Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Long term Port McNeill city Counsellor, and 2011 mayoral candidate, Shelley Downey will once again be the Conservative candidate in North Island-Powell River during the next federal election.

During the last election, the polls showed her briefly in the lead, but Downey lost to incumbent Rachel Blaney by 3,000 votes on election day.

“Right at the get-go we were hearing about affordability, and then in the latter part (of the campaign) it kind of shifted to having jobs, so I’m quite surprised at the results,” she told the North Island Gazette. “We have a lot of people here whose jobs are dependant on the resource sector, and if we’re going to shut down our resources – such as aquaculture – and mess around with our fisheries like they did this past summer with the chinook fisheries, not support the oil and gas sector, what’s going to be left?”

Downey declined Cortes Currents requests for an interview and also an invitation to the Cortes Island All Candidates Meeting.

One of her staff explained, “We just can’t take a whole day to go to Cortes.“

A quick glance at the returns for Cortes and the other Discovery Islands may reveal another reason.

There were not any Conservative voters at the Blind Channel-Stuart Island poll. They received a single vote on Read Island and 19 on Cortes. The Conservatives did better on Quadra Island: 186 votes, which was 625 behind the leading NDP.

Most of the votes throughout the Discovery Islands went to the either the NDP or Green parties.

Downey replied to Cortes Currents question about running again, yesterday, “Thank you for your email. I will be representing the Conservative Party of Canada when the next election is called. Take care.”

Photo credit: Cropped image from the City of Port McNeill Website

Roy L Hales/ CKTZ News - Close to a billion marine creatures may have perished in BC’s recent heat wave.

What happened?

“We had some of the hottest weather we’ve ever had and it happened to be on days with very low, low tides and that combination was pretty lethal for a lot of things,” explained Dr Chris Harley, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia.

He said the one billion death estimate was obtained through calculations of mussel populations.

“The numbers are really large because there were a lot of mussels to start with,” he said.

Harley has been receiving numerous reports of marine life die-offs in the 650 kilometres of coastline, as the crow flies, between Klemtu, BC, and the Hood Canal, in northern Washington.

For many Cortes Island residents, the first they heard of these deaths may have been when local shellfish grower Erik Lyon was interviewed by the CBC. He reported losses of between 5% and 20% on a comparatively wet site in Desolation Sound, but expected to see higher mortality rates elsewhere.

There also appear to have been an abnormally high number of shellfish deaths at least two sites on Cortes Island.

Ricky Belanger, from the Discovery Passage Aquarium in Campbell River, reported seeing high numbers of dead cockles.

Harley said that mussels in the shade, or on a north facing surface, were probably okay. So were the oysters grown on rafts.

Large numbers clams, cockles and mussels perished on beaches.

Photo credit: Heat camera photo of mussels at 42 degrees celsius photo courtesy Dr Chris Harley

Roy L Hales/ CKTZ News - In the midst of a heat wave that may have left as many as a billion dead marine creatures along the West Coast, there were also an abnormally high number of shellfish deaths reported at two Cortes Island sites.

Daily temperature highs of between 35°C and 40°C were recorded, at the Cortes Island School, during the last five days of June.

Mike Manson reported a extraordinary high number of dead cockles, in southern Cortes Island, on June 27th.

“On a low tide of 2 feet or less, I would typically expect to find maybe half a dozen live ones partially exposed in the sand, and maybe a few more dead ones that sharp–eyed gulls had spotted and turned into a meal. To see several hundred half shells littered across the beach was a shock,” he wrote.

Manson returned the following day to take the picture accompanying the written version of this article, which he wrote, “was taken on a 2 ft tide, following 5-6 days of very low tides, one of which was a negative tide ( the 25th ), and that is a rare event.”

Cortes Island biologist Sabina Leader-Mense added that, “the cockle die off Mike Manson observed is classic, as cockles have the shortest siphons, sitting at shallow depths, where they are vulnerable to the heat.”

A Squirrel Cove resident who did not wish to be identified said there was a persistent stench coming from the beach beside his home as long as the high temperatures persisted. He suggested there may have been a ‘partial die off’ of the oysters.

Curt Cunningham, owner/manager of the Squirrel Cove, and his sister Lynne Cunningham, also noticed the unusual odour. They said some of the store’s customers complained about the smell.

A week after the return to normal temperatures, Michele Douglas from the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI), carried out a quick survey of the area.

“The first thing is I actually smelled a bit of a different beach odour than I would normally have smelled. Sometimes low tide can small a bit sulphury, but this just kind of smelled dead one would say. It was definitely an unpleasant odour,” she said.

