Cortes Currents
1,471 episodes - English - Latest episode: 11 days ago -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
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Episodes
The Cortes Island Academy looks ahead to 2024/25
February 29, 2024 12:18 - 11 minutes - 25.8 MBRoy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Academy’s school year is over. Graduation was on January 25. Executive Director, Manda Aufochs Gillespie, just gave Cortes Currents an overview of the 2023/24 semester and a peek into the year that just about to begin. “This year, the Cortes Island Academy was a lot of fun. We learned a lot from our first year. So this year we really got to just revel in the model, the awesome kids and local knowledge holders that came out to make this year ha...
Quadra Organizations Explore Possibilities For Working Together
February 28, 2024 16:11 - 12 minutes - 28.2 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Representatives from at least 56 Quadra Island organizations came together at the Quadra Community Centre on Saturday, February 24. Close to 30 more were invited. Jennifer Banks-Doll, who facilitated the meeting, estimates there were about 80 attendees. They were asked two questions: “What are some ways Quadra groups and organizations could work together to combine our strengths and address our challenges?” And “What would help create or build stronger communi...
Green Party Leaders coming to Campbell River
February 27, 2024 15:04 - 20 minutes - 46.3 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Canada is expected to have another Federal election in October 2025. Green party leaders Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault launched their national campaign almost two weeks ago. Cortes Currents interviewed them in Ottawa (via ZOOM) yesterday morning. They will be coming to the Maritime Heritage Centre in Campbell River on Saturday, March 2. “We're less than 18 months away from a general election. It's crucial that voters get a chance to engage and ask ques...
Housing Society To Offer Event Series
February 26, 2024 12:19 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - From March through July of this year, Cortes Housing Society — in partnership with FolkU — is presenting a series of monthly forums featuring guest speakers and community discussion. These forums will address the vexed issue of housing — both price and availability — which remains a serious problem for the island. The invited speakers have expertise in various aspects of this problem, and some will be sharing results from successful projects in other communities....
Federal Court Rules Canada Failed To Protect At Risk Birds In Old Growth Logging Areas
February 23, 2024 16:36 - 7 minutes - 17.1 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - A Federal Court ruled that Canada’s Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, failed to protect habitats of at-risk migratory birds in old growth logging areas. Chief Justice Paul Crampton stated the Minister’s decision to limit protection to areas where nests were found ‘was neither reasonable or tenable.’ “This is specifically about the Minister's duty under the Species At-risk Act to take action to protect areas of critical habitat for at-risk migratory bird...
CIA On FolkU - Episode 1
February 23, 2024 15:53 - 1 hour - 99.7 MBCIA/Folk U - What really matters most in the world? How will we help inspire the next generation of truth-seekers and truth-tellers? At the Cortes Island Academy we believe in the passion and skills of the people and wild places of this place and are proud of our youth who learned along side our community and shared their growing skills through journalistic podcasts, Elder Documentaries, Field Guides and unsung hero posters. February 16 on Folk U Radio CKTZ 89.5 FM (1 p.m. Fridays, repeats o...
Strengthening Quadra Island’s Community Connections
February 22, 2024 14:36 - 5 minutes - 12.6 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Quadra Island Foundation hopes to strengthen their island's community connections. They invited the island's charities and non-profits to a meeting at the Quadra Community Centre from 1:00 to 5:00 PM on Saturday, February 24. ”We have perceived there has been significant redundancy of projects between organizations. With collaboration between the groups, we will gain some strength, not only in people power, but also in the strength of 'asks' when applying...
The Scallop Rafts Being Built At Squirrel Cove
February 20, 2024 23:49 - 2 minutes - 6.09 MBRoy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Anyone visiting Squirrel Cove right now can see a series of freshly constructed rafts anchored close to the government dock. There were four of them when Cortes Currents first noticed, and another two being built on the beach. Now they are all in the Cove. There are piles of lumber and floats nearby, and a huge pile of hoop-like ‘lantern nets’ waiting on the Squirrel Cove Dock. “We're leasing the spot off of the store this month to do the building because it'...
