Monday Feb 24, 6 pm: Meet Saanich Council

Posted on February 21, 2025 by ccacomm

Saanich residents are invited to the Municipal Hall for an opportunity to connect with Council outside of Council Chambers!

Bring your thoughts and questions for this informal meet-and-greet event and stay for the Council Meeting afterwards.

Monday, February 24:

  • 6:00 p.m.: Council will greet residents at the 2nd Floor Foyer of the Municipal Hall.
  • 7:00 p.m.: scheduled Council Meeting starts.

Please share these meeting details with your neighbours, and/or point them to this post on Saanich’s Facebook account or on Saanich’s website.

Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with your elected community leaders, who look forward to seeing you on Monday night.

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Webinar: New retrofit programs (and money!) available for condos, apartments and commercial buildings

Posted on February 5, 2025 by ccacomm

For community members who reside in condominium stratas and apartment buildings, Saanich is hosting a Zoom webinar that should be of interest to you.

Webinar ItemDetails
TopicFuture Proof Your Saanich Building: New retrofit programs (and money!) available for condos, apartments and commercial buildings
WhenWednesday, March 5th from 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm.
How to attendRegister to attend via Zoom virtual meeting: Registration Link

Sign up for this free webinar to get up to date information on the available incentives and retrofit support programs available for condos, rental apartments and commercial buildings in the District of Saanich, including Saanich’s new and innovative tax holiday to support electrification retrofits in commercial and multi-family buildings.

With presentations from BC Hydro, the Building Owners and Managers Association of BC, the Zero Emissions Innovation Centre, and more, this session will help you understand why building owners are looking to electrify their buildings, highlight available funding, and help you get started.

email from Cassidy Daskalchuk, Sustainability Planner, Sustainability, Corporate Services, District of Saanich
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Eco Education at Kings Park

Posted on January 28, 2025 by ccacomm

On January 23, a small group of volunteers was assisted by two groups of grade six students from the Eco Education class at Lansdowne South Middle school, their teacher Lorraine Powell and Saanich Parks staff working at Kings Park, aka King’s Rd Community Nature Green Space.

An area in the south west corner had been weeded and prepared earlier. The students learned the properties of the plants, how to prepare the planting hole and then proceeded to finish the planting with direction from Saanich staff.

Some students named their plants which consisted of

  • Sword Ferns,
  • Snow berry,
  • Oregon Grape,
  • Rose and
  • June Plum

and were encouraged to visit the site often in the future. These students already do regular invasive plant weeding at this natural outdoor classroom.

The site going forward will be added to the Saanich Parks watering program.

Special thank you to Deanna Pfeifer for her initial work in saving this land, establishing owl boxes and starting the volunteer restoration group.

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Participate in Saanich’s budget engagement

Posted on January 26, 2025 by ccacomm

Saanich has invited residents to participate in the budgeting process online.

Anyone can review information about the budget process and forecasted budget items. You can also use an online budget simulation tool and survey, available until February 16th.

Find out all the ways you can make your thoughts known to Saanich Council on this important topic that will impact all Saanich residents.

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Municipal Run Medical Clinic: a potential model for Saanich

Posted on December 20, 2024 by ccacomm

A recent Times-Colonist article here describes how Colwood has hired a family physician for its first municipally run medical clinic.

The goal is for the clinic to be able to take on 10,000 patients from an estimated 14,000 people in Colwood who currently don’t have a family doctor.

After talking with physicians, the city concluded that if it could take over some of the paperwork and business aspects of a family practice and provide a pension and benefits, it might encourage physicians to stay, Kobayashi said.

Times-Colonist article

If you’ve been keeping up on CCA board minutes and local news, you’ll be aware of the Shelbourne medical clinic that shut down not that long ago and the board’s conversations on this topic since then.

The big question for us in Saanich: is Colwood’s model one that Saanich is prepared to follow to attract more family physicians into our otherwise underserved municipality?

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Nov. 16, 2023 AGM minutes

Posted on December 10, 2024 by ccacomm

The minutes of the November 16th, 2023 AGM, accepted at the most recent 2024 AGM, may be read here:

2023 AGM MINUTESDownload

The 2024 minutes will be reviewed and considered for acceptance at next year’s AGM.

