Mary P Brooke
Mary P Brooke is a writer, editor, journalist, photojournalist and news publisher. She is the founder of the popular IslandSocialTrends.ca online news portal. Mary is also the Executive Lead of the Urban Food Resilience and Initiatives Society (UFRIS).
Available as a public speaker, Ms Brooke offers thought-provoking insights on:
- journalism and news media
- modern social issues and political trends
- urban food resilience.
Journalism & publishing:
Mary has lived on Vancouver Island since 1985, building her journalism career and her business Brookeline Publishing House Inc. She holds a university Certificate in Public Relations and a digital marketing certificate from Alacrity. Print marketing has been a speciality.
Her achievements in journalism include launching a news publication series that is now of 17-years duration and forging forward. That all started with MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), then Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), which then morphed into the weekly print West Shore Voice News (2014-2020) and emerged boldly online as Island Social Trends (at IslandSocialTrends.ca 2020 to present).
Ms Brooke holds a Certificate in Public Relations (U of R, 1985). She has made a significant contribution to the journalism ecosystem by writing the 36-week curriculum in Journalism and Business Writing for the Western Academy of Photography in the early 1990s. Many BC government communicators who took that course have made successful careers based on that.
Ms Brooke has covered BC legislative politics up close since 2020, starting with daily coverage of the COVID pandemic and shifting to broader BC politics thereafter. Federal news analysis (through a Vancouver Island lens) is also now a mainstay at IslandSocialTrends.ca .
Mary P Brooke was honoured to receive a King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2025 for her long-time commitment to community through journalism and more recently in providing new leadership in urban food resilience.
In 2022 Mary Brooke ran as a school trustee candidate in the west shore (SD62) as a way to encourage support for parents in the public education system.
Ms Brooke founded and operated an online learning portal that operated from 1998 to 2012. In the year 2000, Mary’s company Brookeline Publishing House Inc was recognized by The National Post and Branham Group as one of Canada’s top 250 Internet-based enterprises for having launched her TrainingontheWeb.net online training portal.
Mary was awarded the McGeachy Prize in Journalism (U of S, 1981). In the early 1980s her freelance journalism was published in The Globe and Mail and BC Business Magazine. She founded and operated her own business magazine called Regina Commerce News back in the 1980s before moving to Victoria, BC in 1985.
In 2023, Mary P Brooke was nominated for the Jack Webster Foundation’s Shelley Frailic Journalism Award in recognition of her contribution to community through journalism.
The creative and intuitive arts are a passion of Mary’s. Her Island Social Trends enterprise has been a sponsor of the Sooke Fine Arts Show each year since 2017.
During 2004 to 2009 Mary Brooke’s articles on creative living were published internationally by a Vancouver-based publisher, translated into at least five languages. She sees this as a particularly unique highlight of her writing career given the positive and uplifting impact she will have had on the quality of life for thousands of people.
Way ahead of the curve! Ms Brooke has operated a home-based business for decades — to raise her family at home while building a business, and find some non-corporate lifestyle balance along the way.
Natural food advocacy:
Mary P Brooke holds a B.Sc. in Foods and Nutrition. She has held government contracts and jobs in areas of nutrition and community education.
In 2024, Ms Brooke saw a need for communities to respond to continually escalating food prices and the challenges of obtaining healthy natural food. That year, she launched the Urban Food Resilience Initiatives Society (UFRIS) which advocates for the capacity to grow natural food in all urban spaces.
The UFRIS group operates the first community garden in the City of Langford.
To book a public speaking engagement, contact: mpbrooke@brookeline.com
This ABOUT page last updated: July 6, 2025