Cortes Currents

Cortes Currents (https://cortescurrents.ca/)
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Cortes Currents is a news platform that asks what's current in Cortes and the Discovery Islands. Web articles & radio podcasts: Cortes Island, Quadra Island, Discovery Islands, Campbell River: news, lifestyle, local politics, affordable housing, economy, food security, health, ferries, tourism, history, culture, environmental issues, sustainable forestry, oyster farming, the arts, First Nations, energy, climate change, overshoot

  1. Women's Centre Update 2026 Part 2

    18h ago

    Women's Centre Update 2026 Part 2

    De Clarke/ Cortes Currents - This is the second of three broadcasts about the COrtes Island Woomen's Centre

    18 min
  2. Women's Centre Update 2026 Part 1 14m44s

    1d ago

    Women's Centre Update 2026 Part 1 14m44s

    De Clarke? Cortes Currents - Some seven or eight years ago, longtime Cortes residentTanya Henck perceived a need for more support for women on the island struggling with various issues — domestic violence, sexual harassment, housing insecurity, poverty, mental health, social isolation — and launched the idea of a Women’s Resource Centre. Joined by a few other island women, she rented a space in the Mansons Hall building and formed a partnership with North Island Transition Society. In 2019, the Centre opened — just in time for the Covid pandemic. Since then, the Cortes Island Women’s Resource Centre has served island women in many capacities. In an interview with Tanya in late May, we discuss recent organisational changes (the Centre is now a BC Non-Profit Society in its own right), current programming and services, the level of need on the island for those services, the ongoing relationship with North Island Transition, and Tanya’s plans for expanded services and projects in the coming year.

    15 min
  3. NameSake_ A filmed Journey towards Recognition, Reconciliation and Place

    4d ago

    NameSake_ A filmed Journey towards Recognition, Reconciliation and Place

    Roy L Hales /Cortes Currents - The radio version of this story opens with a short clip from the documentary NameSake in which Dr Evan Adams welcomes viewers to Tla-amin territory. Then he adds,  "A lot of people who live here now don't know us. They forget that all of this used to be ours, and that this city is still in our territory."  NameSake will be playing in the House of the Klahoose People, on Cortes Island, at 2 PM on Monday, June 29. It is about the Tla'amin People's connection to the ancestral village site that was taken away from them and renamed Powell River. Then they asked the city to change its name back to  Tiskʷat. The film was screened at Hot Docs in Toronto, the DOXA Festival in Vancouver and will be shown at the Victoria Film Festival this coming July. In this morning's interview we talk to Dr Evan Adams, who just welcomed you to Tla'amin territory, and Executive Producer Claudia Medina.  Claudia joined us during the second half of the interview. She is a qathat based filmmaker and editor, who works through her production company EnMedia. She has directed and edited for APTN and has been involved in this project from the onset.   Dr Evan Adams is a physician, currently serving with the First Nations  Health Authority and National Circle for Indigenous Medical. He's also an actor and one of the two Directors of NameSake. In the film, he guides viewers through history, memory and present conversation.   Cortes Currents: Tell me how NameSake came into being?  Dr Evan Adams: “The conversation between the city of Powell River and the Tla'amin Nation has been growing for a few decades. In fact, we thought we had quite an exemplary relationship. But then, when we started talking about our objections to the name Powell—would the city consider changing their name?—that started a series of meetings that were quite acrimonious.” “We were not ready for that kind of reaction, and we were not ready for that kind of negativity. People were yelling at us. We thought we were talking about a name change, but they were saying things like: ‘There’s no such thing as Indigenous knowledge. Those residential school graves are empty. Survivors are exaggerating.’ And lots of other really racist generalizations—racist rhetoric—that we didn’t know were going to be part of every single meeting. So we just started recording it.”

    22 min
  4. Coming Referendum About Cortes Island Youth and Senior Services

    6d ago

    Coming Referendum About Cortes Island Youth and Senior Services

    Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - The SRD Board unanimously passed a resolution that Cortes residents will vote on whether to fund the island’s youth and senior organizations at the upcoming October 17, 2026 election. Regional Director Mark Vonesh explained, “There was a little bit of a rush because I realized that, in order to get this onto the referendum—which I think is the fairest way to consult with the community—it needs to go through a process. It goes to the board, a draft bylaw is created, the draft bylaw is reviewed, and then it goes to the Inspector of Municipalities for approval. That comes back to the referendum at the election. The time period for this one was tight. It basically had to happen in the month that I introduced it, but the beauty of it is that we’ve got four months to talk about it.” “I’m going to be holding a public meeting in the Fall, before the election, so we can come together and talk about it, and so I can share information that I have about the services. We’ll also make it available online, so it’s really accessible for people.” “The two new services that passed the board today, unanimously, are about providing funding for programming on Cortes.” “We know that youth and older people on Cortes are important to the future—and the past—of our community. By supporting them, it’s going to make Cortes a better place to be. As a youth worker and someone who’s worked with seniors all over Canada doing nonprofit work, I know the impact that the organizations on Cortes are already having.” “We’re looking at $35,000 for each of the services, which really isn’t a lot of money, but I think it could go a long way toward filling some gaps and strengthening what we’re already doing on Cortes for younger people and older people.”

