Pique Newsmagazine 3007

WINTER CARNIVAL AT THE POINT

Sunday February 19th

Please join us for the return of Winter Carnival at The Point, a community celebration featuring live music, dinner, dancing and a host of free afternoon activities celebrating winter through the lens of the arts.

Tickets are available to the Evening show and dinner at thepointartists.com

8am to 6pm. 7 days a week

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Work camps

What locals, advocates, trades representatives and others have to say about their impact in Squamish.

14 ALPINE EXIT? The Whistler Alpine Meadows ultramarathon is cancelled, say organizers, but Whistler Blackcomb says it remains open to compromises.

18 PARK-USE PERMITS A new permit structure at municipal hall will charge user groups to use Whistler’s parks and trails.

32

LEARNING CURVE

School District 48 is still undecided on the future of Blackwater Creek Elementary near D’Arcy.

46 NEXT GENERATION At 18 years old, Whistlerite Embyr-Lee Susko represents the next wave of local luge talent.

24 INSTANT CLASSIC The Whistler Blackcomb Foundation celebrates 30 years of its Winter Classic in two weeks (and tickets are going fast!).

50 ALL IN THE FAMILY Catch mother/son artistic duo Jane and Jonah Waterous at a Whistler Contemporary Gallery reception on Feb. 19.

COVER There’s a reason “toxic femininity” isn’t a thing. - 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 As food prices keep rising and portions keep shrinking, will the Great Canadian Rip-Off continue unabated in 2023? Probably.

10 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This week’s letter writers weigh in on the busyness of Whistler Blackcomb, float more solutions for Highway 99, and offer thanks for community support.

13 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST In the midst of another local outrage cycle, columnist Brandon Barrett poses the question: are we angry for the right reasons?

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Environment & Adventure

39 THE OUTSIDER When it comes to lift lines, Vince Shuley has a word of advice: wait your turn and we’ll all get along.

Lifestyle & Arts

48 FORK IN THE ROAD B.C.’s Indigenous people, who once thrived on wild salmon, are leading a mindset shift in marine protection, writes Glenda Bartosh.

54 MUSEUM MUSINGS A new exhibit at the Whistler Museum looks back at the Peak Bros. comic published in the resort in the ’70s.

70 MAXED OUT Max weighs in on the plans for Rainbow Park, and the consultation (or lack thereof) around the proposed designs. 48

The Great Canadian Rip-Off

IN MY YOUNGER, wilder, punk-rock days, there was a ritual I would partake in every time I had something to celebrate—and, admittedly, many times even when I did not.

The ritual would begin with one very large, very cold beer, and then several more after that.

Before long I would be quite drunk, revelling in my recent accomplishments until

I could no longer remember what they were, or why I deserved to celebrate.

Rinse (thoroughly) and repeat.

Now 35 years old and nearly two years sober, I’ve had to develop new indulgences to mark those days of personal victory—namely, one specific, decadent cake from a Whistler Village eatery.

Let me tell you—this cake does not mess around, and the minute I had my first bite I was transported to a previously unknown world of sweet delicacy. I was hooked.

That was years ago now, but I still have flashbacks about that first bite of cake— enough so that it has become a semi-regular fixture in my life, at least when I need a reward or just a pick-me-up.

So imagine my furious, fat-faced surprise when I went to buy my favourite cake recently only to find it was noticeably smaller than in months and years past—and selling for the same price.

This is the part where some may call on me to name and shame the business, but that was never the intent of this column—mostly because I can’t be certain everyone isn’t doing the exact same thing.

But once I noticed my stunted little cake, I started seeing the signs of shrinkflation everywhere.

A chicken switcheroo at a major fastfood chain, swapping something that at least

resembled chicken for some sort of chicken goop imitation (and somehow having the nerve to charge more than the previous iteration); a slight, but measurable, drop in the total weight of your bag of chips; a sly redesign of a bottle, supposedly to refresh the brand aesthetic but with a hidden motive of shrinking your serving size.

It’s not just anecdotal. A CBC Marketplace investigation published in November identified several items that were downsized recently, including a brand of pumpkin pie filler that old Betty Henry in London, Ont., has been using for 50 years to make her Thanksgiving pies.

Henry told CBC she won’t be using the filler again after discovering the manufacturer started using water to pad out the ingredients.

“I just found it a sneaky way to cut down on costs,” she said. “I don’t like paying for water. You can get it out of the tap, you don’t need to buy it.”

So true, Betty. Damn the man.

Our local businesses aren’t innocent, either. A Whistler sandwich shop I’ve been buying lunch from for close to a decade recently swapped out its baguettes for a much smaller, presumably cheaper baguette. The result is a noticeably smaller sandwich, but did the price go down?

No—just my incentive to buy it.

Canada’s Competition Bureau is currently conducting a market study into competitiveness in the grocery sector, which hopefully indicates a step in the right

direction—time will tell.

But once you start to really see the shrinkflation, there’s no way you can ignore all the extra fees that are being levied at you in every transaction.

Used a delivery app lately? My most recent order includes a semi-reasonable subtotal, then a delivery fee, a service fee, an estimated tax, and the driver tip, leaving me with a total nearly double what I started with.

Don’t even get me started on the Resort Municipality of Whistler and its seemingly bottomless well of both new and increased fees.

Like the good, polite Canadian I am, I have always erred on the side of empathy and understanding. Businesses are dealing with very real cost pressures themselves, with profit margins shrinking all the time. But for us consumers, it’s getting to be a bit much, eh? It’s important to support local businesses, but nobody appreciates feeling like they’re being taken advantage of, and with the price of everything on a seemingly endless upward

from Dalhousie University, the University of Guelph, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of British Columbia—the expected food price increase for 2022 of five to seven per cent was actually exceeded as of September, at 10.3 per cent.

For 2023, the report is again predicting an increase in food prices of five to seven per cent, due to factors like “adverse climate events, rising geopolitical tensions, high oil prices, and a falling Canadian dollar.”

The report notes that more Canadian consumers are trying to save money by reading weekly flyers, using coupons, taking advantage of volume discounting, and using food rescuing apps.

And in Whistler, they are increasingly turning to the food bank, which is now serving between 800 and 1,000 people every month— up from about 200 per month, pre-COVID.

“We are seeing a constant increase in need that doesn’t seem to go down,” Gizem Kaya, food security and community development

trajectory, there’s only so much spending money to go around.

It’s also disheartening, because for the most part, we just have to suck it up. Most people are too busy/stressed/tired to push back/speak out/notice how bad they’re being hosed at the end of the day.

So where is the bottom? How far can the quality of goods and services be stretched before they’re just not worth purchasing at all?

According to Canada’s Food Price Report 2023—compiled annually by researchers

manager for the Whistler Community Services Society, told Pique last fall. “We kept thinking maybe things will be better for people, but really the housing situation is not helping.”

So don’t expect demand at the food bank to drop in 2023. Food prices will keep rising, the portions will likely keep shrinking, and the Great Canadian Rip-Off will continue unabated until something breaks for good.

In the meantime, I’ll have to find a new, more frugal way to celebrate life’s little victories. I’ve been hearing good things about dirt. ■

Whistler Blackcomb: Too busy, not enough parking

Whistler Blackcomb is busier and more crowded than ever. It’s often impossible to find parking, and morning lift queues are massive every time it snows. I thought the new lifts were supposed to reduce lift queues—but the queues are bigger than ever! Are we experiencing “induced traffic” similar to what happens when lanes are added to highways, and the traffic jams just get larger?

Last June, Park City Mountain, a Vail Resorts property, tweeted “chairlift tourism, or the idea that modernizing lifts will draw more crowds, does not exist,” after the Park City Planning Commission revoked building permits for two new chairlifts after an appeal raised by residents who were concerned that the new lifts would exceed Park City’s “comfortable carrying capacity” and cause even bigger parking and crowding headaches. Those two lifts are now headed to Whistler to replace the Fitzsimmons and Jersey Cream chairs.

Vail has upgraded six lifts on our mountains so far, soon to be eight, but they haven’t added any new ski runs, parking lots, restaurants or bathrooms. Everything and everywhere is just more crowded. I’ve never skied down Upper Franz’s and thought, “I wish this run was 30-per-cent busier,” but that’s what happened with the new Big Red upgrade.

The Resort Municipality of Whistler’s

(RMOW) parking bylaw states that “0.5 spaces per hourly rated capacity of all base lifts” of parking is required for ski lifts, and that the parking must “be located no further than 500 metres from the lift for which it is required.” How were the Blackcomb and Creekside gondolas upgraded without adding more parking stalls? By my math, we’re talking at least 1,000 parking stalls, and that’s before the new eight-seater Fitzsimmons Chair is built this summer! And as a reader pointed out in last week’s Pique, we can no longer park along the roadways, and a larger portion of Lots 5 and 6 have been set aside for staff parking, so there are even fewer parking spots for skiers now than in the recent past.

I’m also surprised that only two of the eight new lifts are included in the approved Whistler Blackcomb masterplan on the BC Government

website—the upgraded Emerald and Catskinner lifts. The other six new lifts aren’t even on the plans—so how can the province or the RMOW determine if our mountains’ “comfortable carrying capacity” has been exceeded with all of these lift upgrades? I went internet sleuthing to learn how much more lift capacity Vail Resorts has added to the mountains, and it’s not easy to figure out—their press releases are usually only relative, such as “Creekside Gondola Capacity increased by 35%.”

Maybe Vail Resorts is right and the new lifts aren’t the reason why the mountains are so much busier—maybe cheap season passes, fat powder skis, and remote working are more to blame. Doesn’t really matter why, and just complaining about how busy it is now doesn’t do any good either—the hordes are here. It’s already past the time to make improvements to

better manage the crowds, and adding parking spots would be a good place to start. Is it too much to ask that the RMOW enforces its own parking bylaw, and requires Vail Resorts to add parking in proportion to its increased base lift capacities?

While they’re at it, they could enact policies to encourage carpooling—maybe charge more for parking a single-occupancy vehicle. Build covered e-bike sheds and provide more seasonal lockers so locals can leave their cars at home. If building a parking lot within 500 metres of a lift isn’t possible, build intercept parking lots north and south of town with a shuttle bus system and make them the cheapest option.

And let’s see a balance of on-mountain development, including new lifts and ski runs to spread people out more, automated avalanche control so the alpine can be reliably opened earlier, and more on-mountain restaurants. Build a mountain hut out at Symphony, the Showcase Gondola and the chairlift between Emerald and Harmony, because just swapping out lifts for higher capacity ones hasn’t improved the guest experience as intended.

[Editor’s note: Pique asked the RMOW for clarity on current parking requirements, and was still awaiting a response at press time. Also, Whistler Blackcomb’s Master Plan documents include a caveat around future lift upgrades, noting “the phasing of new lifts or lift upgrades

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may differ from that outlined in this report as Whistler Blackcomb reacts to changing market needs for additional terrain or additional lift capacity in certain areas.”]

New year, renewed focus for the Garibaldi Volunteer Fire Department

The Garibaldi Volunteer Fire Department (GVFD) provides wildland, structural, and vehicle fire response and medical first aid services along a segment of the Sea to Sky between Squamish and Whistler.

In recent years, with the escalating risk of wildfires and the ever-growing number of visitors to the area, the department has focused on shoring up its volunteer base, augmenting skill levels, and enhancing the tools in our toolkit.

In addition to the many community members who support our local fundraising efforts, the GVFD gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) and the many community partners who contribute to the success of the organization, ensuring we can deliver these vital services to the communities we serve.

We would like to recognize the following supporters for their assistance last year with

capital expenses that will help us to better protect people, infrastructure, and wildlife in the Sea to Sky:

The Whistler Blackcomb Foundation and Woodfibre LNG for their contributions ($35,000 and $20,000, respectively) toward the purchase of a new rapid-response wildland vehicle, which enhances our ability to respond quickly and effectively to wildfires while protecting the safety of our volunteers;

The Whistler Health Care Foundation for its $10,000 contribution toward upgraded medical equipment, which allows us to provide better patient care;

The Rotary Club of Squamish for its $6,000 donation for a drone system with thermal imaging cameras that allows us to quickly locate and assess wildfires (that may otherwise be inaccessible or hard to access on backcountry roads);

The Rotary Club of Whistler for $1,000 for a portable wildfire water tank that enables our crews to shuttle water back and forth to a wildfire where water isn’t readily available.

On behalf of the GVFD, a sincere thank you to all of our supporters, and we wish everyone a happy, healthy, and safe new year.

Chief Dan Ross // GVFD

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Backcountry Update

AS OF TUESDAY, FEB. 14

Small top-ups of snow every day last week have made for some pretty good skiing lately. Looking ahead, the weekend is expected to bring fairly benign weather. It’s looking like cloudy conditions, a bit of snow but not much, and cool temperatures but not cold. What does it all mean from an avalanche perspective? For the snowpack, it adds up to minimal change, which on the bright side means there is probably still good skiing to be had—we may just have to look a little harder to find it!

What types of areas should be avoided this weekend? Strong winds varying in direction have created a variety of wind-affected surfaces at higher elevations. Expect wind slabs that will linger on all aspects in the alpine and variable skiing/riding conditions.

Also, the persistent weak layers continue to remain at the forefront of our minds. We are concerned about two specific weak layers in the snowpack. Both weak layers consist of a crust with small facets found above them. The first weak layer is down 40 to 100 centimetres and has been reactive at treeline in the Rhododendron and Pemberton Icefields area. The second weak layer can be found at elevations up to 1,900 metres

Joe McDermid // President of the GVFD Society Rob Van Doorn // Regional

and is down 60 to 150 cm in the snowpack. This layer has been reactive to human triggering in the Brandywine region.

Where should we go to mitigate avalanche risk? Sheltered terrain features at and below treeline in areas that have not been affected by wind will likely provide the best skiing.

One of the hardest things with a persistent weak layer problem is a lack of clues. When we provide advice on managing storm-related problems near the surface of the snowpack, we often advise people to watch for signs of instability like whumpfing and cracking, signs of wind-loading, and observations of recent avalanche activity. These are all strong signs that the snowpack is unstable.

With a persistent slab problem, there are typically no obvious clues until it’s too late. The first sign of instability could be a large avalanche. This means it’s important to be highly conscious when choosing terrain. Avoid steep, rocky, windaffected areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin and triggering slabs is more likely. Stick to conservative, supported terrain where triggering persistent slabs is less likely.

Remember to check avalanche.ca for the current Sea to Sky regional forecast. ■

CONDITIONS MAY VARY AND CAN CHANGE RAPIDLY Check for the most current conditions before heading out into the backcountry. Daily updates for the areas adjacent to Whistler Blackcomb are available at 604-938-7676, or surf to www.whistlerblackcomb.com/mountain-info/ snow-report#backcountry or go to www.avalanche.ca.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Canada must reduce fossil fuels

Since I immigrated to Canada in 1988, I have lived in three different towns. All have experienced the effects of climate change first-hand: 1) Abbotsford—Devastating floods in 2021. 2) Whistler—had to remove Horstman T-Bar due to glacier melt in 2020. 3) Pemberton—suffered in 43 C temperatures in the heat dome of 2021.

The oil and gas sector is the largest and fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, so we can’t meet our critical climate targets without reducing these emissions.

We must begin to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels to meet the 2030 and 2050 climate targets necessary for a livable planet.

Canada continues to use taxpayers’ dollars to subsidize and finance the oil and gas sector despite its obscene profits—which have increased by 1,000 per cent in Canada since 2019. It’s up to all sectors of society to lower their emissions, especially the sectors that have the wealth to do their fair share.

Putting a cap on emissions from oil and gas will be a critical test for the federal government— and a defining moment for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s legacy on climate change.

Second annual January for Jesse surpasses $10K for WSAR

The team at the Beacon Pub & Eatery would like to extend its heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended the second annual January for Jesse fundraiser on Jan. 9.

We are so grateful for all the generous donations to the silent auction from local businesses, and the turnout at the event was incredible! We surpassed last year’s fundraising effort by raising more than $10,000 for Whistler Search and Rescue. Throughout the month of January, Beacon patrons also contributed to a hefty bar tab for Whistler Blackcomb Ski Patrol

as a way to say thanks for all the hard work they do on our mountains.

Jesse Van Roon was much loved by the Beacon staff, its regulars and many Whistler locals. He was a passionate snowboarder, and we felt that giving back to WSAR would honour his legacy.

January for Jesse brought out the best of our community, yet again. Thank you to everyone who supported the event, and we will see you again next year!

A simple solution to Highway 99 traffic congestion, revisited

Last month I suggested to our municipal council that they take action to provide two lanes for traffic coming to Whistler, and two lanes for departures, and this on weekends and perhaps holidays (“Letter: A simple solution for Highway 99 congestion in Whistler,” Pique, Jan. 3). I saw this as a temporary measure, and one to mitigate the increase in carbon output that results from traffic jams. While I have received many positive comments from other Whistlerites, I have had only one comment from a councillor, and that was in the vein of long-term rather than short-term solutions. I received no comments from any other councillors, nor have I heard of any action in the pipeline.

In the meantime, the last weekend saw the same traffic problem reoccurring. Most of the people caught in traffic are not voters in Whistler elections, but the greenhouse gases are being produced here. Council has to provide a response in order to keep their actions consistent with their words, and this suggestion, at least, is low cost, and should be somewhat effective. What is to lose? Vancouverites do it daily on the Lions Gate Bridge.

The long-term solution is probably two years off. In the meantime, if council wants Whistler voters to take climate action seriously then they must take a shot at reducing the carbon problem brought about by ignoring an unnecessary traffic jam, or take another approach.

[Editor’s note: Responsibility for maintenance and infrastructure improvements on Highway 99 ultimately lies with the provincial Ministry of Transportation.] n

“January for Jesse brought out the best of our community, yet again.”

- FRANCES DE MONTIGNY

Davies, Whistler local and exper ienced family lawyer pr actising across

Are Whistlerites angry for the wrong reasons?

I’M NOT NORMALLY one to rush to the defence of the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW). Call it a natural byproduct of the job: it’s a reporter’s role to speak truth to power, and in community news, that usually means pointing a critical eye at the local government. But even I had to scratch my head at the recent backlash against the RMOW’s draft plans to upgrade Rainbow Park.

Let me start by saying, I am by no means a planner, so if you’re looking for an extensive breakdown of the design principles behind the muni’s proposed upgrades, you won’t find it here. That is not the argument I’m striving to make. I will acknowledge, however, that yes, it will suck to see more of Whistler’s coveted greenspace turned into pavement (and, as Pique columnist G.D. Maxwell detailed in his column on page 70, there is probably a better place to locate the paved path slated for the shoreline), and, of course, a months-long closure of the resort’s busiest park and main access point to Alta Lake is an inconvenience. But I would hazard a guess that any significant upgrade and associated park closure would have largely been met with

opposition no matter what it was, because, well, that’s how not just Whistlerites tend to operate, but humanity at large.

We are creatures of habit, and, as a species, don’t have a great track record of responding well to major change. I happened across a news clip from the ’80s the other day that showed Americans reacting to the lowering of the legal blood-alcohol limit to drive. “They’re making laws where you can’t drink where you want to, you have to wear

have become on the one hand, then criticize efforts meant to address it on the other. Residents will repeatedly beat the drum for more employee housing, until it’s slated to land in their backyard. The community calls for improved transit service coming out of the longest transit strike in B.C. history and then grab their torches the second the RMOW proposes to up parking rates to pay for it. Homeowners decry an 8.4-per-cent tax hike after years of minimal increases

matter, Vail Resorts, another favourite local scapegoat), but treating our local government like some sort of shadowy cabal hell-bent on making your life harder because parking rates went up 50 cents is both patently absurd and completely misses the point.

Affordability, housing, labour shortages, traffic, overtourism—you name it—are issues being contended with in resort communities across the globe. That’s not an excuse to ignore those challenges or give your local government a pass, but it is indicative of the wider systemic forces at play—complex, multilayered issues that often get lost in the instant reactionism that has come to infect our body politic.

a seatbelt when you’re driving. Pretty soon we’re gonna be a communist country,” one woman interviewed said.

Nowadays, this opinion would get you laughed out of the room, because that woman’s hot take, centred entirely around her experience, is divorced from the obvious intention behind the change: saving lives.

It’s a trend you can find numerous examples of in Whistler. Locals will complain about how overcrowded our parks

and the municipality dipping into reserves. Whistlerites lament the direction their local government is taking and then stay home when the time comes to vote.

