Pique Newsmagazine 3040

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Busting Whistler myths

14 HALL EXPANSION Whistler’s municipal hall is set for an upgrade after council approved a related development permit last month.

15 LASTING LEGACY Friends remember longtime local mountain safety advocate Wayne Flann, while also planning to honour his immense legacy.

18 BYE, COMMITTEE The Resort Municipality of Whistler is working to streamline its long list of committees following an internal review.

Digging in to the tall tales and true stories passed down through generations of ski bums. - By Megan Lalonde COVER Don’t believe a word you

28 LUNCH AND LEARN

Lil’wat Nation officials discussed reconciliation—and how we can all actively engage with it—at a recent Pemberton Chamber luncheon.

54 DEANE MACHINE Whistler’s Cassidy Deane is making a name for herself in the rowing world, helping propel Canada to fifth at the World Rowing Championships.

58 ALL WRITE The Whistler Writers Festival returns Oct. 12 to 16 with an eclectic, star-studded lineup featuring local favourites and national treasures.

By Jon Parris //

@jon.parris.art

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

Founding Publishers KATHY & BOB BARNETT

Opinion & Columns

08 OPENING REMARKS For all the increased discourse around mental health in recent years, taboos remain—and we need to work harder to break them, writes editor Braden Dupuis.

10 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

This week’s letter writers share thoughts on newspapers, reconciliation, and the Canadian government inadvertently honouring a Nazi in Parliament.

13 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST Columnist Megan Lalonde pens a love letter to Whistler as she gets set to head back east.

78 MAXED OUT Max reflects on the subtle differences between American and Canadian Thanksgiving, while also giving some thanks of his own.

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34 RANGE ROVER

The changing seasons offer ample inspiration, writes Leslie Anthony—and some colourfully complex processes behind the scenes.

Environment & Adventure Lifestyle & Arts

56 FORK IN THE ROAD Columnist Glenda Bartosh gives thanks for bees, and offers some tips for helping out the little heroes that literally put food on our tables.

64 MUSEUM MUSINGS Looking back at the short but impactful history of local aviation firm Blackcomb Helicopters.

Breaking the taboo around male mental health

concept of sonder, and the reality that each and every one of us is fighting our own unglorified battles every single day. Many times in secret to all but those closest to us. Sometimes even to them.

BY BRADEN DUPUIS

THERE’S A CERTAIN TRUTH that often gets mercifully concealed by the innocence of childhood. As kids, we inherently trust that adults, for the most part, are fully in control of all things at all times. That they essentially know what they’re doing; have all of the answers to all of life’s little frustrations.

Before you know it, you, yourself, are an adult. And just how the hell did that happen? You compare yourself at different points of your life to where your parents were, at the same age, and wonder if they lived with the same self-doubts, the same emotional highs and lows; learned the same hard truths.

It sure didn’t seem like it, but of course they did (or at least some of them). They’re only human, after all.

And there must be some revelatory moment for all of us, whether we realize it at the time or not, after which we shed the happy delusion for good.

Mine was becoming a news reporter, and spending hours every day talking to people from all walks of life. You start to appreciate the subtleties and similarities we all share, to some degree; the hopes, fears, and day-to-day challenges we don’t always show on our faces.

Sooner or later you come to terms with the knowledge that we’re all just imperfect humans doing our best. And we all have more in common than we may realize.

Even those who hold positions of power, or carry immense responsibility. Even those we look up to.

It goes back to the philosophical

Oct. 1 to 7 marks Mental Illness Awareness Week in Canada, and according to the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health, about one in five Canadians experience mental illness each year—everything from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder to anxiety and schizophrenia. More than half of those struggling with mental illness are not getting the support they need, and untreated mental illness costs the Canadian economy about $50 billion every year.

According to Statistics Canada, about 4,500 people die by suicide every year—an

Statistics Canada says it will take time to understand the impact on the rate of deaths by suicide in Canada).

These are sobering, uncomfortable statistics. For all the increased discourse around mental health in recent years, suicide remains taboo—but we should not shy away from talking about it. Rather than bury the discussion in outdated shame, we should create more spaces for people—particularly men—to be open and vulnerable about the things they are struggling with day to day.

There’s a reason men and boys are at higher risk of suicide in Canada. The rules of masculinity dictate that we must suppress all emotion that might be seen as a weakness, beginning at a very young age. Male friend circles are not always receptive to frank and open discussions about mental health, and

I recall a particularly rocky stretch in my early 20s, when I wanted desperately just to talk to someone—anyone—about all of the horrible anxieties building up inside of me, threatening to spill over at any minute. At no point did I consider confiding in even my closest friends.

In retrospect, what I was yearning for was a basic therapy session—but seeking professional help was a sign that something was very wrong.

Like so many other men, I was resistant to the very idea of therapy for many years. It was several months after my own personal dark night of the soul before I built up the nerve to book my first appointment. Going to that first session was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

Now I think everyone should go to therapy.

average of about 12 per day. And for each of those, seven to 10 people are significantly affected by the loss.

Men and boys are at higher risk, as are survivors of suicide loss, and some First Nations communities, particularly among youth. Thoughts of suicide and suiciderelated behaviours are also more frequent among LGBTQ youth in comparison to their non-LGBTQ peers.

Every day, 200 people in Canada attempt suicide, and instances of suicidal ideation in Canadian adults rose from 2.7 per cent in 2019 to 4.2 per cent in the spring of 2021, following the COVID-19 pandemic (though

the best way to ruin a good hang sesh with the bros is to start crying (er, not that I’m speaking from experience or anything).

And ironically, tragically, like suicide itself, therapy is also considered taboo for many men.

But as Jackie Dickinson at the Whistler Community Services Society has told Pique on more than one occasion, it’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help—it’s a sign of strength.

And more people are reaching out to WCSS for help all the time: in 2022, a record 8,380 used the social service provider’s outreach services.

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

And I wish I didn’t wait until my lowest point before I asked for help.

I don’t share these very personal anecdotes lightly, and quite the opposite. The simple act of typing them may cause me enough anxiety to fill my next therapy session.

But it’s time we worked harder to break the taboos around male mental health and suicide.

It’s time we do away with the notion that any of us have all the answers on our own.

At the end of the day, we’re all still just imperfect humans, doing our best. But there is strength in numbers, and in community—and help is available for those who need it. ■

[I]t’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help—it’s a sign of strength.

Time to support local journalism

Every week about 30 million newspapers are delivered across Canada. More than four out of five people in Canada read newspaper content each week. Why do they read print and digital news sources? The answer is simple: Trust.

Canadians value and trust fact-based, fact-checked journalism. Journalists hold the powerful to account. They cover city hall, the courts, and the police. They also keep communities connected by reporting on everything from the high school football team to 100th birthdays.

But real journalism, created by real journalists—rather than by artificial intelligence—costs real money. If we want to sustain it, we must support it. One of the best ways for the local community to support local journalism is to take out an ad. When you buy a newspaper ad—whether print or digital— those dollars stay in the community and allow the publisher to employ journalists. Conversely, when you buy an ad from a web giant, those dollars flow south to California to companies that don’t employ a single journalist.

One thing government can do to keep scarce advertising dollars in Canada is establish tax measures to incentivize businesses to

advertise with private sector Canadian news outlets and bring fairness to the different tax treatment of advertising purchased from foreign websites.

Governments—municipal, provincial, and federal—also have a role to play when it comes to their own advertising spend. It makes no sense that the federal government was spending almost twice as much on Facebook/Instagram—which are now blocking news in Canada—as they were on all print publications combined. Governments—at all levels—should earmark 25 per cent of their advertising spend toward trusted Canadian news sources. And the federal government should end the “double dip” by eliminating commercial advertising associated with CBC

News, the public broadcaster.

National Newspaper Week is a time to reflect on the champions who report the news without fear or favour, and it’s a time to remember that local news needs to be supported by the community.

Paul Deegan // president and chief executive officer of News Media Canada

Brandywine Boogie a success—despite minor setbacks

On Sept. 23, the Rotary Club of Whistler Millennium held its eighth Brandywine Boogie fundraiser trail run with more than 120 runners and walkers registered. We raised almost $7,000 for an elementary school in Tanzania

managed by the Engaruka Community Initiative Organization. The school, and students’ families, have been hard hit by drought and are in dire need of support. All funds raised by the Brandywine Boogie are donated to the school.

The Boogie could not operate without all the fantastic Rotary volunteers and the very generous Whistler sponsors, including Helly Hansen, Nesters Market, Back in Action Physiotherapy, Blackcomb Liquor Store, Fairmont Chateau Whistler Golf Club, Whistler Brewing Co., The Listel Hotel, Whistler Sailing, and Blended For You.

There was, however, a small fly in the ointment. Several runners and a few small groups got momentarily lost on the trail. All found their way again, although one runner rolled an ankle while off course and another was spotted way off course by our first aid and sweep. It turned out that about 80 per cent of the trail flagging had been removed between marking the trail Friday and race start Saturday morning. Much of it was found under a bench at the Train Wreck bridge. Sadly, other races have had similar experiences this summer.

As race organizers, we strive to keep everyone safe and leave the trails, forests and parks in the same condition we found them, while raising funds to help people in need. We hope this year’s incidents will not be repeated in the future. Regardless, the Boogie was a great success, and is on track for next year.

Thomas Christensen // Rotary Club of Whistler Millennium

4.5

Spectacular lakefront views across Green Lake and up to the Ar mchair Glacier

Open-concept kitchen adjacent to the living room and dining room.

Primary bedroom on the top-level w sweeping views of Green Lake and the mtns. Main level features two bedrooms, each w ensuite bathroom.

Decks for mor ning sun facing Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains or after noon sun on the West deck overlooking Green Lake.

$7,249,000

Destruction of First Nations culture and identity has had a huge impact

This letter was written together by the Gr. 11/12 Social Justice class at Xet’olacw Community School in Mount Currie. The students wrote notes in small groups, which were then discussed/shared and combined into one letter on a smartboard, with students giving feedback and creating the final product together.

We’re the students of the Grade 11/12 Social Justice class at Xet’olacw Community School in Mount Currie, and we’re writing about Orange Shirt Day and Truth and Reconciliation Day. Not everyone knows, but residential schools were not actual schools. These institutions were designed to “kill the Indian in the child,” to take away our culture and make us more like the sama7s [non-First Nations people]. Many children were taken away from their families and put in homes that were far away. This destruction of culture and identity has had a huge impact on the present. Many of us have relatives who are survivors of residential schools. These survivors have PTSD and their intergenerational trauma has caused addictions and other mental illnesses.

Looking forward, we want more of our culture brought back. We want to learn more about our cultural practices like name giving ceremonies and traditional gatherings. We want to be immersed more in our language so that it stays alive. Sama7s need more education and awareness of the impact of residential schools, because there still are some people who don’t know or don’t believe what happened. We need to get more of our land back. Some burial grounds and sacred sites are being used for skiing and biking, though they should not be touched.

More education, awareness and real action are the bare minimum response given what our people have gone through.

Kùkwstum`ckacw, Xet’olacw Gr 11/12 Social Justice class

// Mount Currie

Canadian government forgets, then rewrites, Canadian history

How bad do our politicians need to get before we send them packing? Recently we watched our entire Parliament, led by the PM and Deputy PM, applaud and cheer Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian who “fought Russia” during the Second World War. Is it possible that our elected representatives, particularly the leader of our country, either forgot or never knew in the first place that Russia was an ally of ours during that war? Did no one stop to think, “Hey! If this guy was fighting Russia, then wasn’t he also fighting Canada? And if so, who was he fighting FOR?” And once the obvious was pointed out, what does our Prime Minister do? Well, first he waits five days, perhaps hoping that we will forget what happened. When that doesn’t work, he declares that the incident was “embarrassing for all Canadians,” shifting the blame to the rest of us.

The media carrying Trudeau’s water helps to scapegoat the Speaker, who at least had enough of a sense of shame that he resigned. Why do we put up with a government that seemingly cannot remember the fact that Canadian soldiers died by the thousands fighting the very Waffen-SS unit to whom this “hero” belonged? And why does our so called Fourth Estate, whose democratic duty used to include maintaining checks and balances on governments, play down the implications of this latest fiasco? Nothing to see here, folks—just a government that can’t remember anything that happened before February 2022, cannot see past the “current thing” (Russia bad; Ukraine good!) and which is now attempting to strike Hunka’s recognition from the official record of the House of Commons, banking on Canadians blissfully forgetting about THIS part of history as well.

When is enough, enough?

Janet Nietvelt // Whistler n

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

See you soon: A love letter to Whistler—and to Pique

AFTER SEVEN-AND-A-HALF years in Whistler, I finally got the call.

It was my landlord, letting me know he’s selling.

The housing crisis I’ve been writing about officially caught up with me.

It was a blow, but I can’t be anything but grateful. After an initial summer renting a room from a family in Emerald, followed by

BY MEGAN LALONDE

a few weeks of couch hopping, somehow I won the Whistler housing lottery: not only have I avoided the stress of having to find a new place and new roommates every time the season turns, but my cosy studio apartment came with a generous landlord who never hit me with a single rent increase, despite offering a pretty decent deal for my own spot even by 2016 standards.

I started cruising through the limited, significantly pricier options posted to Craigslist and Facebook groups this summer, and reaching out to friends who were already deep into the housing hunt themselves. In the end, that phone call pushed me to stop ignoring a nagging feeling I’ve kept shoving to the back of my mind: the thought that maybe,

it’s time for a change.

In case you haven’t already heard, this is my last issue with Pique before I head back east.

I’m leaving as an entirely different person than the wide-eyed 22-year-old who rolled into town. Even if I came for a job instead of a ski season, I’m no different than every other local who stayed for years longer than they anticipated. I blame Alyssa Noel; she was the editor of the Whistler Question who hired me as a news and sports reporter in spring 2016, with only a journalism degree and a couple of internships on my resume at the time.

Pique’s publisher Sarah Strother and former editor Clare Ogilvie can also shoulder some responsibility—they fought to keep me onboard after the Question published its last issue in January 2018—as can my longterm newsroom buddies Brandon Barrett and Braden Dupuis. They’ve been patient and supportive from Day 1, always sharing nuggets of wisdom and graciously sparing me from the hilariously inappropriate insults they hurl at each other, even when I mix up their names.

Everyone I’ve worked with at Pique and Glacier Media over the years has helped me grow so much, and contributed to building a workplace that’s so tough to leave. It has been the privilege of a lifetime to tell this community’s stories—I hope I’ve done them justice.

The last few sentences aside, I really am trying not to be dramatic about leaving, mostly because there’s a high chance I’ll come

crawling back. Still, it does feel like the end of some kind of an era, so indulge me while I share a few pieces of advice for any newcomers in the same position I was in back in May 2016: arriving in town with a grand total of zero friends, and plans to stay for a season, maybe a year, but definitely two maximum.

Get on the Whistler Housing Authority waitlist ASAP, if only to keep your options open down the road.

just wasn’t for me, and joining the Whistler Women’s Hockey League my first winter here (specifically, the best team in the league, the Bees), even though I assumed my playing days were long over. Aside from having a blast— and winning a couple of championships in the process—I met so many rad people I wouldn’t have crossed paths with otherwise.

Find a side hustle. Personally, I suggest hospitality. Again, I thought I was done with serving forever after university, but proximity to my Creekside apartment and the prospect of a free ski pass led me to Dusty’s in 2016. I ended up staying until COVID hit. Sure, the tips helped pad out my bank account, but more importantly, it’s where I met so many of the best friends I’ve ever had.

I could write a book with all the reasons I’m grateful for my years in Whistler, but I’m already well over my word limit. If you’re reading this, you probably already know what makes this corner of the world so incredibly special anyways.

Read Pique. Beyond the value of staying updated about what’s happening around town, Whistler is wildly lucky to have the quality of journalism it does, for free. This team wins awards for a reason—they put their heart and soul into what they do.

Push past your comfort zone. Try the new sport, join the club, take the avalanche course. Two of the best choices I made were registering for Women’s Night in the Bike Park after several summers insisting biking

There’s nowhere I’d rather call home. But spending more time with family, growing my career, and maybe even finding a place with a bedroom door and in-unit laundry doesn’t sound so bad, at least for a little while.

This might be goodbye for now, but hopefully you’ll still see my name in Pique’s pages from time to time or catch me on the mountain at some point, so I’m choosing to say “see you soon” instead. Thanks for everything, Whistler. ■

[I]t does feel like the end of some kind of an era...

Whistler council approves expansion plans for Municipal Hall Annex

MAYOR AND COUNCIL VOTED IN FAVOUR OF A DEVELOPMENT PERMIT THAT WOULD ADD A SECOND STOREY AND NEW ENCLOSED BRIDGE TO BLACKCOMB WAY PROPERTY

BY MEGAN LALONDE

WHISTLER’S MUNICIPAL HALL Annex is getting a new look, and a second storey.

Work on the addition and renovation is one step closer to getting underway after mayor and council voted at their Sept. 26 meeting to approve a development permit application for the 4325 Blackcomb Way project—against the recommendation of the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) Advisory Design Panel (ADP).

The existing annex is a single-storey, modular construction building located at the north end of Municipal Hall. The 187-squaremetre space was only intended to be a short-term solution when it was built in 2007, but has since “proved necessary to meet the ongoing space needs for municipal staff,” according to the report RMOW planner Tracy Napier presented to council last Tuesday.

The current project is more of a “mediumterm” solution, said Napier. The addition will follow the existing building’s footprint, but more than doubles the annex’s floor space by adding a second storey and an enclosed, second-storey bridge connecting the annex to Municipal Hall’s second floor.

