Capital Magazine

Capital SPRING 2020

M A G A Z I N E

CREATIVE THINKERS IN OUR COMMUNITY HOMES:

Furniture designer finds inspiration in nature

HEALTH:

Team brings 3-D printed scoliosis braces to remote locations

DEVELOPMENT:

New products and systems save builders time and energy

PLUS: 1 7 PAG E S OF PL ANNED G I VING Capital MAGAZINE 2020 | 1

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BRIGGS & STRATTON AND ASSOCIATES

strattonandbriggs.com 2132 Champions Way, Victoria

For those ready for what’s next

Nancy Stratton

Sophia Briggs

Rebecca Barritt

REALTOR®

Personal Real Estate Corporation

REALTOR®

250.857.5482

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Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, Independently Owned and Operated. Not intended to solicit properties already under agreement. E&O.E: This information is from sources which we deem reliable, but must be verified by prospective purchasers and may be subject to change or withdrawal.

sothebysrealty.ca

Andrew Wade Mortgage Broker

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Ethical, Dedicated, Reliable.

Every day your REALTOR ® goes to work for you.

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Looking Looking for for Design Design Ideas Ideas for for aa New New Home Home oror Renovation?

Renovation?

Enjoy these 2019 CARE Awards projects and view more at www.careawards.ca Enjoy 2019 CARE AwardsBuilders projectsAssociation and view more www.careawards.ca M Members of these the Victoria Residential lookat forward to working with you!

M Members of the Victoria Residential Builders Association look forward to working with you!

Visit Visit www.vrba.ca www.vrba.ca Capital 2020.indd 5

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CARLA WILSON

Building it better:

New products and systems help save time and improve energy efficiency Prefabricated components. Energy-efficient heating and cooling systems. Low-carbon materials. Rain gardens that filter stormwater.

All are increasingly being incorporated into Greater Victoria construction projects.

Some — such as prefabricated components — save time on completing a project, which saves money and allows commercial developments to get to market more quickly.

New products and systems are evolving continually, many with the goal of energy efficiency. Central heating and cooling systems will allow one unit to warm up and another to cool, so each offsets the other’s energy demands.

Other options include a product made of recycled tires to muffle sound and reduce vibration, and another to plug air leaks in a building.

Kyle Ryan, chief operating officer at Abstract Developments, says the company has used pre-fabricated wall panels on several projects, including its new Bowker development in Oak Bay, its Bellewood Park property on Fort Street, and its Village Walk building at Oak Bay Avenue and Foul Bay Road. The wall units save time because they allow for rapid installation.

Being on the leading edge with new technology is important, Ryan says.

For many years, builders have been adopting practices that give them ratings for incorporating energy efficiency and

Capital

MAGAZINE

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environmentally friendly design into their projects.

Casey Edge, executive director of the Victoria Residential Builders Association, says members are part of Built Green Canada, an industry-led organization, and are educated in energy efficiency.

Built Green Canada says it is moving toward a more “holistic approach” to sustainable building practices, with the aim of preserving natural resources, reducing pollution, improving ventilation and air quality, and enhancing a home’s durability.

The idea is to look at a home as a system, from site orientation to building materials, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) equipment, windows, water and electrical consumption, and building practices.

Rory Kulmala, chief executive for the Vancouver Island Construction Association, expects to see continued growth for prefabricated products, such as wall panels, and modular rooms, which allow a building to be constructed in parts that are factoryassembled in a controlled environment.

“One of the biggest opportunities for construction is in productivity,” said Kulmala, noting job sites can be a challenge to work in, since projects are susceptible to weather and “distance” on site — the need to travel from the ground level to the top of a building with equipment and materials.

“Modularization has the ability to say: ‘Here’s a fully built room — all the plumbing is in,” he said.

After one unit is installed, parts are connected and the crew moves on to the next one.

Modular homes have been set up for government-backed supportive housing on Vancouver Island and elsewhere in B.C. A crane recently lowered modular units onto a three-storey supportive-housing building in the 800 block of Hillside Avenue for Indigenous women who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

And when it comes to decreasing environmental impact, developers are putting up buildings with plenty of space for bicycle storage and repair. Some downtown Victoria condominiums have hit the market with no parking for vehicles, anticipating that buyers will use transit or cycle.

Car-share programs have also been included in new housing developments.

As electric vehicles surge in popularity, new projects are incorporating charging stations.

Aragon Properties Ltd. has provided each condominium unit with a charging plug in Esquimalt Town Square, which is adopting a range of new technologies.

The new Town Square features a shared geothermal system for heating and cooling, and rain gardens that cut back on water running into the stormwater system. C

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Capital Magazine is published by the Times Colonist, a division of TC Publication Limited Partnership, at 2621 Douglas St., Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8T 4M2.

Please send comments to: Editor Dave Obee, dobee@timescolonist.com To advertise, phone: Peter Baillie @ 250-380-5328, email: pbaillie@timescolonist.com

2020-04-06 10:23 AM

We are in this together.

Andy Stephenson PREC

Andrew Maxwell PREC

Beth Hayhurst

Brad Maclaren PREC

Brett Cooper

Chris Hobbs

Christine Ryan

Constantin Popa

Dean Innes

Don St. Germain PREC

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During this unprecedented time, we are committed to safeguarding the health of our clients, agents, staff, and community; and helping you navigate the real estate market.

Your local advisors are available by phone, email, text and video chat.

Our exceptional homes for sale are open 24/7 at sothebysrealty.ca and over a dozen partner sites.

Robyn Wildman

Shane Wilson

Sophia Briggs PREC

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Victoria Cao PREC

Sotheby’s International Realty Canada. Canadian Owned and Operated. E.&O.E.: This information is from sources which we deem reliable, but must be veriďŹ ed by prospective Purchasers and may be subject to change or withdrawal. *PREC is Personal Real Estate Corporation

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In his back-garden studio, Ken Guenter turns wood into wonders. This white oak armless lounge chair, a prototype for clients in Portland, was based on the work of the late American furniture-maker George Nakashima.

STORY: GRANIA LITWIN

PHOTOS: DARREN STONE

Simple in form, rooted in nature: A Fernwood craftsman takes fine furniture to the next level The workshop/studio looks like a cottage, thanks to a shingled redcedar exterior inspired by buildings the couple saw in Berkeley, California.

“One of the great things about good-quality wood is it gets darker and darker as it ages and the colour in the wood comes to the surface,” Ken Guenter says. At right is a pergola with a Jeune Bros. awning.

