Ben Isitt - Victoria Council

Ben has worked for environmental protection and social justice in Greater Victoria for more than a decade. He holds a PhD and LLB and completed a study for West Coast Environmental Law exploring the impacts of urban sprawl in BC's capital region, highlighting the public and private decisions that made the Bear Mountain resort development possible. Ben helped to organize residents of the western communities and CRD in pursuit of alternative land-use policies, advocating for public mass transit and "brownfield" densification in existing build-up areas and enforcement of the region's Urban Containment Boundary to protect forests and farmlands.

Ben has served on the City of Victoria's Environment and Shoreline Advisory Committee, focusing on the protection and restoration of marine ecosystems around Victoria Harbour. He proposes the extension of greenways and public access around the Upper Harbour, linking Chinatown to the Selkirk Waterfront in a project modelled on Vancouver's False Creek. Ben has called for a moratorium on the expansion of cruise ship, float plane, helicopter and mega-yacht traffic in and around the harbour to reduce air, noise and marine pollution and maintain public recreational access.

In his own neighbourhood, Ben helped facilitate the protection of the innovative Spring Ridge Common as an urban permaculture site, an example of local food production. He favours the opening of a year-round public market in downtown Victoria for farmers, artisans and community life. Learn more about Ben and his ideas by visiting his website: www.BenIsitt.ca.

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