SEPTEMBER
• For the first time since she started giving regular reports on the COVID-19 pandemic, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry released data on cases broken down by local health area, showing seven cases in the Sunshine Coast area.
• Almost 80 per cent of SD46 students were expected to return to class full-time and in-person at the start of the school year.
• Petunia, a 500-pound pig that was formally used for laboratory testing, was given a new lease on life at Kitchensink Rescue Farm and Sanctuary in Roberts Creek.
• Testing for COVID was expected to ramp up across the province as children headed back to school.
• The completed designs were unveiled for the Our House of Clans affordable housing complex on shíshálh Nation land in Sechelt.
• Environment Canada issued smoky skies bulletins as wildfire smoke from the U.S. impacted air quality levels throughout much of southern B.C.
• The B.C. government promised to study the feasibility of a Highway 101 bypass or an alternative route between Gibsons and Sechelt and committed to undertake safety upgrades at the intersection of Joe Road/Orange Road and Highway 101 after identifying it as “collision-prone.”
• Transport Canada ended the temporary exemption that allowed BC Ferries passengers to remain in their vehicles on lower, closed car decks, but the Langdale route would remain exempt.
• Judy Rother and Errol Lipschitz were honoured by Gibsons Community Building Society with the 2020 Darren Entwistle Community Builder Award at a Sept. 12 virtual gala.
• SD46 received $1.1 million in federal Safe Return to School funding.
• Gibsons council approved the development permit for a live-work project on Venture Way that would include 11 commercial retail units, 54 rental apartments in two buildings, and a third building used for light industrial activity.
• Sechelt firefighters extinguished a blaze that started in logs near the mouth of Wilson Creek on Sept. 13 and spread into some old pilings. The cause was being investigated.
• SCRD directors voted unanimously to move ahead with third reading and adoption of a short-term rental bylaw.
• Cowichan Valley MLA Sonia Furstenau was elected leader of the B.C. Greens over candidates Cam Brewer and Kim Darwin.
• Four Sunshine Coast food banks received $80,000 in funding from the federal government’s Emergency Fund for Food Security.
• New temperature records were set Sept. 9 and 10 as wildfire smoke from the U.S. impacted weather in southwestern B.C., and the Coast remained under a smoky skies advisory.
• Gibsons council voted to send a “strongly worded” letter to the SCRD asking that the pool in Gibsons be included in the regional district’s reopening plan for recreation facilities.
• BC Ferries received $308 million in federal-provincial funding from the Safe Restart Agreement, established to provide assistance to public transportation services in B.C.
• Premier John Horgan announced a provincial election for Oct. 24. He said he was sending British Columbians to the polls in the midst of a pandemic to stave off political instability.
• Data from the BC Centre for Disease Control showed the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Sunshine Coast doubled from seven between January and July 31 to 14 during the month of August. Numbers nearly doubled again from 14 to 26 between August and September.
• Sunshine Coast RCMP and the BC Coroners Service identified the human remains found on a Roberts Creek beach in July as those of a Delta man reported missing in 2016.
OCTOBER
• PODS, the Pender Ocean Discovery Station, received its development permit from the SCRD, a “major milestone” for the project, said Michael Jackson, the Loon Foundation’s executive director.
• The District of Sechelt closed part of Hackett Park to make space for an archeological investigation of material removed during construction work on a Trail Avenue improvement project.
• The Cops for Cancer Tour de Coast raised $285K for the Canadian Cancer Society.
• This year’s Union of British Columbia Municipalities Community Excellence Awards were handed out online. The Town of Gibsons was recognized for its eco-assets strategy.
• The Bella Beach Inn in Davis Bay was purchased by Burnaby-based Evergreen Hotel Group; the new owners promised exterior renovations would include a change in colour.
• Final preparations were underway for the opening of Lordco Auto Parts and Shoppers Drug Mart, part of the third phase of the Tsain-Ko Village Shopping Centre expansion in Sechelt.
• VCH said any confirmed cases of COVID-19 at SD46 schools would be posted online on the health authority’s “exposures in schools” webpage.
• A less intrusive, kid-friendly saline gargle test for COVID-19 became available at the respiratory assessment clinic in Sechelt to replace the traditional uncomfortable testing using a nasal swab.
• Dave Munro retired after 27 years at the Wilson Creek Shell gas station. The station was then closed for major upgrades.
• Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden completed three new projects: a new entrance, the Emily Lasuta Learning Centre, and the Mountainside Habitat.
• Rick Kobus resigned from his job as SD46 school bus driver over concerns that not all students were required to wear masks.
• Minnie Souproanuck celebrated her 100th birthday on Oct. 15 at Totem Lodge and was “just happy to be here,” she said.
• Paul Hansen and his wife Patti, who operate the West Coast Wilderness Lodge in Egmont, planned to expand their accommodations by converting an old salmon processing plant into a year-round resort and spa.
• Matthew Alan Payne appeared in Sechelt Provincial Court on Oct. 13 and remained in custody facing firearms charges after Sunshine Coast RCMP seized illicit drugs, thousands of dollars of cash and a handgun during a routine traffic stop.
• Advance voting for the provincial election began Oct. 15 at three locations on the Coast, and more than 8,000 mail-in votes were expected in the riding.
• Keats Island residents in Eastbourne faced persistent critical water shortages, in part because of increased frequency of droughts and because more people are vacationing in the community. “The wells are going dry in the summer,” said Soren Poschmann of ISL Engineering and Land Services.
• SD46 received $1.1-million from the federal government’s Safe Return to School Fund to cover shortages caused by unexpected enrolment declines.
• Liberal Sandra Stoddart-Hansen and Green Kim Darwin faced questions at a VoiceLab all-candidates forum Oct. 15. NDP incumbent Nicholas Simons was unable to attend after injuring his ankle at a campaign event. He returned to campaigning Oct. 17.
• All three candidates - Sandra Stoddart-Hansen, Nicholas Simons and Kim Darwin - attended an online debate at the Blue Ocean Golf Club on Oct. 19.
• About 145 people signed a petition launched Oct. 19 demanding the Gibsons and District Aquatic Facility be reopened. All SCRD recreation facilities were temporarily shuttered in March due to public health restrictions, and the Gibsons pool was the only one on the Coast to remain closed.
• Sechelt council voted Oct. 21 to award a contract for construction of a new $3.6-million public works building to CAERUS Construction Limited. The building would be constructed on Lot L on Dusty Road.
• Shíshálh Nation had to cancel its traditional Halloween fireworks display because of COVID-19, and fireworks bans remained in place in the Town of Gibsons and District of Sechelt.