V

>

irtually every stick of furniture in this Fernwood home — including tables, benches, beds, chairs, lamps, bookcases, sideboards and kitchen cabinets — was handmade by homeowner Ken Guenter. He works in bamboo, maple, walnut, mahogany and more, and his mantra is clearcut: simple in form, rooted in nature.

“This house is all about Ken,” says his wife, Patty Beatty, who also has an eye for style and calls herself the “colour girl.” She painted the walls in everything from buttercup yellow to cayenne red in the dining room. “I also designed the garden.”

The best part of living with a fine-furniture maker? She can casually mention anything she desires, and within a month or two, voilà, it appears, from jewel box to stereo storage.

A certified joiner, with a BA in art history and MA in art education from the University of Victoria, Guenter has >

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Patty Beatty’s favourite chair, with a cushion from Crete, is wide enough for her to sit cross-legged.

Ken Guenter’s tall lamp was inspired by ornamental grasses. The Tansu “tree” under the window holds stereo components with wires in the “trunk.”

A defunct fireplace hides behind a TV sideboard with sliding bamboo doors.

Banjos hang like artwork on a Persian blue wall.

Ken Guenter made the two at right. He started creating them 10 years ago, replacing white skin tops with wood for a more guitar-like sound. He built a ukulele during two weeks of quarantine.

The red chair was inspired by late-Renaissancestyle “Sedia” furniture, while the corner tower cabinet echoes a clock cabinet in Le Petit Trianon, at Versailles.

Looking like large chocolate mints, three padded black-leather cushions line a bamboo bench in the dining room. Donna Mattila did the palm-tree art, wall sculptures are from Bali and Africa, and the hummingbird print is by Joe Wilson.

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Furniture maker and educator Ken Guenter — with his wife, Patty Beatty, an education administrator.

taught furniture making and design for more than three decades, including many years in the fine-furniture department of Camosun College.

So it’s small wonder that instead of knocking together a simple container for his wife’s earrings and necklaces, he dreamed up an art deco-style system that hangs on the masterbedroom wall.

And why craft an insipid cabinet for the stereo when he could build a “tree” that climbs the wall and offers exquisitely hidden storage?

The latter piece references a traditional Japanese storage unit called a Tansu, Guenter says. For the doors, he took photos of leaf patterns, loaded them into his computer and used the forms to trace patterns.

“My furniture is designed to be functional, with an esthetic ideology of simplicity and honesty. I like experimenting with different kinds of wood, playing around with patterns, and I make a lot of sketches in my notebook,” said the craftsman, who has exhibited in galleries all over western Canada, Washington and California. His work is also in private and public collections throughout the continent, and is to be on display in the Fernwood Art Stroll (check fernwoodartstroll.ca for details).

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Port Renfrew Announces...

Beautiful 1 & 2 Bedroom Cottages Guenter and Beatty have lived in the same 1941 home, on an off, since they first rented it in 1978.

They liked it and the area immediately, so when it came up for sale, they bought the house but rented it out twice: first, while she was working on her doctorate at Berkeley, California, and later when they lived in the Comox Valley while she was registrar of North Island College. She later worked at Camosun College and the Ministry of Advanced Education.

Over the years, the couple has seen a lot of changes in Fernwood. “We have watched the neighbourhood go from young families with children to older couples and no kids, and now the kids are coming back again and we’re the old people,” Guenter says with a chuckle.

The home was originally 750 square feet on the main floor, but is now almost 200-squarefeet larger, after an addition to the kitchen. There is also about 500 square feet downstairs and a workshop in the garden.

Guenter says the home was originally very compartmentalized. “We opened it up, removed walls and opened the staircase to the lower level.

The kitchen used to be where the dining room is now, so we put an addition on the back for a new kitchen.

“We took five tons of lath and plaster away, insulated the walls, upgraded the electrical and plumbing, added new trim and framed and built sills for all the new windows. I reused the base and existing doors, except front and back.”

The detail inside the home is remarkable and often fanciful, thanks to the craftsman’s fecund imagination. For instance, many of the rooms previously had obsolete air vents, which meant large holes in the floors. Guenter not only covered them with perfectly matching wood, but also playfully inscribed the inserts with gecko images.

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Ken Guenter’s unique hanging and adjustable mirror, in the dining room, swings free of the floor, suspended by a large piece of crown moulding.

Patty Beatty’s art decostyle hanging jewelry case was made by her husband.

Introducing the Crafthouse Collection

Charles Joly We teamed up with world champion bartender, awardwinning mixologist and Chicago native Charles Joly to offer a collection that extends the authentic craft cocktail experience to the home bar.

cabinet that stands by the front-room window, was inspired by one he saw in Le Petit Trianon at Versailles, a château that served as a retreat from court life for Marie Antoinette. “In the airplane on the way home, I was thinking about it and mucking around in my sketchbook.”

He devised a unique copy in Makore (an African wood) and mahogany with ebony highlights.

“It was a bit of a learning experience, because it involved a lot of things I’d never done before: a curved bonnet top, a door that spun around the whole completed cabinet … Figuring out the

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All the guest-room furniture (except the upholstered armchair) was made by Ken Guenter, including a bamboo desk and chair. “I started playing around with bamboo in 2002 to see how it would bend, respond to different tools.” The chair was inspired by a pot of bamboo. The desk has a hidden drawer for a laptop. The Honduras mahogany chair, at left, was made for a show at the Filberg Festival in Comox.

mechanism for that, as well as subtle curves for the eight legs, which each have eight facets, was interesting.”

Another curious work is a hanging mirror.

“The whole structure and legs hang from a large moulding at the top. It’s a little play on architecture,” he explains. “Legs are what usually support something and moulding is decorative, but here the moulding is the structure.”

Many of his pieces have been rebuilt or gone through various reincarnations — “Patty and I always reduce and reuse.” Glass in the staircase hand railing was formerly part of a coffee table, and a cube stool in the living room with bubble holes was once a lamp.

“Furniture in the house comes and goes, or is made into something else,” says Beatty, adding her husband is constantly making things and usually has a few commissions on the go.

Every space in the home has two functions, because it’s so small, she says. Her office is also the clothes storage, ironing and craft place. The guest room is also the library.

One space that is single purpose, however, is the garden studio, a complete furniture-making shop with thorough soundproofing and cottagey siding.

