“Places” by Shane Koyczan

Shane Koyczan is one of Canada’s best known spoken word poets. Koyczan speaks “truth to power”. His messages and performances are stirring. I saw him in performance at a local theatre, last year. He puts his heart out there. I recall his tears, and mine. He has published a number of books of his poems. […]

Upcoming Victoria workshop to help you embrace and implement a culture of “speaking up”

It seems to me that every workplace employer I’ve interacted with over the last couple of years has mentioned how challenging it can sometimes be for their employees (and sometimes, themselves!) to authentically “speak up”. Speaking Up Speaking up is more than just “speaking truth to power”. It’s about improving team performance by engaging in […]

Ear Hustle – A podcast about prison life that builds bridges between us and them

You can’t hate someone whose story you know. I recently discovered the Ear Hustle podcast. “Ear Hustle brings you the stories of life inside prison, shared and produced by those living it. The podcast is a partnership between Nigel Poor, a Bay Area visual artist and Earlonne Woods, formerly incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, and was co-founded with […]

3 Mutual-benefit strategies to reduce conflict and improve the land-use application process

Land-use applications are a rich source of conflict, almost everywhere. That’s certainly my experience, here in Victoria. Too often, the interests of developers, public administrators and community members are in conflict, especially when a rezoning, or amendment to the Official Community Plan, is required. It’s not uncommon for changes proposed by a developer to be […]

Our relationship with orcas (killer whales) is transforming us

When I moved to Victoria in the early 1990’s, one of the first things I did was go to Sealand of the Pacific, to watch the orcas, “killer whales”, perform. Sealand, in my neighbouring municipality, Oak Bay, was barely a kilometer from my home. Today – Sealand is no more – though a landmark orca […]