May 20 2025

Submitted by site_admin on Mon, 06/02/2025 - 20:57

BAMFIELD COMMUNITY AFFAIRS SOCIETY

General Meeting Unofficial Minutes

Tuesday 20 May 2025 at 18.58 pm
via Zoom - hosted by Jamie Willock

Attendees (20): James Willock (Chair), Bob Beckett, Jaleen Rousseau, Julie Bradley, Stella Wenstob, Jan Teversham, Barry Sills, Tom Jensen, Margot Keate-West,  Robin and Bob Schmitt, Jaslyn Haberl, Sheryl Mass, Birgit Gagne, John, Leo Cote, Andrew Miller, Betty Beyko, Ilan Perez     

Acknowledgement of Indigenous Lands: The BCAS acknowledges that the land on which we meet is within the Traditional territory of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations where indigenous peoples have lived since time immemorial.

The meeting was called to order at 18.58

Adoption of Agenda m/BWest s/JBradley

Adoption of Minutes of April 2025 Community Affairs Meeting.

m/BWest s/JBradley

ACRD DIRECTOR’S REPORT: Bob Beckett

Bob started his report by thanking the Board for their invaluable input and the Society’s attempts to reflect all the community . He appreciated the candid discussions he has had with Jamie.

  1. ACRD Board meeting May 28 – Anacla – 1:30 pm

Once a year, the ACRD Board of Directors travels to one of the rural areas in the Alberni-Clayoquot Region to hold their Board meeting. This year the Board is travelling to Bamfield and Anacla. They are grateful to be able to hold their meeting in Anacla at the House-of-Huu-ay-aht. The ACRD Board Meeting is on Wednesday, May 28 at 1:30 pm at the House of Huu-ay-aht, 171 Nookemus Road, in Anacla. All are welcome to attend. The meeting will be livestreamed and available on Zoom. The ACRD Directors and staff will be touring Bamfield in the morning prior to the start of the Board meeting in Anacla.

  1. Bamfield Community Plan

In preparation for the upcoming review of Bamfield’s Official Community Plan (OCP), the ACRD using grant funds had Urban Systems Ltd., conducted an assessment of our community which included a land capacity analysis which evaluates the suitability and availability of land for future development in East and West Bamfield. This includes residential, commercial, and community use designations, as well as environmental and hazard constraints.

The purpose of this study is to inform future Official Community Plan (OCP) development, housing needs reports, and recommendations for future planning and development. It will also support asset management, development cost charges (DCCs) development, and subdivision and servicing standards. Lastly, it will inform amenity contribution policy development.

The Plan identifies growth potential and limitation based on existing zoning, existing Bamfield OCP policies, physical land constraints, current servicing capacity, potable water, and sewerage, as well as identify the potential for growth for servicing upgrades, transportation, hydro, and housing.

ACRD staff will be providing a presentation on this report at a future BCAS meeting.

I have provided Jan with the Urban System Ltd., report in a PDF file for those who wish to read it in full.

Questions/Comments: Stella asked whether Urban Systems was the same company that HFN had used in their Development Plan. Yes

Tom said that the report  will feed into our OCP and how crucial the moorage issue is.

Bob B hoped that the ACRD will give a presentation of the report at BCAS’s June meeting. The three issues are Housing, Moorage and Parking and it is important not to make the same mistakes as Tofino.

TREASURER’S REPORT (April 30 2025):  from Susan Derasp

Chequing $5187.72

Savings $28,239.36

Member Equity $5.21

Total Assets $ 33,432.39

Interest $14.01

COMMUNITY REPORTS

  • Bamfield Community School Association: Jaslyn Haberl
  • At the end of April, we were delighted to host a dance troupe, Dance Fachin, at the community school, who shared their climate justice performance "The Fourth R: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, REVOLUTIONIZE" with our students and community.
  • Our last Community Lunch of the school year was a huge success, thank you to the crowd of folks who came!
  • Big thanks to Amelia, Aneri, Alessandra, and Abbi for organizing the 3rd annual Pride and Preloved Consignment Sale at The Wreckage! Our community contributed more than $1,000 to our Community Pride activities! We will be hosting our 3rd annual Pride March and Potluck on Saturday July 5th. Stay tuned for other 2sLGBTQIA+ focused events!
  • Our students have been in the garden a lot, and we are grateful for all the help we've had from community members, our kiddos, the ACRD, the Alberni Valley Food Security Society, and Farm to School BC for their support to build a new Medicine Garden at the community school with native perennial species, as well as several other perennials that are now around the school property. We are working towards building our School Greenhouse, and plan to have that completed before the end of the school year.
  • A lovely group of local potters had a blast making ceramic pot planters with Julie Bradley from Sea Star Ceramics in her most recent workshop! We hope to have updates soon about our new Community Kiln, which will be installed at the school! We hope to have even more pottery offerings soon.
  • The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council youth workers will be resuming the NTC Youth Drop-Ins on Mondays after school in June.
  • We are so proud of the 4 Bamfield Community School Graduates who will soon be celebrating the completion of their secondary education. The Grade 12 Graduation Ceremony will be held at the BMSC Rix on Thursday June 26 at 4pm.
  • We are almost done with the hiring process for the new BCSA Manager (formerly Coordinator), who will be overlapping with Jaslyn soon!