Cortes Island Children's and Youth programs
February 19, 2024 23:58 - 7 minutes - 18 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Cortes Community Health Association (CCHA) has been offering Youth Programs for more than 15 years. Serene Williams’ association goes back to 2009 when, shortly after moving to Cortes Island, she became the Teen Szene Co-ordinator. She married after that and now has two children of her own. They were initially homeschooled but when both of her children registered for the Cortes Island School, in September 2022, Williams became the Youth Programs Manager for ...
Grant Writing Workshop
February 19, 2024 12:54 - 5 minutes - 5.43 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - On February 12th at the Mansons Fire Hall, Sandra Wood and Kate Maddigan hosted a grant writing workshop for social profit organisations on Cortes Island. Kate and Sandra have considerable experience in grant writing; they offered guidelines, tips, and advice for those seeking funding. The event was sponsored by the Social Profit Forum, and attended by representatives from the Art Gallery, DCC, BetterAtHome/SOS, Cortes Currents, CIFA, CICF, FOCI, CCEDA, CHS, an...
Coming to Cortes & Quadra: a Poverty Reduction Plan for the SRD
February 16, 2024 14:27 - 8 minutes - 19.7 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) received a $147,700 grant from the Union of BC Municipalities to prepare a region-wide poverty reduction plan. They will be holding meetings in Campbell River, Tahsis, Gold River, Cortes Island, Quadra Island and Zeballos at the end of the month. “Our plans are only as good as the information we receive and we really, really want to be able to address poverty in a holistic, honest and earnest way. We can't do that without...
What They Heard: The Cortes Housing Report
February 14, 2024 20:01 - 17 minutes - 39.6 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The ‘What We Heard Report,’ from Cortes Island’s Housing Forum and the subsequent Housing Survey, has been released. “We already had a pretty good idea from previous reports and information, but this really gave us a good sense of what the challenges are and then what do people want us to move forward with?” explained Mark Vonesh, Regional Director for Cortes Island. “It really gives us a framework and direction for taking action following the political will...
Community, Connection and Engagement on Quadra Island.
February 13, 2024 20:14 - 25 minutes - 59 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - When Quadra ICAN held a community consultation last September, the central question was ‘what are the challenges the island will face as global temperatures warm up.’There were different questions when ICAN held another community meeting at the Quadra Community Centre on Sunday, February 11, 2024. “We're moving to solutions and planning. So today, the questions we're going to be working on are: ‘What can we do as a community to become more resilient and self-...
FOCI’s Create, Connect and Conserve series
February 12, 2024 13:14 - 6 minutes - 15.8 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) summer programs have long been popular with tourists and summer. This year FOCI wanted to offer something for the year round community. “ The inspiration is partly wanting to make sure that more members of the community know about FOCI. We do a lot of projects, but they’re not really shiny and we don’t really advertise them. They're on our website, but if people don't go there and read about them, they don't know that they'...
BearSprayWorkshop 12m00s
February 08, 2024 23:12 - 11 minutes - 11 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - FOCI launched their new ‘Create, Connect Conserve’ series on February 3rd at Linnaea Farm, with workshops on coexisting peacefully with wildlife. Bob Hansen of WildSafeBC explained the effectiveness and correct use of bear spray. In the course of the presentation, he shared several interesting statistics and exploded a few common misconceptions. Bob showed a WildsafeBC video, and also gave a live demonstration; attendees learned the mechanics of ‘laying down a w...
Wolf Tales From Cortes Island
February 08, 2024 14:48 - 9 minutes - 22.1 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Cortes Island's wildlife coexistence programs can be traced back to human/wolf conflicts in 2009. Local biologist Sabina Leader Mense reached out to Bob Hansen, then wildlife-human conflict specialist with Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. The Cortes Community Wolf Project is modelled on the Wild Coast program that Hansen had been running in the Pacific Rim for more than a decade. Hansen and Conservation Officer Ben York helped Sabina write 'Learning to Live ...
Desolation Sound - CIA On Folk U Radio- Mp3
February 07, 2024 11:43 - 1 hour - 203 MBCortes Island Academy/Folk U - What really matters most in the world? How will we help inspire the next generation of truth-seekers and truth-tellers? At the Cortes Island Academy we believe in the passion and skills of the people and wild places of this place and are proud of our youth who learned along side our community and shared their growing skills through journalistic podcasts, Elder Documentaries, Field Guides and unsung hero posters (the one here is by artist Zella Aufochs). This we...