    8 min
  5. Anna Kindy on Kerry-Lynne Findlay and the BC Conservatives strength in recent polls

    Jun 24

    Anna Kindy on Kerry-Lynne Findlay and the BC Conservatives strength in recent polls

    Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Sixty percent of the respondents to a recent Angus Reid poll said the province is on the wrong track. If there were an election today, they gave the Conservatives an 11-point lead. This is similar to what 338Canada’s projections have been showing for the past month. Yet nearly 90% of the poll’s respondents also said they know little or nothing about the new BC Conservative leader, Kerry-Lynne Findlay. In this morning’s interview, we discuss these matters with Anna Kindy—MLA for North Island—and also play a clip from Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s Twitter feed. Cortes Currents: Firstly, what do you think of the BC Conservative Party’s recent surge in the polls?  Anna Kindy: "Well, it doesn't surprise me, to be honest, because we've been going in the wrong direction for a long time. When you're looking at the fiscal mess that we're in as a province right now, Premier Eby came in with a surplus, when he became premier, and here we are with $13.3 billion of deficit this year." Cortes Currents: She is referring to the province’s operating deficits. According to the Vancouver Sun, “When Premier David Eby took over in 2022, B.C. was on track to post a $5.7 billion surplus for the 2022–23 fiscal year.” Instead, the government spent that money trying to address problems like the housing crisis, homelessness, and the opioid crisis. Since then, Eby’s government has consistently prioritized issues like these over the budget. Aside from the two COVID years, B.C.’s previous premier, John Horgan, generally posted balanced budgets. Personally, I’m more concerned about total provincial debt, which is roughly five times larger today than it was in 2001. Under the BC Liberals, it almost doubled—going from about $34 billion in 2001 to around $65 billion by 2017. It has almost tripled under the BC NDP, moving from about $65 billion in 2017 to an anticipated $183 billion this year. Kindy correctly stated that most of the growth under the NDP occurred while David Eby has been premier. This year, the government expects to spend on interest charges. Apologists for government spending point out that provincial revenues have also grown— from $28 billion in 2001 to an anticipated $88 billion this year. Thus, as long as the economy remains strong, BC is in a better position to service a large debt. Comparing the government’s expenses to those of a typical homeowner: operating surpluses and deficits are like monthly cash flow, while debt servicing is like a mortgage payment—and total provincial debt is comparable to a mortgage. Anna Kindy: “We’re doubling our total deficit, and our interest payment this year alone is over six billion—and that would build a lot of care homes and hospitals and fund a lot of services that we need. That’s just the interest. The interest is the third biggest portfolio. “That fiscal mess translates to having to cut back on a lot of things. So I mentioned about care homes being canceled, Burnaby Hospital expansion being canceled. I’m seeing things in the healthcare domain getting worse. The affordability crisis is continuing—in terms of being able to afford your groceries, your rent, getting ahead—especially for young people and seniors. “Even with this budget, seniors were hard hit. Not only with the cancellation of long-term care homes, but you know how seniors can borrow against their home to survive or to live. Now if they borrow against their home, they’ll be paying 2% above prime, compounded interest. So that’s a lot for seniors. And there are going to be taxes now on landlines—which who has landlines? Seniors do, and you do, and me. We’ve got a landline too. Yeah, old school - but we’re seniors!" “Things are not going in the right direction in a lot of ways, and that’s what’s being reflected in the polls. There’s a healthcare crisis getting worse, an affordability crisis, fiscal mismanagement, and still safety issues.”

    13 min
  6. More KIller Whales and Humpbacks in our Waters

    Jun 21

    More KIller Whales and Humpbacks in our Waters

    Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There have been a lot more killer whales and Humpback whales in our waters lately. According to a new study from UBC, the inside waters off Vancouver Island are critical habitat for West Coast Transient, or Bigg’s killer whales. The return of Humpback whales has been heralded as a success story, and there are now also reports of gray whale sightings. Last week, Cortes Currents interviewed two of the scientists involved in this research. Emma Shaparski from Straitwatch Emma Shaparski is a Quadra Island resident, coordinator for Straitwatch Quadra, and one of the organization’s vessel operators. She holds a B.Sc. in Geography, with honours, from the University of Victoria, where she specialized in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to enhance understanding of cetacean habitat use. She was out on one of the boats when I found her, but agreed to an interview the following evening. “Our study area extends all the way down to Powell River and all the way north to Kelsey Bay. This is my sixth season on the water doing research in this area. We have a field season that runs from early June to the end of September, but I work year-round doing all the data analysis, report writing, and that kind of thing.” Taryn Scarff, Lead Author of the UBC Study Taryn Scarff is the lead author of the UBC study currently making headlines in the news. “As part of my Master’s Degree at UBC, I looked at the abundance and distribution of transient killer whales in what I call the inside waters of Vancouver Island.”

