Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - We're coming up to the 90th anniversary of the Vancouver Island Regional Library. In this morning's interview Beatrix Baxter, the new Circulation Supervisor at the Cortes Island branch, talks about the library, her love of books and how they are going to celebrate on Saturday, May 30th. Beatrix Baxter:  “The Vancouver Island Regional Library was established in 1936,...

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - There have been a lot of concerns that the MOU with Alberta represents a step backward when it comes to reducing climate-change-causing emissions from big industry and advancing clean energy. In this morning’s interview, Jennifer Lash, who was both a senior adviser at Environment and Climate Change Canada and a Liberal candidate in the last election, shares her pers...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - A new UBC led study of 111 peer-reviewed papers found that forests and biodiversity are better, or at least equally, protected if they are managed by Indigenous Peoples. Between 2005 and 2012, vegetation loss in native areas of the Brazilian Amazon was 17 times lower. In Australia, 60% of the nation’s 1,574 threatened species were found on Indigenous lands. In the Un...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The 2026 New Forest Act Roadshow will be coming to our area next month. The Sentinel Educational Foundation and Watershed Sentinel magazine are the sponsors of the Vancouver Island leg of its tour. Jennifer Houghton, Campaign Director of the New Forest Act Proposal, will be speaking at the Campbell River United Church at 7:00 on Thursday, June 11, and Quadra Island C...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The community orchard at the Rainbow Ridge affordable housing complex officially launched with a tree-planting ceremony on Earth Day. In this morning’s interview, permaculture designer Witney Vanderleest discusses her role in the project, the process of planting the first 35 trees, and what the community can expect to see as the site evolves. 

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Daniel Lapp is the headliner for this year's Lovefest, which returns to Linnaea Farm on Saturday, August 8, 2026. He has played on over 100 albums and performed across Canada, the United States, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Finland, and Germany. Daniel is also a winner of the BC Fiddler Championship and is the Artistic Director of the Victoria Conservatory of M...

Recorded by Roy L Hales

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Around 100 people packed into Mansons Hall on May 7, 2026, for a community meeting on the proposed expansion of the Island United Quarry on Cortes Island. While most appeared to be opposed to the project in its current form, some added that Cortes Island needed a smaller quarry more in line with the island's needs Neither Howard Nielsen, who owns Island United, nor h...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - As North America navigates the transition from traditional fossil fuel-based energy to renewable alternatives, various regions are exploring solutions like Distributed Energy Resources (DER). In this morning’s interview, Catherine Jefferey from Clean Energy Canada discusses a program designed to reduce costs for Ontario ratepayers by an estimated $1.8 billion to $3.5...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The radio version of this story opened with a clip from  the 'Inky Dinky' round of a recent Benji's Pub Quiz night in Mansons Hall, Cortes Island. An Inky Dinky is a two-word phrase. Both the words have two syllables, and they rhyme, like Inky Dinky.  "So what?" asked show host Benji Coey. "Well, I'm going to give you a riddle and you're going to come up with an Inky...

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U -

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - SRD staff are currently preparing a bylaw that will reduce the residential waste collection charge on Cortes Island from $112 to $86, effective this year. This change has been in development since last year, originating from a shift in the SRD’s administrative policy. Staff estimate that $121 per user is required to fully fund the service, so the shortfall this year...

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - Bringing Campbell River's Tyee Legacy to Vancouver's DOXA film festival A documentary about Campbell River's historic Tyee fishing culture will be screened at Vancouver's DOXA Film Festival on Thursday, May 7. In this morning's interview filmmakers Jevan Crittenden and Nate Slaco talk a little about 'In Tyee Country,' and how it came into being.  Jevan: "When we sta...

Roy L Hales/ Beach Clean-up - The 2026 Cortes Island Beach Clean-up is underway. Helen Hall, Executive Director of the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI), explained: "The campaign will start on May 1st and run until the end of the month. We're working in partnership with Comox Strathcona Waste Management and Klahoose Aquaculture. We will be placing large 'super sacks' at seven different locations aro...

Unedited audio from the Apr 29 SRD Meeting

De Clarke / Cortes Currents - This article addresses misstatements or deficits in the Management Plan document regarding streams and fish. The document states that "There are no permanent or ephemeral watercourses or wetlands located within the tenure. No water will be discharged to the environment during or post-operation. An unnamed creek runs 15m to the east of site […] There are no aquatic dis...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Ecotrust Canada will be giving a home energy workshop at Mansons Hall on Saturday, May 2, at 1 PM.  Max Thaysen, from the Cortes Climate Action Network, explained,  "We've got some folks coming over from Ecotrust to talk about heat pumps and help people get some rebates going so they can potentially get 100% of heat pump install and purchase costs covered by some gra...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Dr Teresa Ryan is a Tsimshian woman who combines the ancestral knowledge of her people with the cutting edge research coming out of the Mother Tree Project. Her association with Dr Suzanne Simard began when she applied for a postdoctoral fellowship in what is now UBC's faculty of Forestry and Environmental Stewardship. Simard was one of her four instructors and sugge...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Nawel Izard is the host of a popular radio program on Cortes Community Radio and the head of the Polaris Law Collective, whose head office is in Campbell River. She was born in Algeria, but lived almost her entire life in Canada. In this morning's interview Nawel describes her motivations and something of her legal practice.   Cortes Currents:  What motivates you, es...

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents - Island United’s proposed expansion of the Whaletown quarry locally known as “The Pit” became public knowledge via minimalist notifications in local media outlets earlier this month. The application to quadruple the Pit’s current footprint seems to be sparking more local controversy as more residents become aware of it. While some residents welcome the quarry upgrade, o...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Three weeks ago the Toronto Star reported that "three Liberals privately suggested to the Star that Prime Minister Mark Carney may put federal money behind a new pipeline to the west coast ... Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, say Carney wants to see the pipeline built, and is realizing it may not happen without more public money behind it." Aaron Gunn, t...

Roy L Hales/Cortes C urrents - Linnaea Farm's First Plant and Skill Share was on Saturday, April 18. It may be the first on Cortes Island.  Tamarra McPhail, who has been at Linnaea farm the past quarter century explained,  "I don't know if there's ever been a plant share before on Cortes."  She asked a group of Cortes residents, standing close to us, if they had ever heard of a plant share on Cort...

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents - A short notice recently appeared in the Cortes Tideline, advising residents of the intention of Island United to quadruple the size of their quarry. The quarry (traditionally known as “the Pit”) is located in the Whaletown area, some distance into the bush on Jimmy Smith Grade. Island United is a rock, gravel and construction firm owned and operated by local resident H...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Forty-nine acts will be coming to the Gorge Harbour Marina this year, the same number as last year. The driving force behind the venue’s success is Shannon Marks, who has been promoting the music industry since she was 16. In this morning's interview she talks about the coming season and her own life promoting music. Shannon Marks: "I really hope people enjoy the musi...

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - All things MicroGrants! Tune in for a group discussion about MicroGrants - the history of the granting program, event highlights, application tips, and more! This conversation features Connie Quayle, Mark Vonesch, Francis McKenty, Immanuel McKenty, Jemma Hicken, and your host Manda Aufochs-Gillespie. Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 p.m. a...