21 people attending. Convened at 7 pm

1. Approval of minutes of the last meeting on March 6, 2019 Moved by Michael; Seconded by Bernie; Approved

2. Celebrating our successes!

Our EV Extravaganza was a great success – congratulations to David and Carol and all concerned

Michael met with Mayor Maja Tait to talk about the relationship between the District Council and Transition Sooke. Given the good track record, we hope to continue to make a useful contribution to promoting sustainability and resilience and to advocate for meaningful actions in our region.

3. Coming events

April 4 Salmon talk organized by George Butcher of Sooke Forum 7pm EMCS

April 9 Community Hall Roundtable 6-8 pm. Michael presenting for STTS and Samantha Webb for WWS

April 10 Farm and Film Gala by Awareness Film Night and Sooke Food CHI at EMCS with TS Table

April 14 Whiffen Spit Beach Cleanup with Surfrider and Zero Waste folks 11-1. Contact Wendy; Support for meeting with Council in April 23.

April 20 5th Sooke Repair Cafe at Community Hall 10-2 Contact Bernie

April 27/28 Sooke Region Communities Earth Week Cleanup coordinated by Jo, Wendy and Marlene Barry

May 24 Global Climate Strike at Legislature

June 12 Awareness Film Night with Transition Sooke in the works

4. What’s next?

• Climate Cafe: March 23 gathering went well with Shayna Shamitoff facilitating with emphasis on how people were feeling about climate change; sub-groups being formed and feedback questionnaires being sent out.

• Speaker Series and/or Strategy session with Dahr Jamail (author of THE END OF ICE).  He lives in Port Townsend. Could we do some selling of his books i.e. book tour? Looking at the 1st or 2nd week of June for this event.

• OPEN SPACE EVENT to bring together key players in and around Sooke to explore how we can work together to address the climate crisis. Invitees could be Sooke Food CHI, District of Sooke Council, David Merner, T’Sou-ke First Nation, Sooke Forum folks, etc. WHO ELSE? Speaker Series team contacting Tony and Christiana St Pierre, Mary Coll to see if someone can facilitate? Timing mid-June.
• OPEN SPACE or ORGANIZATIONAL SESSION regarding the acquisition of Woodside Farm bringing together all interested parties (see last item). This initiative could make a real difference in the area of food security. We support this initiative and encourage holding another preliminary meeting ASAP. Partners could be Sooke Region Food CHI, District of Sooke Council, Capital Region District, Kwantlen College, T’Sou-ke First Nation, local Farmlands Trust, David Merner, WHO ELSE?

* Speakers Series to bring Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner, Sierra Club BC, to give a presentation on his “3 elephants in the room” project in response to Horgan Government Climate Plan:    1] Insufficient GHG emissions reduction target; 2] New fossil fuel projects incompatible with meaningful climate action; and ESPECIALLY! 3] forest emissions!

 * Bring in a financial expert on divesting our investments from the fossil fuel industry and switching to green ethical investments say in renewal energy to give us some good insights and advice. Stephen Whipp was suggested.

• A workshop on how to determine our carbon footprint with Arno Keinonen is being explored

• TS and ZWS to have a table at the Country Market for 4 months June through September. Motion to do this was moved by David and seconded by Carol. Motion was approved.

• Bernie presented his idea of having Transition Sooke sponsor a local Grant Writing training group (a guild). He moved a motion to make this happen seconded by Sue Lidster including a budget of $50 to cover first meeting space rent. The motion passed.

5. Website upgrade – Alan

Alan told us about the streamlined design of the website including optimized features for viewing on cell phones. He proposed the website hosting be upgraded to “Premium” level at $10 per month. Motion moved by David and seconded by Jo. Approved.

6. Financial report – David

Treasurer reported that finances were in good shape. See attached report. Acceptance of report moved by Bernie and seconded by Lynn. Passed. A small deficit of $26 for our last co-presentation payable to Jo P was approved.

7. Other business

* Michael reported that his article “Keeping our carbon footprint down and beyond” will be published in May’s edition of the Rural Observer.

* Sinclair initiated a discussion on the recent first approval of the plans for the new Tim Hortons fast-food joint in Evergreen Mall which was passed at the District of Sooke Council meeting on Monday, April 8.

There was lots of push back and criticism. Some disappointment with “our” two Council members for not standing up for our “Transition Town” values. Perhaps we need to be careful to choose which battles to engage in.

Meeting adjourned 9:20 pm