JANUARY
• The Sunshine Coast’s first baby of 2017 was born on Jan. 4 at Sechelt/shíshálh Hospital to Jillian Maidana and Rob Gurney. Oliver Daniel Gurney made his appearance at 8:57 a.m.
• The Gibsons United Church property at 724 Trueman Rd. was sold. The new tenants – a daycare facility – are prepared to move in Feb. 1.
• A recent wave of overdoses showed the Sunshine Coast isn’t isolated from B.C.’s growing fentanyl crisis. Dealing with the crisis was one of the Sunshine Coast RCMP detachment’s top priorities, Staff Sgt. Vishal Mathura told the regional policing committee at its Jan. 19 meeting. “In the last few weeks we’ve had at least three fentanyl-related deaths,” he said.
• Workers at Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge were in a state of anxiety and stress as the two long-term care facilities are slated for closure by Vancouver Coastal Health in August 2018, to be replaced by the new Silverstone Care Centre in Sechelt. There’s no guarantee workers will get hired or that they’ll get the same wages and benefits.
• Sechelt chief administrative officer Tim Palmer left the district on Jan. 12, before a new CAO could be hired. Palmer had previously given his resignation in July 2016, after just six months on the job in Sechelt.
• Shíshálh Nation Chief Calvin Craigan said he wouldn’t seek another term. Instead he planned to focus on improving the health and wellness of members behind the scenes. He said being the chief of the shíshálh Nation for the past three years had been difficult and that he didn’t want the role to take a toll on his health going forward.
• A fishy theft, sometime between Jan. 21 and 22, caused jaws to drop as Coasters heard about the disappearance of Sharky – the shark head tourist attraction that sat outside Mosaic Market in Davis Bay.
• About 150 protesters in Roberts Creek joined millions of women worldwide in a show of solidarity one day after Donald Trump was sworn in as U.S. president. Protesters gathered outside the Gumboot Restaurant on Jan. 21, then marched to the mandala in support of the Women’s March on Washington D.C., which drew an estimated half a million.
• District of Sechelt director of engineering and operations Nikii Hoglund tendered her resignation effective Feb. 10, after about nine months on the job.
• The shíshálh Nation community hall was packed to overflowing Jan. 28 for Protect Public Health Care Sunshine Coast’s Defending Public Seniors’ Care forum. The crowd of more than 200 was a sign that, even after seven months, public interest in Vancouver Coastal Health’s (VCH) decision to close Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge and sign a contract with Trellis Seniors Services for long-term care beds at a new facility in Sechelt hasn’t faded.
• The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) arrested three men suspected of large-scale crab poaching on the Sunshine Coast. Their boat and several crab traps were seized. Posters showing a picture of the boat and tips from the public helped in the arrest.
