Leslie Campbell

FOCUS CONGRATULATES WRITER RUSS FRANCIS on his winning the 2021 Jack Webster Award for environmental reporting for his report “One in 7 deaths of Canadians are due to fossil fuel particles, which also help viruses invade our bodies.” In the article, Francis reports on research about particulate matter in the air we breath—PM2.5s—and how those released from the burning of fossil fuels help the coronavirus slip past our bodies’ natural defence mechanisms to gain easy access to every cell in our bodies. In general PM2.5s can wreak havoc. They can cause “cancers, heart attacks, lung disease, strokes, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. They even increase the risk of permanent blindness,” writes Francis. Though there are many sources of PM2.5s, new research suggests that burning fossil fuels kill tens of thousands of Canadians every year. “[F]ossil fuel-generated PM2.5s kill 2.6 times as many adult people in just one year as the pandemic has killed in total,” writes Francis. Francis has been a regular contributor to FOCUS for over four years. He previously held staff positions with Monday Magazine and several large dailies, including the Vancouver Sun. Starting with a short piece on animal rights in the December 1986 issue of Mother Jones, his stories have appeared in various publications worldwide. At Monday Magazine, in 2000, he won a Webster award of distinction, with T.K. Demmings and Ross Crockford, for a Victoria city hall story, and won wide praise for helping end a highly questionable city deal with a California developer, through his Arena Deathwatch column. In 2008, he enrolled in UVic’s Master of Public Administration program, subsequently working as a BC government analyst for 10 years in various ministries. He returned to reporting in 2018, concentrating on energy policy and the climate emergency for Focus. The November 3rd Jack Webster Awards ceremony took place online this year. Named for influential reporter and commentator Jack Webster, who worked in print, radio and television, the awards are presented annually by the Webster Foundation whose mission is to foster and celebrate excellence in journalism to protect the public interest for British Columbians. Other finalists in the environmental reporting category for the Websters this year were Jess Houty with Hakai Magazine and Marc Fawcett-Atkinson with Canada’s National Observer. Other Victoria-area winners in other categories include Andrew MacLeod with the Tyee and Les Leyne (Commentator of the Year) with the Times-Colonist. See the list of award winners and finalists here. And read Russ Francis’ award-winning entry here. Leslie Campbell is the editor of FOCUS—and pleased and proud to work with Russ and other excellent writers dedicated to investigating important regional issues.

ONE WAVE October 15 - 30, 2021 @Fortune Gallery As a tribute to persistence during troubled times, Miles Lowry’s ONE WAVE reminds us how a wave, full of energy, eventually lets go, dissipates and disappears as if it were never there. Created during lockdowns and waves of pandemic alarm, each painting is named for a presence, a yearning, or discovery. *Artist will be in attendance 12pm to 4pm on October 16 & 17. 537 Fisgard Street Victoria, BC Open 12-5 Closed Monday Gallery: 250 383 1552 See the show starting Oct 15 online @ www.loveandliberty.ca - COVID PROTOCOLS will be in place with masks required for indoor spaces. - http://www.mileslowry.ca http://www.loveandliberty.ca Be sure to 'like' Love and Liberty's Facebook Page Follow on Instagram

View this email in your browser Antimatter [media art] October 14 to 24, 2021 | Victoria BC & Online | antimatter.ca The 24th annual Antimatter festival continues this weekend with screenings, installations and online programs of international media art and experimental cinema. In-person screenings 6pm and 8pm nightly at Deluge Contemporary Art (636 Yates Street) have limited capacity and require advance ticket purchase at antimatter.ca. Saturday | October 16 | 6pm | Screening @ Deluge The Length of Day Collage, found footage and photochemical fictions by Cecilia Araneda, Kristin Reeves, A. Moon, Siegfried Fruhauf, Kathleen Rush, Charlie Egleston and Laura Conway. Saturday | October 16 | 8pm | Screening @ Deluge The Mirror Neuron Performative prosody and gestural empathy from Sarah Trad, Bea de Visser, John G. Boehme, Paul Tarragó, Adán De La Garza, Michael Heindl and Tommy Beacker. Sunday | October 17 | 6pm | Screening @ Deluge Stranger than Paradise The body is obsolescent: it is still needed but the preparations for its abolition are in progress. Film-choreography from Tamar Zehava Tabori, Bailey Plumley and Chris Haring/Liquid Loft. Sunday | October 17 | 8pm | Screening @ Deluge If I Could Name You Myself Movement and music drive meditative explorations of identity, race, gender and transcendence: Ann Oren, Michael V. Smith, Helanius J. Wilkins, Roma Flowers, Hope Strickland and Aram Karsi. Online Programs Screening programs are available online for 24 hours (midnight to midnight) the day after in-person screenings at Deluge Contemporary Art. Streaming is free (donations appreciated). Watch at antimatter.ca Online @ antimatter.ca Automat Some of the most rewarding and memorable experiences at Antimatter are artist talks, Q&As and informal social events with local and visiting filmmakers. As the situation this year again precludes most participants attending the festival to engage with peers and audiences, Automat presents a self-serve option. We coerced participating artists into making short videos that somehow “talk” about themselves and their work, whether by actually talking or otherwise. The results are as amazing as we’d hoped—spontaneous, revealing, witty and poetic insights into their lives and practices. Watch the results online at antimatter.ca. Deluge Contemporary Art 636 Yates Street Victoria, BC V8W 1L3 Canada

2021 Pacific Baroque Festival Makes Triumphant Return September 8-13 Live Music Returns to Victoria with a Festival of Chaconnes and Passacaglias Victoria, BC - After a lengthy delay, the 17th annual Pacific Baroque Festival, presented in partnership with EMV: Pacific Baroque Series and the Victoria Conservatory of Music, will be held once again in Victoria this September. ‘From the Ground Up: Chaconnes and Passacaglias,’ features a dazzling series of concerts that highlight this uniquely virtuosic Baroque music, including stunning works by Claudio Monteverdi, François Couperin, Dietrich Buxtehude, and Georg Philipp Telemann. “We are so grateful to finally be able to present this wonderful series of concerts,” says Brian Groos, Managing Director of The Pacific Baroque Festival. “This music is beautiful and profound; an experience that will be enhanced when hearing these musicians play it in a live performance.” To interpret this captivating line-up, Festival Artistic Director Marc Destrubé will lead an ensemble of the west coast’s leading early music artists including violinist Kathryn Wiebe, cellist Natalie Mackie, harpsichordist Christina Hutten, and member of the Order of Canada, soprano Suzie Leblanc. The Festival opens with a recital by celebrated organist Mark McDonald. “This year’s theme is based on Chaconnes and Passacaglias. These are both types of pieces that use an approach called a ‘ground bass,’ or a repeating bass line,” explains Destrubé. “It’s like a modern-day chord progression in a pop song. This year’s Pacific Baroque Festival gives us the opportunity to explore the many ways in which composers such as J.S. Bach and Arcangelo Corelli used the universal appeal of the chaconne and passacaglia. These forms suggest that the wheels of life just keep on turning, which is the perfect sonic balm for these unsettled times.” The Festival will feature performances at the Alix Goolden Performance Hall and Christ Church Cathedral, with limited seating and Covid safety protocols in place. EVENT LISTINGS: ‘The Master’s Masters: Teachers of the Young Bach’ Wednesday, September 8 at 8:00 PM Christ Church Cathedral (Quadra Street at Rockland Avenue) Mark McDonald (Organ) The pieces in the Andreas Bach Book and the so-called Möller manuscript, two significant collections compiled by J. S. Bach’s eldest brother and keyboard teacher Johann Ernst Bach, are a treasure trove of the greatest composers of the day and shed light on the early musical education of the young J. S. Among the many great names in the collections – Pachelbel, Froberger, Lully, Albinoni – are two of Bach’s greatest influences, the celebrated organists Dieterich Buxtehude and Georg Böhm whom Bach would seek out in his early years as a budding musician. Take a musical journey through the sound world of the young Bach, whose own early works in the collection, like the great Passacaglia in C minor, show his ascension from studious pupil to master in his own right. ‘Italian Passion’ Thursday, September 9 at 8:00 PM Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora Ave Marc Destrubé (Violin); Kathryn Wiebe (Violin); Natalie Mackie (Viola da gamba); Christina Hutton (Harpsichord and Organ); Suzie LeBlanc (Soprano) Explore the brilliant music of the violin virtuosos of 17th and 18th century Italy. Early Italian composers were masters in defining genres, from Monteverdi’s operas to Frescobaldi’s toccatas to Corelli’s sonatas. This concert highlights the versatility of Italian expression over an ever-steady ground bass. ‘German Depth’ Friday, September 10 at 11:00 AM Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora Ave Marc Destrubé (Violin); Kathryn Wiebe (Violin); Natalie Mackie (Viola da gamba); Christina Hutton (Harpsichord and Organ); Suzie LeBlanc (Soprano) The music of 17th century Germany was highly influenced by the Protestant Reformation. With a new approach to writing for the church, composers explored the depths of their own beliefs through music. Drawing from new musical ideas and forms that emerged in other regions, such as the chaconne and passacaglia, the brilliant composers of our German Depth concert skillfully adapted them to their more profound local tastes. ‘French Elegance’ Saturday, September 11 at 8:00 PM Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora Ave Marc Destrubé (Violin); Kathryn Wiebe (Violin); Natalie Mackie (Viola da gamba); Christina Hutton (Harpsichord and Organ); Suzie LeBlanc (Soprano) In the Palace of Versailles, the Sun King, Louis XIV, presided over a court widely known for its extravagance. He celebrated the arts and employed many musicians to perform ballets, operas, and at official ceremonies for the entertainment of foreign guests. French Elegance is a programme of music from this period, exuding the glory of France as exemplified by the mighty chaconne. ‘Choral Evensong’ Monday, September 13 at 5:00 PM Christ Church Cathedral (Quadra Street at Rockland Avenue) (Voluntary Offerings) The Pacific Baroque Festival concludes with the annual tradition of Choral Evensong at Christ Church Cathedral. This year’s Service of reflection and prayer will feature the music of England’s Henry Purcell and Lübeck’s Dieterich Buxtehude.” LISTING INFORMATION 2021 Pacific Baroque Festival – From the Ground Up: Chaconnes & Passacaglias Dates: September 8 – 13, 2021 Tickets: $25 + fees for all ages Box Office: www.pacbaroque.com/2021-pacific-baroque-festival

SINCE THE FIRST DAY OF ARRESTS at the Fairy Creek old-growth defence blockades, the RCMP have been employing vast “exclusion zones.” On July 20 a BC Supreme Court judge ruled those exclusion zones are not legal, according to a lawyer for the Rainforest Flying Squad. Justice Douglas Thompson told lawyer Matthew Nefstead that the RCMP may arrest and remove people who violate an injunction order, but may not deny access to everyone simply based on the possibility that someone may violate the order in the future. Justice Thompson agreed that the order issued April 1 by Justice Frits Verhoeven was clear in its protection of public access and the right to participate in lawful protest, and that important liberties were being compromised by the RCMP’s enforcement actions. Chief among these actions are the RCMP’s checkpoints and geographically extensive exclusion zones—which have ranged up to 10 kilometres—which have limited the public from getting anywhere near the forest defenders’ logging blockades. This has meant the public could not show support or engage in civil disobedience by standing on the road. The exclusion zones also meant that media representatives were limited to having to be escorted in by RCMP members, at times the RCMP chose, in order to get close to the blockades and arrests. Those representatives had to prove to the RCMP they were credentialed. (Media