VESSEL MANAGEMENT CONSULTATION OPEN FOR PUBLIC FEEDBACK! For years the proliferation of deep-sea vessels using the Southern Gulf Islands as a parking lot has caused environmental and social challenges. We have heard stories of environmental degradation, excessive noise, light and greenhouse gas emissions negatively impacting the Salish Sea. For...
My colleague Sonia Furstenau and I have received hundreds of emails from concerned citizens living around the Saanich Inlet about the proposed expansion of the Bamberton quarry. (Learn more at https://adamolsen.ca/2022/10/public-comment-open-for-bamberton-quarry-expansion-application) The fact that a proposal to...
With the 2022 local government and school district elections in the books, I want to raise my hands in gratitude to all our friends, family and neighbours who courageously put their names on the ballot for our consideration. Congratulations to all the newly elected and re-elected mayors and councillors in Saanich North and the Islands. I look...
ÍY SȻÁĆEL (Good Day), Welcome to my weekly update for October 30, 2022! MLAs returned to Victoria for the third week of the Fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly. The BC NDP leadership event is now completed and former Attorney General, David Eby, has been confirmed to be the next Premier of British Columbia. We await his swearing in ceremony...
I have been hearing about the challenges that school districts are facing managing the unfunded inflationary pressures that are piling up. Especially in districts of stable or declining enrollment newly elected school board trustees will be tasked with challenging decisions about what is going to get cut. The BC NDP...
I spoke to Bill 36: Health Professions and Occupations Act. It must be the heftiest, all 645 clauses, that has been tabled in my time in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly. This is new legislation comes out of the work of a steering committee created by the Minister of Health, Hon. Adrian Dix, and including the...
Child welfare in British Columbia has long been a shameful part of our provincial history. As the Ministry of Children and Family Development Fact Sheet noted despite the reality that Indigenous people are less than 10% of the population, Indigenous children represent 68% of the children in care. The provincial child...
Despite Minister Adrian Dix’s claims he is addressing the primary healthcare crisis in British Columbia, thousands of my constituents in Saanich North and the Islands do not have access to a family doctor. The pace of Minister Dix’s response is creating a gap and the corporations are lining up to exploit it. While the...
In October 2021, the provincial government struck an Electoral Boundaries Commission to review electoral district boundaries and make recommendations with the goal of ensuring that the weight of all British Columbians vote is equal. Among the boundary realignments the Commission proposed adding six new electoral districts, expanding the...
ÍY SȻÁĆEL (Good Day), Welcome to my weekly update for October 23, 2022! With the 2022 local government and school district elections in the books, I want to raise my hands in gratitude to all our friends, family and neighbours who courageously put their names on the ballot for our consideration. Congratulations to all the newly elected and...
In September, former Saanich North and the Islands MLA and Sidney businessman Clive Tanner passed away. In my statement this week I stood to recognize Mr. Tanner and the significant contribution he made to our community and province. [Transcript] Today I stand to celebrate the life of a community leader and former...
UPDATE – November 4, 2022 My colleague Sonia Furstenau (MLA, Cowichan Valley) and I met with Minister of Environment and Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) officials on November 3, 2022 for an update. We learned that a request has been made for an Environmental Assessment of the Bamberton Quarry project and the EAO...
This week, the report of the Special Committee to Review the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act that was published earlier this summer was officially table in the Legislative Assembly. As a member of the Committee, I had an opportunity to speak to the process and the contents of the report. As the...
In this episode of The Public Circle Podcast, I connect with Jonathan Morris, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association, B.C. Chapter. He has worked in the sector for the past two decades and we start our conversation discussing how he got started and what he and the CMHA is doing today. We cover a variety of relevant topics including, • The...
ÍY SȻÁĆEL (Good Day), Welcome to my weekly update for October 9, 2022! Firstly, I want to raise my hands in gratitude this Thanksgiving weekend. Thank you to my Constituency Advocates, Laura Parker and William Kelly for their incredible work on behalf of the people in Saanich North and the Islands. Thank you to the team in the BC Green Caucus...
Earlier this month, my colleague Sonia Furstenau delivered her first in-person speech to local government elected and administrative officials who were gathered for the Union of BC Municipalities convention (UBCM). Sonia and I were both previously elected to local government and have many friends in office in communities across the province. It...
Currently there is no province wide protection for bear dens. While they are protected on Haida Gwaii and in the Great Bear Rainforest, and some protection by logging companies for the vast majority of the province bear den habitat is vulnerable to logging. The private members bill that I tabled today corrects that,...
The Coastal GasLink pipeline controversy continues as the BC NDP allow the company to drill and blast under the Wedzin Kwa (also known as the Morice River) while it is full of spawning salmon. The company faces a host of compliance issues with environmental regulations, meanwhile the Minister of Environment and...
On behalf of the B.C. Green Caucus, I responded to the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Hon. Murray Rankin's Ministerial Statement on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ National Day of Action. [Transcript] Mr. Speaker, first I would just like to acknowledge both of the...
In my first Question of the Fall session I asked Minister of Forests, Hon. Katrine Conroy about the growing controversy surrounding the wood pellet industry. Journalists in both the United Kingdom and here in Canada are investigating the claims of the British Columbia government and Drax, a large multinational...
Joint commentary: BC Green leader Sonia Furstenau, MLA for Cowichan Valley and Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands Last week, the provincial government released a report on “prolific offenders” – a small group of people who are responsible for a disproportionate amount of neighbourhood crime. The increase in prolific offenses speaks...
My colleague Sonia Furstenau and I, along with two staff members of the BC Green Caucus, had the honour of visiting the Wet'suwet'en territory at the invitation of the Hereditary Chiefs. During our visit, about 30 of their invited guests rafted the Wedzin Kwa (Morice River) from Wedzin Bin (Morice Lake) to the...
Adam Olsen is the MLA for Saanich North and the Islands and a member of Tsartlip First Nation. I watched Pope Francis’ “penitential pilgrimage” closely. It was an emotional week for so many Indigenous people who suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church – for residential and day school survivors, and those impacted by intergenerational trauma...
ÍY SȻÁĆEL (Good Day), Welcome to my update for July 2022! With the Spring session now adjourned my focus returns to the constituency. It’s not that the community work stops while I am in a legislative session but my attention is certainly divided. While I am in session I rely heavily on my incredible team of constituent advocates in my community...
Have you ever considered running for public office? If not on the ballot, have you wondered how you can help someone who is running? The decisions at the local government table create the form and character of our neighbourhoods and communities. They are potentially the most impactful on our quality of life and that is why it is so important for...
ÍY SȻÁĆEL (Good Day), Welcome to my weekly update for June 5th, 2022! This will be the last weekly update of the Spring legislative session. I will produce a monthly newsletter until the Legislature resumes sitting in October. There is a lot of content in this newsletter. Please scroll to bottom as I am sharing important information about...