“As I taught my Camosun students, it is important when running a home-based business to blend in and respect the community. The last thing I wanted to build was a dumpy workshop,” says Guenter. C

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ADVERTISING SPECIAL FEATURE

Leave a gift that will grow into something future generations will benefit from

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SPECIAL FEATURE

ENJOY THE CERTAINTY THAT YOU HAVE MADE A GOOD DECISION. What will your legacy be? You can guide the future of your community and the causes you care about by making a legacy gift to the Victoria Foundation. Our endowment fund is one of this community’s greatest strengths, allowing us to manage charitable gifts and bequests in perpetuity.

We continually build the fund and invest in our community - granting annually to a broad range of charitable organizations and worthy causes.

If community matters to you, the Victoria Foundation is where you can make your priorities known.

Please contact Sara Neely at 250.381.5532 or sneely@victoriafoundation.bc.ca for more information. victoriafoundation.ca

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Victoria

We are in this together... changing lives through mentoring!

of Victoria and Area

230 Bay Street, Victoria, BC V9A 3K5

As we move into spring, the staff at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Victoria (BBBSV) reflect on a busy 2019 having served 614 children and youth (aged 7 to 18) in our mentoring programs.

For over 42 years, we’ve served young people through seven different in-school or communitybased mentoring programs across Southern Vancouver Island and the Southern Gulf Islands. These programs provide support to youth that have already had stressful life experiences including mental health problems, substance abuse, violence, chronic health issues and, in some cases, the loss of a loved one.

Children supported through a mentoring relationship are more involved in their community, encouraged in school and have dedicated time every week with a

positive adult role model. These connections increase young peoples’ resiliency by providing opportunities to develop healthy behaviors, effective interpersonal relationships, and civic engagement.

Our programs are free of charge to children who face adversity and need an additional, consistent, and supportive developmental relationship. While 400 mentors volunteer their time each year, there are always more children waiting to receive our mentoring services.

On average girls will wait 3 months for a mentor while boys can wait up to 12 months. Consequently, our programs require sustainable funding in order to close the gap between children matched and children waiting as the families requesting our support are concerned for their child’s wellbeing and often feel some urgency.

Contact Carrie at 250-475-1117 ext. 101 or carrie.sullivan@bigbrothersbigsisters.ca for more information. @bbbsvictoria

www.bigbrothersbigsisters.ca

SIX WAYS

You can help now: 1- MAKE A ONE-TIME OR MONTHLY DONATION: Donate online through bbbsvictoria.com or contact us directly to make a cash, electronic deposit or credit card payment.

2- PLAN A GIFT: Leave a unique legacy by passing on gifts through a will, bequest or trust or receive tax advantages by donating stocks or mutual funds.

3- HOST A “BIG GIVE BACK” EVENT: Host a movie night; birthday fundraiser on Facebook; dinner with friends or a workplace fundraiser with the proceeds going to benefit our programs (many events can now be done virtually).

4- SUPPORT OUR FUNDRAISING EVENTS: Attend or sponsor one of our annual events such as Bowl for Kids’ Sake and our Gala.

5- HELP US PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT: Recycle and repurpose for our cause through Donate-A-Car, our community Bottle Bins, and Textile Collections. Visit bbbsvictoria.com to learn more.

- DONATE ITEMS: We rely greatly on contributions such as event tickets, business services, and gift certificates to restaurants from our community members.

Contact us or visit bbbsvictoria.com to learn more.

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A place to call home.

Cool Aid provides comprehensive housing, healthcare and support services in Greater Victoria, serving over 12,000 people each year. We’re currently working to build over 150 new affordable rental homes in Victoria.

Who needs affordable housing?

• Low-income workers • People living with disabilities • Seniors on a fixed income • Single parent families • Anyone struggling to afford market rents

CoolAid.org | 250.383.1977 | society@CoolAid.org

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Victoria Cool Aid Society

Places to call ‘home’

Stephen’s life changed dramatically on his 19th birthday.

A friend offered him drugs for the first time. He immediately became addicted.

“I started narcotics at a really young age, and they have been with me my whole life,” he explains matter of factly.

When his son Mark was just eight years old, in 1990, Stephen asked his own mother to look after him, fearful not only that he was killing himself with drugs, but that he would be unable to care for his son. As Stephen points out, “the whole family is addicted because they are living with a drug addict. It’s just that they don’t get the drugs.”

As a result of addiction, Stephen was homeless off and on for many years, and has had several stays at Cool Aid’s emergency shelters. “I became homeless earlier last year, and then I became sick and was in the hospital for a really long time.”

During this time in Stephen’s life, “most of my thoughts were occupied with suicide.”

In August 2018, Stephen moved from the Rock Bay Landing shelter to Cool Aid’s Mount Edwards Court (which offers

“Having a place of safety and security are two major foundations that you need to have.”

—Stephen

affordable senior’s homes). He is see what is going on. You’d be now working on recovery. “When amazed how much good they do.”

I came here, I wasn’t very happy It’s never too late to change and about anything. But in a very start a new life. Let Stephen be short period of time, living here our inspiration. has allowed me a place to fight for Stephen, despite a difficult life, my life. And it is a fight.” is full of smiles, hope and the Today, his recovery is strongly desire to help others. motivated by his son and two Cool Aid works in our grandchildren. “That’s a big part community every day to help of it,” says Stephen, “sticking more people like Stephen find around for my son and my a place to call home. We offer a grandkids. broad range And I’m able of programs “Cool Aid works in our to do that including community every day to help healthcare, now,” he says with a more people like Stephen find employment smile on his support and a place to call home.” face. They affordable talk over the housing and phone now every week. have been a key social service Stephen is thankful to have a lot agency operating in Victoria since of support around him. “Cool Aid 1968. Since 1991, we have been starts to open doors. It starts to successfully creating permanent open hearts to people.” housing by adding over 500 units “A place like Mount Edwards, throughout Greater Victoria. for me, is one of the main building Cool Aid is always looking for blocks for recovery. Having a opportunities to build new and place of safety and security are affordable housing. This includes two major foundations that you Crosstown, a new mixed-use need to have before you can do development at 3020 Douglas that anything else.” will include 153 units of affordable He encourages the rest of us rental housing and over 30,000 to, “come on down and meet the square feet of commercial space. people that work at Cool Aid and The Crosstown project

combines affordable rental units for working families, seniors and singles with a mix of incomes — a range of rental housing supply options our city desperately needs — with other uses, including daycare services, office space, and retail space, including a café. The development is close to shopping, transit and other services, and is just a couple of kilometers from the downtown core, making it a great location for singles and families.