Much more than just an 'Electric Fencing Workshop' on Cortes Island
February 06, 2024 15:54 - 12 minutes - 27.9 MBRoy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Bob Hansen’s Electric Fencing Workshop was delightful. The ‘talk’ he gave at LInnaea Farm, on February 3, was permeated by stories of animal behaviour as well as visual aids. “I've been involved in 50 plus electric fencing projects in our region over the last six years. Everywhere that electric fences have gone in, that resolved the conflicts that were occurring,” Hansen explained. His environmental career started out in Jasper National Park 40 years ago. He ...
Museum Valentine's Day 2024 12m35s
February 05, 2024 12:50 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - The Cortes Museum and Archives is collaborating with Folk U to offer two events in honour of Valentine's Day, on the theme of Love Letters. On February 11th (Sunday) from 1-4pm, Jane Newman will host a "love letter writing workshop" featuring both writing and collage art. On February 14th from 7 to 8:30pm, Oriane Lee will host an evening of love letter readings, including some from the Museum archives. Both events are free, though donations are always welcome....
Developing The Human Potential At QXMC
February 02, 2024 11:33 - 5 minutes - 11.9 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Klahoose Wilderness Resort’s 2023 tourist season ended in October. This is the time for refurbishments in preparation for the reopening next May. The need to provide a back-up for the resort’s micro-hydro system became obvious during last summer’s drought, and a propane generator has been installed. Additional storage space has been added. Gorge Harbour Marina has been upgrading for the past year, and hopes to have a grand reopening this coming spring. ...
FOCI: Maintaining Mansons Landing Provincial Park
January 31, 2024 21:57 - 2 minutes - 6.26 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) has been helping BC Parks maintain Mansons Landing Provincial Park since 2016. “ We've been doing various improvements over time. That included removing broom from the Spit, signage to help interpret what's down there and also fencing to prevent erosion. We've just finished two new sections of fencing,” explained Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI. "One is at the end of the Spit to stop further erosion. The banks are ve...
Preparing for a Grand Reopening of the Gorge Harbour Marine Resort
January 30, 2024 23:59 - 6 minutes - 5.5 MBRoy L Hale/ Cortes Currents - After a year of extensive renovations, QXMC hopes to fully reopen Gorge Harbour Marina Resort this Spring. “We are getting closer to hopefully a grand opening on May 31st, where we can provide a resort that is worthy of its name,” explained Marco Bedetti, General Manager of the Klahoose First Nation management corporation. “The majority of septic issues have been dealt with. We're still working on the AX100 system, which separates the treatment of the laund...
Arts on Cortes
January 30, 2024 21:38 - 1 hour - 200 MBManda Aufochs Gillespie/Folk U - On January 26, Manda Aufochs Gillespie was joined by artists and organizers Bianca (art gallery), Melanie (museum), Rex (love fest + coffeehouses), and Meinsje (art gallery). This was a lovely conversation about personal practice, the role of arts and culture in remote communities, the importance of everyday art, and upcoming events + opportunities for greater collaboration. Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 and Mondays at 6:30 p.m./We...
Part 4, Anderson vs SRD 10m14s
January 30, 2024 15:11 - 10 minutes - 9.38 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - [00:00:00] DE: And this is the fourth and final installment of our special feature on the recent decision of the appellate court of BC in the matter of Anderson versus SRD. That court vindicated Noba Anderson in her five-year struggle with Strathcona regional district over two issues: the right of elected representatives to independent legal counsel, and the obligation to indemnify board members for their legal expenses. [00:01:02] DE: Previously in this series, ...
Anderson vs SRD Appeal 13m34s
January 30, 2024 15:03 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - : In this third episode of our special feature we're talking to Noba Anderson about the decision recently handed down by the appellate court of BC. The panel of three judges ruled decisively in Anderson's favour in her dispute with the Strathcona regional district. The district had refused to honour their indemnity bylaw and cover her defence costs during a very poorly founded litigation to remove her from office — and subsequently, had censured her for revealing ...
