Metchosin Coun. Moralea Milne, described by friends as an outstanding leader and a champion of the natural environment, was killed in a traffic collision in Surrey on Saturday. She was 68.
“Today is a very sad day for everyone who knew and worked with Moralea, and our thoughts are with her family now,” Metchosin Mayor John Ranns said in a statement Monday. “She cared deeply about Metchosin and the environment, and in addition to being an outstanding councillor served her community well in many other ways.”
The flag at Metchosin Municipal Hall was lowered to honour her.
Milne was driving north on 184th Street in Surrey when her car was T-boned by a vehicle travelling east on 40th Avenue, the Vancouver Sun reported. She died at the crash scene. Her passenger and the driver of the other vehicle were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Surrey RCMP said.
Milne was first elected to Metchosin council in 2008 and during her tenure sat on a wide range of committees and boards, including the finance and administration committee and the environmental advisory committee.
“She was known for her diligence in all financial matters, always with the goal of getting the best value for taxpayers, as well as being instrumental in solidifying the great relationship between Metchosin council and Beecher Bay Scia’new First Nation,” Ranns said.
“Our hearts go out to Moralea’s family. She leaves behind a wonderful and strong family, and I know they will be a great source of comport and support to one another.”
Metchosin Coun. Andy MacKinnon said Milne was a close friend, a role model and the person who convinced him to enter municipal politics.
“It’s a devastating time for all of us here,” he said. “She has fundamentally changed and determined the way our community is headed in a very, very positive fashion. But it’s also important to recognize the hundred other things that she did in Metchosin.”
In addition to helping found the Metchosin Biodiversity Project, Milne started Metchosin’s Talk and Walk series in which community members gather once a month to learn about whales or butterflies or lichens from B.C.’s best biologists, MacKinnon said.
“It’s an extraordinary achievement,” he said. “There is no parallel in Canada to my knowledge and it’s been going on for more than a decade for more than 100 Talk and Walks now. All free.
“It’s incredibly enriched the lives of the people of Metchosin.”
Tofino Mayor Josie Osborne sent out a Twitter message expressing her sadness at Milne’s death.
“Moralea Milne was one the first and kindest councillors I met when I was brand new to local government in early 2013,” Osborne said.
Milne had announced plans to retire from council at the end of the current term.
In a statement to the Times Colonist during the 2014 municipal election campaign, she said she was against Metchosin amalgamating with other municipalities and always kept an eye on environmental issues.
“The environment is the lens through which I view every decision,” she said. “The stewardship exhibited by so many residents can be further enhanced by incorporating awareness of environmental consequences into all of council’s decisions.”
MacKinnon said the community is struggling to consider life without Milne.
“I was just making a quick list in my mind of what six people that we might rope in to try and do the work that this one amazing individual was doing,” he said.
Details for a celebration of life have not been finalized. In lieu of lowers, donations to the Metchosin Foundation are appreciated.
