Island Voices

Christmas is a time for friends, family, and celebration. A time to remember how blessed and loved we are, and to remind those we love how much they mean to us.

Women are choosing unnecessary surgical abortions because the province doesn’t cover the abortion pill, the executive director of the Vancouver Island Women’s Clinic says. Dawn Fowler said the $350 price tag on Mifepristone, also known as the abortion pill, means some women who want to terminate unwanted pregnancies at the clinic opt for surgery because it’s…

Meet Shay….

The wind in the trees, the waves running across the surface f the water, the gentle sigh of the earth as she settles into herself each day – all of life is energy and in constant movement. When we live on the land, with the land, we learn the rhythms of the earth. When we learn…

“The Salish Sea is ten weeks away from being recognized as a World Heritage Site,” according to the ever-optimistic predictions of Laurie Gourlay, Interim Director of the Salish Sea Trust – the organization that submitted the UNESCO WHS application. And just to be sure Canada’s federal politicians appreciate the global significance of the Salish Sea’s…

OTTAWA — Canadians should be “very concerned” about their cell phones, computers and other electronic devices being searched by U.S. border agents, the federal privacy czar says. Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien told a House of Commons committee Monday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers can look at mobile devices and even demand passwords under…

Most opioid poisonings among seniors are accidental and B.C.’s seniors advocate says their related hospital stays are longer and more serious than other age groups. A Canadian Institute for Health Information survey released on Thursday found that from April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2017, 63 per cent of opioid poisonings among seniors age 65…

  September 15th 2017.  B.C. Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie released provincial results of her office’s survey of publicly subsidized residential care homes today. This is the most extensive survey of residents’ quality of life ever conducted in Canada. “For the first time in this province, we have heard the collective voices of some of our most…

What? Why? How? When someone close to you suffers a stroke, you suffer too … groping for answers to questions you never expected to ask. Some questions go without answers, but many of the answers are out there just waiting to be found. When my dearest friend and partner suffered a stroke eight years ago…

With BC’s Finance Minister and a new provincial government looking for economic opportunities the Salish Sea Trust is pointing to global interest in the ‘Blue Economy’ as a viable and attractive option. “We’ve written Minister James, and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change,” states the Interim Director of the Salish Sea Trust, “recommending investment…