The Pender Post

10/14/2026

Many thanks to Pender Island Chamber of Commerce for providing a recording of the October 10 All-Candidates Meeting with South Pender Islands Trust candidates.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

10/07/2026

Read introductions from all your Islands Trust candidates in the October issue of The Pender Post. You will also find your go-to monthly events calendar, and regular updates from our community groups. A few highlights this month include:

📌 Meet Pender's Islands Trust Candidates for Trustee seats
📌 Parent Advisory Council's New Chair
📌 Golf Season Wraps with Aces Pender Island Golf Club
📌 Sook-Yin Lee Visits Pender
📌 The Great BC ShakeOut with Pender Island Emergency Program
📌 Bullfrogs of Buck Lake with Pender Earth
📌 No Apple Left Behind
📌 Halloween Events & Activities 🎃👻🍬

Print subscribers, your copies were delivered last week. For online subscribers, your digital edition is up on our website.

Looking to buy a copy? Check our post in the Online Market group for a list of retail locations.

Happy reading!

—The Pender Post Society Team

📷 Lisa Baile

09/29/2026

Our October issue is out now! Packed with local general election info and more, it's currently available at select island stores. Subscribers, your issues are at the post office, to be delivered ASAP. Get your updates from community groups, as well as your go-to monthly events calendar. Sold at:

📍 Pender Island's Tru Value Foods
📍 Talisman Books & Gallery
📍 Pender Island Pharmacy
📍 Truss Farm Food
📍 Medicine Beach Liquor Store
📍 Southridge Country Store

And as usual, it’s up on our website for online subscribers.

Thank you for reading!
— The Pender Post Team

📷 by Lisa Baile

09/25/2026

SEPTEMBER 2026 COVER STORY. As we turn the page on the first of our fall issues and get ready to read the next, let's take a minute to bask one last time in the effortless beauty that graced our September issue cover.

As read on page 4: "The September cover art is courtesy of Joanne Enns, a frequent contributor to The Pender Post. Joanne also submitted the annual report from the Coleman Rogers Memorial Bursary Fund this month, and her photography is frequently featured in our Pictured on Pender series. This photo, entitled Morning at Bricky Bay, was taken in August 2026. Check out this month's Places of Pender for more on this landmark location."

— Matthew Coutts, Managing Editor

Do you have a steady hand and love viewing Pender’s natural beauty through a lens? Send your pictures to [email protected], and be sure to share the details. It may be used on our website, as a 'Pictured on Pender' feature, or as a future cover.

09/23/2026

Best of luck to a dedicated representative.

Today I announced that I won't be running again in Saanich North and the Islands. To the communities I have had the privilege of serving, a simple thank you is inadequate. I am so proud of the important work we accomplished together and know it will continue because of the advocates, businesses, non-profits, dedicated individuals and more who make this riding what it is.

Full statement:

Two years ago, the people of Saanich North and the Islands placed their trust in me to be their voice in the Legislature. When I ran, I made a personal commitment to serve a four-year term. The Premier's early election call has shifted that timeline. It is with mixed emotions that I share that I will not be seeking re-election.

I came to public office after 25 years practising law on behalf of First Nations. My election in 2024 was a first in Canada, a Green MLA elected to succeed another Green MLA. That result belongs to the voters who made it happen, and to Adam Olsen, whose work laid the foundation.

I have worked hard to bring the concerns I heard at home to the Legislature. For example, people across the peninsula and the islands told me they cannot find a family doctor, so I pushed for community health centres that deliver team-based care close to home. On democratic and electoral reform, I pressed for a voting system where the vote of every British Columbian counts - proportional representation. On forestry, I supported the development of the PFAC report, a practical blueprint to transform and sustain the sector for the workers and communities that depend on it, while protecting old growth forests. I have worked tirelessly to hold the government to account, whether on reconciliation, freedom of information, the $1.4 billion cut to affordable housing, or the new natural gas royalty framework that would give away an estimated $3 billion a year that belongs to British Columbians.

The work is far from over. I am proud to stand behind Emily Lowan as she runs in Saanich North and the Islands. I know she will take the time to meet people and listen to what concerns them. That is important in a riding like ours, where the concerns on the islands aren't always the same as those on the peninsula. Emily is someone you can trust, she will be a strong advocate for this community, and I will support her in any way I can.