I’m all for holding the powers that be accountable—it is my job, after all—and if I’m being honest, Whistler would most definitely benefit from more civic engagement, not less. But sometimes it feels like we’re spinning our tires for the wrong reasons. There is a lot you can criticize the RMOW for (and, for that

And yet, for all my finger wagging, I get the impulse. We have just emerged from the depths of a pandemic without fully understanding the effects this trauma has and will continue to have into the future. We are getting pressed on all sides financially, with a recession looming, in one of the most expensive communities in the country. We process more information than any other generation in human history, bewildering our senses with endless stimuli and targeted ads, and then wonder why we feel the way we do at the end of the day. Amidst all that chaos, we yearn for someone or something to blame, and it’s easy to pin that on the usual scapegoats. But don’t let it distract you from the power structures undergirding our current reality.

To quote a famous New York Times headline: “It’s capitalism, stupid.” ■

[T]reating our local government like some sort of shadowy cabal hell-bent on making your life harder because parking rates went up 50 cents is both patently absurd and completely misses the point.

Sea to Sky ultra runners ‘disappointed’ by Whistler Alpine Meadows cancellation

RACE ORGANIZERS SAY THEIR ‘TIME IN WHISTLER HAS COME TO AN END,’ BUT WB REMAINS OPEN TO ‘FINDING COMPROMISES’ IF SAFETY CONDITIONS ARE MET

AFTER BEING AMONG the fastest women to cross the finish line in the Whistler Alpine Meadows (WAM) 50-kilometre race in 2019, the 80-km distance in 2021 and the 100-km in 2022, Pemberton trail runner Maude Cyr was looking forward to finally tackling WAM’s 100-mile (161-km) event this September.

Instead, Cyr will run her first 100-mile race in Quebec this summer rather than on the trails in her own backyard.

What Cyr described as “the most beautiful” trail race will not return to the resort in 2023, or as it currently stands, any future year, Coast Mountain Trail Running (CMTR) co-founders Gary Robbins and Geoff Langford confirmed in a statement Friday, Feb. 10.

“It is with great disappointment that we must announce that our WAM races (Whistler Alpine Meadows) are officially cancelled, and our time in Whistler has come to an end,” Robbins and Langford wrote on behalf of the CMTR team.

“We will not be pursuing any further events within the township going forward.

After six successful editions of the race, it has become crystal clear that there is simply no path forward for us to produce races of this magnitude, along the alpine terrain within the confines of Whistler.”

The announcement sparked an impassioned uproar among the South Coast’s trail running community. CMTR is known for organizing popular events throughout the Sea to Sky and Lower Mainland, and were due to welcome hundreds of runners back to Whistler in September for six different race distances, ranging from the Ascent race up Blackcomb Mountain to the aforementioned 100-mile ultra-marathon course that ventures through Whistler Blackcomb’s tenure in the Fitzsimmons Range.

The event’s original course brought runners along Whistler’s Skywalk Trail on the west side of the valley when it debuted in 2016, but was relegated to the east side of Highway 99 in 2018 due to wildlife considerations. Last year, WAM was designated as one of only two Canadian races that served as a qualifier for renowned Colorado ultra-marathon the Hardrock 100.

As Pique previously reported, CMTR warned potential racers in December 2022 that WAM might not take place this year, citing challenges with Whistler Blackcomb parent company Vail Resorts’ permitting process for an event that demands months of preparation from participants.

“We’ve had minimal communication,” Langford told Pique at the time. “For an event that’s been around six times and donated tens

of thousands to trails and [in] volunteer time, it’s frustrating ... If it takes until February, it might be enough to kill the event for a year.”

WB HOPEFUL ‘REASONABLE COMPROMISES’ CAN BE MADE TO ENSURE WAM’S RETURN

In an emailed statement on Monday, Feb. 13, Whistler Blackcomb senior communications manager Dane Gergovich said the resort is “disappointed” by race organizers’ decision to permanently cancel the annual event “without alignment on protocol related to safety.”

In the wake of WAM’s 2022 race weekend, Whistler Blackcomb “identified a number of safety issues that were compounded by the lack of a medical plan that would adequately meet the needs of a race of this size and scope— things we will not sacrifice or compromise on,” Gergovich wrote. “In a meeting between Whistler Blackcomb and WAM leadership on Thursday, February 9, we discussed the need for more details specific to safety and medical response capabilities, along with the need to discuss a re-worked course route, before greenlighting the event for this year.

“Unfortunately, WAM declined and asked us to approve the race in its full proposed scope that day with a required reworked safety plan to be delivered at a later date— something we were not willing to do. At that point, WAM organizers made the decision to cancel the event for 2023.”

Gergovich added that while Whistler Blackcomb is not prepared to approve the

2023 race just yet, the resort remains open to working with the CMTR team, and feels “there are reasonable compromises that can be made in order to host a condensed version of this year’s race, with a focus on returning to all distances in 2024.”

Whistler Blackcomb remains “committed to improved communication with WAM and sincerely hope they will reconsider their decision and work with us to deliver another successful event,” he said.

In an emailed response to follow-up questions from Pique regarding CMTR’s proposed medical and safety plan for the 2023 WAM events, a representative for Whistler Blackcomb said the safety plan initially submitted “did not fully meet our safety standards or requirements related to competitor medical response, patient extraction or ground transportation procedures,” areas that were highlighted after “several issues during last year’s event.”

Whistler Blackcomb staff reportedly provided feedback to CMTR and asked for an amended safety plan, “however what was shared with us had no changes and was an exact copy of the 2022 plan,” the representative explained in an email. “This did not fully reflect our requirements related to safety. We are happy to revisit the event at any time should the WAM team provide an updated and appropriate plan.”

In terms of communication between the resort and CMTR, the Whistler Blackcomb representative said “high-level feedback” regarding safety plan concerns was provided

to the WAM team following the event.

“Recently we held extensive communication with the event principal, but they felt this did not provide enough time to organize and readjust based on our feedback,” the email continued.

When reached by Pique earlier this week, CMTR representatives declined to respond to Whistler Blackcomb’s comments regarding the cancellation on the record.

For her part, Cyr described the races as some of the best organized she’s run and recalled feeling “so safe” on WAM’s courses.

“It’s a big business now, Whistler Blackcomb, and again, it’s just something that they’ve taken off from the community. [WAM] was really important to us, the running community, but it doesn’t seem to be as important for them,” said Cyr, who has volunteered at numerous CMTR events, and admitted she’s unclear on the exact factors that led to WAM’s cancellation.

“I’m very disappointed … it generates money for Whistler, and it does raise money for trails in the community as well, so I would take that into account, [when deciding whether] to keep this race and allow this permit,” she added. “There’s still going to be bikers and ski races[, but trail running is another sport that people do here, and I think it’s important to have events that [support] it.”

In Friday’s cancellation notice, Robbins and Langford offered thanks to WAM’s supporters over the years, including Tourism Whistler, the municipality, the Whistler Off-Road Cycling Association and “runners from around the world,” who they said “made it all worthwhile, despite the challenges on the back-end, year after year to simply keep these races alive.”

The statement said CMTR was proud to have raised more than $70,000 for the Whistler community and its trails since launching the event in 2016, and cited WAM’s proven success as an economic driver for the resort (keep reading for more on that). Still, “It is, unfortunately, past due for us as an organization to focus our time, energy, and resources elsewhere,” the statement concluded.

With WAM off the table, Cyr said she’s looking forward to seeing where CMTR chooses to direct that energy for, potentially, new longdistance events elsewhere on the South Coast.

Lillooet resident Tory Scholz won the women’s 100-mile event during WAM’s 2022 race weekend, crossing the finish line in 30 hours, 20 minutes and 40 seconds—a course record she was looking forward to seeing challenged this September.

Asked about her reaction to Friday’s news, Scholz said the CMTR team “has gone through the wringer,” in her view.

“I think that if this is an example of corporate policy in a town that’s been historically grassroots in a way, I think that’s disappointing,” she said. “I think a lot of people are viewing it as another example of the corporatization of Whistler and the Whistler community, and I think that’s unfortunate.”

Scholz acknowledged any 100-mile race is “always a work in progress,” but praised WAM for the unique, “festival”-like atmosphere its variety of distances offered racers. WAM’s cancellation represents a particular loss for Canadian endurance athletes looking to earn a spot in the Hardrock 100 race lottery, she added. It means the Fat Dog 120-mile trail race scheduled to take place in B.C.’s Manning Park

this August is the sole Canadian qualifying event for the famed Hardrock ultra-marathon.

“I think people—not just [CMTR]—but people put so much belief and hope and love and time, and sleepless nights, and all these things [into the event],” said Scholz. “Even paying out of their own pocket to [come to Whistler] and volunteer with the hope that they would be a part of it again. And now they’re not.”

WAM CANCELLATION REPRESENTS MISSED ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

More than a regrettable outcome for athletes and supporters who were hoping to see WAM races return to Whistler’s trails, a recently released report proves WAM’s cancellation also represents a notable loss for the local economy.

An Economic Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted by Sport Tourism Canada and Tourism Whistler found that the 2022 WAM races generated nearly $717,000 in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the municipality of Whistler. British Columbia received $971,000 in GDP contributions from the event, and Canada as a whole $1.2 million.

Moreover, the EIA found WAM brought in almost $273,000 in local taxes, $337,000 in provincial taxes and just under $416,500 in federal taxes both directly and indirectly.

According to the EIA, visitors to Whistler during the races spent a total of $1.1 million locally on things such as accommodations, restaurants, entertainment, retail and transportation, far outstripping the $200,162 in operational expenses incurred by event organizers. An additional $4,045 was spent on capital items like machines and equipment to ensure the future success of WAM ultramarathons—a future that may no longer be in the cards.

Information released by Tourism Whistler shows that 2,489 unique individuals attended last year’s WAM competition, including 1,158 athletes and volunteers. Together, they accounted for 1,789 nights staying in local accommodation. More than half of surveyed attendees (56 per cent) remained in town for two to three nights.

Eighty-three percent of visitors came from outside of the Sea to Sky, with 70 per cent of that number originating elsewhere in British Columbia.

Last year’s WAM competition included six different race types, from the relatively short but gruelling 5.75-kilometre Ascent Race up Blackcomb Mountain (with 1.2 kilometres of straight elevation gain) to the 100-mile (161-km) distance to the Triple Whammy, a brutal gauntlet featuring the Ascent Race, the 25-kilometre and the 50-kilometre on three consecutive days.

Visitor statistics cited in the EIA report were derived from an online survey developed by Sport Tourism Canada and Tourism Whistler and disseminated via email to all registered participants and volunteers. A total of 601 valid responses were collected during the process. The survey featured questions for attendees regarding their demographic information (i.e. age, place of residence, etc). Out-of-town respondents were asked about their length of stay in the Sea to Sky, their expenses in various categories and the extent that WAM influenced them to travel to Whistler.

PEMBERTON LIVING

RMOW adopts new permit structure for outdoor user groups

PERMIT IS DESIGNED TO HELP THE MUNICIPALITY LIMIT AND UNDERSTAND CAPACITY, ENSURE USER GROUPS ARE INSURED

NON-PROFITS AND commercial enterprises will have to pay hundreds of dollars to use the many parks and trails around Whistler this summer and for the foreseeable future.

On Feb. 7, Whistler’s mayor and council moved to adopt an amended policy that will implement a new Non-Exclusive Use Permit (NEUP) that lays out a fee structure for nonprofits and commercial operators to use the municipal trail network.

According to Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) manager of village animation and events Bob Andrea, the NEUP permit will help the municipality tackle the surging number of parks and trails users in the resort. From 2019 to 2021, park usage in Whistler rose by 77 per cent.

“The original idea for NEUP was born because we were witnessing as staff and getting comments from the public [about] how busy our outdoor spaces were getting,” Andrea said in a presentation to council. “That included residents, guests, recreational activities, commercial activities, and so on. So we really wanted to try and strike a balance in use.”

The RMOW launched a pilot of the permit in the summer of 2022 with the aim of getting a better understanding of how many

organizations are using local parks and trails; if the municipality could more effectively manage the number of user groups on the Valley Trail; and ensure non-profits and companies have liability insurance.

The pilot generated revenue for the municipality, though the RMOW noted that is not the primary purpose of the permits, as it only covers the cost of staff processing time. Throughout the six-month pilot, 19

250 participants. Generally speaking, the permitting fee favours non-profits that focus on providing youth service.

Under the new structure, if a youth nonprofit hosted 250 to 500 users in local parks or on trails in a calendar year, it would pay $84 for a permit. That fee would rise in waves based on the number of participants to a maximum of $6,171 for more than 11,001 attendees/year. The maximum fee works out to .56 cents per person.

of $9,350 for more than 11,001 participants. The permit requirement does not apply to one-day events such as the annual Whistler Half Marathon and Alzheimer’s Society walk.

Overall, the pilot brought in an underwhelming amount of revenue, as the most significant commercial outdoor camp, Whistler Blackcomb’s (WB) DFX Kids Camp, changed its programming in the summer to reduce its usage of the Lost Lake area trails.

This change had the knock-on effect of reducing the congestion in the area, which the RMOW welcomed as achieving the goal of the permit. However, a spokesperson with WB confirmed that the change in programming was not due to the permit fee.

non-profits and commercial groups acquired permits, bringing in $9,000 in revenue.

The fee structure is tiered to account for the total number of user visits by a group, whether the activity is focused toward adults or youth, run by a commercial enterprise or non-profit, and if the organization is locally based or from out of town.

All non-profit and commercial organizations must pay a $50 application fee, the minimum fee for groups under

Local commercial operations focused on adults will have to pay significantly more, ranging from $200 for 250-500 participants to $14,630 for more than 11,001 participants. For non-local companies, the cost rises to $249 for 250-500 participants and up to $18,260 for more than 11,001 participants.

Both locally and non-locally based nonprofits will pay the same rate for the permit. The fee for adult-focused non-profits ranges from $128 for 250-500 attendees to a maximum

“Revenue was just over $9,000—it must be noted that that was a little lower than staff had anticipated, and that was due to a change in one of our typically larger user groups,” Andrea said. “They [WB] reduced the programming on municipal trails. It did help reduce congestion in the Lost Lake Trail System at peak times, so that was one of the desired outcomes.”

The NEUP permit will be granted annually from May 15 to Oct. 15, and organizations must reapply each year at the end of each season. Applicants must submit a report on their activities, and the RMOW will renew or reissue permits annually based on past performance.

Find more info at whistler.ca/neup. n

$8,895,000

5 5 SQFT: 3,195

• I d e a l l y s i t u ate d o n t h e F i t z s i m m o n s R i ve r

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• B e a u t i f u l l y re n ovate d h o m e i n p r i m e B e n c h l a n d s l o c at i o n • F ro n t d o o r o p e n s o u t o n to t h e Va l l ey Tra i l

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“[W]e were witnessing as staff and getting comments from the public [about] how busy our outdoor spaces were getting.”

- BOB ANDREA

Whistler sees slow start to 2023 in terms of both SAR callouts and snowfall

AS THE CURRENT SNOWPACK CONTINUES TO BUILD, OFFICIALS RECOMMEND KEEPING THINGS CONSERVATIVE IN THE BACKCOUNTRY

IT HAS BEEN a relatively quiet winter so far for Whistler Search and Rescue (WSAR) crews, according to manager Brad Sills.

Well, until the calendar flipped to February.

“We’ve done seven calls in less than two weeks,” Sills explained in a phone call on Tuesday, Feb. 14. “So almost one every two days.”

With those calls mostly stemming from injuries like blown-out knees or ankles, Sills said none have required WSAR volunteers to respond to an active avalanche—but that doesn’t mean the Sea to Sky hasn’t been subject to elevated avalanche danger this winter.

AVALANCHES IN SEA TO SKY BACKCOUNTRY LEAD TO MULTIPLE CLOSE CALLS

Two separate avalanches were triggered south of Whistler on Wednesday morning, Feb. 8, both reportedly by snowmobiles. According to incident reports posted to Avalanche Canada’s public Mountain Information Network (MIN), the groups involved in both cases were able to selfextricate and leave the area without assistance.

The first slide occurred in Chocolate Bowl, a popular backcountry zone in the Brandywine Mountain area. The massive slab avalanche released while a snowmobiler was riding down a steep roll on a northeast aspect. The slope featured “heavy cross loading” after more than 30 centimetres of new snow fell in the two days prior, according to the report, while the avalanche resulted in an approximate crown depth of 150 to 200 centimetres.

One snowmobiler was caught in the avalanche, “but managed to stay on top” and escaped without injuries. The sled was recovered after being buried in the slide.

Later that morning, another avalanche was remotely triggered on a southeast aspect on nearby Powder Mountain.

According to a MIN post, a snowmobiler “cut across the bottom of the slope, remote triggered small slab off the convex (halfway up the slope) which quickly propagated into most of the slope.” The writer estimated the Size 2 slab avalanche to be about 24 cm thick and 50 m wide, with a run length of about 180 metres.

The avalanches came following a remarkably “close call” that took place further south on Tuesday, Feb. 7, where a skier who was fully buried in a tree well managed to walk away from the incident, thanks to touring

partners who located him and administered CPR for 10 minutes.

According to the MIN report posted to Avalanche Canada’s public forum, the incident occurred while a four-person group was skiing Brohm Ridge, near Squamish, after the first skier in the group dropped in.

“After a while standing on top we had no signs of him exiting the run to where the sled was parked at the bottom,” the report reads.

When attempts at both radio and voice contact yielded no response, the post’s writer started travelling down an adjacent slope, triggering a small slab in the process. Once they determined it was safe, two members of the group began the search while the fourth member stayed on top of the ridge as a precaution. After initial signals showed a best reading of 1.9-metres deep for the search subject, searchers “noticed the buried person had skis popping out of the snow still clipped in against a small tree,” the post explained.

“We extricated him, cleared his airway and started CPR as he was unresponsive, non breathing and really Cyanotic.”

The group reportedly performed CPR on the buried skier for 10 minutes until he regained a pulse and started breathing, before ultimately regaining consciousness another 10 minutes later.

“He was able to stand uninjured. With the assistance of a group of sledder [sic] we brought him back to the cabin where [Squamish] Search and Rescue took over,” the MIN post reads. “He is doing good. Most likely a small slab triggered above him, knocked him down and ended up head first into a tree/well. Big thanks to the Cabin team for the help and Search and Rescue. Pretty lucky outcome.”

That luck mostly comes down to having “good buddies,” said Sills.

Based on reports, “They were on it right away,” he said. “They saw he didn’t come out of the woods and instead of going, ‘Oh, I wonder where he is,’ and taking off, they actively went to find him. That just demonstrates an elevated situational awareness.”

The group’s use of transceivers to find the buried skier before quickly digging him out and starting life-saving measures amounts to “fantastic work,” Sills said.

The avalanche hazard rating for the Sea to Sky region was listed as “considerable” for terrain at or above the treeline on Feb. 8. It’s the third classification on the five-level North American Public Avalanche Danger Scale, which ranges from “Low” to “Extreme,”

SEE PAGE 22 >>

and calls for dangerous avalanche conditions, meaning natural avalanches are possible and human-triggered slides are likely.

That trio of incidents represent a few positive outcomes amid the multiple tragedies that have occurred in other mountain ranges across B.C. this winter. The province has recorded seven avalanche deaths in 2023. Most recently, two skiers were killed in an avalanche in the western Chilcotins that likely happened on Saturday, Feb. 11.

‘THE CONDITIONS HAVE NOT BEEN THAT GREAT’

Here in the Sea to Sky corridor, Sills said the backcountry seems quieter than it has been in the past couple of years, following a welldocumented boom in outdoor recreation brought on by the pandemic.

“You look in the parking lots on the Duffey or the parking lot at Hanging Lake or Brandywine or any of those areas, and they are noticeably less busy than they have been in the previous COVID years, let’s say,” Sills explained.

Sills doesn’t attribute that slowdown to collective cautiousness or fears of triggering weak layers buried within the corridor’s snowpack. “I think it’s just been really shitty skiing,” he said with a laugh. “Honestly, the conditions have not been that great.”

Avalanche danger in the Sea to Sky corridor was forecast to be “moderate” for terrain at or above the treeline on Thursday, Feb. 16, and low below treeline. Still, forecasters warned those

heading into the backcountry to be wary of wind slabs and the potential for wide propogation.

Sills encourages backcountry users to keep adventures on the conservative side, for the time being.

“We had [SAR] members out yesterday on the Duffey Lake, doing a conservative route and [the slope] slid right across their up-track just after they passed it,” he explained.

That said, “Being conservative is subject to interpretation,” Sills added. “I would say be conservative and then do a multiplier of at least two or three … and you’ll probably have a good day.”