The project comes in response to growing space constraints on the property. In addition to Muni Hall, the existing space also houses the Fire Hall, and Whistler’s RCMP detachment in the Public Safety Building. Whistler’s fire chief works out of a temporary office trailer

located in the building’s parking lot.

Separate plans to upgrade the Public Safety Building call for policing services to move into that building’s second storey, kicking municipal staffers out of their existing offices on the building’s top floor.

Those plans are currently in the design stage, but still, “when the need to relocate staff from the Public Safety Building arose, the option of adding to the annex was explored, and upon confirming the existing foundation was structurally sound to support an additional storey, this option was found to be [the most] cost-effective and achievable solution for creating needed office space,” Napier said.

as the annex’s new second storey, crews won’t need to replace its existing roof. It also wouldn’t impact mountain views from any surrounding buildings.

Those plans would produce less waste and require fewer new materials than building from scratch, but an earlier version of the proposal still wasn’t up to Whistler standards, according to ADP members who reviewed the project in July. The panel functions as a select committee of council, providing professional advice to RMOW staff and elected officials about development proposals and policies “affecting Whistler’s built environment.”

The ADP was “not generally supportive,” of the project, Napier told mayor and council.

annex, removing an exterior staircase in order to maintain an existing seating area, and revising the exterior design and materials to complement the cedar cladding adorning Municipal Hall.

When it comes to energy efficiency, “it’s noted that the reuse of the existing building is a big win,” Napier underscored.

As council’s representative on the ADP, Councillor Jeff Murl offered his colleagues some context about the committee’s overwhelmingly negative response to the initial plans.

“I had the privilege of sitting as a fly on the wall in [the July] meeting,” he said. “It outlined a shortcoming of that process.”

The annex “is part of a much larger structure—structures—that serve this community, and [the panel’s] task is simply to look at that one specific building within it,” he explained. “I also think if you’d shown up anywhere with modular construction, they would have not been happy. It doesn’t matter how you did it, there’s some clear resistance to that. That really made it a hard road for the rest of the presentation.”

The development permit approved Tuesday “is one step as one portion of that project and it does not obligate the works to proceed,” Napier underscored. “Rather, it enables the process to move to the next step.”

Mayor and council previously awarded a nearly $1.4-million contract for the annex expansion to Kamloops-based NRB Modular Solutions in July.

According to the proposal, the existing single-storey module will be removed and renovated off-site, and replaced with a new modular building to serve as the annex’s first storey. By installing the renovated module

Panellists considered the proposed addition a poor fit “in this context and location,” Napier added, referencing specific concerns about accessibility, energy efficiency, signage, limited opportunities for landscape improvements, and loss of outdoor seating. Panellists suggested “a higher overall design standard should be sought”—adding a green roof, for example.

The applicant has since revised a few aspects of the design in response to ADP feedback. Updated plans include widened pathways, a rain garden, additional trees and a trellis along the north side of the new

An aversion to modular construction “really handicapped them in terms of seeing the benefits to the community, and how quick this is going to be executed, how it serves the workers that can lose their office and get back in [another one] pretty quickly,” Murl continued. “And I think we’re doing a great job of reducing waste by reusing something that’s already there, which in their desire to build something bigger and better would not be the case.”

The development permit council approved on Sept. 26 is conditional on the applicant submitting both landscape and construction management plans. n

IN THE HALL Whistler’s mayor and council watch a presentation at the Sept. 26 council meeting.

PHOTO BY MEGAN LALONDE

“[I]f you’d shown up anywhere with modular construction, they would have not been happy.”

- JEFF MURL

‘He just loved skiing’

FRIENDS PLAN LEGACY TRIBUTE FOR BELOVED WHISTLER MOUNTAIN SAFETY ADVOCATE WAYNE FLANN

BY BRADEN DUPUIS

SIX YEARS AGO, a group of likeminded individuals met semi-regularly at the home of Wayne Flann, longtime local ski patroller and the man behind the popular Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog, to discuss a dream of Flann’s.

Flann—a strong advocate of safety in the mountains for decades—envisioned Whistler hosting a world-class avalanche awareness conference promoting the things he was most passionate about.

“Wayne saw this as a way of reminding people before the ski season that you’re safer through knowledge. That’s why he kept up with his avalanche blog, because he truly cared, and he thought it made a difference,” said Richard Kinar, friend of Flann’s and a longtime mountain safety advocate in his own right, who sat in on those first sessions in 2017.

“Which it did, because for many of us, you wouldn’t go skiing in the morning without reading Wayne’s blog, and for us that knew him personally, you know, we’d see him at the end of the ski day, and he’d be talking about tomorrow.”

Despite a robust presentation and the potential for federal funding to the tune of $250,000, the Avalanche Awareness Whistler (A2W) conference and trade show never got off the ground.

With Flann’s passing on Sept. 21 at the age of 68, some of those involved in the original efforts see a revitalized A2W as a fitting legacy for the beloved safety advocate.

“I believe that if everybody was able to see what Wayne’s vision was, and that there was indeed a blueprint for a legacy like this, then we could very well pull it off, and it could literally be, and I’m not kidding, the most important event in Whistler each year,” Kinar said.

GO, WAYNE, GO

There are many recurring themes that arise when talking to Flann’s friends.

His blog, of course, which became something of a daily meditation for skiers in the Whistler area, as well as his overall passion for safety in the mountains.

But the most common refrain you’ll hear is how fast he was on skis.

The phrase “go, Wayne, go” was repeated so much it evolved into Flann’s nickname: Wango.

“That’s all you ever saw skiing with him, was his back,” recalled Darryl Bowie, who was also a part of the A2W core back in 2017.

“In terms of being a guide, he’s very responsible, and that gave a lot of confidence to anybody that was working with him.”

That confidence extended to all of Flann’s professional endeavours, whether as a safety director on film shoots involving helicopters, or consulting on powerline repairs.

“He was really familiar with choppers,” Bowie said. “He loved powder, he loved skiing, he loved his family. He was great.”

Originally from Campbellton, N.B., Flann moved to Whistler in the fall of 1979, where he worked as a ski instructor and coach before shifting to ski patrol in 1983.

When Richard Wynne started as a patroller on Blackcomb in 1989, Flann was the mountain’s avalanche forecaster.

“He was just very passionate; he loved to ski. He loved to share his knowledge,” Wynne said. “He was a big part of search and rescue in Whistler, he worked for the ambulance service, he worked in film, but I think he just really liked ski patrolling.”

Flann’s love of patrolling likely stemmed from the multifaceted challenges the job presents, Wynne said.

“Patrolling encompasses a whole lot of different things, including, of course, trying to keep people safe to begin with, and then helping people when they need it, and that encompasses avalanche control and explosives and helicopters, and being out in the environment,” Wynne said.

Flann was also passionate about the weather, which he incorporated into his daily blog posts.

“He was a good friend, and he was good fun,” Wynne said.

“He had an aspect of him that may have appeared chaotic to people, but he was a real academic thinker, and he moved quickly. Everything he did, he did fast, and he was a man of many, many words.”

ASSESSING RISK

For the past 12 years, the Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog provided the perfect outlet for a man of such extensive local knowledge, and Flann’s devotion to it was evident to all who knew him.

Cathy Jewett was a ski patroller on Whistler when Blackcomb opened in 1980, and

SEE PAGE 16 >>

We can also help with Marriage Agreements (often called pre-nuptials) and Cohabitation Agreements

ON PATROL Longtime local ski patroller and Whistler mountain safety advocate Wayne Flann passed away Sept. 21 at the age of 68.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

would cross to the dark side to take laps with Flann and her other patroller compatriots.

She recalled one instance during a patrol exchange when she ended up on a chairlift with Flann.

“We were uploading on the Wizard Chair, it’s dark out, it’s before sunrise— Wango whips out his laptop, pulls down the bubble, and starts making a blog post, on his lap, on the Wizard Chair,” Jewett said. “It’s pitch black, and I’m just blown away. But he is filling every single minute of his day to make sure that this happens.”

At the root of it all was Flann’s love for skiing, Jewett said.

“Gosh, he just loved skiing. And he loved powder skiing, but to do it, and get to the bottom, you gotta do it right, and so he thought it was important that people should know accessing this terrain, how to do it safely,” Jewett said.

“But the backcountry and slackcountry of Blackcomb, it’s pretty serious business. There’s a lot of steep slopes and also glaciated areas, and that terrain now, with the warm summers and the changes, it’s really changing.

“And some of his last blog posts were about how the glaciers were changing.”

He also pushed the boundaries of skisafety taboos—at least as far as business and mountain management were concerned.

Sometimes Flann’s passion for mountain transparency was at odds with Whistler Blackcomb’s preferred messaging, Kinar noted.

“There are so many repetitive patterns in Whistler, like springtime on [7th Heaven], when

we start to get the sun slopes starting to slide, it just happens like clockwork as soon as the sun comes out. Chainsaw Ridge, in the springtime, those big cornices, they come down, and they should be talked about,” Kinar said.

“Those are inbound risks, and if you can’t talk about inbound risks, then people tend to ignore what’s going on in the backcountry, and those were all of the things that were so important to Wayne, because he went on many recovery missions, and it bothered him.

“Wayne was really so interested in this, I

knew him. The temperature went way up.”

And Flann was a regular fixture at the Upper Village pub/ski shop, said RMU Whistler’s Ted Low.

“I always say he was part of the furniture in there. He’d go in there and he would hold court, and tell stories, and he was super animated,” he said.

“He was just his own person. Just always positive, and he was a very likable guy.”

Low has offered up RMU as a location for A2W, though proponents are thinking

great idea, it’s a great concept,” Bowie said. But it is still very much a concept. Proponents will need to line up a venue, sponsors, and funding before they set to planning in earnest.

“If we wanted to have this in the conference centre for next year, it would take a whole lot of planning. This is probably something that would be two years away from making it happen, but in the short term … the first one could be held at the Fairmont,” Kinar said, adding the group suspects it would take about $500,000 to take the conference into its second year.

The hope is that, before long, it would be self-sustaining.

“It’s amazing. Listening to the tributes not only from Avalanche Canada, but the leading search-and-rescue groups in the country, Wayne affected everybody,” Kinar said.

think, because of what he had seen, and who he had recovered … he really believed that knowledge would help save people’s lives, and have people make better decisions in the backcountry, and he strived for that.”

A FITTING LEGACY

Flann’s passion—for skiing, for safety, and for life in general—was contagious.

“Whenever he walked into a room, it was almost like a standing ovation. It was, ‘Hey, Wango’s here!’” Bowie said.

“And all kinds of people. If you go to a place like RMU, and whenever he walked into that room, or in Merlin’s, it’s like everybody

bigger—the Fairmont, or even the Whistler Conference Centre.

“I don’t think [RMU] is the proper location, but anything I can do to help those guys out, I’m willing to help them out,” Low said.

The vision of the conference was to bring avalanche experts from around the world to Whistler as keynote speakers, as well as a tradeshow showcasing the latest in product innovation, design, and services.

The work done in 2017—which includes a robust pitch document, complete with a budget overview, potential speakers, a PowerPoint presentation and even a letter of support from Avalanche Canada—is still relevant.

“Everybody we talk to says, yeah, it’s a

“We would like those that are affected by Wayne, that know him, love him, or for those that are just absolutely caught up in his story, [to know] that this is his wish, his legacy, and we can make it happen collectively.”

Flann leaves behind his four children, Evan, Rhiannon, Cody and Shira. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Whistler Community Services Society or Whistler Search and Rescue.

A celebration of life is planned for early December, to coincide with the annual Scotch party Flann has held for the past 40 years. Date and time to be determined. Join the Wayne Flann Remembered Facebook group for updates, as well as more great photos and memories of Flann. n

“[H]e really believed that knowledge would help save people’s lives...”

- RICHARD KINAR

Councillors vote to restructure Whistler’s committee program

DECISION TO STREAMLINE THE 20 CURRENT COMMITTEE TOPICS COMES FOLLOWING A LENGTHY REVIEW

BY MEGAN LALONDE

THE RESORT Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) is paring down its long list of committees.

Whistler’s mayor and council voted on Tuesday night, Sept. 26, to endorse a set of recommendations laid out in the Committee of Council Review Project’s latest report. Elected officials agreed with the project’s pronouncement that Whistler has too many committees, with mandates that are too narrow in scope—instead, the RMOW should host a smaller number of committees focused on broader topics aligning with council’s current priorities.

To that end, council directed municipal staff to get to work implementing those recommendations, including disbanding a pair of committees that have completed the work they set out to achieve.

Council’s endorsement is the latest step in an in-depth review of the Committees of Council program the Governance and Ethics Committee of Council (GECC) formally launched over the winter. Whistler’s last elected council previously highlighted a need to take a hard look at the Committee of Council program during its 2019-2020 Community Engagement Review project.

Essentially, the committee review project is using data to identify what works, and what needs improvement, explained project lead Erin Marriner, a staffer from the RMOW’s legislative services department.

“Committees utilize a lot of council and staff resources, as well as staff time of external organizations and time of community members, so there is a desire to ensure this resource commitment is aligned with the value committees provide to the RMOW and to council decision making,” Marriner said in a project progress update she presented to elected officials in August. “We also want to develop a consistent framework for the Committee of Council program in terms of purpose, when a committee may be required, streamline some of the administration, recruitment—those types of things.”

Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, the RMOW counted 20 different committees, covering topics ranging from Whistler bears and May long weekend to transportation and economic partnerships. The RMOW has more committees than its local government counterparts in Squamish, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Port Coquitlam, Victoria, and Tofino, Marriner pointed out on Sept. 26.

Committees exist to advise Whistler’s elected officials about strategy and policy. Each includes municipal staff and appointed councillors, as well as resort stakeholders and community members appointed to serve as volunteers. Typically, those individuals are tapped to bring their local knowledge, expertise and experience to a “specific area of civic concern.” Each committee meeting

is subject to an official set of rules laid out in Whistler’s Community Charter and the Council Procedure Bylaw.

Working groups, on the other hand, similarly include community members who volunteer to advise council about a particular topic, but focus more on collaboration and informational updates, and aren’t beholden to the same strict rules or requirements as committees.

“Something that’s been highlighted through this process is the importance of using the correct tool for what council’s working to achieve, and the input and information they’re seeking,” Marriner said.

As part of the months-long review project, RMOW staff gathered feedback from committee members and staff through surveys and interviews to inform a list of 10 themes staff outlined as key findings in the Sept. 26 report.

The report acknowledges the committee program shouldn’t be scrapped entirely. Instead, it offers a long list of suggestions related to each of those 10 themes to improve the existing program, such as reviewing and reducing committee topics; clarifying committee members’ roles and responsibilities; and reviewing committee membership with diversity in mind, to name just a few.

Council ultimately supported the GECC’s recommendations to disband the existing Mayor’s Task Force on Resident Housing and Public Art Committee, and shift the May Long Weekend, Technology Advisory, Transit Management Advisory, Zero Waste, and Whistler Bear Advisory committees into working groups.

The GECC also suggested amalgamating other committees with overlapping focus areas into four new committees: housing and strategy; climate action; community engagement; and smart tourism.

Councillors opted to remove community engagement from that list, after RMOW staff offered assurance community engagement would pop-up continuously as it relates to other committee topics. Councillors debated whether to support a staff proposal to transition the existing Emergency Planning Committee to a working group, but cited incoming provincial legislative changes and increasing climate threats as reasons to maintain the committee’s more formal structure for the time being.

Now, RMOW staff will start building a list of project outputs based on the recommendations council approved Sept. 26, including a training and onboarding program; a recruitment strategy, a committee of council framework document; plus an inclusion and diversity strategy. Those outputs will come back to council at a later date before they can be implemented and the project can officially wrap up.

Councillor Cathy Jewett congratulated staff on the report.

“This is an amazing project,” she said. “It was daunting when we started out—it still is pretty daunting, there’s still a lot of work to do, but thank you for getting us to this point.” n

Whistler breakfast favourite Elements sold to Jay and James Pare

NEW RESORT RESTAURANT LORETTE TO OPEN THIS WINTER

BY BRADEN DUPUIS

RECENT VISITORS to the website of popular Whistler breakfast spot Elements may have been dismayed by what they found.

“We are closing forever on Sept. 3, 2023,” reads the main message in the site, followed by a message of thanks for all the support over the past 18 years.

But breakfast aficionados need not fret: Elements will live on under a new name thanks to local restaurateurs Jay and James Pare, owners of Caramba! And Quattro.

The pair contacted former Elements owner Kathi Jazic when they heard she might be looking to sell.

“We decided that we’re going to change the restaurant name, we’re going to change the concept, but we’re going to keep the breakfast, and we’re actually going to keep the Elements tartlet on the menu … the potato tartlet that everyone grew to love that kind of brought people in there from the beginning,” said Jay.

“We’re hoping to open in the winter time at some point—it’s all subject to how long the permits will take, and how long the process will take—but we’re going to reopen it as Lorette.”

The new name has a personal flair, derived from Jay’s mother and James’ grandmother (whose middle name was Loretta) and James’

late mother Lorraine.

“We’re almost keeping it in the family, if you will, and it was important that we do that,” James said.

“A big part of our life and part of our family is from Quebec, Montreal … we were just at the 100th reunion in September, [which was] super cool, so we wanted to pay homage to that a little bit.”

When it opens this winter, the menu at Lorette will showcase a French Canadian flair with Pacific Northwest ingredients, James added.

But the Pares aren’t looking to undo what made Elements a local favourite in the first place.

“As far as the breakfast aspect, as soon as we bought it, everyone that we’re hearing is like, ‘oh no, Elements is gone, our breakfast spot is gone.’ So we’re really trying to push that breakfast is not gone forever, it’s just gone for now,” Jay said with a laugh.