Crosstown is an ideal reflection of Cool Aid’s mandate — to create and provide inclusive and welcoming spaces with community at the heart of everything we do.

There are so many ways you can help Cool Aid’s work to get more people off the street and into permanent, safe housing.

You can donate monthly to help sustain our programs, make a one-time gift that will immediately be put to use in our shelters and housing, or leave a gift in your will to help Cool Aid continue to provide hope and homes into the future.

Visit CoolAid.org to learn more.

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Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Victoria Foundation Everyy Kid is One Caring Adult Ev Adu Away from Being a Success Story! - Josh Shipp

What makes Boys & Girls Club of Greater Victoria so successful in changing lives? > O Our doors are always open, Our no oone ne iiss turnedd awa aaway wayy > We help youth who…

- Need a place to go after school - Live risky lifestyles - Live in poverty - Are facing jail time - Are homeless - May be teen parents - Have addiction or mental health issues > Our adult to youth ratios are low so we keep our personalized support and mentoring high > We build on each child’s strengths, developing capacity, character and capability, step by step > We feed our kids nutritious meals and snacks every day which is often the only healthy food they receive

Mostly it looks like fun.

Well, it is. What you don’t see (we plan it this way) is the intentional guidance & instruction that is part of every interaction, every activity, every program, every relationship – every day.

YOUR HELP SAVES LIVES YOUR LEGACY WILL… Help more than 1,200 children and youth every year: • Eat breakfast, healthy meals & snacks so they have a fighting chance to learn, grow and develop • Have a safe place to belong, learn new skills and build positive relationships • Overcome learning barriers so they will graduate from high school and thrive in the world • Discover their curiosity and spark their desire to learn

ALUMNI SAY...

69

%

HELP NOW! Please join an exclusive group by giving a lasting gift of hope for the future through: • Your written will • Your insurance policy • Your gift of property

BOYS & GIRLS CLUB SAVED THEIR LIFE

• An endowment fund in your family name

Imagine...the life you will change by leaving your legacy!

giving@bgcvic.org | 250.384.9133

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The Cridge Centre

Homelessness in Victoria It is in the news almost every day: another story about the lack of housing, the number of people on the street, mental health issues that explode into violence… we hear it all the time and start to become desensitized to the horror of it.

For most of us, we can’t imagine being without a home. It is our safe place, our sanctuary, our castle.

The thought of losing it is incomprehensible.

But it happens. Sometimes people lose their homes because of bad decisions. However, most often, that is not the case: a car accident that leaves someone unable to work can be a short road to homelessness.

Being a kid aging out of foster care without family support is another one. A woman leaving an abusive partner is also at high risk of homelessness.

There are so many people who are vulnerable and at risk because of unforeseen challenges – not ALL homeless people are addicts, criminals or have mental health issues.

We all know that we need to find a solution. More housing.

More services. More detox beds. More mental health supports. More.

But what if, instead of looking for more, we worked toward less? What if, instead of spending tax dollars on treating the problem, we worked on preventing the problem?

What if vulnerable people were supported before they became homeless? What would preventing homelessness look like?

The Cridge Centre serves over 2000 people a year who are at risk of homelessness. We give them housing, support them in accessing services, provide childcare and safety, give them opportunities to work or learn a new skill – we help them find hope for each new day. This is what preventing homelessness looks like – caring for vulnerable people so they do not become a statistic.

Today, when you hear another news story or see that panhandler on the street, imagine they are your child, your elderly aunt or your friend.

Imagine they were unable to prevent their poverty and really just need a hand.

When you support The Cridge Centre, you are preventing homelessness. cridge.org

PREVENTING HOMELESSNESS IN VICTORIA Credit: ArtTower by Pixabay

Give Hope Today

The Cridge Centre prevents homelessness by caring for vulnerable families and individuals. When you support The Cridge Centre, you are giving safety, hope and stability to someone in need.

Please join us!

Visit cridge.org/give or call 250 995 6419 to plan your gi� today.

1307 Hillside Avenue, Victoria • 250-384-8058 www.cridge.org

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Saanich Peninsula Hospital

Where words fail, music speaks The gift of music is priceless. A song a song can bring a welcome moment of can transport you back to dancing in the distraction, inspiration or relaxation. kitchen with your mom, remind you of the For someone who can no longer live joy and ache of your first love, or singing independently, a song reminds them of “You are my Sunshine” to your first born. their identity and connection to a rich It evokes the smells, sights and feelings of past. People who have a hard time finding those moments. When your world becomes words due to a stroke can sing and hum to smaller due to illness, stroke, decreased those old songs. For someone at the end of mobility or dementia, music makes life life, music brings special memories, and special. It lifts you out of depression, calms provides peace. Music helps patients when your anger, inspires action, motivates they become distracted and confused, and movement and helps you feel you are not provide a way to express themselves when alone. Music is sunshine for our friends and they are no longer able to do so. Music family members in the hospital, and your makes them feel happy when life seems support of the Saanich Peninsula Hospital grey. & Healthcare Foundation keeps it shining For the long-term care unit at the brightly.

Saanich Peninsula Your gift of Music Hospital, our music Therapy is as important therapist helps seniors “Music can name as new equipment in with a wide range the unnameable and caring for our patients. of activities, from communicate the Thanks to you, the singing, playing music therapy program instruments, moving unknowable.” at the Saanich Peninsula to music, improvising —Leonard Bernstein Hospital continues and composing. Our to thrive in both the music therapist leads palliative care unit and a hand bell choir for the long-term care unit. Your gift makes a our residents in long-term care. Being able significant and direct impact on the lives to get together in a group and play the of people at the hospital; it improves their music they love is healing and fulfilling. quality of life at the end of life. These are In addition, this beautiful and soothing the people who taught us those songs and music can be heard and enjoyed by other danced with us in the kitchen. residents.

For someone who is not feeling well, People with advanced dementia require

a gentler approach; the sensory stimulation and music group provides therapy with singing, music and movement.

Your gift also supports the music & memories program in which the therapist connects with the families of patients to create a unique iPod playlist for each patient. Those special songs stimulate happy memories and have calming and soothing effects on behaviour.

For those residents in long-term care who are bedridden or at the end of life, your support of music therapy allows staff to provide individualized therapies.

These people risk withdrawal, confusion and isolation. The music program brings moments of joy, connection and taps into those magic memories. The difference your gift of music makes at the end of life is immeasurable. “You’ll never know, dear,” how much your support means to them.