Douglas found ‘quite a few live oysters’ and ‘quite a few that looked like they had died recently’ between the boat launch and dock.

She believed that the death was recent, “If the shell was open a little bit and you could pry it open and there was also still some organic material in there. I also sniffed them, If it smelled pretty fresh, then I presumed it had died in the last week or so.”

Douglas counted 10-12 dead oysters. Not having carried out any previous examinations in Squirrel Cove, she did have a base line to compare her findings with.

There was a questioning tone in her voice, “It is hard to say if there are always dead oysters on the beach? Or maybe it is totally related to this heat wave?”

The temperatures at Squirrel Cove Store – courtesy Mike Manson

The odour at Mansons Lagoon

Douglas and Max Thaysen, FOCI’s Acting Executive Director, also investigated a report that there were die offs in Mansons Lagoon. They did not find any dead oysters or clams.

“We dug into the surface and pulled out a couple of clams. They looked pretty happy and the oysters looked okay, but there was a little bit of the decaying sea-life smell that I would not attribute as normal thing to smell at those beaches, she said.

Douglas added, “It was a lot more apparent at Squirrel Cove.”

Leader-Mense added, “These temperature related die offs are not new; the extent, possibly yes, but not the occurrence of… We have witnessed them in Manson’s Lagoon over the years when the hottest days of the year correspond with the lowest tides of the year.”

“The blue mussels that once lined the edges of the channel into manson’s lagoon have never returned after being cooked in their shells one summer afternoon at low tide (about 1998); We were there to witness… unbelievable.”

Image credit: Cortes Island tides - courtesy Mike Manson

Roy L Hales/ CKTZ News - On Thursday, June 28th, 2021, the Cortes Island Foundation obtained charitable status.

This has been a goal since the organization’s beginnings.

As they did not have charitable status, in 2018 the Foundation had to partner with the Cortes Island Senior’s Society (CISS) to raise the funds needed to purchase the 51 acre parcel now known as Rainbow Ridge.

According to Vice President/Treasurer Mark Spevakow, the Cortes Island Foundation’s role ended when the Cortes Community Housing was formed.

“A regular charity has one main focus - dealing, for example, with hunger, education or the lake - their whole reason to be is usually one specific cause. It can be a broad cause, but it is one specific cause. Community foundations are the exact opposite. We cannot focus on one cause, we have to focus on the entire community in general,” he said.

He used the analogy of a wheel. Community foundations are the hub, which channels funding, assistance and personal help to the charities around it.

The Cortes Foundation recently purchased a grants database, that enables all of the island’s other charities to locate information about funders throughout Canada.

They have also provided funding for microgrants on the island and enabled the Cortes Island Women’s Centre to purchase computers.

>> The next level

Now that they have charitable status, Spevakow says the foundation wants to move to the next level.

“The Cortes Island Foundation wants to be a place that bequests can be left to. There is a sense of comfort, that money can be left to the entire island community,” he explained. “Someone can leave a bequest to the community as a whole and that was not an option before.”

Now that they have charitable status, the foundation can flesh out all of its governance and committees.

The Cortes Island Foundation incorporated as a BC Society in 2017.

The real push came with the Rainbow Ridge project, the following year.

“There wasn’t a vehicle set up that funds could be put into with charitable status. So that’s when a partnership with the Senior’s Society was set up, because they were a full charity. If funds were donated to them, a tax receipt could be issued. Rainbow Ridge moved down the road that way,” explained Spevakow.

This also provided the push for the Cortes Island Foundation to seek charitable status. There was a call to arms. Some of the original members returned and new recruits, like Spevakow, joined them.

They were in the midst of this process when COVID slowed everything down, but they persisted and finally obtained charitable status a little more than a week ago.

Spevakow added, “When other opportunities come down the road, we will have the right vehicle in place.

Photo credit: Mark Spevakow Photo courtesy Mark Spevakow

Roy L Hales/CKTZ News - The Quadra Island farmers market reopened on July 3rd, after 18 months, and the busiest table appears to have been writing letters to John Horgan in defence of old growth forests.

Self proclaimed ‘rabble rouser’ Geraldine Kenny had an idea. In addition to the usual form letters, she brought four clip boards, paper and pens. As people passed her table, she asked if they would like to write a letter.

“And they all said yes!” said a very excited Kenny.

It turns out ‘they’ were young people; “Older people, even Quadra residents” were not as interested.

