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Winds of Change: Five years later

November 2009 is the five year anniversary of "Winds of Change: A Healing Vision." I've been involved with the Winds of Change since its inception. As a committee member the energy and momentum ebbs and flows.

November 2009 is the five year anniversary of "Winds of Change: A Healing Vision." I've been involved with the Winds of Change since its inception. As a committee member the energy and momentum ebbs and flows. Often I am inspired by the commitment of the small group of individuals still supporting the Winds of Change. Sometimes I am awed by just how unique and positive the Winds of Change is in a province divided by municipal and reserve boundaries. At other times I wonder if we are having any meaningful impact. Often I question if the original motivation for the Winds of Change is still relevant to the community and leadership. And always I feel guilty for not contributing more.

Remember that the Winds of Change is a strategy of the Village of Pemberton and the Lil'wat Nation to work on building a healthier future together. Broadly speaking, the strategy takes a harm-reduction approach to the objective of increasing our collective safety and wellness. Five years ago we crafted this vision statement to guide our work:

"We are neighbours, friends and relatives working together to reduce the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol on our communities. We respect our differences and find strength in the common goal of a healthy and safe environment for our children and families."

I am still proud of the work the two communities did to bridge such a challenging and persistent social issue. Nonetheless it is more than fair to ask, "So what? What has been accomplished in five years?"

We have had some success. We have completed a feasibility study into a drug and alcohol treatment centre for the Pemberton Valley; we have completed an age-friendly community plan leading to the "ElderGo!" transportation initiative; we have hosted social and information gatherings; we have increased the communication and co-operation between the respective councils; we have published a community resource directory; and we have developed a poster series highlighting local youth role models.

Of course the list is equally long when you consider what we haven't accomplished. Five of the 13 recommendations have had little to no action. Many of the other recommendations have only been partially addressed. Harm associated with addictions continues to impact our collective health and safety.

So what does it all mean? Is this a story of success or failure?

In April 2009 both councils were asked this very question. They were also asked if the political commitment existed to continue. There was a strong response supporting the Winds of Change vision, however, both councils agreed that a time to regroup was required to give the Winds of Change some new energy.

The opportunity to regroup is approaching soon as the Pemberton and Lil'wat Community to Community Forum on Oct. 13 will centre on the theme: "Winds of Change: 5 Year Anniversary and Renewal." This is a significant moment for the Winds of Change. How can we translate the shared political will into a sustained movement for positive change?

Sheldon Tetreault

Pemberton

 

Innovation key for Whistler

Our recent forum on the impact on Whistler of the 12 per cent HST explored the winners and losers of this new value-added tax. Overall Whistler it appears will be a net loser.

In many ways it is a business-friendly tax, good for our exports, resource sector and more efficient for government to collect. Many in B.C. and some in Whistler will be better off. And to sustain health and education funding, we need sound tax policy and fairness.

But in Whistler, there will be many losers in tourism and the low-wage service sector. Consumers will now have add an extra seven per cent added to the cost of restaurant food, new homes, realtor fees, lift tickets, haircuts, gym memberships, airline tickets, massage therapy, even green and healthy lifestyle goods like bicycles. With profit margins already tight, affordability a perennial issue and other recent "hits" to the tourism, the HST seems more like a stress-added tax.

Even the RMOW faces uncertainty with respect to the $10 million "transfer (hotel) tax" once harmonized. We look forward to reports from the mayor and council after their meetings with the B.C. Finance Minister this week.

For many the strategic response is to find ways to mitigate these effects.

But as well as mitigate we need to find ways to innovate. And innovation is what the small, nimble service sector and entrepreneurs can do better than most. They know that no matter how good the quality is, that customers can tire of the "same old, same old."

Innovation has been at the heart of Whistler since its inception, as our Forum this Sunday with Bob Williams will attest. The challenge is in supporting and feeding a culture of innovation. The World Ski and Snowboard Festival is my favourite example and there are many others we can name. Perhaps Pique can run features not just on the "favourites and best of" but "the most innovative." Incentives and rewards are always a good thing.

