Dana Lajeunesse has been making a difference for many years from the forestry industry to the classroom, and for the last several years in the community.
He is now just settling into his new role as the recently elected MLA for the Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding, covering the areas from Port Renfrew to Metchosin as well as Cobble Hill, Shawnigan Lake, Mill Bay, and of course Malahat. With being brand new to the role, the first thing Lajeunesse is learning is that he has a lot to learn.
"I was first elected to local government in 2019 and I've heard people say that it is like drinking from a fire hose, but stepping into the role of MLA is more like drinking from a water cannon; there's so much to it," said Lajeunesse. "I'm looking forward to getting busy and doing the work and getting to know all the ministers and people in caucus. They are a great bunch of people and I am looking forward to working alongside them to get things done."
Before moving to Sooke, where Lajeunesse has lived most of his adult life, he was born and raised in Jordan River. After graduation he began putting down roots in the forestry industry, which he said was kind of a natural progression for a kid who grew up in what was essentially a logging camp. Lajeunesse got to branch out into many areas of forestry including rigging, being on the boom, road construction, and for the last few years of his career he worked as a tree faller on the central coast where he had the opportunity to fly in and out of camps.
"My favourite part was the camaraderie," said Lajeunesse. "You end up working with people that your life depends on, it's a very dangerous job, and one where you get to meet some real characters, and it was a lot of fun."
It was during his time off work as a faller that he fell off a rotten balcony in 1989 and broke his back, an accident that changed the course of his life forever — he was only 26.
"It was pitch black and I walked outside and had thought I was walking on dirt, that is how rotten this deck was, and I walked off the edge," said Lajeuensse. "I fell about 70 feet and landed in a creek bed, and was there for almost four hours until anyone found me. I'm just proud of myself that I am still here. I suffered a pretty significant lifer altering accident, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I'm stubborn and I like to keep going. Life is good, it's what you make of it and I am just happy to still be here, and to be able to give back to the communities that I love."
The fall left Lajeunesse needing the use of a wheelchair.
You can't keep a good man down, and in his time of need Lajeunesse felt the love.
Since he had spent so many years in the forest industry, and was a member of the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) they supported him through both short term, and long term disability as well as retraining in a new field and after some testing he discovered he had an aptitude for mechanical engineering.
"I kind of knew this all along because I had my first car when I was only 13 and the first thing that I did was take the engine out and rebuild it," said Lajeunesse.
So he began building a new life for himself and began studying mechanical engineering and technology at Camosun College in 1990. Upon graduation he had befriended some of the instructors and ended up working for a couple of them for a few years. In his spare time Lajeunesse enjoyed manufacturing some prototypes in the college's machine shop, which led to an opportunity to teach students the tools of the trade and skills in mechanical engineering and manufacturing. This was a position he loved and held from 1996 to 2020, and said that in 2008 a technology access centre was started to support local industries like startups that were offering research and development and prototyping services.
"When I was teaching, I didn't always feel like I was doing much because you have different faces asking the same questions year after year," said Lajeunesse. "You kind of feel like you are spinning your wheels a bit because you are helping people move along a bit, and yet you're staying in the same place. Now I often run into students that I taught years ago and they thank me profusely for helping them through some challenges that they were having and that is really gratifying, as well as seeing some of the great things some of them are now doing on LinkedIn, and to know that I helped them along."
As Lajeunesse moved along on his new journey he slowly become involved on the sidelines of local politics, but had never considered running himself until in 2019 when Sooke mayor Maja Tait convinced him to run in a local byelection.
"We had a former councillor who unfortunately was diagnosed with cancer and had passed away in early 2019," said Lajeunesse. "So we ended up having a byelection that year and there were 13 people running for the same seat, and I won it by three votes."
Once elected one of the things Lajeunesse quickly noticed was the lack of economic development in the rural area that he now represents as MLA. With these areas being founded more from resource based industries, he saw a lot of population growth but not the same growth in economic diversification and development.
"One of the first things I did when I was elected to Sooke council is that I insisted that we join the South Island Prosperity Partnership, and hire an economic development officer," said Lajeunesse. "I had sat on several economic development committees, and was frustrated by the fact that I had to commute every day to work, and I wasn't spending time in my community, and most people are in that very same boat. We had talked about economic development within various committees but with not having an administrator to move the projects forward, you are not really getting anywhere; you have a bunch of volunteers talking about great ideas, but no one to move them forward."
