Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The 32 properties in Tiber Bay are one step closer to being included in the South Cortes Island fire protection area. They are currently outside the boundary and, consequently, the Cortes Fire department cannot immediately respond to fires in that area. It needs direction from the BC Wildfire Service. Tiber Bay residents will soon be receiving a petition in which the...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - he Cortes Island Food Bank recently launched a food drive to meet unprecedented needs. Cortes Currents met with two of the charity’s key personnel in the garage where most of the food is stored. Executive Director Filipe Figuera explained : “The situation is getting worse on Cortes. It is the same across the country.  Two years ago, we had 100 client visits  a year. T...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents -BC Ferries currently deploys 11 vessels on its major routes that connect Vancouver Island with the Lower Mainland. Six of these are decades old and nearing the end of their effective service life. While the volume of traffic has significantly increased over the past three decades, there have not been any additions to the major routes carrying capacity since the Spirit...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - It has been 85 years since the Truck Loggers Association was founded to give independent loggers a collective voice in society and the forest industry. Now they would like the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) to intervene on their behalf with BC’s Minister of Forests, Minister of State for Workforce Development and Chief Forester. This was disclosed during the discu...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - 54% of the respondents to a new poll from Abacus Data stated they think Canada should prioritize the development of renewable energy, 36% would like to see a ‘balanced approach’ and 11% would rather prioritize fossil fuels.  “ We commissioned Abacus to run this polling for us and see where Canadians stand in terms of their support for renewable energy and around reduc...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents -The final numbers for Cortes Island's 2024 Chum run are in. Local streamkeepers Cec and Christine Robinson gave a rundown. Christine Robinson: “I think we all know that this was  a stupendous year for Chums up and down the coast. So not just Cortes, not just Quadra, not just the Sunshine Coast, but from the mainland all the way up to Alaska and down through to Puget So...

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/Folk U -On December 6, 2024, Tina Willard-Stepan from Comox Strathcona Waste Management joined us to talk all things circular economy and waste. Along with the students of the Cortes Island Academy and some community members, we learned about where our garbage goes, how much we produce, repair cafes, and the Cumberland dump (where our garbage on Cortes is sent to!) Folk U R...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Over 100 people came to the Quadra Community Centre on December 7, to learn about the acoustic dialects and social connections of Orca, Humpback and Fin Whales. Sierra Quadra invited Janie Wray - CEO and co-founder of the North Coast Cetacean Society, BC Whales, and the manager of the BC Hydrophone Network - to share from her more than two decades of research. “One th...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - With the rise of global emissions already at 1.4°C, we are currently on track to reach 2.8°C by the end of this century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims, “every additional 0.1°C of global warming causes clearly discernible increases in the intensity and frequency of temperature and precipitation extremes, as well as agricultural and ecologi...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - t has been three weeks since Anna Kindy was sworn in as the Conservative Party MLA for North Island riding. We actually had a long phone conversation shortly after her election, but this has been a very busy time for Ms Kindy and so we agreed to do the interview on December 3, yesterday.  As I didn’t get an opportunity to interview her during the election, it's probab...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - “ Lunch is duck tortellini, which is one of the smaller ravioli. It'll be floating in a broth of vegetable and parmesan rind that have been simmered for six hours. It's very cheesy, but also subtle and just really complements a spoon sized tortellini.” I just met Trever Bass and his wife, Elizabeth Anderson-Bass, at Manson's Friday Market. Someone had suggested I do...

Roy L Hales/COrtes Currents - There's a wildfire mitigation operation underway in the Community Forest near Squirrel Cove. "This is something that we've been working on since 2018.  It was identified as a priority in the 2020 Community Wildfire Protection Plan.  We received funding for a prescription, then we got funding to do an archaeological assessment, as required by law in the Tla'amin First...