I am grateful to my wife, my family, my friends and my staff for their steadfast support. Most of all, thank you to the people of Saanich North and the Islands. Representing you has been an incredible honour.

- Rob Botterell

09/20/2026

NEW ARTICLE SERIES: A TASTE OF PENDER. As seen in the current issue, our team has revived something from the past by sharing recipes from our community. First up: Jo Beattie's Apple Cake.

Because behind every recipe, there's a person, and behind every person, there's a story worth sharing.

Written by Thaís Santos Beattie, our first article features Jo Damer Merrin Beattie's Apple Cake recipe. Straight from the kitchen of 🍏 The Crisp Festival's 🍏 founder comes an easy and delicious dessert, made with Pender Island apples (ideally 😉) and best enjoyed slowly, with ice cream, and someone to share it with.

Find this recipe and the accompanying story on page 13 of our September issue.

If the feedback to this series is positive, we will also post these online for easy reference. Let us know what you think in the comments section! In the meantime, feel free to print out this recipe card to start collecting them! (sized to print as 7.5" x 4.75" or similar ratio)

If you would enjoy sharing your own taste of Pender, reach out to [email protected]. We all look forward to hearing from many of you!

- The Pender Post Team

09/17/2026

The Pender Post Society’s All-Candidates Meetings have been scheduled for early October. Tell the person next to you, text your mate in Port Wash. Sing it from the roof of Poets Cove. Invite the island to take advantage of these opportunities to meet our candidates and pose questions, ahead of the October 17 election.

We will be holding two events:

📍 NORTH PENDER Islands Trust candidates: Sunday, October 4, 1 pm, at the Pender Island School gymnasium.
📍 SOUTH PENDER Islands Trust candidates: Saturday, October 10, 1 pm, at the Pender Islands School gymnasium.

The acclaimed candidates for CRD Electoral Area Director (Southern Gulf Islands) and Gulf Islands School District Trustee (Pender Islands) have also been invited to attend both meetings, and introduce themselves and their vision.

I'd like to apologize to the groups putting on shows on those days for the unavoidable conflicts with their events. It is difficult to find an accessible time that doesn’t have something already calling our attention – a welcome feature of our busy island lives, to be sure. All candidates have also been invited to submit an introduction for publication in our upcoming October issue.

B.C.’s general local election, held every four years, is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 17 2026.

-Matthew & The Pender Post Society

MORE DETAILS AT:

09/06/2026

Message from our Editor, September 2026 issue. 'A Cohesion of Interests'

"Cooperation can be political. Collaboration can be a form of protest.
Cohesion, an act of defiance.

That is perhaps a radical statement from the president of the Pender Post Society, an organization dedicated to both fostering cooperation and avoiding divisive discourse.
Our charter has contained the phrase “promote and maintain harmonious relations” since it was written nearly 60 years ago. Yes, we publish reports from some of our government representatives — from our member of Parliament in Ottawa to our local trustees — of which Pender will elect a new roster next month. (See details on our all‑candidates forum on page 6.)

But there is a difference between governance and politics, and that difference has never been starker. Governance is about cooperating; politics about slinging the stuff found in diapers. As the latter gets louder and more prevalent, adhering to the former gets harder and more important. As the world winds its way through rough seas, I am happy to be in the Southern Gulf Islands, where cooperation, collaboration and cohesion are de rigueur.

Work gets done because one hand is comfortable reaching out to another. We can rely on the experience and expertise of our neighbours. We can trust, even if we disagree, discussions will be respectful and focused on finding a positive outcome.

Last month, I sat with a group of such people considering the fate of the Old Schoolhouse, the current home of the Nu-to-Yu which will soon be emptied and in search of new uses. What should that use be? How can we use that site in the best interest of the entire community? These questions and more are on the table. And as is often the case on Pender, the answer will almost certainly involve a collection of interested parties, a combined effort and a cohesion of interests.

Shortly after that discussion, I was invited to a conversation about a potential housing solution, and another on collaborative funding for local projects and charities – both unrelated to the Schoolhouse talk, but with a similar cooperative spirit.

Teamwork is best, after all, when dodging dirty diapers."
— Matthew Coutts
President & Managing Editor
The Pender Post
[email protected]

📷 by Matthew Coutts, taken at Pender Island Pride annual celebration, August 2026