“As soon as we reopen, breakfast will be back on the table 100 per cent, because I think that was a big part of Elements’ history.”

But regulars will notice some big physical changes when the new restaurant

opens its doors.

The new owners plan to renovate, making use of some temporary space Elements incorporated when COVID dining restrictions made space a premium.

“When that whole six-foot rule came into place, obviously Elements itself is so small that they could hardly put anybody in there, so the hotel gave them access to the room beside, and then after COVID just incorporated it into their lease, so that they had two rooms, but there’s a big wall in the middle,” Jay explained.

“So what we want to do is open that up into one big room, [which will] probably end up being about 100 seats … and where Elements is now, make that all kitchen, and then put the bar on the other side, that’s sort of the plans as of now.”

With Elements, now Lorette, entering the fold, the Pares will own three local establishments—but that’s not to say they aren’t open to other opportunities, both in Whistler and beyond.

“We’re definitely pro evolving and growing our businesses, but the most important part to us is that the nuts and bolts are working properly,” James said. “We don’t want to expand too quickly, and we want to make sure that when we are expanding … we can make sure that everything is of the quality that we want it to be.” n

IN THEIR ELEMENT Whistler restaurateurs James and Jay Pare, owners of Caramba! and Quattro, have big plans for the former Elements.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

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Ride for Aven: Whistler mountain bike community rallies behind 18-year-old athlete after life-altering injury

FUNDRAISER SET FOR OCT. 7 IN SUPPORT OF AVEN ELSBERG, WHO SUFFERED A SPINAL CORD INJURY IN AN AUG. 3 BIKE CRASH

BY MEGAN LALONDE

AVEN ELSBERG started this summer off as one of the most impressive up-and-coming mountain bikers in the Sea to Sky corridor.

After winning the overall Junior Sport Men title in the 2022 BC Cup Series, the 18-year-old raced in the elite men’s category at the Canadian National Championship Downhill in Fernie, and Canadian Open Downhill at Crankworx Whistler this July.

But Elsberg—also a talented freeride skier—was earning more recognition outside of the race circuit: he was one of 30 riders to send it down 15 of the Sea to Sky’s wildest features in the third annual Tour de Gnar event on July 26.

That progress came to a halt just one week later, when Elsberg suffered a severe spinal cord injury after crashing awkwardly while riding “Trespasser” on Aug. 3. It’s a steep, challenging trail built outside the bike park boundary on Whistler Mountain, but one he’d ridden successfully “countless times before,” explained Caronne Marino, whose son Dylan is close with Elsberg.

Responders from Whistler Search and Rescue and Whistler Bike Park Patrol extricated Elsberg from the site. He was airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital, where doctors determined Elsberg had suffered a cervical spine fracture dislocation and compressed his spinal cord at the C5 level, near the base of his neck. The accident left Elsberg with minimal movement below his injury, and doctors with little idea about how much muscle function the teenager might be able to regain throughout his recovery.

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Now, Whistler’s mountain bike community is rallying behind Elsberg as he recovers in a spinal intensive care unit. In addition to the “I ride for Aven” stickers adorning bike helmets around town, a fundraiser scheduled for this Saturday, Oct. 7 aims to help with the extensive rehab, equipment, and caregiver costs Elsberg and his family face in the months and years ahead.

register online through the Whistler Off Road Cycling Association (WORCA) by 1 p.m. on Saturday, when participants will meet at the base of Blackcomb. Registration costs $20 plus tax per rider, with all funds going towards Elsberg’s recovery—find more info at worca. com/events-calendar/i-ride-for-aven.

The online auction is already live, offering the opportunity to bid on items including a seven-night stay at a vacation rental in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; a heli-bike trip for five; coaching sessions; concert and hockey tickets; plus plenty of bike and ski gear, to name just a few. The auction closes Friday at 5 p.m. (Find it at tinyurl.com/5e7keckt.)

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe campaign in support of Elsberg has so far raised more than US$33,200. (Donate to the campaign at gofundme. com/f/aven-elsberg-rehab-and-equipment.

As Elsberg’s dad Andrew—who is a doctor himself—explained in the campaign’s description, staff at the VGH Spinal Cord Unit encouraged the family to fundraise for the significant costs Elsberg will incur along the difficult road ahead. The mountain biker’s parents expressed their appreciation for any and all support, but encouraged contributions to Whistler Search and Rescue, spinal cord injury research, or local adaptive programs as well.

Elsberg and his family split their time between Alaska and Whistler, but were planning to make a more permanent move to the Sea to Sky once the home they’re building was move-in ready, Marino explained.

After graduating from high school in Anchorage earlier this year, Elsberg’s plans to study engineering at the University of Utah this fall are also on hold due to his injury.

For now, he remains in the spinal ICU

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“They’re a family that probably wouldn’t have gone asking for financial support, but I think emotionally and financially down the road, it’s important to show support and help cover costs. They’re looking at a lifetime of rehabilitation—it’s a very life-changing event for them,” Marino said.

“August was really hard. I think I cried every single day,” she added. “You just don’t know how to help.”

Ultimately, friends settled on a silent auction.

First, a bike ride in support of Elsberg will take place on the Blackcomb trails from 1 to 2:30 p.m., followed by an event with food, drinks and a silent auction at RMU in the Upper Village until 5 p.m.

Organizers hope the auction can cover the cost of Elsberg’s wheelchair, Marino said.

Those interested in joining the ride must

at VGH. “The progress is happening, but it’s just a slow pace,” explained Marino. He’s reaching new milestones, like learning to drive an electric wheelchair, but has battled pneumonia and nausea, while a tracheostomy allows him to spend most of the day breathing through a ventilator.

There’s emotional challenges, too: with Elsberg’s parents caring for him in the city, his sister Quinzee is staying with friends while she completes Grade 11 in Anchorage.

On Sept. 4, in his first post to Instagram since the accident, Elsberg thanked his community “for the insane support.”

“I find it mind blowing. I also want to thank everyone that I was riding with and the rescuers,” he wrote.

“I wouldn’t be alive without you.” n

“The progress is happening, but it’s just a slow pace.”

- CARONNE MARINO

The ‘new’ Fireside Lodge turns 40

CELEBRATING THE LEGACY OF ONE OF THE LAST REMAINING MEMBER-OWNED LODGES, FOUR DECADES AFTER IT ROSE FROM THE ASHES

BY MEGAN LALONDE

BACK IN 1965 , a few co-workers from BC Hydro were looking to create a ski club—more like a home-away-from-home where they could spend weekends, they imagined, preferably somewhere with easy access to the great outdoors.

A brand-new ski resort slated to open north of Vancouver that winter seemed like a good spot. A few acres of land the B.C. government had reportedly reserved for nonprofit sports clubs interested in leasing lots in Nordic, near the new gondola, didn’t hurt.

The “Power Mountain Ski Club” opened its doors on Nordic Drive in December 1967, just in time for New Year’s Eve. The memberowned A-frame would only stand for about 12 years, until a newly-installed wood stove sparked a fire early one morning in January 1980. Flames ripped through the building before firefighters could arrive, burning the chalet to the ground. Luckily, everyone inside managed to escape.

Members eventually got to work rebuilding, battling through financial struggles and in some cases even hauling the materials uphill on foot. At the time, “there was no road,” pointed out current Fireside Lodge member Johanne Lalonde.

It took a few years, but the second iteration—a bigger, better structure—rose from the ashes to welcome members back about four years later. It even had a new name: the Fireside Lodge.

“I think it was because of [the fire] that [this lodge] has been able to live all this time,” said Lalonde.

A few lodge founders were among the three generations of revellers who joined current Fireside Lodge members (and DJ Foxy Moron, better known in some circles as Ace MacKay-Smith), for a party celebrating the “new building’s” 40th anniversary last

Saturday, Sept. 23.

“We’ve been planning this for quite a few months,” said Lalonde of the event. “When we started talking about [the anniversary] a few years ago, we thought it’d be important to highlight the history … so we started digging up all kinds of records, and asking people who are still around, you know, ‘What happened?’”

Organizers “couldn’t believe how many people showed up,” on Saturday, she said. So many former members “got to see people they haven’t seen in years.”

Now officially owned and operated by Fireside Outdoor Recreation Club, the simple-

but-cosy log cabin is the last of the original ski clubs still standing—and functioning as a non-profit—in Nordic, said Lalonde.

Fireside can accommodate up to 50 guests on a nightly basis, split across its 16 hostelstyle dorm beds, six private rooms and six more loft rooms that fit up to five people each. There’s a fully-equipped kitchen with enough stoves, microwaves, fridges, freezers and cookware for guests to prepare their own meals on-site; a games room; and a spacious living room to host hang-outs.

That’s where current and former members sat together on Saturday, listening to stories, looking at old pictures, and reading newsletter clippings, said Lalonde. “We just couldn’t believe how extraordinary of an effort people put into [building this lodge],” she explained. “It makes us want to now take care of it even more, because we know how rare this is.”

That same cooperative spirit that built the lodge not once, but twice is still in play. Fireside’s current roster of 87 members keeps up with lodge maintenance during bi-annual “work parties,” and continues to breathe life into the space throughout the seasons.

“It’s just incredible when you see what people have done to make it what it is today— like they built it with their own hands,” said Lalonde. “You don’t see this happen anymore in this day and age.”

Find more info at firesidelodge.org. n

ON FIRE Members of the non-profit Fireside Lodge gathered in Nordic on Saturday, Sept. 23 for a party celebrating 40 years of operations in the “new” lodge, after the original cabin burned down in a 1980 fire.

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Whistler Secondary PAC unveils new outdoor multi-purpose space

ONCE CLASSES LET OUT, THE COVERED SPACE CAN ALSO ACCOMMODATE COMMUNITY EVENTS RAIN OR SHINE

BY MEGAN LALONDE

THE BENEFIT OF Whistler Secondary School’s (WSS) new outdoor multi-purpose space was immediately apparent to everyone who turned up to its official unveiling on Tuesday, Sept. 26.

Despite rainy weather, students, caregivers, teachers, and Sea to Sky school district (SD48) representatives managed to keep dry as they gathered under the shelter of the 42-foot-by-22-foot, open-sided steel structure during the school’s annual “Welcome Back Barbecue.”

That scene is what WSS’ Parent Advisory Council (PAC) has been working towards since kickstarting fundraising efforts for the project in March 2022, said Shauna Hardy, fundraising lead for the PAC’s Capital Projects Committee. Project development got underway in February of this year, but building could only commence once classes let out for summer break.

“It’s great timing as the weather’s changing,” she said.

Previously, there wasn’t enough sheltered outdoor space at the school, Hardy explained.

“This back area is great when it’s sunny, but otherwise it’s quite unusable, so we

really needed to figure out ‘How can we get kids outside [during the school day?]’” she said.

“Because we all know that fresh air is good for you.”

Now, rain, shine or snow, “there’s going to be no excuse.”

It marks the first major capital improvement to school grounds since 2004, according to Hardy.

The new space also serves a greater purpose than allowing WSS students and staff to spend more time outdoors: Whistler Secondary’s status as a community school means certain parts of the building, including its gym and the multipurpose room, are managed by the Resort Municipality of Whistler outside of school hours.

That makes WSS one of the biggest community spaces available for rent in Whistler, Hardy pointed out. The covered, paved space will be available to accommodate group functions on weekends, holidays, afterschool hours and during the summer months.

“For instance, a summer camp can now run at the school all summer, and it now has a covered outdoor space,” Hardy added.

“It’s a community asset.”

Volunteers have raised $184,020 to date, or 94 per cent of the $195,000 needed to bring the project to fruition. WSS PAC launched the fundraising effort with a

$50,000 contribution, a sum later matched by the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation and supplemented by five-figure grants from the Den Duyf Family; Whistler Secondary School; and Fairmont Chateau Whistler Community Fund; plus thousands more from the RMOW Community Enrichment Fund; McElhanney Cares Program; Whistler Community Foundation; CUPE 2010 and WSS’ 2023 graduating class.

A long list of contractors, engineers and local firms also donated resources to offset project costs, contributing more than $33,540 in total value.

Despite that support, the project wasn’t without its challenges, Hardy explained, even after construction commenced on July 26.

“Every possible thing that possibly could go wrong with this happened,” she said, from surprises like old sidewalks found buried under footing excavations that required removal, to material delays. One contractor’s shop even burned to the ground in a wildfire.

“We persevered,” Hardy added, due in large part to the expertise provided by WSS parent Carson Hamm, an engineer who led the development of the project from inception to completion.

Volunteers are now looking to the WSS school community to drum up the remaining $10,980 needed to cover finishing touches like

furniture and landscaping for the sheltered learning structure.

Anyone interested in donating to the cause can do so online at sd48seatosky. schoolcashonline.com. After hitting “Make a Donation,” select “Whistler Secondary School” and “The Outdoor MPR Project” initiative from drop-down menus under “Gift Information.” Tax receipts are available.

“We are grateful for the leadership of our WSS PAC and the generous support of our community funders and donors for this project, which will serve to benefit our school and students for years to come,” said WSS principal Anna-Lisa Granbois, in a release.

With the outdoor multipurpose room now open for business, Whistler Secondary’s PAC focuses its attention on fundraising and planning efforts already underway for two more capital projects currently under consideration: a fitness centre envisioned above the school’s gym, and a full-service kitchen.

“This one project really is such a success because it shows we as parents can really rally the community and funding, and that there’s an appetite for improvement at this community facility,” Hardy said.

“We’d like to see its usage maximized … not only for our school community, but the Whistler community. Because it’s a great building.” n

Pemberton Chamber holds ‘lunch and learn’ with Lil’wat Nation Chief Nelson to promote ‘meaningful dialogue’

RECONCILIATION CANNOT HAPPEN WHEN ONE PARTY STILL HAS POWER OVER ANOTHER, NELSON TOLD PACKED CROWD

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

THE PEMBERTON and District Chamber of Commerce held a “lunch and learn” with Lil’wat Nation Political Chief Dean Nelson on Friday, Sept. 28, aimed at creating meaningful dialogue around what reconciliation really means.

Held at Big Sky Golf Club, the event was completely sold out, with chamber members eager to hear from Nelson and Lil’wat Business Group CEO Rosemary Stager. The event was timely, as on Sept. 12, the Village of Pemberton paused its Official Community Plan update to focus on a “deeper and more meaningful” relationship with the Lil’wat Nation.

Nelson told the packed crowd the word “reconciliation” should not just be an idea that pops up once a year.

“Reconciliation is a big word,” he said. “There has to be some concessions. If you look at Joffre Lakes, it’s just time and space that we are looking for. What we know cannot be unknown … We cannot have reconciliation with one group having power over another. Reconciliation is not just a word. It requires action.”

Nelson urged attendees to ask themselves what they can do to create positive change, suggesting simply reading the Indian Act would be a good start. The legislation was originally created to “assimilate” Indigenous people into mainstream Canadian life and values. It was first passed into law in 1876, and is still in effect today, with amendments.

“A relationship is inevitable, but what kind of relationship is it going to be?” asked Nelson.

In his remarks, the former teacher and firefighter tried to stress the true horror of Canada’s residential schools. He asked parents in the room to imagine their own children being taken away from them.

Nelson said a simple lunch could be the start of real change. “Our relationships must get better knowing what we know now,” he said. “It can’t be a one-day focus. It has to

be a continuous process. We still have to live together, but what kind of relationship is that going to be? We are under the Indian Act, and that is just wrong. I look forward to positive change coming from this simple luncheon and food sharing.”

Stager explained how kids growing up in two neighbouring communities—like Pemberton and Mount Currie—can have two completely contrasting childhoods. She used her own mother and father as examples. Her

mother grew up in Pemberton, while her father and his family were forced to live on a reserve on their own unceded territory.

Stager shot down the perception that Indigenous people get things for “free.”

“We do not get free homes, and yes, we do pay mortgages,” she said. “Our access to capital is much less than other communities. It’s not an exaggeration to say that my Lil’wat family was devastated by the impacts of colonialism. Instead of being

raised in a loving home like my mom, my dad was forced to attend residential schools from the age of five.”

Stager said she only started to understand the atrocities her community faced when she reached adulthood, and had her own children.

“I learned about the roots of [my father’s] trauma while helping him with his residential school settlement paperwork,” she said. “It was heartbreaking and sickening to hear the daily compounded trauma that these children had to endure during their school years.

Residential schools had a mission: to take the Indian out of the child.”

Stager said Canada’s Indian Act later became the blueprint for apartheid in South Africa. She explained how colonialism and greed ruined the Lil’wat’s traditional economy, one that is only now starting to recover.

“The people of Lil’wat Nation were traditionally business-minded before colonization,” she said. “The Crown amended the Indian Act in 1880 to actively exclude us from participating in the Canadian economy. Suddenly, costly permits were needed to carry out economic activities that we had taken part in for thousands of years. Commercial licenses were largely given to non-Indigenous operators while Indigenous people faced fines and prison terms.”

Permits were also needed just to buy food, clothing and other necessities.

“The message was clear—we do not belong here,” said Stager. “The Canadian economy had no place for us. While neighbouring Whistler and Pemberton prospered, Lil’wat continuously fell behind relying on inadequate government funding.”

But Stager stressed that positive change is now on its way, and the CEO revealed plans for a number of exciting commercial ventures the Nation is working on.

“We are in negotiations on new projects and in the planning stages for others,” she said. “We have a number of parcels of land in Whistler and Pemberton. We are contemplating appropriate development.”

