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Letters to the editor for the week of October 10th

Literary Whistler This is the first weekend without the Globe and Mail and I am missing it — especially the editorials and the crossword! I love the feel of a weekend newspaper in my hand and don't enjoy the digital version.
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Literary Whistler

This is the first weekend without the Globe and Mail and I am missing it — especially the editorials and the crossword! I love the feel of a weekend newspaper in my hand and don't enjoy the digital version. But, alas, Whistler is considered too rural to rate delivery anymore!

In fact the entire Sea to Sky corridor is off its list. In the same vein I love to curl up in front of a real fire and read a real book — call me old fashioned but I know there are a lot of people like me, which started me thinking about how lucky we are in Whistler to have such a great literacy heritage.

Thanks to Hazel Evans we have "Armchair Books" which opened in 1981 and is still a family concern — Dan, her son, is in the driver's seat now — and still an independent book store — a true rarity in this world of the big box book stores. Thanks, Dan, for doing all that you do to keep the shelves stacked and the store so interesting with so many diverse items to browse through. Armchair's central location makes this a haven for anyone, local or visitor who needs a book fix! The employees who work with Dan are always willing to chat and offer their help and suggestions. The children's section is a must, full of fun things to compliment the literacy experience! And if it's not on the shelf it can always be ordered at www.whistlerbooks.com.

The Whistler Public Library (www.whistlerlibrary.ca) is another source of literacy in our town that has proved its worth again and again — such a vibrant, fun-filled space with everything you could wish for in "the Community's Living Room" including a fireplace lounge where you can curl up with the latest newspaper, (not the Globe and Mail alas!) magazine or books – the collection is diverse and multinational, as well as having a large audio component offering a huge selection of music and video.

The whole building is WIFI and there is a computer lab for those without their own devices — and true to the tenets of the Library Act of Canada, Library Services are free for those of us lucky enough to live in B.C. WPL is a warm friendly place and a fund of information offering myriad programs for all ages and a staff that always goes above and beyond.

Local author Stella Harvey has persevered with her dream and now the Whistler Readers and Writers Festival is a major event on the Canadian Literary calendar — this year it is being held from October 18 to 20 — with celebrated authors and personalities coming to town to read and discuss their books and hold workshops to encourage new writers and refresh others — check out the web site at www.whistlerreadersandwritersfestival.com.

The Whistler Writers Group is a healthy group of local would-be authors and published authors (150 strong and growing) who all contribute to our literary experience — guide books, children's books, fiction, nonfiction, short stories and histories of the area and people — you all know who you are and what you have contributed and will continue to do. The group is known as the "Vicious Circle" and can be checked out at www.viciouscircle.com.

The Friends of the Whistler Public Library is holding its semi-annual Used Book Sale on Thanksgiving weekend in the usual place outside the IGA this Saturday, Oct. 5 — Jane Reid, founder of the Friends, initiated this great community event which benefits both WPL and our school libraries. This year we will all be missing that ever-present volunteer Lil Goldsmid with her red scarf and jaunty hat, but I know she will be with us in spirit encouraging people to widen their literary horizons and donate to the cause.

Our three schools all have great collections in their libraries and work with the WPL to compliment the offerings and programs — I recently helped out with the Myrtle Philip Book Club program, a joint effort, and it was wonderful to see the love of books this encourages in our children at an early age.

All in all I think we are blessed in this relatively small community with a deep and rich literary heritage and I, for one, truly believe that the book will never die — I know that I will never stop borrowing and buying books and loving the fact that I can reach for a book on the shelves in my home to re-read or to donate to the next used book sale to make room for a new one!

Thanks to all of you out there who make Whistler such a special place to live in — rich in so many ways to the benefit of our community and its many visitors.

Alix Nicoll

Whistler

jump to the right Pump

This is a polite request on behalf of the diesel vehicle drivers in town, be they big trucks, Delica vans or little VW's.

It is something one never thinks about (I know I didn't) until faced with the challenge of fuelling up in a one-station town.

Our little Husky station has a total of 14 pumps on three bays. Out of these pumps, only two are diesel. This one is the middle pump on the western most bay (11 and 12). Typically, Canadian diesel pumps have yellow handles and this is the case at our station.

