Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - BC Salmon farming companies applied to put a in new fish farm between the Discovery Islands and Broughton Archipelago and expand their existing facilities at 11 other locations around Vancouver Island.

Two of the expansions, at Dixon Bay and Plover Point in Clayoquot Sound, have been already been granted.

“We had a promise from federal government whereby they said in mandate letters to the minister of fisheries,  they were going to transition the open net salmon farming industry out of BC by 2025,” explained Stan Proboszcz, Science Advisor of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

He outlined the 12 proposed expansion:

A new salmon farm called ‘Ga-Guump’ between the Broughton Archipelago and Discovery Islands

4 sites want to increase production

4 sites want to instal more pens

2 sites in the Clio Channel want the “maximum allowable production cap” in their area removed

another site wants to increase their tenure size.

Photo credit: Figure 2. Juvenile Chum Salmon beach seined from East Vargas Island in June 2018. All lice stages of L. salmonis were represented on this fish. The large brown louse is a L. salmonis female with egg strings. A blood meal is visible in another louse near the later line and immature life stages of lice are present on the anal fin and flank near the dorsal fin (pinkish orange shapes)- ‘Juvenile Salmon and Sea Lice Monitoring in Clayoquot Sound 2018, Cedar Coast Field Station

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Cortes Currents - Fantasy meets archeology on this Folk U as Professor Dr. Brian Hayden joins host Manda Aufochs Gillespie for a virtual book launch of his newest book this Friday at 1 pm. on CKTZ 89.5 FM or livestream on cortesradio.ca.

Dr. Hayden best known for his work as an archeologist: he taught at Simon Fraser University for 40 years and is now a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia, fellow of the Royal Society of Canada: and, of course, a professor here at the esteemed Folk University. His archeological and ethnoarchaeological research has taken him to Australia, Southeast Asia, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Ontario, British Columbia, and now takes him 20,000 years in the past as he debuts his first adventure novel.

In the Eyes of the Leopard, Hayden tells the story of a boy living in the Old Stone Age of France, 20,000 years ago - the age when caves were painted and people hunted mammoths, wooly rhinoceroses, cave bears, and cave lions. Based on Brian's lifetime experience working with and studying about hunting and gathering societies, long before there was any farming, the book recreates the many facets of what life, culture, and society was like 20,000 years ago in Southwestern France. The stone technology, the hunts, the feasts, the ritual life, and family life are all vividly portrayed. There are many similarities with contemporary societies in terms of personal conflicts, peer groups, inequalities, thefts, false claims and accusations, bullying, and manipulative ambitious individuals; but there are many differences as well in terms of ritual life, shamans, family life, life with peers, and of course, foods, hunting, and technology. The enduring aspects turn on individual curiosity and abilities to overcome adversity with persistence, goodness of heart, and an innovative mind. Eternal questions also feature in the story: do spirits really exist?

The story brings to life a critical moment in the foundation of modern types of society - a view that is controversial for some. Much inspiration for the story was derived from the traditional cultures of the British Columbia Plateau where Brian has carried out research as an archaeologist and anthropologist for 35 years.

Tune in/Listen in for a mind-opening experience in another world.

Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 and Mondays at 6:30 @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The BC Salmon Farmers Association has just released what they claim is an independent study of ‘Sea lice in the Discovery Islands.’

Their study is filled with terms like – “independent data,” “independently collected data,” “independent professional biological consultants,” “independently collected and analyzed scientific data,” “independent monitoring,” “independent sampling,” and “independent biologists” – but does not say who actually did the research.

When I asked the BC Salmon Farmers Association, they emailed back ‘Mainstream Consulting.’

There are links to Mainstream Biological Consulting’s monitoring reports in the study’s footnotes, and under two graphs, and these lead to documents ‘Prepared for MOWI Canada West, Cermaq Canada, and Grieg Seafood BC Ltd.

These are the three largest salmon farming companies in Western Canada.

So I told Brian Kingzett, Director of Science and Policy for the BC Salmon Farmer’s Association, “When I hear the word ‘independent,’ I don’t think of someone who’s hired by you, but of somebody who’s totally independent.”

To which he replied,” I would argue that being independent also means not having an agenda.”

Kingzett’s name is the only one on the front cover of the report, as the contact person.

Brian Kingzett’s name is under “Contact,” click on image to access the report

He explained there are two components to the work flow. Mainstream Biological Consulting collected the raw data.

“The only thing I’ve done, in this, is I’ve taken the datasets for five years that have been produced on an annual basis. And I have summarized them together. So basically that’s all I’ve done. That’s my role in this whole thing. So the analysis of the existing data is mine, and the literature review is mine,” said Kingzett.

