URGENT: "Save the Mighty Braefoot Oaks" Supporters! We can address Council - Monday April 13, 2026
There is good news. The petition to save the Mighty Braefoot Oaks is now over 2600 signatures!!!!
There is other good news. We are edging closer to align many organizations in efforts to save 4015 Braefoot by turning it into a public park!
The next Saanich Council Meeting on April 13, 2026 the Quadra McKenzie Plan will be an item on the agenda. Doors open at 6:30 PM, but public input on the item should follow later during the Special Committee of the Whole section of the meeting.
The image at top is an excerpt from Map 6.5 Braefoot Sub Area – Future Land Use Designations p.90 from the proposed QMP, showing the lot under concern, which is currently zoned for townhomes, a designation which will cost the majority of the oaks if implemented into the plan.
This is our opportunity to ask Saanich Council to turn this 2 acre lot into a park to protect all of the 115 oaks and to make it a model of restoration of the Garry Oak eco-system there.
We were advised that it is extremely important for you to do 2 things by Monday, April 13. 2-26:
1) Please send emails to Saanich Council by: Monday, April 13, at 12 noon. See below for suggestions.*
2) Attend the Saanich Meeting to speak for 3 minutes either In Person (preferred) or Online. The item to be speaking to in this regard is III. (2.) REVISED PROPOSED QUADRA MCKENZIE PLAN for the April 13, 2026 SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
To speak earlier in the queue you can register to speak here: Meeting
The instructions to register to speak are through the link above and at the top of the page in it.
The easiest way to register to speak in-person is to email Council@Saanich.ca asking to register to speak on Item III. (2.) REVISED PROPOSED QUADRA MCKENZIE PLAN for the April 13, 2026 SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
Quadra McKenzie Plan:
*Please Send Your Emails To:
teale.phelps.bondaroff@saanich.ca
Email Suggestions - Please Personalize As Much As Possible
Email Subject Line (Example): Please Designate 4015 Braefoot Road as a New Public Park
Dear Mayor and Council,
I am writing to request that Saanich modify the Quadra McKenzie Plan so that 4015 Braefoot Road is designated as a public park.
*****
Personalize: Why do you want to see this property become a park?
Feel free to use some ideas from the petition page: https://www.change.org/p/save-the-mighty-braefoot-oaks/feed
Or choose one or more of the examples below - remember to personalize.
- I am interested in seeing Saanich designate this property as a public park for the benefit of all Greater Victoria residents because of its endangered Garry oak ecosystems.
Or
Please protect this property as a park to save these Garry oak trees and ecosystems for wildlife and the public to enjoy.
Or
- A public park would ensure community health and well-being, and provide equitable access to significant places for biodiversity and wildlife corridors.
Or
- If we save this Garry oak ecosystem as a park, it improves public health and safety, because it protects us from the climate change impacts of extreme heat and flooding and also biodiversity losses that impact our food security.
Or
- This 2 acre parcel of Garry oaks is a significantly large piece of habitat within the context of BC’s smallest, most endangered ecosystem, of which less than 5% remains, and only in urban areas of southeastern Vancouver Island.
Or
- As Saanich densifies, we need to ensure equitable access to green space and our invaluable, large, mature Garry oak trees that can’t be replaced within our lifetimes.
Or
- Supporting these Garry oak ecosystems is an act of Reconciliation, because Indigenous peoples have stewarded them for thousands of years.
Or
- Western Bluebirds were extirpated from Vancouver Island because of Garry oak losses. We need to support efforts to bring them back and meet our commitments to biodiversity and climate change goals.
Or
- Making this Garry oak ecosystem a public park is an act of Reconciliation, because these are critical food systems for the WSANEC peoples.
Or
- Urban Garry oak ecosystems provide services to the community where they are located now, and cannot be moved or replaced with small tree saplings. They are essential to our climate, urban forest, and biodiversity plans.
Or
- People and nature must be accommodated together in Saanich, otherwise we’ll lose the only Garry oak ecosystem in Canada, because it only exists in urban areas of southeast Vancouver Island.
Or
- By making this a park, then Saanich will uphold its commitments to the Biodiversity Strategy and Urban Forest Strategy, which call for the preservation of endangered Garry oak ecosystems.
Or
- These mature, fragile, endangered Garry oak ecosystems provide much-needed services to the wider community as well as future generations. They sequester carbon, reduce urban heat island effects, support public health, improve air quality, manage stormwater, provide habitat for wildlife and pollinators, and increase food security.
Or
- These mature, fragile, endangered Garry oak ecosystems cannot be replaced. Once they are removed, they are gone forever, and we cannot afford these biodiversity losses as a society.
Or
- A Garry oak green space strengthens our neighbourhoods and community, which can benefit from these ecosystems through education, research, and restoration, for the benefit of current and future generations
Mention something about what a park would mean for you, and how you appreciate Council considering the voices of the community.
[Thank you / Sincerely / With appreciation]
[Name]
[Saanich Resident or CRD Resident]
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Thank you again for all of your much needed support to save the Mighty Braefoot Oaks!!!!!!!
For more information, please email: yparizeau@gmail.com