Sills compared Whistler’s current snowpack to those more commonly found in Interior regions like Revelstoke or Banff. “The Rockies deal with [this] every year—persistent weak layers and the inability to really be able to forecast what the snowpack is going to do, with confidence,” he said. “There’s just not a lot of confidence in the forecasting right at the moment.”

HOW DO WHISTLER’S 2023 SNOWFALL TOTALS COMPARE TO PREVIOUS WINTERS?

That geographical comparison can also be extended to the amount of snow that has fallen over Whistler’s peaks this winter.

Last week’s storm brought a much-needed dusting to the resort after what has been a dryish start to 2023, comparatively speaking. As listed on Tourism Whistler’s Weather History & Stats page, a total of 174 cm of snow fell over the resort in the first month of the year.

Whistler hasn’t seen that little snowfall in the month of January since 2017, when

the resort recorded 134 cm of new snow. The current record for Whistler’s snowiest January was set during the ultimately illfated 2019-20 season, when 477 cm fell over Whistler between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31.

Comparing last month’s total snowfall to last season’s numbers only twists the knife a little deeper: in 2021-22, Whistler received 226 cm of snow in January, which came following 259 cm of snow in November and 239 cm that December.

According to Trevor Smith, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, Whistler’s 2023 snowfall numbers are “kind of below average, comparing to the last, say, seven or eight years.”

Since 2016, “the snowpack had been around at least 245 cm” by early February, he added, but to see a shallower snowpack is “certainly not unprecedented.”

Last February ultimately delivered droughtlike conditions to the resort, when only 61 cm of snow fell. According to Environment Canada data recorded at the Roundhouse weather station on Whistler Mountain, Whistler has already welcomed more than 76 cm of snow to its slopes since Feb. 1 this year.

Whistler Blackcomb’s Feb. 15 weather report states the resort has seen 581 cm of total snowfall so far this season, contributing to a current base depth of 219 cm. (In 2021-22, the resort saw 724 cm of snow fall over the three months spanning from November to January.)

While Smith acknowledged monthly or seasonal forecasts are tricky to predict, he said “it doesn’t look like [the base is] going to be stuck at 200 [cm] for the rest of this month, we should start to see things building above that.”

Experts had previously anticipated a “La

Niña” weather pattern to remain in place for B.C.’s South Coast for most of this winter, where cooler ocean-surface temperatures recorded in the Pacific often correlate with colder temperatures and more precipitation over coastal ranges.

“We’re still kind of in this ‘La Niña’ phase, and although it’s supposed to be weakening, I would think the snowpack would continue to progress through this March, like it would in a typical year,” said Smith.

“If you looked at all the ‘La Niña’ years versus ‘El Niño’ years, you probably would see higher snowpacks,” he acknowledged—but that doesn’t exactly mean a “La Niña” pattern guarantees a higher-than average-snowpack.

“Like I said before, the year’s not done yet,” Smith added.

Typically, a decent snow year sees Whistler’s snowpack peak at a depth of about 300 cm, usually around late March or early April, the meteorologist explained.

If that’s not optimistic enough, just take a look back in Whistler’s own snowfall history to feel immediately better about current conditions: during the 2004-05 season, just 685 cm of snow fell in the resort between November and May. The highest monthly snowfall that season was recorded in April, when 197 cm fell. Even weirder? More snow fell in May that season (45 cm) than in January (42 cm).

More recently, the 2014-15 season also stands out—and not for a good reason, recalled Smith. “The peak snowpack that year was only 206 cm for the whole year,” he said. “That was the highest it got to, so that was definitely one of the worst … snowpacks in recent memories.” n

Celebrating 30 years of Whistler Blackcomb Foundation’s Winter Classic

TICKETS ON SALE NOW FOR ANNUAL FUNDRAISING EVENTS, SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 3 AND 4

THE FIRST TIME the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation (WBF) held its annual fundraising gala, the non-profit organization wasn’t even operating under its current name.

That was in 1993, when the event was held in a single room on Blackcomb Mountain, four whole years before the mountain operator merged with its rival across Fitzsimmons Creek to become one massive resort.

“It was before my time, but the foundation used to be called the Blackcomb Foundation,” explained Mei Madden, WBF’s executive director. The charity’s first fundraiser “was just on Blackcomb Mountain,” she added. “I’ve seen pictures of people going up on the chairlift with blankets on them. Of course, it was a lot smaller back then.”

Though WBF’s TELUS Winter Classic has experienced its own fair share of changes since that inaugural event, the epic, twoday annual fundraiser has cemented itself as a constant in the community over the past three decades, with TELUS serving as its title sponsor for the vast majority of those years. It remained the non-profit’s primary fundraising vehicle until the WBF’s exclusive Founders Pass program doubled in size last fall, and has raised millions for hundreds

of community initiatives over the years. (The WBF gives out close to $2 million in community grants each year, and also hosts the TELUS Golf Classic each summer, which last year raised $265,000 for local charities.)

The WBF is gearing up to host its 2023 Winter Classic on March 3 and 4, featuring two “ski with a pro” days; a charity ski race; “Winetastic,” a tasting event in the Fairmont Chateau Whistler’s Macdonald Ballroom featuring food from some of the resort’s top eateries, drinks from top B.C. wineries, breweries and distilleries, and tunes provided by the Hairfarmers; with the extravagant Saturday night gala capping off two full days of festivities.

The gala has previously seen themes like Moulin Rouge, Alice in Wonderland and “Imagine 2120” brought bought to life with its imaginative, intricately built sets and performances. The small WBF team starts planning more than a year in advance to bring the event to fruition, Madden explained.

“For me, the main constant, honestly, is our volunteers,” she added. “We have the same people come and volunteer for us over and over and over again, year after year— some of them have been volunteering for decades … It’s just really heart-warming.”

To mark its 30th anniversary, the event is making another change: moving the gala from its usual high-altitude location in Whistler Mountain’s Roundhouse Lodge down to the

valley—specifically, to the Whistler Conference Centre—for one year only. That venue has space to welcome about 1,000 people, as Madden is hoping, compared to the 700 to 800 that typically pack into the Roundhouse.

This year’s theme, “Submerse,” will bring “an underwater dream” to life in the conference centre. The WBF is currently “working around the clock” to building a variety of interactive, larger-than-life art installations for the gala, said Madden. (This year’s location means organizers didn’t have to factor in the usual limitations posed by gondolas and the Roundhouse’s typical operating hours, she added).

“To give you an idea, just the production equipment—so just sound equipment alone— we probably use about 60 gondolas full just to get it to the top, and of course, everything has to be constrained to fit into the dimensions of the gondola, and things that don’t we have to cat up … after skiing is done for the day,” Madden explained.

At “Submerse,” guests can expect to find “a cast of underwater creatures floating around,” plus a themed bar, food (including late-night snacks), live shows and performances and music courtesy of Vancouver-based band Famous Player. The grand-finale gala is easily “what I’m most excited about this year,” said Madden.

“Some of the art installations being built

are just going to blow people’s minds away.”

Those interested can purchase individual tickets to the 19-plus evening events, including Winetastic ($95, plus an optional $30 more for access to the “VIP First Sip”) or the Submerse Gala ($274), though fourperson team packages offering access to the weekend’s full slate of events carry a slightly higher bang-for-buck ratio.

For $2,700, teams of four skiers and/or snowboarders receive a buffet breakfast at the Fairmont each day; lift tickets for both days; a local pro (including local celebrities and ex-Olympians) to show you around the mountain on Friday and Saturday; priority lift-line access for both days at virtually every lift (the only time throughout the year priority lift line is offered outside of Whistler Blackcomb’s ski school programs); a spot in Saturday’s ski race; as well as four Winetastic tickets and four Gala tickets.

“Frankly, this is how we support our community,” said Madden. “If you’ve ever received a grant from us, this is where our funds come from; we produce these events. So if you’re thinking about making a donation to us, just buy a ticket, and then you just have a great time and you’re also helping support the community at the same time. It’s a win-win.”

Head to whistlerblackcombfoundation. com for more information, to purchase tickets or to register a four-person team. n

What’s in a brand name? If it’s the Sea to Sky, ‘Coast Mountain,’ probably

FROM BUILDERS TO BREWERS, NUMEROUS BRANDS ACROSS THE CORRIDOR BEAR THE COAST MOUNTAIN MONIKER

IF YOU’VE EVER scanned a local business directory, chances are, by the time you got to the Cs, you started to notice a trend: the outsized number of local companies bearing some version of the “Coast Mountain” moniker in their name. From builders to breweries, accounting firms to outdoor schools, it is one of, if not the most popular brand name in the corridor.

“Yeah, but did any of those companies incorporate in 1977? Didn’t think so,” joked Matt Woods, president and director of construction and snow-removal company, Coastal Mountain Excavations (CME).

Woods said CME was “100-per-cent” the first company in the Sea to Sky with the Coastal Mountain name when it was launched in Whistler 45 years ago, and, while he’d like to trace the name to an epic origin story, the truth is a little less sexy.

“When you go in to pick your name and register your business, you throw in three to five options and you get what you get,” he explained. “It’s just where we live. Simple geographics.”

That tracks with what other brands said about the name. While admittedly not the most creative of trade names, it hits on the inherent cache of the region and mountain range that stretches from southwestern

Yukon down along nearly the entirety of the B.C. coast to the Fraser River.

“I just feel it’s synonymous with this corridor. When people think of the Coast Mountains, this is where they think about,” said Andrew Ellott, co-founder of Pembertonbased licenced marijuana producer, Coast Mountain Cannabis.

When your business is producing and shipping world-renowned B.C. bud not only to Canada, but international markets in Europe and Australia as well (anticipated for later this year), linking your brand to the region makes sense from a marketing perspective.

“For me, as a brand, it left no doubt as to the origins of the company, its pedigree, and its provenance, if you like. It’s like Bordeaux being known for Bordeaux wine,” added Ellott. “We felt it important to identify where we’re located as opposed to a random brand name that doesn’t tell you about the provenance of the brand. We’ve got something to brag about, so it’s important to get the name into the brand.”

Kevin Winter, co-owner of Whistler’s Coast Mountain Brewing, had a few brandname options on the go before he opened the award-winning microbrewery out of Function Junction. One of the original monikers he had in mind was “The Beer Studio,” a nod to the brewery’s penchant for experimentation and inventive, small-batch beers. But,

looking at the Sea to Sky’s other longstanding brewhouses with geographic titles (as well as a timely cease-and-desist letter), Winter decided to go with Coast Mountain.

“It was really us looking at Whistler Brewing Company and Howe Sound Brewing and trying to find ourselves on a would-be menu where a tourist might like to drink,” Winter said. “It was about fitting in to a mountain town and appealing to the tourists, but also something the locals would buy into as a brand that felt like it belonged here.”

Coast Mountain Brewing is no stranger to the sometimes-prickly process of naming rights. Even before it opened its doors in late 2016, the brewery—then operating under the name, “Sea to Sky Brewery”—was slapped with a cease-and-desist letter from multinational giant Molson Coors, which had just acquired the trademark for “Sea to Sky.” Rather than fight the world’s third-largest brewer and its army of lawyers in a protracted legal battle, Winter decided to go back to the drawing board.

Thankfully, Jamie Finlayson wasn’t met with the same pushback when he incorporated Coastal Mountain Custom Homes back in 2010. Longtime friends with the Woods family that is behind Coastal Mountain Excavations, Finlayson admitted the CME brand didn’t come to mind until after the name had been settled on.

“We joke about it a little bit. I didn’t even think of them when we had the name approved,” said owner and principal Finlayson with a laugh. “I’m not sure they were that happy about it, but we were based out of Squamish until two years ago, so it was less of an issue.” Since then, Coastal Mountain Custom Homes has officially rebranded as CMC Homes to help differentiate it in the market.

“Over the years, we get confused with CME at Rona with stuff put on the wrong account. So, we’re just trying to create a different identity under the same name,” Finlayson added.

For those keeping tabs at home, among the other “Coast Mountain” brands in the corridor are: Coast Mountain Veterinary Clinic in Whistler, Coast Mountain Accounting in Pemberton, and Coast Mountain Academy in Squamish. Outside of the corridor, there is Coast Mountain Bus Company in Surrey, Coast Mountain College in Terrace, and outdoor recreation retailer, Coast Mountain Sports in Whitehorse, Yukon.

“Sometimes I think I’m more flattered than not,” Woods said of the proliferation of Coast Mountain brand names since CME launched in the ’70s. “Not that I think anybody goes, ‘Coastal Mountain, that’s a cool name, cool company, I think I’ll name our brand after that.’ I don’t think it’s that at all.” n

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DEADLINE: FEB 28, 2023

B.C.’s new ‘one-stop-shop’ for housing aims to slash permitting times

PERMITTING STRATEGY FOR HOUSING ELIMINATES NEED FOR MULTIPLE PERMIT APPROVALS ACROSS PROVINCIAL MINISTRIES

BRITISH COLUMBIA’S new Permitting Strategy for Housing aims to cut back on lengthy approval times for housing permits at the provincial level, but builders in the Sea to Sky say that the move must be paired with similar efforts at the municipal level.

Unveiled last month, the strategy will create a single, coordinated approach to housing-related permits and authorization, intended to speed up the approval process and eliminate the need for multiple applications across provincial ministries. This can include permits related to road rezonings, riparian area approvals, water licences, transportation approvals, and more.

“I think it’s great at the provincial level that they’ve recognized there is an issue and something needed to be done. The system was essentially broken,” said David Girard, principal at Whistler home builders Peak Ventures and director with the Sea to Sky chapter of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA).

The new approach responds to a longstanding challenge in the industry: moving through a complex, multi-layered provincial approval process that “can be quite redundant and cumbersome,” according

to Neil Moody, CEO of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association of British Columbia, in a statement on the non-profit’s website. “Between the initial application and approval, there can be a lot of back and forth between the builder and the different ministry staff. This can be very time consuming and can last months or in the worst cases, years.”

Girard welcomed the additional staff the province is bringing on to support the Permitting Strategy for Housing. The initial investment is for 42 new, full-time positions; once those roles are filled, the province said the team can be expanded to 203 positions.

“It would certainly be interesting to see if the municipality could do something like that,” Girard said of the added staff. “I think all the staff are working as hard as they can with what they have, but what they have isn’t adequate.”

Even by the slow-moving standards of local government, the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) has a reputation among local builders for its long turnaround times on permit approvals, a consequence of a number of contributing factors, including Whistler’s strict design and energy guidelines, staff shortages, and the pandemic-fuelled boom in home renovations over the past few years.

“Pre-COVID, there was certainly some long wait times, but nothing like they are now. I think the municipality is still rebounding from the online cyber-attack [that handcuffed municipal

operations in 2021], so that was an issue. The whole COVID thing. But I think now we’re still seeing significant delays,” Girard said.

According to the RMOW, municipal staff are now reviewing building permit applications for residential and commercial properties that were submitted in October.

some of the decision-making authority across RMOW staff, designed to lighten the load on an already overburdened planning department, a move that was largely applauded by the local construction sector.

“Whenever you can find efficiencies, that helps everybody,” said Union of B.C. Municipalities president and local councillor Jen Ford. “It’s a challenging environment. There are no simple ways of doing this, but finding efficiencies will certainly help.”

“So that’s four months before they even review a permit application,” noted Girard. “I know in speaking with some of our colleagues and builders in Squamish, they are getting permits in four weeks. It shows you the distinct disparity there between what’s being experienced and what’s possible.”

There are currently 10 core staff tasked with processing 485 active building permit applications, and the RMOW said it is in the process of internally hiring a building technician, and is now recruiting for another full-time Building Official.

For its part, the RMOW is working on trimming permitting times locally. In October, elected officials adopted a bylaw that spread

There are currently eight core staff in the RMOW’s planning department tasked with processing 68 active development permit applications, in addition to two support staff. The municipality said it is also in the process of adding a planning analyst, a planning assistant, and a planning coordinator to its team.

Of the 48 development permits issued last year, the RMOW said processing times ranged from a month to nearly a year, with an average processing time of 5.6 months.

The CHBA has been clear about its call for change at the municipal level as well as at the province. In October, it released a study examining the permit approval processes in 13 B.C. municipalities, which revealed an average wait time of 13 to 14 months to approve rezoning and development permits, and more than 20 months for a subdivision application.

Find the full story at piquenewsmagazine. com n

“[T]hey’ve recognized there is an issue...”

- DAVID GERARD

Whistler’s post-COVID tourism bounceback continued last year

PARKING, INVESTMENT AND PERMITTING REVENUE ALL UP IN Q3

IF IT WASN’T EVIDENT from the busy parking lots, packed parks, and numerous tourists biking down the Whistler mountains this summer, the resort’s post-pandemic restriction recovery is well underway, with Q3 tourism revenues exceeding the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) expectations.

At the Jan. 24 Whistler council meeting, the RMOW’s director of finance, Carlee Price, presented a report on the municipality’s third-quarter financials that painted a financially positive picture, with Municipal and Regional District Tax (MRDT) revenues, in particular, surging to new highs, eclipsing pre-pandemic levels.

“To characterize the quarter, Whistler is settling into a soft, strong, steady tourist recovery. The only concern that’s beginning to surface is, of course, cost challenges,” Price said.

“MRDT revenue continues to be strong and exceeds our expectations. July, August and September payments all exceeded 2019 amounts, which was the previous peak for that revenue stream.”

Municipal revenue increased in nearly every category, with permitting fees, programs and admissions, and other revenue increasing by more than 30 per cent over the third quarter of last year. In total, the RMOW brought in $90,871,796 over nine months, ending Sept. 30, a nine-per-cent year-over-year increase, accounting for 91 per cent of the total budget.

The report noted that revenue from parking also increased significantly due to tourism making a solid comeback in the resort over the summer. Parking revenue increased 9.9 per cent compared to peak 2019 revenues in the third quarter. In June, the RMOW raised the cost to park in Day Lots 1-3, and the revenue generated from that change is reflected in the solid quarterly results. A significant chunk of the additional income will go toward transit, as the RMOW plans to increase its contributions to transit from day lot parking revenues by 47 per cent over 2019 levels.

The revenue sources that saw the most significant year-over-year decline were works and service, grants and transit fares, and leases, which declined by 41, 29 and 19 per cent, respectively. Though the longest transit strike in B.C. history ended in June and buses returned to service, the municipality offered free transit throughout the summer, tempering revenue. However, transit ridership has now nearly returned to pre-strike levels.

“There was an incentive program launched in the fourth quarter of last year that will have an effect on actual revenues in the fourth quarter, but ridership [rising] is a positive indicator, and heading into 2023, we do expect transit to be a more steady factor in the financial outcomes for the municipality,” Price said.

By department, expenditures did not rise nearly as fast as revenue, and were well below inflation. The Resort Experience department had the most significant overall increase,

at 14.2 per cent over 2021, due mainly to festivals and the summer concert series making a return, in addition to the demand on municipal parks hitting record highs. The department spent $11,505,519 in Q3 compared to $10,078,149 in the previous year.

The Corporate and Community Services department also saw a two-per-cent increase in expenditures compared to last year, with the report noting the increase is mainly due to payroll decreasing in size as the municipality has been unable to fill positions of retiring staff, and particularly for trained professionals such as lifeguards.

The only department that saw a decline in expenditures was the CAO office, which scaled back spending as pandemic-related pressures eased on the municipality. In total, the RMOW spent $53,543,920 on departmental spending and another $8,023,530 on corporate expenditures, debt, reserves and transfers at the end of Q3. The departmental spending accounted for 74 per cent of the total budgeted for the year.

Project-wise, expenditures were well below budgeted amounts, as several large-scale projects were cancelled or delayed for a future date. These include the White Gold Undergrounding Utility Project, which the RMOW backed away from at the beginning of July, and delayed Meadow Park Rejuvenation and Meadow Park Sports Centre building envelope repairs. The RMOW spent $15.5 million on projects as of Q3 2022, or 38.5 per cent of the $40.2 million budgeted.

While the general economic outlook is quite favourable for the municipality, Price noted some dark clouds on the horizon due to rapid inflation and a potential recession soon arriving.

“I would describe the current circumstances as sort of the middle miles of a marathon, where things are feeling relatively easy, but you know that the wheels are likely to come off,” Price said.

Investment holdings at the end of Sept. had a value of $104,317,557 and brought in $2,183,980. n

Significant progress made on fire mitigation work in 2022

IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW COMMUNITY WILDFIRE RESILIENCY PLAN REMAINS KEY FOCUS FOR WHISTLER COUNCIL THIS YEAR

THOUGH WILDFIRE may not be top of mind for most in February, ensuring the resort is FireSmart and equipped for potential disasters continues to be a top priority at the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) as 2023 gets underway.