In the course of our conversation, Kingzett made a number of references to the Salmon Coast Field Station in the Broughton Archipelago. So I reached out to two of the station’s directors, both of which are scientists with numerous papers published in peer reviewed publications.

Photo credit: Screenshot of Brian Kingzett taken during the interview

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents - the third installment of Cortes at Fairy Creek in their own words: Law and Order

The personal experiences of seven Cortes Island residents.

Photo taken from the Fairy Creek Blockade Facebook page

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Jonah's Fineman has been at sea for most of the last seven months, cleaning up beaches, showing tourists, the Marine wonders of our area. And as the  captain of a scientific research vessel. He returned home briefly last week before sitting out again for the waters off Southern Vancouver island.  

He described the constant going from land to sea and back as being like straddling different planets. When he set out to sea as a 19 year-old, Fineman felt that that youthful terror of missing out on an experience with friends. He says you never feel quite as alone as you have after you've loved someone. Now as a parent, he finds himself imagining the sounds of his children's laughter through the roar of the ocean.

 Luckily, he is in the midst of a community of Mariners and friends who share a very common situation on shore.

“We have partners, families and a serious passion for working on the ocean,” said Fineman. “So we push each other, we protect each other. And I think we do that so that our time away is a pure experience.”

As regards this last season on board the Misty Isles, there were a lot more people from Cortes, Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. There were a lot more repeat travellers. Some of them would come back the next day to see a different side of Cortes Island.

“It actually became one of the highlights for Amy and I.”

2021 was the third worst worst wildfire season on record, but a beautiful summer on Cortes Island.

“We didn't get a lot of smoke over our waters this year and I hate to sound selfish, but it was really nice to be able to breathe and see the coast range and see all of our islands in this archipelago,” said Fineman.

He described the 2021 cruising season as the perfect antidote for 2020, when COVID 19 first devastated the marine tourism sector.

This year did not seem promising back in April, when the second wave of COVID struck.

So the Misty Isles remained at the dock throughout May, while Fineman took the helm of a vessel called the Island Odyssey to take part in a beach clean-up of different islands and shorelines in the Bella Bella area. There were nine vessels in the expedition and a very large barge, referred to as ‘the Large Marge Barge,’ supplied by the Heilsuk First Nation and on top of that barge was a helicopter.

“We gathered 200 tons of Marine debris and 60% of it was recycled,” said Fineman.

This was part of the largest beach cleanup in BC history. Crews were working on the west coast of Vancouver island, Haida Gwaii, and the village of Kitkatla near PrinceRupert. Locally, there were also beach cleanups on Cortes, Quadra and the rest of the Discovery Islands, as well as along the east coast of Vancouver Island from Comox to the Johnstone strait.

Fineman said the dedication and energy displayed up and down the coast is really impressive, but “it's estimated that 8 million tons of garbage basically goes into the world's oceans annually.” These cleanups need to continue as an annual event.

Two days after he flew home from Prince Rupert, “we had our first guests on Misty Isles and then it was non-stop until about September 25th.”

Then Fineman took command of another vessel, to lead some photography expeditions in the Great Bear Rainforest.

“Now with the cruising season being done, I'm shifting back into ‘my off season- off Misty Isles work.”

He is currently in the Strait of Juan de Fuca taking a survey of the seabird population for Environment Canada.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Quadra ICAN will soon be installing 14 solar panels on the roof of Quadra Elementary School. Terratek Energy already has the panels and mounting system in stock. They are waiting for final approval, which should arrive in December.

The system is expected to generate approximately 5.6 megawatt hours of power a year, which is what an average home uses and about 5% of the school’s electricity needs.

As ICAN Energy Self-Sufficiency team members Jan Zwicky and Mike Gall explained, this project is meant to educate grade 5 and 6 children how solar panels work.

They will be able to access real time readings of what the panels are generating at any given moment, on their computers and phones.

“So during the summer when they generate lots of power, that would be a pretty exciting event, but in the winter we can also find that perhaps solar panels are a little bit weak as part as the total,” explained Gall.

He added that this shortfall leads to the question, “What else can we add to help reduce the costs of operation?”

This could also prompt kids to start asking to see the family BC Hydro bills at home.

“Part of the idea is also to help members of the community evaluate the extent to which solar power might be at least a partial solution for them,” said Zwicky.

One of the advantages of real time readings is that, if the panels are not generating sufficient power at any given moment, people can choose to lower their energy consumption.

Quadra ICAN is waiting for approval to add the weight of the panels to the school’s roof. They originally hoped to use a new lightweight racking system, but “discovered the roof was constructed in such a way that there was a little layer in it that couldn't be penetrated.” This meant they need to use a standard system, which requires a permit.

