Bio
I was born in British Columbia and grew up in Vancouver, Victoria and Richmond. The 1970s and early '80s were a time of intense development in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island. I was one of many who saw bogs drained, fields fenced and streams rerouted to make way for a new wave of buildings and roads in the community where I lived.
Like many West Coasters before me, I was seduced by the big city lights of Montréal and headed off to study at McGill University. A friend of mine told me the real value of an undergraduate education is the "ability to undergo a complete personality change without anyone noticing." In some ways, that's what happened to me.
How conflict spreads and what can be done to resolve it became questions of personal and professional concern. These issues, and a parallel interest in international affairs, led me through many other academic doors – as a student at UBC, Queen's and the Australian National University (where I earned my PhD in International Relations) and as a professor at Bishop's, the University of Northern BC, the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, UVic and Royal Roads (where I taught Conflict Resolution).
It may have been Valdy's description of Salt Spring as "a difference of opinion surrounded by water," that made me first fall in love with this place. Then again, it might have been the cozy cabin my family and I rented on Reginald Hill in 1998 when my former wife, Elizabeth, my daughter Lizzy and I first arrived. Or it could have been the sharp contrast in temperature between our home in Prince George and that cabin.
The air here was clean, the forest more or less preserved, the heritage and land of the Tsawout respected and the people — the people were full of life. Salt Spring was clearly a place of thinkers and doers, a home to eccentrics and cranks as well as the mildly and full-on famous.
Since then I have carpooled, bake-saled, potlucked, broom-pulled, run and walked my way into a village of neighbours. During this time, I participated in the Fulford Study Group — a local visioning project with eye-opening and positive results for our community.
These forces that convinced me to stop leaving my home for the Ivory Tower. By 2008, my life here demanded a new career. Happily enough, Salt Spring Island Cheese needed a cheesemaker. The hours spent preparing lectures, advising students, participating on committees and grading papers were replaced by a physical process linking quality, ability and performance.
It's from my position on the cheesery factory floor that I take this next step as a candidate for the Islands Trust.
Our Island's diversity is precious. Its resources — the folks we live and work beside, the children we shepherd, the families who first carved out their homes anticipating future generations, the plants, animals and water courses that sustain seen and unseen systems of their own — are our gift. And they are our constant responsibility to protect. Your vote for me on November 19th will help us all strike the right balance.