My request is as follows: If possible, if you are fuelling up with gasoline, and there are empty pumps in the middle or east bays, please opt for those. This will leave the one diesel pump available and accessible for the diesel vehicles — leading to less idling minutes for the big trucks (and small VW's) that need to wait for the diesel pump.

Finally, this will lead to not only a smoother moving and greener fuelling experience but to less grumpy drivers — benefitting us all.

Claire Thornthwaite

Whistler

Grizzlies need greater protection

The sentencing of the hunter who illegally killed a grizzly bear near Pemberton in 2011 brings to a close a sad chapter in the story of grizzly bears in southwest B.C., and is unfortunately not an isolated incident.

This is but one of several illegal killings from threatened grizzly populations in the past decade. There is no legal hunting of grizzly bears in threatened populations anywhere in B.C., including throughout Sea to Sky, the South Chilcotin, and over toward Lillooet and the Fraser River.

The question of whether the punishment fits the crime really hinges on whether it will deter further crimes of this nature.

If we give the convicted hunter the benefit of the doubt that he did in fact mistake this grizzly for a black bear, then we must ask, why can't a licensed hunter distinguish between these two very distinct species?

The bear was well known to local residents, and DNA research tells us this was a "grandfather bear" with multiple offspring.

Hunters and non-hunters alike want to see grizzly bears protected and thriving in healthy numbers, so that their grandchildren can enjoy the thrill of seeing them.

They are an integral part of B.C.'s wilderness.

Grizzly bears, like all wildlife, are supposed to be managed in the public trust, yet there are currently no plans to protect and recover southwest B.C.'s grizzly bears. If there were, bears in our region would likely not be on the razor's edge of existence that they are. The fact that there are so few grizzlies in our local mountains makes every single bear in this region so important.

We cannot simultaneously recover threatened grizzly bears while allowing people to shoot them.

So what are the solutions? Low-cost fixes include a better bear identification module during hunter education to distinguish black and grizzly bears, raising public awareness regarding the ban on hunting of grizzly bears in these populations, stiffer poaching fines, and better efforts at securing garbage and livestock in more remote locales.

B.C.'s Conservation Officer Service also needs far more support to ensure effective enforcement — the province cut the COS. budget by $408,000 in 2012.

But reducing human-caused mortality is only part of what's needed to save southwest B.C.'s grizzly bears.

Development pressures are fragmenting their habitat and pushing them off the landscape. It's the carving up of essential habitat, mostly by roads, that makes these bears so vulnerable in the first place. But even that is fixable.

Our parks and protected areas are valuable, but they need to be supported and connected by a number of management tools to include more secure habitats that grizzly bears need to find food, raise cubs, and intermingle.

Without measures to reduce the number of bears killed by humans and to safeguard their habitat, it's not a question of if, but when, southwest B.C's grizzly bears will disappear.

Peter Wood, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (B.C. Chapter)

Vancouver

Think beyond pink

I bought myself a coffee the other day and the cup was bright pink. I turned on the TV and saw the football players sporting all their pink. I was invited to attend an exercise to raise money for breast cancer class.

Breast cancer awareness month a "Pinktober" is upon us.

It's a tough time for me. Especially because I am part of the group that has to undergo treatment for the rest of my life and chances are, cancer will take my life eventually. Focus on metastatic breast cancer is sorely lacking in this overwhelmingly pink month.

Metastatic cancer refers to cancer that spreads to different parts of the body — often the bones, liver, lungs and brain. It's also known as Stage 4 Cancer. The one you don't want. Traditionally five-year survival rates were less than 20 per cent. (From: Metastatic Breast Cancer in Canada: The lived experience of patients and caregivers (2013) CBCN) When you are part of that club it's pretty difficult to be happy about all that pink.

Don't get me wrong, pink rocks and the breast cancer community is extremely lucky that there has been such a push to raise awareness and funds for early detection and treatment of the more common breast cancers.

I myself have been saved by amazing HER-2 breast cancer research a couple of times now. Newer studies are even looking into causes, environmental factors and the impact of cancer on everyday life. Check out the Health of Women study https://www.healthofwomenstudy.org.