Zwicky is confident this is coming because “we only need to add a very small amount of weight per square foot.” The roof was built to carry the snow loads experienced 25-40 years ago and the calculations for this region have been lowered due to climate change. This means that even with the added weight of the panels, the roof should still meet engineering requirements, “but we have to be able to prove that engineering wise.”

“If we can get the approval,  we would start construction in December. The system would be operational by at least the new year, maybe even in December,” said Gall. “We would hopefully also be able to take advantage of the school break during the winter months so that we're not interfering with the kids access to the school while it's being done. It's only a day or two's worth of work.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - According to CHEK News, hundreds of people marched from Centennial Square to the steps of the B.C. Legislature on Saturday, November 20th. The “Funeral for the Future” was organized by Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island, and featured Dr David Suzuki as a speaker.

“No more than one or a few decades remain before the chance to avert the threat will be lost,” said the former host of the Nature of Things. “We are in a sixth spasm of species loss. In May, a United Nations report announced a million more species are in imminent danger of extinction … There’s no mystery to why species are vanishing so rapidly. We are the cause. There are too many of us demanding too much from Mother Earth.”

Suzuki added, “The planet is not in trouble. It did fine for 4 billion years without us and will carry on after we’re gone.”

He pointed to the environmental crisis which humanity is bringing upon itself after a mere 200,000 years of existence.

Suzuki traced the roots of this threat to a “mindset that regards everything around as a potential opportunity for us,” complex legal systems and the artificial ”boundaries of nations, provinces, and municipalities.”

“Nature doesn’t give a damn about human boundaries,” he said.

“While laws define human and property rights, what about the right of a songbird to live its life as it evolved to live? What about the right of the forest to exist as a community of organisms or a river to flow as it has for millennia? Who the hell do we think we are?”

“ … So while most scientists believe the economy must shrink, politicians and the business community continue to push for more and fail to address the important questions. What is it economy for? Are there no limits? Are we happier with all this stuff? How much is enough? What are the necessities of life?”

The IMF reported that the fossil fuel sector received $5.9 trillion in subsidies during 2020.

“Yet the rich countries will not provide the $100 billion annually to help the victims of climate change,” said Suzuki.

Ignoring this speech, most media coverage focused on a comment Suzuki made to CHEK news:

“We’re in deep, deep doo-doo and they’ve been telling us – the leading experts – for over 40 years. This is what we’ve come to. The next stage after this, there are going to be pipelines blown up if our leaders don’t pay attention to what’s going on.”

BC’s Minister of Public safety, Mike Farnworth, shot back, “I think statements like that are not helpful.”

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said, “This type of rhetoric is dangerous and undemocratic.”

BC Liberal leadership candidate Ellis Ross said, “You can’t tell me he didn’t know exactly what he was inferring.”

Suzuki called the suggestion that he was inciting people to violence ‘absurd’ – “It’s exactly the opposite of what I was trying to say.”

Campbell River resident Don Goodeve, who organized the Extinction Rebellion event, told Cortes Currents, “We demand that our government get response. That they get aligned with the science that they take the actions in British Columbia which we need. That they declare an emergency and get organized around what is going to be necessary to protect the safety and livelihoods of British Colombians now and into the future.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - In addition to being given charitable status, the Cortes Island Community Foundation developed some important relationships.

“We recently were just accepted as a member into the Community Foundations of Canada and that’s also like a really big step for us,” explained Vice President/Treasurer Mark Spevakow.

This is the governing body for about 200 community foundations, which range from small island organizations like Galiano and Salt Spring to the much larger Victoria, Winnipeg and Vancouver Foundations.

“If we’re running into a problem, there’s a good chance that somebody involved with other one of the other community foundations of Canada has already crossed that ground,” said Spevakow.

One of their new associates is the 25-year-old Campbell River Community Foundation.

“So there might be something geographically that allows us to contact them and say, ‘Hey, have you come across something like this?’”

The Cortes Island Foundation is also working with Cortes islands 20 plus grassroots organizations, nonprofits, and charities.

Manda Aufochs Gillespie was hired, as part time staff, to help set up a social profit network.

The Foundation purchased a community grants database, to help organizations identify the specific grants they should apply for.

“I think we worked all together with about a dozen organizations and based upon that initial push, my understanding is that leveraged to more than a hundred thousand dollars of additional grants and money coming into the community for community projects,” said Spevakow.

The Foundation and Cortes Community Health Association partnered to raise $30,000 for a micro temporary workspace for that island nonprofit workers are calling ‘the pod.’

