Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There were 45 people on the Whaletown dock when Cortes Currents left half way through the Open House on Monday, September 16. Some were listening to Andy Ellingsen, a Director of Harbour Authority Cortes Island (HACI), talk about the current condition of the wharf and what needs to be done. Others gathered in small groups, eating the free pizza, sharing memories or t...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Community Foundation recently announced that it is giving $105,000 to four of Cortes Island’s essential non-profit organizations. The Cortes Island Food Bank will receive $40,000, Whaletown Community Club - $22,000, Island Death Care Society - $26,400 and  Support Our Seniors $16,600. This money came from the BC Government’s Community Prosperity Fund...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Close to 60 Cortes Island residents turned out for the Zoning Bylaw Review Meeting in Manson's Hall on Thursday, September 12th. The following article consists of audio clips of the main speakers, taken at the meeting, and an interview with Regional Director Mark Vonesch the following morning.   Mark Vonesch: "Leading up to it, I think there was a little bit of tensi...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Nic Dedeluk, a marine biologist with over 24 years of experience, is the BC Green Party candidate for North Island. This brings the number of candidates in our riding to three. Michele Babchuk, our incumbent MLA, is once again running for the NDP and Anna Kindy is running for the Conservative party of BC. Zoominfo states Dedeluk is a Marine Coordinator for the Namgis...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There will be a special Taxidermy Showcase at Wild Cortes on Saturday, September 14.    Cortes Currents interviewed Laurel Bohart and Donna Collins, the co-curators of Wild Cortes, in the exhibition area. The bird songs in the audio of this story are from a recording of local birds, which provides atmosphere for the displays but is unrelated to this story. Collins ga...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - British Columbia is heading for the polls on October 19, a little more than a month from now. So far only two candidates have registered in our electoral district, North Island. Michele Babchuk has been our MLA since 2020 and prior to that she was a Campbell River City Councillor for six years, as well as Chair of the Strathcona Regional District Board. Dr. Anna Kind...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) has a new President, is getting prepared to launch out in new directions and is also trying to raise $30,000 by the end of the month. The first two of those announcements may be interrelated, the third definitely is not. It is a result of two large contracts coming to an end, more on that later. First, Mike Moore has been one of FO...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Wetlands are key resources to address climate change and help maintain surface water flow during dry periods. But they are also largely disappearing.  According to a recent study in Nature, since 1700 approximately 3.4 million square miles of wetlands have been lost in the United States, Europe and China. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources estimates t...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Care 4 Cortes campaign officially ends today, but there is still a chance to donate this weekend. Manda Aufochs Gillespie, Executive Director of the Cortes Island Community Foundation, explained “There's still a day or two where we'll leave up our Care for Cortes donation page on Cortes Foundation.ca.  you can  still see all the different projects that were highl...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - After 14 years at the helm, Ester Strijbos is moving on from the Tideline. In one of the archived posts, from the fall of 2011, she wrote:  “Last year June, after careful consideration, Richard Trueman decided to step down from cortesisland.com (Tideline). I took over from Richard in July 2010. Irene Blueth is still Assistant Editor, which means that she takes care of...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Cortes Island's most economically challenged residents appear to be facing another bleak winter this year.  Filipe Figueira, Coordinator of the Cortes Island Food Bank, explained, “We’ve definitely seen a huge rise in general economic distress over the last couple of years. I think that covers two key areas. One is food insecurity,  the other one is housing insecurit...

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - On Friday, August 30, Louis Belcourt performed a live + live-broadcast FolkU concert in the big Village Commons tent. Hosted by Manda Aufochs Gillespie, this event marked the last concert of the season in the Village Commons Music Series. The series is put on every Friday by a partnership between Cortes Island Community Foundation, FolkU, and CKTZ Cortes Community...

Louis Belcourt/CKTZ News - The Cortes Island Pickleball Society has recently established a Pickleball committee with the South Cortes Community Association to oversee the potential construction of Pickleball courts next to the skatepark. Mary Jo Woolgar, long time resident to Cortes, introduced Cortes to Pickleball with her husband about two years ago and she says its often described as “a lifesty...