What is sad is that the billions of dollars in money that has been raised for awareness and research to date has not impacted on the sober reality that 30 per cent of people who have had breast cancer stage 0-3 will go on to develop metastatic cancer over their lifetime. (From: Metastatic Breast Cancer in Canada: The lived experience of patients and caregivers (2013))

This takes my breath away and I hope it does yours too. Breast cancer is still killing far too many women despite all of the early detection and treatment available.

Let's hope that the newer studies find a better relationship to the causes and that we can modify those with healthy living. I truly believe that a cure lies in believing that modern medicine and the natural world can work together.

I have made several very close friends over the last two years. Most with metastatic disease. I poured over the trials websites and alternative treatments to try to find hope and options for them. What I discovered is that we are on the edge of an avalanche of new treatment options for all kinds of cancer, but especially metastatic cancer.

They are focused more on stopping and killing the cancer cells and less on obliterating everything good and bad in the body like traditional chemo. It's called targeted therapy. In my cancer alone — metastatic HER-2 — there are three new medications available — Perjeta, Kadcyla and Affinitor. Great news for a metastatic survivor who needs a few good options in a timely manner.

There is a really big problem. There is a significant delay between the availability of medications and funding. Just because pharmacies can stock Perjeta, Kadcyla and Affinitor doesn't mean anyone will pay for it. And the costs of these drugs are prohibitive.

First a federal review board — the pan Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR) — looks at each drug to determine if it effective and is something the provinces should offer. They also make recommendation about affordability. The process is available for review by the general public. www.pcodr.ca

Then the province looks over the drug through the BC Cancer Agency (BCCA) Priorities and Evaluation Committee (PEC). They determine if they are going to fund it and negotiate the price with the drug company. They do not post their process for the general public to follow.

All the while the STAGE 4 cancer patient waits. But doesn't have TIME to wait with crappy survival statistics on his/her side. And likely doesn't have the time or energy to advocate.

When I recently lost my extended insurance coverage for Perjeta I was given the impression that it would take one to two years before the provinces would start covering it.

I started a self-advocacy letter writing process. So far I've been turned down by my insurance coverage because of the employer/union contract; the BCCA; the compassionate access program (CAP at BCCA); and pharmacare under special authority. I have begged to for my coverage to be grandfathered to no avail. I've been told that Perjeta is a priority for consideration by BCCA but is not currently funded. The pan Canadian Oncology Drug Review recommended the drug company reduce their price so I wait for negotiations.

With tremendous gratitude to the community of Whistler I was able to raise almost $40,000 for my own treatment. Now I can relax a bit, heal and continue to advocate.

But what about everyone else that needs a new or emerging targeted therapy?

They will have to wait or find the money to fund it until the provinces do. The new treatments cost thousands and thousands a month. So it's not universally accessible to all Canadians, and that's just wrong.

So with all the pink around you likely haven't heard this dark side of breast cancer treatment. I only hope you can take a moment to be "aware" that metastatic cancer is a big issue.

It deserves awareness and funding just like early detection. Mets people need multiple options in a timely and affordable manner to survive. Just maybe that can happen with a bit more awareness.

Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day was first suggested for October 13, 2009 in Ontario on Parliament Hill. There is still a long way to go until all of Canada acknowledges this very important addition to Pinktober.

Patricia Stoop

Whistler

Spirit-capturing festival

The Spirit Within – inspired by the spirit we have within all of us, and the theme of our recently completed annual festival organized and produced by the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre.

The festival this year expanded from one day to four and the volume of cultural presentations more than tripled. Several new components were added this year including an elegant tea party celebrating locally collected leaves of many varieties and highlighting the health benefits of these indigenous plants. Also new was an evening of entertainment performed by First Nations artists entirely dedicated to contemporary art forms including blues, world beat, grunge/folk, as well as a classically trained cellist.

Free native art appraisals were provided (someone discovered they owned a $1,500 work of art they bought at a Value Village!) and indigenous artists were carving/weaving in multiple locations in the village all weekend including the library, in several hotel lobbies and in Mountain Square.

BravoFact supported an aboriginal filmmakers series in the SLCC theatre and the longhouse was host to an inspiring lecture from Wanosts'a7 (Dr. Lorna Williams) from Lil'wat Nation who presented a fascinating talk on indigenous principles of learning and shared her research in relation to her work at the University of Victoria as part of her role as Canada Research Chair.