access was the subject of another court application, which was also ruled on favourably by Justice Thompson, who stated the RCMP must: “keep in mind the media’s special role in a free and democratic society, and the necessity of avoiding undue and unnecessary interference with the journalistic function.”) Will RCMP gates at Fairy Creek blockades come down soon? Justice Thompson was responding to an application last week from Elders for Ancient Trees to amend or clarify the injunction the BC Supreme Court granted to logging company Teal Cedar Ltd on April 1. Thompson’s oral judgments today, on applications for access by the Elders and by the coalition of media groups, will be followed in the coming weeks by written reasons. “This is a major victory for the public and anyone who wants to express their disapproval of the destruction of some of the last irreplaceable old growth in the region,” said Susan Gage, a spokesperson for Elders for Ancient Trees. The application was prompted in part when a bus carrying 15 elders was forced to back down a logging road three kilometres in the rain after they were turned away from reaching a logging blockade in the Fairy Creek area on June 15. “We hope the RCMP will respond immediately to this court order and remove their blockades and checkpoints,” stated Gage. FOCUS contacted the RCMP for comment but did not hear back by publishing time. Saul Arbess, another elder involved in the application, noted that in past forest defence actions, such as at Clayoquot and Walbran, RCMP behaviour has been more respectful of people’s right to protest. “Each morning, supporters would be allowed to attend the blockade. The police would come and read the injunction to everyone and then ask, ‘Will you step aside?’ Those who did not want to be arrested would step off the road; those willing to be arrested would remain on it and be removed and arrested by the officers.” But in the Fairy Creek blockades, as in Wetsuwet’en, it’s very different, noted Arbess. Huge exclusion zones enforced with blockades and checkpoints established by the RCMP, block access to everyone on long stretches of logging roads—all on public land. Even tourists have been unable to get through. Lawyer Matthew Nefstead, who represented the elders group, told media it seems clear based on the wording of the injunction and oral reasons by Justice Frits Verhoeven that the intent of the injunction was to ensure access to the area for the public and for peaceful protest while also clearing the way for ­industry. The judge stated: “The protestors are free to protest, demonstrate, and attempt to influence the government in any lawful way they may choose.” Instead, Nefstead said, the exclusion zones prevented people who wanted to visit the area to participate in lawful protest, with no intent to violate the injunction, from being allowed to enter. These people were able to walk through an exclusion zone set up 10-12 kilometres from Waterfall blockade camp in late May. The RCMP chose not to arrest anyone that day. Lawyer Noah Ross told FOCUS in May that “Exclusion zones are only legal in certain limited circumstances in which there are serious public safety risks. It’s explicitly not allowed by the injunction,” said Ross. “It appears that the RCMP are once again willing to enforce exclusion zones that are not legally justified in order to make their job easier. They’re willing to overlook people’s civil rights in order to give industry access to their logs,” Ross stated. “It’s not legally justified.” This opinion was confirmed by the BC Supreme Court Even with the restrictive exclusion zones, well over 440 people have been arrested at the Fairy Creek blockades trying to prevent clearcutting of old-growth forests. With the new ruling against the zones, it seems likely more citizens will be able to show support and risk arrest in doing so. (In other legal news, arrestees may now face criminal contempt of court charges rather than just civil.) Leslie Campbell is the editor of FOCUS. She has visited Fairy Creek blockades three times, including in late May when she and hundreds of others—were able to walk past an RCMP checkpoint due to the sheer numbers and Pacheedaht elder Bill Jone’s advocacy. That story is here.

