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Hello Again!

Well, we may not be there yet, but we can see the end of what seems like endless rain and social isolation we're all experiencing. This past year has been a struggle, but nonetheless there has been progress in all sorts of areas. Do you know how strong we are? Read on to learn!
What's Been Happening?

Official Community Plan (OCP) and Climate Emergency Team Team members, Alan Dolan and Susan Belford met with the DoS OCP Advisory Committee to present a case for slowing development growth. The Committee heard that a hypothetical single development of 100 homes on 3 acres could increase Sooke’s carbon emissions by 2,204 metric tonnes annually. Such increases do not serve the municipality’s goal of reducing carbon emissions in line with the District's Climate Emergency commitments. To see the presentation. 

District of Sooke TS Council Meeting Watchdog is following the actions of Sooke Council and posting relevant reports to the TS website as well as to our Facebook page. Check it out here! 

Council Committees Some current and former TS members sit on District of Sooke municipal committees. The Climate Action Committee (CAC) is now overseen by Councillor Jeff Bateman (2021) having previously been guided by Councillor Tony St-Pierre in 2020. Both Councillors Bateman and St-Pierre were formerly involved with Transition Sooke. The 2021 CAC boasts many TS members, including: Michael Tacon, Elizabeth Lange, Steve Unger, Bernie Klassen and Anna Russell. TS member Susan Belford sits on the Land use and Development Committee.

Sooke Shelter Society A team of walkers from TS was fielded for The Coldest Night of the Year walk to raise funds for the Sooke Shelter Society which reached $22,000 towards it’s goal of $30,000.
Donations can still be made here.

BC Climate Action Network (BC-CAN) was launched on January 23.  Representatives from TS have been attending the BC-CAN along with some 231 attendees from 175 different groups from across BC working on climate action.

A follow-up meeting was held February 6 and the next full assembly meeting will be held Saturday March 27 at 5 pm. The meeting agenda will provide for further discussion and decisions on final recommendations.  Hopefully, at this point, BC-CAN will “Go Live!” This could be a very big deal, and Transition Sooke (TS) is a part of the conversation.  For more information contact us.

Presenting Your New Board of Directors

The Annual General Meeting of the Sooke Transition Town Society (Transition Sooke) took place February 24th, 2021. TS founder and long-time local activist Michael Tacon was among six board members elected to the Board. Congratulations to the new board for 2021:

Michael (Moki) Tacon

Susan Belford

Lily Mah-Sen

Alan Dolan

Jo Phillips and 

Bernie Klassen

The Board will determine positions at its first meeting. Terms are for one year.

Director Samantha Webb has stepped down to spend more time with Wild Wise Sooke, which recently left the TS “fold” and formed its own Society. Director David Mallett, who has served as Treasurer for the past few years, also stepped down from the board. We thank both of these directors for their contributions to TS.

Lifelong Learning

Transition Sooke is involved with the Lifelong Learning group, a working group of the Sooke Region Communities Health Network (SRCHN). March schedule includes: 

Thursday, March 25, 2021, 1-2:30pm - Free Introduction to Solar Power - a presentation on solar energy by Steve Unger, an engineer at Veridian solar energy.

Sooke 2020-2030  Join SRCHN to discuss aspects of the future of Sooke and area, 2020 to 2030 in a series of discussions hosted by Chris Moss. Speakers will share their vision(s) for our community over the next decade. 

Session 1: March 9, 2021 - Sooke District Present and Future Development - Mayor Maja Tait; Sooke Chamber of Commerce and the future of Business in Sooke - Britt Santowski.

Session 2: March 16, 2021 - SCRHN and the Building of Seniors’ Residences in Sooke - Andrew Moore; The Harmless Home and the Future of Housing Construction in Sooke - Arno Keinonen.

Session 3: March 23, 2021 - The future of our Wild Areas - Sam Webb from Wild Wise; The Rights of Nature - Yvonne Court.

Session 4: March 30, 2021 - The Present and Future of Farming in Sooke - Mary Alice Johnson; Managing our Water Supply Using Rainwater Catchment in the CRD - Gordon Baird

For more information go to Learning. 

Thank You for Keeping the Ship Afloat!

In the last issue, we asked for help with some of TS’s communications and administration needs. A number of people came forward to take on those jobs.

  • Website – Claudia Frickel has become the new website person. Alan Dolan continues to help out in the short-term
  • Newsletter – Christa Brenan and Bernie Klassen have teamed up to do the newsletter, which Alan Dolan has been doing for the past few years.
  • Membership – Jo Phillips stepped up to take on membership.
  • Publicity — We are still looking for someone to help promote our online and in-person events. We have a few key people who could show you the ropes.

If you want more information or think you could help, contact Alan.

Upcoming Events

Note: A number of Transition Sooke groups are continuing to meet via videoconferencing. For the Climate Change Emergency Teams, contact the individuals listed at the bottom of the Climate Emergency page. For other groups, please contact our general email.

March 3, 7 pm Regular TS General Meeting (via Zoom) All welcome. Contact Alan for the login information. Previous minutes and upcoming agenda here

March 9, 16, 23, 30, 1 – 2:30 pm (Tuesday) Future of Sooke 2020 – 2030
See article herein: Sooke Region Lifelong Learning. Free. Contact Chris for more information.

Want to be a Video Star? 

The District of Sooke is drafting an Official Community Plan (OCP) to guide and direct development over the next ten years. Transition Sooke wants to reach out to a broad range of citizens (youth especially!) and find out what they think. 

We have a series of short questions and we are asking Sooke residents of all ages to make videos of their answers. Or let us record the video, properly distanced and masked of course. What do you like about your neighborhood? What don’t you like? What do you think of the rate at which Sooke is growing? 

Transition Sooke will highlight some of the video results on social media and will use others to stimulate discussions at an online Town Hall meeting. To learn more about OCP Video Stars, download the guidelines here or send an email to Alan

News from Transition Nanaimo

March 6, 9:30-10:30am Join the Food Revolution - a free class. Register  here.

March 12, 9am-5:15pm and March 13, 9:30 am-3:30pm Food for Thought Summit 2021 a no-charge 2-day virtual event. Learn more at Summit:  

Programs cover:

  • A Roadmap to Food Sovereignty.
  • Food Recovery Program - Reducing food waste, feeding people
  • The Power of Seaweed
  • Got Land? Want Land? - How Young Agrarians is helping young farmers access affordable farmland
  • Growing Our Food Independence
  • We All Eat For a Living
  • Reimagining Food in Nanaimo

CALLING ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS

Do you have photographs of Transition Sooke groups whether Zoom call screen shots of working groups, or photos of energized folks out actively working on TS issues?  We have need for photographs for a number of activities and presentations, including the newsletter.  If you are willing to share your photos, please let us know.  Photo releases will be required for any shots that include faces. Thanks you for writing to our general email to advise.
 






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Transition Sooke · c/o 2119 Melrick Place · Sooke, BC V9Z 0M9 · Canada

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