Island Independence

One of the aspects of living on an island is that it requires more self-sufficiency than is generally required in the city. In addition, islands attract those who already tend toward independence, which includes those who look askance at rules and regulations. This fits right in with John’s view of things as he isn’t a big fan of following rules and was thrilled to hear that there are no police and thus no enforcement of traffic regulations, though the many bicyclists and walkers provide a practical reason to slow down.

One symbol of Galiano’s independent spirit is that it has its own flag, which was chosen from 30 entries back in 1999. The flag is a reddish purple starfish on a blue background, which seems appropriate given that the island is surrounded by purple starfish.

Galiano has a population of about 1,400 people. Some of the services that are assumed when living in the city, such as full-time medical staff, a paid fire department, and police, cannot be assumed here and thus must be provided or supplemented by residents..

To support healthcare, islanders have created a non-profit Galiano Health Care Society that raises money to supplement the part-time doctors provided by the province. The clinic building was partly funded by money raised by islanders. Currently, the health society is advocating for a part or full-time nurse on the island due to the increase in the island population that took place during the pandemic. Since Canada is suffering from a severe shortage of primary care physicians, the islanders’ efforts occur against a backdrop of struggle within Canadian healthcare. We joined the society and bought tickets to a raffle in order to provide some financial support even though they are not currently allowing any new people to sign up with the existing doctors. Maybe in the fall…

In a medical emergency, islanders are evacuated by water taxi or helicopter. The helicopter pad is right next to the clinic building. I’ve talked to two women this week who had somewhat harrowing stories of going via water taxi to Vancouver Island, the first due to a dislocated shoulder and the second because of an infection spreading from a cat bite. In both cases, they said how uncomfortable it was bouncing over the water when in pain. Helicopter evacuation is reserved for life-threatening situations and I have not met anyone yet who has experienced it.

Fire is a real risk on the island given the dry conditions that have prevailed for many years. Currently, we are under Extreme fire risk, the highest level. While we have a paid fire chief, the all-volunteer fire department is made up of 30 islanders who have weekly drills to prepare to respond to any fires that break out. There was a parade last Saturday, part of the annual summer Fiesta, that our two fire trucks participated in so I got to see all the emergency vehicles on the island out on the road at once. In addition to two fire engines, we have one ambulance.

There are no police based on Galiano. We attended an outdoor music event on private property a couple weeks ago with our guests Cecilia and Paul. We left just after 10pm but, apparently, it went on until 1am and there were many noise complaints. I asked how the noise ordinance could be enforced given the lack of police and was told that if necessary, police can get here within 20 minutes by boat from Pender Island, which I gather has at least one officer

In addition to the island-wide need for independence around fire, medical, and police, there is the family level need for independence that comes with the purchase of a property. In our case, we purchased a 1967 house that has its own well but the water is a bit salty as we are right on the ocean. And we are on a septic system that is very old, though not failing. Happily, we are connected to electricity as being completely off-grid would have been a bridge too far for us.

We were aware when we bought the house that our well had salt-water intrusion, because we did a water test as part of our inspection process, and we also knew that the septic was original. It may be that these shortcomings, along with the unrenovated nature of the house, were why our home hadn’t sold, though it was on the market for quite awhile. Most folks don’t want to deal with lots of updates and upgrades. Though most long-time islanders make changes to their homes without adhering to building requirements or getting permits, we are trying to stay (mostly) legal when we update the interior of the house. I think they call our type “city folk.”

Our slightly salty well water is potable but we’d rather not drink it. We also don’t want to water the vegetable garden with it. Therefore, we have two additional sources of water. The first is two rainwater cisterns that collect water from the metal roofs on our house and garage. We use this for the garden. For drinking, we purchase filtered water by taking six 5-gallon jugs into Victoria twice a month to get them filled at for C$3.50 per jug.

This is enough of a hassle that we are considering installing a reverse osmosis system to remove the salt from our well-water, not all of it but just enough for our drinking water. The downside of this, aside from the up-front installation cost, is that it takes 4 gallons of well-water to produce 1-gallon of desalinated water. That’s fine except that we don’t know the flow rate of our well and the only way to find out is to pump the well down, which can increase saltwater intrusion from the ocean.

Because there is an aquifer that flows off of Mount Galiano right next to us, many of our nearby neighbors who are not waterfront have plenty of excellent sweet (not salty) water. One idea would be for us to get water regularly from one of our neighbors, possibly by paying them per jug, but this goes against the island, and John’s, mentality of self reliance and independence.

Finally, getting good bread on the island is not that easy. The bakery with decent sourdough frequently is sold out when we get there. So I decided to fire up my pandemic-era bread making once again and make some sourdough walnut loaves (see photo of one below). After two rounds of baking, I was reminded why I stopped before. It is so much work!

The results were good but, despite this, I am hoping that a new food business near our house that has been in the works for a long time will open and be a success. The couple that is designing and funding it are putting in a new restaurant, a “taco truck” and a flour mill, both in containers. They plan to make excellent bread with their flour. It will be a terrific addition to an already foodie island and might make it slightly less necessary to be quite so independent. 🙂