Staff at the Saanich Peninsula Hospital long-term care unit work tirelessly to give the best possible experiences and care to residents – you can help, too, by providing resources that will keep residents comfortable, active, engaged and supported during their time at the hospital.

These residents are the people who raised us, taught us, and took care of our safety.

Now it is time to take care of them and ensure they have a bit of sunshine in their lives. islandhealth.ca Capital MAGAZINE 2020 | 21

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Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary

Leave a legacy for those who follow

Photo Joanne Flemming

Enhance financial security for those who will benefit from Sanctuary programs.

Swan Lake christmas hill n a t u r e

s a n c t u a r y

Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary is a non-profit organization that offers the community a place to enjoy a living classroom, fostering understanding and appreciation of nature through direct experiences. The ‘Natural Heart of the City,’ the Sanctuary connects people to the flora, fauna and natural history around them.

A registered charitable organization run by Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary Society, the lands and facilities are owned by the Corporation of the District of Saanich. The Nature Sanctuary Society has operated through a land-management agreement with Saanich since June 1975, and in 2020, the Sanctuary will celebrate its 45th anniversary.

The sanctuary offers an extensive trail system, whether you walk on your own or as part of the daily programs offered. The sanctuary promotes awareness of the natural world without having to go far from home. This urban sanctuary is located in the middle of the city, and offers programs that inspire children and families with an appreciation for nature. Spending time at the sanctuary is a great way to connect as a family, get moving and reap the benefits to your overall health and wellbeing.

Any time of year, visitors can enjoy the main lake trail and a stop on the beautiful new floating boardwalk. Here, you are right in the centre of a significant wetland. During the annual migration of birds, you have opportunities to see some beautiful plumage.

Those looking for a little more exertion can enjoy the self-guided or naturalist led Christmas Hill Wildflower Walk. The summit of Christmas Hill, at 109 metres above sea level, rewards you with spectacular views of the city. You can observe trees and shrubs, dormant during the winter, that are coming back to life in spring.

Seasonally, you’ll see signs of wildlife, including holes/cavities that birds, insects and small mammals could inhabit. Take time to sneak a peek at some of the wildflowers that, in spring, edge the trails that meander through the beautiful, yet sensitive, Garry oak meadow.

Leaving a legacy gift for those who will follow the trails for years to come will assist the Sanctuary in its efforts to protect this majestic land, and foster not only an appreciation for nature, but ultimately, the next generation of nature lovers.

— Kathleen Burton, Executive Director swanlake.bc.ca

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The BC SPCA Victoria Branch

Not Easy or Breezy for Cover Girl In June of 2019, Cover Girl, a one-and-a-half-year-old miniature poodle, was brought into the B.C. SPCA’s Victoria branch with a severely broken leg in need of immediate surgery. She was involved in an accident in her previous home and her family simply could not afford the high cost procedures she required.

“Cover Girl came into our care on a Friday,” explains Annie Prittie Bell, Branch Manager for the B.C. SPCA in Victoria, “and she had to be at a specialist by the following Monday, undergoing her first surgery on her leg immediately.” The B.C. SPCA was looking at more than $7,000 in medical costs for this sweet pup alone.

Unfortunately, this situation has become more common for the B.C. SPCA. Success with their education and spay and neuter programs have reduced the number of animals coming into the B.C. SPCA’s care over-all. However, many animals that are surrendered or brought in through cruelty investigations have complicated medical and behavioural issues which require immediate and

extremely expensive care.

“This trend of rising medical costs for the animals we care for,” explains Mark Takhar, Chief Operations Officer for The B.C. SPCA, “will only increase in the future.”

Thanks to compassionate donors, The B.C. SPCA was able to raise the funds needed to pay for Cover Girl’s surgeries. She is now living happily in her new forever home, and the future is bright for this lucky pup!

You can help The B.C. SPCA cover the growing costs of care by becoming a Forever Guardian to animals in need, like Cover Girl. By leaving a gift in your will to The B.C. SPCA, you can create a future where all animals receive the medical care they so desperately need, and find a loving forever home.

To find out more about becoming a Forever Guardian for future generations of animals in need, visit: foreverguardian.ca, or contact: Yolanda Benoit, Senior Manager, Will & Estate Gifts 1-800-665-1868, estates@spca.B.C..ca

Forever a place in your heart.

Help end animal cruelty and comfort animals in need by becoming a FOREVER GUARDIAN. Include a gift in your will to The BC SPCA to ensure your legacy of love and care lives on.

Yolanda Benoit ybenoit@spca.bc.ca 1.800.665.1868 foreverguardian.ca

Charitable Registration Number: 11881 9036 RR0001

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Dear Healthcare Workers,

7Kʋɻɖ <ʝɤ

Thank you for your compassion and commitment to care and for putting the health and safety of patients first.

Our community salutes you!

Give the gift of care

VictoriaHospice.org

A journey of comfort and celebration for lives well lived When Victoria Hospice was established in 1980, the emotional needs of patients at the end of life were rarely addressed. Care tended to be discussed only in clinical terms.

“I knew there was an urgent need to address endof life care for patients and their families,” says nurse Pat Carfra, founder of the local grassroots movement that led to the development of Victoria Hospice. “People were dying badly,” she says. Carfra still remembers her time as a student nurse. Patients would reach out to her, fearful about what was going to happen to them during their last days.

“They wanted comfort from me which I couldn’t give.”

When she thinks about this today, it makes her cringe. “I look at what Victoria Hospice is now and I am so proud to have been part of its beginnings,” says Carfra. “Hospice has provided a whole new approach to death and dying with dignity.”

This year, Victoria Hospice Society celebrates 40 years of excellence in hospice palliative care. From humble beginnings, the charity has grown significantly, thanks to a generous philanthropic community and to the immeasurable gifts of time from highly trained volunteers today and over the past four decades.

Carol-Ann Staples has

Victoria Hospice

volunteered with Victoria Hospice for more than 30 years. She recalls a time when a family came in, terrified for the imminent death of their father.

Within 24 hours, after receiving the care of doctors, nurses, counsellors and volunteers, the children were skipping down the hallway. The wife was able to make a cup of tea.

