A bylaw by the Regional District of Nanaimo to establish a community health and wellbeing service for Gabriola Island is going to an Alternative Approval Process to get the consent of Gabriolans to fund the estimated $103,000 needed to hire a full-time coordinator.
Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley, a spokesperson for the Gabriola Health and Wellness Collaborative, says that there is a misconception that everyone who lives in the Gulf Islands is affluent.
“A lot of folks think of Gulf Islands as the sort of place where wealthy people go and buy homes, and certainly there’s wealthy people in our community, but we have a very high incidence of low income individuals, seniors and families,” she said. “At the last census, we had almost 40 per cent of our children living in poverty.”
Dunsmoor-Farley said that toxic drugs are also taking their toll on the island community.
At least 10 per cent of eligible voters on Gabriola Island, or 392 people, will have until 4 p.m. on February 20th to fill out a form stating their opposition to the plan. If this threshold is reached the bylaw would have to be approved in a referendum vote.
Voters will be able to submit the AAP form by email, mail, fax and in person at the RDN building in Nanaimo.
