Chapter Activist Profile

In Canadian Perspectives we profile chapters from across the country. The profiles give an idea of chapter activities as well as honour the volunteer work that chapter members do to promote the work of the Council of Canadians. To find a chapter in your community check here or consider starting a chapter and getting active.

Past profiles include:

Gwyn Frayne, Comox Valley, British Columbia
Sheila Rogers, Lethbridge, Alberta
Richard Hagensen and Joanne Banks, Campbell River, British Columbia
Tracy Frohlick and Tara Seucharan, Toronto, Ontario
Michaele Kustudic, Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia
Mandy Melnyk, Peace River Region, Alberta
John Dressler, Williams Lake, B.C.

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Gwyn Frayne, Comox Valley, British Columbia

Nestled between the Beaufort Mountains and the Strait of Georgia on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Comox Valley is a landscape of rolling mountains, rich farmland, rivers and lakes. It is made up of the communities of Courtenay, Comox and Cumberland and the surrounding rural areas and is home to an engaged activist community.

Photo: Gwyn Frayne (right) joins other members of the Comox Valley chapter for a World Water Day event. The chapter is active on many issues in their community.

How did the chapter get started?
In the mid-1990s two activists, Kel Kelly and Wayne Bradley, arranged a visit by Maude, and following that a decision was made to form a chapter. Barb Berger, who currently chairs our meetings, remembers that there were rich discussions on how the chapter would be run, what the goals were, and who would be in charge.

The chapter has been doing a lot of work to stop the Raven Underground Coal Project – tell us about this.
Coal Watch, the main activist group opposing the Raven Coal Mine, which is slated to be built within the Comox Valley just south of Courtenay, asked our chapter to support them. We have gone to all the hearings and made submissions to the environmental assessment process, urged all our members to write letters to the editor, and gone on protest marches. We also gave Coal Watch our chapter’s Annual Award for Community Action.

At a huge town hall meeting about the coal mine, many people said that for the first time in their lives, they felt the need to protest. When our chapter offered to put on a civil disobedience workshop (led by the Council’s BC-Yukon Regional Organizer Harjap Grewal), 50 people signed up! The workshop brought together people from most of the activist groups in our area. There was so much motivation to organize and stop the coal mine that a Peaceful Direct Action Coalition was formed. In September we held a big town hall meeting with Maude as the featured speaker, and the next day the coalition hosted several workshops. We are all gearing up for direct action if the coal mine is approved – and we’re getting ready with help from the Council.

What other issues is the chapter working on? Our chapter has been the driving force behind various issues that are now being carried on by other groups. For example, we worked on GE-Free Foods and supported the local farmers’ market. The local GE-free group then morphed into the Friends of Farming, which we still try to support.

We were active in starting up the Comox Valley Water Watch, since protecting our water is a major federal, provincial and local issue, and we have always worked on public health. We were part of the initial group that fought the closure of two hospitals in our area, along with the Campbell River chapter. We were very happy when we won that battle! We have an active SOS (Support Our Seniors) Comox Valley group which is focusing on seniors’ health issues and the fact that all senior resources in our area are now privatized.

We have put on many large town halls, usually with other groups co-sponsoring them. Because the federal and provincial governments are off-loading problems to the local areas, some of us are involved in a Citizen Voice Project, which is trying to educate and animate more progressives municipally.

The Comox Valley chapter has a strong local presence. How do you encourage participation and build excitement about the campaigns you work on?
People rally around issues of a local nature. The Raven Coal Mine has affected so many people in a negative way that it has brought people out of the woodwork. We think that taking larger issues and applying them to local ones is the key to getting people interested. What the chapter does has to be relevant. The Council brings many important issues together – democracy, sovereignty, social justice, public health care and water – and Maude’s commitment inspires us all to keep on with our struggles and issues.

What advice would you give to people interested in starting up a new Council chapter?
Make the chapter relevant to your community as much as possible; take something specific and connect the dots to the global picture. Find existing groups and work with them when you can.

For more information about how to join a chapter in your area call us at 1-800- 387-7177.

Published in Canadian Perspectives Autumn 2011.