Flip to page 30 for a Q&A with Nelson, and stay tuned to Pique in the weeks ahead for more on upcoming Lil’wat Nation projects. n

MORE THAN A WORD Lil’wat Nation Political Chief Dean Nelson talks reconciliation at the Sept. 28 Pemberton Chamber luncheon.

PHOTO BY ROISIN CULLEN

“Reconciliation is not just a word. It requires action.”

- DEAN NELSON

Reforestation work at Mount Meager a roaring success—against all odds

VERONICA WOODRUFF AND HER TEAM ARE TRYING TO MITIGATE THE RISK OF DISASTROUS FLOODING AFTER ONE OF THE LARGEST LANDSLIDES IN CANADIAN HISTORY

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

REFORESTATION WORK at Mount Meager has been a huge success this summer in spite of the hot and dry conditions. The essential work aims to reduce flood risk for nearby communities including the Lil’wat Nation and Pemberton.

The 2010 Mount Meager landslide is considered one of the largest in Canadian history, with sediment still moving down the Lillooet River. Since then, local groups like the Pemberton Valley Diking District have been trying to stop the fast flow of the sediment. The most recent debris restoration project aims to build a new ecosystem atop Mount Meager while reducing flood risk downstream.

The project spearheaded by Veronica Woodruff previously received a $150,000 grant from B.C.’s Community Emergency Preparedness Fund. Woodruff is senior project manager and principal with Clear Course Consulting and founder of the Pemberton Stewardship Society.

Woodruff has been working on the project in cooperation with the Lil’wat Nation since 2019.

“The initial part of the project was to develop the partnership,” she said. “From that partnership we were able to amass a broad group of interested universities, industries, business and governments to contribute to the project. The Ministry of Forests came with funding in 2022 to start to do some ground work. We were able to get onto the slide debris in the spring of 2023. We planted 33,000 trees.”

The trees were planted on the Capricorn Creek landslide site, the first of many on the group’s list. The workers took a different approach to planting this year, trying innovative ways of getting the trees to take.

“Because we’re not planting for timber harvest, we were able to plant different shrubs and trees,” said Woodruff. “We could actually look at restoring some value on the slide debris. The slide occurred in 2010, and there has been little regeneration in most of the slide debris.

“We did something that has never been done before. We planted coniferous trees with a plug of an alder in the same hole. We actually co-planted coniferous and deciduous trees together.”

Woodruff explained alder can fix nitrogen. “Not only could that double plant potentially retain more moisture, but that alder could act a bit like a fertilizer tree to give it a bit of a boost.”

The group’s great expectations were crushed when a dry and hot summer arrived.

“We have been in a drought since June 2022,” said Woodruff. “We had these bittersweet moments in the spring when we were finally there. We had all our trees. We had our planting crews. Driving up to the site,

I cried. It was so hard, because everything was so dry and nothing was going to live.”

Woodruff and her troops stormed on regardless, praying for a miracle that eventually came. They planted the trees in areas near water with access to late afternoon shade.

“We got them in the ground and we just waited,” she said. “We had an incredibly hot and dry summer. We were just thinking that most things were going to be dead.”

Access to the site was prohibited all summer due to the large landslide risk. It wasn’t until September that the workers got to see the fruits of their labour.

“That morning over coffee, we said that the best we could hope for was 20-per-cent survival,” said Woodruff. “We were in a bit of a sombre mood. We got there and we had gotten close to 80-per-cent survival. It’s unbelievable!”

The expert thinks the high survival rate could be down to micro-site planting or increased morning dew moisture due to the narrowness of the valley. However, she admits we might never know why this summer, in particular, brought so many trees to life.

The importance of reforestation projects like this one cannot be overstressed as a means of reducing disastrous floods.

“One thing about that slide debris is that there is basically 15 million cubic metres of mountaintop sitting in the valley,” said Woodruff.

“That sediment is getting mobilized down the river. It’s settling in the river where people live. This affects flood risk in Pemberton, Mount Currie and throughout the regional district,” she added.

“The flood risk is increasing with this influx of new sediment. If we can recreate forests, then that will mitigate some of the sediment flow over time. Sediment flow is expected to continue over 60 to 80 years. This is just one part of a much broader picture.” n

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‘I didn’t know I was an Indian. I was just from the community’

A Q&A WITH LIL’WAT NATION CHIEF DEAN NELSON

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

ON AUG. 23, the Lil’wat and N’Quatqua First Nations made a surprise announcement, saying they were “shutting down” access to the popular Joffre Lakes provincial park. The Village of Pemberton (VOP) has also paused its Official Community Plan (OCP) review process so officials can focus on building a “deeper and more meaningful” relationship with the Lil’wat Nation.

It is clear the communities of Lil’wat Nation and Pemberton are moving forward to a shared future, and are in the middle of a period of substantial change. Pique sat down with Lil’wat Political Chief Dean Nelson to talk about a joint history, the future for Joffre Lakes, and what reconciliation really means.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

PIQUE: How important was the time when Joffre Lakes was closed to the public?

CHIEF NELSON: It was very powerful. The children went there to bathe. It was glacier water but they just felt like they needed to bathe and give

thanks for that time and space. We haven’t had that. That’s exactly what I was asking for from the government. We just need time and space, our own time and space. Not wrestling with the crowds trying to park. It’s the very beginning of that. There are medicines that grow there. There are herbs, berries. The place itself is spiritual.

bikers ripping down wondering what the hell they were doing. It’s a cultural trail first.

I find it as a second coming of people. The first coming was industry. They did the logging. Look at the mountains. They wiped it all out. [Many trees] are gone. Now, the second coming is recreation. People are building

love to have Joffre gone. It could be the future. What important projects are you working on?

Was Joffre Lakes becoming overpopulated or misused?

It’s like an amusement park. It’s a commodity for them. People think they have to be there, to take the picture there. There is hunting there, too. We have actually had a lot of confrontation because of people going hunting on cultural trails. All of a sudden, there were mountain

trails, paddling lakes, dropping down from the sky, whatever. They are here again.

Would it be better if Joffre Lakes was closed to the public all year round?

When one of our members goes to hunt, they aren’t hunting against our regulations. They are hunting against the province. People would just

I want to tell our whole history. We were not on reservations. We were in Whistler. We were up the valley. The villages are still there. There is still evidence that this is where people lived. First came smallpox. Then came religion. Then came reservations. People need to know the whole story, how it all happened. We are finding our way through it all. The Indian Act is just wrong. It’s important that people understand what it is. We don’t get things for free. We have paid dearly. Our ancestors have paid. I am finding out what happened. I’m putting the pieces together right from the beginning. How the heck did a strong people get moved to a Godforsaken place? It’s swamp land. People sometimes ask me why we live here. It has to be acknowledged and has to be changed. Joffre was a good sign of that.

Are we moving in the right direction?

I think so. I think if people are willing to listen. We were never included in conversations

We are municipal workers for the Resort Municipality of Whistler and the Village of Pemberton. We’re proud to provide essential affordable public services that locals and visitors rely on every day Our members take pride in providing these services that are used by our own families

Some of the services we provide include; maintaining the communities clean drinking water, operation of the wastewater treatment facility, maintenance of all parks and recreation equipment, ensuring the safe, clean enjoyment of the pool and ice rink at the Meadow Park Sports Centre and all the RCMP , Whistler Fire Rescue fleet and municipal vehicles.

CUPE 2010’s community pledge continues as it did throughout the pandemic. To provided essential, affordable public services. Whether it ’s during our regular work day, or after hours in an emergency We are proud to provide these essential services. CUPE 2010. “ We’ll be there!”

“I want to tell our whole history. We were not on reservations. We were in Whistler. We were up the valley.”

- DEAN NELSON

before. We didn’t have a say when our elders’ fishing nets were dragged out and cut up. They were told they had no right to be fishing. Then when you politically protest, you’re deemed something else. You’re told that you don’t even have the right to stand up for yourself?

When did you first feel different as a kid?

It was when lunch came in school. There was a trolley brought in with milk and soup. The white kids would say “that’s for you guys.” I didn’t know what “you guys” meant. They said “you Indians.” I didn’t understand. I didn’t know I was an Indian. I was just from the community. We were just a bunch of kids from the community?

Were there a lot of misconceptions?

We were told that we got that stuff for free. Those were the things that stuck with me. At the time, you could go to the front office and get a pencil. You had your gym strip, pencils, everything given to you for free. But that’s exactly the whole process of taking your meaning, your self-worth. That’s what they did with the welfare system. They gave it to you. They took away your livelihood. You no

broke people down. It’s still happening now. What would you have asked your parents that night?

My mom was a teacher. She taught in a Day School in Mount Currie. I asked her about it. There were a lot of things; the racism, the Indian Affairs. I realized there was more to it than just that. That was the beginning of it for me. It was an awakening, I guess. There were differences there and they were making sure we knew it.

What helps you do what you do?

My kids ground me. My family make it OK for me to do what I do. I used to be part of the firefighting crew. I’ve done a lot of things in my life. I thought that was it. I thought being on the firefighting crew was it. It was really heroic. I really hope our young guys and girls do that. I want our youth to have strength and understand that what happened in the past is in the past. We are trying not to get back there.

What is the healing process?

I don’t know. I’ve been trying to find that. There are different levels of it, but the trauma is still there. It’s the reservation itself. It’s the Indian Act itself, and all of its processes. We had the Indian Day School here, too. That was Catholic-run. There were priests and nuns there. I had no idea about the atrocities that came from that until I became Chief and was signing affidavits. I had no idea. To this day, there are still people that will not sign those things for either Residential School or Day School. Some people don’t want to talk about it. All I can say to them is that I’m sorry.

In 10 years’ time, where would you like Lil’wat Nation to be?

Equality. We have to have the same opportunities. We have to have the same land base. We have to not be on a reservation or under the Indian Act. We would be under our own control. We would have our own source of revenue. We are a self-sufficient people. That’s what we were before. We are getting there. Everything has been damaged and it has to be revitalized. We will be selfsufficient. We will have our culture intact.

NATION BUILDER Chief Dean Nelson envisions a culturally vibrant, resilient, self-sustaining future for the Lil’wat Nation.

PHOTO BY ROISIN CULLEN

The Whistler Naturalists

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Location TBD (par ticipants will be notified)

Advance tickets only. Available at: www.whistlernaturalists.ca

Dress war mly and dr yly for walks. No dogs or collecting baskets please.

Repeating climate truth until it sinks in

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY French writer Voltaire once said, “Yes, I say things over and over again. That’s the privilege of my age, and I’ll say them over and over and over again until my fellow countrymen are cured of their folly.”

Amen. At my age, after decades of urging people to come together to resolve the accelerating climate crisis, I get it. It saddens and frustrates me to see the consequences of wastefully burning fossil fuels and destroying green spaces hitting with such force— especially since we knew this could happen when we had a much greater chance of preventing it or at least lessening its impacts.

BY DAVID SUZUKI

Now we know it will get increasingly worse unless we take immediate, decisive action!

I didn’t have access to any secret knowledge when I started learning and communicating about climate change. As a scientist who has had a number of public platforms for decades, my role has been to study and interpret the research and convey it to the public in easily understood terms.

I’m a messenger. But I’ve been repeating some messages for far too long. Given the benefits of shifting from oil, gas and coal to renewable energy—from cleaner air and better health to improved energy security and a stable climate—I was sure we’d be further along by now.

companies put into deceptive advertising, PR campaigns, articles, speeches, front groups, media allies and politicians to sow doubt and confusion about the overwhelming evidence that using their products threatens our existence.

That’s why it’s important to speak up. We need to be louder than Exxon, Shell, Chevron, the Koch family, American Legislative Exchange Council, Heartland Institute, Fraser Institute and numerous misleadingly named, industry-funded groups like the International Climate Science Coalition and Alliance for Climate Strategies. We may not have the resources to buy politicians and influence media companies, but we have truth and passion on our side.

Anyone with a passing knowledge of the climate crisis—which includes anyone who’s lived under a heat dome or been threatened by wildfires or floods—knows change is necessary, that we need to find better ways to live within Earth’s natural limits. We must quit burning polluting, climate-altering fuels and destroying green spaces.

Most of us know this, but often it’s easier to ignore the problem, or leave it to politicians and bureaucrats, who are dealing with it, but at their usual slow pace—and we’re running out of time.

When enough people speak up, march in the streets and vote, the politically powerful must pay attention. That’s why climate strikes, legal challenges, petitions, letters and voting are so important. We must keep repeating ourselves until the message sinks in! We need to drown out the fossil fuel industry’s continued attempts to stall the

Accepting harsh truths is difficult at

The industry that has long held sway over global economies, governments and lives isn’t giving up without a fight, though. In their reckless pursuit of obscene profits, oil, gas and coal executives are making every effort to maintain their grip on wealth and power, regardless of the risk that puts us in.

Our “folly” is that many of us have become so accustomed to comfortable, energy-intensive lives that we resist change, even if it will bring numerous benefits. It’s challenging not to be lulled into complacency and acceptance of the status quo by industry’s deceptive public relations juggernaut that falsely paints fossil fuels as necessary for years to come and a transition to cleaner energy as too disruptive.

Accepting harsh truths is difficult at the best of times. With climate, truth often gets ploughed under the enormous amounts of money and other resources fossil fuel

necessary energy transition.

Rapidly transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy is still possible and offers numerous benefits: less pollution, improved health, more jobs, better economic outcomes and—if done right—greater equality. But, as UN secretary general António Guterres said, “We must make up time lost to footdragging, arm-twisting and the naked greed of entrenched interests raking in billions from fossil fuels.”

I’ll go on repeating myself until the human family is cured of its folly or I can no longer speak. If I fall silent, others will continue to speak up. Please join them if you haven’t already!

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

the best of times.

The remains of the season

ON THE SECOND CROSSING of a portage, deep within the wild woods of Northern Ontario, I drink in the last remnants of summer. Having carried the canoe on my first pass, I take my time on the second. In glorious sunshine, with everything in the forest electric with intent, new smells waft past with regularity. From the forest’s white noise my ears untangle both a woodpecker’s distant drilling for insect gold, and the soft, pattering rain of tent-caterpillar

BY

poo (I’ll admit that one’s an acquired sound).

Hopscotching through the chiaroscuro of light and shadow in the understory, my eyes catch the vermillion flash of newly fallen leaves dotting the brown litter like small explosions. Ah… fallen leaves. The equinox is coming. The last, lazy exhalations of summer swaying in the canopy above are heralding the sharper inhalations of autumn, prelude to the icy, breath-holding quiet of winter.

Whenever I find myself on the cusp of seasonal change, I’m wont to recall the entirety of this dramatic annual arc. So that day, there wasn’t just the theatre of summer to dwell on, but everything that led into it. And having viewed daily from my canoe the past week evidence of this storyline—the ice marks on shoreline rocks, the lakeside browse-lines of deer, the sap streaks on trees, the falling

water levels, the squadrons of geese winging south—it wasn’t hard to imagine the coming lock-down of black-and-white winter, where snow-covered beaver lodges would be one of the few signs offering a reminder of patient life breathing quietly beneath it all.

It was equally easy to imagine the arrival of the vernal maiden—the spring wood after the thaw, before the insects were out or the birds had returned, when regiments of greenand-white flowers sprouted from tan mats, hinting at the life-blood syrup boiling up through the trees. And now, though the forest in general seemed still locked in the industries

single and double bonds—a system referred to as conjugation. Lots of conjugation going on means a molecule can absorb different wavelengths of light, which, ultimately, leads to the refraction of those colours in the visible spectrum.

Most people can tell you that chlorophyll the molecule within organelles known as chloroplasts that run a leaf’s metabolic machinery—is responsible for the green colour of plants. An essential component of photosynthesis, the process in which plants convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars using only the energy of the sun, the

yellows to the game, but it’s carotenoids that are responsible for the vibrant oranges and reds that light up Eastern Canada’s deciduous forests (or Creekside’s transplanted one).

These molecules also degrade as autumn progresses, but much more slowly than the more-fragile chlorophyll. Notable carotenoids include the familiar orange beta-carotene of carrots, the lycopene responsible for tomato red, and lutein, which lends egg yolks their bright yellow.

of summer, the details said otherwise. All was powering-down, the longer, colder nights drawing the leaves into biochemical ballet, a fungible shift from summer’s vibrant green to the red, orange, and yellow palette of fall.

Once upon a time I learned how all this worked in a Plant Physiology course, dooming me to remember it each fall as I track the chromatic shuffle. I’ll share it here, but before considering how the different chemical compounds involved contribute to what we see, I’ll explain how the pigments originate.

The first place to look is at the chemical bonds these molecules contain. These can be either single (one shared pair of electrons between neighbouring atoms), or double (two shared pairs of electrons), but the molecules responsible for colour contain alternating

production of chlorophyll itself requires both warmth and sunlight. As these factors wane with the passing of summer, the days shorten quickly after the September equinox (you may notice sunset is two minutes earlier every night) and production of new chlorophyll slows while decomposition of pre-existing molecules accelerates. Once chlorophyll is out of the picture, other compounds already present in the leaves step up to affect the next phase of colouration.

As chemical families go, both carotenoids and flavonoids are large ones. Lurking right alongside chlorophyll, higher levels of the green stuff during summer mask these pigments. But as chlorophyll begins to degrade, they immediately make themselves visible; both groups of compounds contribute

And then there’s anthocyanins. Unlike carotenoids and fellow flavonoids, you won’t find anthocyanins in leaves year-round. Instead, their synthesis is initiated by an increase in sugars in fall leaves reacting with sunlight. Anthocyanins bring magenta, purple and red hues to leaves, their vividness often tied to the acidity of a tree’s sap (meaning there’s a big environmental component from both soil and weather). Though plant biologists remain uncertain of their role, anthocyanins may help protect leaves from light damage, extending their time on the branch (anthocyanins probably played a large role in what happened in Whistler last fall, when a heat anomaly in September and October caused leaves to stay on most trees well into winter).