On Jan. 24, Whistler’s mayor and council received an information report on the progress of the RMOW’s Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan (CWRP) adopted in April, which highlighted the work done in 2022 and the plans for the coming year.

“Wildfires have the highest climate change-related risk for us here in Whistler, and it has to be a priority for us to mitigate that risk,” RMOW emergency planner Lindsay Debou said in a presentation to council.

“Lots of progress has been made towards implementation of the recently adopted Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan, and our focus areas for 2023 will be increased education on the benefits of wildfire risk mitigation. We’ll start treating our highpriority risk areas, and we will also monitor our work and identify the impacts of filtering on long-term forest health.”

The CWRP laid out an extensive list of 32 recommendations for the municipality

to lower the risk of wildfire and increase preparedness in case of emergency. The recommendations focus on several areas, including: education, community planning, development considerations, interagency cooperation, FireSmart training, emergency planning, and vegetation management.

Each of the recommendations saw progress over the last year, with some highlights including interagency training taking place in June with the Whistler Fire

debris/vegetation.

In the fall, the RMOW received $10.1 million from the federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF) to undertake widespread prescribed burns and fuel management across the municipality.

The fuel management work will concentrate on the Riverside, Rainbow, and Kadenwood Gondola areas. The RMOW will use the funding over the next several years to do 877 acres (355 hectares) of prescribed burns in 12 high-risk

In addition to vegetation and fuel management, the RMOW also implemented legislative changes to the Fire and Life Safety Bylaw last year that increased fines for false alarms and fire inspection fees and brought the municipality’s regulations more in line with the province’s.

Looking ahead to the coming year, the RMOW will undertake a full review of riparian development permits and other tree-cutting regulations in 2023, creating a new FireSmart communication plan and notably completing a new Wildfire Defence Plan.

The new defence plan will assess WFRS access to backcountry areas of the municipality and develop a plan for the rapid deployment of personnel trained in structural protection. It will have procedures for neighbourhoods to quickly set up sprinkler systems in the event a wildfire occurs near properties.

Rescue Service (WFRS) and the BC Wildfire Service, the launch of the junior firefighter program and a substantial amount of work done through the FireSmart program.

In 2022, 43 FireSmart risk assessments were conducted on critical pieces of RMOW infrastructure, and 13 will have landscape work take place over the coming year to address fire hazards. Additionally, the RMOW plans to implement a new $20,000 grant for homeowners to do FireSmart assessments on their properties and remove dangerous

areas, including work along Highway 99.

“One of our biggest challenges now is to make the best use and get all that money spent as efficiently as possible,” fire chief Thomas Doherty said in response to a question from council on the cost of doing the prescribed burns.

“It’s not only the people; it’s also that we’re now entering [long periods of] extreme fire risk [and] long droughts, where we can’t do the work right into the snow season. So we need timing, and making the best out of our time will be a challenge that we have to plan well,” he said.

“The defence plan itself is going to be very complex with a number of different initiatives, which are also laid out in the resiliency plan,” Doherty said. “Some of those are water delivery systems. How do we get water to some areas and neighbourhoods where we don’t have water supply to support our structure protection equipment?

“What we’re proposing to do is plan ahead and be proactive. So those neighbourhoods will have those strategies in place before the fire comes through our community.” n

“The defence plan itself is going to be very complex...”

- THOMAS DOHERTY

Naturespeak: Spiders—the lore of nature’s web weavers

NATURE CONTINUES to enlighten me about my own life; it’s as if nature spirits are guiding me along, with their whispers and nudges—we are, after all, a part of nature. Nearly all cultures have some type of spider myth and folklore, many with a common thread of weaving and creation. It’s the lore from earth-based cultures that resonates with me most; I love how it draws wisdom and symbolism from the natural world into my own life experience.

Back in the fall, I was out walking in the woods on a very sunny day, entranced by the plethora of spiderwebs woven between the branches, glistening in the sun’s rays. A web lured me in like prey, and as I stepped in for a closer peek, the spiral pattern took shape, drew me in and filled me with awe. That’s it, spiderwebs are silky, woven spirals, and they were glimmering all around me as if some unseen hand were decorating the forest for an autumn celebration. Spirals enchant me, they are winding and continuous and one of the most enduring symbols, representing the infinite cycle of life.

As I began to walk deeper into the woods, twigs cracking beneath the soft, mossy forest floor, thoughts flooded my mind of spider lore. I continued to saunter along the trail beneath the canopy of trees,

and I approached another web—there was a spider hanging at the centre, and my gaze fixated on the creature. They have a twosectional body and eight legs, unlike insects

that have six legs and a three-sectional body. The two-sectional body gives the appearance of a figure eight, which sideways is the sign of infinity, two circles endlessly

flowing from one to the other. A fall breeze kissed my skin, and the web flowed gently back and forth. The spider responded to this subtle movement, and began walking along the spiral threads. As I stood there witness to its balance and agility, I was reminded that life is a continuous flux and flow, and spiders can teach us to walk the rhythms of our own life, with a similar poise.

In myth and lore, spiders are also linked to being the guardians of primordial language and the ancient alphabet, through the geometric shapes and patterns displayed in their webs. In Druidry, the Ogham, which is a medieval writing system used with early Irish language, can be found within the shapes and angles of a spider web. To some, this is considered to be the original alphabet, which makes spider the teacher of language and writing. Those that weave magic with their writing are said to most likely have a spider guide. Without a doubt, I believe that to be true for me. It is the spider that inspired this article.

Through lore and symbolism, I’ve discovered deeper parts of my soul I didn’t know existed, simply by listening to nature’s messages. Perhaps this unique perspective on our arachnid friends may awaken a similar experience for you.

Naturespeak is prepared by the Whistler Naturalists. To learn more about Whistler’s natural world, go to whistlernaturalists.ca. n

School District 48 to consider all factors before making a decision on Blackwater Creek Elementary

D’ARCY PARENTS ARE ADVOCATING FOR BLACKWATER CREEK TO REMAIN A K-7 SCHOOL, WHILE THE DISTRICT RECOMMENDS CHANGING TO A K-3 MODEL WITH SOME ALLOWANCE FOR GRADES 4 AND 5

SCHOOL DISTRICT 48 (SD48) has finally addressed the concerns of many D’Arcy parents that Blackwater Creek Elementary School could revert back to a K-3 model of operation this fall and send senior primaryaged kids in Grades 4 to 7 to Signal Hill Elementary in Pemberton—which is roughly an hour’s bus ride away.

Members of the Blackwater Creek Parent Advisory Council (PAC) gave a presentation at the district’s Feb. 8 board meeting, where they expressed the value of Blackwater Creek to their community as a K-7 institution. As of that night, the PAC had 262 signatures from the D’Arcy catchment area on a petition to support their cause—including the chief and council members of N’Quatqua First Nation and incumbent Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy—to go with 203 more names from supporters in Pemberton and beyond.

Assistant superintendent Paul Lorette responded with an updated version of the enrolment review first released on Jan. 6, where he outlined financial and practical challenges associated with retaining a K-7 model at the school.

Following a lengthy question period, school board trustees elected to take more time and carefully consider all factors before deciding Blackwater Creek’s fate.

Though no decisions have yet been

made, D’Arcy parents generally feel that their concerns are now being taken seriously.

“I want to emphasize that I left the meeting feeling heard,” said Erin Stewart Elliott, who has a 10-year-old son attending Blackwater Creek. “I thought the trustees were attentive to our needs, listened deeply, and asked thoughtful questions. I also think Paul [Lorette] worked hard on the enrolment report and then speaking to our specific questions.”

Added fellow parent Alison Beierlein, who has a daughter in Grade 6 and a son in Grade 3: “I am very happy with the level of thought and consideration the board staff as well as the trustees put into considering the different angles and nuances of the situation and in recognizing that there are still unanswered questions that should be addressed before making a decision.”

PROS AND CONS

The new enrolment review presents four options for the school’s future.

The first would allow Grade 4 students to attend Blackwater Creek so long as there are fewer than 20 K-3 children in any given year— essentially reverting the school to its pre-2018 configuration.

The second option would welcome Kindergarten through Grade 5, up to a maximum of 20 students with priority given to junior primary-aged youngsters. Lorette recommends this choice to the school board; it would force eight kids entering Grades 6 and 7 to Signal Hill Elementary this fall, but allow everyone from K-5 to remain based on current projections. As of Feb. 8, six spots would remain available for new enrolments.

Parents pointed out that not only would

Lorette’s recommendation exclude eight current students, but it would also generate chronic uncertainty for those entering Grades 4 and 5. Under this model, such kids would only be able to attend Blackwater Creek if there are fewer than 20 K-3 students in any given year.

Lorette, though, feels that the problem would be even greater if all eight of Blackwater Creek’s current grades were competing for a seat under the legally mandated cap of 20 students under one teacher.

“With a K-5 system, [uncertainty] could still happen from time to time, but most likely much less often unless there’s an unusual spike in enrolment with Kindergarten one year,” he said.

Option 3 is to keep a K-7 model while adding a second teacher, keeping a minimum sustained enrolment of 45 to 48 kids and covering a onetime cost of $643,000 to renovate or rebuild the property’s existing teacherage.

Option 4, which was absent from the Jan. 6 edition of the review, discusses the possibility of amending the third option with a reduced enrolment through K-7. Lorette explained that having all eight grades at Blackwater Creek would be cost-neutral to the school board at 45 students, but that any lower number will incur an additional price tag ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Blackwater Creek’s projected K-7 enrolment for the 2023-24 academic year is currently 24 to 28. According to Lorette, accommodating this number of children would cost an extra $93,000 to $123,000.

Many parents, including Elliott, Beierlein and Blackwater Creek PAC chair Daved Moldofsky, have wondered why the cost of having either 20 or 45 students is acceptable,

but having any number in between is considered financially burdensome. The reason, said Lorette, is because of the district’s funding formula.

Blackwater Creek receives an annual grant between $54,000 and $57,000 for being a small school. This sum represents approximately 17 per cent of the total amount of small school funding provided to School District 48 from the B.C. Ministry of Education on account of Blackwater’s unique geographic location. The district decides how to use the remaining 83 per cent to fund other schools within its jurisdiction.

“While, of course, I would like to see more of the money received on account of Blackwater’s unique small school factors made available directly to the school, I do understand the board has to consider the needs of the entire district,” said Beierlein.

The Provincial Collective Agreement between the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the BC Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) mandates that no class in any school will exceed 20 students in size. Therefore, another teacher—and possibly additional support personnel— must be hired and trained if Blackwater Creek retains a K-7 model.

Yet, no additional funding would be given if such a reality comes to pass. As a result, having more than 20 students at the school becomes cost-inefficient unless enrolment reaches a certain critical mass, which according to current reports is 45.

CAPACITY ISSUES

D’Arcy parents have also questioned the district’s claim that a new building would have to be erected on site for Blackwater

Creek to accommodate Kindergarten through Grade 7. They feel that the school’s two existing rooms—one of which is supposed to function as a kitchen, office, library and multi-purpose space—are large enough to fit up to 30 students between them.

Lorette concedes this point, but argues that School District 48 must plan for the future if Blackwater Creek retains a K-7 model. In his view, the district must be prepared for enrolment to increase as a result of the school admitting more grades. This trend has previously been observed over a short time frame—Blackwater Creek had only 12 students from K-4 in 2017, but four years later it had 30 students across K-7.

“It’s one thing to say that [the current facilities] would work next year, but our job is to look forward beyond next year to year two, three, four and five,” explained Lorette. “[However], we don’t see evidence of enrolment growth to 40-plus students. We don’t actually see enrolment growth beyond 30 for the perceivable future. That’s based on our best information.”

Parents claim that the enrolment review omits one student who attended Blackwater Creek as a sixth grader in 2019 and continued to Grade 7. They’re also aware of at least one instance where a Kindergartenaged child—the great grandson of former N’Quatqua Chief Harry O’Donaghey and his wife, Madeline—was rejected from Blackwater Creek this year because of capacity restrictions.

As a result, this five-year-old boy has had to attend Signal Hill Elementary and put up with the longest bus ride of any child who lives in or near D’Arcy.

Lorette stated that he has no knowledge of such discrepancies, but emphasized that Blackwater Creek is already over-capacity at 23 pupils and cannot legally accept more unless a second teacher is hired.

There had previously been two extra parttime teachers at the school in 2021, but both accepted different positions the following year. Lorette explained that those individuals were intended to provide temporary support during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the district was not able to offer either a long-term contract at that time.

After both part-time teachers departed, attempts to bring in a new full-time candidate for the 2022-23 school year were unsuccessful.

“Recruitment right now is a challenge,” Lorette admitted. “It’s a big challenge. I would say if the board [decided to make the school K-7], the staff will aggressively recruit a new teacher to the best of our ability, but we can’t make any guarantees.”

Parents, too, understand the difficulties associated with filling a rural teaching position. Some fear that the current situation only exacerbates existing issues.

“It is obvious that it’s hard to attract talent when there is uncertainty in the longevity of the role,” Beierlein said. “It is like a flywheel effect: the lower the commitment to grow [Blackwater Creek], the lower the chances of finding staff and the lower the likelihood that all families in the catchment area want to enrol their children at the school, when they know the child will be forced to transition to Pemberton anyway after Grade 3.

“Thus, the enrolment numbers remain low—under 45—which lowers the ability to run the school profitably within the

constraints of the existing funding model and lowers the interest from the district to invest more into growing the school.”

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

It is currently difficult to anticipate when a final verdict about Blackwater Creek’s mode of operation will materialize, but the deliberation process appears to have built trust between district representatives and members of the D’Arcy community.

“It definitely felt like we were heard loud and clear,” said Moldofsky, who has previously criticized the district’s handling of Blackwater Creek’s dilemma. “It has taken us 10 months to get to this point, and I am beginning to have some faith in the system. I am mostly satisfied at this point, but time will tell.”

D’Arcy parents also expressed their willingness to fundraise to help alleviate the expense of renovating Blackwater Creek’s teacherage or erecting a brand-new building to accommodate more students. However, district superintendent Chris Nicholson turned down their offer.

“It would be the responsibility of our Board of Education to provide that additional classroom space if that is the direction they want to go in,” Nicholson said. “I don’t think that it is the responsibility of families to build an additional classroom or space.”

Nonetheless, the PAC still hopes to nudge district decision-makers towards a more unorthodox solution that accounts for as many factors as possible.

“As education is about the children and the community and not just about dollars and cents, I would love to see the district and board trustees explore even potentially unconventional solutions, such as opening up the school to older grades in order to achieve higher enrolment numbers and make it financially viable to have a second teacher,” Beierlein said.

District representatives explained that opening Blackwater Creek up to middle schoolers is not viable, because older students require more advanced facilities, such as a larger gymnasium, project shop and arts room. Beierlein’s counter-proposal is a creative one: enrol youth in Grades 7 to 9 and equip them to complete their academics at Blackwater Creek, while busing to Pemberton one day a week to use necessary facilities at Pemberton Secondary School.

In theory, this approach could push Blackwater Creek’s enrolment up to cost-neutral levels, although it would require significant financial investment in educational infrastructure capable of supporting more than 30 students.

“I know there are lots of parents that would be interested in keeping their kids at the school beyond Grade 7 if that were even an option,” said Beierlein. “If we’re looking to get the [enrollment] numbers up in the 40 to 45 range, extending the enrolment grades higher might make more sense financially to cover those costs.

“I think it comes down to [the question of]: is the district interested in making the investments that would enable Blackwater Creek to grow with the community, or is it better to limit the capacity of the school so no additional investments—whether for teaching staff or additional infrastructure— are needed?” n

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It’s time to break the toxic chain of ‘forever chemicals’

TENS OF THOUSANDS of hazardous chemicals flood the global market daily. We don’t fully know how most of them are affecting human health and the environment.

Scientific research has demonstrated, though, that widespread dispersion is causing significant health problems, including a “silent pandemic of neurodevelopmental toxicity”—that is, they’re affecting human nervous systems throughout the lives of those exposed, even before birth. Exposure can result in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, cancer, reproductive and immune system harm and more.

The chemicals we rely on in everyday life

are also causing “catastrophic” declines in bird and pollinator populations, among others.

Globalized trade and supply chains make it difficult to map the range of toxic substances that manufactured products may contain. With multiple levels of subcontracting across continents and legal protections for confidential business information, it’s often difficult to know exactly what many commodities are made of, where they originated and what hazards they contain. Many multinational firms are unable to thoroughly trace their supply chains.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS—often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily—are used in a broad range of industrial, commercial and personal health products, from cookware to clothing to construction materials, in part because of

“biosolids”—organic matter from wastewater treatment used as soil fertilizer—have caused significant harm in farming and fishing communities in the U.S., leading to a flurry of litigation and stricter regulation in a number of jurisdictions. The recent revelation that contaminated biosolids are being exported from the U.S. to Canada has raised concerns that we’ve fallen behind other jurisdictions in regulating this intergenerational, expansive and currently uncontrolled public health risk.

The European Union is considering a proposal to ban more than 10,000 PFAS, and the U.S. is also strengthening measures to address contamination and restrict uses. It’s crucial that Canada’s federal and provincial governments address the massive regulatory gap here. While the federal government holds jurisdiction over toxic substances and has committed to developing a report on the current state of these chemicals, expected to be published this year, provincial governments also have a key role to play in areas under their jurisdiction—for example, watershed and waste management, effluent discharges from industries and drinking water safety.

The recent international COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal underscored the need to reduce pollution from highly hazardous chemicals, an objective included under Target 7 of the resulting global agreement. Federal and provincial governments need to accelerate action on regulating and restricting PFAS to protect public and environmental health from these dangerous substances that have been rampantly commercialized without consideration for the long-lasting harms they pose.

Our current legal frameworks for chemical risk governance have proven to be ineffective and unable to keep up with the speed at which new substances are being introduced to the market. The reality is that chemical governance frameworks have been propelled mainly by

their water- and stain-resistant properties.

Not only do they take a long time to biodegrade, they also travel long distances through air and water and have been detected in the environment, animals and humans in almost all regions of the world. A U.S. study found them in the blood of 97 per cent of people tested.

Like other persistent organic pollutants, PFAS accumulate in the Arctic region, causing disproportionate toxic harm to communities far removed from their production and consumption chains.

Studies dating as far back as the 1960s found these substances to be harmful, which eventually led to many being phased out. But, as has been the case throughout our history of chemical use, they’re often replaced with other synthetic chemicals that pose similar risks to human and environmental health.

Forever chemicals in water bodies and

economic objectives, not environmental or public health concerns. Ultimately, we need an alternative vision of chemical risk governance, one that not only integrates but prioritizes fundamental environmental principles and objectives, such as intergenerational equity and common concern for humanity.

Prioritizing profit and economic growth over human health and the environment is a short-sighted and increasingly costly way of living that threatens our very survival. The convenience offered by these chemicals is not worth the significant long-lasting dangers. It’s time to make “forever” chemicals a thing of the past.

Like other persistent organic pollutants, PFAS accumulate in the Arctic region...

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Presence in the lift line matters

ONE OF THE MOST seemingly inflammatory columns I’ve written was about Whistler lift lines. More specifically, it was about people trying to justify cutting the lift line. Published quite a few years ago in the now-defunct Whistler Question, the column, titled “In the

lift line, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” incited equal amounts of celebration and opinionated opposition. To summarize, it recounted a story of some crusty Whistler local losing his shit at me when I told him he couldn’t join our group of three (and skip ahead of hundreds of people) waiting for the Wizard Chair to crack on a pow day. I did then what I would do now, and I sent the entitled jackass on his way.

A couple of phase shifts have happened with Whistler lift lines since then. Firstly, the lines went Epic. Vail Resorts has invested an impressive amount into lift infrastructure, making four-seater chairs into six-seater chairs and upgrading gondolas to swiftmoving 10-seaters. Yet no amount of uphill

capacity seems to be able to handle the peak season weekend powder day load that Whistler Blackcomb—and a lot of other North American ski resorts—are experiencing.

The second phase shift was the social distancing policies during the two years of the pandemic. All of a sudden, ducking the line to jump in with your “household bubble” of

fixed-grip double chairs, singles had to pair up to maximize upload capacity, much like a T-bar. Skiers would slide up and down the line yelling “single, single?!” until a pole would raise up and they’d shimmy into the line. Locals considered this standard practice, and for the number of people skiing at Whitewater, the pow-to-person ratio remained very much high.

minutes before the lift opened.

