Vital Victoria Podcast

Many of us consider Victoria to be a warm, welcoming community where everyone can feel like they belong. And for many, this is likely true. But if you maybe have come here from a different country, or speak a different language, have a disability, or simply look different from most people here, how welcoming do you think you would find our community? What challenges would you face? Where would you find the sense of community we all seek?

To find out, a new episode of Vital Victoria digs into the Belonging & Engagement issue area from Victoria’s Vital Signs with a studio interview with Ruth Mojeed, founder of The Inclusion Project, a network of organizations, communities and institutions engaged in furthering equity, diversity and inclusion in our region. We also pay a visit to Power to Be, a local charity empowering people living with barriers or disabilities to explore their limitless abilities through inclusive adventures rooted in nature.

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The post Vital Victoria Podcast – Episode #17 – Belonging & Engagement appeared first on Victoria Foundation.

How do you get around Greater Victoria? By car? By bus? Do you cycle? Maybe you like to walk. Chances are you use multiple ways to get around our region, if not all of them. More and more multimodal transportation is becoming the norm, and could be the answer to our region’s transportation woes.

To dig into the transportation issues in our region we all hear so much about, from bus lanes to traffic congestion to the possibility of light rail transit, we sit down with Bruce Williams, interim CEO of the South Island Prosperity Partnership, to discuss transportation in the capital region and his organization’s path to a brighter future. Also, field reporter Kyle Wells takes a walk to the Johnson Street bridge with Fraser Work, Director of Engineering and Public Works for the City of Victoria, for a chat about how the bridge is faring after being open for a little over a year now, along with how pedestrian and cycling lanes, and parking, figure into Victoria’s overall vision for transportation.

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The post Vital Victoria Podcast – Episode #16 – Transportation appeared first on Victoria Foundation.

Anyone who has lived here long enough can tell you, Greater Victoria has changed a lot over the last 10 years. From the number of people living here, to the culture, to our demographics, there has been a noticeable shift. Which begs the question, how will our region change over the next 10 years?

This month, the Victoria Foundation released the brand new 2019 edition of Victoria’s Vital Signs. This year’s report sets it sights on not only how Victoria is faring now, but also on what the future looks like for our region.

For this special episode of Vital Victoria, to mark the release of the report, we invited Heather Russek and Jessica Thornton from the Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to sit down with us for an extended interview on the future of work, technology and so much more.

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The post Vital Victoria Podcast – Special Episode – 2019 Victoria’s Vital Signs appeared first on Victoria Foundation.

Every year the Victoria Foundation asks residents to rate how Greater Victoria is faring in a number of key issue areas for the Vital Signs report. And each year, one issue is consistently given the lowest rating of them all: housing. Whether it’s the rising cost of home ownership, the lack of rental housing available or the seemingly never-ending problem of homelessness, housing is something on most people’s minds in our region.

To find out just how deep the problems go and what’s being done to address them, the Vital Victoria podcast sits down with View Royal Mayor David Screech to discuss a recent affordable housing proposal that has council and the community talking. Also, field reporter Kyle Wells pays a visit to a group who have found their own small way to help the housing hardships of our region and are lobbying local governments to help them in their cause. We’re talking tiny homes with the Tiny House Advocates of Vancouver Island.

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The post Vital Victoria Podcast – Episode #15 – Housing appeared first on Victoria Foundation.

The Victoria Foundation has been publishing the annual Victoria’s Vital Signs report since 2006, but it wasn’t until 2012 that Sports and Recreation was added as the twelfth key issue area for our region. The last eight years have seen the report present a range of data connecting sports and recreation to community wellbeing.

Join us as we explore this connection between sports and recreation to wellness and community in the latest episode of Vital Victoria. First, host Veronica Cooper sits down with former tennis pro and current Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence CEO Robert Bettauer to discuss how physical literacy leads to a healthier, happier life. Then field reporter Kyle Wells pays a visit to Pacific FC to speak with President and former pro footballer Josh Simpson about the team and league’s inaugural season and what a pro sports team can do for a community, and vice versa.

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The post Vital Victoria Podcast – Episode #14 – Sports & Recreation appeared first on Victoria Foundation.

American children’s rights activist Marian Wright Edelman once said, “Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it,” and could anything be truer when it comes to raising the next generation of leaders in our community? But when it comes to our region, how do we fare in offering learning opportunities to our residents, young and old?

To find out, we sit down with Camosun College President Sherri Bell to discuss the history of this local institution and how the approach to post-secondary education has changed over the years to meet the changing needs of the community. Plus, field reporter Kyle Wells heads over to the South Island Distance Education School (SIDES) to learn about its 100 year history of providing distance learning to students throughout BC.

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The post Vital Victoria Podcast – Episode #13 – Learning appeared first on Victoria Foundation.

Sometimes it seems like not a day goes by without the cost of something going up. From food to electricity, from rent to insurance, the basics of life are becoming more and more out of reach for many in our region, especially those struggling to rise above the poverty line.

To find out more we sit down with Community Social Planning Council researcher Diana Gibson to discuss rising costs in our region and what needs to happen to help individuals and families keep up. We also pay a visit to the Together Against Poverty Society to talk to Executive Director Douglas King about what sort of challenges are faced by those who struggle the most to stay afloat.

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The post Vital Victoria Podcast – Episode #12 – Standard of Living appeared first on Victoria Foundation.

When we talk about the economy in Greater Victoria, you hear a lot about tourism, industry, the tech sector, but where does the charitable sector fit in? We often portray charities and non-profits as secondary, filling gaps in services when needed, but rarely as a vibrant economic driver in its own right.

To find out the real role of our Civil Society sector, we sit down with Dr. Crystal Tremblay to discuss a new report from the Victoria Foundation and the University of Victoria exploring the economic and social impact of the local charitable sector. Plus field reporter Kyle Wells heads to CFB Esquimalt to speak to Base Commander Capt(N) Jason Boyd about the contributions the local military make to our region, and vice versa.

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The post Vital Victoria Podcast – Episode #11 – Economy appeared first on Victoria Foundation.

From pipelines to plastic, we hear a lot about environmental sustainability these days, and for good reason. Rising sea levels, increasing temperatures, disappearing species of animals, there is plenty of cause for concern. So where does Greater Victoria fit in when we talk about the environment? How is our local environment holding up and what larger impact is our region having on the global environment?

To find out, we sit down with Synergy founder and local environmental authority Jill Doucette to discuss how our community shapes up in terms of environmental sustainability and what we — governments, businesses, individuals — can do to help make things better. Plus we pay a visit to the Big Bat Bash, an annual event put on by the Habitat Acquisition Trust to help raise funds and awareness for the preservation our often misunderstood nocturnal friends.

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The post Vital Victoria Podcast – Episode #10 – Environmental Sustainability appeared first on Victoria Foundation.

“At least you have your health” is a popular phrase, underlying the fact that when it comes down to it, our health and wellness is one of the most important things in life. So how do Victorians measure up when it comes to our health and wellness? And just how much does where we live impact our health?

To help answer these questions, we sit down with Dr. Trevor Hancock in this episode of Vital Victoria to discuss how our community can effect our health, and the three things we can do to help improve our environment and our wellness at the same time. Plus we pay a visit to the Victoria branch of The Foundry, a place where youth can go to find all sorts of health help, including related to mental health and addictions. (For any youth in needs of The Foundry’s services, they can be reached at 250-383-3552, or by email at [email protected])

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The post Vital Victoria Podcast – Episode #9 – Health & Wellness appeared first on Victoria Foundation.