Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - More than 25 people turned out for the ‘Polycrisis Townhall-Party’ in the Klahoose Multi-purpose building on Friday, May 17. Chief Darren Blaney of the Homalco FIrst Nation, his wife, MP Rachel Blaney, and Cortes Island Regional Director Mark Vonesch were among them. The event was put together by Cortes Island’s  Alternate Director, Max Thaysen. Norm Harry, of the Kl...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The official count isn’t in yet, but more than 300 people turned out for this year’s Seafest. This is the annual celebration and fund raiser of the Cortes Island Seafood Association, which was held in Squirrel Cove again this year. “We come back every year. This is our 10th time. We love it every year. It's awesome. There's amazing food and amazing people and weather...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Fire Department is preparing for what could be the driest summer on record. They have purchased more equipment, a new pumper truck, and are about to start recruiting for a much larger wildfire brigade. After a year and a half as the interim Fire Chief, Eli McKenty may be staying on. This was not the story Cortes Currents expected to cover. An open f...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Bronwyn Claire Asha is bringing her one woman theatre, Celtic folk music and storytelling show to Cortes and Quadra Islands this weekend. She’ll be playing in Mansons Hall at 7 PM on Friday, and 7:30 in the Quadra Community Centre on Saturday. 
“I am very excited to come to Cortes. I feel like Cortes and Quadra are both small communities that have a real heart to them...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Over the past few years there have been increasing reports of wolves preying on black bears. There have been no reports of this on Cortes Island, and a lot of residents first heard about it at the 2024 Wildlife Coexistence Gathering, at Linnaea Farm.   Todd Windle of Wild About Wolves explained that the evidences of wolves preying upon bears in the Pacific Rim Nationa...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - In January, the Cortes Community Economic Development Association, or CCEDA, hired a Business Mentorship Coordinator. In the four months since then Tamlyn Collingwood has worked with a number of Cortes Island’s small businesses, developed procedures to help them and is about to unveil a series of new market opportunities in conjunction with Hollyhock. “I was contract...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Seafest will be returning to Squirrel Cove this Saturday, May 18, with delicious platefuls of locally grown and prepared seafood. with live music.   
 “ I think the first one was back in 1990 or 92. It was down in Smelt Bay with Redonda Sea Farms  and the rest of the community and it was a huge event. I think they had walk-on overloads on the ferry. That was really w...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Manda Aufochs Gillespie announced two new grant offerings, the new shared workplace in the Village Commons and much more, in a Cortes Island Community Foundation update yesterday. “It has been a really busy year,  and I am so excited about where we are,  and this community that we get to serve. I'd love to tell you about some of the things that maybe you've been hear...

Sadhu Johnston/ Cortes Community Housing - Tune in on May 10th for the second collaborative monthly housing forum hosted by the Cortes Housing Society and Folk University. Themed “Water Quality and Quantity”, this forum featured guest panelists Darren Bond, Nick Sargent, and David Bethune and a following community discussion. This is a recording of the second monthly housing forum in April, hosted...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Cortes Community Housing purchased a property with two houses at 671 Sutil Point Road. This will be the first property to go into the island's new land trust, formed in response to Cortes Island's housing forum last December.  
The housing society has been active on Cortes for 6 or 7 years and made a lot of progress in buying Rainbow Ridge. Having that acreage for ho...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - A new passenger transportation solutions project was launched for Cortes, Quadra and some of the Outer Islands. Kate Maddigan, of the Cortes Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA), obtained a grant to fund the project and will oversee developments on Cortes. Quadra Island facilitator Jennifer Banks-Doll will be overseeing the project on Quadra and the Out...

De Clarke/ COrtes Currents - BC Ferries intends to upgrade their Heriot Bay and Whaletown terminals to accommodate new, higher-capacity “Island Class” ferries with the potential for all-electric operation. The construction project, scheduled for 2026, will necessitate closure of these docks and ramps — a serious logistical problem for BCF and for island residents. On April 27th, 2024, BC Ferries h...

