{"id":2333429,"date":"2026-03-17T17:25:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2333429"},"modified":"2026-03-17T17:25:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:25:23","slug":"damian-kowalewich-to-step-down-from-view-royal-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/damian-kowalewich-to-step-down-from-view-royal-council\/","title":{"rendered":"Damian Kowalewich to step down from View Royal council"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Damian Kowalewich to step down from View Royal council<\/h2>\n

Published 10:10 am Tuesday, March 17, 2026<\/p>\n

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\n By Goldstream News Gazette Staff<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n <\/div>\n

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Come April, View Royal\u2019s council table will be short one member.<\/p>\n

On March 17, the town announced that Coun. Damian Kowalewich, who is also an inspector with the Saanich Police Department (SPD), will step down from council at the end of this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cServing as a councillor \u2026 has been a true privilege, one I never took lightly, and a responsibility I approached with deep respect for the rights and trust of residents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This comes as Kowalewich prepares to take on a new role as SPD\u2019s deputy chief, effective March 31.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking on the deputy chief role is both humbling and energizing, and I\u2019m grateful for the chance to serve in this capacity,\u201d he said. \u201cMy priority will be to support our people, work collaboratively, and help ensure we continue to meet the needs of the community now and into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kowalewich began his policing career with SPD in 2005 as a recruit constable. Throughout his 21-year career, he has led high\u2011profile investigations, built strong working relationships with national and international law enforcement partners, and played a key role in mentoring and developing junior officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncillor Kowalewich is simply irreplaceable on council,\u201d said Mayor Sid Tobias. \u201cHis dedication, integrity, and leadership have set a very high bar for service to the Town of View Royal. His passion for recreation and youth development across the West Shore will be reflected in the generations that follow, leaving a lasting legacy of teamwork and community building.\u201d<\/p>\n

First elected in a 2017 by-election, Kowalewich was re-elected in both the 2018 and 2022.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Kowalewich explained he hopes to see continued community leadership in View Royal.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is that View Royal keeps growing in a way that reflects the people who live here; thoughtful, inclusive, and grounded,\u201d he said. \u201cAs the next election approaches, I\u2019m hopeful we\u2019ll see lots of folks step up, bringing fresh ideas and energy into local leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the local government act, council may decide not to hold a by-election if a vacancy occurs after January 1 in the year of a general local election, and other conditions are met.<\/p>\n

Kowalewich\u2019s council seat will likely remain vacant until the next local general election on Oct. 17.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source vicnews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Damian Kowalewich to step down from View Royal council Published 10:10 am Tuesday, March 17, 2026 By Goldstream News Gazette Staff Come April, View Royal\u2019s council table will be short one member. On March 17, the town announced that Coun. Damian Kowalewich, who is also an inspector with the Saanich Police Department (SPD), will step […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2333430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2333429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Damian-Kowalewich-to-step-down-from-View-Royal-council.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2333429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2333431,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333429\/revisions\/2333431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2333430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2333429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2333429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2333429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}