The discussion of whether drop-the-gear is still socially acceptable popped up earlier this season when a local shared a photo of a new official Whistler Blackcomb sign that read “Please stay with your equipment to keep your place in line.” Proponents of drop-thegear decried the sign as an erosion of ski-town culture or some such nonsense. Others, myself included, were happy to see this archaic—and to be fair, deeply inconsiderate—habit finally get dispatched to the annals of history.

friends became socially acceptable. The seats were going to go up empty anyway, so what was the harm? Victimless crime and all that.

But like most things left to their own devices, lift lines have more or less reverted to their natural state. First there, first up. If there’s more than a handful of people between you and your crew when you’re late to the earlybird lineup, you’d better ask permission before cutting in front and joining your friends.

Not everywhere is like Whistler Blackcomb or the other North American mega resorts, though. Skiing a pow day at Whitewater resort in the West Kootenays a few years back, it was interesting to see how their locals managed it. With the two main lifts being old-school,

I can imagine Whistler may have been similar to this at some point in the past, but it’s not anymore. With thousands of Epic Pass holders descending on our resort every week of the winter, no one should consider themselves above anyone else in the line. Wait your turn and we’ll all get along.

One of the last bastions of the entitled local was the drop-the-gear manoeuvre. You arrive early, put your skis or board near the front of the line, then go about your morning, staying out of the foul weather, grabbing a coffee and/ or breakfast burrito… I’ve even heard anecdotes of some snowboarder who used to drop his board at the front of the Wizard line at 6:30 a.m. then drive home, walk his dog and return a few

But it’s not all black and white, of course. Need to go for a pee? Let your crew or neighbouring crew know you’ll be back in a few minutes. Sending one party member out for a coffee or hot chocolate run? Not a problem. Want to stand under cover out of the rain a few metres away from your gear? That’s fine, within reason. If you drop your gear at the front of the Creekside Gondola and then wait it out at Rockit Coffee or the Legends lobby, I’m sorry, but you don’t deserve to ski first.

Being early to the pow day lift line is all about maintaining a presence. Those who tough it out in the cold and the wet know who else is deserving of the first chairs. And it isn’t the folks who waltz in after dropping gear off early.

Then there’s the decades-old saga of the Spanky’s Dirty Line. But that’s a rant for another time.

Vince Shuley maintains a presence in the early morning lift lines. For questions, comments or suggestions for The Outsider email vince.shuley@ gmail.com or Instagram @whis_vince. ■

If you drop your gear at the front of the Creekside Gondola and then wait it out at Rockit Coffee or the Legends lobby, I’m sorry, but you don’t deserve to ski first.

at some

to say

aime Williams, whose ancestral name is Sewinchelwut, worries about what the FortisBC and Woodfibre LNG work camps planned for Squamish could mean for the safety of her and her children.

In order to house the hundreds of construction workers required to build the planned Woodfibre LNG export facility, the company is asking the provincial Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) for an amendment to its original plans to use a temporary, self-contained floating worker accommodation (also known as a “floatel”) located on Howe Sound.

FortisBC is asking the EAO to expand the footprint of its temporary accommodation for workers that will build the associated Eagle Mountain – Woodfibre Gas Pipeline Project. FortisBC expects there to be 600 workers at the peak of construction, expected for the summers of 2024 and 2025. The company also estimates there will be an additional 40 local workers onsite at those times.

The FortisBC workers would be housed in a temporary camp on three hectares of private land located behind the Quest University lands at the end of the Mamquam and Powerhouse Springs Forest Service Roads.

Williams, who was raised in Squamish, says the number of workers expected is too many.

She said as much as the companies may say the workers will be in self-contained camps, they will likely want to come to town on their off hours.

Williams said Squamish only has a few pubs, so that is likely where workers will end up.

“I have two beautiful daughters and a son, and that’s my concern,” she says.

“Where all these man camps are in other parts of B.C. and other parts of the world, it’s the Indigenous women who live near those man camps that get victimized.”

She added that she doesn’t feel the RCMP would “do anything about it,” if the camps did lead to violence against Indigenous folks.

In the fall, Williams demonstrated at a Woodfibre LNG open house held at Howe Sound Secondary. A plain-clothed RCMP officer intervened.

My Sea to Sky videotaped the interaction.

While the officer only uses his voice and body language with Williams, she said it felt intimidating.

“I was afraid of him,” she said.

Asked what the companies could do to mitigate her fear of the workers, Williams said history teaches her not to trust any such promises.

“If they could, how come they couldn’t do it already?” she said.

She said if the “man camps” come to Squamish and the surrounding area, she won’t feel safe walking the streets at night and she won’t feel safe going into the local pub for a drink on a Friday night after the end of a busy week as a teaching assistant.

She says she isn’t vilifying individual workers, but said these camps have a culture and systemic racism comes along with that.

WHAT STUDIES SAY

According to the federal government, as of April 2022, there were 470 major resource projects under construction or planned for the period of 2022 through 2032 in Canada, representing $520 billion in potential capital investment.

Numerous studies back up Williams’ fear of the influx of workers expected in town.

In December, the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women (FEWO) released a report Responding to the Calls for Justice: Addressing Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls in the Context of Resource Development Projects, that confirmed the dangers to vulnerable populations.

“[R]esource development companies must be held accountable for their projects’ impacts on Indigenous lands, waters, and communities,” the report read. “This can be done by requiring companies to establish workplace safety plans and policies, track and report incidents of gender-based violence, educate workers about gender-based and sexual violence, cultural safety, and the effects of colonization on Indigenous peoples, as well as increase and ensure Indigenous women’s participation in all aspects of resource development projects.”

It echoes others, like the 2017 study by The Firelight Group with Lake Babine Nation and Nak’azdli Whut’en, which concluded, among other things, that “the model of the temporary industrial camp requires a mobile workforce that is disconnected from the region, and this reinforces and recreates historical patterns of violence against Indigenous women.”

A spokesperson for the Sk_wx_wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) declined to comment for this story.

“I would refer your questions to Woodfibre LNG as they’re responsible for operating these camps. The Squamish Nation is only tasked with being an environmental regulator on the project,” the spokesperson said.

‘ADVERSE CUMULATIVE EFFECTS’

Local environmental organization My Sea to Sky, which has fought Woodfibre LNG coming to Squamish for about nine years, argues work camps for resource extraction projects can have significant and often unanticipated impacts on nearby communities.

“Woodfibre LNG and FortisBC have failed to adequately consider many of these impacts for their proposed work camps, and the adverse cumulative effects of two workcamps for up to [about] 1,250 temporary workers has never been assessed,” writes executive director Tracey Saxby in an email.

The original proposal from FortisBC was a work camp for 150 to 250 workers, located on the west side of the Squamish River, close to the Woodfibre site.

“Now they’re proposing a work camp for [about 600] workers in the community of Squamish—that’s over two to four times bigger—and locating a work camp in our community changes the risks for people that live in our community.”

Saxby points to studies done during the construction that show industrial projects with large numbers of temporary workers have resulted in increased:

» Workplace accidents

» Substance abuse and misuse

» Traffic accidents and collisions

» Violent crime, including sexual assault and sexualized violence, domestic violence and violence against Indigenous women and children

» Rates of prostitution

» Demands on hospitals, counselling, police, and ambulance services, which results in reduced service capacity for residents

» Risk of COVID-19 outbreaks

» Waste disposal issues

Asked what mitigation the companies could do to satisfy the organization’s concerns, Saxby said “mitigation” is the wrong word.

“We need to talk about how to prevent possible harm. If one person is sexually assaulted due to these work camps, that is one too many,” she says.

“FortisBC and Woodfibre LNG have failed to adequately consult the community, and they have failed to plan. The human rights and safety of everyone that lives in Squamish and nearby communities are being put at risk.”

Saxby also says there is no certainty that Woodfibre LNG and FortisBC will pay for the increased burden on local services, such as policing.

The District of Squamish has allocated $470,000 for increased policing expenses, but there is no agreement in place with Woodfibre LNG and FortisBC to cover these costs.

My Sea to Sky has asked the District to lobby to Minister of Environment and Climate Change George Heyman and Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation Josie Osborne, on behalf of the general public, to ensure oversight and evaluation of the cumulative effects of work camps on Squamish.

The District said that, “where possible, mayors past and present have taken opportunities, when they have presented themselves, to lobby on this topic. These have been in various forms—at UBCM meetings, in Victoria, and through correspondence.”

RESPECT FOR LABOURERS

The tone of some of the discourse in town around work camps can sometimes raise the eyebrows of those with careers in the industry. For example, the language of wanting workers not to leave their compounds to venture into town, for example, can echo elitist or classist fears of blue-collar labourers.

A look

of the concerns and what locals, advocates, companies, trades representatives and academics have

On Oct. 4, concerns over work camps were raised at a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls vigil in downtown Squamish.

Squamish Mayor Armand Hurford says safety for all of the community is his top priority.

“I have the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Recommendations open on my laptop at all times,” he says.

He also wants to be very careful around the discourse with the issue so that it is not a vilification of construction workers or labourers.

“You have to be very intentional and be able to listen to the nuance and the phrasing and the messaging. It’s really hard to speak about, but it’s absolutely imperative both that this is done safely and that it encompasses the workers and the community, although the workers aren’t here yet. So, my primary focus at this point is the community,” he says.

“I’ve been making a conscious effort to make sure I communicate ‘major infrastructure projects.’ … It is not about the style of the work that they’re doing or whatnot; it’s really a volume-of-humans piece.”

Given the community’s division on this project, the arson at the Woodfibre LNG community office in 2016 and the heightened tensions in the town, Hurford also has concern for the workers who will come here.

“When I talk about public safety, it really is public safety,” he says. “The whole spectrum that’s public, and they deserve to be safe. And it is a concern, for sure.”

COMPLEX AND DYNAMIC INDUSTRY

The work of Suzanne Mills, associate labour studies professor at McMaster University shows the complexity and dynamic, changing nature of the construction landscape in Canada.

A 2015 study, “First Nations and Métis Employment in Construction,” by Mills and Anne St-Amand, which was prepared for Moose Cree First Nation (MCFN), looked at an Amisk-oo-skow agreement between the MCFN and Ontario Power Generation, which was a partnership agreement that provided the MCFN with an equity stake in the hydro project, in addition to setting out environmental protections, opportunities for Moose Cree businesses and an Aboriginal employment program.

There were successes with this agreement.

The project was successful in helping several First Nations workers gain training and experience in construction.

“Many strategies were successfully implemented or adapted to improve First Nations employment. For example, training individuals for jobs that were already secured and providing monetary support and guidance for workers was critical to job placement,” the study reads.

But challenges remained, such as “discrimination and harassment, particularly in the case of First Nations women; ensuring that new workers are aware of their right to refuse

FortisBC work camp plans for Squamish

WOODFIBRE LNG LIMITING COMMUNITY IMPACT

Asked what it will do to ensure the safety of the community, a Woodfibre LNG spokesperson says the company will “ensure that the proposed floatel will be a welcoming and inclusive worker accommodation environment that supports both the safety of women in our workforce, and provides for limited interaction with the community.”

The spokesperson says that workers will be screened and trained to ensure cultural awareness and sensitivity.

“Woodfibre will work with our contractors and subcontractors to ensure that there is mandatory cultural awareness training for all workers, including knowledge and awareness of the impacts of industrial projects on women and girls, and an awareness of the findings of the National Inquiry on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. In the weeks and months ahead, worker Code of Conduct and other protocols will be developed,” she says.

“We work closely with the Squamish Nation, and will continue to collaborate with all levels of government to ensure that the project is a positive contributor to the local economy and community.”

Regarding the monitoring of the workers, the spokesperson says more information on this and more details on the floatel will be released in the near future.

unsafe work conditions and challenge employers.”

In another study, “In Pursuit of ‘A Good Life’ through mining and work,” published in 2022, Mills interviewed women who had worked at one of two Nunivik mines. The women noted the positive impact of the income at the mines as well as connections with culture and community at work when friends and family were also employed. Training, education and pride in work were also mentioned by the women.

The negatives for those who had left the work camps were the remote location far away from their children, and finding childcare so they could work the hours required. The women also described “barriers to advancement and resulting stereotypes.”

NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER’S WORK CAMP

Chris Wasilenchuk, the president of the Construction Maintenance And Allied Workers Canada, a union which represents more than 8,000 tradespeople and contractors, says things are changing in the industry.

“Our organization has built a number of large camps in this province. One being the Site C project, which has about 2,000 [workers]. And then we did the LNG [site] up in Kitimat there, which is about 3,000 beds.”

He says that modern camps are much more humane and safe than they were back in the day.

“The camps have come a long way from even 10 years ago,” he says.

“It’s taken years to get that culture change in the industry. It was a real rough-and-tough industry, right? But ... we can finally see that there’s a cultural change happening and respect and harassment-free workplaces are definitely a priority. When it comes to working on these major projects, we want it to be inclusive.

“There are still issues; it’s not a perfect system,” he acknowledges, but adds that safety and inclusion are front and centre of all conversations around work camps and construction.

There is also increasing diversity among the trades, he says.

“I really believe we’re early on in that culture shift where everyone’s going to be at the table talking about these things now,” he says. “That fear factor shouldn’t be there as long as everyone’s included.”

And his union is involved with Be More Than a Bystander, a training and education program, where workers learn to step in if there is bullying or other forms of abuse.

“I know that within the building trades and with our organization, this is on the front burner of our objectives is to make sure that everyone has an opportunity and understands what the industry is about and how they can be a part of it and have a fulfilling career,” he says.

The spokesperson notes that the floatel is away from the community and self-contained.

“The floatel would be located at the Woodfibre site— away from the community and only accessible by boat. This approach was selected expressly because it reduces project impacts on community services and infrastructure and in direct response to community feedback.”

Woodfibre also leases units at the Sirocco building in Squamish for project management housing.

FORTISBC AWARE AND ACTING

For its part, a spokesperson for FortisBC says the company is aware of and takes the recent studies and public discussions about vulnerable communities in relation to workforce accommodations very seriously. The company has sought feedback from Indigenous nations, governments, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with expertise related to vulnerable groups, as well as the broader community.

With that feedback, according to the spokesperson, Squamish’s Temporary Workforce Lodge will include, among other things:

» A Worker Code of Conduct that sets out the standard expected of everyone engaged in work related to the construction of the project, which will be reinforced through project orientation for every worker. This will highlight training on topics like harassment, violence, cultural awareness, bullying and consent.

» Cultural awareness orientation for all workers in partnership with Indigenous nations, which will be required by all pipeline construction personnel during on-boarding. This training will discuss historical and generational topics on the past, present, and future of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. This training will include confederation, treaties, the Indian Act, Canada’s Residential School legacy, Truth and Reconciliation, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the Declaration

“The orientation material will be provided by a variety of subject matter experts, including certified cultural awareness trainers with the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business and cultural awareness content provided directly from Indigenous communities,” the spokesperson says.

FortisBC says it will implement a respectful culture information campaign to promote and build a culture of respect. And there will be a no-visitor policy in the camp.

According to the company, the camp will have 24-hour security at the lodge site.

Asked about oversight of its workers, the spokesperson says FortisBC would work with contractors for the pipeline.

“Those contractors will be required to meet or exceed the expectations laid out in our Worker Code of Conduct. That code has clear rules related to respectful behaviour, harassment, violence, after-hours conduct, and respect for the community. All workers on the EGP project must complete the Worker Code of Conduct orientation. Workers found in violation of the Code of Conduct will be removed from the project,” the spokesperson says.

Workers will also be able to report in confidence any concerns about behaviour they see.

The company also says the proposed location for the temporary workforce lodge is near the proposed construction laydown area and the gas pipeline right-of-way to avoid unnecessary traffic and other disruptions to town. The use of shuttles is also being explored to transport workers into town during off-work hours.

The spokesperson also noted the company has partnered with local Indigenous nations to explore the potential to provide opening ceremonies, cultural programming, as well as the opportunity to have an elder-in-residence program.

“Through established relationships, we are working closely with Indigenous communities and community NGOs to actively identify and create other learning and cultural opportunities where possible. Going forward, we are committed to continual engagement, making changes to training and monitoring as necessary, and exploring other learning and cultural opportunities through regular communication in our established relationships with Indigenous nations and community NGOs.”

Asked about the culture at camps that impact mental health, the spokesperson for FortisBC says it is prioritizing the physical and mental health of workers when considering the operation and design of the temporary workforce lodge.

“The Lodge will have medical facilities to alleviate pressure on local medical facilities in Squamish. Prime contractors will also have Employee Assistance Programs in place to support workers staying at the Lodge,” the spokesperson says.

The lodge will also have amenities related to a positive work-life balance, including recreational and exercise facilities along with Wi-Fi to allow workers to stay in close contact with family and friends.

Woodfibre LNG says the floatel will have health-care personnel onboard trained to address the physical and mental health needs of workers.

Healthy living policies, mental health supports, and other health-related protocols will be developed throughout 2023, the spokesperson says.

“The floatel will offer amenities to encourage a healthy and balanced lifestyle for workers on shift.”

‘CONCERNED ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS COMPLIANCE’

Squamish’s Sue Brown, director of legal advocacy for Justice for Girls, a Canadian non-profit that promotes equality, and freedom from violence and colonialism, says her organization doesn’t think the projects can or should go forward.

“We’re really concerned about human rights compliance. From the outset, I can tell you that I don’t think that, from my perspective and based upon the work and knowledge that we have in our organization, that these projects can go forward in a human rights-compliant manner,” she says.

“When you look internationally, nationally, and even other places in B.C., we see that, generally speaking, human rights violations are the cost of doing business for resource extractive industries and corporations of this nature.”

She adds that in terms of regulations and the standards that these corporations are held to with these projects, human rights are always a secondary consideration.

“They need to be at the forefront of the conversation, because these projects have a massive impact on the communities in which they’re situated,” Brown says.

Justice for Girls’ submission to the EAO regarding FortisBC’s application to increase its workforce says the evidence is clear that these camps are bad for women and girls.

“Violence against girls—physical, sexual, racist and environmental—is perpetuated as a result of resource extraction industries,” the August 2022 submission reads.

“A primary manifestation of this violence is in the physical, sexual and racially motivated violence that accompanies the transient workforces employed by resource extraction companies. Rates of girls and women, most of them Indigenous, who are subjected to sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, physical assault, disappearances and murder are higher in communities where resource extraction projects are operating.”

The camps breed “hyper-masculinity” and “aggression,” Brown says.

“[They are] working long hours, so there’s a lot of stress and pressure, dislocation from their home communities and their families. And all of those things we know are root causes of violence.”

Brown said bringing transient workforces into the community—whether they’re situated in work camps, hotels, or houses or condos—brings risk to the community.

“And when you have a lot of single men with high incomes, who are living in our community, that puts women and girls at risk,” she says.

Brown points to the letter her organization wrote to FortisBC, in response to the company’s stated efforts to minimize risk.

The letter says the plans to date lack “meaningful transparency and accountability mechanisms, and the most serious failing, lacks an obligation upon the company to report violence against women and girls to local police.”

Ultimately, Brown would like to see regulators demand better from the companies before the projects can go ahead.

WORK ONGOING

For its part, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, within which the EAO operates, says in a written statement that violence against women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people “remains an urgent issue in B.C. and across the country.”

The statement pointed to work the provincial government is doing to develop an action plan in partnership with folks from diverse populations.

“Gender-based violence happens in communities of every kind, urban and rural. It happens at work, at school and in the home. The province recognizes and acknowledges the potential for adverse effects on women and girls, particularly Indigenous women and girls, from temporary workforce accommodations,” the statement reads.

The ministry asserts that permitting and regulatory bodies in B.C. have worked over the past years to add considerations of the social impacts of projects—including work camps—into their requirements.

“Such bodies work with companies, local governments, and Indigenous communities to monitor these requirements, and to identify and mitigate potential issues.

“We know there’s more work to do and we are committed to ensuring we end gender-based violence in B.C.,” it reads.

In terms of the demand that the EAO cancel the certificate, according to the Ministry, it does not have that power.

While the environment minister could consider cancelling an

environmental assessment certificate under certain conditions, those are not applicable to these projects at this time.

As part of its review of the FortisBC amendment request to increase its work camp capacity, the EAO sought input from Squamish Nation and other First Nations and Indigenous advisors. This input, including submissions from Justice for Girls and My Sea to Sky, is being considered as part of the EAO’s review.

The EAO is currently working with First Nations representatives to develop new requirements for the environmental assessment certificate to address these potential effects before making a decision.