“They were gaining back the opportunity to be family, a spouse, partner or parent instead of a caregiver,” says Carol-Ann. Each day at Victoria Hospice, patients and families receive compassionate care that is made possible by generous gifts from the community. These gifts come in many forms – monthly, annual, bequests in Wills – and help ensure that when families are faced with the pain and uncertainty of advancing illness, death, and grief, Victoria Hospice is here for them.

Carol-Ann says she has lived long enough to know that care and kindness goes a long way in support of those losing a loved one. When you make a gift to Victoria Hospice, it supports quality end-of-life care and volunteers like Carol-Ann in giving her time, comfort and companionship.

It’s something everyone should have, especially at the end of life. victoriahospice.org

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The Victoria Native Friendship Centre

SPECIAL FEATURE

COMMUNITY The Victoria Native Friendship Centre (VNFC) provides services to an estimated 20,000 Aboriginal people living off reserve in the Greater Victoria area, as well as the 5,000 residents from the First Nations communities in the southern Vancouver Island region, in addition to a sizable Aboriginal population from across Canada.

VNFC takes great pride in their exceptional approach to First Nation social issues.

The Victoria Native Friendship Centre has been promoting the well-being of urban Indigenous individuals, families and community for over 50 years.

The Victoria Native Friendship Centre celebrated its 50th year on Sep. 29, 2019, on the territory of the Lekwungen Peoples. This marks the 50th year of uninterrupted services for the Victoria Native Friendship Centre.

Funds are needed to support: New parents ■ Day care services ■ Youth drop-in and after school help ■ Indigenous Research & Library Services ■ Elders services ■ Food Security (our Community Kitchen provides ■

63,400 free healthy meals and snacks annually) ■ ■

The Victoria Native Friendship Centre offers numerous programs and services, including aboriginal childhood intervention, at risk youth & families, awakening the warrior within, career, employment and education, elders, family and health services, slaheena & aboriginal parenting, youth department, wellness clinic, XaXe STELITKEL daycare, precious and sacred, indigenous model for delivering employment and economic success (IMDEES)

Culturally-based community housing Emergency preparedness

All donations will receive a tax receipt (CRA#108172933RR0001).

For more information contact Executive Director, Ron Rice at ron.r@vnfc.ca.

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Protecting the most vulnerable defines

who we are.

Please help support our elderly with a gift to the Eldercare Foundation.

We can change the world one person at a time.

www.gvef.org â&#x20AC;˘ 250-370- 5664

1454 Hillside Ave, Victoria, BC V8T 2B7 Registered Charity #898816095RR0001

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Victoria Eldercare

SPECIAL FEATURE

A Lifeline for Seniors and Families How Eldercare Foundation’s funding of the Piercy Respite Hotel helps local seniors Two years ago, everything changed for Al and Pat Pearce. Al was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia, but he also needed open heart surgery: a quadruple bypass and aortic valve replacement. The surgery saved his life, but had the unintended consequence of exacerbating his dementia, and bringing on its effects full speed.

In an instant, Pat saw her relationship change from partner to caregiver. “It was devastating,” she says, “I wondered how we could do this. His life had completely changed, and with that, mine, too. I sunk into a pit of guilt and despair – guilt whenever I thought of myself or crumbled under the stress.”

The abrupt life transition that Al and Pat faced is one shared by an ever-growing number of local families. As we live longer than ever before, so too, are chronic illness rates rising, and most of us will live for years – decades even – with illnesses such as dementia, heart disease, COPD, kidney and liver failure. This, in turn, has a tremendous impact on family members thrust into caregiving roles.

Children of aging parents are forced into impossible choices between caring for parents, maintaining jobs, and caring for their own children. For spouses like Pat, now in her 70s, there is the risk of neglecting their own health and well-being in order to keep up with the demands of care. Many caregivers end up suffering from depression and burnout due to the constant stress of the needs placed upon them.

Fortunately, Pat realized early on that to provide care to her husband, she needed to

look after her own health, too. She found support through her dragon boat team, her choir and caregiver support groups. She also found the Piercy Respite Hotel.

Located in Victoria’s Hillside Seniors Health Centre, the Piercy Respite Hotel makes life easier for 25 to 40 families every month by providing a ‘vacation’ for local seniors in need of 24-hour care, giving family caregivers a much-needed break.

While care is provided by Island Health, the hotel was initially created thanks to a generous donation made to Eldercare Foundation. Donations to Eldercare continue to provide funding for many of the essentials that enhance care and quality of life for hotel guests. Home-like furnishings, comfort items such as seasonal treats and activities, specialized equipment and therapy programs, including music therapy, therapeutic mattresses to prevent bed sores, and bed alarms, and fall mats that help protect guests with a high fall risk from hip fractures; these are all provided for the hotel thanks to the generosity of donors.

Says Pat: “In order to look after my husband long-term, the Piercy provides the breaks I desperately need. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to afford respite care, and my own health would be at risk. It’s truly a lifeline to me.”

“When Al goes in for a stay, he is greeted by staff who know him, and ask if he has any new jokes for them. Al loves when they laugh at his jokes! Or sometimes they share a joke they’ve found for him. It’s just so welcoming for him, and I can leave Al there knowing that he’ll be safe and well taken

care of, which allows me to relax and refuel.

There’s nothing else that measures up to it.”

“With his dementia, it also really helps Al to have a regular place he can visit, where there is continuity in terms of the layout of the rooms. It creates a feeling of comfort and familiarity, almost like being at home.

Al says it’s like a second family for him.”

Thanks to the support they receive from the Piercy, Al and Pat have been able to continue living together in their own home and enjoy a good quality of life together. Pat still pursues her passions through choir, her dragon boat team, and has even been able to step up her training and join a second, more competitive team.

Helping local seniors experience improved care, enhanced quality of life and to age with dignity is exactly the goal of all the programs that Eldercare supports through donations and planned gifts.

The Eldercare Foundation raises funds for special equipment, innovative therapy programs, home-like enhancements, research and education that helps seniors living in their own homes, through adult day and community bathing programs, the Piercy Respite Hotel and the SAFE Lifeline program – and for those in Island Healthrun long-term care facilities throughout the Greater Victoria area.

“I’m so grateful to everyone who gives to Eldercare Foundation to make programs like the Piercy Hotel possible,” says Pat. “The importance of what you make possible for family caregivers like me is simply immeasurable.” gvef.org Capital MAGAZINE 2020 | 27

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SPECIAL FEATURE

The Dahlia Society

The Dahlia Society is on a mission - a mission to grow our community Christopher Mavrikos - Founder

www.thedahliasociety.com

We are a not-for-profit organization that provides support to local community programs, organizations and families in need. We strive to make our community a better place to live by helping those who need it most, when they need it the most.

