Cortes Currents

Darren Davidson/ Kootenay Co-op Radio - CJLY, 93.5fm Nelson BC - The Nelson and District Chamber of Commerce has been in the middle of the region’s COVID storm for over 12 months.

There’ve been some critical efforts by chambers throughout BC and Canada — helping business stay afloat, pay their staff, lobby governments to eliminate costs to business, and more than a few times, offer a shoulder to have a good cry on.

Chamber of Commerce boss Tom Thomson stopped by Kootenay Co-op Radio's current affairs program on March 31 to chat a bit about what the latest lockdown looks like for local business.

He told KCR that according to a recent BC business survey 73% of respondents are using some form of government subsidy.

Photo credit: Canadian Money by Carissa Rogers via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) has been working with BC Parks to install a bike rack at the Hague Lake beach access on Cortes Island.  

“The idea behind the rack that was is to try and encourage people to go by bike to the lake, rather than drive, and also because the parking lot gets very overcrowded. It’s more environmentally friendly too and  if people want to  cycle they now have a secure place to put their bike,” said Helen Hall,  Executive Director of FOCI.

Hall did not know how many bikes could use this rack at a time, but said, “I’ve seen bikes racks where people really cram them in. I would think we could get at least eight bikes on the bike rack.”

She added that the idea came from BC Parks and “We’ve got a good partnership going with BC Parks to make improvements to Provincial Parks on the island.”

Photo credit: Stumpy by Johann Kuester via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) has been working with BC Parks to install a bike rack at the Hague Lake beach access on Cortes Island.  

“The idea behind the rack that was is to try and encourage people to go by bike to the lake, rather than drive, and also because the parking lot gets very overcrowded. It’s more environmentally friendly too and  if people want to  cycle they now have a secure place to put their bike,” said Helen Hall,  Executive Director of FOCI.

Hall did not know how many bikes could use this rack at a time, but said, “I’ve seen bikes racks where people really cram them in. I would think we could get at least eight bikes on the bike rack.”

She added that the idea came from BC Parks and “We’ve got a good partnership going with BC Parks to make improvements to Provincial Parks on the island.”

Photo credit: Stumpy by Johann Kuester via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) is asking Cortes residents to report any sightings of two species at risk on the Island.

There has not been any record of the Western Toad on Cortes since 2015.

“They were on the island but we haven't had any recent records and we don’t know if they are still here,” said Helen Hall,  Executive Director of FOCI.

“Western toads are really distinctive, they have a bumpy skin and a cream stripe down their backs. You can’t really mistake them.  Toads crawl, while frogs leap, and they also lay their eggs in strings. Right now both toads and frogs are coming out of winter hibernation, over the winter and they are moving into wetlands to breed. So it is a good time  of year to look out for them and we would be absolutely delighted is someone found a Western toad on Cortes.”

“They could be here quite easily, but we haven’t had any records for five or six years.

“Another species we’d love to hear about is the Great Blue Heron, particlulary whether they are nesting at the moment. There used to be quite a number of different rookeries on the island. One at smelt Bay, another in Mansons Lagoon. Quite big rookeries with lots of nests. They’ve mostly disappeared. That’s happened in lots of places, largely due to eagle predation. So what the herons have done now is, instead of being in colonies where they are really obvious to eagles, they tend to be more isolated,”    

“So over the last few years, we’ve been trying to find out if there are any nests on the island. Last year, we had one nest reported. The year before, we didn’t have any and the year before that I think we had one in a different location.”

“They are pretty obvious when you see them. They can make a lot of noise and there is a lot of guano at the base of the tree.”

“We are really to keen to find out of there are Herons nesting, and this is the time of year they would be nesting at the moment, so it would be great if people can keep their eyes open and tell us if they spot a nest.”

“Those two species are ones we are really interested in and it is a good time of year to be looking out for them.”

Photo credit: Napoleon the Western Toad by Vicki Watkins via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) is asking Cortes residents to report any sightings of two species at risk on the Island.

There has not been any record of the Western Toad on Cortes since 2015.

“They were on the island but we haven't had any recent records and we don’t know if they are still here,” said Helen Hall,  Executive Director of FOCI.

“Western toads are really distinctive, they have a bumpy skin and a cream stripe down their backs. You can’t really mistake them.  Toads crawl, while frogs leap, and they also lay their eggs in strings. Right now both toads and frogs are coming out of winter hibernation, over the winter and they are moving into wetlands to breed. So it is a good time  of year to look out for them and we would be absolutely delighted is someone found a Western toad on Cortes.”