Why This Word Hou I-Ting | Valentina Jager | Wang Yahui Curated by Jo Ying Peng July 17 to August 21, 2021 Deluge Contemporary Art 636 Yates Street, Victoria BC | deluge.ca Exhibition Hours: Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 4pm Why This Word is an exhibition that draws an axis between interpretation and vocalization to deconstruct the act of writing as a way to shape identity. The title is inspired by a quote—“the word is my fourth dimension”—in Clarice Lispector’s novel Agua Viva, and partly borrowed from a biography of the author (Why This World, Benjamin Moser, Oxford University Press, 2009). Referencing the looming myths of Lispector’s own life as a means to speak to universal female experiences, Why This Word considers how fractures in the socio-political world may otherwise remain invisible. Detailing women’s labor within the global workforce, Hou I-Ting examines the politics of the body through her practice. Valentina Jager’s work is infused with a deep sensibility that explores the precariousness of truth, subjectivity of interpretation and fragile nature of memory. Wang Yahui employs poetic imagery in dynamic scenarios to present alternative ways of translating time through quotidian materials. The exhibition combines these different narrative approaches—writing in time, labour and poetic rhetoric—to amplify definitions of feminist micro-narratives. Hou I-Ting (Taiwan) is especially interested in female labor conditions in socioeconomic systems of the past and present. Her practice pivots around the changing relationships between the body and the visual image over time. Hou has exhibited internationally, including We Now Stand – In Order to Map the Future, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2019); Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific: A Selection of Works from QAGOMA’s Asia Pacific Triennial, Centro Cultural La Moneda, Santiago, Chile (2019); Tejiendo Identidades (Weaving Identities), PhotoEspaña, Centro de Historias, Zaragoza, Spain (2019); and Cold Chain,Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (2019). Valentina Jager (Mexico/USA) unfolds her practice in the borders between writing, sculpture and performance, focusing on ephemerality and materialism. Jager has participated in residency programs such as Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Fieldworks Marfa and the Syros Institute. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at galleries and museums internationally such as the Orange County Museum of Art, Paul Kasmin Gallery New York, Alumnos47 Mexico and the Kunstverein Göttingen. She is currently a PhD student of Creative Writing in Spanish at the University of Houston and recipient of the 2021 Artadia Houston Awards. Wang Yahui (Taiwan) turns imageries of contemporary life into microcosms with the artist herself as an astronomer observing the hidden relationship between nature and all living things: Huizi and Zhuangzi debating the happiness of fish. Solo exhibitions include Still Life Sonata, Taitung Art Museum (2021, Taiwan), The Diamond that is Raindrops, Absolute Space for the Arts (2020, Taiwan), A Brief History of Time, Eslite Gallery (2019, Taiwan), Questions to Shadow, Neuer Kunstverein Giessen (2018, Germany), A Slant of Light, TKG+ (2016, Taiwan), Pick up a leaf when it falls, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Kyoto (2012, Japan) and Handmade Fairytales, Cable Gallery, Helsinki (2010 Finland). Jo Ying Peng (Taiwan/Mexico) runs Vernacular Institute and co-ran Taipei Contemporary Art Center as open platforms to present, exchange, create and share artistic ideas outside of institutional discourse. Working across curatorial, editorial and cinematic boundaries, Peng strives to expand possibilities beyond linear narrative and is dedicated to projects with performative approaches and in experimental settings. Selected recent projects include Buenos días mujeres (ARIEL, 2020), Who Writes? (Gallery OMR, 2019), Narratives of Exchange / Exchange of Narratives (Instituto Alumnos, 2018), Vernácular: Art Book Fair (Proyectos Monclova, 2018), There after Here: Performing a Verb (Vernacular Institute, 2017), Portrait Portrait (TCAC, 2016), Marginal Matters (Arkipel, 2016) and A Gaze on the Contemporary (Urban Nomad Film Fest, 2016). Why This Word is supported by the Province of British Columbia and the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan.