Eventually, of course, all leaves are shed, clamouring to the ground in a rain of colour. Mostly they are bound for decay, a restarting of the forest’s nutrient cycle. Some will suffer the ignominy of herding by the Muni’s ridiculous leaf blowers, but others will find their way into the forest, where you, like I, can contemplate the heroic cycle of creation, transformation, and termination they represent.

Leslie Anthony is a biologist, writer and author of several popular books on environmental science. ■

Whenever I find myself on the cusp of seasonal change, I’m wont to recall the entirety of this dramatic annual arc.

LESLIE ANTHONY

FALL FOLIAGE The changing of the seasons in Whistler evokes the “heroic cycle” of creation, transformation, and termination.

PHOTO BY MIKE CRANE / GETTY IMAGES

Myth (/miTH/)

a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature. a widely held but false belief or idea.

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Going by the first definition for “myth” that pops up in Google search results, Whistler was built on one.

The resort lies within the shared territory of the Lil’wat and Squamish First Nations. According to their history, the area was once known as Spo7ez, an ancient village the Lil’wat and Squamish people shared where Rubble Creek and the Cheakamus River meet. “For many years the members of both nations lived peacefully engaging in trade and commerce,” explains a story on the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre’s website.

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That is, until villagers began disrespecting each other, and the Thunderbird decided to take action. The supernatural creature flapped his wings, igniting a volcano eruption and a massive rockslide that buried the village. Survivors were sent home to spread the message that these neighbouring nations needed to work together.

Most know the iconic spire of volcanic rock that looms over the area today as Black Tusk, but to the Lil’wat and Squamish people, the black, jagged rock formed during an eruption roughly 170,000 years ago is the Thunderbird’s favourite perch.

First Nations communities have used stories like these not only to explain geography and catastrophic events, but to pass teachings, culture, and history down through generations for thousands of years.

The Lil’wat Nation in particular divides its oral history into two categories: “sqwéqwel’ (true stories) and sptakwlh (legends),” according to the 2007 Líl’wat Fact Book. “Our ancestors used the landscape to anchor events much in the way other cultures used calendars,” it reads. “Both sqwéqwel’ and sptakwlh told dramatic stories of magical transformation, mystery and fierce power.”

It seems the freewheeling ski bums who settled into the valley in more recent years took a cue from the people who were here first.

In the almost six decades since Whistler Mountain’s chairlifts started spinning, locals have steadily built up their own collection of true stories and legendary tales recounting the outrageous occurrences that shaped Whistler’s unofficial history.

“It is such an incredible part of the world—just the beauty of the nature here,” says Stephen Vogler. The local author, playwright, and musician has called the valley home since moving to Whistler as a kid in 1976.

“And it’s very dynamic,” he adds. “The valley drains out of both sides. It’s a very energetic place, so I think it lends itself to really interesting stories and myths, from whatever era and

whatever culture.”

You only need to ask members of the Whistler Winter Facebook group to leave a comment naming a favourite local myth/urban legend/actual legend to find out just how many of those stories there are.

Vogler detailed a few of them in Only in Whistler: Tales of a Mountain Town, his 2009 non-fiction follow-up to 2007’s Top of the Pass: Whistler and the Sea-to-Sky Country

“I had a lot more material about Whistler that I wanted to include, but couldn’t include in [Top of the Pass],” he says. His publishers offered up an opportunity to write another book, “so then I could really delve into those stories of all the different characters I’d gotten to know over the years growing up here.”

There isn’t enough room in Pique’s pages to lay out the backstory behind every piece of local lore, but here’s an attempt to bust a few of Whistler’s wildest myths.

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF TOURISTS

Let’s get this out of the way: Whistler’s economy runs exclusively on tourism. We need visitors; we love visitors, but it doesn’t mean we can’t mess with them a little while they’re here—especially those few vacationers who leave their critical thinking skills at home.

It’s a common enough practise that Pique included a “Best Lie to Tell Tourists” category in its annual Best of Whistler survey for several years.

The responses are chock-full of wildly unbelievable myths perpetuated by mischievous locals: that Whistler’s black bears are domesticated creatures released from their enclosures each morning; that those bears only attack a couple of tourists each year; or that Green Lake is drained annually so crews can repaint the bottom a bright shade of turquoise. (That colour comes from sediment in glacier runoff rather than a can of

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Benjamin Moore, believe it or not.)

It’s tough to imagine the kinds of questions that prompted those inside jokes in the first place, but the origin of the mythical “Dual Mountain” is easier to trace. Back when Whistler and Blackcomb mountains were operated by two different companies, long before the Peak 2 Peak gondola, skiers could buy a “Dual Mountain” ticket to access both hills in one day. You can’t blame visitors for flocking to guest services windows and concierge desks to ask, “Where’s Dual Mountain?”

Just as you can’t blame those employees for replying “It’s in Pemberton.”

Pique’s records show a Dual Mountain Unlimited Pass cost $1,385.65 for the 1995-96 winter season. That translates to just over $2,500 in today’s money, according to the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator—significantly more than the $1,352 price tag Vail Resorts is charging for a 2023-24 Whistler

Blackcomb Unlimited Pass this September. Day tickets, however, were $49 for each mountain, and $51 (or $92 today) for dual mountain access.

Maybe season pass price hikes are another myth to add to the list?

THE STUFF OF LEGEND

Whistler is the setting for countless events that would sound far-fetched, if it weren’t for numerous eyewitness accounts confirming their validity.

That friend of a friend wasn’t exaggerating, for example, when they told you about the time they saw The Tragically Hip play a surprise show at The Boot pub, or witnessed KISS bassist Gene Simmons jump into a jam session at Alpine Cafe just a couple of summers ago.

The New Jersey Hot Pack saga is one cautionary searchand-rescue tale with all the makings of an urban legend, and a lesson about what not to do when lost in the backcountry. Unfortunately for everyone involved, says retired ski patroller Ian Bunbury, this one’s true, too.

Bunbury is the man responsible for coining the Urban Dictionary-worthy moniker, though he admits he didn’t respond to this particular search-and-rescue call first-hand.

In case you haven’t had the pleasure of hearing about a New Jersey Hot Pack, the story goes something like this (here’s a warning to skip ahead about four paragraphs if you’re easily grossed out): around the mid-2000s, four skiers visiting from New Jersey made the not uncommon mistake of venturing beyond the ski-area boundary, into the Cakehole on the south side of Whistler Mountain in search of fresh tracks. Like many before them, the four men got lost in the unforgiving backcountry. “I think we were having one

Locals Bart and Sue Ross took Dusty for a ride after winning the taxidermied bronco—and more importantly, his vintage saddle—during a fundraiser at Dusty’s.

Photo by Brian Hydesmith, courtesy of Stephen Vogler

©2023 Benjamin Moore & Co., Limited. Benjamin Moore and the triangle "M" symbol are registered trademarks of Benjamin Moore & Co., Limited.All other marks are the property of their respective owner. 5/23

of our cold snaps,” Bunbury recalls. “It was, like, -20, so they were hurting for sure.”

First, the foursome reportedly burned all the cash they were carrying in an effort to keep warm. When their pockets were empty, one skier decided to try filling his pants, and somehow convinced the others to follow suit. “They shat their pants,” Bunbury clarifies. “I can’t imagine … to be a grown man, and think ‘This is going to make me warmer,’ and not think about the future.”

The men ended up being lost for a couple of nights before rescuers showed up in a helicopter, but the DIY hot pack incident occurred on night one.

“Apparently they just reeked,” says Bunbury. “You can imagine what it’d be like having shit in your pants for 60

hours.” He admits some details may have been exaggerated over a years-long game of telephone, but by all accounts, the stench was real.

There are other, less-disgusting legends shared on chairlifts and in comment threads that sound realistic enough, by Whistler’s standards, but prove a little more challenging to, well, prove.

Like former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau—not to be mistaken for the longtime Whistlerite by the same name— spotted hitchhiking in ski boots on the shoulder of Highway 99, or a massive bunker billionaire Bill Gates is rumoured to have built under his Whistler vacation home.

“I know he had a house up on Blackcomb, near staff housing, kind of,” says Vogler, “So yeah, it probably has a bunker.”

DUSTY’S DESCENT

Sometimes the true story is even better than the myth.

That’s the case with Dusty’s, the Whistler Blackcombowned Creekside institution that claims to be “full of legend and lore.” It’s named after a taxidermied horse “that rode into Whistler in 1979 in the back of a pick-up,” according to the resort’s website, where it found a home in the Westernthemed bar.

Dusty watched over partying locals for nearly a decade. One fateful full moon Friday, “legend has it a female partier stripped totally naked and jumped on Dusty’s back. Dusty bucked into life, burst through the bar doors, shook the shocked nude woman into a snowbank and galloped off into the night, never to be seen again.”

Dusty the dead horse is one topic Vogler covers in-depth in Only in Whistler—and the truth is closer to the mythicized version than you might think.

It was 1983, and Vogler was helping renovate Whistler’s original watering hole, L’Apres. “While the renovations were underway, an antiques salvage company scoured the west coast of the U.S. for odd bits of Wild West memorabilia,” he writes in the book. “This style of decor may not have had any connection to the Whistler Valley, but stuffing old things into bars and restaurants was in vogue at the time.”

Dusty, a famous 1920s Texas bronco stuffed in a permanent bucking position, was among the treasures brought up north to Creekside. He was saddled up and tossed in the corner, and the bar was named in his honour.

“From its inception, Dusty’s became the backdrop for many bizarre and humorous local stories,” Vogler writes, beginning with its grand opening. Shelley Phelan was less than a month into her new job, but to the crowd’s delight, that didn’t stop her from hopping on the horse and ditching her top during the festivities.

Phelan later clarified another (fully clothed) female employee had ridden Dusty during a staff party the night before.

A wild bash dubbed “Dusty’s Last Stand” sent the original bar off in style in April 2000.

Photo by rod harman, courtesy of Stephen Vogler

joined the ski patrol - ready for day one of operation. The Pope set an example of excellence for more than 40 years until he retired from ski patrol at 75 years. Retirement gave Ken more time with Andrea and their dog. Winter was focused on skiing, summer for surfing and every day was perfect for a cafe latte and cookie.

Ken is survived by Andrea, daughter Riley, son in-law Andrew, granddaughter Makena and his amazing legacy. Celebration of Life to follow at a later date middle to end of November 2023

“I had recently been hired as Whistler Mountain’s marketing manager, a single, 20-something female on an otherwise allmale management team, most of whom were about twice my age,” she explains in a letter to Pique, published in Vogler’s book. “Unable to attend the staff party the night before, I heard all about the horse-mounting incident many times over at the Grand Opening, and was encouraged by many to follow suit, which I eventually did. Some of my fellow management team then persuaded me to ride the horse bareback. In the spirit of fun, and in a naive burst of what-the-heck exuberance, I obliged them. And the rest is (some-what-distorted) history, which continues to amaze and amuse me to this day.”

Despite a harsh warning from Whistler’s thenpresident, she maintains the move was “a stroke of marketing genius, however unintentional it may have been at the time.” As Phelan tells Vogler, “There is nothing I could have done to raise the profile of Dusty’s overnight any more effectively than ride that horse … years later they’re still talking about it!”

Dusty was put out to pasture when the bar was due for another refresh, becoming a fixture on the local charity auction circuit. He was returned home during one of those auctions, when the winning bidder was more interested in the vintage saddle than the bronco himself. So sparked another round of adventures for ol’ Dusty that included a trip up Whistler Mountain, where pranksters hoisted him onto a lift evacuation practice tower, before relocating him to a liftee shack on Blackcomb via a dead-of-night journey in a Whistler patrol toboggan, towed behind a snowmobile. (Bunbury may or may not have played a role.)

Looking ragged and missing a limb at this point, Dark Side staff sentenced Dusty to the dump. But leaving the oncefamous equine to rot in the landfill apparently didn’t sit right with whoever was tasked with the job: they opted to toss Dusty in the Cheakamus River instead.

A kayaker who spotted the dead horse called the RCMP. “They brought in a dive team and soon called a crane to pull

the horse from the river where it had clearly stumbled over the rugged bank to its death,” Vogler writes. A local cowboy brought in to identify which ranch the horse came from broke the news to Mounties that the animal had been dead for 50 years. “The RCMP officers didn’t find the situation particularly humorous,” Vogler explains.

Dusty’s last journey brought him to Blackcomb’s Base II, where he fittingly “left this world in a final blaze of glory that involved a can of gasoline and a match.”

In the years since Only in Whistler’s release, “people have been filling in more little sub-chapters along the way, which is the sign of a good story,” said Vogler.

The bucking bronco’s legacy is alive and well in Creekside, where his namesake venue remains the scene of many a wild après session. Usually with a little less nudity, though.

WHISTLER’S FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD GHOSTS

Whistler isn’t without its fair share of traditional lore, from crime-related legends like the Brio Beater to the Sea to Sky’s resident Sasquatch. (Read Pique’s Dec. 7, 2014 cover feature “In the shadow of the sasquatch,” or listen to a 2016 episode of Pique’s Mountain Mythic podcast for more Bigfoot banter.)

When it comes to the paranormal, the restaurant that houses Creekbread—just across the highway from Dusty’s— was known as one of the most haunted buildings in town for decades. So much so that longtime Pique reporter Brandon Barrett joined a pair of mediums at the site in October 2012, on assignment for the Whistler Question

Their goal? To help a pair of spirits pass on.

Reports about two ghosts, a mother and a child around 12 years old, had been circulating for years, documented as

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far back as a 1994 Question article: “The pale apparitions are blamed for strange occurrences late at night, especially in the loft,” it read.

A server recounted being pulled aside by guests who saw a woman and a child in the restaurant’s rafters, when the building housed an Italian spot called Settebello. Staff had heard rumours the spirits were a mother and child who died in a fire, even though there is no record of any blazes in the Karen Crescent building since it was constructed in 1979.

Creekbread’s owners told Barrett about their own encounters while working on the restaurant ahead of its grand opening in 2009. “It was dark, I was looking out into the room and I saw a women in white … go from the middle of the room and out the doors that lead to the patio. She was high up, maybe 10 feet in the air,” said co-owner Jay Gould at the time. Gould didn’t say anything to oven-builder Mark Jowett, who was also in the room at the time, “because who would believe it?” he remembered. But a few minutes later, Gould revealed, Jowett said: “I think I just saw a ghost.”

As Barrett wrote, another of the restaurant’s owners, Josh Stone, and his wife Amy were working alone late one night around the same time as Gould’s brush with the paranormal. “I came around the last bend in the flight of stairs and the hair on my body just shocked up. It was like getting a blast of freezing air, but it wasn’t cold at all. Something was around the corner, I just knew it, and when I peeked around the last flight of stairs … I saw a figure whisk into the men’s bathroom,” Josh recalls in the article. “When Amy asked me to explain what I saw, I could only say that it was an adult woman, but I had no specific description.”

Still, Barrett was skeptical when he showed up to meet the two local mediums. That skepticism turned to surprise when he noticed both were “visibly nervous, breathing the kind of long, exhaustive breaths you take when you’re feeling incredibly anxious,” he wrote.

He describes taking a seat in the restaurant’s loft, watching as the mediums reacted to messages they were receiving from

the spirits. They learned the daughter had been taken forcibly from her First Nations mother in the early nineteenth century. The daughter’s spirit had since passed over, but her mom was stuck, still holding onto the guilt and searching for her little girl, the medium said.

Then, one medium started to “sob hysterically,” as Barrett describes: “There was a fire,” the medium said. “Oh God, she was burned alive.”

Barrett hadn’t mentioned anything about a blaze.

The mediums were reportedly able to help the spirit pass on and reunite with her daughter, but the group wasn’t able to revel in that peaceful outcome for long. Barrett and co. were soon pulled to the adjacent Whistler Creek Lodge building, where the mediums managed to connect with a “stubborn” male presence, eventually coaxing him to cross over alongside another female presence spotted on the third floor for years.

That was probably Bill, a ghostly old man housekeepers and employees had reportedly seen wandering the hallways.

For a 2020 Whistler Insider blog post titled “Meet the Ghosts of Whistler,” author Katy Cameron worked with the Whistler Museum to track down information about Bill Bailiff, a U.K. immigrant and former logger who worked in the community in the early 1900s—and fits the profile of the Whistler Creek Lodge spectre to a T.

Archives say Bailiff quit his job on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway to come work as a trapper in Alta Lake in 1913. Two decades later, Bailiff would help build Jordan’s Lodge on the shores of Nita Lake, just a few hundred metres west of the Whistler Creek Lodge.

The Creekbread séance Barrett witnessed appears to have worked: word on the street is the ghosts haven’t been seen since that day in 2012, according to Cameron’s Tourism Whistler blog, but an email to Creekbread inquiring about any recent hauntings wasn’t returned by press time—guess this myth will have to stay a mystery for now.

The restaurant adjacent to Whistler Creek Lodge, pictured in 1980.

The Whistler question collection, courtesy of The Whistler Museum

A SACRIFICE TO THE SNOW GOD

Praise Ullr, reap the rewards.

It’s that myth (and an insatiable thirst for powder) that keeps skiers and snowboarders praying to a Norse deity year after year. Many consider Ullr the Scandinavian god of winter and snow-sports.