Part 2 Anderson vs SRD Decision
January 30, 2024 14:51 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - And today we continue with part two of our four-part special feature — on a decision rendered last week by the appellate court of BC, which amounted to a vindication of one time Area B regional director Noba Anderson after five years of conflict and litigation with the Strathcona regional district. [00:00:53] DE: In this episode, we'll go into a little more detail about this whole question of the censure, and the right to informed counsel, and why this is so imp...
QXMC Squirrel Cove Project On Track To Open Later This Year
January 30, 2024 10:56 - 3 minutes - 8.68 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - QXMC, the Klahoose First Nation Management Corporation, is currently on track to open a combined grocery store and gas station in Squirrel Cove later this year. “If all goes well, fingers crossed, we will be doing test runs in late 2024 and then a grand opening towards the end of 2024,” explained Marco Bedetti, General Manager of QXMC. He expressed the fact these are not firm dates, “We want to make sure that operationally everything is running right. We...
Cortes Matters At The SRD Board This Month
January 29, 2024 13:13 - 4 minutes - 11.2 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There have been a number of Cortes Island matters at the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) this month. Mark Vonesch, the Regional Director for Cortes Island, is now the Vice Chair of the Electoral Areas Services Committee (EASC). Cortes Island’s Dog Control Service Bylaw is on its way to the Inspector of Municipalities for approval. Linnaea Education Centre and Mansons Hall have both applied for Federal Gas Tax funding to purchase a heat pump and were denied...
Anderson vs SRD appeal Part 1 21m06s
January 29, 2024 11:10 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MBDE Clarke/ Cortes Currents - On January 24th the BC Court of Appeal made known its decision in docket CA47620, the case of Anderson vs SRD. The three-judge panel found unanimously against SRD and in favour of Anderson. They found that SRD was wrong in refusing to indemnify Anderson’s defence costs during a litigation against her in 2019, and wrong also in voting to censure her in that same year. In this four-part special radio feature we’ll be revisiting the five-year history of this legal ...
The Story Behind 'Keepers Of The Land'
January 27, 2024 14:10 - 17 minutes - 39.8 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The audio version version of this story begins with a solitary male voice raised in a seemingly ageless First Nations chant. Then Doug Neasloss, elected chief counselor of the Kittisoo Xia Xias First Nation, states, “We’ve always had the responsibility to steward, that’s what we are doing.” The clip was taken from Deirdre Leowinata and Tavish Campbell’s documentary ‘Keepers of the Land.’ They spent two years working with the Kitasoo Xai Xais in Klemtu, more than...
Neighbourhood Concerns about the ‘Cortes Airport’
January 26, 2024 09:33 - 4 minutes - 10.9 MBRoy L Hales/ COrtes Currents - In June 1999, James and Dianne Hansen built an air strip in the southern tip of Cortes Island. According to the deposition that John Woolley later made to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, “the majority of the neighbouring property owners, including himself, have strongly objected to the development and operation of the airstrip.” They were concerned about ‘excessive noise,’ potential accidents, ‘environmental hazards resulting from the storage of fuel and ...
SRD receives go ahead to establilsh a housing service
January 25, 2024 20:18 - 2 minutes - 5.51 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Island - The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) received the go-ahead to establish a regional housing service and authorize loans of up to $10 million on an ‘as needed’ basis. While the SRD can raise funding for projects through property taxes, this money must be repaid once the projects start receiving rents. This matter was brought before the board at their January 24, 2024 meeting. At their November 8, 2023 Board Meeting, the SRD Board approved using the alternate...
Immigration in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and Discovery Islands
January 25, 2024 13:25 - 5 minutes - 12.2 MBRoy L Hales. Cortes Currents - On the surface, one might ask how relevant an article about immigration is to people living in the Discovery Islands. The vast majority of us either came from more urban parts of British Columbia, and/or are the descendants of an earlier wave of immigrants. Many non-Indigenous Cortesians trace their roots back to the era when most immigrants were ‘British,’ European or from the United States. There are undoubtedly many reasons why this predominantly ‘white’ popu...