The Dahlia Society holds several signature events, including Canstruction Victoria and Think Pink!, supporting local hunger relief and breast cancer initiatives respectively.

Every dollar raised through the Society’s innovative fundraising efforts stays local.

Christopher Mavrikos, who has personally raised more than $150,000 for breast cancer research, advocacy and support, created the Dahlia Society.

He dedicates his philanthropic work to his mom, Lynn, who passed away after a long battle with breast cancer in 1997 at only 38 years old. Lynn’s favourite flowers were dahlias and Christopher dedicated the creation of the Dahlia Society to his mom with the aim of carrying on her passions for helping those in need and creating a thriving, healthy community.

Canstruction Victoria Canstruction® is a unique charity that hosts competitions, exhibitions and events showcasing colossal structures made entirely out of full cans of food. After the structures are built, the creations go on display to the public as a giant art exhibition. At the end of the event, all food is donated to local hunger relief organizations.

Canstruction® events are held

annually in over 170 cities around the world and have helped raise more than 82 million pounds of food since 1992.

To date, Canstruction Victoria events have raised more than 200,000 cans of food, which, in addition to monetary donations, equals approximately $664,213 worth of product and funds to local hunger relief.

These accomplishments have been achieved in just 60 short days over six years.

Our Mission: A word from our Founder “The Dahlia Society started as an idea that was fostered by my experiences as a child. Some of my earliest memories are of my Mother taking me by the hand to drop off donations for those less fortunate than us. I have also watched my father’s continual generosity, and have been inspired by many others throughout the years.”

“I chose the dahlia as the symbol of this Society as it was my late mother’s favourite flower. Dahlias come in many different kinds and in a multitude of colours. I felt that they were a fitting representation of our community – one of many different groups, cultures, religions and ethnicities.”

For more information visit: thedahliasociety.com

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The Value of Community. The Value of Nature. The Value of Belonging The value of community can be seen through everything we do at Power To Be. From hiking and kayaking to camping and snowshoeing, Power To Be creates access to nature for those who face barriers to the benefits of the outdoors.

One element that truly defines Power To Be is the sense of community that is fostered between anyone who interacts with us or feels passionate about our vision that ‘everyone belongs in nature’. At the heart of our organization is an intricate web of connections: between participants, staff, volunteers, donors and supporters. This whole community is paramount to making our participant’s goals a reality.

Beyond the bounds of human connection exists a vital character – nature itself. A healthy relationship with nature is something that we encourage everyone in our community to strive for, and the opportunities we create through our programs allow these relationships to flourish. Today, we’ve never needed nature more. It is a constant that you can rely on, a sacred space of refuge and a host of endless connections,

where anyone and everyone is welcomed, included and ultimately belongs.

The value of belonging is felt daily at Power To Be. Whether you are paddling as a group across a lake, navigating icy terrain in snowshoes, or hiking with a TrailRider to the summit of a mountain, these challenges and shared experiences naturally create strong connections and a powerful sense of community.

It is through these supportive environments of belonging that participants are able to reach new goals and explore their limitless ability.

In trying times, the importance of investing time in relationships with the people and the environment that surround us has never been more meaningful. We at Power To Be are passionate about creating connections between people, nature and oneself. Our lifechanging programs continue to redefine courage, hope, inclusion and ability, providing opportunities to explore nature in new ways and make discoveries about yourself and the world around you. Everyone belongs in nature. powertobe.ca

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Backup plan: It’s no simple task to set up specialized clinics equipped with 3-D printers and trained medical staff to deliver custom-made scoliosis braces and prosthetics to remote Canadian communities.

But that’s what the University of Victoriabased Victoria Hand Project is in the midst of doing.

Organizers are working out details for likely locations such as Whitehorse, Thunder Bay and Iqaluit, said Nick Dechev, executive director of the project and acting chairman of UVic’s department of mechanical engineering.

With a $1-million grant from the TD Ready Challenge, the project is setting up three clinics in remote and underserved communities in this country, and four underserved communities in the U.S. — likely Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and somewhere in the northwest. These clinics will provide low-cost braces to help correct a curvature in the spine, and prosthetic arms as well.

The cost of a conventional scoliosis brace can be up to $5,000, and it requires replacement at

UVic project provides 3-D printed braces and limbs to communities in need CARLA WILSON AND ANDREW DUFFY

least twice during years of growth, which makes conventional braces unaffordable for many families.

The 3-D printed version, by contrast, can be made for about $150 in materials. It can also be adjusted and reprinted in clinics.

Meanwhile, the cost of a 3-D printed limb is about $100, compared to non 3-D limbs that can range from $2,500 to $10,000.

The challenge of providing the service in Canada has a lot to do with distance.

Organizers not only have to find a medical clinic where they can set up a 3-D printer and line up partners, they have to transport professionals to that location, and bring those in need to the clinics from remote areas.

Medical staff and those seeking braces or prosthetics will likely be flown in, Dechev said.

If not halted with early intervention, scoliosis can lead to pain, deformity and potential heart and lung damage.

Producing 3-D prosthetics is not as simple as manufacturing a product en masse, Dechev

said. Each one has to be precisely designed for an individual’s needs.

The North American clinics are new for the Victoria Hand Project, which has spent more than two years establishing clinics and providing prosthetic limbs internationally, with a series of grants from UVic and a $250,000 Impact Challenge grant from Google in 2017.

The Hand Project has clinics in Guatemala, Haiti, Ecuador, Egypt, Cambodia, Uganda and Nepal, and last month, it set up a new clinic in Kenya.

So far, 160 people around the world have received prosthetics through the Hand Project, improving their quality of life and ability to work. For some recipients, a prosthetic device will change their lives — parents can once again provide for their families, for example.

The program’s work includes managing people’s expectations, however. “It is a device that assists you in your lifestyle, in your daily living activities,” Dechev said. “It is not a replacement.” C

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THE FUTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL

UVic MBA IN SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION Sustainability and innovation are a requirement for business, and they should be required in an MBA. Unlike other MBA programs that offer a sustainability “option”, we are wholly committed to an MBA in sustainable innovation. That’s why the UVic MBA In Sustainable Innovation is the only MBA we offer.

Come and talk to us about the future, and how you can help build it.

