Hello, my name is Peter Sutherland, I am a family man with five grown children and three beautiful grandchildren.  My wife and I are active residents in the community of Campbell River and both have a desire to improve and encourage good decision making in our education system.  I have a rich history of employment in industry and also as business owner.  The remaining 25 years of my career was spent as a high school teacher providing instruction in the areas of industrial education, the sciences, mathematics and art with a little of everything else as needed.  It was always my desire to do my upmost to encourage each student to meet their own potential, each one is so interesting and unique.   I took great care and  pride in encouraging these individuals and worked many unpaid hours to coach, counsel, provide one on one learning, this is where my dedication to education shines.

As former president of the teachers association and  a few years as union representative and through working with parent committee and other community groups I can say I know the current issues well. I can also speak to the history and evolution of how we arrived to where we are at today with our processes, finances and curriculum.  I have seen firsthand at the classroom level what works, what doesn’t and know how to achieve defined goals to meet specific outcomes, how to encourage policy and to work collaboratively with diverse groups.  

Today I give you my promise to be respectful, honest, transparent and to listen to concerns and assist with their resolve.  As a recently “re-fired” teacher with a purpose, I would be honored if you would allow me to work on your behalf. 

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A personal note:

My interests seem to be quite diverse; everything from team sports to woodworking, art and back country riding,  motorcycling, touring, music (bagpipes), art (sculpture and paint), wood working, metal working etc.  I have an '69 Jaguar that I am working on, I love to play tennis and golf, scuba dive, and fish. There have been many years of coaching rugby and basketball at the high school level and even led those teams to victory at the provincial level on a few occasions. 

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The biggest gift, it seems is when former students still get in touch to share their stories and to say, "thank you for caring enough to make a difference in my life".  Our kids are our biggest investment and our greatest joy!  We can make a difference!