At Leadership Sea to Sky we have tried to innovate with First Nations', Women's and now Intergenerational Mentorship programs. And the Forum believes that good dialogue can lead to new innovation. But it's not easy. We would love to collaborate on an annual "Whistler Ideas Festival," or a celebrated "Innovation Awards Dinner."

This may not mitigate all of the effects of the HST, added stress tax. But it plays to our strengths and builds on our past, even into an uncertain future.

William Roberts

President, the Whistler Forum

 

Lessons still not learned

A few days ago we visited friends in the Okanagan and then went to a family wedding in Oregon. We returned on Friday and I was keen to get the results of some lab tests taken just before we left. Imagine my surprise when opening our "community" mailbox, to find a cardboard insert blocking it, marked Closed-Ferme, and no mail. Quite a surprise after 25 years at the same address.

The "explanation" by the post office was that they were implementing a new policy of managing boxes to free up unused capacity.

I can't believe the total lack of communication by the postal authorities: no announcement of the policy, no contact with the owner of the box prior to closing it and proceeding to return mail to sender. They tell me we are supposed to inform the post office if we are going to be out of town for more than two weeks (it was less than two weeks) and it seems to me that that kind of information could become a source for break-in activity.

Besides, I'd just like the post office to deliver mail to my appointed box and let me manage it.

Are we not entitled to a post box for each address? I don't know what seasonal residents are going to do about this policy, but it seems to be entirely impractical in our community.

After last winter's fiasco with post boxes, it seems like the brains trust of the post office hasn't learned anything.

Jamie Pike

Whistler

 

Sensor overload, Sherlock

If you study basic art you know from the colour wheel that the opposite of green is red. That theory may also to apply to the reason behind the colour of the ink on the WPL energy balance sheet.

During my five days spent in the library lobby assembling the book-art sculpture, which corresponded to the summer heat wave, I witnessed what might prove to be a diagnosis.

The second set of automatic doors has its sensor set to a far wider arc than necessary. Inexplicably the doors would swing open, a span of 1/3 the entry area, and they would remain so for an extended period with no one either coming or going. I was sweltering in the corridor in the buffer zone between the hot exterior temperature and a frigid interior temperature. With locals and tourists flocking for refuge to the busiest library in the province, one can only assume that the opposite occurs in the winter when the temperatures are reversed.

To quote the famous literary detective, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "It's elementary, my dear Watson."

Paula Shackleton,

Whistler Reads.

 

Britannia community has spoken

The SLRD is now considering the rezoning of residential lands for use other than residential. We here in Britannia have worked for many years to create a residential community. I feel that considering the two petitions handed to the SLRD with an overwhelming majority of residents opposing the proposed change the SLRD will be hard-pressed to change our official community plan without allowing a plebiscite or real vote to take place!

The plans are not complete and will change the fabric of our community against our will. I am still a believer that the representatives of our democracy should bow to the majority, not a chosen few.

Ron Fulber

Britannia Beach

 

We only get one chance

It seems every time I read Pique I have to write another letter so I have been looking for a 12-step program to help cure my addiction; but I have had no success. This time I read Max's column "...The Age of Stupid" the way I tried to pass my exams back at the beginning of the plastic age. I would go right through the exam answering all the questions I could, then go back to the difficult ones. Unlike the exams I tried to pass, I only found this part of Max's column difficult:

"...their goal (to save the planet) is noble but their target is wrong. The planet will take care of itself; it's humankind that needs saving... from itself. As soon as humans stop pumping poison gas into the air, toxic waste into the rivers and oceans and anything they want to get rid of into the ground, in other words when humans simply disappear from its surface, the earth will silently, inexorably get on with the task of renewing itself."