Ongoing Programs:

Adults

  • Monday night drop-in adult sports 7-8:30pm
  • Wednesday night yoga 5:15-6:15pm, except June 4. Stay tuned for our summer yoga schedule.
  • Thursday night group fitness classes 5-6pm, except June 5 & 12.

Kids/Youth

  • After School Clubs Tuesday, Thursday. Year-end After School Club party for all ages will be Tuesday June 24.
  • Imagination Station Arts After School Club Wednesdays
  • Tee Ball for ages 4-8 Wednesdays from 6-7pm will conclude June 11th with a pizza party.
  • Youth Peer Support Training with ADAPS
  • Friday Night Chill Year End Party will be June 13th from 7:30-10:30pm at the BVFD Fire Hall. Thank you for your support and providing a different venue than the school!
  • Bamfield Harbour Authority: Tom Jensen
  • The dock was getting busy over the long weekend which is good as they need the revenue.
  • Jaslyn of BCSA is developing an arts programme so that there should be some colourful artwork from the students appearing on the dock to cheer it up.

 

  • Arts Council: Julie Bradley

The date for “Art in the Park” is July 6, 11-2 with a barbecue organised by BCSA. Flyers will be out this coming week.

  • Bamfield Centennial Park- Sheryl Mass
  • The Parks Board continues to look for a new Chair.
  • Jody Thompson started at the park on May 15 as the manager.
  • Leo Cote is working there on a Canada Youth Grant as the Park Host.
  • Andrew Miller has been hired to keep up with grass cutting.
  • Leo is setting up a spot for a book exchange.

 

  • Bamfield Community School:  Robin Schmitt
  • Grad- Jun 26 @ 4:00pm at the Rix
    • Wood chunks, leftover from Firesmart work on the school driveway,  are free for the taking
    • SD70 Pride week is in the first week of June. Many activities will be integrated into the classroom, and the week will culminate with a Rainbow Party on the morning of June 6  when the community will be welcome.
    • Grade 12s are participating in Peer Support Training with the support of the BCSA and ADAPS
    • The whole school is attending a Nesting Moon celebration on June 4 in Port Alberni. This is a gathering of SD70 schools to celebrate, and share, their Indigenous culture with each other 
    • School staff has participated in a NOIIE (Networks of Inquiry for Indigenous Education) inquiry process again this year. Our focus was learning more about creating a trauma-sensitive, and engaging learning environment.  This included creating alternate learning spaces, flexible seating areas, embracing the outdoors on Forest Fridays, in the garden, at multiple recesses per day, as well as adopting Restorative Practice as a means to resolve conflict in our building.
    • We are also nearing the end of phase one of a collaborative project with HFN and North Island College regarding the use of virtual reality in the school and community
    • Some thank yous:  to the hard working staff of Bamfield Community School- our teachers are true superstars! To the BCSA for all the work they have done with our youth, to BMSC for coordinating with our high school students’ Science labs, and to the health unit for providing important health lessons and training to our secondary students.

NEW BUSINESS

  1. Second Presentation for a GIA for Boardwalk Planter Boxes: Margot Keate-West.

Margot repeated her presentation: the 38 planter boxes are in great need of repair and replacement as some of them are 40 years old. The plan is to replace 12 of them this year. Two were lost to the ocean during winter storms this year and 10 are in a really dire state of repair. Then 12 more for the next two years will be replaced, so that in all 36 will be renewed. Wood from the Community Forest that is being milled at the airport will be available to make them and Bernie Muller has volunteered his time to prepare the wood. This GIA will be discussed at the Board meeting next Monday.

  1. Small GIA for a Film Workshop- Andrew Miller

Andrew, who has a background in video editing in Toronto, is asking for $465.16 to buy film and cover other costs, such as postage, to enable him to host a free 16mm film workshop for youth in Bamfield/Anacla. The result will be 6 minutes of silent film. Up to 12 participants can be accepted and he is looking for older adolescents first. If there are more people than places then they will be chosen by a lottery.

This small GIA will also be discussed at the Board meeting next Monday.

  1. First presentation of GIA for BCSA Summer Programme support.- Jaslyn Haberl BCSA

Jaslyn gave the first presentation for funding of summer programming for students that would be free of charge to participants. The request is to provide supplies for the programmes and a top up to wages of the facilitators. The second presentation will be made at the June BCAS meeting.

 

NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will be on Monday 16 June, 2025.

Meeting Adjourned at 20.03 m/BGagne, s/BWest