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. OCP Update
. Town Hall: Open Forum on Growth
. Local Economy Working Group
. Fairy Creek Protests
. District Council Meetings
. Wild Wise/Girl Guide Collaboration
. Get Outside!
. Upcoming Events

Your June Newsletter
It's clearly summer, even though there are still about three weeks before Solstice. How do we know? Farmer's Markets! Catch them on Thursday evenings at the museum, Saturdays at John Phillips Park, and on Sundays in Shirley and East Sooke. When you support local farmers you’re supporting the local economy!

What's Been Happening?

Upcoming Town Hall:  Open Forum on Growth
Video captures residents weighing in on Sooke’s future

Transition Sooke is holding an online Town Hall on June 26 from 10 am to noon in order to engage the Sooke community in a conversation about growth. It will begin with a short video of Sooke residents talking about the future of their community followed by opportunities for everyone to contribute their ideas. 

Sooke Council, along with a number of other communities all over the world, has declared a climate emergency. We need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. Increased population growth means more greenhouse gas emissions and a crowded community that loses its small-town feel. 

Email to receive more information, register and receive the Zoom meeting link.


Official Community Plan (OCP) 

Can Sooke Achieve its Climate Emergency Targets? 

If Sooke's new Official Community Plan (OCP) takes a business-as-usual approach and recommends policies that promote more growth, then meeting our climate emergency targets and realizing a vision of a small, liveable town will not be achievable.  
 

Green, Zero-Carbon buildings

If you have any ideas or knowledge about green, low or zero-carbon building options that can be used for buildings, please pass them on to Chris or Lynn

Local Economy Working Group

Transition Sooke’s Local Economy Working Group, which originated at the 2019 Sooke Green New Deal event, and the subsequent Community Workshop, is becoming more active.

The District of Sooke recently formed a citizens’ Community Economic Development Committee and hired Sue Welke as the new Community Economic Development Officer. At the May 21 meeting of the Committee (see notes: https://transitionsooke.org/council-meeting-watchdog/), Sue Welke indicated a desire to have organizations make presentations at its monthly meetings. Most of the organizations suggested were government-based, so it seems an excellent opportunity for Transition Sooke's Local Economy working group to make a presentation. 

Transition Sooke member Diane Bernard presented at the May 21 meeting on the trials faced by home-based businesses trying to grow their businesses in Sooke. She emphasized that having a viable local business sector will lower greenhouse gas emissions by creating local jobs and decreasing the number of employees and shoppers commuting to Victoria. 

The time is ripe for designing an economy that prioritizes local businesses. The Transition Sooke Local Economy working group will hold a zoom meeting in the next week or so. If you have any thoughts or ideas about your vision for a vibrant local economy, or if you want to join the working group, please email Jo. This is our chance to make our inspirations and innovative ideas known. 

Fairy Creek Protests

The woods are heating up and it has not yet reached wildfire season. Members of Transition Sooke along with others from the community at large are protesting the BCNDP's cynical* about-face on old-growth logging. The controversy is playing out at Fairy Creek on the unceded traditional lands of the Pacheedaht and Ditidaht First Nations, where logging company Teal Jones has won an injunction to log one of the last intact stands of BC coastal old-growth rainforest.

As of May 28, 137 arrests had been made, although a Circle of Elders Group march into the exclusion zone with over 100 people on May 25 saw no one taken into custody. The Elders group has planned and participated in additional daily convoys to the contested area up until Wednesday, June 2.  On Saturday, May 29 1,000 protestors from many parts of BC made their way to Port Renfrew, then marched together through the RCMP tape at Fairy Creek led by Elder Bill Jones and Victor Peters of the Pacheedaht First Nation.

Outside the forest, on Friday May 28, protestors gathered in front of the Premier's constituency office to protest Fairy Creek old growth logging. Later that day the group, estimated at 800 and the largest in Langford’s history, marched to the Langford RCMP detachment to further voice their discontent about Old Growth Logging at Fairy Creek.

Protest rallies in support of Fairy Creek forest defenders occur each Saturday from 11 am to noon along the EMCS Boulevard in Sooke with the 9th consecutive event happening June 5, 2021. Masks and social distancing are required. 
*Tyee Opinion Piece 
Sooke News Mirror Seniors at Fairy Creek

What's Happening at the District?
As usual, Transition Sooke is watchdogging council meetings. To keep up to date with what is happening in Sooke check out here.  If you are interested and able to help with this please contact Hester .

Wild Wise and the Girl Guide Pathfinder group made it into the paper this past week. They got together to build bat houses in an effort to conserve their ecosystem! You may see one or more of these houses around town this summer and Wild Wise is hoping to have kits available soon so you can house some of these bug assassins yourself. Email for more information.

Remember to go outside. There's a lot of evidence that getting out in nature to a park, beach, or forest, reduces stress and promotes mental health. 

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.

June 2, 7 pm Regular TS General Meeting (via Zoom) All welcome. Contact Alan for the login information. Previous minutes available here.

June 26 from 10 am to noon.  Town Hall on growth. Email to receive more information, register and receive the Zoom meeting link.

July 7, 7 pm Regular TS General Meeting (via Zoom) All welcome. Contact Alan for the login information. Previous minutes available here.






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