MAY
• Lululemon founder Chip Wilson pledged $8 million to the Pender Harbour Ocean Discovery Station (PODS) through his family’s philanthropic foundation. “We are excited to have PODS be an integral part of Pender Harbour,” said Wilson in a release announcing the contribution.
• BC.’s teachers union ratified a three-year collective agreement with the province after more than a year of bargaining.
• On May 1, Sechelt Fire Department’s brand new primary fire engine arrived at the fire hall’s engine bay on Trail Avenue. “It’s going to serve the community for the next 20 years” said Fire Chief Trevor Pike.
• Under B.C.’s Restart Plan, released May 5, Premier John Horgan said British Columbia would start moving forward with safely restarting social and economic activity, but that would not change the advice against non-essential travel before the Victoria Day long weekend. Horgan also announced the plan to reopen most parks in the province. “Gathering outside is a good thing,” he said.
• The drop in sales due to the pandemic forced Marilyn Campbell to close Maribel’s Fine Fashions in Sechelt after 40 years in business.
• There were multiple cougar attacks on dogs on the Coast, and conservation officers destroyed one cougar in Gibsons after it was deemed a risk to the public.
• Regional water bills jumped by 43 per cent, and Pender Harbour water service areas also saw large increases. “The community has been very, very clear that water needed to be a priority for this board, so this is what that looks like. When we make water a priority, of course it’s going to cost more,” SCRD chair Lori Pratt. Phone calls inundated the offices at the SCRD.
• Two 15-month-old orphan bears were returned to Halfmoon Bay after spending nearly a year at a wildlife sanctuary in Langley. The siblings were rescued from the side of Highway 101 near Trout Lake in June 2019 after their mother was critically injured in a motor vehicle accident.
• A major donation allowed the number of critical care beds to double at Sechelt Hospital, and patients would have access to a brand new fleet of critical care cardiac monitors.
• BC Ferries was operating with reduced passenger capacity and reduced schedules and continued to remind people to avoid non-essential travel, including the Victoria Day long weekend.
• The Rotary Club of Sunshine Coast celebrated its 20th year of hosting the annual Dad and Me Dance, this year with a virtual “magical, musical evening.”
• Gibsons council reversed the recommendations of its planning committee and granted the developers of the George Hotel and Residences project a two-year extension on development permits and the deadline for completing a land exchange.
• Businesses on the Sunshine Coast that were closed or offering only limited services since the onset of the COVID-19 were starting to reopen, as per Phase 2 of the government’s Restart Plan.
• Royal Reach Motel and Marina in Sechelt was under contract with BC Housing to provide 15 spaces to people at risk of or experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 crisis.
• On May 26, a Sechelt resident called from her vehicle to report an aggressive raccoon was blocking the front entrance of her house and refused to leave the area. The raccoon eventually left on its own.
• A memorial was set up at the site of a fatal collision May 26 on Highway 101 at Largo Road in Roberts Creek. Residents urged the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to block highway access to the new through road, described as “a death trap.”
• The number of overdose calls doubled in May as the Coast grappled with a contaminated drug supply. “The toxicity of the drug supply right now is out of control,” said Nick Gaskin, who manages homelessness services on the Sunshine Coast through RainCity Housing.
• Two orphaned fawns made the front page May 29. They were rescued from a waterfront property in Roberts Creek on May 20 after a cougar killed their mother. The fawns spent two weeks with a company that trains animals for television and film and were later moved to a wildlife rehabilitation centre after a public outcry. They would eventually be released back to the wild.
JUNE
• School resumed June 1 for Kindergarten to Grade 5 on a part-time, voluntary basis. Students from Grade 6 to 12 had access to both in-class and online learning. About half the approximately 3,250 students who attend SD46 were expected to return to school.
• Playgrounds that were closed since March reopened to the public June 1. All school playgrounds were also open, SD46 superintendent Patrick Bocking confirmed.
• Only hours after the Town of Gibsons raised its rainbow flag at Pioneer Park to celebrate Pride Month, it was cut off its pole. A Gibsons resident was arrested after he was located nearby, and charges were recommended for mischief and public intoxication.
• After 37 years, Robbie’s Inlet Barber Shop closed its doors, and owner Robbie McEvoy laid down her scissors due to health issues.
• The District of Sechelt finalized plans for an alternate program of physically-distanced Canada Day celebrations that comply with all provincial health requirements.
• Sunshine Coast Hospice Society cut its ties with the Trellis Seniors Services long-term care facility project. “We believe the best option for the Sunshine Coast is a hospice and palliative care facility that is publicly owned and operated,” said hospice society president Denis Fafard in a release issued June 3.
• Mary McDougall, president of Trellis Seniors Services, was peppered with questions about the company’s proposed Silverstone long-term care facility at a virtual meeting on June 3.
• Starting June 15, BC Ferries passengers had to be “in possession of a face-covering that covers their mouth and nose” on any sailing of more than 30 minutes.
• A virtual food bank drive brought in more than $85,000 for four food banks on the Sunshine Coast to meet increased demand during the COVID-19 crisis.
• The B.C. Green Party resumed its leadership campaign after suspending it due to COVID.
• Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth set up an all-party committee to review the Police Act. He said the committee’s work would “reflect today’s challenges and opportunities for delivering police services with a specific focus on systemic racism.”
• Sunshine Coast Legions took their first steps toward reopening, with a need to make up the revenue lost during more than 12 weeks of being closed.
• Shíshálh Nation master carver ?antuni Tony Paul’s Reconciliation Pole was moved on June 18 to make way for the Our House of Clans development, between Raven’s Cry Theatre and Big Mac’s convenience store in Sechelt. The six-storey mixed-use development would include 34 units of affordable housing as well as retail space.
• With their term coming to an end, Gibsons youth councillors Eilis Mackenzie and Gravity Guignard put forward a proposal for a Sunshine Coast Youth Council to “amplify the voices of young people on the Sunshine Coast.”
• The Town of Gibsons invested in new infrastructure to allow water from the Gibsons aquifer to be pumped into Zone 3 and was installing watermains along Reed Road. This change would reduce the Town’s reliance on the SCRD’s water system by more than 95 per cent.
• Hawkfeather Peterson, president of BC / Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors, initiated a makeshift safe consumption site near the Hightide Supportive Housing complex run by RainCity Housing. Peterson said a lack of movement from VCH forced the issue. “It’s not meant to be a long-term fix.”
• More than 130 people attended a virtual meeting on June 25 about a sweeping logging operation that could clear cut more than 150 hectares in the community of Egmont. Representatives of Tsain-Ko and B.C. Timber Sales defended their plans.
• The BC Coroners Service was investigating after a man died of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning at a home on Ruby Lake on June 27. A woman who was staying at the same cabin was in hospital in critical condition.
• After ongoing delays, heavy traffic and complaints from Sunshine Coasters, BC Ferries announced it would be adding an additional early afternoon sailing to the Langdale-Horseshoe Bay route June 25 to 29 and July 2 to 6 and would be phasing out the 50 per cent passenger capacity limit.
