News
Progress for Paisley Place housing project
The Gabriola Housing Society Board recently met on the Paisley site to unveil the new signage describing the affordable housing project. In photo: GHS Board members: Dave Adair, Bill McCallum, Wayne Mercier, Nancy Hetherington Peirce (missing: Carol Hemrich, Barry...
GIRO getting $215K from CleanBC
Derek Kilbourn Sounder News The Gabriola Island Recycling Organization (GIRO) will be receiving $215,000 from the BC Government’s CleanBC Plastics Action Fund. Michelle Kresnyak, General Manager for GIRO, says the funding will be used to design and install a...
Islands Trust educates Gabriolans about Freshwater
Emily Carson-Apstein Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder As research and feedback continues on Gabriola’s new Official Community Plan, the Islands Trust is hosting the second information session on Freshwater. This educational event is happening...
Fire Chief requesting creation of full-time Assistant Fire Chief position
Derek Kilbourn Sounder News The Gabriola Fire Chief is asking the Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District to approve the creation of a full-time Assistant Fire Chief position. Fire Chief Will Sprogis made the request during his report at the monthly meeting of...
Gabriola Speed Watch hits 1-year anniversary
Cst. Mark Biggar Gabriola RCMP The Gabriola Island RCMP have had a very successful year with our speed watch volunteers with an average two motorist education days per month. On average the volunteers have checked 100 vehicles per shift with a positive response from...
Spring Cleanup
The tradition of cleaning up Gabriola’s ditches, park trails, and other public spaces has had ups and downs over the past number of years. When there was still a Ratepayers Association, there would be an annaul day for people to pick up trash, and leave the bags by...
Tangled Roots raised $600 for Food bank
Speaking for Tangled Roots, I want to thank the people who made our Food Bank benefit concert at the GAC Hall on May 17th a success. We raised almost $600 for the Food Bank I hope everyone there enjoyed themselves as much as we did! Carol Furgusson/May’D on the rock,...
Fire Improvement District Voting should have advance and mail-in options
Voting processes for Gabriola’s Improvement District Trustees has been problematic for a number of years; it took a concerted effort back in the day to get an advance nomination period and longer voting times, but we got it. However this year only a ‘mid-week,...
There are truly limits to living on an island, but carrying capacity is only half the conversation
Tobi Elliott, Trustee for Gabriola and Vice-Chair of the Islands Trust Views expressed are my own and do not represent the Islands Trust. Trust Council asked the Minister responsible for the Islands Trust for a legislative review in October 2024. Minister Kahlon’s...
Jazz on Gabriola presents: award winning jazz guitarist Bill Coon
Mike Allen Presents: Jazz on Gabriola Jazz lovers, mark your calendars for June 1st at 3 PM at the Phoenix Auditorium at The Haven (240 Davis Road) for an afternoon of outstanding live jazz. This Gabriola Island concert, presented by Mike Allen, promises the...
Six candidates running in 2025 Fire Board Election
Sounder News Six candidates have been confirmed to run in this year’s Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District Trustee Election. There are three positions open for election this year, two are for three year terms, and a third for a two year term. Nominations for...
No extra sailings for Gabriola
We’re into the summer now. But there won’t be any changes to Gabriola’s schedule. That story here. No extra sailings to alleviate summer traffic. Instead, BC Ferries encourages those riding ferries to do so during non-peak hours. The issue: Gabriola’s peak hours for...
BC Ferries adds 1,000 sailings for summer – none for Gabriola
Derek Kilbourn Sounder News This past week, BC Ferries announced that the company has added over 1,000 extra sailings across its high-demand routes, such as the ones between Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island, for the summer. Route 19, serving Gabriola Island via...
Gabriola Health and Wellbeing Collaborative secures funding to address poisoned drug crisis
Gabriola Health and Wellness Collaborative The Gabriola Health and Wellbeing Collaborative’s Poisoned Drug Action Table is proud to announce that it has successfully secured a $10,000 Community Action Team (CAT) Top-Up Grant to support its ongoing efforts to address...
Saturday Market opens for 2025
Opening Market Day - the Gabriola Agi Co-op Farmers Market opened for 2025 on May 17. For the seventh year in a row, Snuneymuxw Elder David Lax̌iya Bodaly (top photo) provided a welcoming for market goers and vendors before the bell rang announcing the start of Market...
GERTIE springs forward
Susan Yates GERTIE Biographer As we all prepare for the summer influx of visitors the GERTIE crew is getting ready for 2 new electric buses, whose delivery date has changed several times over the past few months. We hope to have the infrastructure in place, the...
Poetry Gabriola gifts Yurt to the Commons
Gabriola Commons The beloved Poetry Yurt on the Commons has been generously gifted to the Gabriola Commons by Poetry Gabriola Society. To support the ongoing legacy of the yurt as a rentable venue, the Commons has formed a new team of volunteers called the Yurt...
Proposed Co-op propane storage moving ahead on Lockinvar
Emily Carson-Apstein Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder In a meeting on April 17th, 2025, island trustees unanimously voted to rezone 793 Lockinvar Lane for updated propane storage for the Mid-Island Co-op. Kelli Cartwright, the area manager for...
Housing and environmental concerns butt heads in Islands Trust planning
Emily Carson-Apstein Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder A significant portion of the April 17 regular Islands Trust meeting was devoted to discussing progress and challenges of community engagement in the Official Community Plan, a land-use...
Parsing Polling: Can voters look to polls and polling aggregators for guidance in strategic voting?
Dr. Stewart Prest Lecturer, UBC Political Science Department It’s a real challenge deciding whether to vote strategically, but a lot of it comes down to two things: the existence of one candidate that you really don’t like with a good chance to win, the presence of a...
Keep calm, and ferry on
The busy season is upon us. More people will be on island, the lineups will be longer, and we’ll see people doing silly things (like illegal u-turns) in the ferry line. Things could get messy - and will require us all to practice patience with those less...
BC Ferries launches Let’s Connect engagement framework to replace Ferry Advisory Committees
Derek Kilbourn Sounder News Wednesday, April 30, will see BC Ferries transition away from using Ferry Advisory Committees as a way to engage with ferry-dependent communities. This past Friday, the provincial corporation launched Let’s Connect, a new community...
Post-Election analysis
Lauren Touchant Professor of Political Studies Vancouver Island University Amid rising U.S. tariffs and Donald Trump’s mounting threats to Canadian sovereignty, the 45th federal election on April 28, 2025 unfolded against an unprecedented geopolitical backdrop, one...
Democratic Lessons
Dr. Stewart Prest Lecturer, UBC Political Science Department In an election like none this country has ever seen before, there were lessons aplenty to draw for those who cared to learn them. First and foremost, voters in last month’s federal election learned that...
Crown seeking seven years federal jail time for Scott Steer
Derek Kilbourn Sounder News The sentencing hearing for Scott Steer and the numbered company (1215419 B.C. Ltd.)owned by his spouse Melissa Steer started this past Thursday and Friday, May 1 and 2. Scott and the numbered company were found guilty by The Honourable Mr...