“All the young people grabbed at the chance to write a letter. Many of them said, ‘Oh I always wanted to write a letter but never got round to it,” said Kenny. “Most of these were young women, in the company of their friends, so there were three or four together. I had four clipboards and they were scribbling away: sitting in the grass; crouched by the table; kneeling at the table; standing up.”

There was no hesitation when Kenny asked if they wanted to read their letters out.

“When one letter was read out, we all clapped and applauded, and the next one read out her letter. It was so empowering and I am going to say beautiful.”

The Quadra Island Farmers Market wasn’t as busy as in pre-COVID times. Instead of “up to 50 tables,” the organizers allowed 20. There was a “comfortable flow through of visitors,” channeled in a clockwise direction.

At the end of the four hour market, there were 50 letters for Premier Horgan.

Some of the letters - photo by Rod Burns

Roy L Hales/ CKTZ News - An article in the Spring 2021 edition of the Truck Loggers Association magazine, gives an industry perspective of the movement to protect Old Growth forests.

The author, Ian MacNeill, points to what he believes is a glaring omission in the province’s Old Growth Strategic Review. It does not “talk much about” the social economic impact that further curtailments would have on communities that rely on forestry “and where old growth timber makes up a significant part of the harvesting basket.” MacNeill writes that the authors assume that communities will transition to other activities, but do not suggest what these activities might be.

The Strategic Review calls for a two year deferment on sites with the potential to grow very large trees. They are said to cover less than 3% of the province and more than 97% of the old growth on these sites is logged off.

The report does not suggest that any actions be taken in the 80% of forests classified as ‘old growth,’ where the trees are small.

MacNeill does not mention this distinction, but writes that the communities further curtailment would impact are already financially squeezed.

With three of Mackenzie’s four mills currently in curtailment, the job count has dropped from 650 to 275.

Mayor Gabby Wickstrom of Port McNeill pointed out that taking old growth out of the equation would mean a 50% decrease in the cut. She also takes issue with the idea that old growth are threatened in northern Vancouver Island.

“On the North Island, 76% of the old growth is outside the timber harvesting land base,” says Wickstrom.

Dallas Smith, President of the Nanwakolas Council on Vancouver Island, points out that industry would be crippled if it could not log old growth.

Smith says, the Provincial report ”paints a picture we had known existed for a long time, but it does not discuss long term solutions.”

Roy L Hales/ CKTZ News - Human rights lawyer and climate activist Jessica Wegg will be the Green Party candidate for North Island-Powell River during the next Federal election.

“We can’t keep having 40 degree summers in Comox, or wildfires destroying towns. There were tornadoes in Washington DC yesterday. It is so obvious, so apparent and completely unsustainable. And I need to know that I did everything in my power to make it better,” she said.

According to Philippe J Fournier, of Macleans Magazine and the website 338Canada, the rumours swirling around Ottawa suggest the election will be in late summer or early next fall.

“Crunching the numbers over the weekend, the only question that kept popping in my head is: Why?” he wrote.

Recent polls suggest that if the election were held now, there would be another Liberal minority government.

The most recent 338Canada’s projection was made a week ago, at which point the Greens were leading in two Vancouver Island ridings: Saanich-Gulf Islands (a safe seat) and Nanaimo-Ladysmith (where they allegedly lead by a mere 1%).

During the weeks leading up to the last Federal election, 338Canada’s projects often showed the Greens leading in four of the seven island ridings. North Island-Powell River wasn’t one of them, but in late August they were shown within 5% of the leading NDP. This groundswell of support disappeared in the week prior to the election and two Green MPs went to Ottawa.

“I know that the Green Party made a strong showing in the last election and that was with people from the NDP telling them that they were going to split the vote, and it was a wasted vote. Making people think they would have to vote orange otherwise the Liberals or Conservatives were going to win,” said Jessica Wegg.

“People can’t be afraid anymore and I think they are seeing that. We have to focus on what is in our hearts and what we know. I think people are ready to do that.”

Photo credit: Jessica Wegg and her son at the provincial legislature - courtesy Jessica Wegg

Roy L Hales/ CKTZ News - Cortes Island stores celebrated Canada day, but not because of the nation’s Confederation 154 years ago.

British Columbia began step three of its restart plan. Face masks are no longer mandatory. People can gather in larger numbers and go to restaurants.