Louis Belcourt/ Folk U - On Friday, August 23, Jemma & the Good Thing performed a live + live-broadcast FolkU concert in the big Village Commons tent. Hosted by Louis Belcourt, Cortes Island-based Jemma Hicken (Jemma & the Good Thing) weaves together tender lyrics, funny storytelling, and catchy sing-a-longs to create a feel-good Canadiana-folk show. The Village Commons Music Series is put on ever...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District is considering a Grant in Aid policy which would funnel all applications through staff. According to Gerald Whalley, who has been a Regional Director since the SRD was formed in 2008, this is the third time the idea of a policy has come up. After an intense debate, the proposal has been forwarded to the Electoral Areas Services Committ...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) wants a list of School District 72’s properties on Cortes Island and Area C. As Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney pointed out, in a letter to the other rural Directors, some of them ‘may be a good fit for a housing project.’ Mawhinney proposed that the SRD ask for a list.   At the Board’s August 21 meeting, Campbell River Directo...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Museum has a genealogical database. It was compiled by Bernice McGowan, whose interest in genealogy was sparked by her mother’s research of their family roots. Coming to Cortes Island some 50 odd years ago, she was intrigued by the fact that so many of the island’s older European families seemed to be related. She has also dug up some census records...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Academy’s third year starts on Tuesday September 3, 2024. Executive DIrector Manda Aufochs Gillespie explained that there are a number of innovative new programs this semester as well as popular facilitators from previous years. The Mother Tree Network, Hakai Intitute, Hollyhock and Power of Hope are all contributing partners. For the first time ever...

Greg Osoba/Folk U - On Friday, August 16, Sean Coyote performed a live + live-broadcast FolkU concert in the big Village Commons tent. Hosted by Greg Osoba, Sean is a long-time Cortes resident who has been a musician & music lover since he was young. Sean mostly performs in his living room for the benefit of the cat, however he does occasionally sneak out for a few rare public performances. Just b...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - As of this morning, Heather Deeth has been the Interim Executive Director of Hollyhock for 19 days. Cortes Currents caught up with her on Sunday to talk about the changes in her life, as well as what’s happening in one of the most dynamic retreat centres on the West Coast.  It is the peak summer season at Hollyhock. The programs listed on their webpage are grouped in...

Roy L Hales - Andrea Padovani is a professional artist who has been living on Cortes for much of the last 17 years, but there is a sense in which his show ‘Deep Breath,’ which opens in the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery this Friday, is his introduction to the larger island community. He explained, "I have a problem  expressing my real deep feelings  in a conversation, if you really want to know me, l...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - CKTZ is looking for donors to help power the tower during 2024 and 2025. Cortes Currents caught up with Bryan McKinnon, station manager and President of CKTZ, while he was manning the radio’s booth at Lovefest. In addition to the hum of conversation from some of the first people to arrive at the festival, in the background you can hear a sitar and tabla from the openi...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Earlier this year,  the Cortes Island community learned that there were renovations underway at the island's old gravel airstrip. At a town hall meeting last June, around 125 residents turned out to express their concerns. Very little transpired until yesterday, Monday, August 12, when an asphalt truck was spotted in the BC Ferries webcam feed from Heriot Bay. It did...

Louis Belcourt/ Folk U -On Friday, August 9, WITCH POP performed a live + live-broadcast FolkU concert in the big Village Commons tent. Hosted by Louis Belcourt, WITCH POP emerges as a new duo of Heather Wolf & Raqa Down, fusing queer intuitive pop with folk lineages, moody soulful vocals, minor drones of the Appalachian mountain dulcimer layered with synth & 808 beats. They create dark wave elect...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Brenda Hansen, with her brother Dwayne and Kenny Hanuse, greeted the audience of Love Fest 2024 with the ‘Klahoose Welcome Song.’ (You can listen to it, sung in the ʔayʔaǰuθəm language, in the podcast version of this story.)  Close to 700 people purchased tickets, performed, or were at the event on Saturday August 10. Cortes Currents went backstage to interview some o...