Saturday Daytime Panels & Music
Panel 1: What You Do Makes a Difference w/ Adam, Frances, Misty & musician Dan Mangan.
Sat. 10AM
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” Jane Goodall
Adam Olsen W̱ SÁNEĆ TERRITORY
[ Adam has been involved with The Crisp since it began. Adam walks the talk. Adamhas represented as our MLA these past 8 years.We thank him for all his commitment, hard work ethic and dedication to making our world a better place in which to live. We wish him all the very best in all his future endeavours. J .]
Born in Victoria, Adam was raised on Tsartlip First Nation in Brentwood Bay, BC. The Olsen family has always been small business owners. Whether it was on the guide fishing boat in the Saanich Inlet, pushing a lawnmower for Mt. Newton Gardening or buying and selling wool for Mt. Newton Indian Sweaters and Salish Fusion Knitwear, Adam has always worked alongside his parents and siblings (Joaquim, Joni and Heather).
In August 2013, Adam was appointed Interim-Leader of the B.C. Green Party. In December 2015, MLA Andrew Weaver was elected leader and appointed Adam as Deputy-Leader. MLA Weaver appointed Adam as Campaign Chair in November 2016. Adam was elected as the Member for Saanich North and the Islands in 2017, and then re-elected in 2020. He currently serves as the Caucus Chair.
Adam is an entrepreneur, a networker, and a community builder. He tackles challenges straight on and he is a tireless in his efforts. For the past decade, Adam’s work has been primarily focused on politics. He is a work-from-home dad/politician. First with his son Silas, and now with his daughter Ella,
Misty MacDuffee VICTORIA/PENDER ISLAND
[ Recommended immediately by Maryanne and Kathy, I look forward to hearing the words from this dynamic activist! J. ]
Misty MacDuffee is a conservation biologist with a focus on fisheries ecology in salmon ecosystems. For the past 15 years, she has undertaken various types of field, laboratory, technical and conservation assessments in the salmon-bearing watersheds of the BC coast. She has a particular interest in the role of salmon as critical food sources for wildlife and incorporating their needs into salmon management decisions. The application of her work is to implement ecosystem considerations in fisheries management. This often requires engagement with management, dialogue and stakeholder forums that affect fisheries and wildlife policy.
Frances Litman VICTORIA
[ I first met Frances in 2018 in Victoria and was amazed at her successful involvement in so many projects. A true, passionate community spearheader! J. ]
Frances Litman is an international award-winning photographer, community activator and multi-media producer who is passionate about sharing creative solutions that foster healthy, happy and resilient communities. She has voluntarily coordinated some of North America’s largest zero waste Earth Day festivals and sustainability showcases, and is the creative force behind CreativelyUnited.org and co-founded the Community Trees Matter Network.
Panel 2: “In Search of Joy: Finding Our Life Hacks” w/ Trevor, Johnny,
Wendi, Susan, Dan
& musician Dave Scanlan.
Sat. 12 Noon
Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day [ Henri Nouwen]
Trevor Erikson PENDER ISLAND
[ A while back my friend Colin said, “What do you mean you don’t know Trevor, you should”. During this past year I have come to cross paths with Trevor on various levels and you can’t help but see this joy for life. He is an encouraging individual, an old soul with a love of life, a calmness exudes, his photo says it all. Do you know Trevor? You should! J. ]
Trevor Erikson is a Registered Doctor of Traditional Chinese medicine who has, since the start of his practice in 2005, been using acupuncture and herbal medicines to help individuals overcome a wide range of skin diseases, inflammatory bowel disease and pain. Trevor is recognized throughout the world for his skill and dedication to clinical efficacy, has lectured to both live and webinar audiences, and has published articles in several Chinese medicine journals.
Trevor is an avid organic gardener and, together with his wife Gillian Allan (a registered midwife), grow the majority of their family’s fruit and vegetables. They also grow many flowers (especially yummy smelling ones) for the birds, bees and insects, but also for the pure enjoyment of anyone passing by. This year they grew all the flowers for their daughter’s wedding. Trevor, Gillian and their three children also love to cook, finding great joy in preparing foods picked fresh from the garden that are then shared with family and friends.
Trevor loves to dance, compose songs for guitar, write poetry, and engage in the creative process. He practices some form of mindfulness meditation everyday, be it on the pillow, working in the garden, while walking the ridge above his home, or while paddle boarding the bay below.
Wendi Lopatecki PENDER ISLAND
[ I am very impressed with Wendi’s garden and craftiness, I find it all very inspiring. Her passion for furthering her knowledge about gardening spurs us non green thumb people on! She has talented kids too, a super mother and her husband Colin is our Crisp sound guy extraordinaire! J. ]
Wendi has been finding joy through the slow transformation of a muddy thistle field into a diverse garden full of fruit, berries, vegetables, flowers and herbs. Since moving to Pender in 2003 with her husband, they have been focused on their shared dream of creating a natural home and organic sanctuary through which she can provide healthy food for her family with as little dependance on big agriculture as possible.