Did you take advantage of the chance to have a great horned owl, falcon or majestic golden eagle perch on your hand? I did and I'll never forget it. Or perhaps, you touched one of the creatures from beneath the Salish Sea — over 200 school children from throughout the corridor did as part of our partnership with the Vancouver Aquarium.

We had almost 1,000 visitors through the SLCC during our festival weekend, which more than doubled last year's results along with many more that witnessed the artists on location in Whistler. Our Saturday evening main event was sold out inspiring us to add an additional show allowing more opportunities for guests to see the beautiful and more traditional forms of First Nation dance, storytelling and song.

There was much love and support from our business partners, but in particular thank-you to the RMOW who, through the Festivals, Events & Animation program helped us bring an incredible range of local performers and artists to Whistler inspiring many guests to experience their artistry on an otherwise cold, wet and gray weekend. Whistler still shone even though the sun did not.

We look forward to the opportunity to once again expand the experience next year and ensure that Whistler provides authentic and memorable experiences to both the community as well as our guests. The SLCC is proud to be an important part of the growth of cultural tourism for Whistler — today and tomorrow.

Casey Vanden Heuvel, executive director SLCC

Whistler

All in this together

Until a Sunday ago when Leslee (Wake) asked me if I had heard that Nana G had died, I hadn't known she was the elderly woman that helped with her fruit stand at the farmer's market on most Sundays since I began going with my mom in 2001.

Leslee had talked about her mother on occasion and I just assumed it was Nana G. I hadn't known she was just there to help. We never had a conversation.

On many occasions over the years Nana said a couple words to mom as she handed her a few cherry tomatoes or a plumb she had polished, but I can't remember if we ever said an audible hello to each other. She just looked at me like she wanted to grab my hand with both of hers and say, "You are a good son." I hope she could see me saying, "Thanks."

To suggest, "It is all of our responsibility to ensure that our elders spend their last years comfortably [only] if we can." probably undermines your concluding statement, "We are all in this together" (Pique, "Opening Remarks," Oct.3). If we were all pulling together we would gladly accept our responsibility to ensure everyone spends all their lives comfortably.

Miss (Patricia) Stoop, for example, would not have to hold a fundraiser to remain living as comfortably as possible.

The environmental review panel recently suggested if we all pull together there might still be time to save the planet for humanity. If we don't pull together we will still be together, "going to hell in (the same) handbasket."

Doug Barr

Whistler

Cross-country meet a success

On behalf of the Myrtle Philip students and staff, we would like to thank all the volunteers who helped during our district cross-country meet Thursday, October 3.

Hundreds of students from Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton had a wonderful day of running at Myrtle Philip, demonstrating great effort and exemplary sportsmanship.

Thank you to all the volunteer coaches, parents, and community members who helped to make the day possible. A special thank you to Stephanie and Chris of the Whistler Fire Department for keeping the runners safe in the trail and Laurie Vance for directing traffic.

We would also like to acknowledge Georgina Titus and the amazing group of Whistler High School students for their valuable role as course marshals along the route, and for their contributions towards supporting the younger students in the district.

Finally, our heartfelt appreciation goes to Diana Rochon who has been volunteering all season to coach our kids and promote her love of running in our school. Thank you all!

Lisa Smart, Craig Smith, and Irene Makelke-Way

MPCS teachers

Rivers Day celebrations

I would like to extend a boatload of thanks to everyone who helped Whistler's BC Rivers Day Celebrations on Sunday, September 29 — a good time for all despite the rain!

On behalf of the Whistler Fisheries Stewardship Group I would like to say thanks to the Whistler Sailing Association for providing sailing demonstrations, Whistler Eco Tours for offering guided voyageur canoe rides, Susan Holden for warming up the festivities with harmonious vibes, Geoff Gerhart from Trout Country Fishing Guides for the fly fishing demonstrations and the Edgewater Lodge for its great hospitality. 

The day would not have been possible without generous support from the community!

I would also like to send a heartfelt thanks out to all the individuals that volunteered their time to co-host the event with interactive displays, arts and crafts, fun activities and all the way to the end with set up and take down. 

Julie Burrows

Whistler