Connect with us. uvic.ca/mba • mba@uvic.ca

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Move over concrete:

New multi-family projects embrace wood

TEXT: CARLA WILSON

Y

ou might never have heard of mass timber, but the fabricated product made of wood is winning fans in the design and construction sector.

There are plans to use it in the new Esquimalt library branch in the Esquimalt Town Square development, and in the upcoming Tresah residential development near Mayfair Shopping Centre.

Used in wall, floor and roof construction, mass timber is often produced as glued-together laminate timber or cross-laminated timber.

Ed Geric, president of Mike Geric Construction, is developing the multi-family Tresah on Speed Avenue, which will see a 12-storey mass-timber building go up adjacent to a six-storey building with a traditional wood structure.

Using mass timber on the taller building creates a lighter-weight building than if concrete, for example, had been used, saving more than $1 million in foundation costs, Geric said.

Because it is timber, it has a favourable carbon footprint, and it’s designed to better weather earthquakes, because the building has some give, he said.

Construction is faster because mass timber typically arrives in specific sizes. Geric said that 15,000 square feet of flooring can be completed in a week to 10 days, about one-third

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less than the typical time. “It saves a lot of money.”

The taller building will feature from 65 to 70 cent exposed wood in each unit, Geric said.

“I put a stain on it and it’s ready to go,” he said. “It has an esthetic and you can even say a spiritual appeal.”

Timber projects — from mass timber to dimensional lumber or some combination — are becoming more popular in multi-family construction.

Franc D’Ambrosio of D’Ambrosio architecture and urbanism has used mass timber in a number of projects, including in planning Tresah, where he worked closely with RJC structural engineers.

The seven-storey Atrium building at Blanshard and Yates streets features a striking interior roof structure, using pine-beetle-killed wood and glue-laminated beams in the trusses supporting its skylight. Structural engineers figured out how to assemble mainly two-byfours and two-by-sixes to create the truss, said D’Ambrosio, architect for the building.

“You can make little lumber do spectacularly big things,” he said. “It appeals to me because it allows what’s holding up the building to be creatively displayed. To me, it’s a kind of beauty that is not just ornamental — it is the expression of the physics.”

The goal is to take advantage of the visual qualities of timber, he said.

This kind of creative collaboration between architects and structural engineers will influence stylistically what buildings from this period look like, D’Ambrosio said.

When it comes to meeting B.C.’s building code for fire, wood-frame, wood-hybrid and mass timber construction and building systems have proven safety and performance records for fire protection, according to Forestry Innovation Investment, a B.C. Crown agency promoting timber and timber products.

Wood buildings can be designed to meet fireresistance ratings, the agency says. Additional features such as sprinkler systems and fire-

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TALL TIMBER An artist’s rendering of the multi-family Tresah residential development on Speed Avenue, which includes a 12-storey masstimber building adjacent to a six-storey building with a traditional wood structure.

resistant assemblies for floors, walls and ceilings can be used to increase the permitted size of wood structures.

Wood is significantly less heat-conductive than steel or concrete, it says. “Heavy and mass timbers have a particular advantage in a fire because they char on the outside while retaining strength, slowing combustion and allowing time to evacuate the building.”

D’Ambrosio did point out, however, that if mass timber is used as the main structural support for a building, it can result in a boxy design, since the most cost-effective way to use it is like putting together something shaped like an egg crate. “Picture yourself making building blocks,” he said. “That’s good, because it is very stable, earthquake-proof and all that. However, you get kind of boxy buildings, which some people like, some people don’t.”

D’Ambrosio said there is a need for more local technical expertise in the use of engineered wood products in construction.

“We’ve been a concrete town for so long that our workforce is trained in that, our fabrication and manufacturing is geared for it.”

Developing local expertise in engineered wood would bring economic benefits both locally and to the province, he said. C

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LAST WORD

JACK KNOX

Thank goodness for the innovators among us who make the world better

In early March, not long before the iron curtain descended on the library system, I took out a book about Elon Musk.

Young readers’ edition, of course.

Easier to wrap my head around.

In setting the scene, author Ashlee Vance bemoaned the innovation desert that existed in the early 2000s before Musk swaggered onto the scene with his vision of Tesla cars and rockets to Mars.

Back then, investors, still bruised by the bursting of the dot.com bubble, shied away from big ideas. Between Google’s appearance in

2002 and the arrival of Apple’s iPhone in 2007, there was nothing but “a wasteland of ho-hum companies,” Vance wrote in Elon Musk And The Quest For a Fantastic Future.

“And the hot new things that were just starting out — Facebook and Twitter — certainly did not look like the companies that had come before — Hewlett Packard, Intel, Sun Microsystems,” he continued. “Those companies made physical products and employed tens of thousands of people.” Their successors aimed lower, contenting themselves with “pumping out simple apps and trying to entertain consumers while making money from

advertisements on a website.”

Vance quoted an early Facebook engineer as saying: “The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads.

That sucks.”

Yes, it does. Shouldn’t our innovations be more meaningful, lead to somewhere better?

Now, I should pause here to note that I am no more qualified to write about innovation, the theme of this edition of this magazine, than I am to wax on about hair-care products. It’s like Trump preaching humility.

I know I am not alone. Some people have creative vision, can draw perfectly rendered pictures in the air. Others can’t follow the blueprints for an IKEA coffee table without hucking an allen key across the room and resorting to the kind of language more commonly reserved for prison riots. When it comes to possibilities, some of us have less vision than Mr. Magoo.

This, in fact, was the criticism of Canadians for a long time. The phrase “hewers of wood and drawers of water” comes from the Bible, but was infamously borrowed by economist Harold Innis in his 1930 book The Fur Trade in Canada to describe this country’s dependence on extracting and selling its natural resources, to the exclusion of more imaginative efforts.

That stereotype was amplified here in Victoria (civic motto: “We liked the old one better”) where we gained the reputation of not just lacking forward thinking, but actively resisting change.

Except that’s nonsense, isn’t it? Or sort-of nonsense. While many of us might have a grasp of science and technology that topped out with “our friend photosynthesis” in Grade 8, others have nurtured a knowledge-based sector so brainy that we wonder how we all emerged from the same education system.

Witness the work being done at the Deeley Research Centre at Victoria’s cancer centre.

Witness the Victoria Hand Project. Launched by UVic professor Nick Dechev in 2015, the latter uses 3D printers to create low-cost prosthetics for people in developing countries. Those are just two examples.

Big ideas exist, right here. Bruised as we may feel today, there are those among us bold enough to aim high. C

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