E.J. Hughes: Works on Paper July 10 - 24, 2021 Madrona Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of works on paper by E.J. Hughes. As one of British Columbia’s most celebrated artists, E.J. Hughes continues to be remembered for his strong depictions of the West Coast landscape. This collection of works on paper gives a glimpse into Hughes’ process and how he observed the world that is captured through his paintings. Creating his works on location, Hughes would later add written notes regarding tone and colour. This dedication and focus shown in his preliminary sketches and drawings would provide the foundation for larger, fully realized paintings in oil, acrylic, and watercolour for years to come. Hughes studied at the Vancouver School of Applied Art and Design from 1929-1935 under Charles H. Scott, Jock Macdonald, and Frederick Varley. He would later go on to serve as an official war artist from 1943-1946. Hughes was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy in 1968 and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Order of Canada in 2001 and the Order of British Columbia in 2005. This will be the first focused solo exhibition of works by E.J. Hughes in over a decade. Image: E.J. Hughes, "Houses, Qualicum Beach", 18 x 24, Watercolour, 2000 Image at top: E.J. Hughes, "South Thompson Valley at Pritchard, BC", 20 x 24, Watercolour, c. 1962 M A D R O N A G A L L E R Y | 606 View Street | Victoria, B.C. V8W 1J4 T: 250.380.4660 E:info@madronagallery.com

An Acoustic Evening with Chad Brownlee August 12-15 - 7:30 PM 4 Shows • 50 People A ruggedly charming musician, his love of the outdoors is very much reflected within singer/songwriter Chad Brownlee’s chart topping tunes and infectious melodies. A multi talented artist, his passions for music, acting, sport and philanthropy run deep. Once a Vancouver Canucks draft pick, and now a critically acclaimed country music star with over a decade on the road, Brownlee is no stranger to the music scene. His raw musical talent, and compassionate storytelling exploring the adventures of life, inspire his signature pop, country and rock sound. CHARLIE WHITE THEATRE COVID-19 EVENT PLAN Your safety is our top priority. We are taking all measures to provide a safe, sanitized and comfortable concert setting, following the current updated regulations provided by the Provincial Health Office (PHO) and Work Safe BC. For each performance, we will be selling a maximum of 50 tickets. You and your cohort will be seated with appropriate social distancing between you and the next cohort. To this end, the Mary Winspear Staff will continue to assign seats to ensure the comfort and safety of all our patrons. If you have any mobility issues or special seating requirements, it is imperative that staff is notified at the time of concert “pre-screening”. It is essential that all patrons are guaranteed their required seating and respectfully accommodated. If we do not receive these requirements at the time of “pre-screening,” we risk not having the required seating available for these patrons. Please note: all exchanges, gifting, or reselling of tickets must be done through the Mary Winspear Centre box office in order for us to conduct pre-screening, seat assignment, and contact tracing protocols. If you are feeling unwell, have any COVID-19 symptoms, have been asked to isolate, or have been around someone who has been asked to isolate, tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 14 days, or been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 14 days, please do not attend the concert and contact the box office. For your well-being, the Mary Winspear Centre will provide hand sanitizers and facemasks. -Mary Winspear Centre staff will assign seats (socially distanced by cohort and/or special needs/mobility issues) in order to maintain BC Provincial Health Orders. -Staff wearing PPE. -MASKS ARE MANDATORY AND MUST BE WORN AT ALL TIMES, unless briefly removing to sip your beverage. -The Charlie White Theatre has recently been examined by our trusted HVAC Technician. Fresh air-flow is ensured at all times. -Designated entrance: Theatre Lobby doors (Enter from outside). -Designated exits: Theatre Lobby doors and Theatre Alcove door (Both exit to outside). -Designated washrooms: Small washrooms by the box office. -No intermission: Pre-ordered drinks will be served to you before the performance. Maximum of 2 alcoholic drinks per patron both will be given before the performance. -No paper tickets. -Cleaning/disinfecting of entire space before and after each performance. -Before any performance, all patrons will receive a phone call from Mary Winspear Centre staff for personalized service and pre-screening. -You will be assigned a designated check-in time during the pre-screening call. You must arrive within that requested time frame to complete the health check-in and review the current protocols before being permitted to enter the Charlie White Theatre. -No singing or dancing is allowed at this time for the safety of your fellow concert goers, artist(s), and staff. -No outside food and beverage permitted. You may bring a water bottle. -Come with your own cohort and maintain social distancing from others. -Mary Winspear Centre representative(s) present in-house to monitor/ensure this current COVID-19 Event plan is followed. Maximum group size is 6. Order Tickets Now Mary Winspear Centre 2243 Beacon Avenue, Sidney BC 250-656-0275 | marywinspear.ca