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. 1d ago

    Coming to Cortes and Quadra this week_ Communities Talking

    Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Have you ever wanted to find specific statistics about a community? Not just the population, but also details like the employment rate, number of police calls, or how welcome visitors are. RIEP's Community Economic Dashboard attempts to put all of the relevant data in one place.  Statistics for Cortes, Quadra, and Campbell River are currently being uploaded. JenniferBanks Doll is giving presentations of this new resource on both Cortes and Quadra Islands this week Jennifer Banks Doll: "This is a project of the Rural Islands Economic Partnership (RIEP) which is a non-profit that tries to bring together all of our islands in the Salish Sea: from the southern Gulf Islands all the way up to Alert Bay. They’re working to create conversations about our islands, our lives here, and our economies. "The project is called Communities Talking, because that’s the goal: to get us talking: both within our communities on our islands and between islands. "We’re starting by creating this Community Economic Dashboard. The vision is to take all of the information collected by governments, non-profits, and other organizations in our communities, and put it all into one place. "There are a lot of surveys that happen in our communities every once in a while. Different organizations are asking questions like: What are your views? What information do we have about housing or wellness or other topics? Those surveys happen, and then we often ask, “What happened to that survey?” "This dashboard hopes to bring all the information from those surveys, as well as information from Vital Signs, into one place. "The Cortes Island Community Foundation and the Quadra Island Foundation both now do Vital Signs reports. Those are amazing surveys of data related to wellness in our communities. We’re also bringing in census information and different housing surveys done by government and putting it all in one place. "So when we look for information about our community. whether it’s related to demographics, poverty, or the environment. Right now what we're doing is working on building that dashboard, so going to all these different organizations that collect data or who would like to collect data and saying, "Can we put your data on this dashboard so that we can go and look at Quadra or Cortes or Gabriola?" Those are the three pilot communities right now. We can look at them in isolation, or we can compare them. We can look at, how do we compare in terms of housing across our three islands? Who's collecting what data? On Gabriola, they're collecting data about this. Maybe we should be collecting that data too. So next time we do a survey, we'll be better informed in terms of what we want to collect data on. The dashboard is just a really good starting point for so many other things. Cortes Currents: Will it be updated regularly? Jennifer Banks Doll: Yes, that is the plan. Right now we are trying to find all that data that's already been collected, but then as more data is collected, we'll be updating the dashboard

    Coming to Cortes and Quadra this week_ Communities Talking

  2. 3d ago

    Farewells to the Outgoing SRD Board

    Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The last meeting of the outgoing SRD board was on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. Directors Mark Baker of Sayward, Doug Chapman of Campbell River, Julie Colburn of Zeballos, Martin Davis of Tahsis, Ron Kerr of Campbell River, and Michael Lott of Gold River will not be returning this next term. A spontaneous thank you session broke out when the board was considering new business.

    Farewells to the Outgoing SRD Board

  3. 3d ago

    SRD will not force Quadra taxpayers to fund Strathcona Gardens

    Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - After close to two years of arguments, which have reached the point where lawyers are now involved, the Strathcona Regional District Board is not going to force Quadra Island residents to pay for Campbell River's Recreate Strathcona Gardens facility, at least not at the moment. The vote was 8 to 6 against the proposed bylaw. The SRD board's Oct 28, 2026 meeting started out with an in-camera session, after which Bylaw 643 (the proposal to include Quadra in the catchment area) was moved to the front of the agenda.

    SRD will not force Quadra taxpayers to fund Strathcona Gardens

  4. 4d ago

    Campbell River based Wilderness International Canada purchased 1250 acres on Read Island

    Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Campbell River-based Wilderness International Canada recently purchased 1,250 acres of forest on Read Island.  Tobias Huerten (Managing Director, Wilderness International Canada):
“We’re really involving the local community in this because we, as an organization, are based in Campbell River - not on Read Island. The people living there are the caretakers of that forest. We purchased the forest, the community supports that and now there are many other ideas about what we can do out there for youth education, for example, or environmental education. For now, we purchased it simply to protect it. There’s no more logging in those areas, so the forest can redevelop.” The Celebration Narrator: There was a big party at Surge Narrows, on Read Island, on October 24. Lannie Keller (Read Island resident): “It was a wonderful celebration.” Ralph Keller (her husband): “It was a forest love-in.” Lannie Keller: “We just knew that this was something very special, and everybody was so extremely happy that it seemed like time to celebrate and bring ourselves together to be happy about a good news story. Wilderness International really led the celebration. It was their party. We definitely facilitated, and the Surge Narrows Community Association contributed space for the party at the community buildings here. We invited all of the community and a number of people from outside the community who had had special connections over the years. “We set the date because Wilderness International had folks coming from Germany around that time. There was someone from Peru, a couple of people from Alberta, and local people gathered from as far away as Victoria. We provided a shuttle from the end of the road at Quadra. Ralph brought over a couple of big boatloads of people, and the dock was crammed with boats rafted on boats. “The provincial election was on the same day, so that was overshadowed by our happy gathering, although it was happening in the schoolroom next door. It was a little bit drizzly, but it was a wonderful, wonderful day.” Tobias Huerten: “At the peak of the presentation, we counted 93 people at the Surge Narrows Community Centre. We hosted a conservation celebration, had a community lunch, and then we had a presentation about what we at Wilderness International achieved. We shared some footage from wildlife cameras we already have installed and some scientific research we have been doing this May. “There was also a presentation about the local wetlands from Cody Chamberlain, who is on the board of the Surge Narrows Community Association and also works as a scientist for Wilderness International, as well as Kai Sutherland, a local 16-year-old who goes to school there and helps with all of the scientific research. They presented on the wetlands, and after that, we went out for a forest walk, then went over to the bog, and ended the day with a barbecue at the community bunkhouse.”

    Campbell River based Wilderness International Canada purchased 1250 acres on Read Island

  5. 5d ago

    Chris Hatch: Carney, Climate Change and the Next Big Surge

    Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Chris Hatch, who writes the column Zero Carbon for Canada's National Observer, lives here on Cortes Island. He is periodical's former executive editor, has been a key figure in the environmental community for decades, and is the former Executive Director of Rainforest Action Network.  Thanks to some generous donors, you can receive Zero Carbon as a free Sunday e-mailout. I was able to interview him last month.

    Chris Hatch: Carney, Climate Change and the Next Big Surge

  6. Oct 21

    Campaign Update from NDP Candidate Sara Lopez

    Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Normally when a politician describes some of their party's problems, they tend to deflect or make excuses. That is not what happened when Cortes Currents asked NDP candidate Sara Lopez for an update on her campaign. She seems to revel in the difficult conversations and seeking solutions, but also had some criticisms of Anna Kindy's performance as an MLA.   Cortes Currents: Tell me about your campaign. Where have you been? What have you been doing?  Sara Lopez: "I've been door-knocking. A lot of door-knocking and canvassing and the more that I can get done, the better. My absolute favourite part of the campaign is meeting people and hearing what makes them tick. What they're mad about, what they hope for the world: all of that good stuff and the more diverging opinions, the better. Folks who actually want to engage in a bit of conversation, I love. "Otherwise, I'm meeting with leadership from a lot of different community groups, boards, things like that, just to get an understanding of where things are and where they'd like them to be. What they feel their most pressing needs are, for the communities they serve. It's allowing me to see the complexity of the experiences being felt here on the North Island."  Cortes Currents: Tell me about some of these conversations you've been having, and where have you been having them?  Sara Lopez: "So far I've been campaigning mostly Campbell River, Quadra and then we did have an event on Quadra where we invited folks from Cortes. I know that's not ideal. It does require them to travel, but it was open to them. Otherwise, it's been meetings on Zoom like this, or going to people, or having them come to our campaign office. "I've had a few really great phone conversations with some indigenous leaders from up north. I am doing a tour up north, Wednesday, and I think maybe Thursday morning, and then coming back Thursday afternoon. It being a very short-timeframe/snap election, I just won't have the time to visit much of the further reaches of our riding." "What I'm hearing a lot on the doorstep is frustration, to be completely honest. There's the frustration around the timing of the election. There's frustration around the economy. People are scared. They're worried about making sure that they can keep or find good jobs, that their kids will be able to find good jobs after they're done with their schooling and make sure that they can come back to the North Island. "Small business owners are really feeling pressure from tariffs, but  there's also the pressure of rising rental costs. Commercial rents aren't protected in the same way that residential tenancies are. A lot of small business owners are feeling the strain in recruiting and keeping a skilled workforce, and what those skilled workforce expect in terms of remuneration. "That's a direct result of that workforce needing to pay for a higher cost of living everywhere else. They can't afford to work for minimum wage anymore. They can't feed their families and pay their rent on that income." "Folks are worried about healthcare. I'm hearing a lot of concern around the long-term care home in Campbell River; obviously, the emergency room closures up north; being able to recruit enough doctors. "I'm having lots of conversations about environmental protections. I just got off the phone with someone who works in climate action and spends all of her free time in our wild spaces. She just had a wealth of information in terms of what she's observed firsthand, what she's found while researching, and how that's making her feel right now in terms of which party to vote for and how to best move forward."

