have known members of your tribe to be goofy, nutty, and silly when they feel comfortably in love. An old Capricorn girlfriend of mine delighted in playing and having wicked good fun. Wherever you rank in the annals of wacky Capricorns, I hope you will consider expressing these qualities in the coming weeks. Romance and intimacy will thrive if you do.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): As I work on writing new books, I often draw on inspirations that flow through me as I take long hikes. The vigorous exercise shakes loose visions and ideas that are not accessible as I sit in front of my computer. Aquarian novelist Charles Dickens was an adherent of this approach. At night, he liked to walk around London for miles, marvelling at the story ideas that welled up in him. I recommend our strategy to you in the coming weeks, Aquarius. As you move your body, key revelations and enriching emotions will well up in you.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The coming months will be an excellent time to build, discover, and use metaphorical bridges. To get in the mood, brainstorm about every type of bridge you might need. How about a connecting link between your past and future? How about a nexus between a task you must do and a task you love to do? And maybe a conduit between two groups of allies that would then serve you even better than they already do? Your homework is to fantasize about three more exciting junctions, combinations, or couplings.

Homework: Do you have the power and know-how to offer beautiful forms of love? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com.

In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny creates EXPANDED

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Resort Municipality of Whistler Employment Opportunities

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Dogs who are riding in the backs of pickup trucks may look like they’re having fun, but they are not safe. When you transport your dog in the open bed of your pickup, you endanger both your dog and other motorists. Even with a restraint your dog may be seriously injured or killed riding in the back of a pickup. Why risk your dog’s life? Put him in the cab with you in a travel crate, or if you have an extended cab, have your pet ride in the back portion of the cab where he will be away from the front windshield.

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Join a Dynamic Team of Art Lovers!

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ACROSS

How to have fun at university— broke or not

I GUESS school’s about to start. It’s been so long now since it meant a change in my life I’ve nearly managed to forget that’s what happens this time of year. Not to say I don’t still have those dreams… the ones where there’s a final exam or paper due tomorrow in a class I could have sworn I dropped but somehow hadn’t and now I have to scramble madly to remember what the class was about, where the books for it are, or how in the world I’m going to knock out a paper that was supposed to take me most of the semester to do in the 10 hours I have left.

Cue the cold sweat.

What reminded me school was about to

start was an article in the Globe and Mail titled, “How to have fun without going broke during university.”

Excuse me?

What nonsense. I know a lot has changed in the intervening decades since I was a student, but one thing remains constant. Absent very generous parents or scarce, highpaying jobs—think escort/gigolo—you will be broke during university. While not being the whole point of higher learning, being broke is fundamental to understanding why the heck you’re going to university in the first place. Being broke while you’re in university is one of the things you’re in university to avoid later in life.

This, of course, was not the primary reason I went to university. It was second behind not wanting to be drafted and sent to Vietnam. But I digress.

More importantly, and what should have been the point of the Globe story, is you can and probably will have fun in uni while you’re broke. There are a number of reasons for this.

Relativity, for example. You’ll probably learn something about relativity in university, but I don’t mean the Einsteinian kind of relativity. I mean the relativity of being broke among a whole bunch of other people who are broke. Don’t bother focusing on the outliers, the few who aren’t broke. Op. cit., generous parents, high-paying jobs. They’re not important.

Your friends are important. And they’re broke, just like you. Cultivate them. Being broke in a whole gaggle of friends who are also broke makes life easier.

I immediately knew the Globe story was bogus when the first piece of advice they gave was about budgeting. They talked—in percentages no less—about budgeting for necessities, for fun, and for savings. Savings?! Unless you’re majoring in economics, also called the dismal science, math, or home economics, assuming that’s still a subject, forget budgeting. You’re not going to have enough money to budget. Survival is your goal.

The rest of the article was just as useless: use a spending tracker; set a treat budget; set guidelines for what you will and won’t use your student loan for. This advice was obviously written by someone who either didn’t go to university, had a lot of dough, or was the most boring student on campus.

You’ve probably read a lot of scare stories about the mountains of student-loan debt you’ll rack up at uni. Forget ‘em. They’re the kind of if-it-bleeds-it-leads journalism into which the Fourth Estate has descended.

As of 2021, the average debt Canadian students graduated with was $28,000.

per cent—of graduates have any difficulty paying their student loans back. And many of the ones who struggle fell into the Follow Your Passion trap. Following your passion isn’t necessarily bad advice, but it isn’t necessarily good advice either. If your passion is something that doesn’t pay better than bagging burgers, it’s probably a passion you shouldn’t be borrowing to follow.

The other unspoken pitfall to following your passion is this: Something you have to do day-in and day-out to make a living often, and quickly, becomes something you are no longer passionate about. So maybe you should consider saving your passion for

The passionate skiers I know had real jobs. Jobs that paid well enough for them to ski weekends, buy a place in Whistler, and now ski almost every day in their retirement because they worked at something they were less passionate about but that paid well.