The required election of CCA officers was presided over by director Angus Whitmore. The results are as follows:

RoleName
PresidentLisa Timmons
Vice PresidentVacant
TreasurerJamie Dopp
SecretaryLeigh Urquhart
Land Use directorVicki Sanders
UVic Community Association Liaison Committee directorMeralin Young
Communications directorEvan Fryer
Director at LargeAngus Whitmore
Director at largeMike Kory

Please note that there have been changes to the board of directors as of the 2024 AGM, which changes will be reflected on the CCA website very soon.

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October 10, 2024 board minutes

Posted on December 10, 2024 by ccacomm

The minutes of the October 10, 2024 meeting of the CCA board of directors may be found here. Or, read it below.

October 10 Board minutes, 2024Download

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The Strange Case of Dead Coho in Bowker Creek

Posted on November 14, 2024 by ccacomm

The local Times Colonist has a story regarding the puzzling appearance of two dead coho found recently in Bowker Creek.

The chum salmon that were incubated in Bowker Creek for the past three years are expected to provide returning spawners this year. Chum salmon tend to spawn near the mouth of a river or creek, and don’t go as far upstream as other salmon species, as a rule. The chum salmon spawn in the Goldstream River is a good example of this.

It’s as yet unknown whether the dead coho made their own way into Bowker Creek, or were dumped there as a prank. Coho salmon as well as other salmon species, as is pointed out in the article, do not necessarily all return to their natal stream. Some small percentage of a returning stock will stray into other streams and watersheds, perhaps part of an evolutionary survival strategy given the risk of landslides and river blockages on the west coast of North America.

You can read about the effects of toxic tire dust on young salmon in this 2020 article from the Seattle Times.

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Shelbourne Valley Action Plan: Update

Posted on November 10, 2024 by ccacomm

Saanich residents should have received a paper notice in their postal mail regarding the online webinars and in-person open houses that Saanich is conducting in advance of updating the Shelbourne Valley Action Plan. You can learn more about this initiative here, and participate in the engagement process here.

The Shelbourne Valley Action Plan (SVAP) will guide land use and transportation decisions in the Shelbourne Valley over the next 30 years.

If you’re a Saanich resident, your CCA encourages you to stay informed and provide constructive feedback at every opportunity. Here are those opportunities, at which you must register or RSVP in advance in order to participate:

Engagement Opportunities

WHATDETAILS
Webinar #1• Friday, November 15
• 12:00-1:30 p.m.
• Register to attend (online)
Webinar #2• Tuesday, November 19
• 7:00-8:30 p.m.
• Register to attend (online)
Open House #1• Thursday, November 21
• 4 – 8 p.m.
• St. Luke Anglican Church (Auditorium)
  3821 Cedar Hill Cross Rd
• RSVP (event listing)
Open House #2• Tuesday, November 26
• 4 – 8 p.m.
• Gordon Head Recreation Centre
  (Multi-purpose Room)
  4100 Lambrick Way
• RSVP (event listing)
Extract from Saanich website

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Annual General Meeting: Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024

Posted on October 22, 2024 by ccacomm

The Camosun Community Association will hold its Annual General Meeting on Thursday, November 14th, 2024 from 7:00 pm to 8:15 pm using the Zoom online meeting service.

The CCA requires all those interested in attending the virtual AGM to pre-register for the meeting by emailing camosunca@gmail.com with your first and last name. The link to the Zoom meeting will be sent to registered attendees the day before the AGM.

Please ensure you have downloaded and tested Zoom before the meeting on whichever device you intend to use to attend the meeting.

AGENDA ITEMS:

  • Guest Speaker: Abiola Falaye, Planner – Community Planning – District of Saanich. Topic: Shelbourne Valley Action Plan Update.
  • Executive Reports: Summary, & Updates.
  • Board Nominations: the CCA is seeking board members. If you live in the CCA boundary and would like to serve your local community we would love to hear from you.

To be eligible to vote or become a board member, your membership must be paid by Wednesday, November 13th. Please visit the membership page on our website if you would like to purchase or renew a CCA Membership (only $10/year)

For more information on the Camosun Community Association, please visit our website. 

We hope to see and hear from you at our virtual AGM on November 14th!

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