“They could be here quite easily, but we haven’t had any records for five or six years.

“Another species we’d love to hear about is the Great Blue Heron, particlulary whether they are nesting at the moment. There used to be quite a number of different rookeries on the island. One at smelt Bay, another in Mansons Lagoon. Quite big rookeries with lots of nests. They’ve mostly disappeared. That’s happened in lots of places, largely due to eagle predation. So what the herons have done now is, instead of being in colonies where they are really obvious to eagles, they tend to be more isolated,”    

“So over the last few years, we’ve been trying to find out if there are any nests on the island. Last year, we had one nest reported. The year before, we didn’t have any and the year before that I think we had one in a different location.”

“They are pretty obvious when you see them. They can make a lot of noise and there is a lot of guano at the base of the tree.”

“We are really to keen to find out of there are Herons nesting, and this is the time of year they would be nesting at the moment, so it would be great if people can keep their eyes open and tell us if they spot a nest.”

“Those two species are ones we are really interested in and it is a good time of year to be looking out for them.”

Photo credit: Napoleon the Western Toad by Vicki Watkins via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - According to Dr. Richard Stanwick, Island Health’s chief medical officer, we are in the midst of “the largest and most complex immunization effort in the history of our province.”

756,080 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,351 of which are second doses.

Vancouver Island crossed the 100,000 mark on March 26th.

Close to 800 of these were on Cortes Island, where most of the island’s non indigenous adult population received their first vaccination between March 25th and 27th. They will receive their second dose in about four months.

As a result of the outbreak last December, the Klahoose village was vaccinated in February.

A whole island vaccination took place on Read Island yesterday.

The following whole community vaccinations have taken place within the Strathcona Regional District: Sayward and Kyuquot (Mar 23), Zeballos (Mar 24) and Tahsis (Mar 29 & 30). A community wide vaccination will occur in Gold River between April 6 and 8th.

The dates for a Quadra Island whole community vaccination have not yet been determined.

The immunization campaign is not embraced by everyone. There are a number of people who do not regard COVID 19 as a significant threat and refuse to be vaccinated.

There have only been 1,500 COVID related deaths in British Columbia to date.

This is much less than 38,000 deaths, from all causes, reported in 2018.

There are no known statistics for the number of people whose lives have been scarred by COVID 19, or those who were not infected because of the province’s safety measures.

According to the World Health Organization, the number of COVID related deaths has now reached 2.8 million.

Yesterday British Columbia had the highest single day record of new COVID cases to date, 1,013 with three deaths. There are currently 7,405 active cases, 11,468 people in isolation and 301 in hospitals.

While the numbers have always been low in North Vancouver Island, they are also rising. A week ago, on March 24th, there were 17 active cases. Yesterday there was 27.

The five day old statistics for the Greater Campbell River Health Area, released yesterday, show a drop in the number of active cases from 18 to 6. However the numbers in the Comox Valley were back up to 13.

Across Vancouver Island, the last day of March was also the worst in terms of active cases: 364.

Dr. Stanwick told the media that increase is likely due to the more contagious variants and “more social interaction than we would prefer.”

For much of the last year, people infected COVID averaged less than two contacts. That number has currently risen to 4.3 contacts per case,

Masks are mandatory for all students in grades 4 to 12, and students in Kindergarten to Grade 3 are “strongly encouraged” to wear a mask indoors at all times

In their daily address, Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, said “Tomorrow, as we go into the Easter weekend, expanded visitation in all long-term care facilities throughout the province will get underway. If you are planning to visit your family member or friend, please remember that COVID-19 safety plans must continue to be followed, including wearing masks and staying away if you feel unwell.

“Right now, no one should be travelling for leisure or vacation outside of your local communities or regions. The risk for all of us is too great, which means any of our usual travel and holiday weekend gatherings need to be put on hold this year.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - According to Dr. Richard Stanwick, Island Health’s chief medical officer, we are in the midst of “the largest and most complex immunization effort in the history of our province.”

756,080 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,351 of which are second doses.

Vancouver Island crossed the 100,000 mark on March 26th.

Close to 800 of these were on Cortes Island, where most of the island’s non indigenous adult population received their first vaccination between March 25th and 27th. They will receive their second dose in about four months.

As a result of the outbreak last December, the Klahoose village was vaccinated in February.

A whole island vaccination took place on Read Island yesterday.

The following whole community vaccinations have taken place within the Strathcona Regional District: Sayward and Kyuquot (Mar 23), Zeballos (Mar 24) and Tahsis (Mar 29 & 30). A community wide vaccination will occur in Gold River between April 6 and 8th.