“people can go there and they’ve got internet access and an office that they could work out of,” explained Spevakow.

The Foundation,Cortes Literacy and the Community Health Association partnered to deliver almost $20,000 in small, actionable micro grants to 30 different projects on Cortes. These include Klahoose cultural language programs, women’s aging support group, youth programs, equipment and a lot more.

Up until now, all of the Foundations funding came from the Directors.

They have just made another big step: “We have just kind of received our very first donation that came from outside of one of the directors.”

Spevakow added, “The thing I wanted to touch on, which is also really important for our for foundation, that we have set up our first permanent forever money fund.”

This is the core funding that will not be spent. It is the principal that will but serve as a guarantee there is money to be dispersed for the community’s needs every year. The board spent quite a bit of time vetting where this money should be invested.

“Luckily, a few years back, the Vancouver Foundation started a separate fund called their socially responsible investment fund. It places funds into investments with strict environmental, social and corporate governance,” said Spevakow.

He believes the return was greater than 10% this year. That 10% is the money that would be used for community disbursements.

Photo credit: screenshot of Mark Spevakow taken during interview

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Chair Michael Mascall gave Cortes Currents and overview of how the Quadra Island Foundation came into being, and what it’s achieved during the year since it applied for charitable status.

It was one of many endeavours that came into being through Quadra ICAN’s first public meeting, in March 2020. While only 35 people came, they brought some big ideas. Mascall was among them.

He had recently been the executor of an estate that left a considerable amount of money to the community, which actually had a negative impact on the recipient organizations. The problem being that they suddenly had large deposits in their bank accounts and were no longer considered eligible for grants! So, at the meeting, Mascall proposed Quadra form a foundation.

“There were several people interested and one of them said, okay, Michael, let’s do it,” he said.

They brought in 3 more people, to form a board of 5 directors, and were registered as a non-profit society in August 2020.

“With the help of the lawyer, we basically set up a very simple purpose constitution for both our non-profits society and for our foundation, which is basically just to help other charities on Quadra island. Our thoughts where we want to help the people, the culture and the environment of Quadro island and we just left it at that,” explained Mascall.

This simplified approach appears to have paid off when they applied for charitable status in November 2020. Many organizations need to go back two or three times. The Quadra Island Foundation’s constitution states it can only disperse money to organizations that the Canada Revenue Agency approves of and they were approved in three months.

They also joined the Community Foundations of Canada network.

“We received a certain amount of guidance and help from them in setting things up,” said Mascall.

Some of this was developing the policies which will be be on their website, which will hopefully be launched by the end of this year.

During the past year, the Quadra Island Foundation received about $36,000 in donations.

About $10,000 came from organizations like the Glass Waters Foundation, the Strathcona Regional District, and the Campbell River Community Foundation. Most of this was used for set-up costs. $2,000 was given to the Quadra Island Seniors Housing Society project in Quathiaski Cove.

Another $10,000 was designated funds, for a Quadra ICAN project to put solar panels on the Quadra Elementary School. As Quadra ICAN is not a registered charity, the Quadra Foundation donated the funds for this project directly to School District 72.

Members of the community donated about $16,000, which has become the beginning of the Foundation’s endowment fund.

“We will invest that and each year we would make donations based on the returns we get from our investment,” said Mascall.

Photo credit: The Quadra Island Foundation (QIF) donating $2,000 boost to the Quadra Island Seniors Housing Project. (l to r) are Michael Mascall (Chair, QIF), Maureen McDowell President of Seniors Housing, and Jody Rodgers (Director, QIF) - Photo courtesy Quadra Island Foundation.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Vancouver based filmmaker Daniel J Pierce just released a film that attempts to connect the dots between clearcut logging and the mega-floods wreaking havoc on the BC Interior.

He acknowledges that the climate is changing and there was an extreme event, but says this is only half of the story.

“We have loaded the dice in favour of more of these such events by so badly degrading the hydrological functioning of the ecosystem.”

Pierce cites scientific papers like:

XuJian Joe Yu, Younes Alila, “Nonstationary frequency pairing reveals a highly sensitive peak flow regime to harvesting across a wide range of return periods”Forest Ecology and Management (2019).

Kim Green & Younes Alila, “A paradigm shift in understanding and quantifying the effects of forest harvesting on floods in snow environments,” Water Resources Research (2012).

Tom Bradley, “A Brief Literature Review of the Mountain Pine Beetle,” Silva Ecosystems Consultants Ltd (1993) Revised and updated by Herb Hammond and Erik Leslie (2003).

He has been documenting forestry issues since 2008.

Last March, Pierce released a video about the flood that destroyed part of Grand Forks in 2018.