Go Nanaimo Blog

At 1 pm on Saturday, February 13, 2010, the West Coast Anti-Sealing Alliance, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and Vancouver Island Animal Defense League are welcoming “Sparky” - a giant inflatable seal pup – to Nanaimo to raise awareness of Canada’s commercial seal hunt. Sparky has been on a nationwide journey to celebrate the Olympic torch relay, greeting the Olympic torch at major cities all across the country.

The Olympic torch is a symbol of peace, and of bringing communities together. And it is in this spirit that Sparky has traveled across the country, to unite compassionate Canadians sharing our desire to bring an end to the unnecessary slaughter of seal pups for their fur.

The commercial hunt is a brutal, tax-payer subsidized activity that has seriously affected Canada’s image abroad and is responsible for boycotts of Canadian produce and tourism which amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars.

All eyes will be on Canada as the 2010 Olympics take place in Vancouver and Whistler. At the same time, the largest marine mammal slaughter in the world will be set to commence on our East coast. Sparky is taking this opportunity to remind the world that the majority of Canadians are opposed to the inhumane and unnecessary commercial seal slaughter.

Please welcome Sparky to Nanaimo by coming to Maffeo Sutton Park at 1 pm on Saturday, February 13, 2010. You’ll find Sparky the Seal on Spirit Square in Maffeo Sutton Park on the waterfront downtown.

Sheryl Fink, Director of the Canadian Seal Campaign at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, will be there to inform us about the IFAW’s campaign to stop the hunt. Bruce Foerster of the West Coast Anti-Sealing Alliance, Dr. Inge Bolin of Vancouver Island University, Marley Daviduk of the Vancouver Island Animal Defense League, and Ericka Ceballos of the Campaign Against the Cruelty to Animals will also speak.

biogas facility at Cedar Road LFG

Cedar Road LFG Inc., a member company of the Suncurrent Group, has completed phase one of its landfill gas utilization project and is now selling electricity to BC Hydro. This certified clean energy facility uses methane gas produced by decades of biowastes accumulating at the Regional District of Nanaimo’s Cedar landfill to generate electricity. The company is a leader in its field and its progress is being closely watched by other landfill operators around British Columbia. Cedar Road LFG is the first facility of its kind to be designated as a Collaborative Development and Demonstration Center by the BC Bioenergy Network.

From 6 to 8 pm on Thursday, March 5, 2010, Cedar Road LFG will host an information meeting at the Vault Café, 499 Wallace Street in downtown Nanaimo, to outline its work to potential investors. There will be a video on the shift to clean energy in BC, a power point presentation on the new biogas facility at Cedar, displays, and a discussion. For more information on this investment opportunity call Paul Liddy, Managing Director, Cedar Road LFG Inc., at 250-816-2250.

How would you like to have the chance to talk to an experienced business professional outside your own circle – to help you work through a challenge?  Someone to bounce ideas off without fear of comeback?  Well, the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce’s new mentorship program affords you just that opportunity through peer to peer mentoring. The chamber has now added a mentorship program to its repertoire of member services.

The concept of coaching and guiding individuals through a comprehensive mentoring program reaps tremendous benefits for both mentor and the individual being mentored – the mentee. What is mentoring anyway?  A mentorship is a supportive relationship established between two individuals where knowledge, skills, and experience are shared in a nurturing way. Mentoring really is something that can benefit everyone. As well as helping the mentee develop and advance through their career, the mentor can gain extra skills and understanding from the partnership.

This comprehensive leadership development program has been created specifically for the Nanaimo business community. The program affords seasoned business professionals the opportunity to share their experiences with less experienced individuals. In today’s ever changing business environment, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to call on to ask advice or bounce ideas around? Through the mentorship program, you can do just that. For more information on the program, contact the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce at 250-756-1191.

Cuba Education Tours invites you to visit Cuba to meet and interact with island educators, and to relish the history, arts, and culture. You’ll return better for it — rejuvenated with fresh new insights on life and possibilities for progressive change. Island educators believe that dialogue and direct relations are the best way to establish cross-border friendships and collaborations. They seek teacher-to-teacher encounters because, they like you, are charged with the well being of the next generation. They want you to be a guest and discover their realities first hand.

