Having lived in beautiful BC for 60 plus years, I can’t believe it was only in July of 2022, that I visited Denman Island and got to experience the rich community spirit of this island and its legendary readers and writers festival held annually. It’s a small festival but always well attended and incredibly well organized down to the last T, by dedicated and super professional volunteers. And they pull in stellar authors both from Canada and around the world. I was delighted to do three events at the festival: a solo talk on how to bring about transformative change based on my book “Outside In: a Political Memoir”, 2019, published by Between The Lines, Toronto; a conversation with author Mark Jaccard on the same subject; and a workshop with local residents on the power of community lobbying.

I met some amazing authors at the festival, including Michael Christie, whose recent book “Greenwood” has become an enormous best seller. I loved the fact that he once worked in the Downtown Eastside and was also a woodworker. His novel is an epic history of wood and forest and what the future holds.

Thank you to the Denman Island folks, especially Cindy Critchley, for inviting me to attend such a fabulous festival. If you ever get a chance to attend in the future it’s well worth it.

Loved seeing my book lined up next to the fabulous “Greenwood” by Michael Christie.

Speaking at the Denman Island Writers Festival July 2022

Kim and I stayed with the incomparable Sue Hammell, former B.C. MLA, and a wonderful host during our stay at the Festival.

Book signing!

What a blast to attend (in person, post COVID) with Kim, the Metro Vancouver YWCA 2022 Women of Distinction awards, and an even greater surprise to be given an award in the not for profit category for community service and advocacy over the decades going back to the 1970’s! I felt honoured to have been nominated by Vancouver Community College (VCC) and to attend the gala event May 26, 2022. The best part of the evening was seeing and meeting all the nominees and women who received awards in so many diverse categories. The strength and leadership of all these women is something to behold!

I was delighted to see this book “Advocating for Palestine in Canada”, published this year. It is a great overview of the struggles and advocacy in Canada, to advance human rights and uphold international law for Palestine. I was honoured to write a forward for the book outlining some of the recent history in Canada’s Parliament on the issue. Always a challenging subject- the book contains excellent perspectives by noted contributors who provide, personal, historical, and political insights. Well worth reading.

The rabble panel discussed the book launch featuring contributing authors from the book.