Committed to a thriving, sustainable, rural Metchosin.
Ellen's Story
My husband Steve and I, and our two children have lived in Metchosin for 24 years.
While Steve was competing with the Canadian National Rowing Team, I moved from Washington State to become a Canadian citizen and to build a life with him. That was over 35 years ago.
When my career started with the BC Government, Steve and I were able to purchase the cheapest house in Victoria at the time, which was in Saanich. We repaired the building and rehabilitated the property, using our own skills with some help from family. As our family grew, we sold the house and moved to Langford. It was while living in Langford that I first encountered the effects of poor planning, the financial impacts of sewer infrastructure and the loss of wetlands to build shopping centres.
Shortly after moving to Langford, we discovered Metchosin. We fell in love with the community and moved our growing family to a 3.5 acre plot of mixed forest land. We were drawn by the unmatched beauty of the coastal forests, pebbly beaches, breathtaking pastoral views and the nearby trails. Our acreage is situated on ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve) land that supports sheep, chickens, the local bear, does and fawns, cougars, rabbits, voles, mice and consequently, Red Tail Hawks, Eagles and Turkeys Vultures. We installed a large market garden with a variety of perennial berry crops including Olympic Berry (supplied from the original 1980 hybrid from my childhood garden) and added more fruit trees. Both myself and Steve grew up sustained by the gardens that our families grew and we wanted our children to have the same experience of knowing where their food came from.
While the garden nourished the children’s bodies, WestMont school nurtured the their minds and taught critical “learning how to learn” skills that they still cherish to this day as young professionals and parents. I served on the Board of WestMont intermittently supporting the nature based curricula implementation and eventually co-leading construction of the Clayton Ruttan Gymnasium. I coached youth basketball, while Steve led a national paddle sport organization, including programs involving Metchosin youth rowers at Royal Roads and box lacrosse through JDF. When the kids left home, we concentrated full-time on building a small business and my full-time work with Government and consulting took me to other communities regularly.
We still grow our own seasonal vegetables and fruit, make cider and sparkling wine, keep bees (when nature doesn't intervene), create, build and repair things, manage the forest on our land, keep invasive species at bay and generate most of our own electricity.
Education:
I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics (University of Washington) and extensive training in facilitation, negotiation, mediation and leadership. I also held an Environmental Professional credential and still maintain my Project Management Professional (PMP ®) designation.
Ellen has the Experience:
The experience from my 32 year career working for government, with government, communities and private clients makes me uniquely qualified to work on Metchosin Council. I am prepared to help navigate complex legal and policy issues, operational management, fiscal planning, land use, environmental protection, bylaw and project management effectiveness issues.
I am passionate about good governance, practical decision making, understanding risk and benefit, fiscal responsibility and providing advice based on facts, not opinion.