The EAO is still assessing Woodfibre LNG’s floatel request, including the potential impacts on Indigenous women and girls, and will be seeking input from First Nations and Indigenous groups as part of its review, according to the Ministry.

WORRY AT THE TOP

Hurford shares the concerns others have raised and is frustrated by the fact that “provincial regulations are quite silent on the social impacts, including housing.”

He says it comes down to an issue of the impact of a large number of people coming to town for whatever reason and the pressure that puts on our already strained community.

“We have a lot of challenges,” says Hurford. “Our population already doubles on the weekend. Our resources … policing resources, and the provincial contribution to get [those resources] do not double on the weekend, when we have more people to police just from a public safety standpoint. So, we are stretched right now with what we’re doing ... All these pieces are just really stretched, because we are the Lower Mainland’s backyard or the world’s playground,” he said.

“We are at capacity. So, if we need to bump up our capacity to deal with these things. We’re going to need help to do that— financial help—from somebody. The proponents feel like a place that should come from, and we need help managing that, because it’s a huge influx into the community. And, frankly, we don’t have all the tools that we’d like to have to be able to deal with it.”

Although many of the concerns raised centre on public safety, Hurford says the pressure on housing can’t be left out of the conversation.

“I think that more people are closer to being unhoused than they know. And then from there, they become more vulnerable and then it’s a knock-on effect,” he says.

“This poses an existential threat to what little affordability we do have here.”

on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit (MMIWGT2S). It will also include cultural values, and environmental and site significance of the Indigenous communities on whose traditional territory the work camp is located.

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WE ASKED READERS TO SUBMIT THEIR STORY IN 300 WORDS OR LESS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN ONE OF TWO PACKAGES TO SHARE WITH THEIR VALENTINE

Tell us your Opposites Attract love story

Package No. 1

When Harry met Sally

• Blue Highways: $100 Gift card

• Nita Lake: Dinner for two at The Den ($200 value)

• Whistler Bungee: Passes for two

• Whistler Home Hardware: Fondue set

• Get the Goods: $100 Gift card

• Rimrock: $125 Gift card

• Canadian Wilderness Adventures: Snowshoe tour for two

Package No. 2

Laws of Attraction

• The Spa at Whistler: $75 Gift card

• Quattro: $100 Gift card

• Caramba: $100 Gift card

• Whistler Oracle: $75 Gift card

• Rocky Mountain Chocolates: Gift basket

• BuyLow Nesters: $100 Gift card

• Ziptrek: Eagle tour for two

When Harry met SAlly package

“Opposites attract,” sang Paula Abdul in 1989. While she was referring to binary personality traits, my husband and I are, quite literally, polar opposites: he’s from Tasmania, the southernmost tip of Australia, and I grew up in Nunavut, about 3,000 kilometres from the North Pole. He had never seen snow before he showed up in Whistler on a working tourist visa, and I had never experienced a year without at least 30 consecutive days of darkness! Or a summer without a month of “midnight sun,” for that matter. It was always my dream to work in Whistler, and I’m a classic case of arriving for a season and then never leaving (for a reason!).

I met my husband shortly after he arrived in Canada in the late ’90s. Garfinkel’s had just moved to its current location, and when we met at the bar the music was too loud to sustain any sort of conversation. I didn’t think any more of it until he happened to turn up in the same gondola as me the following weekend. What a coincidence! We spent the half-an-hour ride up to the Roundhouse teaching each other local slang (I can now differentiate a doona from a dunny, and he can order a double double and Timbits wearing a toque). My abdomen hurt from laughing so hard, and at that point I knew this was going to be a long-term relationship. I described him as “mamaqtuq” (pronounced ma-makh-too), translating to “delicious.”

We’ve now been together for 24 years and have two kids together. If we ever divorce, it’s because he insists on making a dad joke about not moving the family to my hometown because he’s “having Nunavut” (which doesn’t even make sense when you pronounce it correctly!).

Laws of attraction package

Six years ago, sparks flew as a skier and a snowboarder found a mutual love for beer pong. The number of planks they rode down the mountain was not the only difference to become apparent in the following days, but alas, the damage was already done and the hearts… they had become one.

From the immediately obvious difference in hair volume, that being him with none… The countries in which their mothers released them to the world just so happened to be on opposite sides of the planet. Maybe this has something to do with him being in love with the long winters and she suffering through for the long, warmer days. He eats meat so loudly the neighbours can hear, whilst she prefers to chew on plants eaten in what can only be described as table mannerly in comparison. While his body produces noise at a higher volume day to day, she certainly levels up the octaves when a dance floor gets involved. He likes sports, she likes musicals; he likes saving, she likes spending; he likes winging it, she likes planning.

But opposite, shmopposite. Although different in so many ways, he loves her, she loves him, and at the end of the day that’s all that bloody matters :)

Embyr-Lee Susko places 17th in luge World Cup debut

AT 18 YEARS OLD, THE WHISTLERITE REPRESENTS THE NEXT WAVE OF LOCAL LUGE TALENT

MANY KIDS GROW UP playing some type of sport: soccer, basketball or hockey, perhaps.  Others may pursue rugby or figure skating, and there has always been a robust number of young skiers, snowboarders and mountain bikers in the Sea to Sky.

Embyr-Lee Susko is not like them. One of her first athletic experiences was with luge, during a Cub Scouts field trip at seven years old. The Whistler native was hooked immediately.

“Both of my brothers did luge as well with me,” she explained. “Them being there with me, it was kind of a fun family sport, and I just fell in love with the adrenaline rush that it is going down a giant, frozen water slide.

“That’s what my coaches used to call it, and I still call it that 11 years later. It’s all fun.”

KEEP YOUR TEAMMATES CLOSE

They say that you’ll never work a day in your life if you enjoy your job, and Susko certainly does. She began her journey in the B.C. Luge Development Program hosted at the Whistler

Sliding Centre (WSC). In 2018, she began to distinguish herself with a third-place finish at the Canada Cup and a fourth-place result in that year’s Youth Canadian Championships.

Susko has since won the Youth Canadian Championships twice, in 2019 and on her home track in 2020. At 18 years old, she is part of Canada’s junior national luge team and represents the next wave of developing talent behind veterans like Pembertonian Trinity Ellis or fellow Whistlerites Caitlin Nash and Natalie Corless.

In fact, Susko has brushed shoulders with her older compatriots quite a bit. She travelled to Norway and Latvia for Canadian selection events in 2022, pushing Ellis and company for a spot on the senior national team. Although head injuries kept her out of certain competitions last year, Susko is now well, and showed her potential by placing 17th at her senior World Cup debut in Altenberg, Germany on Feb. 4 and 5.

Her brothers have played a key role in urging her to get faster and stronger.

“[They’ve] definitely made me very competitive, but [they’ve] also taught me to keep my teammates close, even though they’re my biggest competitors,” Susko said. “I’m always using them to push me to go faster, be stronger, and I think my brothers did the same thing, just in a family environment.”

A real sense of sisterhood and brotherhood is found in the sliding community, which might surprise some. Athletes race directly against one another at each competition, and there are only so many places on a podium or a national team. Some might expect this

dynamic to foster resentment, but that is not usually the case with luge.

For instance, when Nash and Corless participated in the first World Cup women’s doubles race in Whistler history, their teammates Devin Wardrope and Cole Zajanski cheered them on all the way, with Wardrope calling the achievement “spectacular.”

Similar levels of camaraderie can be found at the junior level. On Jan. 14, Susko won gold in an FIL Continental Cup event at the WSC, edging out runner-up teammate Beattie Podulsky by just over a second. Podulsky stated point-blank that one of her goals is to beat Susko, but made it equally clear that their rivalry is friendly.

“As Canadians on the team, we always want to have a friendly competition with each other and push each other to be better,” Podulsky said as Susko laughed goodnaturedly beside her. “I was really proud of how I came out and how close we were coming down the track.”

SAME, BUT DIFFERENT

Perhaps some of the bonds among lugers form because they relate to each other. Ellis, Nash and Corless all have very similar stories to Susko—they tried luge as children and found a passion for the sport at once. Podulsky is the same: she grew up playing various everyday sports like volleyball, basketball, soccer and swimming, but didn’t love any of them.

Luge was a different story.

“One day I was like, ‘I’m gonna try luge,’”

recalled Podulsky, who is from Calgary, Alta. “I had no idea what it was, but seven-year-old me wanted to try luge. I immediately fell in love with it. I love the speed. It’s a lot different from other sports that people are doing.”

Also like Susko, Podulsky is not the only high-performance athlete in her family. Her brother Joshua, a freestyle skier, has influenced her athletic career.

“He’s always telling me about his day and how he wishes to be better,” she said. “I think having [both of us] in a high-performance sport kind of gives us a perspective on different sports. We’re always each other’s biggest supporters as well, because we know what the pressure could be like.”

Every sport involves pressure when you pursue it at a high level, but not every sport involves a margin for error as small as luge. A few thousandths of a second could mean the difference between medal and no medal, tiny movements the difference between a smooth run and a very unpleasant one.

Susko admits to feeling jitters on race day. Keeping herself calm and in a healthy mindset is one of her continuing goals in a sport that is as demanding of one’s mind as it is of one’s body. To do so, she works with a sports psychologist, practicing breathwork and meditation to start most mornings.

She also repeats a mantra given to her by her psychologist, which is adapted from a poem by American author Marianne Williamson.

“My deepest fear is not that I’m inadequate,” Susko tells herself. “My deepest fear is that I’m powerful beyond measure.”  n

Whistler 7th graders to participate in Pentathlon des Neiges

ELLA WINTER, OSCAR LENNOX-KING, BILL DEEKS, REMIE CRAYTHORNE, JEREMY SMERYCHYNSKI AND COLIN SHAW WILL TAKE PART IN CANADA’S LARGEST OUTDOOR WINTER EVENT BEGINNING FEB. 19

WHISTLER WILL BE represented at Canada’s largest outdoor winter event for the first time.

A team of six local kids in Grade 7 are set to participate in the Pentathlon des Neiges from Feb. 18 to 26 in the heart of Quebec City, Que. Ella Winter, Oscar Lennox-King, Bill Deeks, Remie Craythorne, Jeremy Smerychynski and Colin Shaw will be trying their hand at five different sports set to one continuous clock: cycling, snowshoeing, skating, cross-country skiing and running.

Located on the historic Plains of Abraham, the Pentathlon des Neiges is advertised as a welcoming competition open to all ages and skill levels. Individuals and groups can choose to do all five sports, or simply two or three. According to founder Jean-Charles Ouellet, more than 6,200 people took part in the 2020 edition of the Pentathlon des Neiges.

THE FRANCOPHONE CONNECTION

Ella’s father, Chris Winter, played a chief role in organizing the trip. For him, it represents both a fun and memorable experience and a rare opportunity for his daughter to reconnect with their family’s heritage.

Chris identifies as a Franco-Ontarian who grew up just outside of Ottawa. His Englishspeaking parents sent him to a French school, and though he’s lived in Whistler for 30 years, his roots remain important to him. Ella and the others going to Quebec City attend École La Passerelle, the local Francophone school, and Chris thinks that their visit to the Plains of Abraham will complement the youngsters’ education nicely.

“We’re so far from Quebec that it just seemed like a really cool idea to … take the kids who have learned French here in Whistler and broaden their perspectives on Frenchspeaking culture and the unique culture of Quebec, too,” he said.

Chris first thought about taking his daughter to the Pentathlon des Neiges during a 2021 vacation to Quebec City with his wife. After they returned, he decided to pitch the idea of a Quebec trip to the school, which had sent its 2019 graduating class to France. Chris hoped that Ella would be able to have a similar experience to wrap up her time at École La Passerelle.

Ella didn’t need much convincing. Like many other 12-year-old Whistlerites, she is an active girl who regularly breaks out her skis in both a downhill and a cross-country context. Moreover, she is part of the Whistler Sea Wolves Swim Club, and is no stranger to travel, having been as far away from home as Indonesia with her family.

“I thought [doing the Pentathlon des Neiges] would be really cool,” Ella said, adding

that she’s never been to Quebec before and is excited to be on a team with three of her close friends: Lennox-King, Craythorne and Shaw.

‘TRIP OF A LIFETIME’

The Pentathlon des Neiges is not to be confused with the modern Olympic pentathlon, which is a summer discipline comprising fencing, swimming, riding, shooting and running. Modern pentathlon made its debut at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, and its component sports are meant to reflect skills that 19th-century cavalry soldiers would have needed to master.

Modern pentathlon is itself descended from an Ancient Greek version of the event, which was also introduced to refine military skills in its contenders. The original pentathlon involved javelin throwing, long jumping, wrestling, discus throwing, and a short foot race called a stadion.

Also unlike its Greek and modern counterparts, the Pentathlon des Neiges is a relay race. Each of the kids will get to perform a different sport, rather than being obliged to do everything themselves.

The group leaves for Quebec City on Feb. 19, with Chris chaperoning the students over the course of their five-night stay. In addition to the pentathlon, the Whistlerites plan to ride a dog sled, sample local culinary delights like poutine and maple syrup, and tour the Plains of Abraham: where British forces effectively conquered Quebec from the French on Sept. 13, 1759.

Three years after COVID-19 put all kinds of school excursions on ice, Chris is beyond grateful that his daughter and her classmates will be able to graduate from École La Passerelle with such a unique experience under their belt.

“Trips like this, they need to be cherished,” he said. “We need to be more grateful than ever before, to be able to do these things. I very much see that this trip is going to be a trip of a lifetime.”

“[Ella] has been in the same class with the same kids since kindergarten,” Chris added. “It’s a class of six people, and it’s really intimate. Now, they’re off to high school, so the [Quebec City trip] will be a beautiful finish to a chapter in their lives.”  n

“Trips like this, they need to be cherished ... I very much see that this trip is going to be a trip of a lifetime.”

- CHRIS WINTER

Being very good ancestors

B.C.’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, WHO ONCE THRIVED ON WILD SALMON, ARE LEADING A MINDSET SHIFT IN MARINE PROTECTION

THEY CAME —to Vancouver, in early February for a week. Thousands of delegates and dignitaries from 123 countries with the aim of protecting oceans around the world.

They saw—one of the most beautiful harbours, and cityscapes, right outside their meeting rooms in the Vancouver Convention Centre, where many a hopeful “green” conference has been held over the years. That includes the hydrogen fuel cell gathering in the year of the mighty 2010 Winter Games—an event that celebrated zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells, including the most successful commercial ones on Earth (Ballard’s made-in-

B.C. fuel cells, which once powered buses at Whistler) along with the “Hydrogen Highway” from California to Vancouver that, while facing many detours, still hasn’t quite hit a dead end.

And while they didn’t exactly “conquer,” those thousands and thousands of delegates did leave feeling positive they’ll make a big difference. Maybe they’ll become something B.C.’s Indigenous people have long exalted—a good ancestor.

It was all part of the fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) to conserve the world’s oceans. Falling on

the heels of December’s very successful UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, where a landmark agreement was struck to protect biodiversity and slow the extinction of species around the world, some attending the IMPAC5 congress realized they could build on the good work done there—and even come up with something better.

As a spokesperson for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, one of the conference’s co-hosts told the Vancouver Sun the marine congress was an opportunit“to

take those global biodiversity framework commitments that were agreed to in Montreal and dig down into how we do that.”

One of the plans to protect marine biodiversity that generated the most excitement, and will be key to Canada fulfilling its goal of protecting 30 per cent of its marine waters (international waters are another story), will happen right here in B.C.

Leaders from 15 First Nations, joining forces as the Coastal First Nations, presented plans for the Great Bear Sea marine protected

IT ALL STARTS WITH A GOOD THOUGHT

As for being a good ancestor, pick up a copy of the book explaining how you do it. Be a Good Ancestor, by Leona Prince and Gabrielle Prince, is based on Indigenous values around the environment; all creatures great and small that live in it; self-esteem and self-respect; and the importance of building community. (Whistler Public Library has a copy.)

Leona is a member of the Lake Babine Nation and Likh Tsa Mis Yu Clan and has been a leader and educator in the North for years, most recently as director of instructionIndigenous education in the Nechako Lakes School District near Prince George.

You, me, anyone can become a good ancestor, and it all starts with our thoughts. Thoughts become actions, then actions become movements. And movements become change.

All this might remind you of the quote “Be the change you wish to see” that has been floating around pop culture for years. It is attributed to the revolutionary leader of one of the largest non-violent independent movements in the world, and overall ethicist and spiritual leader, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi—better known as Mahatma Gandhi.

I hate to remind you, but that popular bumper-sticker quote, like so much on social media, ain’t real.

According to Brian Morton, the director of the graduate program in fiction at Sarah Lawrence College who is an expert on pop culture’s false quotes, there’s no reliable documentation of what Gandhi actually said. But the best verifiable record we have is this, which is even better:

“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him ... We need not wait to see what others do.”

I do believe that’s exactly what the Coastal First Nations are doing.n

area, a huge swath of 10 million hectares of ocean on B.C.’s central coast alongside the Great Bear Rainforest. It stretches from northern Vancouver Island, and up the North Coast to Nass, encompassing the waters around Haida Gwaii.

“This is one of the richest and most productive ecosystems left in the world, and we should be very proud of that,” Christine Smith-Martin, executive director of the Coastal First Nations, told The Guardian “Salmon, bears, wolves, and whales, kelp forests and ancient cedars; it is also a home to all of our people in our traditional territories. First Nations’ stewardship of these lands and seas dates back more than 14,000 years—we can take care of our territories.”

The huge, comprehensive plan for the Great Bear Sea marine protected area is called a “mindset shift” for conservation. Thank goodness support for it went beyond First Nations: Federal and provincial leaders are solidly behind it, and a good thing, too.

Wild Pacific salmon stocks have collapsed, especially with climate ravages, like last summer’s scorching drought that I wrote about here in Pique in October. Eulachon, prized for their oil, as well as Dungeness crab and rockfish, are in dire straits, too. In the Yukon, Indigenous communities who once lived on wild salmon now have to import frozen fish.

I hope for everyone’s sake that the Coastal First Nations’ plan doesn’t stay that way—a plan. After it does become “the change we wish to see,” maybe they can help out with that 13-year-old equally good, but faltering plan for a genuine hydrogen economy.

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who urges you to do what you can to protect our vast and mysterious seascapes. n

MEADOW PARK SPORTS CENTRE

OPEN DAILY: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Cross Country Ski

Happy Family Day

Flex-reg’ classes have a  separate fee and allow you to register for classes on the days that fit your schedule.

R REGISTERED FITNESS

Registered fitness classes have a separate fee and a defined start and end date.  Pre-registration is required for the entire set of classes.

I INCLUDED FITNESS

These classes are included  with your price of admission for no extra charge.

ARENA SCHEDULE

Please see whistler.ca/recreation for the daily arena hours or call 604-935- PLAY (7529)

Jane and Jonah Waterous make art their family business

LONGTIME WHISTLER CONTEMPORARY GALLERY ARTIST AND HER SON TRAVEL FROM BAHAMAS TO WHISTLER FOR EVENT ON FEB. 19

JANE AND JONAH Waterous seem to have a pretty enviable mother-son relationship.

During the height of COVID lockdowns, the pair holed up in Jane’s studio in the Bahamas (the family is Canadian-born, but they’ve lived in the Caribbean country for many years) where they bounced ideas off each other, worked on their art, and dreamed up future collaborations.

“It’s been great, because it’s symbiotic,” Jane says. “He’ll come by and say, ‘That’s great. Have you thought about that?’ But he’s very independent.”

While he might have a clear vision for his art, Jonah says he’s certainly learned from his mother, whose 35-year art career has gained her international attention and places on the walls of royal families, Fortune 500 corporations and celebrities.

“It’s really pushed me forward as an artist to have my mother here helping me, especially during COVID when we shared a house and studio,” he says. “We’ve always pushed off of each other, but sitting there spending the time, you come up with more ideas.”

Jane agrees, adding that during lockdowns, “we didn’t cross our driveway for six months. It really dominated our time together. There were no distractions, the world had literally gone into a bubble. It was like this creative bubble.”

In some of their series, both Jane and Jonah use smaller images to create a bigger picture—Jane, most famously with her “Gatherings Series,” featuring threedimensional figures, and Jonah, using what is called “dotilism” to create texture and

movement in his images.

“It slows down and makes everything very detailed,” he says of that technique.

To that end, he has used it to hone in on tiny creatures—like ladybugs, bees, and beetles, and create large-scale pieces.

While Jonah has been painting with different mediums his “whole life,” he’s recently began exhibiting his work and found representation with the Whistler Contemporary Gallery, where Jane has been an artist for many years.

