Sointula

In Sointula, Survival of the Finnish

The Tyee has published my new article: In Sointula, Survival of the Finnish. Excerpt:

At the dawn of the 20th century, countless immigrants arrived in Canada. Some of them from Finland ended up working in Robert Dunsmuir's Nanaimo coal mines. They were hard workers, but they hated Dunsmuir's kind of brutally exploitive work. Dreaming of something better, they summoned a Finnish writer and activist, Matti Kurikka, to lead them in creating a new kind of community. 

That was Sointula, Finnish for "place of harmony," a pioneer town carved out of the woods on Malcolm Island near the northern end of Vancouver Island. It was to be a co-operative community of utopian socialists. 

Now into its second century, that community is still alive. But like so many B.C. towns which have seen resource jobs disappear and populations dwindle, Sointula is struggling and looking for new ways to sustain itself. In order to move forward, it is looking to its past -- and again looking to Finland for advice.

Sointula in 'Ferry Tales'

The Tyee has published my review of Phillip Vannini's fine book Ferry Tales, which has quite a lot to say about Sointula as well as the larger culture of islanders. Excerpt:

For most of the morning, Sointula, B.C.'s First Street is ideal for dogs' naps. But as 11 a.m. approaches, the street comes alive. 

Cars and trucks line up for the ferry from Port McNeill, carefully leaving gaps in front of local businesses. People hang out, socializing in the street or in front of the co-op. Some are hitching rides. Others are "pithering," asking ferry riders to run errands for them. As the ferry approaches, people return to their vehicles; then the newcomers arrive. 

Outsiders like me anxiously await one truck from Port McNeill: it brings the day's Globe and Mail. Sointula may be thoroughly online, but visiting urbanites still like to be in touch through a proper newspaper. 

That's part of the tension that urbanites and islanders both love and resent about life on B.C.'s coastal waters. An island is a great place to get away to, a place where you're free to be yourself. But you sometimes need to get away from the island as well, or you might as well be in jail.

Writing about the Living Oceans Society

This week The Tyee published my article Save the Sea that Touches BC. It's about Sointula's Jennifer Lash and the Living Oceans Society. Excerpt:

While Vancouver and national media are expressing shock and horror about this month's collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run, an organization up the coast is quietly working to prevent future disasters like this one. 

Based in an old house on the main street of Sointula, on Malcolm Island, the Living Oceans Society is promoting an ambitious, made-in-B.C. solution to the problems that beset our coastal waters.

Where the red coral grows

Via the Globe and Mail, a big story about Sointula's Living Oceans Society: Where the red coral grows. Excerpt:

About 60 metres below the surface of Juan Perez Sound in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands, Jennifer Lash steers a one-person submersible next to a cloud sponge the size and colour of a sheep. 

The puffy creature gives off an otherworldly glow in the sub's high-powered lights. A few metres away, a Nuytco Research Ltd. pilot nudges a larger sub closer to Ms. Lash, giving two journalists jammed inside his craft a fish-eye's view of Ms. Lash in her machine. 

Obligingly, Ms. Lash backs up to the sponge and hovers, radioing apologies when she nicks the ocean floor and kicks up a cloud of silt. 

She wants the images from this dive, and others from the expedition that it's part of, to go crystal-clear around the world. 

For the past two years, Ms. Lash, executive director the B.C.-based Living Oceans Society, and a handful of staff have raised money, wooed scientists and lobbied government agencies in pursuit of this goal: a two-week expedition that will allow researchers to dive as deep as 650 metres below the ocean's surface in manned submersibles to hunt for deep-sea corals – colonies of tiny animals that draw their sustenance from the sea.

Coastal Voices

In my capacity as editor of BC Blogs on The Tyee, I've made Coastal Voices our Blog of the Week. It really is a lovely site, with fascinating content, good design, and amazing graphics and video.

A Sointula story in British Columbia Magazine

It's in the March issue: Harmonious Sointula. Not very long or detailed, but it has some nice photos. To read the whole article, you need to buy the magazine.

An article about Sointula and the North Island

The Tyee has published my article North Island Dreams of Better Days. It's based on interviews and research done on my latest visit. I hope the next article will be a more optimistic report.

Snapshots from Malcolm Island and northern Vancouver Island

We're just back from ten days on Malcolm Island, with a quick visit to Vancouver Island's west coast at Winter Harbour. Here are some photos from our visit: Sointula 2008.

Radical Finns Persevere off B.C. Coast

The Tyee has published my article Radical Finns Persevere off B.C. Coast, a review of Kevin Wilson's book Practical Dreamers: Communitarianism and Co-operatives on Malcolm Island.

Whale watcher finds peace in sea

The Globe and Mail has published a story by Tom Hawthorn about Malcolm Island's Troy Bright: Whale watcher finds peace in sea. Excerpt:

SOINTULA -- The stones on the beach at Beautiful Bay have been worn smooth and round from the ocean's ceaseless scrubbing. The receding tide tumbles stones onto stones. The clacking sounds like castanets.

This is Troy Bright's office. It is also his home. He works and lives in a two-person tent beneath a tarp strung between trees overlooking the beach.

Mr. Bright, 39, is a slight man with a quick smile. His greeting is warmer than the weather that he endures. Even on a sunny day, he rubs his hands and shivers inside a grey fleece top as summer gives way to fall.

A Sointula snapshot album

My wife and I were on Malcolm Island in mid-July, and had a very good time as always. We took a lot of pictures, and I've put some of them into an online photo album: Sointula 2006.

A Newcomer in Utopia

In July 2005 my wife and I visited Sointula for the second time. A year earlier we’d spent just half a day exploring the community and Malcolm Island. We saw enough to make us want to go back, so we spent over a week there and fell in love with it. What follows is my impression of one of the most remarkable communities in British Columbia.

Review of Sointula: Island Utopia

Here's a review of the basic book-length history of Sointula, from its origins to the 1990s: Sointula: Island Utopia.

Welcome to Sointula and Malcolm Island!

This is a blog (Web log) about a historic place on the BC coast: Sointula, Malcolm Island. The links in the side columns can connect you with more information about this remarkable community. We hope to make it a good source of news and information, supplementing other websites about the island and the Northern Vancouver Island region.

The photos below will give you just a taste of what to expect when you visit. Click on the photo to see a larger image of it.

As you approach the ferry landing, you can see the Wild Island Café and the Co-op behind it.

Big Lake isn't really very big—but it's a lovely spot, the end of the Mateoja Trail that runs from Sointula through lovely forests and Melvin's Bog to the mainline road.

From Kaleva Road, a little east of Sointula, you can look across the water to Vancouver Island.

The harbour reflects Sointula's long, proud history as a great fishing community.