The Cuban people want you to come to Cuba, have a good time, and return home to report your findings to your family, friends, and colleagues. Join a Cuba Education Tour in 2010 now. Costs and itineraries are detailed at http://CubaFriends.com.

* International Women’s Day Cuba Tour from March 6 to March 13, 2010
* Two March Teachers Introduction to Cuba Tours March 13 to March 20 and March 27 to April 3, 2010
* May Day Celebration Cuba Tour from April 25 to May 2, 2010
* August Teachers Introduction to Cuba Tour from July 31 to August 7, 2010

Please share this information with friends keen on visiting Cuba. Read what other teachers say about Cuba at http://MyCubaTour.ca. Cuban educators are hoping to meet you on the island soon. For more information contact Marcel Hatch, Education Director, Cuba Education Tours, 2278 East 24th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5N 2V2, Canada, tel. 1-877-687-3817 in  Canada and the US or 604-874-9048 internationally.

Sculptures by Rolan Gatin

The Nanaimo Art Gallery, downtown at 150 Commercial Street, is presenting the Maple Sugar Festival Exhibition featuring three notable artists from February 18 to March 13, 2010.

Rolan Gatin: Born in small-town Saskatchewan and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Gatin moved to Salt Spring Island, British Columbia in 1999 and began his sculpting career upon arrival. His work reflects human sensuality, geometric simplicity/complexity, and curvilinear elements without conforming exclusively to any particular style.

Carmen Mongeau: “I respond to the acrylic medium on canvas as it suits my impulsive nature and need to work intuitively and quickly, bringing in assorted other mediums and materials.”

Rachel Vadeboncoeur: “Becoming an artist, or simply a person that finds joy in exploring their creativity is an important step in anyone’s life…. It must be a moving experience, both for the creator and the viewer. It’s nourishment for the human soul, a music for the eye.”

An opening reception catered by 24 Carrot Catering with entertainment by Tunefully Yours takes place on Thursday, February 18, 2010, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. For more information please call 250-754-1750.

The Nanaimo Blues Society is having a Valentine’s Dance from 8 pm on Saturday, February 13, 2010, with the Bill Johnson Blues Band. It will be at the German Cultural Centre, 71 Caledonia Avenue, Nanaimo.

If you live on Gabriola Island, Dinah D and the Martini Foursome will headline at Cupid’s Clinic, a Valentine’s Day fundraising dance from 7 to 10 pm on Sunday, February 14, 2010, at Dragon’s Lodge . There will be finger foods, door prizes, a raffle draw for an exquisite pearl necklace, wine or beer by cash bar, silent auction on bottles of champagne, and other items. Tickets are  available now at $25.00 each at Artworks.

Celebrate the Year of the Tiger at the Nanaimo Museum from 1 to 3 pm on Saturday, February 6, 2010. The Chinese Cultural Society, Multicultural Society, and the Nanaimo Museum present exciting Lunar New Year entertainment including the Lion Dance, musical performances, cultural games, and refreshments. Admission is by donation.

Rootz Underground

Rootz Underground is the feature band at the second annual Bob Marley Birthday Bash at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo on Thursday, February 4, 2010, at 8 pm. The Jamaican chart-toppers were orginally traveling to the region for a tour of only the U.S. West Coast but local reggae promoters made sure they expanded their tour to include at least a couple of Canadian dates. “I couldn’t have hoped for a better band to play this year’s bash. I can confidently say that this is some of the best new reggae music out there” said Simon Schachner, Nanaimo-based promoter and host of Rebel Music on CHLY 101.7 FM.

Rootz Underground is a band that breaks down the walls that limit a sound to a single genre. They channel the musical vibration that rings true in the heart and soul of all the conscious rebel rockers, late night revelers, and soul seekers! Many influences have borne their ‘rootz’, including their homeland Jamaica – birthplace of Rastafari and the revolutionary 70’s, dub and roots reggae music. Their powerful sound and energy has moved them forward across the last nine years of the band’s journey from small underground club shows in Kingston all the way to the largest stages in Jamaica including Sunsplash, Rebel Salute, Welcome to Jamrock, Reggaelution, and Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues repeatedly.