The pair will mark one of their first events together with a cocktail reception at the gallery (located in the Four Seasons Resort Whistler) on Feb. 19 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. They will both be showcasing new work.

“[I’ll be showing] a certain selection of pieces I’m known for and are very requested, which is great,” Jane says. “And a few larger pieces as well. I just shipped a number of new pieces—and hopefully that will arrive in time! It’s a broad selection.”

Jonah, meanwhile, has created two new

pieces with Whistler in mind.

“One is a bear head,” he says. “A lot of my work is representative of nature and wildlife—bugs and flowers and graphic ways of representing these forms of wildlife. I figured with Whistler, it’d be great to do something from that neck of the woods. I’m going to do a wolf for them as well … There’s a few other pieces, as well, from a few collections. The toy soldiers series—you know those little plastic toy soldiers? I’ve blown them up following my theme of larger-than-life and mixed them with resin.”

The family has made it a tradition of sorts to travel to Whistler every year for Jane’s shows at the gallery. The pandemic might have upended that, but they’re happy to return for 2023—with extended family in tow.

“Now that I have representation with Whistler Contemporary, I’m very fortunate and happy that I could do this with her,” Jonah says. “I think it’s going to be fun, most of all—and a great showcase for the two of us.”

For more on Feb. 19’s reception and the artists, visit whistlerart.com. n

WHISTLER’S LEGENDARY FUNDRAISING EVENT!

Come celebrate 30 years of making a difference.

Register a team to take part in the entire action packed weekend!

FRIDAY, MARCH 3 & SATURDAY, MARCH 4

TWO-DAY QUARTET - $2,700 (4 skiers/snowboarders per team).

Team package includes: Buffet Breakfasts, 2-Day Lift Tickets, Priority Lift Line Privileges, Ski With a Pro Adventure Day, Après-Ski, the Race Classic, plus tickets to the Whistler Winetastic and Grand Fina le Gala.

Pemberton Arts Council seeks community input

A SURVEY IS UNDERWAY UNTIL FEB. 28 TO HELP THE ORGANIZATION WITH ITS 2023 PROGRAMMING

AFTER A FEW COMPLICATED pandemic years, the Pemberton Arts Council (PAC) wants to check in with Pembertonians.

The organization took a bit of a hiatus during the height of COVID, but came back strong last year with a sold-out Mountain Muse Festival and the Outside Voices Mural Project (which awarded the mural space at the health centre to artist Dave Petko).

But now, with possibilities wide open for 2023, the arts council is turning to the community with a short survey and two volunteer opportunities in hopes of best serving Pemberton moving forward.

“I know that the community of Pemberton is changing pretty rapidly,” says Anna Lynch, executive director of PAC. “There are lots of people coming in, but there are also lots of longtime locals. The survey is to find out who we’re serving and what the priorities in the community are now.”

The five-minute survey, open until Feb. 28, will help the organization choose its programming going forward. (And if that’s not enough incentive, anyone who completes it will be entered into a raffle for a $50 gift card donated by the Pemberton Valley Supermarket.)

It’s open now at pembertonartscouncil. com/communitysurvey.

“Our mandate is to be able to offer local artists and creative professionals work opportunities and showcase opportunities to help develop their careers,” Lynch says. “The other side of it is to be able to offer the Pemberton community, Pemberton Meadows, and surrounding areas the opportunity to participate in local arts and culture events and promote community wellness and belonging.”

PAC is also hosting two other volunteer opportunities for locals to take part in. One is a

one-off roundtable meeting for other arts-andculture service providers in Pemberton. At that meeting, stakeholders will review the results of the survey and determine, collectively, how they can meet community needs. (For more, email pembertonartscouncil@gmail.com.)

Individuals, meanwhile, are also invited to join the PAC volunteer committee and “volunteer their time to help our organization grow and develop our local arts scene,” Lynch says.

The time commitment is a few hours each month throughout the year. The different committees seeking volunteers include marketing and communications, programming, and fund development.

For more, those interested can visit pembertonartscouncil.com/volunteer.

“Once we’re doing programming in the summer, we’ll have more in-person, handson opportunities,” Lynch adds. “This is more about planning and helping us prioritize those events that people are looking for.”

Early respondents to the survey suggest more young, single people have moved to Pemberton recently, she adds. “From living here, there is a sense that there are a lot of people here for the season, but living in Pemberton rather than Whistler now. It’s that group of people that are most looking for new opportunities to connect, because they’re new to town. But there’s also a need for local families to have activities for kids and activities to connect to other families.”

While PAC is waiting for its consultation period to wrap up—and funding to be secured—before it officially announces any programming for the year, planning is underway for both another instalment of the Mountain Muse Festival and another mural project. ArtHOP, meanwhile, is expected to be replaced by another exhibit.

“We’re also hoping to do a fundraiser in the spring,” Lynch says. “People should watch out for that.” n

FRIDAY, MARCH 3

WHISTLER WINETASTIC PRESENTED BY REMAX SEA TO SKY REAL ESTATE Macdonald Ballroom, Fairmont Chateau Whistler

6:45pm to 7:30pm | VIP First Sip - $30* (inclusive)

*Main event ticket required as well. Exclusive special pours only available at VIP First Sip.

7:30pm | Main Event - $95 (inclusive)

A unique wine tasting event with live entertainment and an extensive collection of wine, beer, spirits and delectable appetizers from local restaurants including Portobello, Bearfoot Bistro, Caramba/Quattro, Sidecut, Purebread and more.

AN UNDERWATER DREAM

SATURDAY, MARCH 4

SUBMERSE GALA PRESENTED BY SAMSUNG Whistler Conference Centre

7:00pm-midnight | $275 (inclusive)

Dive into a world of vibrant coral reef and magical kelp forests. Enjoy mingling with mermaids, cocktails with whales and dancing with dolphins. Our deep sea performers, art installations and delicious cuisine will leave you truly spellbound.

To purchase tickets or sign up a team, please visit: WHISTLERBLACKCOMBFOUNDATION.COM

PIQUE’S GUIDE TO LOCAL EVENTS & NIGHTLIFE

Here’s a quick look at some events happening in Whistler this week and beyond. FIND MORE LOCAL EVENT LISTINGS (and submit your own for free!) at piquenewsmagazine.com/local-events

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Wednesday, February 22 @ 6:00pm at The Beer Farmers - 8324 Pemberton Meadows Rd

All are welcome!

Refreshments will be served.

WINTER CARNIVAL AT THE POINT

FEB16-22

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT WINTER CARNIVAL AT THE POINT

The annual Winter Carnival at The Point returns with a community celebration featuring live music, dinner, dancing, and a host of free afternoon activities celebrating winter through the lens of the arts. From 12 to 4 p.m. enjoy free snow and ice dancing, costumed characters, a children’s dance party and concert with Ira Pettle (1 p.m.), a snow sculpting competition, curling and shinny (ice permitting), a fireside singalong, a café serving lunch, drinks and more! The evening features a ticketed dinner show with local eclectic duo Jen Bisset and Thomas Studer on guitar, vocals and accordion, followed by East Vancouver’s Kitty and the Rooster, starting at 6 p.m.

> Feb. 19

> The Point Artist-Run Centre

> More information at thepointartists.com/events

FAMILY DAY CELEBRATION AT SLCC

Celebrate Family Day on Sunday, Feb. 19 at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre with free admission and kids-themed activities for youth and children 18 and under with a paying adult. (Note: the SLCC will be closed on Monday, Feb. 20.)

> Feb. 19

> Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre

FAMILY DAY AT THE AUDAIN ART MUSEUM

Visit the Audain Art Museum with your family on Feb. 20 for a day of free admission, art activities, vault tours, and an après party in celebration of Family Day!

> Feb. 20

> Audain Art Museum

> For more visit audainartmuseum.com/ upcoming-events-engagement

PEAK BROS: A WHISTLER COMIC STRIP 1979 – 1992

Join Whistler Museum and special guests for the opening of their latest exhibit, created by the one and only Gord “Rox” Harder. The Peak Bros. comics celebrated an outlaw skiing lifestyle and followed a ragtag group of friends on their adventures around Whistler. Learn more about the comics, the people behind the Peak Bros. tales, and maybe even pick up your own copy of the Peak Bros. adventures!

> Feb. 22

> Whistler Museum

> For more visit whistlermuseum.org/events

SKIITOUR

Resort Municipality of Whistler

Food Service Oppor tunities in Whistler parks

Apply today to be part of the Park Eats program!

The RMOW is looking for food trucks, pop-ups and delivery services to Whistler’s parks for summer 2023. Vendor applications are due by March 26, 2023. For more information and a link to the application, visit whistler.ca /ParkEats

> More information at slcc.ca/slcc-events

SkiiTour—a fun-loving DJ/production duo from Whistler— are known for their upbeat “feel-good house music that keeps the vibe groovy” (according to DJ Mag) as well as channelling a retro ski aesthetic. They’ve accumulated more than 6 million plays through streaming platforms and have made Mixmag and DJ Mag’s “Track of the Month” multiple times. On top of their steady output of productions, they maintain a global touring schedule of 80-plus shows per year, including festivals like Shambhala, Burning Man, Chasing Summer, Bass Coast, Snowbombing Canada and many more.

> Feb. 22

> GLC

> Tickets at bandsintown.com

SEA TO SKY PSYCHEDELIC THERAPY

Individual and group Ketamine Assisted Therapy facilitated by a collective of Sea to Sky counsellors, psychiatrists, nurses and doctors

Psilocybin-assisted therapy via Health Canada special access program coming soon

www seatoskypsychedelictherapy com

seatoskykat@gmail com

M 2 0 a y a m p

F A M I L Y D A Y

A T T H E

F r e e A d m i s s i o n , A r t A c t i v i t i e s ,

V a u l t T o u r s , W a r m D r i n k s & M o r e

F e a t u r i n g a n A p r è s P a r t y w i t h

D J F o x y M o r o n f r o m 3 p m - 6 p m

F r e e M u s e u m e n t r y t h a n k s t o t h e g e n e r o u s s u p p o r t o f W a r m d r i n k s p r o v i d e d b y

Peak Bros.—A Whistler comic strip

JILLIAN ROBERTS

THE PEAK BROS. comics captured the hearts and minds of Whistler when they were published between 1979 and 1992 in The Whistler Answer and The Whistler Review. The comics were based on the real-life adventures of Gord “Rox” Harder and his friends, who became known as the Peak Bros. in reference to their love of skiing Whistler’s peak.

First created on the back of a Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. logbook, the Peak Bros. comics paid homage to underground comic the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Gordy was an avid reader and admirer of the Freak Brothers, created by Gilbert Shelton and first published in Austin, Texas in 1968. The Freak Brothers followed the antics of a trio of cop-dodging, cannabis-loving outlaw hippies. The Peak Bros. were the Whistlerized version, where their outlaw skiing lifestyle gets the Peak Bros. into trouble. The ski police start to chase them, and the fun begins! Celebrating ’80s ski culture and Harder’s own tongue-in-cheek humour, Peak Bros: A Whistler Comic Strip, opens at the Whistler Museum on Feb. 22. With local people from the Whistler community featured in the comics, it could be a thrill to identify who characters were based on when each new Peak Bros. comic was released. Many of the true stories from the real Peak Bros. are on par with the best fiction—whether it was building an illegal cabin below the Roundhouse, riding down the mountain on a windsurfer, or catching a helicopter up to the peak to join the Whistler Mountain staff party.

Shawn Hughes, better known as SO, remembered one of their many adventures up Whistler’s peak. “We would camp on the peak every full moon. That was the Peak Bros. tradition. Then we woke up one morning as

a bomb went over. That’s when that tradition ended.” Until the close call brought an abrupt end to the camping tradition, SO had not missed one winter camp in more than six years.

Harder and the other real Peak Bros. were excellent skiers, and could be found on the mountain every day. Janet Love Morrison recalled watching Gordy ski down the peak during a Whistler Mountain staff party. “There was no Peak Chair. Gordy and his friend, they had hiked up to the peak and they skied Don’t Miss, which is all [permanently] closed now. I didn’t know Gordy was the calibre of skier that he was when I met him, and I remember everybody started hooting and hollering and whistling, and Gordy had jumped into Don’t Miss. Just like over the rocks and the whole face under the Peak Chair, he’s just bouncing like it’s effortless...” With everyone on the mountain watching, they got a rockstar cheer.

In the late ’70s and early ’80s, there was a massive crackdown on fast skiing on Whistler Mountain following a slew of visitor complaints. Whistler Mountain Ski Patrol were encouraged to catch speeders in the slow zones, and the patroller who issued the most warnings or confiscated the most passes received a dinner voucher for L’Après. With the Peak Bros. priority on skiing, and skiing fast, they were regularly the ire of ski patrol, who would ticket them—if they could ever catch them. Patrol even delivered warnings to Peak Manor, the clubhouse the Peak Bros. built in the trees below the Roundhouse. True to form, the comics mimicked real life, with ski patrol forever chasing—and being regularly outmanoeuvred by—the devious and athletic Peak Bros.

Come to the Whistler Museum to celebrate Gord “Rox” Harder and the Peak Bros. The opening of Peak Bros: A Whistler Comic Strip 1979 – 1992 is on Wednesday, Feb. 22, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The exhibition will be open until April 23. n

We are open for lunch Wednesday - Friday at 11:30 am and for brunch on Saturdays & Sundays at 11am. Join our lunch club! Get 10 stamps on your card and your 11th lunch is free* (*Some restrictions apply) ☺

Free Will Astrology

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 16 BY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries director Francis Ford Coppola was asked to name the year’s worst movie. The question didn’t interest him, he said. He listed his favourite films, then declared, “Movies are hard to make, so I’d say, all the other ones were fine!” Coppola’s comments remind me of author Dave Eggers’: “Do not dismiss a book until you have written one, and do not dismiss a movie until you have made one, and do not dismiss a person until you have met them.” In accordance with astrological omens, Aries, your assignment is to explore and embody these perspectives. Refrain from judging efforts about which you have no personal knowledge. Be as open-minded and generous as you can. Doing so will give you fuller access to half-dormant aspects of your own potentials.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Artist Andy Warhol said, only half in jest, “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art, and working is art, and good business is the best art.” More than any other sign, Tauruses embody this attitude with flare. When you are at your best, you’re not a greedy materialist who places a higher value on money than everything else. Instead, you approach the gathering of necessary resources, including money, as a fun art project that you perform with love and creativity. I invite you to ascend to an even higher octave of this talent.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You are gliding into the Season of Maximum Volition, Autonomy, and Liberty. Now is a favourable time to explore and expand the pleasures of personal sovereignty. You will be at the peak of your power to declare your independence from influences that hinder and limit you. To prepare, try two experiments. 1. Act as if free will is an illusion. It doesn’t exist. There’s no such thing. Then visualize what your destiny would be like. 2. Act as if free will is real. Imagine that in the coming months you can have more of it at your disposal than ever before. What will your destiny be like?

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The ethereal, dreamy side of your nature must continually find ways to express itself beautifully and playfully. And I do mean “continually.” If you’re not always allowing your imagination to roam and romp around in Wonderland, your imagination may lapse into spinning out crabby delusions. Luckily, I don’t think you will have any problems attending to this necessary luxury in the coming weeks. From what I can tell, you will be highly motivated to generate fluidic fun by rambling through fantasy realms. Bonus! I suspect this will generate practical benefits.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Don’t treat your allies or yourself with neglect and insensitivity. For the sake of your mental and physical health, you need to do the exact opposite. I’m not exaggerating! To enhance your well-being, be almost ridiculously positive. Be vigorously nice and rigorously kind. Bestow blessings and dole out compliments, both to others and yourself. See the best and expect the best in both others and yourself.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Is there a bug in the sanctuary of love? A parasite or saboteur? If so, banish it. Is there a cranky monster grumbling in the basement or attic or closet? Feed that creature chunks of raw cookie dough imbued with a crushed-up valium pill. Do you have a stuffed animal or holy statue to whom you can spill your deep, dark, delicious secrets? If not, get one. Have you been spending quality time rumbling around in your fantasy world in quest of spectacular healings? If not, get busy. Those healings are ready for you to pluck them.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): There’s a weird magic operating in your vicinity these days—a curious, uncanny kind of luck. So while my counsel here might sound counterintuitive, I think it’s true. Here are four affirmations to chant regularly:

1. “I will attract and acquire what I want by acting as if I don’t care if I get what I want.”

2. “I will become grounded and relaxed with the help of beautiful messes and rowdy fun.” 3. “My worries and fears

will subside as I make fun of them and joke about them.”

4. “I will activate my deeper ambition by giving myself permission to be lazy.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): How many people would fight for their country? Below I list the countries where my horoscopes are published and the percentage of their populations ready and willing to take up arms against their nations’ enemies: 11 per cent in Japan; Netherlands, 15 per cent; Italy, 20 per cent; France, 29 per cent; Canada, 30 per cent; U.S., 44 per cent. So I surmise that Japanese readers are most likely to welcome my advice here, which is threefold: 1. The coming months will be a good time to cultivate your love for your country’s land, people, and culture, but not for your country’s government and armed forces. 2. Minimize your aggressiveness unless you invoke it to improve your personal life—in which case, pump it up and harness them. 3. Don’t get riled up about vague abstractions and fear-based fantasies. But do wield your constructive militancy in behalf of intimate, practical improvements.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): By the time she was 33, Sagittarian actor Jane Fonda was famous and popular. She had already won many awards, including an Oscar. Then she became an outspoken opponent of America’s war in Vietnam. Some of her less-liberal fans were outraged. For a few years, her success in films waned. Offers didn’t come easily to her. She later explained that while the industry had not completely “blacklisted” her, she had been “greylisted.” Despite the setback, she kept working—and never diluted her political activism. By the time she was in her 40s, her career and reputation had fully recovered. Today, at age 84, she is busy with creative projects. In accordance with astrological rhythms, I propose we make her your role model in the coming months. May she inspire you to be true to your principles even if some people disapprove. Be loyal to what you know is right.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Charles V (1500–1558) had more than 20 titles, including Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, and Lord of the Netherlands. He was also a patron of the arts and architecture. Once, while visiting the renowned Italian painter Titian to have his portrait done, he did something no monarch had ever done. When Titian dropped his paintbrush on the floor, Charles humbly picked it up and gave it to him. I foresee a different but equally interesting switcheroo in your vicinity during the coming weeks. Maybe you will be aided by a big shot or get a blessing from someone you consider out of your league. Perhaps you will earn a status boost or will benefit from a shift in a hierarchy.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Some people I respect regard the Bible as a great work of literature. I don’t share that view. Like psychologist Valerie Tarico, I believe the so-called good book is filled with “repetition, awkward constructions, inconsistent voice, weak character development, boring tangents, and passages where nobody can tell what the writer meant to convey.” I bring this to your attention, Aquarius, because I believe now is a good time to rebel against conventional wisdom, escape from experts’ opinions, and formulate your own unique perspectives about pretty much everything. Be like Valerie Tarico and me.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I suspect that arrivederci and au revoir and sayo¯nara will overlap with birth cries and welcomes and initiations in the coming days. Are you beginning or ending? Leaving or arriving? Letting go or hanging on? Here’s what I think: You will be beginning and ending; leaving and arriving; letting go and hanging on. That could be confusing, but it could also be fun. The mix of emotions will be rich and soulful.

Homework: Imagine a good future scenario you have never dared to visualize. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com.

In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny creates

In-depth

•

MARKETPLACE MARKETPLACE FOR

SEEKING

Fairmont

Whistler Resort is growing its Housing portfolio and sourcing additional Chalet and Condo Rental contracts for our Hotel Team Members. Our leaders are mature, career driven drivers that know the word respect. Contract terms for property Owners are stress free with no commissions and includes representation from our 4 person fulltime Housing Department working with you 24/7; maintaining all aspects of the tenancy including quarterly inspections. A great next move for Whistler property Owners that have tired with the Airbnb game or Property Fees. Let’s see if we can make a match and develop a long-term relationship here. General inquiries please email mark.munn@fairmont.com

PRE-LOVED RE-LOVED = COMMUNITY LOVE

RE-USE-IT CENTRE

Donations daily

10 am to 4 pm

Accepting pre-loved clothing, gear and household items.

Shopping daily

10 am to 6 pm 8000 Nesters Road 604-932-1121

RE-BUILD-IT CENTRE Donations daily

10 am to 5 pm

Accepting pre-loved furniture, tools and building supplies

Shopping daily

10 am to 5 pm

1003 Lynham Road 604-932-1125

Visit mywcss.org and our social channels for updates.

