Gibsons artist, retired RCMP officer and volunteer Ed Hill is the 2023 recipient of Gibsons Community Building Society’s Darren Entwistle Community Builder Award.
Hill accepted the award at the society’s Oct. 14 fundraising gala at Gibsons Public Market. “Volunteerism is particularly significant to me, we [including his wife Joy] spend so much time volunteering, we always have, it’s just a way of life,” he told the crowd.
“Ed has invested significant energy to connect with First Nations culture and history, to share the joy of paddling, to inspire art and to support those suffering from addictions, all with the goal of helping to build a healthy and caring community,” chair of the society’s board of directors, Pam Robertson, said in a press release.
“Ed’s community engagement is the culmination of three driving forces in his life, his love of art, his personal experience with addiction and recovery, and his desire to help change the way the RCMP and Indigenous people think of each other,” a press release announcing the award explained. Hill’s posting as an RCMP officer in Bella Bella began his lifelong journey to working with First Nations. In 2001, he was the founding organizer of the first Pulling Together canoe journey, bringing together police and government service agencies and First Nations to better understand one another’s cultures and move toward reconciliation.
Hill initiated the inaugural Howe Sound Outrigger Race, which led to the 1999 founding of the Gibsons Paddle Club. “Ed continues to introduce people struggling with addictions and youth to paddling and the inspiration that comes from our natural environment and the act of pulling together,” said the release.
Hill also helped create the Citizens on Patrol and Business Watch initiatives in Gibsons and is a well-known volunteer auctioneer at Coast non-profit events.