While harvests have been big or small over the years, Wendi has discovered the continual joy that blossoms through the intentions and the physical work that connects her to the soil, and to the bigger picture of stewarding the life of the land by planting native plants and by working with the designs that nature herself provides. She is also excited to grow and forage medicinal herbs to continue learning about the deep relationship between our bodies and the plants that our ancestors grew up with and depended on.
Wendi was born in Victoria and has been living beside the ocean ever since. She has raised two children with her husband, and while not in the garden she can be found weaving, natural plastering, dancing, playing music and writing poetry.
Dan MacIssac METCHOSIN
[ I go way back with my good friend Dan. We were at UVIC together many moons ago and our families have been close. Another humble person, I remember being a bit stunned when I found out Dan was a poet as opposed to his normal everyday job of the law. He is passionate about nature and his poetry is intense in its simple, evocative delivery J. ]
Dan MacIsaac writes from Metchosin. His poetry, fiction and verse translations appeared in literary magazines such as The Malahat Review, Event, Stand, Prism, and Canadian Literature. Brick Books published his poetry collection, Cries from the Ark. His poetry has received awards including the Foley Prize from America Magazine. Dan MacIsaac’s work was short-listed for the Walrus Poetry Prize, The Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest, and the CBC Short Story Prize.
Johnny Aitken MAYNE ISLAND
[ Johnny came over to Pender to take part in an anti racism event at the Catholic chapel here on Pender last year. Gentle, inclusive, accepting, nurturing, I am delighted he is taking part in a Crisp panel this year. J.]
Elder Johnny Aitken, he/him identifies as a queer 2Spirit with Coast Salish, Haida and Scottish lineage. He considers himself “mixed up” in a beautiful way and sees this blood mixture as a gift and sometimes a troublesome curse. Johnny’s blood combination allows him to imagine and create through the lens of blended cultures and histories…… these give him an entangled but unique and curious perspective. Johnny also came from a very complex traumatic, childhood, which he explores and heals in all the work he executes. He is freely vulnerable but often needs to manifest his own safe place to be at ease. He does this with a shield on, a “creative protective shield”. Moving into sometimes dangerous territory to exit fully intact is his goal and objective.
Susan Burwash PENDER ISLAND
[ Susan is a Crisp volunteer. Like so many people on the island her humbleness would not let you know about her academic past. So pleased to have her be an official panel person this year. J. ]
Dr. Susan Burwash is a retired occupational therapy educator, researcher and clinician. Prior to coming to S,Dáyes in 2018, she worked in Alberta, BC, Washington state and Texas, primarily in the mental health field. She is also an artist and craftswoman, working most often with molten glass and with wire. Throughout and beyond her formal career, she has incorporated the arts into her practice and daily life, working with individuals, groups and communities to enhance health and well-being.
Panel 3: “You Have to be More Careful With an Island” w/ Tai, Erin,
MaryAnne, Kathy, musicians Decades After Paris
Sat. 1:45
Turning environmental anxiety into positive activism
Tal Engel COMOX VALLEY
[ Kathy Cronk and Maryanne Pare recommended that Tal be invited. I love Maryanne’s giddy reaction to him coming “The motherlode is coming!” J. ]
Tal is a regenerative farmer and forest rehabilitation practitioner who lives in the Comox Valley, British Columbia, together with his family on their land, Honey Grove. There, supported by family and a group of dedicated friends, interns and volunteers, Tal conducts his forest rehabilitation experiments, researches and studies ecology, and stewards a newly planted orchard of a thousand apple trees, while his partner stewards Honey Grove’s bee colonies, its market garden, and ecotourism venues. His goal is to develop new ways to dissolve the arbitrary boundaries between nature and farm. Through his “Ecological Farming” model, Tal hopes to forge an unbreakable link between the health and wellbeing of farms and the ecosystems (in the case of BC, forest ecosystems) that surround them.
Alongside his life as a farmer, Tal’s greatest passion are the forests that he is surrounded by. Striving to decipher the infinite complexities of forest ecology through a mix of a deeply intimate relationship with nature and extensive academic research, and in advancing the art and science of forest rehabilitation through the development of novel methodologies and approaches. In the Fall of 2024 Tal will be beginning an MSc degree dedicated to a thesis examining how successional dynamics and industrial management regimes in forest ecosystems affect their resilience and health, and therefore their potential to survive and eventually attain old growth status.