A final word about student loans: If at all possible, borrow from the government. Should you find yourself challenged to pay your loans off, you have a lot better chances of surviving the ordeal if you owe the government, not a bank. Do some research; there’s lots of opportunities out there.

But if you want to have fun at uni, learn to cook. You and your friends are going to have a lot more fun over a trough of mediocre lasagna at one of your houses/rooms and a couple of bottles of the cheapest wine than you are at some watering hole charging $12 for a beer. You’ll make more friends and memories for life at one of those gatherings than you ever will in a bar or restaurant.

Learn to love thrift shops. Look around. Do you see a lot of people on campus who really care about what they wear? If so, ignore this advice, because you’re attending a very elite school and you’re probably not worried about cost.

Sounds like a lot, eh? Especially after all those stories about witless students “graduating” from a beauty school owing $60,000 and discovering they weren’t ever going to earn enough to pay it off.

The truth isn’t so bad. While $28k seems like a lot if the only job you’ve ever had was putting burgers in bags at that Scottish restaurant, in Adult World, it’s pretty easy to chip away at it and make it disappear.

Fact is, fewer than half—like around 40

things you do outside of whatever it is you do to pay your way through life.

Skiing is a good example. Many of the people I’ve met who have either given up skiing or are lukewarm about it used to be passionate about it. They followed that passion and raced, worked their way up through the ranks until they either destroyed their bodies or finally realized the top of the podium was reserved for a fraction of one per cent of people who were passionate about skiing.

Pledge frats and/or sororities. Don’t actually join one, just pledge a bunch. The parties are great; the actual membership sucks.

Perfect that little catch in your voice that suggests you’re about to cry but are trying hard not to. When you call home for money, it’ll come in handy.

And don’t read stories in the press about how to have fun at university. The writers obviously never did. I did. For 10 years. About the same amount of time it took to pay off my student debt. ■

Your friends are important. And they’re broke, just like you. Cultivate them. Being broke in a whole gaggle of friends who are also broke makes life easier.

219 – 2050 Lake Placid Road: Lake Placid Lodge 3 bed / 2 bath fully furnished condo. Walk to Whistler Mtn Gondola, nearby pubs, shops, parks and lakes. Enjoy owner use and excellent nightly rental option too! $2,599,000 + GST

Carmyn Marcano

604-719-7646

6693 Tapley Place: Serenity – A custom-built gem situated on a 2/3 acre of flat lot with a manicured yard. This 5900 sqft house was well designed and built with the best craftmanship and finest quality materials. A true Whistler dream house.$12,880,000

Connie Spear

NEWTOMARKET

604-910-1103

4910-415 Spearhead Place: Luxurious, slopeside, ski-in/skiout, newly-renovated 2 bed/2 bath that sleeps 6 at Woodrun. Quintessential Whistler with a hot tub, underground parking, ski lockers, and a front desk. Nightly rentals allowed! $2,480,000

Gina Daggett

778-998-2357

222-4369 Main Street: Incredible revenue generating property in the heart of Whistler. One of the largest studio units in the Alpenglow. One of only four units with an oversize deck. Don’t sleep on this opportunity. www.kenach.com.

$689,000

Ken Achenbach

604-966-7640

#7 - 1350 Cloudburst Dr: Located at Whistler‘s newest community- Cheakamus Crossing, this gorgeous contemporary luxury home offers 3.5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, and a double garage $2,699,000

Ruby Jiang PREC* 778-834-2002

#7 - 1240 Mt Fee Road : Luxury Cheakamus townhouse in Riverbend for winter season! 3 Bed, 3 Bath, Large kitchen/ livingroom with designer furniture, beautiful art, garage, heated floors throughout. $10,000/month.

Jake Breuer

604-698-7259

#47 - 4000 Sunstone Way, Pemberton: Beautiful 3 bed/3 bath duplex boasts designer finishes, A/C & sun drenched deck with mountain views. Open concept is perfect for entertaining & a double garage is fully outfitted to organize all your tools and toys. $1,459,000 GST Exempt

Janet Brown

604-935-0700

39726 Government Rd, Squamish: 3,523 sq ft, 2 level, Multi Income home, newly renovated & turnkey ready. 5 bed / 4 bath, 2 kitchens. 18,110 sq ft lot, illuminated driveway, recessed lighting throughout, large shed for toys, landscape lighting, & legal suite (fully self contained). $2,395,000

Angie Vazquez PREC* 778-318-5900

#207-37881 Cleveland Avenue, Squamish: LOVELY CONDO AT THE MAIN. 1 Bed/1 Bath + flex and double balcony. Close to all urban amenities and outdoor activities. Features 9 ft ceilings along with European style kitchen and beautiful views of the Chief, Marina and Shannon Falls. $648,000

Angie Vazquez PREC* & Carlo Gomez 778-318-5900

Whistler Village Shop 36-4314 Main Street · Whistler BC V8E 1A8 · Phone +1 604-932-1875

whistler.evrealestate.com

Squamish Station Shop 150-1200 Hunter Place · Squamish BC V8B 0G8 · Phone +1 778-733-0611

squamish.evrealestate.com