In Whistler, those prayers took the form of a ski-burn starting in the mid-1970s, an idea organized by a young group of friends and inspired by an “Ullr” pin their buddy Marco Pfeiffer was wearing at the time. “He said, ‘We’ve got to do a sacrifice for more snow,’” recalls Steve Anderson in Only in Whistler

The first ceremony reportedly took place on Nita Lake, with those in attendance dancing in circles around a bonfire in front of Jordan’s Lodge.

The best part? It worked.

As Vogler writes, buckets of snow fell that winter, launching an annual tradition.

There were rules, Anderson tells Vogler: the sacrificial skis had to be good quality, not destined for the dump—the better the gear, the deeper the snow, generally. An effigy was always modelled after a prominent figure in town, which Shawn Walsh would traditionally ignite with a flaming arrow released from his bow.

“It was a real sort of Pagan, free-for-all party, basically,” says Vogler, “but it had at its core, this sacrifice to the snow God, which is kind of [fitting] for a ski town.”

The group was emboldened when they skipped the skiburn ahead of the 1976-77 season, only to spend the next several months scraping down ice-covered slopes.

The event moved around to various venues over the next decade or so, until the mountain climbed on board and started hosting its own Ullr Fests in the mid-’80s. (Minus the effigy…) The event’s original organizers remembered that winter as “a crap snow

season,” Anderson says in Only in Whistler . “I remember we referred to them as unsanctioned burns.”

Whistler Mountain “kind of killed it,” Vogler admits. The sacrificial ski-burn was “meant to be an underground, grassroots thing.”

It likely wouldn’t have lasted until today anyways, given society’s increased awareness about environmentallyresponsible practices. “In those days, you didn’t even think about burning Ptex and plastic bases, but nowadays we realize that is not cool, not healthy,” says Vogler. “It’s just changing times. But yeah, [Ullr Fest] was very underground. Very wild and crazy—when something like a mountain corporation tries to co-opt it, the gods are not happy.”

But Whistler has had good snow years since then—could those underground Ullr rituals still be going down in backyards and basement suites around the resort?

Perhaps, says Vogler. As much as Whistler has grown, he sees its irreverent spirit carrying on.

“I always like to think that all the crazy underground things and great stories, these are happening all the time,” Vogler says.

Stories about Dusty and ski-burns “just happened to be that era in this town. I was writing about that because I grew up here and was surrounded by all those stories, but I think they’re ongoing—I’m a firm believer in that,” he continues. “You still hear fun stories on social media, and in some of the local groups and stuff. Some crazy stories emerge.

“There’s not any good old days. These are the good old days.”

Interested in reading more of Vogler’s recollections? Only in Whistler is available to purchase locally at Armchair Books, or online on Amazon. ■

Photo by Brian Hydesmith, courtesy of Stephen Vogler

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Cassidy Deane helps propel Canada to fifth at World Rowing Championships

DEANE IS THE LONE WHISTLERITE ON THE CANADIAN WOMEN’S EIGHTS ROWING SQUAD

BY DAVID SONG

LIKE MANY WHISTLER KIDS , Cassidy

Deane always thought she would be a skier. She’s been carving powder since she could walk, with figure skating being her other main youth sport. Deane also participated in volleyball, basketball, and track and field, but skating helped her fine-tune her stance and balance as a ski racer.

Today, Deane is a national team-calibre rower who has helped Canada to an Olympic berth in Paris. Come next summer, they’ll attempt to defend their women’s eight gold medal from Tokyo 2020.

How did she end up becoming a summer athlete who deals with water in its liquid form, as opposed to frozen? It was all a matter of opportunity.

“I went off to university. There’s skiing in Ontario but not in Kingston, specifically, and so I was kind of looking to pick up a new sport,” Deane said.

A NEW START

Partway through her physical and health education degree at Queen’s University, a member of the campus rowing team

approached Deane. She’s tall and lean, with an athletic body type that evidently caught the recruiter’s eye. At that point, Deane had only ever seen rowing on television, but was eager to give it a try.

At first, coaches moved her all over the boat, and she wondered if she had what it took. In hindsight, she realizes they saw her potential, and were trying to figure out how to

you have to load the ski at a certain time of the turn in order to carve the ski properly. I do feel like there was a timing element that transferred from skiing into rowing, and I do have quite a few teammates that were also previous ski racers.”

After graduating from Queen’s, the now 26-year-old knocked down a master’s degree of kinesiology in sport management and

would have found myself ever going to Serbia to compete, or even possibly to travel. Canada will have a boat at the Olympics, hopefully defending its gold medal title. It’s really great for our program and for the entire Canadian women’s rowing team.”

It was a big deal when the Canadians broke through in Tokyo. They had won the second Olympic women’s eight gold medal in this country’s history and the first since 1992 in Barcelona. Four members of that championship squad—Avalon Wasteneys, Kasia GruchallaWesierski, Sydney Payne and coxswain Kristen Kit—were back in Serbia, but the rest (including Deane) are relative newcomers.

best use her physical gifts.

Deane officially began with the Queen’s novice rowing program in fall 2015, and donned a Canadian uniform three years later at the World University Rowing Championship in Shanghai. It was at that point she realized she wanted to double down on her new sport, attempting the considerable leap from varsity to national-level competition.

Her diverse athletic background has, at least indirectly, empowered her to make the step up.

“Rowing has a lot of timing elements to it. You have to be in time with your crew, you have to be in time with the boat moving underneath you and the speed of the water,” explained Deane. “That’s similar to skiing:

leadership at Western University. She grinded through the doldrums of COVID-mandated lockdowns and admitted to struggling with the mental challenge of training by herself at home. Fortunately, she stayed the course— and it paid off.

UPHOLDING THE STANDARD

Deane represented Canada last month at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. There, she helped propel the Maple Leaf to a fifth-place finish and a secured spot at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

“It was a great experience,” Deane said. “I am very grateful for being able to travel to all these amazing countries. I don’t think I

“I think it’s very cool because the veterans are able to lead by example, demonstrating the best practices and what a gold medal mentality looks like,” Deane said. “Our process is training every day, upholding that standard that we have highlighted as being the best, and that includes showing up both mentally and physically. We need to just make sure all the details are there.”

As she and her teammates embark on their final approach to Paris, Deane is proud to be the only Whistlerite among them. She hopes to do her part in raising awareness for rowing in the Sea to Sky corridor, growing the sport beyond a dedicated few who train on Alta Lake.

“Rowing’s a bit of a unique sport in the sense that it’s very individualized. I can only control what I’m doing,” said Deane. “But then, it’s also a team sport, because you’re in a boat with either two, four or eight other people. I really like how it mixes both.”  n

ROW, CANADA Cassidy Deane of Whistler helped Canada secure a rowing berth at the 2024 Olympics.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

“Rowing’s a bit of a unique sport in the sense that it’s very individualized.”

- CASSIDY DEANE

Thanks be to bees

HELPING OUT THESE LITTLE HEROES THAT LITERALLY PUT FOOD ON OUR TABLES

THEY POLLINATE three fourths of the world’s flowering plants, helping trees and plants grow, which are vital for life on Earth.

GET LACEY, AND LAZY

Lori Weidenhammer is an artist, educator and the author of Victory Gardens for Bees: A DIY Guide to Saving the Bees—the best resource ever on how to garden to help bees. (Check it out at your favourite public library, including Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton.)

have eggs or pupae already inside since bees lay eggs from early spring to first frost.

grateful just to be around, and I can work with them.”

BY GLENDA BARTOSH

Virtually all the fruits and veggies you enjoy, from apples to avocados, cashews to cabbages—even that Thanksgiving squash— have been pollinated by some form of animal life. Butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds are all vital pollinators, but bees are the most vital of all. They pollinate more than 130 food crops along with crops that livestock like cattle and goats depend on, and the plants wild animals need. Alfalfa, clover—even coconuts—are all pollinated by bees.

The UN puts it this way: Three out of four crops around the world producing our food depend largely on bees as pollinators. Friends of the Earth puts it this way: Bees pollinate one bite of every three we humans eat.

Now there’s some food for thought this Thanksgiving. As we munch away we can honestly say, thanks be to bees for our feasting. Then once we’re done, try these tips from two experts about what we can do in fall to show our gratitude and help these amazing creatures.

Lori’s also an award-winning naturalist who co-created the iNaturalist BC Bee Tracker—another great bee resource, where she’s IDed 17,000-plus posts! So I was happy to talk with her about bees over-wintering, and how we can help them, given colony collapse, wildfires, drought and all the other challenges bees face, from climate change and more.

First, Lori points out that some bees over-winter as pupae and some as adults, depending on when the eggs are laid. Since 70 per cent of B.C.’s wild bees nest in the ground, “the more of your garden that you can just leave as natural, the better.”

“What I really advocate is to have some parts of your garden that are like infrastructure for bees,” she says. “For instance, there’s a community garden in Riley Park where we have a perennial garden around the whole border which we dig into as little as possible, in case bees are nesting under their favourite plants.”

Going “natural” also means don’t rake up everything or be too tidy. Leave dead leaves and plant material on the ground as much as possible—think of it as a “lacey garden.” Or even lazy! As for the 30 per cent of bees that are cavity- and stem-nesters, like mason and leafcutter bees, leave at least some nice strong stems sticking out. Stubble cut, Lori calls it. Some stems, like cut rose stems, might even

When it’s time, plant flowers that will bloom in succession, again, from early spring to late fall, starting with bulbs as Honza suggests, below. Also, try to plant at least one square metre of any one plant to give bees a critical mass. Lori’s beefriendly favourites include snowberry and yarrow, both of which grow wild in Sea to Sky and produce lots of pollen. Asters and goldenrods are great, too. But whatever you plant for bees, water regularly. Plants stressed by drought don’t flower long.

YOU HAVE A DOG. HONZA HAS BEES

Honza Maly is a beekeeper and landscaper who manages about 50 bee colonies in the Sea to Sky through his appropriately named business, Mountain Bee. He even kept some colonies at higher elevations this summer to gather fireweed honey, one of the best.

They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and that applies to beekeepers, too. Honza first started keeping bees as a boy growing up in the charming 13th-century Czech village of Háj ve Slezsku, where his grandfather was a big beekeeper. So being thankful for bees is second nature for him.

“I am absolutely grateful to have bees around me. I see them more than insects,” Honza says from Pemberton, where he l ives with his family. “Someone has a dog, I have bees.

“For me, it’s so calming to work with bees. It’s always a puzzle I have to solve… and at the same time, it’s very rewarding to see them flying and buzzing around. I’m so

Honza says that we can still see bees now, as long as daytime temperatures are 10 C or higher. If it’s not too stormy or rainy, his honeybees will forage for pollen and nectar, even in the rain. Then when things get too cold, they huddle together inside the hive, eating honey or the sugar supplement he provides to keep warm.

As for helping bees over-winter, he totally agrees with Lori’s gardening tips, and adds this: If you’ve seen bees flying out of your potted plants or certain areas of your yard, like along a walkway or your kids’ sandbox, they might be wintering there. Bees like aerated or sandy soil, and they might have already started building a nest there. So don’t tip the soil out of your pots or disturb those areas. (We had bumblebees overwinter several years at the crumbly base of the old brick chimney on our patio.)

As for bee-friendly plants, Honza recommends bulbs like crocuses and tulips that provide nectar and pollen so vital in early spring when bee populations are growing and they need to build their strength. Willows are another top early pollen-producer, provided you don’t cut all the pussy willows. The long, dangling catkins that form later contain the critical nectar and pollen bees love.

As for my bee tip, it’s this: If you haven’t tried some already, contact Honza on social media at Mountain Bee Pemberton for some of his beautiful honey. I bet you’ll find a way to enjoy it, at Thanksgiving and bee-yond.

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who watches the birds and the bees. n

BEE KIND We owe a lot to our fine fuzzy friends, like this female bumblebee gathering pollen on an echinacea flower on our patio. Only females gather pollen.

PHOTO BY GLENDA BARTOSH

Whistler Writers Festival returns with an eclectic, star-studded lineup

THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF THE WRITTEN WORD TAKES PLACE OCT. 12 TO 16

BY DAVID SONG

THE WHISTLER WRITERS Festival (WWF) is back again from Oct. 12 to 16 with a diverse lineup of speakers, from Corner Gas star and national treasure Brent Butt to beloved local improv troupe Laugh Out LIVE. It is the event’s second year back since COVID-19, and there are a few new wrinkles in store.

For instance, the headliner on Oct. 14 features Butt reading from his debut thriller novel, Huge , whilst sharing the stage with Laugh Out LIVE frontpeople Ira Pettle, Rebecca Mason and Dave Francis. This is a divergence from past iterations of the festival, which would normally pair a highprofile author like Butt with an equally prolific interviewer.

This time, Saturday night at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler will be more performative.

“I’m in touch with many festivals of different stripes: music festivals, children’s art festivals, and it’s been a struggle to come back from COVID,” says Whistler Writing Society (WWS) director Rebecca Wood Barrett. “So I think part of what we want to do is really

invite people to have fun and have a laugh.”

The WWF has done its part to develop homegrown talent over the years. That’s why Barrett enthusiastically agreed when Pettle pitched an idea that would become the Writer’s Block Party: an improv and stand-up comedy event that pokes fun at many literary tropes familiar to authors, readers, and book club aficionados. The show takes place on Sunday and Monday night to conclude the festival.

super green and super nervous [makes it] to a professional level and will sell out the shows. It’s a dream come true.”

FROM WILDFIRES TO JAZZ BANDS

When asked if she was especially excited for any specific part of the imminent festival, Barrett remarked that it was like picking her favourite child.

Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast , which contextualizes the disastrous 2016 Fort McMurray blaze within the interplay between climate change and humanity’s relationship with fire itself. In the process, Vaillant and longtime WWF moderator Leslie Anthony will explore a topic that Whistlerites—like all Canadians—have more reason than ever to care about.

Barrett herself is working on a kids’ fiction book about wildfire, and the issue is on her mind in a way it wasn’t 15 years ago. At times, the sound of thunder or the sight of lightning can trigger anxiety for her.

“Part of what we try to do as a festival is really nurture talent that grows within the Sea to Sky,” Barrett says. “We have all kinds of opportunities for people to get their foot in the door. If you get some traction, then ideally at some point you’re going to get published, or you’re going to be on stage with someone like Brent Butt.

“That’s the whole ecosystem that our writing society tries to create for locals. It’s really special when someone who’s been

The first of several noteworthy evening events will be an Oct. 12 storytelling showcase helmed by two First Nations artists: Yvonne Wallace of Lil’wat Nation and Squamish Nation’s Tsawaysia Spukwus. Together at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, they will lead other locals in sharing the flavourful and culturally eclectic tradition of oral storytelling.

John Vaillant stops by the Fairmont the following night to discuss his book

“I think [we’ve all seen] the video of the fire tornado on Gun Lake,” Barrett said. “John will be able to connect some of these events that are happening, that are all so new, with how we got here in terms of the oil and gas industry and our use of that resource as a society. In our neighborhood, we’ve been doing FireSmart activities now for about five to seven years, but it just seems like such a small thing in the face of what he calls the beast of a fire that is not going to stop and cannot be stopped.”

Also returning is the Literary Cabaret on Oct. 13, a unique mix of live music and literary performance. The West Coast Front jazz band will provide a soundtrack as nine authors—Patrick deWitt, Justene DionGlowa, Michael Janyk, Jen Sookfong Lee, Jennifer Manuel, Nick Marino, Rabbi Paul Plotkin, Bronwyn Preece and this year’s

BARD BANTER Left to right: Cody Caetano, Jamal Saeed and Lisa Moore at the 2022 Whistler Writers Festival.

PHOTO BY JOERN ROHDE / COURTESY OF THE WHISTLER WRITERS FESTIVAL

“Part of what we try to do as a festival is really nurture talent that grows within the Sea to Sky.”

- REBECCA WOOD BARRETT

Writer in Residence Cody Caetano—read from their latest works. The Cabaret is improvisational, with authors having only one rehearsal to prepare their delivery.

Those who have seen the Netflix film Fantastic Fungi may want to show up for Michael J. Hathaway’s Saturday morning session. Hours before Butt’s anticipated event, Hathaway will dive deep into how matsutake mushrooms and other fungi help make our planet tick.

A BIZARRE NEW WORLD

A few short years ago, the idea of human writers being supplanted by artificial intelligence would have been unthinkable. ChatGPT has been changing the game since it was released last November, leaving content creators to ponder or dread the implications of such technology. After all, Marvel Studios has already used A.I. to generate opening credits for its Secret Invasion miniseries, presumably taking jobs away from human animators.

Sci-fi classics like The Matrix and The Terminator depict haunting, worstcase scenarios about the endpoint of machine dominance, and while ChatGPT is (hopefully) not Skynet, questions regarding the ethical usage of artificial intelligence must be posed. Mona Awad and Paul Tremblay are two of the first authors to do so, suing the parent company of ChatGPT

for copyright infringement: specifically for using their books to train the A.I. without consent or compensation.

On Oct. 15, Awad will share with WWF guests the impact digital trends and technologies have had on her career. In many ways, it’s a topic just as relevant as the wildfires that have plagued North America all summer.

“I feel so green in that area,” Barrett admits. “I’ve dabbled a little bit in ChatGPT. I’m a writer in the commercial market and I’m working with some of my clients, and we’re all sort of scratching our heads going: ‘hey, is this affecting our work? Are we getting less work? What’s going to happen here?’

“I’m nervous. I’m also a creative writer. I have intellectual properties that are out there, and I’m really worried about that as well. Is A.I. going to impact my ability to get my work out and be paid fairly for it? Mona is on the frontlines of that fight.”

