I live off-grid in Area B — a single dad, week-on/week-off with my daughter Hope. She loves Little House on the Prairie, and over the past five years of living across the Cowichan Valley, she's experienced those values firsthand: neighbours helping neighbours, living close to the land, community as a way of life. I want to be able to look her in the eyes when she's grown and honestly say I did everything I could to protect that way of life for her and for others.

There is a quiet but real push to move people away from rural living and into cities. I see it in the bylaws being passed, in the enforcement actions against RV and tiny home residents, in zoning that treats homesteading as a problem to be solved rather than a way of life worth protecting. I'm running because that push needs to be challenged — and I have the skills, experience, and moral motivation to do it.

Across every career I've had — from firefighting in Calgary's downtown core to inspecting rooming houses, working alongside police and bylaw officers in some of the most complex situations a city produces, to twelve years as a psychologist — I have witnessed suffering up close. Physical suffering. Mental suffering. The kind that comes from being overlooked, misunderstood, or failed by systems that weren't built with real people in mind. That experience has given me both the tools and the drive to help communities build better support — in areas of mental health, physical wellness, and the kind of spiritual grounding that gives people resilience when things get hard.

I believe deeply in accountability — to the community, to the truth, and to the principle that what we do unto others ultimately comes back to us. That belief isn't abstract for me. It shapes how I show up in every role I take on. I've held positions of perceived authority throughout my career, and I know firsthand how that responsibility can either be carried with integrity or abused. I choose integrity — and I will bring that same standard to the role of Area B Director.

I'm not running to win a title. I'm running because the Cowichan Valley deserves a director who does the research, understands the complexity, listens to residents, and makes decisions that serve the whole community — not a chosen few.