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - On November 29, 2024, host Manda Aufoch’s Gillespie was joined by Klahoose council member and political science major Johnny Hanuse, to lead a conversation about indigenous governance. Tune in for a discussion of decolonization, politics, tradition, and community. Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 p.m. and Mondays at 6:30 p.m./Wednesday at...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - A Strathcona Regional District (SRD) motion that might have taken Gas Tax funding away from its rural areas was narrowly defeated at the Wednesday, November 27, Board meeting. Every year, the funds collected through Canada’s Gas Tax are used on infrastructure and planning projects across the nation. In British Columbia, the Union of BC Municipalities distributes $280...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - By law, the Strathcona Regional District is required to elect a Chair and Vice Chair every year. The SRD Board met on Wendesday November 27 and as the SRD press release states, elected Mayor Mark Baker as Chair for the third consecutive year. What it does not say is that their were two other candidates: Mark Vonesch of Cortes Island and Gerald Whalley of Area A.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The 10th Annual Holiday Fair at Mansons Hall will be from 11 to 3 PM on Sunday December 1, 2024. “Join us at Manson's Hall on Sunday, December 1st, from 11am to 3pm for a 10th annual holiday fair. 30 talented vendors will display their finest wares, including gourmet food. handmade crafts, specialty beauty products, natural remedies, unique jewelry, artisan soaps, tex...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - As some of you may have already heard, BC Ferries is going through some changes. They range from a total revamp of the way they have been engaging with the public to that probably won’t effect fares until 2028. Let’s start with finances. BC Ferries CEO Nicolas Jimenez recently informed the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce the cost to build ferries has risen 40% si...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - According to the 2024 Interim Housing Needs Report, in the next two years Cortes Island will need another 95 new housing units and Area C will need another 270. The studies underlying assumptions are that the Discovery Island’s population will continue to grow by 8% over the next few years. One of the key findings is that “there is a need for housing that is affordabl...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - When the Cortes Island Foundation released Cortes Island’s Vital Signs Report last month, Executive Director Manda Aufochs Gillespie said she’d like to go into specific sections in more detail.  "One of the things that really stood out to me is the information around income and work and economy.  This area starts around page 13 in this document and I'm going to be usi...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents -The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) 2024 AGM is coming up at 5 PM on December 3rd. They are celebrating more than 30 years with their Marine Stewardship program and special partnership with the Watershed Sentinel Magazine. Sabina Leader Mense and Delores Broten will be the guest speakers.  “That's the second part of the AGM. For the first part, we will be talking about...

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - On November 15, 2024, host Manda Aufoch’s Gillespie was joined by AI researcher and community organizer Daniel Lindenberger, to lead a conversation about artificial intelligence. Along with the students of the Cortes Island Academy and some community members, we explored the potential of AI in various tasks, including data structuring, summarizing, and generating...

Carries Saxifrage/ Cortes Currents & FOCI Climate Action Committee - In early July of 2024, a small group of Cortes Islanders, supported by Friends Of Cortes Island (FOCI), screened the film “How to Boil a Frog” for the community. You can watch the film here. The film is about the five-pronged problem life on Earth is currently facing — overpopulation, a war on nature, wealth disparity, peak oil (...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Around 40 people turned out to the Cortes Island Museum on November 10 for the launch of a series of community speakers. The host, Brian Scott traced the idea for ‘Finding Home: The Cortes Island Experience’  to a conversation he had with Sherman Barker.  “Sherman and I have known each other for a few years, it's long other story, but he was up on Easter Bluff one da...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents -The final count for Cortes Island’s 2024 Chum run is not yet in, but according to local streamkeeper Christine Robinson, “We have never seen a return like this during the 34 years we've lived on Cortes, but the phenomenon is up the coast as far as Alaska. It's not specific to Cortes and the Discovery Islands.”   “It’s down into Washington state as well,” added her husb...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Jane Newman will be leading a series of creative workshops at the Cortes Island Museum this season.   “The museum was in contact with me about running some programming this fall,” she explained. "After thinking about it I was like, 'yeah,  I'm really interested, but I only want to run creative programming. I want to do things that are hands-on.  It's my thing, I love...