Islander

It was a random conversation among ­strangers who met by chance one day in a Victoria-area park.

I had casually observed fungi before — on lawns, stuck on neighbourhood trees and in neat fairy rings in parks. But it was the first time I consciously went looking.

Climate-wise, Victoria is considered part of the temperate zone. But during this past year or two, civility-wise we’ve verged into the intemperate zone.

Today, misinformation is more easily ­available than actual information, and ­possibly more influential in terms of some people’s thinking.

You may have noticed on email signatures, name tags and Twitter handles people are adding their pronouns. Even on many Zoom calls people add their pronouns next to their displayed name. Common pronouns used are “she/her,” “he/him” or “they/them.

Children who have to visit the Child and Family Ambulatory Unit at Victoria ­General Hospital for bloodwork and other lab procedures will now find the experience less stressful thanks to a $150,000 renovation of the laboratory area funded by the Vict

There is a common Indigenous teaching that says “remember where you come from.” We all have a starting place and since birth we have taken many small strides to get us where we are today.

The question has been raised, if hospital intensive care units on the Island become swamped with COVID-19 patients (as they already are in Northern B.C.

The Greater Victoria Placemaking Network has launched the Little Free Library Truth and Reconciliation Book Project, a fundraising campaign to purchase children’s and young adult books about truth and reconciliation from local and Indigenous authors.

And so it begins. A falling tree hits a power line in North Saanich, knocking out power to the Swartz Bay ferry terminal. B.C. Ferries is unable to lift its loading ramps. ­Several sailings are cancelled.