I am also puzzled by the lack of public art in our community. Esquimalt and Sidney, for example, are doing much better than us.
I am particularly amazed by the absence of reproductions of the late Fenwick Lansdowne’s art, one of the world’s best bird artists, on our oceanfront. His paintings of Black Oystercatchers, Harlequin Ducks and Heermann’s Gulls are simply fantastic.
I would also like to see a meaningful totem pole telling the story of GOBI – Greater Oak Bay and Islands – with the appropriate wildlife (e.g. Orca, Chinook Salmon, Pacific Sandlance, Bald Eagle, Rhinoceros Auklet, Marbled Murrelet and even a Garry Oak, a Golden Paintbrush and a Victoria Owl-clover) on our oceanfront.
Indeed, our oceanfront, marine waters and islands support several species at risk of great interest, which are worth celebrating and which deserve our respect. These species make our lives a lot more interesting in Oak Bay.
We have an unusual collection of wild plants and animals living with us, like no other city in Canada.
Jacques Sirois, Naturalist
Oak Bay