The dates for a Quadra Island whole community vaccination have not yet been determined.

The immunization campaign is not embraced by everyone. There are a number of people who do not regard COVID 19 as a significant threat and refuse to be vaccinated.

There have only been 1,500 COVID related deaths in British Columbia to date.

This is much less than 38,000 deaths, from all causes, reported in 2018.

There are no known statistics for the number of people whose lives have been scarred by COVID 19, or those who were not infected because of the province’s safety measures.

According to the World Health Organization, the number of COVID related deaths has now reached 2.8 million.

Yesterday British Columbia had the highest single day record of new COVID cases to date, 1,013 with three deaths. There are currently 7,405 active cases, 11,468 people in isolation and 301 in hospitals.

While the numbers have always been low in North Vancouver Island, they are also rising. A week ago, on March 24th, there were 17 active cases. Yesterday there was 27.

The five day old statistics for the Greater Campbell River Health Area, released yesterday, show a drop in the number of active cases from 18 to 6. However the numbers in the Comox Valley were back up to 13.

Across Vancouver Island, the last day of March was also the worst in terms of active cases: 364.

Dr. Stanwick told the media that increase is likely due to the more contagious variants and “more social interaction than we would prefer.”

For much of the last year, people infected COVID averaged less than two contacts. That number has currently risen to 4.3 contacts per case,

Masks are mandatory for all students in grades 4 to 12, and students in Kindergarten to Grade 3 are “strongly encouraged” to wear a mask indoors at all times

In their daily address, Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, said “Tomorrow, as we go into the Easter weekend, expanded visitation in all long-term care facilities throughout the province will get underway. If you are planning to visit your family member or friend, please remember that COVID-19 safety plans must continue to be followed, including wearing masks and staying away if you feel unwell.

“Right now, no one should be travelling for leisure or vacation outside of your local communities or regions. The risk for all of us is too great, which means any of our usual travel and holiday weekend gatherings need to be put on hold this year.”

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - Thanks to a donation from the Island Coastal Economic Trust, or ICE T, the Cortes Commons is ready for the next stage of development.

This 2.6 acre property in the heart of Mansons Landing was gifted to the organization now as Cortes Community Economic Development Association or CCEDA, two and a half years ago.

As Colin Funk, a Director of the new organization, explained, CCEDA holds the land in trust for the community and Cortes Commons could be used for any of a wide variety of purposes.

He described the next step as the gathering public input that will eventually be used for a business plan.

“There is no shortage of ideas for what might exist on the Cortes Commons, but we are taking more of a plan-full approach. Doing some surveys; some public meetings to get some feedback. At the same time, doing the business planning that helps you figure out how do you fund this? Where do you garner immediate funds? Where do you look to the future? How do you create a sustainable plan?” said Funk.

ICE-T is funding the development of a business plan.

CCEDA is about to hire a project manager and will start reaching out to the community in the next few weeks.

The first step in gathering public input will probably be an online survey.

This will probably lead to focus groups. While it is possible to meet over ZOOM, it is always preferable to meet in person. He raised the possibility of in person meetings, at the appropriate physically distances, in the Cortes Commons.

CCEDA has also received a Community economic resilience grant, from the ministry of municipal affairs, to clean up the Cortes Commons.

“It allows to clean up the property, to repair the property, set up some picnic tables, minimal trails, some porta potties, so people can use that land before we get into a more comprehensive plan,” said Funk.

He suspects that may take two or three years.

While Funk is open to the possibility that what the community really wants is a downtown park, it was not the idea that immediately came to mind.

Asked for an idea of what the Cortes Commons could be used for, Funk mentioned the LEAP report that was prepared two and a half years ago.

Some examples of things the property could be used for were:

a shared kitchen facility or walk in freezer

a place to store produce

a laundromat (depends on the availability of water)

shared office space (sharing computers and other resources)

secondary wood manufacturing (is this the right place?)

shared spaced for particular sectors: body work, studio space, etc.

“It is not a massive property and we want to make sure it has lots of integrity around natural spaces and trails. So you are really looking at low impact structures,” said Funk.

He added, “The other good news story about all this is that we have the expertise - whether it is the business planning, building picnic tables, or clearing the land - to keep all of that money circulating on Cortes. So we are not going to have any third party consultants or people off island coming here to do this work. Every penny of that money will likely go to local residents,” said Funk.

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - Thanks to a donation from the Island Coastal Economic Trust, or ICE T, the Cortes Commons is ready for the next stage of development.

This 2.6 acre property in the heart of Mansons Landing was gifted to the organization now as Cortes Community Economic Development Association or CCEDA, two and a half years ago.