Intergenerational Perspectives on Climate
January 24, 2024 12:15 - 1 hour - 232 MBManda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - Carrie Saxifrage, Tianna Hope, and Kiera Tsakonas joined host Manda Aufochs Gillespie for the January 19th FolkU Friday session. An intergenerational conversation about the climate crisis, this episode touches on the importance of human connection, mitigation and adaptation, generational differences in needs and interpretations of environmental changes and response, and empowering environmental futures. Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at...
IMagining the future of tourism on Cortes
January 24, 2024 11:41 - 10 minutes - 9.32 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - Over the last few months CCEDA has been working with a Canada-wide but Comox-based consulting company called Tourism Cafe, on proposals for the future of tourism on Cortes Island. The process is nearing its completion, but islanders have one more chance to participate and make their opinions and priorities known. On January 31st at 4pm, CCEDA will sponsor a “virtual public meeting” — the last in a series that started in Fall 2023 — at which some preliminary findi...
Feb 1 Update on the Village Commons
January 23, 2024 23:32 - 3 minutes - 8.45 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Community Foundation is inviting Cortes residents to an update on the Village Commons, 4-6 PM at Mansons Hall on Thursday, February 1st. “The goal for this Village Commons update is to have the Cortes Island Community Foundation present our design plan for the Village Commons Pavilion, which is going to start construction pretty soon. Then also hear from some other stakeholders like the Southern Cortes Community Association (SCCA), Cortes Hou...
How the WE Wai Kai/ ICAN Partnership came into being
January 23, 2024 13:51 - 4 minutes - 11 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The We Wai Kai Nation wanted to find out more about their water resources on Quadra Island when the ICAN water security team approached them about a possible partnership. “I wanted to find out how much water we have? Where is it coming from? We want to know if the water's good on Quadra, and protect those watersheds. We want to map out where everything is and get educational pieces out there about our drinking water - 'don’t be polluting this area!'” explain...
Schools of Squirrel Cove
January 22, 2024 11:25 - 11 minutes - 25.7 MBLynne Jordan/ Cortes Currents - At the beginning of the 1900s, Squirrel Cove on the east side of Cortes Island was a hub of activity for homesteaders, loggers, fishermen, miners and trappers. They came from all the surrounding islands for supplies, groceries, mail, repairs, radios and dances in the hall. There were two stores, a post office, church, hall, two machine shops, a boatworks, a marine ways, and a big dock where the Union Steamships stopped regularly. Jim Spilsbury also stopped freq...
Monitoring Wells On Quadra Island
January 19, 2024 14:32 - 7 minutes - 16.4 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - A joint We Wai Kai/ ICAN Water Security team has been monitoring Quadra Island wells for the past month as part of a much larger project to calculate the island’s water budget. "At the moment 13 wells are being monitored, and another three or four will be added from Cape Mudge. So there will probably be 17 deeper wells and Eileen McKay, particularly, has been saying for a while that we need to add shallow wells. We'll be doing that hopefully this year," e...
Four new BC Ferries vessels will operate solely as electric
January 19, 2024 13:30 - 7 minutes - 16.5 MBAnastasia Avvakumova/ Cortes Currents - BC Ferries (BCF) is expanding its number of Island Class hybrid-electric vessels, with four more contracted to Damen Shipyards Group (Damen) as per their Jan. 16 press release. While the six Island Class ships currently operating on various routes across the province use both electric and diesel power, the future ships are designed to run solely on battery, with the diesel engine as a fail-safe. Two routes are slated to receive a pair of the future sh...
Literary Afternoons with Carina
January 18, 2024 22:06 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MBDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - Seniors Helping Seniors, in collaboration with the Cortes Museum and Archives, is once again presenting a series of monthly Literary Afternoons this winter. These events, at which local authors read their work, will be held on the last Sunday of each month at 2pm in the Lakeview Room at Linnaea Farm. The last two Literary Afternoons for this winter will be on January 28th and February 25th. I spoke with Carina Verhoeve from Whaletown, who has been organising thes...
Mapping Wetlands on Quadra and what that means on Cortes
January 18, 2024 15:38 - 9 minutes - 22.6 MBRoy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The ICAN water security team and We Wai Kai Guardians are getting prepared to map Quadra Island’s wetlands. It is part of a much larger project which also involves monitoring the island's rainfall, streamflow and wells. As you will hear in the interview that follows, this project is also relevant to surrounding islands like Cortes. Bernie Amell, a recognized authority in the design of constructed wetlands for water treatment, and in the restoration of streams an...