Whether you’re a stand-up comedy fan looking for a laugh or a high-minded thinker interested in deep questions, the WWF has something for you. Barrett hopes that, under her guidance and buoyed by all kinds of creative talent, the perennial festival will continue to make literature accessible for all.

“The literary arts should not be intimidating, and everyone is welcome to come,” she says.

Tickets and more information can be found at whistlerwritersfest.com. n

Available daily from September 17th to October 15th

BEST IN FEST Top: Joseph Dandurand onstage at the 2022 Whistler Writers Festival. Bottom: Guests mingle with creators at the 2022 fest.

PHOTOS BY JOERN ROHDE / COURTESY OF THE WHISTLER WRITERS FESTIVAL

Three course Turkey Dinner

World-renowned pianist Ian Parker to play

Oct. 15 at Maury Young Arts Centre

PARKER’S UPCOMING CONCERT IS PRESENTED BY THE WHISTLER CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY

BY DAVID SONG

ALTHOUGH MUSIC has taken him across the world from Toronto to Honolulu to Israel, Whistler has always held a special place in Ian Parker’s heart. That is why he’s eagerly looking forward to Oct. 15, the day he’ll return to perform as part of the Whistler Chamber Music Society’s 2023-24 Concert Series.

“Whereas in a fantasy, a composer can basically write what they want. It doesn’t have to follow any kind of formula. It can evolve through very, very different emotional styles and rhythms and tempos.”

Parker will treat audiences to a showcase of four of the classical realm’s greatest minds: Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin and George Gershwin.

“One thing I realized is that my program really features fantasies, and fantasies are a type of music in the classical world that allows a composer to be really quite free-willed as they write,” Parker says. “When you write a sonata, technically, you have to follow a formula. It’s a first theme, which bridges to a second theme, and then there’s a development of those themes.

For instance, Parker will effectively be commemorating the 100th anniversary of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which he describes as “the unofficial national anthem of the United States.” Toccata in D Major BWV 912 by Bach goes through several movements, from energetic to slightly melancholic. Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 is known as the most sophisticated of his four ballades, lauded by one of Parker’s acquaintances as “music that just knows how to pinch your soul.”

Parker will also play Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in its entirety, though the song is most widely known for its first movement and the title Moonlight Sonata.

“Beethoven actually entitled it Quasi una fantasia— a sonata like a fantasy,” explains the West Vancouver-based pianist.

FANTASY-FUELLED Renowned pianist Ian Parker gives himself to the moment during a performance.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

“One thing I realized is that my program really features fantasies...”

IAN PARKER

“He does not, in fact, write a principal melody, like most sonatas have to have. It’s one of the only pieces that you can’t really sing, but people still want to hear it because it’s the harmonies which are so amazing in that piece. It has this harmonic progression, which just seems to take over the emotional content of your entire being.”

A PIANIST’S LIFE

Given his upbringing, it’s no surprise that Parker has given his life to music. He grew up in a veritable piano teaching factory in Burnaby, with numerous instruments in the house and two instructors for parents. Parker’s late father, Edward, had up to 90 students a week at one point in time, and he became accustomed to the sounds of pianos at home from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

By the age of 16, Parker was travelling abroad for various music recitals and festivals. That journey brought him to the Juilliard School in New York City, where he earned three degrees: a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree and an artist’s diploma designed to get him from the classroom to the concert hall. The Vancouverite remained in the Big Apple for more than 20 years pursuing career opportunities that, at the turn of the millennium, could scarcely be found anywhere else.

Parker eventually returned to Vancouver to care for his ailing father. Before long, he fell back in love with the West Coast—

particularly with Whistler and the snow-sport wonderlands of his youth.

“Whistler has always been an extremely important part of my life,” he says. “I’ve watched how that mountain has completely evolved from the tiniest little hidden town to what it is now.”

In fall 2018, Parker led a piano masterclass with the Vancouver Academy of Music (VAM). The conservatory’s president was so impressed

he asked him to sign on as principal conductor of the VAM Symphony Orchestra. Parker did not have much conducting experience at the time, but he wasn’t about to turn down such a rare opportunity.

TWENTY YEARS OF DISCOVERY

Nowadays, the 45-year-old helms eight concerts a year with the VAM at the

Orpheum Theatre and Kay Meek Arts

Centre. His passion for classical music remains undimmed, in part because of the intricacy demonstrated by the likes of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Gershwin.

“Some of this music I’ve been playing for literally 20 years or more, and I still feel as if I’m developing a relationship with it,” Parker says. “No offense to any of the popular music today, but I’ll be honest with you: there’s a reason why it’s so popular. Anybody can learn one of these tunes by hearing it once or twice, and you’ve learned the whole thing. I have to admit, it’s extremely exciting what music is in the pop world today, but it’s not, on a compositional level, that prolific.”

The way Parker sees it, pursuing the classical arts is akin to skiing. You can buy a lift ticket and familiarize yourself with the signature trails of Whistler and Blackcomb, but head out with a local backcountry expert and you’ll find all sorts of terrain you didn’t know existed. Similarly, one can be a concert pianist for decades and still discover fresh avenues in songs that have been savoured for generations.

Those interested in tuning in to what Parker has to offer can drop by the Maury Young Arts Centre. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 15, with tickets priced at $25 for adults and $20 for youth under 20 years of age.

Visit whistlerchambermusic.ca to reserve your spot. Tickets will also be available at Arts Whistler, or at the door.  ■

WORLD CLASS Ian Parker plays Oct. 15 at the Maury Young Arts Centre.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

PIQUE’S GUIDE TO LOCAL EVENTS & NIGHTLIFE

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

GUY DAVIS

OCT.6-12

1. ARTS WHISTLER LIVE! PRESENTS GUY DAVIS

Join Guy Davis for a night of profound storytelling experienced through his intimate musical repertoire. As an artist, Davis believes in the power of storytelling to bring people together, transcending boundaries of class, race, and personal experience.

> Oct. 7, doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m.

> Maury Young Arts Centre

> $30

2. WHISTLER WINE WALK

Tourism Whistler’s annual Whistler Wine Walk is back!

Explore Whistler’s bustling gallery scene while sampling hors d’oeuvres and wines from B.C. wineries every Friday night in October. Each week, four public and private galleries offer a new taste of Whistler’s eclectic cultural mix featuring local, regional, and international artists, and interactive art experiences. At Adele Campbell Fine Art Gallery, you’ll find alternating live painters each week along with an interactive canvas available for participants to paint at their leisure throughout the evening. Find more info at whistler.com/events/whistler-wine-walk.

> Oct. 6, 13, 20 and 27, from 6 to 8:15 p.m.

> Multiple venues

> $20

3. MONTHLY BIRD WALK

Join the Whistler Naturalists for a bird walk on the first and third Saturday of each month. The bird walks are at Alta Lake and Green Lake covering many types of habitat. They’re free and open to anyone interested in birds. You’ll be joined by birding experts who compile a detailed inventory list on year-round bird activity. Start time changes seasonally. Find more info at whistlernaturalists.ca.

> Oct. 7, 7 a.m.

> Upper Village

> Free

4. THE WHISTLER FARMERS’ MARKET

Last call for fresh local goods on the Village Stroll!

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

> Oct. 7 and 8

> Upper Village

> Free

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Blackcomb Helicopters: A short history

BY LIAM MCCRORIE

RECENTLY at the museum, we acquired a collection of documents related to aviation in the Whistler Valley from Brent Wallace.

This collection is very extensive, and contains files from many of the aircraft companies in Whistler such as applications for licences, brochures from charter aviation companies, proposals and documents related to the Whistler Municipal Heliport, some interviews with Myrtle Philip about early aviation in Whistler, and a collection of news clippings spanning from 1977 all the way to 2023. One frequently mentioned company we wanted to focus on is Blackcomb Helicopters, which started a little later, but still made a big splash amongst all the competing charter aviation companies.

Blackcomb Helicopters was founded in 1989 by experienced helicopter pilot Steve Flynn. Flynn managed a number of other bases throughout B.C. before settling in Whistler, where he worked at Pemberton Helicopters before applying for his own operating certificate in 1989. Blackcomb Helicopters began performing mostly technical operations such as fighting forest fires and helping with a number of construction projects, as well as search-and-rescue operations. It also got involved with the growing tourism industry, offering a wide variety of services to customers from all over the world.

Blackcomb Helicopters was up and running by 1991, and construction aid was one of the many services it provided to contractors in Whistler. That year, Blackcomb Helicopters aided with the construction of the Whistler Heliport, and even flew in the windsock for the opening ceremony. In 1992, the company airlifted a 16-man hot tub to the Glacier Lodge. However, construction wasn’t its only focus. The company also helped with conservation efforts such as transporting

bears out of Whistler, like it did in 1994, airlifting a four-year-old male black bear out of the landfill to the Upper Squamish Valley. Blackcomb Helicopters also offered a wide range of heli-touring services to people in the Whistler area, and continues to offer services like heli-biking, heli-skiing and heli-picnics, as well as more specialized services such as search and rescue, medevac, environmental surveys, flights to and from Vancouver, and even film production.

But it hasn’t always been a smooth flight. In 1996, an unidentified party placed a muffin in the fuel tank of one of the company’s helicopters, causing an engine failure and leading to an emergency landing at Squamish’s elementary school (after this event, more security was put in place at the heliport).

The company also had trouble finding a permanent heliport. It became embroiled in a bidding war with Whistler Air for a heliport near Nicklaus North golf course that was ultimately won by Whistler Air, which was acquired by Harbour Air in 2012, and became the floatplane dock on Green Lake. Blackcomb Helicopters ultimately settled in the Whistler Municipal Heliport just north of Green Lake.

In 2006, the company was bought by MCM Aviation, a joint venture between the McLean Group and Omega Aviation. Flynn stayed on as general manager, but Blackcomb Helicopters was now owned by John Morris, Jason McLean, and Sacha McLean.

Nowadays, Blackcomb Helicopters still works with Whistler Blackcomb, and helps with construction, environmental management, emergency services, and film services (it has worked on many Hollywood films such as The A-Team, Godzilla, and the Deadpool films, just to name a few).

Liam McCrorie was one of two summer students working at the Whistler Museum this summer through the Young Canada Works Program. n

CREATING A SYMPHONY A Blackcomb Helicopters pilot picks up a load of cement in 1994.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WHISTLER MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES.

New fall arrivals

Free Will Astrology

WEEK

ARIES (March 21-April 19): I’ve been doing interviews in support of my new book Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle. Now and then, I’m asked this question: “Do you actually believe all that mystical woowoo you write about?” I respond diplomatically, though inwardly I’m screaming, “How profoundly hypocritical I would be if I did not believe in the ‘mystical woo-woo’ I have spent my adult life studying and teaching!” But here’s my polite answer: I love and revere the venerable spiritual philosophies that some demean as “mystical woo-woo.” I see it as my job to translate those subtle ideas into well-grounded, practical suggestions that my readers can use to enhance their lives. Everything I just said is the prelude for your assignment, Aries: Work with extra focus to actuate your high ideals and deep values in the ordinary events of your daily life. As the American idioms advise: Walk your talk and practice what you preach.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I’m happy to see the expanding use of service animals. Initially, there were guide dogs to assist humans with imperfect vision. Later, there came mobility animals for those who need aid in moving around, and hearing animals for those who can’t detect ringing doorbells. In recent years, emotional support animals have provided comfort for people who benefit from mental-health assistance. I foresee a future in which all of us feel free and eager to call on the nurturing of companion animals. You may already have such friends, Taurus. If so, I urge you to express extra appreciation for them in the coming weeks. Ripen your relationship. And if not, now is an excellent time to explore the boost you can get from loving animals.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini author Chuck Klosterman jokes, “I eat sugared cereal almost exclusively. This is because I’m the opposite of a ‘no-nonsense’ guy. I’m an ‘all-nonsense’ guy.” The coming weeks will be a constructive and liberating time for you to experiment with being an all-nonsense person, dear Gemini. How? Start by temporarily suspending any deep attachment you have to being a serious, hyper-rational adult doing staid, weighty adult things. Be mischievously committed to playing a lot and having maximum fun. Dancing sex! Ice cream uproars! Renegade fantasies! Laughter orgies! Joke romps! Giddy brainstorms and euphoric heartstorms!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian comedian Gilda Radner said, “I base most of my fashion taste on what doesn’t itch.” Let’s use that as a prime metaphor for you in the coming weeks. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will be wise to opt for what feels good over what merely looks good. You will make the right choices if you are committed to loving yourself more than trying to figure out how to get others to love you. Celebrate highly functional beauty, dear Cancerian. Exult in the clear intuitions that arise as you circumvent self-consciousness and revel in festive self-love.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The amazingly creative Leo singer-songwriter Tori Amos gives this testimony: “All creators go through a period where they’re dry and don’t know how to get back to the creative source. Where is that waterfall? At a certain point, you say, ‘I’ll take a rivulet.’” Her testimony is true for all of us in our quest to find what we want and need. Of course, we would prefer to have permanent, unwavering access to the waterfall. But that’s not realistic. Besides, sometimes the rivulet is sufficient. And if we follow the rivulet, it may eventually lead to the waterfall.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Do you perform experiments on yourself? I do on myself. I formulate hypotheses about what might be healthy for me, then carry out tests to gather evidence about whether they are. A recent one was: Do I feel my best if I eat five small meals per day or three bigger ones? Another: Is my sleep most rejuvenating if I go to bed at 10 p.m. and wake up at 7 a.m. or if I sleep from midnight to 9 a.m.? I recommend you engage in such

BREZSNY

experiments in the coming weeks. Your body has many clues and revelations it wants to offer you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Take a few deep, slow breaths. Let your mind be a blue sky where a few high clouds float. Hum your favourite melody. Relax as if you have all the time in the world to be whoever you want to be. Fantasize that you have slipped into a phase of your cycle when you are free to act as calm and unhurried as you like. Imagine you have access to resources in your secret core that will make you stable and solid and secure. Now read this Mary Oliver poem aloud: “You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): An Oklahoma woman named Mary Clamswer used a wheelchair from age 19 to 42 because multiple sclerosis made it hard to use her legs. Then a miracle happened. During a thunderstorm, she was hit by lightning. The blast not only didn’t kill her; it cured the multiple sclerosis. Over the subsequent months, she recovered her ability to walk. Now I’m not saying I hope you will be hit by a literal bolt of healing lightning, Scorpio, nor do I predict any such thing. But I suspect a comparable event or situation that may initially seem unsettling could ultimately bring you blessings.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): What are your favourite mind-altering substances? Coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar, or tobacco? Alcohol, pot, cocaine, or opioids? Psilocybin, ayahuasca, LSD, or MDMA? Others? All the above? Whatever they are, the coming weeks will be a favourable time to re-evaluate your relationship with them. Consider whether they are sometimes more hurtful than helpful, or vice versa; and whether the original reasons that led you to them are still true; and how your connection with them affects your close relationships. Ask other questions, too! PS: I don’t know what the answers are. My goal is simply to inspire you to take an inventory.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In his book Meditations for Miserable People Who Want to Stay That Way, Dan Goodman says, “It’s not that I have nothing to give, but rather that no one wants what I have.” If you have ever been tempted to entertain dour fantasies like that, I predict you will be purged of them in the coming weeks and months. Maybe more than ever before, your influence will be sought by others. Your viewpoints will be asked for. Your gifts will be desired, and your input will be invited. I trust you won’t feel overwhelmed!

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): William James (1842–1910) was a paragon of reason and logic. So influential were his books about philosophy and psychology that he is regarded as a leading thinker of the 19th and 20th centuries. On the other hand, he was eager to explore the possibilities of supernatural phenomena like telepathy. He even consulted a trance medium named Leonora Piper. James said, “If you wish to upset the law that all crows are black, it is enough if you prove that one crow is white. My white crow is Mrs. Piper.” I bring this to your attention, Aquarius, because I suspect you will soon discover a white crow of your own. As a result, long-standing beliefs may come into question; a certainty could become ambiguous; an incontrovertible truth may be shaken. This is a good thing!

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): If we hope to cure our wounds, we must cultivate a focused desire to be healed. A second essential is to be ingenious in gathering the resources we need to get healed. Here’s the third requirement: We must be bold and brave enough to scramble up out of our sense of defeat as we claim our right to be vigorous and whole again. I wish all these powers for you in the coming weeks.

Homework: What if you could heal a past trauma? How would you start? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com.

In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny creates

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Visit whistlerwag.com for more information or to fill out an application

– Strength & Cardio

7:30-8:30 am Andy

ANNOUNCEMENTS

IN MEMORIAM

ACelebrationofLifefor JulianRolfSoltendieck (Oct.13,1948-Mar.21,2023)

Whistler’s

AlegendofWhistlerMountainJulian wasapartoftheFrankiegoestothe ValleyteamthatoftenwonthePeakto Valleyrace.

Rememberedbyhisneighboursforhis landscapingandsnowclearingoperations,Julianlivedmanyyearsonthe westsideofAltaLake.

EMPLOYMENT

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

GuestServicesAgent

We’relookingforapassionateGuest ServicesAgenttojoinourteam.

JobDescription:

AsaGuestServicesAgent,youwillbe thefirstpointofcontactforourguests, providingawarmandwelcomingexperiencefromthemomenttheyarrive.

Yourfriendlyattitude,excellentcommunicationskills,andabilitytoanticipateguestneedswillbecrucialinensuringapositivestay.Inaddition, candidateswithmaintenanceskills andavaliddriver’slicensewillbegivenpreference.

info@whistlersuperior.com

Pleasejoinusinrememberingandcelebratingthekind,gentlesoulthatJulianwas.

CelebrationofJulian’slifewilltake placeonOctober14that2p.m.atThe PointArtist-RunCentre,5678Alta LakeRoad,Whistler.