Tal collaborates with and has had his work featured by prominent environmental organizations such as Raincoast Conservation Foundation, the Canadian Society of Environmental Biologists, the Comox Valley Land Trust, the Denman Conservancy Association, Transition Salt Spring, and others, as well as private land managers. Tal’s "WolfTree Approach" to forest rehabilitation rests on a firm foundation of decades of scientific research conducted across the Pacific Northwest into old-growth and natural disturbance ecology, and the effects of established ecological forestry models. His ultimate goal is to develop forest rehabilitation models that can be applied on a landscape scale to address the dire challenges we face: from fires, floods, and droughts, to biodiversity collapse and hydrological dysfunction, and to foster conditions that facilitate the regeneration of additional old growth forests, in time. For this purpose, Tal founded WolfTree Integrative Forest Rehabilitation, which serves both as a container for these various endeavors, as well as an instrument for the implementation of this vision.
Tal’s work stems from a grave concern for the fate of our planet’s ecosystems and human civilization, and an understanding that the hour grows late, very late—that if we, as a species, fail to find ways to live with nature rather than against it, the consequences, although already dire, will be unfathomable. As the skies darken, and a growing sense of despair, grief, and guilt plagues those who love this Earth, Tal believes that not only is it important to fight against the dying of the light—but that it is an absolute necessity for the well-being of both individuals and communities. Life devoid of hope is a wretched affair—so even if you won’t save the world, you might just save your soul. Dozens of interns and volunteers who make their way to Honey Grove each year, dedicating themselves to the arduous task of rehabilitating forests and stewarding land, can attest to that.
Kathy Cronk PENDER ISLAND
[ I met Kathy when I first moved fulltime to Pender. She was one of two facilitators at the Newcomers meeting I attended. Kathy has attended most if not all Crisp Festivals and I am delighted she is taking part on a panel subject dear to her heart J. ]
Kathy is a retired Human Resources professional and now spends the bulk of her time working for and worrying about climate change. She and a group of friends spearheaded Pender Earth, an organization that helps her neighbours and friends work towards climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience while dealing with climate anxiety. She is a propagator of food, seeds, and community. A listener, problem solver, seeker, reader of people, and listener.
Decades After Paris VICTORIA
[ Danton and Heather, environmental troubadours who have supported The Crisp since the beginning. Heather is a well respected facilitator who has moderated our panels before. Danton is accompanying her this year as a musician. J. ]
Decades After Paris has drawn local and international attention, as it explores the human dynamic in a warming world. The music draws from big band jazz, while embracing 90’s rock and R&B. At the shows expect captivating storytelling, a slice of romance, and a journey into the realities of our new world; all while shaking your booty. It’s fun, upbeat music with imaginative and poetic lyrics addressing profound topics. The seven piece band - complete with horns, two part harmonies, and a heavy rhythm section - bring their funky music to the stage with incredible solos, vocal prowess, and a down to earth good-hearted nature.
Dr. Erin O'Brien PENDER ISLAND
[ We are pretty lucky having Erin as the Director of such a positive, action focused non profit on Pender! J. ]
Erin is the Ecology and Conservation Director of the Pender Conservancy based in Hope Bay..
As an avian ecologist, Erin studies songbirds to monitor habitat quality and detect environmental changes on local scales. Since moving to Pender in 2012, she has established nest box trails for studying aerial insectivores, helped to initiate a barn swallow nest site community mapping project, and is beginning a long-term avian bioindicator monitoring program focused on chestnut-backed chickadees and violet-green swallows. Erin accepted a staff position with the Conservancy in 2019 that has allowed her to focus on fundraising, community engagement, and revitalizing conservation and land preservation activities on Pender.
Maryanne Pare PENDER ISLAND
[ Andrea Spalding of Pender told me in 2021 year to contact Maryanne re Spoken Word and the panels. I am SO glad I did! A humble soul whilst being a force to be reckoned with and with whom I share deep philosophical reflections on this thing called LIFE. J. ]
Caring for the planet is the naturel extension of a career working with children and families. Maryanne is an activist, a spoken word artist, filmmaker, lives off the grid and … went to Woodstock!
Speakeasy w/ Leslie
Sat. 4 – 5
Leslie McBain PENDER ISLAND
[ Leslie is a woman of indomitable spirit. That is all I can say. An inspiration. WE HAVE HAD A SPEAKEASY AT EACH CRISP. Leslie commandeers a whole slew of Pender poets! J. ]
Leslie is a co-founder with Moms Stop the Harm and lives on Pender Island. Moms Stop the Harm is a network of Canadian families impacted by substance-use-related harms and deaths. She is an Advocate / activist for evidence based, compassionate drug policies. Leslie is a poet and host of the very popular Pender Speakeasy sessions.
Friday & Saturday Daytime Musicians
In addition to the Friday and Saturday night ticketed concerts, there will be a number of other opportunities to listen to some wonderful music.
The Lake Men
Pender Highlanders
Fri. @ Noon –
Community Lunch.
Sat. @ 3 – 4 Song Circle
Sat. @ 9:30 AM outside at the Hall –
Welcome
Maddie Glover, Grayson Lenner & Jordan Puentes
“Here come the Young, with Open Hearts and Minds, Inclusive From the Start” [Martyn Joseph]
Sat. @ 11:30 – 12 noon. Upstairs
Olivia Barrett