Constance Barnes - Election 2026

Seventeen years after first coming to Bowen Island, Constance Barnes is asking Islanders to elect her to Municipal Council.In this conversation, Constance talks about what initially brought her to Bowen, her work with the Orchard Treatment Centre, and the experience she gained as an elected Vancouver Park Board commissioner and Chair.She reflects on community, public service and leadership—and also raises concerns about Bowen’s emergency planning and whether the island is adequately prepared for a serious emergency.Constance also speaks warmly about the profound influence of her father, Emery Barnes: a social worker, longtime B.C. MLA and passionate advocate for human rights and people living in poverty, who became the first Black Speaker of a legislature in Canada.The Bowen Island Podcast is produced in a small cabin in the woods on Bowen Island, on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw — the Squamish Nation — with gratitude for their stewardship of these lands and waters over countless generations.If you’d like to explore more of my work on conversation, community and polarization, you can find me on other broadcast/podcast platforms, including The Conversation Lab, Everything Podcasts.com, Central City Foundations Hope Dialogue, or on Substack. Thanks for listening