The Floathouse Restaurant

“You can definitely tell that things are changing. The last couple of weeks it has been a steady uptick. This weekend in particular, starting yesterday. We were closed for the heatwave, but it was like somebody flicked a switch. Everybody is out and there are people moving around. I would say it is almost business as usual. I have no comparison. I wasn’t here in a regular summer before,” said Carol Pierce of the Floathouse Restaurant, when we finally connected via ZOOM shortly after 8 PM.

She estimated there were 50 people in the restaurant and another 50 to 60 listening to a live performance in the lawn below. The Gorge Harbour Store was just closing. Carol believed it was ‘adult swim’ in the pool, but that is another in part of the resort.

“It is nice to see people out again and everybody seems happy to be out,” she said.

Gorge Harbour Marina

There had easily been 40 people at the Gorge Harbour Marina when Cortes Currents arrived earlier that afternoon. They were everywhere: in the pool, the parking lot, the General Store. The tables out on the deck of the Floathouse were packed with customers. More were waiting to be seated. When I asked for an interview, Carol said 8 PM.

Down at the dock, General Manager Bill Dougan agreed to a ZOOM chat at 4 PM. When that didn’t work, he suggested 6 PM, but later texted, “I am crushed and cannot see getting off my docks until closer to 8 tonight, can we reschedule you for tomorrow?”

Photo Credit: Boats arriving in Squirrel Cove - courtesy Curt Cunningham

Roy L Hales/ CKTZ News - For the second year in a row, the SRD Board approved the grant-in-aid allocations recommended by Cortes Island’s non-profit sector.

“In the last ten years, I have received grant-in-aid applications on my own, adjudicated them as I saw fit and then made those recommendations to the Board. As I am phasing out of politics and really wanting to empower social profits here on the island, last year we experimented with democratizing the selection process. All of the social profits organizations were invited to participate,” explained Regional Director Noba Anderson.

It was a lot of work and “a little too transparent.” (Everyone could see how everybody else was voting, or not voting.)

This year’s process was more streamlined.

“I invited organizations to specifically apply for organizational development funds, not core funding or special projects,” explained Anderson.

More than $56,000 worth of applications came in, but Cortes Island’s Grant-in-Aid allocation is only $25,000.

This meant that, “If you are going to fund some projects really well, everybody is not going to receive funding.”

As they evaluated the applications, the selection committee asked questions like:

“What’s the history of the organizations success in these kinds of projects?”

“Are they generally prone to collaboration”

“Is this an exciting initiative?”

“What kind of leverage opportunities does it bring?”

“Could it seed self sufficiency into the future?”

“Have they received a lot of grant-in-aid funding in the past? If so maybe give it to somebody else.”

Three of the top four recipients in last year’s selection process – The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI), Cortes Island Women’s Centre and Linnaea Farm – were not recommended this year. The fourth, Cortes Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA), will receive $1,500.

The Klahoose First Nation will receive what is possibly the largest grant-in-aid ever awarded to a Cortes Island organization.

“They have only received a grant-in-aid once, I believe – perhaps twice, and their application just really caught the attention of the selection committee. It was essentially to hire a grant writer, to take advantage of so many funding opportunities available to the nation – but they haven’t had the capacity within their individual departments to go after them. That was a real leverage application,” explained Anderson.

She added, “From there, we just about fully funded the requests from Folk University and Cortes Radio … Cortes Housing wants to do a housing survey … to help decide how it can expand its work beyond the Rainbow Ridge project. CCHA and the museum … are the organizations that know how to write grants and made a great proposal. CCEDA received just a fraction of what it asked for. They had three or four different projects and we funded one of those.”

Roy L Hales/ CKTZ News - Phase three of BC’s restart plan starts today.

In Phase three

According to Dr Bonnie Henry, Masks are recommended in public indoor settings for people who are not yet fully vaccinated, but no longer mandatory.

You can go to restaurants, pubs and nightclubs – but are asked not to dance, or socialize between tables.

Sports and fitness exercises are permitted, but the number of spectators is limited. (Outdoors – 5,000 spectators or 50% capacity, whichever is greater; Indoors – 50 people or 50% capacity, whichever is greater)

While it may be premature to call North Vancouver Island COVID free, there have been no active cases reported since June 28th.

Island Health reported a single active case in the five days preceding this, but not which of the four Local Health Areas he or she lived.

Cases are regarded as active for 14 days.

Last night the BC Centre Disease Control released its Local Health Area map for the epi-week of June 20th to 26th. There were no cases reported in Greater Campbell River, the Comox Valley or any other Local Health Area in North Vancouver Island.

Photo credit: Dr Bonnie Henry courtesy Province of BC via Wikipedia (CC BY SA, 3.0 License)