The band consists of six core members that have been placed together through fate and friendship along the road of life in Jamaica with music as the common ground. It’s here with the mix of these personalities and varied interests that the intricate recipe for the diverse sound comes together and gets expressed in this modern twist on roots reggae. Rootz Underground has been blessed to be able to be amongst the return and rise of the band format coming out of Jamaica, at a time when dancehall and hip-hop are in the forefront they found themselves as a group performing lyrically conscious original ‘roots’ reggae music.

Over the last decade they have won their fans and the respect of their contempories one explosive show at a time showcasing and projecting a collective energy that captivates audiences with its pure intention. It is with this ability to engage and hypnotize that Rootz Underground has set out on the tour trail, traveling through the Caribbean, North America, and Hawaii in an effort to carry the message of upliftment, positivity and oneness. The year 2008 saw them touring the U.S. extensively on joint bills with foundation powerhouses such as Gregory Isaacs, Israel Vibration, and The Wailing Souls.

Rootz Underground will be performing both originals and Bob Marley classics. This program is presented by Reggae Planet Productions in conjunction with the Nanaimo African Heritage Society Black History Month events. Tickets ($27.50/$22.50 adults/students) are available at the Port Theatre ticket centre. Call 250-754-8550 for information.

For the fourth year in a row, the Department of Geography at Vancouver Island University – in tandem with the North Island chapter of the Planning Institute of British Columbia,  Solutions: A Sustainability Network, and the New City Institute – are presenting the annual Urban Issues Film Festival from 3 to 10 pm on Friday, February 5, 2010. Featured films will include The Street, How to Boil A Frog, and a number of short films on energy, transportation, and building alternatives.

In addition to panelists on local initiatives around sustainability, the featured speaker and Don Stone lecturer on urban issues will be Dr. Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria. Dr. Weaver is one of the world’s leading experts on climate change and a leading author of several of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that have helped focus global world opinion on the severity of global warming. As a result the IPCC was awarded, along with former vice-president Al Gore, a Nobel Prize for its efforts. Dr. Weaver is also the author of the recently published book Keeping Our Cool. Dr. Weaver, who will be speaking at the film festival venue at 6:30 pm, will address the aftermath of the Copenhagen negotiations, Canada’s role, and the lessons for cities as major agents of climate change.

The films will start at 3 pm and will continue after Dr. Weaver’s talk, to conclude with a brief panel discussion by local sustainability practitioners. This event will be held in building 200, room 203 (auditorium) at Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo. The paid parking area is accessible from Fourth Street ($1/2/3 for 2/4/9 hours). Festival admission is free and complementary pizza, popcorn, and beverages will be served at 6 pm. To ensure adequate food quantities, registration is required. For more information, visit the VIU website.

Panorama by John Hofman

On February 16 and 18, 2010, Friends of the Morden Mine will hold two open houses to solicit feedback from the public on the Site Development Plan commissioned for Morden Colliery Historic Provincial Park and the western portion of Morden Colliery Regional Trail. Submissions are welcomed from anyone interested in preservation of this historic park area and/or enhancement of the adjacent portion of the trail.

The Tuesday, February 16, 2010, open house will be held at the Cranberry Community Centre, 1555 Morden Road, Nanaimo, 6:30 to 9:30 pm, in conjunction with the South Wellington and Area Community Association monthly meeting. The Thursday, February 18, 2010, open house will take place at the Cedar Heritage Centre, 1644 MacMillan Road, Cedar, from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.

The major objectives of the study are:

1. Determination of the potential of the site to accommodate visitors, tourists, school excursions, and other uses related to its historic and cultural significance.
2. Optimal location of an interpretative centre, parking areas, access, and other logistics on a preliminary landscape plan.
3. Proposed management structure for the Morden site and its integration with Morden Colliery Regional Trail.
4. Mitigation of possible usage conflicts with existing neighbourhood plans or objectives of other stakeholders.
5. Projections of costs and time schedules necessary to carry out recommended options and exploration of funding sources.

Aside from the open houses, suggestions may be e-mailed to info AT mordenmine.com. For additional information see the Friends of the Morden Mine website.