Group Fitness Classes

Thursdays – Mountain Ready 7:30-8:30 am w Anna

Saturdays – Low Impact Strength

am w Hazel

Mondays – No Classes on Stat

Holidays – Happy Family Day!

Tuesdays – Strength & Stretch 9-10 am w ROOS

Wednesdays – Girls Learn

2 Strength Train 3:45-4:45 pm w ROOS

EMPLOYMENT

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Needsomeextramoney?Come playhats!

DuetoinjuryTheWhistlerHat GalleryLtdislookingforanother casual/parttimeemployee.Weofferflexibleworkdaysandstart timesbetween10am-10pm.

Perfectjobforamaturelongterm locallookingtoonlyworkadayor twoaweekorsomeonelookingto workaroundtheirfulltimejob. Funandbusyworkenvironment, discounts,monthlystaffbonuses andcompetitivewage.

Locallyownedandoperated. nicole@whistlerhatgallery.com Kanna@whistlerhatgallery.com

ATSServices:WeatherObserver Wanted!

SurfaceWeatherObserversforthe WhistlerWeatherOffice.Noexperiencerequired

FulltimeOpportunity

CompetitiveWage,Benefits, Bonus

SurfaceWeatherObserversprovidetheaviationsectorwithmeteorologicalinformationbyperforminghourlyweatherobservationsto maintaincurrentweatherconditions.

Alltrainingisprovided! npavlova@atsservices.ca

HopePointDomesticHelp

Privateestatewouldliketofillthefollowingposition.JunethroughSeptember.Averaging40hoursperweek. Wearelookingforapersontoserve meals,washdishes,helpwithmeal prep,andallaspectsoflaundry,includingironing.Youwillhelpwithpicnicsandbarbeques.Lighthousework andoutdoorworkarealsopartofthis position.

Asyourworkhoursvaryfromdayto day,youwillbeprovidedroomand board.Youwillbeabletogooffpropertyforyourdaysoffandwewillprovideboattransportationtoandfrom theworkplace.hopepoint@gmail.com

WhistlerPersonnelSolutions

Full-time,part-time&tempjobs. Nocost,nostrings.604-905-4194 www.whistler-jobs.com

HopePointSummerCook

Privateestatewouldliketofillthefollowingpositionforthe2023season. SummerCook.JunethroughSeptember.Averaging40hoursperweek. Prepareorganic,wholesome,mealsincludingfamilypicnicsandbarbeques, fortheowners,theirfamilyandguests. Bakingasrequired.Keepthekitchen, pantryandfoodareascleanand stocked.Youwillalsooverseethe kitchensupportstaff.

Asyourworkhoursvaryfromdayto day,youwillbeprovidedroomand board.Youwillbeabletogooffpropertyforyourdaysoffandwewillprovideboattransportationtoandfrom theworkplace.hopepoint@gmail.com

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

YOUR EXPERIENCE &

SKILLS INCLUDE:

• Previous office administration or accounting experience preferred

• Computer literate in Microsoft Window applications or relevant computer applications required

• Excellent communication and

Assistant Director of Engineering

Full Time and Part Time

We’re hiring in Whistler and Squamish

Heavy Duty Equipment Mechanic

Civil Construction

Labourer/Pipe Layer

Gravel Truck Driver

Heavy Equipment Operator

Journeyman Electrician position available, Service / Renovation

Restaurant Server

VISION PACIFIC CONTRACTING LTD. is hiring new team members: EXPERIENCED CARPENTERS LABOURERS

We offer:

• Extended Health and Dental benefits for you and your family

• 20cm snow rule & mental-health bike days

• Flexible schedule & awesome staff parties!

• Work-life balance is as important to us as it is to you!

Send your resume to info@vispacific.com 30 Years in Business Whistler’s Award-Winning Custom Home Builder www.vispacific.com

WE ARE HIRING

Building Official – Casual/On-Call

Labourer 2 (Multiple Positions) – Temporary Full-Time

Economic Development Specialist – Regular Full-Time

Small Equipment Operator and Winter Truck Driver 3 – Regular Full-Time

Executive Assistant to General Manager, Community Planning & Infrastructure and Administrative Technical Coordinator – Regular

Full-Time

General Manager of Community Planning & Infrastructure – Regular

Full-Time

Recreation Facility Attendant 2 – Casual/On-Call

Recreation Facility Attendant 1 – Casual/On-Call

Custodian – Casual/On-Call

Municipal Engineer 1 – Regular Full-Time

Recreation Program Instructor 1 - Fitness – Casual/On-Call

Recreation Program Leader – Casual/On-Call

Lifeguard 1 – Casual/On-Call

IT Support Specialist – Regular Full-Time

Financial Services Specialist – Temporary Full-Time

squamish.ca/careers

NESTERS MARKET & WELLNESS CENTRE NOW

Deli, Bakery, Produce, Grocery and Meat Clerks. Cashiers

Journeyman Meat Cutter Nutritionist

E-mail or drop in your resume to: rory_eunson@nestersmarket.com please cc ian_fairweather@nestersmarket.com or call us at 604-932-3545

PERKS

• Competitive Experience Based Wages

• Flexible Scheduling

• Relative Training

The Pinnacle Hotel Whistler has the following positions available:

• ROOM ATTENDANTS

LOVE WHERE YOU WORK! JOIN OUR TEAM OF DEDICATED PROFESSIONALS

Amazing opportunities available:

Registered Dental Hygienist

Please reply by email: parmstrong@pinnaclehotels.ca

Competitive Wages | Hiring Bonus | Relocation Bonus

APPLY TODAY:

Certified Dental Assistant

liz@whistlerdental.co

Western Technical Systems is looking to hire an experienced Administrative Assistant to join our team!

Hours: 9am-3pm

Compensation based on experience

Western Technical System Inc HVAC/R whistlerdental.com/

• Competitive wages and extended medical/dental coverage For full job description visit: www.westerntechnical.net

Sales Associates Positions Available!

At the Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) our vision of ‘Service. Relationships. Results.’ is all about providing a valued service, building strong relationships with our stakeholders, and achieving greater results for the province.

The LDB is one of two branches of government responsible for the cannabis and liquor industry of B.C. We operate the wholesale distribution of beverage alcohol within the province, as well as the household retail brand of BC Liquor Stores.

We employ nearly 5,000 people in over 200 communities and have been named one of BC’s Top Employers 14 times over for offering exceptional places to work rooted in values of fairness and respect, work-life balance, and inclusion and diversity. We believe that our people are our greatest asset. Being a reputable employer with programs of skills training and professional development are what attract candidates to BC Liquor Stores, while our progressive, forward-thinking culture is why employees with a growth mindset thrive.

Auxiliary positions are on-call, meaning hours of work are not guaranteed and subject to availability. Some auxiliary employees may not initially work a full 35-hour week, but with more hours worked and more seniority gained, more opportunities for more hours of work will follow.

Auxiliary positions are not permanent full-time but can lead to permanent full-time opportunities with a very competitive total compensation package, including a comprehensive pension plan, medical and dental coverage (including massage and physiotherapy), tuition reimbursement and scholarship programs, and access to public service employee benefits including career support services, financial and legal services, and employee and family counselling.

We are dedicated to the highest quality of customer service, delivered with friendliness, individual pride, initiative, and retail passion! If you fit this description and you are prepared to work in a fast-paced environment, we encourage you to apply to become a part of the Whistler area BC Liquor Stores.

To be eligible, applicants must meet the following qualification requirements:

• Be at least 19 years of age

• Be able to legally work in Canada

• Be able to provide excellent customer service

• Be able to communicate effectively and professionally with the public

• Be able to demonstrate aptitude for cashier and related duties, including calculations

• Be able to perform physically demanding work, including lifting 20-25 kg boxes

• Have a valid Serving It Right Certificate™

• A Criminal Record Check is required.

BC Liquor Store Sales Associates may be required to operate a variety of mechanical and hand-operated equipment, in addition to handling large volumes of bottles as part of the LDB’s recycling program.

Rate of Pay as of April 10, 2022:

Auxiliary Sales Associate - $20.33 per hour

Seasonal Sales Associate - $18.92 per hour

For exciting and challenging retail opportunities, please apply online at: http://bcliquorstores.prevueaps.ca/pages/openings/ Or apply in person at: Whistler Marketplace 101-4360 Lorimer Rd, Whistler

On November 1, 2021 the BC Public Service announced the COVID-19 Vaccination Policy that defines the conditions and expectations for BC Public Service employees regarding vaccination against COVID-19. Among other possible measures, proof of vaccination will be required. It is a term of acceptance of employment that you agree to comply with all vaccination requirements that apply to the public service. More information can be found here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/ gov/content/careers-myhr/all-employees/safety-health-well-being/health/covid-19/covid-19vaccination-policy-for-bc-public-service-employees

We've Got You Covered

We are looking to hire another member to our team at Straightline. Experience in Plumbing is required. Gas Fitting and HVAC would be preferred but not essential.

Be a part of an amazing team as our newest Digital Account Representative!

We have a rare opportunity to work at one of Canada’s best-read online newsmedia companies, Glacier Media.

You will be part of the Pique Newsmagazine team, a division of Glacier Media. In your role you will consult with local businesses to offer cutting edge marketing solutions: programmatic, social media, SEO, sponsored content and community display advertising on our website and yes, we still reach customers through our trusted newspaper as well.

What we are looking for

• You are comfortable making cold calls and setting up/leading meetings with new and existing clients.

• A self-starter with a consultative selling approach working with clients planning both digital and print advertising campaigns.

• Building and maintaining client relationships with your exceptional communication skills comes easy to you.

• You are a goal orientated individual with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn.

• You possess strong organizational skills and have the ability to multitask in a fast-paced environment.

What we offer

• Competitive salary + uncapped commission package.

• Comprehensive / competitive group health and welfare benefits

• Extensive onboarding training and ongoing support.

Whistler has a worldwide reputation for outdoor recreation and boasts a vibrant village featuring restaurants, bars, retail and more. While this legendary resort is an international mountain sports mecca, it is also a down-to-earth mountain town, where community and culture have forged a unique environment. This opportunity offers you the chance to call a world-class ski hill you own—and if you are a local, well you know you’re in the right place to forge a career and lucky to call Whistler your home.

To apply, please submit your cover letter and resume in confidence to Susan Hutchinson, shutchinson@wplpmedia.com

Closing date: Open until filled.

Whistler's year round bike shop requires retail sales and repair shop staff for our busy Spring season.

We sell Norco, Giant, Kona and Devinci bikes and a wide range of parts and accessories.

Retail applicants should have relevant experience in bicycle or outdoor adventure retail.

Repair shop applicants should have at least one year of experience as a Bike Mechanic in a retail or rental setting. Email

Lil’wat Nation Employment Opportunities

Ullus Community Center

• Early Childhood Educator

• Administrative Assistant, Housing

• Director of Lands & Resources

• Director of Community Services

• General Manager, Community Services

• Human Resources Generalist

Ts’zil Learning Center

• Indigenous Advocate Supervisor

• Indigenous Support Worker – Culture & Language

Xet’olacw Community School

• High School Math Teacher

Lil’wat Business Group

• Mines & Services Manager

ARE

YOU A SELF-MOTIVATED INDIVIDUAL LOOKING TO GROW YOUR CAREER IN SQUAMISH?

Come be a part of our awesome team as The Squamish Chief’s new Media Account Manager.

If you don’t already live in Squamish, you should know it’s one of the most innovative and attractive communities on the West Coast just a short commute from the North Shore of Vancouver. It has a growing worldwide reputation for outdoor recreation with world-class mountain biking, rock climbing, water sports and skiing, boarding and the backcountry in the winter. We’re youthful, engaged and passionate about where we live!

And if you’re a local – well, you know you’re in the right place to forge a career and lucky to call Squamish home.

We’ve got an opportunity to work and truly be a part of this inspired community at its media hub, The Squamish Chief. We’re part of Glacier Media Group and Local News Network, the largest local digital network in Canada. We work with our clients to offer cutting edge solutions like programmatic, Social, SEO, sponsored content and community display advertising on our website – and yes, we reach customers through our trusted newspaper as well. We’ve got media opportunities covered.

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• You have sales experience and are comfortable making cold calls and setting up/ leading meetings with new and existing clients.

• A self-starter with a consultative selling approach working with clients planning both digital and print advertising campaigns.

• Building and maintaining client relationships with your exceptional communication skills comes easy to you.

• You are a goal orientated individual with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn.

• You possess strong organizational skills and have the ability to multitask in a fast paced environment.

Here’s the essentials of what we offer:

• Competitive salary + uncapped commission package.

• Comprehensive health and dental coverage and extended benefits.

• Extensive onboarding training and ongoing support.

Come join us!

Please submit your cover letter and resume in confidence to:

Cathie Greenlees cgreenlees@squamishchief.com

WE AR E HIRING

•3 -4 FULL TIME LINE CO OK S (eve ning ), up to $27/hr plus tips and benefits for experienc ed cook s

•H OS TS (eve ning ) $18/hr to star t

•2-3 FULL TIME PR EP CO OK S (day), up to $25/hr plus tips and benefits for experienc ed cook s

• BUSSER S (eve ning ) $18/hr to star t

www.whistlerwag.com

Protect your pooch this winter!

Antifreeze is highly toxic for pets – check for spills and keep safely stored away from pets. Ice melters can irritate paws – wipe off paws after walks to avoid dogs ingesting. White dogs are difficult to see in the snow – keep pets on leash as cars are not able to brake or react quickly in the winter weather.

We’re

WHAT’S ON YOUR

HORIzoN? C A reeR

COPYWRITER

Part Time, Contract (One Year)

The Copywriter is responsible for writing engaging and targeted content for Tourism Whistler’s email program, and also provides copywriting support for collateral and advertising campaigns.

This role requires an individual with a passion and knowledge of Whistler, experience writing for various media channels, and the ability to think strategically and creatively to produce response-driven copy across various channels.

What we offer: a flexible schedule offering work-life balance, a commitment to health and wellness, excellent compensation package, and a great team environment.

We’re also recruiting for: Coordinator, Ask Whistler, Maintenance Technician/ Cleaner, Visitor Centre Agent.

TO VIEW OUR CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, AND TO APPLY, VISIT US ONLINE AT WHISTLER.COM/CAREERS. ARE

Hiring! Labourers, Carpenters, Foreman, Project Managers

WE OFFER:

Vacasa’s forward-thinking approach and industryleading technology help set us apart as the largest full-service vacation rental company in North America. We are seeking individuals with a passion for providing exceptional vacation experiences for our Owners and Guests.

We offer competitive wages and benefits: Travel allowance for Squamish/Pemberton-based employees OR Ski Pass/Activity allowance, Extended Medical, RRSP match, Recognition Program, Fun & Safe Work Environment-Great Team, opportunities to grow and more.

**SIGNING BONUS** $1000 (FT)

Housekeeper (Cascade Lodge) - Full Time all year around

Night Auditor - Full Time all year around Guest Service Agent - Full Time all year around

Apply online today! https://www.vacasa.com/careers/positions or email: paul.globisch@vacasa.com or call to find out more details at 604-698-0520

We thank all applicants for their interest but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

ACROSS

LAST WEEKS’ ANSWERS

Dissecting Whistler’s new Rainbow Park connections

IT’S CALLED the 3.5-per-cent rule. Derived by Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth, it’s based on a long-term study of hundreds of social change campaigns waged over the past century. It reinforces the teachings of people like Ghandi and King that non-violent protests, civil disobedience, is more effective in bringing about change than violent campaigns.

Distilling the data, the findings support the general rule that when 3.5 per cent of a country’s population actively participate in protests, political change is likely to happen.

Rules are comforting. They help establish goals. They make the difficult easier to explain. They guide commerce—think the 80/20 rule—and inform public policy.

So, exactly how is that nugget of trivia important to what’s going on in Tiny Town?

I’ll get back to that.

A very long time ago I was backpacking around Europe, killing time before embarking on a long-delayed voyage into adulthood. I had a couple of months to wander, didn’t care where I started or ended and wound up in Lisbon, Portugal, as a jumping-off point.

Hearing about an interesting little town an hour north, I hitchhiked to Estoril and spent a week sleeping on a beautiful Atlantic beach. The beach was backed by a small twolane road. On the other side was a mix of small shops, restaurants, and beyond them, a palatial casino.

Three decades later, crewing on a yacht delivery from England to Malta, I revisited Estoril. The beach was still there, but it was more highly developed. Worse, to get to it you had to negotiate a four-lane highway. Looking, hearing, smelling the physical and aesthetic changes left me feeling like George Webber in Thomas Wolfe’s You Can’t Go Home Again. It was a bit of paradise lost, never to be regained, only fondly remembered.

I had the same feeling later in the same trip stopping over in Palma, Mallorca. The waterfront backed on to a six-lane highway. To get anywhere from the boat or beach, you had to find a safe crossing. During a visit to the Fundació Miró Mallorca, a museum dedicated to Joan Miró’s art, I gazed wistfully at a painting of Palma as it had been, when the town blended gracefully into the waterfront with no intervening raceway. Paradise lost again. Seems to be spreading.

Okay, enough digression.

Whistler’s population, as reported by the 2021 census, was just under 14,000. Round up, let’s say 15,000. In the last three weeks, almost 2,500 people have signed an online petition asking the Resort Municipality of Whistler to rethink part of the plan to upgrade Rainbow Park. Specifically, it calls into question the plan to realign the Valley Trail so that it

bisects the park, leaving the expanded sand beach on one side of the paved trail and the grassy remainder on the other side.

Currently, the Valley Trail is as far removed from the lakeside as possible given the wetland and railroad tracks on its western border.

Notwithstanding the current focus of the petition on the jarring border the realigned trail would create, there is also a strong undercurrent in the comments questioning the wisdom of part of the rationale for the

polite form of civil disobedience, getting that many people worked up about anything here is impressive.

There are a lot of good reasons people seem to be able to come up with to recoil from the idea of placing a paved trail between one part of the park and another. But what we haven’t heard so far is a, the, really good reason for moving the trail closer to the water.

The section of the Valley Trail that runs through the park is busy. In summer it’s full of walkers, bikes, scooters, strollers, joggers,

for wheelchair users can undoubtedly be answered with a paved path that does not include a beachside promenade running the length of the park.

Of course, what is not addressed at all is the continued growth in the number of park users. While there seems to be some focus or at least stated concern about overtourism elsewhere, the entire plan seems to be driven by the belief we can continue to accommodate continued growth in park users.

Since that seems unrealistic, would a focus on developing and expanding some of the town’s other parks help deflect the pressure off Rainbow? New parks? After all, Alta Lake isn’t the only easily accessible lake in town.

upgrade—accommodating expanding numbers of park users. The gist of the comments seem to ask why we want to make it easier for people to overcrowd the park in the first place.

With the renewed interest in postpandemic overtourism, it’s a valid question. And bearing in mind the 3.5-per-cent rule, 2,500 people signing up to ask for a reconsideration should probably carry some weight within muni hall and council.

Obviously, an online petition falls far short of civil disobedience, but it’s important to bear in mind Whistler is the town that seems always to firmly ground pathetic in apathetic. Whether you consider it a lazy or

dogs, and those simply wandering aimlessly. In winter, you can add cross-country skiers and their dogs.

With the current alignment, the only time traffic on the trail is an issue is when someone’s crossing it to get to or from the parking lot or washrooms. With the trail bisecting the beach and grassy part of the park, conflict between trail users and park users will be inevitable and, as many commenters point out, a hazard to children who have this annoying habit of not really paying attention to things like bikes bearing down on them when they’re running from the beach to the snacks their parents have where they’ve staked a claim to a bit of grass.

Arguments for accessibility to the dock(s)

In all communication from the RMOW, there seems to be an emphasis on the fact the nearly $5-million cost of this plan is going to be fully covered by RMI funding. Nice to know when we’re facing an 8.4-per-cent property tax increase this year, but it doesn’t answer the questions about the wisdom of changing the nature of Rainbow Park to absorb even more users.

Oh, and if, as one councillor says, it’s wasteful to go back to the drawing board with this project, it may be worth bearing in mind it’s even more wasteful to get it wrong in the first place.

It might be important to recall one of council’s strategic initiatives is community consultation. Don’t remember any of that happening until after this project was announced and ready to go to bid. Always thought consultation should happen first. Silly me.

[Editor’s Note: While the RMOW used public input from its 2021 Summer Experience Plan and Outside Voice engagement process, there has been no formal consultation on the specific plans for Rainbow Park.] ■

With the trail bisecting the beach and grassy part of the park, conflict between trail users and park users will be inevitable…

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