    Campaign Update from NDP Candidate Sara Lopez

  7. Oct 20

    Ńíkiki: Survival of the Indigenous Peoples

    Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Hollyhock hired an Indigenous woman named Ńíkiki to take pictures of the recent Social Venture Institute. She photographed people at the sessions, the oyster bake and the closing dance party. One day Ńíkiki came as a speaker. Some people may find parts of the interview that follows disturbing. In particular, there have been repeated allegations that colonial authorities used smallpox-infected blankets as a biological weapon to eradicate the First Nations populations of North America. The defenders of Fort Pitt employed this tactic against their Native American besiegers in 1763. In his book The True Story of Canada's 'War' of Extermination on The Pacific, Tom Swankey cited widely held Indigenous traditions that the catastrophic depopulation of B.C. by smallpox in 1862/63 was ethnic cleansing. One of his supporting pieces of evidence was the fact that 90% of the Tsilhqot’in and Haida populations perished, but missionaries vaccinated the Nanaimo and they only lost 18%. In Victoria, the white population were vaccinated and First Nations peoples were driven away. They took the disease back to their communities. While few academics appear to believe the smallpox outbreak was a deliberate government policy, the Canadian Encyclopedia states, 'it paved the way for colonists to move further into Indigenous lands without establishing treaty relations.' The allegation that the government deliberatedly infected First Nations with smallpox was only a small part of what Ńíkiki had to say, but it's also the part I find most disturbing. She told the story of what her people once were, what happened as a result of European colonization and her hopes for their restoration. Ńíkiki: "In Chesh Ńíkiki. My name is Ńíkiki. I am Lil'wat from the Stl’atl’imx Nation, in the so-called Pemberton–Whistler area. And my territory goes north past Lillooet to Bridge River and east almost to Cache Creek, and south almost to Agassiz, like Harrison Hot Springs area, and west past Pemberton Valley." Cortes Currents: Some of the territory you just mentioned would be also shared by Tsleil-Waututh, Katzie and Kwantlen First Nations, wouldn't it? Ńíkiki: "Yes, the Stó:lō people (which all those nations belonged to) were pretty closely related, but that's where I'm saying it would border. Those are the nearest towns that are recognizable close to the boundaries of our territory. "The whole concept of territories is pretty new as well. Every native community is claiming to be a nation now, but it's only because of when colonizers showed up and they started trading and buying things. All of the natives started claiming territories because of the resources that were in it that they could trade. "Before that, that wasn't how it was. Like, the Secwépemc people (Shuswap people) and my people, the Stl’atl’imx, as well as the Okanagan Indian Band and the Syilx people, we were all one people before, but it started getting divided with trade. Obviously we had our own trade, but I mean trade with colonizers. It became more and more divided as reserves were put into place and we weren't allowed to leave them. Now every community has a larger overarching tribe. We're getting more and more separated, but pre-contact, it wasn't like that. "Where I’m from is called Lil’wat and I’ve been told it translates as the land of plenty. We had so much food that nobody was fighting. There was no need to fight. The only people we were fighting were the Tsilhqot’in people on the long-lasting wars. "Nobody really fought for anything. We weren't fighting over land. We were just all taking care of it and doing our part. It was a very different experience. Now there's 204 separate nations, but we're all the same people.

    Ńíkiki: Survival of the Indigenous Peoples

  8. Oct 19

    Green Candidate Benjamen Olsson Comes To Cortes Island

    Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Green Party candidate Benjamin Olsson kicked off a three-day tour of rural areas in North Island riding, by visiting Mansons Landing on Friday October 16. He did a quick visit to the downtown Mansons area, from Marnie's Books to Rainbow Ridge, and finally met with a group of local residents the Pioneer Room of in Mansons Hall. Cortes Currents: Why should people in Cortes vote for you? Benjamin Olsson: "I would hope that people on Cortes would vote for a Green candidate who understands what living sustainably really means and having a political option that basically reflects their values. When I come to Cortes, and I come to Quadra and meet with people and see all the amazing things that are happening and the work that's been done by the community around sustainability, social impact, and community connection, those are all things the Green Party supports. "We're all about trying to live more sustainably, support local businesses and local decision-making. So I would hope that the Greens are in line with a lot of islanders' wishes, ways of being and doing things. If there's certain disagreements, I want to hear that as well. I want to hear what people have on their mind and different ways of going about stuff. I think just having an alternative vision is the most important thing."

    Green Candidate Benjamen Olsson Comes To Cortes Island
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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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