    15 min
  7. Meinsje's Exhibition_ Sublime Puppets and Paintings

    Jun 18

    Meinsje's Exhibition_ Sublime Puppets and Paintings

    Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - At the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery: Meinsje's Uncanny Puppets and Sublime Paintings The “Uncanny and the Sublime” exhibition opens at the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, June 19, and runs until July 5. In this morning’s interview, exhibiting artist Meinsje Vlaming discusses her puppets and paintings. Meinsje: "I’ve been involved with the Academy of the Wooden Puppets. That’s a two-year education online by Bernd Ogrodnik, a German teacher, master puppeteer, and carver who lives now in Iceland. That’s one of the good things that happened with COVID: we have a lot of things online now, and we don’t have to go there. “Bernd put together a program on carving puppets—from the beginning, very simple puppets, to a very, very complicated marionette. Of course, being a puppeteer, that had my interest. So I enrolled.” “Well, actually, I first applied for a grant. I got it, I enrolled, and I started carving. I got all these puppets that are not really related, and I haven’t put them in a puppet show, but it would be nice to hang them on the walls in a gallery and display them.” “So we thought about that, and then it’s like, well, I don’t have enough to fill the gallery. And then I also enrolled with a wonderful painter teacher, Michael Orwick, whose style is really resonating with my own style—my own work. So I thought, ‘Why don’t I put those two together?’ - But how do you connect the wooden puppets with the paintings that are about light?" “If you look through my work, it’s very diverse—there’s a lot of different styles and trying out styles. But the thing they all have in common is the light. So I took two elements from two different disciplines and tried to connect them. What they have in common is painting and puppets—then I started to dive a little deeper into what they have in common, which is the sublime in the paintings.” “The Romantics, the Tonalists, the Luminists—they’ve all used that. I personally think light is the most sublime thing on this planet. It’s in paintings, and it’s connected to the spiritual.” “That’s how I came to decide: ‘Let’s put puppets and the paintings together into the show.’ And that works—I think, I hope.”

    15 min
  8. EASC Discussing Temporary Use Permits for Tiny Homes

    Jun 16

    EASC Discussing Temporary Use Permits for Tiny Homes

    Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - At their June 11 meeting, the Electoral Areas Service Committee (EASC) heard a staff report on tiny home initiatives in the Regional District of Nanaimo. This followed an ongoing discussion that began with a motion from Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney of Area C last November. Director Mawhinney: “I noticed that in other regional districts, temporary use permits are being used for a variety of purposes—potentially to permit tiny homes as long-term temporary accommodation, if you want to call it that. “I couldn’t find a policy, or even an application form, for a temporary use permit at the SRD. I’m wondering if we could have a report on our current policy on temporary use permits, and also how they’re used in other regional districts.” John Rice (Regional Director of Area D):“I’m curious about the use of temporary use permits. My understanding is that the province is already moving toward new legislation for small-footprint homes. I believe that the Cowichan Valley is accepting them, so I’m not sure why we want to explore temporary use permits if the province is moving to make this more legal anyway. I could be wrong.” Director Mawhinney: “Well, I haven’t heard that—that’s great news. The reason I was interested in temporary use permits as a potential solution for housing is because I’ve witnessed in my community that someone is willing to offer a place for a tiny home to be used as a home temporarily, and then they have to tell the tiny home owner they can’t live there because their home insurance won’t permit it on their property. “I’ve been wondering whether a temporary use permit—typically available for up to three years, with the possibility of renewal—could provide more legal assurance for insurance companies. That, in turn, might expand the possibility of providing non-traditional housing options in our electoral areas.” Gerald Whalley (Regional Director of Area A): “So, just to confirm—are these smaller than a typical mobile home?” Director Mawhinney: “I think they often fall under the RV category because they’re on wheels. They aren’t always on wheels, but they often are. Mobile homes are on wheels—that’s why they’re mobile. But I think mobile homes are often moved and then the wheels are removed and the unit is anchored to the ground. It just seems like there are a lot of questions that staff could answer.”

    9 min
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About

Cortes Currents is a news platform that asks what's current in Cortes and the Discovery Islands. Web articles & radio podcasts: Cortes Island, Quadra Island, Discovery Islands, Campbell River: news, lifestyle, local politics, affordable housing, economy, food security, health, ferries, tourism, history, culture, environmental issues, sustainable forestry, oyster farming, the arts, First Nations, energy, climate change, overshoot

Information

  • Creator
    Cortes Currents (https://cortescurrents.ca/)
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    500
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    Cortes Currents

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