Lajeunesse said 86 per cent of the Sooke population has to commute outside of the community to go to work each day which may affect how much people shop locally and this leads to a lot of local businesses struggling. He said Sooke's new economic officer has a lot of great things going on, and that he'd like to eventually have one for South Cowichan as well.
"To have more diverse local economies is crucial," said Lajeunesse. "Highway 14 is backed up daily with people trying to get home from work, and it's exactly the same with the Malahat. It's almost a mirror image between the Juan de Fuca, and the Malahat region because there are similar challenges there. I'd like to see people working closer to where they live so you can spend more time with family and less time commuting. This would also mean that you don't have to have your kids in daycare for as many hours a day which makes it better for families, for social development, and even community volunteers. Sooke was always well known for its volunteer core, but nowadays the only people who have time to volunteer are retired folks and their numbers are dwindling as well. There are a lot of people trying to do great things but I think we can do more if we are pulling in the same direction."
After spending five years in local government, it was former MLA John Horgan who inspired Lajeunesse in the direction of running for MLA..
"He was such a great guy," said Lajeunesse. "When he told me that he was going to retire and that our riding was being split, I thought to myself, who could we get to run because those are big shoes to fill, and we will need someone who is going to represent us well. Then people started saying that I needed to step up and do it, and so I thought, why not?"
Lajeunesse, who won the provincial election by a mere 141 votes, said during the election he spent a lot of time knocking on doors in Cobble Hill.
"This place is almost a homecoming to me now," said Lajeunesse. "It's a beautiful area, and everywhere you go, the people are just amazing. It's funny because when we travel we talk to strangers all the time. No matter where you may be in the world you will likely find something in common with a stranger that you have never met before. I think because people are so busy in their daily lives at home, you have your circle of friends and don't necessarily talk to strangers in your own community."
This is why one of his short term goals is to work with the party to create funding options that will allow more opportunities for people to gather, and interact face to face.
"I think one thing that you realize when you are meeting and talking to people is that we have a lot more in common than what separates us, but when you are on social media you don't get that impression at all because people are always at odds with each other," said Lajeunesse. "I like to compare social media to road rage, that when people are in their own little cocoon they seem to behave in ways that they would not otherwise."
When it come to Lajeunesse's own social life, he married the love of his life Kim, who he met in Seattle in 2014, and it's been happily ever after ever since. He also finds happiness through his hobbies such as woodworking, a passion he has had since he was first exposed to it in high school and enjoys making his own furniture. A decent sized shop at his Sooke home allows him to dabble.
As he settles into his new role as the MLA for Juan de Fuca-Malahat, Lajeunesse is wasting no time to set up shop and already has his eye and bids in on spaces in both Sooke and Mill Bay for constituency offices as he wants to make sure he has a presence and is able to make himself available in South Cowichan as well.
"I have lots of friends and family all over the south island and my roots are deep and wide here," said Lajeunesse.
Lajeunesse has spent five years working with arts organizations and was involved with both the Sooke Arts Program committee as well as the Capital Regional District arts commission. He has been working with one group called Building for the Arts in the Westshore area alongside former Colwood councillor Judith Cullington, who said something to him that has resonated with him ever since.
"She said when you look at the amount of money that is spent on sports infrastructure and compare that with the arts infrastructure, there is a huge disconnect there," said Lajeunesse. "The arts are every bit as important for our social well-being as sports is to our physical well-being. So, I think we need to highlight that and support the arts in more ways and to create opportunities for artists to get together and get some cross-pollination happening between the arts and to invest more into it because it is an important social aspect to our health."
Lajeunesse said he has already been in conversation with Cobble Hill area director Mike Wilson about transportation issues and dangerous spots on local roads. As a wheelchair user he has noticed a lot of infrastructure challenges and another one of his future goals is to make more multimodal options for people to get around, which will also have benefits such as more social interaction.
"If more people are out walking rather than driving in their cars there is more opportunities to say hello to one other," said Lajeunesse. "I think we live in one of the best places on earth and that quickly becomes evident to anyone who visits here. The natural beauty here is something that we need to protect. Not only the waterways but also the aquifers that people here rely on. We need to make sure that these things are protected for generations to come otherwise none of us will be able to stay here."
