About the Cortes Island Seniors Society

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - “The Cortes Island Senior Society, as it is now, was registered in 1987, but previous to that there were seniors groups. I think mainly they called themselves the old age pensioners. They eventually became a seniors group. At some point when they wanted to build, someone told them that they weren't even called a building society, so they decided to become the Cortes Island Seniors Building Society, which they were for a number of years,” explained Sue Ellingsen, Vice Chair of the Cortes Island Seniors Society.

Cortes Currents: What did they build when they were the Cortes Island Seniors Building Society?

Sue Ellingsen: “They didn't build anything when they were the building Society. They kind of gave up. At that time, there was a lot of donation of materials. They had piles of lumber that people had donated and various other things, and then I guess they just couldn't get the money together.”

“When we got going 14 years ago, they were still selling off some materials that hadn't decomposed, that had been sort of put aside.”

“I think our biggest success overall has been our housing. We successfully built six units for seniors housing, and then in the last three years we completed four more units. So those are probably the biggest successes we've had in the last 15 or more years that I've been involved.