Dear Editor,
This is an open letter to families who have children attending the local schools.
I am incredibly excited to begin a new school year and new fine arts program with both Desert Sands Community School and Cache Creek Elementary School.
I specialized in arts education and also completed my bachelor of fine arts major in visual art at the University of Regina.
I am looking forward to sharing my passion for the arts and education with the students, schools and communities of Ashcroft and Cache Creek.
I cannot wait to witness the creativity, inspiration and risk-taking that students will display in the classroom this year.
If you want to check out what projects we’re working on, visit my blog at http://artsadventures.weebly.com/
Throughout the school year, I will be collecting various supplies that can be used for creating in the classroom.
If you are looking to get rid of some of the following items, the students and I would really appreciate:
• Clothing, hats, scarves, gloves, glasses or other accessories that can be used for dress-up or drama costumes.
• Recycled materials: tin cans, yogurt containers and lids, egg cartons, milk jugs/cartons and paper towel rolls.
I look forward to getting to know you and your child this year.
If you have any questions, concerns, or just want to come help out in the classroom, please contact me at jderksen@sd74.bc.ca.
Art can sometimes be messy. If you wish to protect your child’s clothing, please consider sending a large shirt or apron to keep at school.
Jade Derksen,
School District No. 74 fine arts teacher
Dear Editor,
I am writing because the British Columbia salmon farming industry must be transitioned to land.
I have read too many stories about diseased salmon escaping their pens and then infecting young wild salmon threatening the quality of food for indigenous peoples and settlers and the sport fishing and eco-tourism industries.
Salmon farms are a threat to marine wildlife and have entangled and killed sea lions and humpback whales.
My father was a commercial fisherman when I was a youngster. I grew up eating wild salmon and all forms of sea life.
With these diseased farmed salmon escaping their pens and infecting the wild salmon stocks, I will have to consider giving up eating a food that has been my heritage for over 60 years.
It is not fair that salmon farms get subsidies while they are killing the wild salmon and other sea life. There should not be any subsidies for salmon farms.
A bi-partisan provincial report from 2007 recommended that B.C.’s salmon farming industry transition to closed containment to prevent harm to wild fish.
A decade after this recommendation is plenty of time to transition to land-based fish farming that won’t harm the wild fish stocks.
It’s time to get this done.
Linda Wall,
Kamloops, B.C.
