15 people in attendance

1. Addition to the agenda: Jo proposing a roster of people to attend District of Sooke Council meetings on a regular basis.

2).  What’s coming up in February:

 —  February 13 AFN event at EMCS with a showing of the film “WHAT IS

      DEMOCRACY” at EMCS. Jo is looking after publicity. Alan agreed to bring the

      display setup with signup sheets, etc. Table required.

 — February 19. “CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL AND GAME CHANGERS FOR

     SURVIVAL” with Dr. Peter Carter and Elizabeth Woodworth. Lily handling publicity.  

     Alan will bring TS display for one table. Another table will be set up for book

     sales. Will need a donation box. David to pay EMCS and Technician. Michael will

     introduce the speakers. Set up at 6-30 p.m. when Peter and Elizabeth arrive.

— February 20.   ZWS meeting at Sooke Public Library. Planning for Seedy Saturday.

     Champion needed to take on single use plastic bag ban. Next repair cafe set for April

     20th. Spring cleanup on or close to Earth Day.

— February 23.  Seedy Saturday.  Tables for TS display (Alan + ?) and for the

    Pesticide Education Group (Paivi + ?)  Volunteers may be needed – maybe take shifts.

— February 26.  Sooke Transition Town Society AGM  Discussed selection of

     prospective Board members. Bernie Klassen declared he is stepping down as

    Co- President effective immediately. Michael will stay on as President subject to the

    election of officers at the AGM on February 26th, 2019.

3)  TREASURER’S UPDATE

     David Mallett, our new Treasurer, finalized the arrangement to pay for the community

     bins out of the Legacy fund with Jo Phillips. The amount was $2,092.63 leaving a

     balance of $1,314.28 in the Fund.

    Current account balances: Main account = $5,156.48

                                               ZWS sub-account = $1,083.60

                                               Legacy Fund = $1,314.28

     The 2018 Financial Report will be presented at the AGM on February 26th, 2019.

4) CHECKING IN WITH VARIOUS WORKING GROUPS –

—  SPEAKER SERIES c/o Carol and David

     EV SYMPOSIUM details are not finalized yet.

     Open Space event ENVISIONING SOOKE IN 2020 still not firmed up

— CLIMATE ACTION COMMITTEE got off to a great start with their first Climate 

     Change Cafe with 17 people showing up. They need a larger space so have rented

      the Band Room at EMCS. The next one will be on February 11 at 7 pm

      MOTION: “That TS pays for the rental of this next meeting on condition that a

     donation box is available to help defray the costs of the space for future meetings.

     Moved by Bernie and seconded by Paivi. Short discussion. The motion passed.

— SRMBI (Sooke Region Multi-Belief Initiative): Public Open Space session set for

    March 2nd. Location yet to be determined.

— WILD WISE SOOKE: Sam Webb has assumed control of this working group.

— TRANSPORTATION ISSUES: David Hannis and others plan to attend a Transit

     Planning Meeting on March 6th in Sooke (by invitation only)

— WEB TEAM UPDATE: Much to be done. Team is looking for professional help and

     will get some quotes of costs and extent of assistance

— MONITORING COUNCIL MEETINGS Several people showed interest and

     willingness to attend council meetings to bring back information we should know

     about.

5) OTHER BUSINESS

— CRD DECLARATION OF A CLIMATE EMERGENCY (Michael)

     This was approved at a meeting of the CRD Parks and Environment Committee on

    January 23, 2019. 20 delegations attended and spoke to the Committee in support

    of the Declaration. 2 Transition Sooke members made statements – Michael

    representing Transition Sooke, and Susan Clarke as a convener of the Climate Action Committee in Sooke. There were some remarkable comments made by high school students and youth leaders. Now the Declaration will need to be endorsed by the

    Board of the CRD. It is hoped that all the mayors and councils of the 13 municipalities

    within the CRD will support the declaration. A meeting with Mayor Tait to be arranged.

— SOOKE POCKET NEWS

     Michael mentioned that Britt Santowski “gave” us a free subscription with a request

     that several members subscribe to SPN. He believes that at least 3 folks have

     signed up. The cost is $10 per month plus tax.

— NEED TO FORMALIZE OUR OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES:

     Several people made suggestions on this topic. Michael said he would lay out some

     guidelines to address these concerns for our next meeting on March 6.

— ITEMS TABLED – ON THE SHELF FOR NOW:

     * Monitor the review of the Official Community Plan (O.C.P.);

     * Public acquisition of Woodside Farm possibly including the local Farmland Trust

       and the T’Sou-ke First Nation;    

     * Inviting Jens Wieting (Sierra Club) to give a presentation on the desperate state of  

     some of our forests going from functioning as carbon sinks to becoming emitters of

     greenhouse gases which increases global warming. He also wrote a hard hitting

     article in the on-line magazine The Narwhal entitled “B.C.’s climate action must

     address three elephants in the room”.  They are: 

     1) Insufficient B.C. emissions reduction target;

     2) New fossil fuel projects incompatible with meaningful climate action;

     3) Forest emissions