Look

Sachi

• Preparing Sushi and cooking other Japanese traditional food.

• Plan menu and ensure food meets quality standards.

• Estimate food requirements and estimate food and labour costs.

• Instruct Kitchen Helpers and Cooks in preparation, cooking, and presentation of food.

• Assist Head Chef and supervise cooks and kitchen helpers.

• Inspecting ingredients for quality and freshness and supervising all food preparation.

• Create new menu, recipes, and specials.

• Work as a team and ensure orders are completed in a timely manner.

Qualifications:

• Completion of secondary school and 2 years of cook/chef experience

Full-time, Permanent or Temporary All season, 30+ hours per week • $27.50 per hour

Language of work is English

Benefits: 4% vacation pay

Start date: As soon as possible.

Address: 106 – 4359 Main Street, Whistler, BC, V8E 1B5 Apply by email at sushikoba@shaw.ca

We've Got You Covered

•

Lil’wat Nation Employment Opportunities

• Recreation Coordinator

• Recreation Supervisor

• Accounts Payable Coordinator

Xet’òlacw Community School

• Child and Youth Therapist

• Education Assistant

• High School Vice Principal

Lil’wat Health & Healing

• Assistant Health Director

• Administrative Assistant to Health Director

• Clinical Counsellor

Ts’zil Learning Centre

• On Call Receptionist Youth Centre

Administrative Clerk (Regular, Full-time)

Looking to contribute to your local community? Consider a career in local government. Join the SLRD’s team of dedicated staff who work together to make a difference in the region. HeadquarteredinPemberton,theSquamish-LillooetRegionalDistrict(SLRD)deliversawide rangeofregional,sub-regionalandlocalservicestoitsresidents.TheSLRDisaBCRegional Districtconsistingoffourmembermunicipalities(Squamish,Whistler,Pemberton,Lillooet)and fourelectoralareas.Servicesincludelanduseplanning,solidwastemanagement,building inspection, fire protection, emergency preparedness, 911 services, recreation, water and sewer utilities, regional transit, trails and open spaces as well as financial support for various community services. The region contains some of the most spectacular forests, waterways, and mountains intheprovinceandaffordsanendlessrangeofopportunitiesforoutdooradventure,makingitan exceptional place to live, work and play.

The SLRD is seeking an experienced, organized and customer-service focused individual to fill the fulltimepositionof Administrative Clerk. TheAdministrativeClerkpositionisresponsibleforproviding arangeofclericalandadministrativedutiesinsupportoftheLegislativeandCorporateServices Department and for acting as the first point of contact for in person, phone and electronic enquiries to the SLRD. This is an office-based role located at the SLRD Administration Office in Pemberton. Qualified candidates possess a completed high school diploma and additional business, computer and/ or public administration courses with a minimum of 1 year of office administration experience. Qualified candidates also have proficiency with Microsoft Office programs and an aptitude for office technology. The ideal candidate is a self-confident and effective communicator who enjoys engaging with people, demonstrates attention to detail, and has customer-service always in mind. The successful candidate will positively contribute to a team-oriented environment and must build and maintain effective working relationships with a variety of groups including SLRD staff, the public, elected officials and other external contacts.

For further information, please refer to the full job description at www.slrd.bc.ca/employment.

Salary will be determined commensurate with experience. This position also offers a comprehensive benefits package, participation in the Municipal Pension Plan, a compressed work week (9-day fortnight) and learning and career development opportunities.

Interested candidates are invited to submit their cover letter and resume (preferably in .pdf format) by email to careers@slrd.bc.ca. This posting will remain open until filled, with application review commencingon October 10, 2023.

Please visit our career page for more information: https://lilwat.ca/careers/

We sincerely thank all applicants for their interest, however, only candidates under consideration will be contacted.

Staff Accommodation, Perks & Benefits

WE’RE HIRING

Whistler Olympic Park is hiring for the 2023–2024 season (November to April)

We are one of the largest cross country skiing and snowshoeing venues in British Columbia, located in the beautiful Callaghan Valley, just south of Whistler.

What we offer:

STAFFHOUSINGOPTIONSINWHISTLER!

Competitivewages

• Youth Centre Worker APPLY NOW!

Transportandcarpooloptionsto/fromwork

Benefits package & perks, incl. health & wellness options

Full time, part time and casual roles available

WB season pass financing & more

Whistler’s most unique & inspirational workplace!

whistlerolympicpark.com/careers

Blackcomb Façade Technology is hiring Glaziers and Fabricators to join our team of smart, engaged and fun people in Whistler. Working on world class projects with the best contractors and architects. Only new construction, no service work.

We are looking for candidates who have the ability to read construction drawings, proficiency with tools, and a penchant for finding solutions.

Blackcomb Façade Technology offers:

• Top Wages

• Extended Health Benefits

• Leisure Benefit

• RRSP Contribution Matching

Resumes and job descriptions: careers@blackcomb.tech

www.blackcomb.tech/careers

HIRING WE ARE

Why work for us?

All Departments

Communications

Community Planning

Engineering

Public Works

RCMP

Squamish Fire Rescue

We offer competitive wages, a comprehensive pension plan and health benefits, and we are driven by our passion to serve community.

• Clerk 2 – Casual/ On-Call

• Public Engagement Specialist – Regular Full-Time

• Plan Examiner 2 – Regular Full-Time

• Engineering Technician – Regular Full-Time

• Manager of Transportation – Regular Full-Time

• Utilities Technologist – Regular Full-Time

• Detachment Clerk – Casual/On-Call

• Victim Services Case Worker – Temporary Part-Time

• Deputy Fire Chief: Prevention, Administration and Wellness – Regular Full-Time

As an equitable and inclusive employer, we value diversity of people to best represent the community we serve and provide excellent services to our citizens. We strive to attract and retain passionate and talented individuals of all backgrounds, demographics, and life experiences.

squamish.ca/careers

Vacasa’s forward-thinking approach and industry-leading technology help set us apart as the largest full-service vacation rental company in North America.

We are seeking individuals with a passion for providing exceptional vacation experiences for our Owners and Guests.

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

Local Operations Manager

(12-month maternity leave coverage)

Front Desk Manager

(Full-Time, Year-Round)

Apply online today!

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

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

WINTER SURVEYORS

Part Time, Winter Contract

Are you passionate about Whistler, love chatting with visitors, and looking for a part-time role that offers a Whistler Blackcomb Spirit Pass? Tourism Whistler is looking for Winter Surveyors who will play a key role in gathering information about visitor experiences in Whistler. Surveyors collect information by conducting short, face-to-face intercept surveys with visitors throughout Whistler Village. Ideal candidates are mature, outgoing, knowledgeable locals who enjoy talking with visitors.

The details:

• Work two to three shifts per week (fixed schedule) from November 23, 2023 – April 21, 2024

• Shifts are four or five hours, taking place between 9am and 4pm

• Excellent interpersonal skills are required, with particular emphasis on superior customer service

• Excellent knowledge of Whistler and surrounding areas

• Ability to work independently with limited supervision

What we offer:

$20 per hour, plus great end of season bonus pay for high performance!

Flexible schedule Whistler Blackcomb Spirit Pass Fun team get-togethers and a supportive work environment TO APPLY, VISIT US ONLINE AT WHISTLER.COM/CAREERS.

Resort

Employment

Resort

SERVICE TECHNICIAN

Great opportunity for a super motivated/organized person to excel in the field of lock technician services and access control solutions.

The successful individual will have experience in carpentry and/or building maintenance. Any experience in low voltage electrical and/or hotel card access systems will prove very beneficial. Good communication and customer service skills as well as a strong work ethic are essential to this position.

Please reply to Service@alpinelock.com with a resume and cover letter outlining your suitability and qualifications for the position.

No drop-ins or phone calls please, apply only by email.

Free Housing

Join our team of Plumbers and Gas Fitters

Hiring 3rd and 4th year apprentice or journeyman candidates with experience in service/repair work.

• Offering competitive wages

• Providing fully stocked truck, tools, and phone

• Extended health plan available.

• We can hire skilled foreign workers and support permanent residency applications.

• Short-term accommodation availablefree of charge. Long term housing options available as well.

Send your resume to: Dough@spearheadsph.com

CIVIL CONSTRUCTION AND SNOW SERVICES

BUILDING AN EXCELLENT COMPANY, PEOPLE, RELATIONSHIPS, AND RESULTS

PROFESSIONALISM RELIABLE AND HONEST PROBLEM SOLVERS ATTENTION TO DETAIL STRONG WORK ETHIC CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

SNOWPLOW OPERATOR, Whistler - Valid Class 5 BC Driver’s Licence required. Must be available from November 15 through March 31. Prior work experience an asset but all those with a willingness to work hard and learn are welcome to apply; on-the-job training is provided.

HEAVY EQUIPMENT OPERATOR, Squamish - Minimum 5 years or 5,000 hours operating experience on excavator. Full-time, Monday – Friday.

PROJECT COORDINATOR, Squamish - BCIT Construction Management, or equivalent technical diploma or degree required. Full-Time, Monday - Friday.

JOIN OUR TEAM

We are currently hiring for the following positions

Site Superintendent Project Coordinator/Estimator Carpenter

Send your resume to connect@whistlerbuilder.com

The Sea to Sky corridor’s top civil construction company.

We are currently recruiting professionally minded people to join our team:

Class 1 Truck Drivers

*Competitive wages, extended health benefits (after 3 months)

Email resume to: info@whistlerexcavations.com

www.whistlerexcavations.com

The Sea to Sky corridor’s top civil construction company.

We are currently recruiting professionally minded people to join our team.

Required:

Heavy Duty Red Seal Technician or Apprentice

Heavy Duty Technician

*Competitive wages, extended health benefits (after 3 months)

Please send resume to: Email: info@whistlerexcavations.com

ACROSS

LAST WEEKS’ ANSWERS

Giving thanks in Whistler

MONDAY IS Thanksgiving Day. Everyone south of the border who has heard of Canada and those who visit here regularly call it Canadian Thanksgiving. Kind of like Canadian bacon. Kind of not.

It seems preposterous to call it Canadian Thanksgiving in Canada, though. Apologetic and subservient, almost. Stand up and be counted—it’s Thanksgiving. Period.

People in the U.S. celebrate Columbus Day on Monday, and, since 2021, Indigenous Peoples’ Day. If that seems ironic, bear in mind the latter grew out of a United Nations conference about discrimination that took place in 1977. Thirteen years later, another UN conference looked into replacing Columbus Day entirely, leaving Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

In the highly polarized U.S., that naturally

BY G.D. MAXWELL

gave rise to yet another culture war. As of this year, just over 25 per cent of states celebrate the new holiday. But I digress.

In Canada, we hold Thanksgiving, a celebration of bounty and successful harvest, on the second Monday in October. There are several good reasons for picking that date. Farmers, which is what most Canadians were when the whole Thanksgiving thing started in the 19th century, were smart enough to know if we celebrated it in November when folks in the U.S. do, there wouldn’t be much bounty left and we’d have to load our holiday table with frozen food. As it is, we load it with frozen turkey—but let’s not split hairs.

The U.S. celebrates American Thanksgiving—Hah! Take that!—on the last Thursday in November. The last Thursday in November coincides with harvest time in Havana. By then, most of the corn in Iowa is in cans, and most Iowans are wishing the presidential primaries were held somewhere else so they could enjoy their own frozen turkey dinner without a rancorous political debate spoiling their appetites and splitting families apart.

It’s pretty easy to keep the two Thanksgivings straight, even without the geographic modifiers. Thanksgiving in Canada? October, three weeks-ish before Halloween. Thanksgiving in the U.S.? November, a month before Christmas. In most of Canada, it’s the difference between wearing a baseball cap and a toque.

So why the confusion?

One of the primary reasons is, how shall I say this, the richer mythology of American Thanksgiving.

Americans got a head start on Canadians when it came to celebrating Thanksgiving. In what would someday become the U.S., the First Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621. It involved Pilgrims—iconic, short people in early American history with unusual hats and shoes and a way of walking that reminded people of penguins, from which their name was derived. The Pilgrims didn’t

call that celebratory—and for many of them, lifesaving—meal the First Thanksgiving. They didn’t call it Thanksgiving at all. They called it dinner. Actually, they called it a feast.

Canadians didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving until 1872, by which time, Americans were celebrating not only Thanksgiving but the rebirth of their country, forged in the crucible of civil war. Canada, on the other hand, wasn’t even a complete country then. And to further confuse matters, Canadians weren’t actually celebrating Thanksgiving; they were celebrating the recovery of the Prince of Wales from a serious illness he’d been suffering. On top of that—you’ll think I’m making this part

Canadian Thanksgiving to the rich, cultural mythology of American Thanksgiving begins to shed some light on our seeming reluctance to make a big deal out of it. Consider, the main characters in early Canadian Thanksgiving were a sickly prince and farmers, and dinner, as best as anyone knows for sure, consisted of flaccid cabbage, punky potatoes, fiddleheads and river ice.

The American Thanksgiving cast of characters alone is breathtaking. There were starving Pilgrims, free at last to worship and plunder as they pleased. Generous, if naive, Indigenous People sharing their bounty, completely ignorant of what a raw deal they

of town and goes somewhere it isn’t raining all the time. As a result, many miss Thanksgiving because, for example, nobody eats turkey in Maui or Costa Rica in October.

But on this Thanksgiving week, I would like to say there are numerous things for which I am thankful. Here are just a few.

I’m thankful I live in the best town I can imagine to live in, even though summer in Whistler is taxing. Despite all the grumbling and whining, this is a deeply connected and caring town. Our caring has been sorely tested of late. We seem to be losing good people at an alarming rate. But whether they leave for other places or places unknown, we gather to celebrate them, remember them and keep their memories close. It’s an endearing part of this town’s culture.

up, but I’m not—they celebrated it on April 15, a day Americans were celebrating filing their income taxes, which didn’t actually exist until 1909.

It doesn’t take an agricultural genius to understand there is even less to harvest in Canada on April 15 than late November, unless you can make a feast of river ice and fiddleheads. Obviously, within that context, it’s easier to understand why Canadians are sheepish about horning in on what was clearly an American holiday and calling their version the exact same thing. Nevertheless…

Comparing the rather tepid beginnings of

were about to get. And the food—turkey, mashed potatoes, punkin pie and Indigenous Peoples’ corn—they called it maize. As corn goes, it wasn’t like Niblets™ and it wasn’t like corn on the cob. It was like hominy, which Indigenous Peoples made by soaking rockhard corn kernels in lime leftover from their ceremony of Margarita, Queen of Tomorrow’s Headache.

In Whistler, the whole Thanksgiving confusion is further heightened because Thanksgiving falls during a time of year we generally refer to as the shoulder season. It’s the time everyone who can afford to gets out

I’m thankful for the leadership we’ve enjoyed here. No, seriously. It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been a damn sight better than many places. While too much focus may have been placed on becoming a world-class resort, while not enough limitations were placed on making it a playground for the rich, it was the far-sighted vision of some who cobbled together a housing model that provides secure homes for many of us to stick around and enjoy a rich lifestyle while being monetarily challenged.

I’m forever thankful I moved to Canada more than four decades ago. More so every time I dip south of the border and see a country I hardly recognize.

I’m thankful two important women in my life tricked me into going skiing 40 years ago.

And I’m thankful Bob Barnett gave me an opportunity to inflict this piffle on you all those years ago.

Happy Thanksgiving. ■

In Whistler, the whole Thanksgiving confusion is further heightened because Thanksgiving falls during a time of year we generally refer to as the shoulder season.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

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

$12,880,000

Connie Spear

604-910-1103

203A-2036 London Lane: Spend 2024 Christmas & New Year in Whistler! Legends ski in / ski out fully furnished 2 Bed / 2 Bath. Quarter ownership = 12 weeks / year of personal use or nightly rentals. World class amenities and location. $317,000

Rachel Allen

604-966-4200

#307

Creekside

This property offers no restrictions on either full time owner use or nightly rentals. This property offers the ability to generate significant income through AirBnB or similar with no Tourism Whistler fees or GST! $578,000

Allyson Sutton PREC* 604-932-7609

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

Carmyn Marcano

604-719-7646

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

Jake Breuer

604-698-7259

#504 - 37881 Cleveland Avenue, Squamish: 2 Large Bedrooms, 2 FULL Baths, located in the heart of downtown Squamish. This spacious condo features a modern concept, 9ft ceilings along with European style kitchen and breathtaking views of the Chief. $789,000

Carlo Gomez

604-849-0880

205 - 39771 Government Rd, Squamish: Welcome to The Breeze! Built in 2022, 2 Bedroom + large loft, 2 bathroom, 2 story vaulted ceilings, huge windows with tons of natural light, south facing deck with panoramic views. C-10 Artisan Village $849,800

Vallerie Phillipson

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

whistler.evrealestate.com

604-698-5899

#10 - 39885 Government Road, Squamish: LOVELY FAMILY HOME AT ABBEY LANE. Bright and spacious home! Private subdivision along the Mamquam River; providing east and west mountain views. Includes an outdoor living room space that features a unique and cozy 2-sided fireplace $1,298,900. Eric Johnson

604-828-5704

40846 The Crescent, Squamish: 3 generous bedrooms plus flex room and 3 full bathrooms, 2 car garage, and open living plan. West facing home that captures stunning mountain and valley views. $1,635,000

Angie Vazquez PREC*

778-318-5900

Squamish Station Shop 150-1200 Hunter Place · Squamish BC V8B 0G8 · Phone +1 604-932-1875

squamish.evrealestate.com

– 2109 Whistler Road: Minutes from

Gondola.