2012 Community Stewardship Award - Recipients

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Sustaining the Islands – Community Stewardship Awards Program 
 
 
 
2012 Nominee Profile 
 
Stuart Watson, Gambier Island 
 
Category:  Individual 
 
Project:        Gambier Fire Equipment Group and Langdale Access Group 
 
Nominator(s):      Robert Ostiguy 
 
Letters of Support:  Rick Gayton and Rob Pitman, Keats Island Fire Equipment Group 
 
 
Project Description:  
 
Stuart Watson’s dedicated volunteer work has contributed to the sustainability of 
Gambier Island’s economy and social life.  
 
Stuart proactively responded to a need for fire-fighting capacity on Gambier Island by 
creating the Gambier Island Fire and Equipment Group to provide fire-fighting equipment 
and training to Gambier Island residents. For the last ten years he has shown a strong 
sense of duty to his neighbors and to his island by training islanders and finding funding 
to equip Gambier Island with fire pumps, trailers, and all the ancillary equipment 
necessary to combat forest and house fires. There are now three trailers and a make-
shift fire hall fully equipped and maintained by Stuart and his group of volunteers. Stuart 
also created a Gambier Island map that shows residential properties and water source 
locations to facilitate quick and effective response by rescuers not familiar with Gambier 
Island. He then developed and maintained the Gambier Island email database, which 
has made a huge difference to community communication on Gambier Island, an island 
which has 85% non-resident property owners and some communities that are not 
connected by road.  Stuart is generous with his time and readily shares his experiences 
and knowledge with anyone who shows interest.  
 
In 2009, BC Ferry Services announced its   plan to close a dock at the Langdale Ferry 
terminal to private boats, restricting the ability of islanders to transport necessary 
supplies and people to and from Gambier and Keats Islands. Stuart devoted many hours 
to the Langdale Access Group, ensuring that Islanders’   concerns and views were 
presented and shared during a negotiating process, which was brought to a mutually 
successful conclusion in 2011. 
 

Sustaining the Islands – Community Stewardship Awards Program 
 
 
 
2012 Nominee Profile 
 
Margot Venton, North Pender Island 
 
Category:  Individual 
 
Project:        Legal action to protect the Southern Resident Killer Whale 
 
Nominator(s):      David Boyd 
 
Letters of Support:  N/A 
 
Project Description:  
 
Everyone in the Southern Gulf Islands loves the Southern Resident killer whales. These 
whales reflect the wild heart of the Salish Sea ecosystem and are an intelligent, inspiring 
species.  
 
The Species at Risk Act places a mandatory duty on the federal government to protect 
species and their habitats. Margot Venton, a lawyer with Ecojustice, filed a lawsuit in 
2008 with assistance from lawyer Lara Tessaro on behalf of nine local and national 
environmental groups, alleging that DFO was in violation of the Species at Risk 

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