As Colin Funk, a Director of the new organization, explained, CCEDA holds the land in trust for the community and Cortes Commons could be used for any of a wide variety of purposes.

He described the next step as the gathering public input that will eventually be used for a business plan.

“There is no shortage of ideas for what might exist on the Cortes Commons, but we are taking more of a plan-full approach. Doing some surveys; some public meetings to get some feedback. At the same time, doing the business planning that helps you figure out how do you fund this? Where do you garner immediate funds? Where do you look to the future? How do you create a sustainable plan?” said Funk.

ICE-T is funding the development of a business plan.

CCEDA is about to hire a project manager and will start reaching out to the community in the next few weeks.

The first step in gathering public input will probably be an online survey.

This will probably lead to focus groups. While it is possible to meet over ZOOM, it is always preferable to meet in person. He raised the possibility of in person meetings, at the appropriate physically distances, in the Cortes Commons.

CCEDA has also received a Community economic resilience grant, from the ministry of municipal affairs, to clean up the Cortes Commons.

“It allows to clean up the property, to repair the property, set up some picnic tables, minimal trails, some porta potties, so people can use that land before we get into a more comprehensive plan,” said Funk.

He suspects that may take two or three years.

While Funk is open to the possibility that what the community really wants is a downtown park, it was not the idea that immediately came to mind.

Asked for an idea of what the Cortes Commons could be used for, Funk mentioned the LEAP report that was prepared two and a half years ago.

Some examples of things the property could be used for were:

a shared kitchen facility or walk in freezer

a place to store produce

a laundromat (depends on the availability of water)

shared office space (sharing computers and other resources)

secondary wood manufacturing (is this the right place?)

shared spaced for particular sectors: body work, studio space, etc.

“It is not a massive property and we want to make sure it has lots of integrity around natural spaces and trails. So you are really looking at low impact structures,” said Funk.

He added, “The other good news story about all this is that we have the expertise - whether it is the business planning, building picnic tables, or clearing the land - to keep all of that money circulating on Cortes. So we are not going to have any third party consultants or people off island coming here to do this work. Every penny of that money will likely go to local residents,” said Funk.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Province of British Columbia will be bringing fast reliable internet to remote communities like Cortes Island, Quadra Island and Zeballos by the fall of 2021.

>>> Fast reliable internet

“Fast reliable internet is more important than ever. In fact we couldn’t be here today without it,” said Lisa Beare, BC’s Minister of Citizens’ Services. “Today I can tell you that the Connecting British Columbia program is approving more than $10.5 million in grants to improve internet speeds on BC’s coasts. This means that people in places like Zeballos and Quadra Island and Bella Coola will soon see improved internet speed and reliability. People benefitting from these projects are members of several indigenous projects as well: the Haida, the Nuxalk, Ehattesaht and the Klahoose Nation.”

>>> Strathcona Regional District

More than $4 million of this money will go to the Strathcona Regional District.

According to Cortes Island Regional Director Noba Anderson, “Internet connectivity at a regional scale has been one of the key priorities of the Regional District for a little shy of a decade.”

The provincial government press release mentions three north Quadra Island Sites - Granite Bay, Bold Point and Open Bay, as well as he village of Zeballos.

Anderson spoke about the three Cortes locations: Whaletown, Squirrel Cove and Mansons Landing.

Telus has been looking at potential sites for communication towers, but a number of Cortes residents expressed their opposition to this kind of idea when Connected Coast came to Manson’s Hall two years ago. They were concerned about electromagnetic waves emanating from wireless communication towers.

“When the Regional District did outreach about our last mile priorities couple of years ago, it was really clear that people wanted fibre (cables) to their homes,” explained Anderson. “We will get fibre active cable that will connect into that subsea cable, run along the telephone poles and into people’s homes. As far as I understand, we need to have this project completed by the Fall.”

She made it clear that this is not a business case that Telus or any other internet provider would have used, it was only financially feasible possible because of government funding.

“I really want to say thank-you to everybody who helped make the investment in coastal communities come to fruition. So many people in my constituency are looking forward to the Connected Coast project. It brings such great benefits to the North Vancouver Island, whether it be just connecting to government services (Tia health), distance education, emergency management BC, or to create those economic diversification portfolios for those small communities that are trying to transition through our new economy,” said North Island MLA Michele Babchuk, who was Chair of the Strathcona Regional District during the latter phase of negotiations.

She added, “Struggling with those slow download speeds and unreliable connections has been (difficult) for people in the North Island.”

Photo credit: Connected Coast