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents - It has now been four and a half years since the 2019 referendum in which a solid majority of Cortes Islanders voted in favour of bylaw 341. This bylaw established a property tax service that would provide basic operational support for the islands two community halls. What’s Happening Now? — what events and programmes are being offered as of 2024, and how much community...

Sadhu Johnston/ Folk U - Tune in on April 19th for the first collaborative monthly housing forum hosted by the Cortes Housing Society and Folk University. Themed “Homesharing”, this forum featured guest panelists Janey Rowland (HousingNOW) and Noelle Marcus (Nesterly), and a following community discussion. This is a recording of the first monthly housing forum in March, hosted over Zoom, with 19 p...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Local filmmaker Jennifer Pickford found more than the spiritual paradise of her expectations, when she first visited India in 2008. She subsequently embarked upon the personal pilgrimage, 2,500 kilometres down the Ganges River, chronicled in the documentary ‘Sacred India: Plastic Revolution,’ which comes to Mansons Hall on Monday, April 22nd, 2024.   
Jennifer Pickfo...

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents - It has now been four and a half years since the 2019 referendum in which a solid majority of Cortes Islanders voted in favour of bylaw 341. This bylaw established a property tax service that would provide basic operational support for the islands two community halls Part 3: What’s Been Fixed? — what maintenance and improvement has been made possible by the hall tax fun...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Community Foundation is running a second round of the Giving Well program that provides one-time tax free cash “gifts” of between $5,000 to $10,000 to individuals. Isabella McKnight, Executive Administrator of the Cortes Foundation explained, “The first round was extremely successful. We were able to give over $180,000 to 30 different individuals an...

Sadhu Johnston/ Folk U - On April 12th, guest host Sadhu Johnston was joined by the folk band Awakeneers for a full-length live concert. Kicking off an April tour on Cortes, the Awakeneers delighted listeners with their fiddle and harmony-centric tunes and sweet stories to boot! The live-streamed radio concert on Friday afternoon was a teaser for the community contra dance they led on Saturday nig...

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents - It has now been four and a half years since the 2019 referendum in which a solid majority of Cortes Islanders voted in favour of bylaw 341. This bylaw established a property tax service that would provide basic operational support for the islands two community halls. Part 2: What Changed? -- why were the halls in such dire financial straits by about 2015? why could Gor...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Noah Davidson traces his gardening itch back to the family plot in Ontario  but prior to his arrival on Cortes Island, he worked in restaurants. He started out behind the cash register of his father's restaurant in Toronto and went on to work in a number of fast food establishments. This continued after his move to British Columbia. Noah worked at the Floathouse Rest...

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents - It has now been four and a half years since the 2019 referendum in which a solid majority of Cortes Islanders voted in favour of bylaw 341. This bylaw established a property tax service that would provide basic operational support for the islands two community halls. An interview with WCC President Izabelle Perry. Part I of 4 - Before & After — the Hall’s financial sit...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents: The Cortes Housing Society’s Virtual Forum will be returning to the airwaves at 10 AM on Saturday, April 20, with a program on water Quality and Quantity. Host Sadhu Johnstone will be joined by three expert panelists: Darren Bond from Hornby Water Stewardship, Nick Sargent from the Quadra Island Climate Action Network and David Bethune of Groundwater Solutions. There...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery is trying out some new initiatives this year. Their season is starting earlier, there are more classes and special events than ever, and some of them will be in new locations. The gallery has reversed the order of its exhibitions, expanded its social media reach and now has a website at schoolhouseertgallery.ca 
“The website is big new...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - On April 1, BC Emergency Health Services improved the staffing models for 60 rural and remote ambulance stations. Cortes and Quadra Islands are among the 6 communities within the Strathcona Regional District that will benefit. “We recognize that one staffing model doesn’t work for all parts of the province, and these three models will help us improve our services to...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There was an increasing number of wolf sightings and encounters on Cortes Island during the closing months of 2008. A number of posts in the Tideline over the course of the next two years mention 'an awful lot of them on the island, in an awfully short time.' There were mixed reactions. A Squirrel Cove resident wrote that 15 ran through one of their neighbours yards...