How much is your community worth to you? For me, it’s worth a lot of dollars a week to buy local quality produce, knowing that you’re keeping local farmers alive, not to mention food security. With thoughts starting to turn to Christmas and the week of Nov. 30 to Dec. 6 being declared Buy Local Week in Gibsons, now’s truly the time to support our amazing community with “pocket power.” Consumers have a lot of power in their pockets (and purses) and where you use that power says a lot about your values. Our purchases help determine whether our local economy thrives or dies – be part of making it thrive by ensuring your money stays and recirculates right here in our community.
Local businesses are struggling under the weight of the COVID crisis so please reconsider if your first impulse is to order stuff on Amazon. Yes, there may be times when something is only available on Amazon, but your hard-earned dollars leave the community if that’s how you regularly shop, and honestly – most items are available locally. And to keep employees safe, be sure to wear a mask inside stores and other public places. Wearing a mask is to protect others so it’s the respectful thing to do. While you might be in and out of a store in well under an hour, employees must work there for eight hours or more – so be considerate and mask up!
The November ECA meeting by Zoom was very well attended, due in large part to guest speaker Lynda Gray, author of First Nations 101. She talked about the many topics covered in her book, including residential schools, treaties and land rights. Thanks Lynda for a thoughtful presentation and a book that everyone should read. Director Donna McMahon spoke about a wide range of SCRD issues and as usual fielded lots of questions. She passed it over to Jason Lewis, her Area E alternate, to report on the Community Resilience Summit that he attended on her behalf and it sounded like a memorable conference.
Here’s another Stream-keepers update from Angela Kroning, who reports a return of 61 live chum salmon to Chaster Creek (and 2 live coho) in the 500 metres surveyed. She says, “Many of them were recent arrivals on the high tide, indicating that the run was still building then. Because it is very difficult to walk along the side of the creek, we decided not to venture up. It was impossible to see where they might be holding in the creek, where they might be spawning and where the redds (nests holding eggs) are.” Angela advises people to stay out of the creeks where salmon might be spawning from now until late spring when the water warms up and the fry emerge from the gravel. She also asks that people keep their dogs out of the creek. With so much riding on the health of salmon in our streams, these seem like small requests.
Do you need help navigating Zoom? On Saturday, Nov. 21 and 28 from 2-4 p.m. you can get help from the Gibsons Public Library. Call 604-886-2130, email [email protected] or talk with front desk staff to reserve a time. Finally, let me know of Elphinstonians who have passed away this year for an upcoming column at: [email protected]