Studying The Water Budget For Quadra Island
January 17, 2024 11:06 - 6 minutes - 14.4 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - ICAN’s water security team and the We Wai Kai First Nation have embarked upon an exploration of Quadra Island’s water systems. While this is a Quadra study, everything they are doing is applicable to Cortes and every other British Columbian island where there is a sizeable population. They are offering a model of how we can prepare for the future. “The project started a number of years ago, really centered on the concerns of local people on Quadra about the ...
housing, emergency management and resiliance
January 16, 2024 19:04 - 1 hour - 209 MBSadhu Johnston/ Folk U - On January 12th, FolkU Friday was guest-hosted by Sadhu Johnston, who facilitated a discussion about rural resilience and emergency response. Joined in the station by Kate Maddigan, Eli McKenty, and Rex Weyler, this is a fascinating conversation about the confluence of emergency management and ecological protection, natural disasters and climate change, and the ways government, community, neighbourhood, and individual all play significant roles in rural resilience. F...
Conservation Officer Meets Cortes Island residents
January 16, 2024 13:27 - 6 minutes - 15.8 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Conservation Officer Jillian Bjarnason came to Cortes on Saturday, January 13, 2024. “I was invited over by the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) to do some public outreach, mostly pertaining to human wildlife conflict. There's a population of wolves on the island and sometimes there's some encounters with people. I'm just really excited to be able to get to meet folks that live here, chat with them and provide education and how to co-exist,” she explained. C...
The 2023 Christmas Bird Count
January 15, 2024 11:58 - 7 minutes - 17.1 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Museum has been sponsoring two birding events every year for the past two decades.* 2,873 birds were seen during the 2023 Christmas Bird Count, but this number would have been much higher if there were more participants. “With only 6 people, you miss things. We can only go to a certain number of places where we know there will be birds, and that's mostly along the coastline,” explained Laurel Bohart, a keen birder as well as co-curator of Wil...
The Quadra Island Nut Tree Project's 3rd Planting
January 11, 2024 14:42 - 14 minutes - 13.3 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Food security is a major concern in the Discovery Islands. 98.4% of the 245 respondents to a ‘Quadra Island Eating and Growing Local survery’ stated they wanted more access to locally grown food. Most participants at the recent Conversation Cafe, on Cortes Island, shared a rough consensus that the existing food system (industrial farming, long-haul transport, and large scale grocery chains) was likely to falter or fail under the pressures of climate change and ...
Mark Vonesch's First Year In Office: Things Accomplished and In Progress
January 10, 2024 14:29 - 18 minutes - 42.3 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Mark Vonesch is very passionate about Cortes Island and his activities as Regional Director. If this were a video, rather than a radio broadcast, you would see it in his facial expressions. There is a hint of this passion in the words he chose and the tone of his voice. Cortes Currents asked him for a recap of this past year and what to expect going forward into 2024. "It's been a big year. It's been my first year in office and obviously a lot of learning. ...
Mawhinney looks back to this previous year in Area C, and looking a head to 2024
January 09, 2024 13:57 - 9 minutes - 20.6 MBRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Robyn Mawhinney has learned a lot since she was elected Regional Director almost 14 months ago. As we enter into yet another new year, she gave her reflections 2023 and what is ahead for Area C in the coming months. “I’m really pleased that there are new avenues for having community voices heard and included in decision making,” she began. “Area C now has an Advisory Planning Commission, with nine members. They represent diverse geographies across Area C, from...
Linda Solomon Wood: state of the media today
January 08, 2024 17:54 - 1 hour - 191 MBManda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - On Friday, January 5, Linda Solomon Wood joined Manda Aufochs Gillespie on Folk U Radio to talk about the state of the media today. Solomon has been a professional journalist since the 1970s and founded the Vancouver Observer in 2009. As the bio on her website explains, this grew into a national publication: “Linda Solomon Wood founded Canada’s National Observer in 2015 with the mission of putting climate change front and centre in Canada. CNO’s team of cli...