I don't know if I am being fair to Max by editing his statements but when I do I am not sure how "their goal (can be) noble but their target... wrong." when "The planet can take care of itself (only if)... humans stop pumping poison gas into the air, toxic waste into the rivers and oceans and anything they want to get rid of into the ground..." If we don't stop our destructive activity I am also not as sure as Max "the earth will (be able to) silently, inexorably get on with the task of renewing itself." Given our present direction it seems to me we will "disappear from its surface" only when we have brought the earth to the point it can no longer sustain life and there is nothing to renew. Thus if it matters that it is, saving the planet means our self-destructive activity must be targeted. However, if I read between his lines correctly I concur with Max, if we choose to save "humankind... from itself...," when we look for a target, we look in the mirror.

If we don't change our activity and are successful in diminishing life to nothing perhaps God will come out of retirement and again create life out of "the void." If God does make a comeback I am willing to bet humans will not be given a second chance. We have been told, the first time, we were created in God's image and I can't believe God would want to be viewed an idiot for a second time.

Doug Barr

Whistler B.C

www.thelastwhy.ca

 

Thanks Coaches!

As another B.C. Coaches Week comes to an end, I'd like to take a moment to thank all the coaches who attended the workshops and events co-hosted by the RMOW and Canadian Sport Centre Pacific. Coaches give a lot of their time to ensure fun sport activities can happen for our youth and it is always impressive when those same coaches find the time in their hectic schedules to learn new ideas/information that will continue to help them grow alongside their athletes.

Three cheers to the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, Whistler Cooks and S2S Marketing for making the second annual Coaches Wine & Cheese a success. High fives go to Councillors Quinlan and Thomson for joining the coaches and sharing inspiring words. Top of the Podium thanks go to Walter Corey, High Performance Director for B.C. Sliding Sports and Luge Canada for the effort made to speak at the wine & cheese, as well as to Christine Kenny and the gang at the RMOW for being great co-hosts to every event of Coaches Week.

Until next year, keep up the great work coaches!

Diana Rochon

ACS Coordinator CSC Pacific-Whistler Campus

 

Village raising the child

On September 10 th , we had 250 people to dinner at the Whistler Secondary PAC Welcome BBQ and Walk About. We would like to thank all the parents, students and teachers who joined together for this gathering. Cathy Jewett was the tour de force behind the event and deserves our thanks and recognition. Thanks goes to The Four Seasons via Doug Hart for donating china plates and cutlery, helping to keep things greener. Nesters and Ian Fairweather were even more outstanding than last year.

PAC is all about involvement and this event happens because of our parent volunteers. Thank you to Pam Thompson, Uschi Scherer, Anastasia Nicholas, Bonnie Swanson, Chikako Akama, Chris Vernon-Jarvis, Bob MacPherson, Sue Baradel, Darel Lee, and Gail MacDonald. Thanks as well to our student helpers Marielle Thompson, Verena Fecundo, Molly Andrew and Maddie Macdonald. Thank you to all the parents who were kind enough to bake a dessert: Karen Gardner, Heather Lynskey, Cheryl Morningstar (Rosalind's Desserts), Sonia Prevost and our kitchen volunteers. Thanks to Bev Oakley, our Principal, and Lisa Bartlett, our new Vice Principal, for facilitating the event. Thank you to all our teachers for helping give our parents a feel for what goes on in their classes during the Walk About.

This year, there are 87 Grade 8 students, the biggest class in Whistler Secondary's history. We welcome all our new and returning parents and encourage them to stay involved during their child's high school years. Studies have shown that students of parents who are involved at school, do better in their classes. Volunteer opportunities for parents at Whistler Secondary include the Parent Advisory Council, the Lunch Program, team coaching, the School Planning Council and assisting and the WSS library. Every parent is a member of PAC and all are invited to PAC meetings, on the last Tuesday of the month.

It promises to be an exciting year.

Karen Smith Williamson

WSS PAC Chair