Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Sunflower food truck opened beside Whaletown road last summer, when the Pandemic seemed to be fading away and whole province was coming out of self isolation. IN this morning's interview, owner/manager Carie Taylor talks about the business and why she moved her business into the Gorge Harbour General store.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - MP Rachel Blaney is inviting the Federal government to set up a branch of Canada’s seventh Regional Development Agency (RDA) in North Island -Powell River.

Minister of Economic Development Mélanie Joly is currently in the midst of regional roundtables throughout British Columbia, listening to key business and community leaders about their realities. A government press release identified “stakeholders from the South Okanagan, Kootenays, Vancouver Island and Central Coast regions.” These include eleven key BC innovation organizations, like the BC Tech Association, SFU venture labs and Accelerate Okanagan.

Prior to this, BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were all lumped together in Western Economic Diversification Canada.

It has been almost three months since Joly acknowledged British Columbia needs a separate Regional Development Agency.

Joly describes Regional Development Agencies as a “kind of a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs.” Her ministry currently has an office in Vancouver, but none across the different regions.

In a public letter released yesterday, Blaney stated “There is no region more fitting of this mandate than the one I represent.”

She described a series of negative economic blows. No sooner had the region’s 10-month long forestry strike ended, than the COVID-19 pandemic began. A thriving tourism industry was put on hold. The paper mill in Powell River was shut down. The region’s already crippled sport fishing industry was hit by new restrictions on chinook salmon retention.

“Then in December, your government announced the decision to phase out the licenses for the open-pen salmon farms in the Discovery Islands. The aquaculture industry is a significant employer in the region, and while I respect Minister Jordan’s decision, it will impact many sectors and businesses in my riding,” continued Blaney

” … I invite you to consider North Island—Powell River for a branch location of the new regional economic development agency for BC. It makes sense that your department will want to target economic growth in rural and remote areas of the province because these are the places that need to break the long-suffering cycle of boom and bust resource economies. Having a government office in one of our communities would allow your department to experience first- hand the challenges of connectivity and transportation in rural and remote regions, which can only lead to better local economic outcomes for all who are to be served by this agency.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - MP Rachel Blaney is inviting the Federal government to set up a branch of Canada’s seventh Regional Development Agency (RDA) in North Island -Powell River.

Minister of Economic Development Mélanie Joly is currently in the midst of regional roundtables throughout British Columbia, listening to key business and community leaders about their realities. A government press release identified “stakeholders from the South Okanagan, Kootenays, Vancouver Island and Central Coast regions.” These include eleven key BC innovation organizations, like the BC Tech Association, SFU venture labs and Accelerate Okanagan.

Prior to this, BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were all lumped together in Western Economic Diversification Canada.

It has been almost three months since Joly acknowledged British Columbia needs a separate Regional Development Agency.

Joly describes Regional Development Agencies as a “kind of a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs.” Her ministry currently has an office in Vancouver, but none across the different regions.

In a public letter released yesterday, Blaney stated “There is no region more fitting of this mandate than the one I represent.”

She described a series of negative economic blows. No sooner had the region’s 10-month long forestry strike ended, than the COVID-19 pandemic began. A thriving tourism industry was put on hold. The paper mill in Powell River was shut down. The region’s already crippled sport fishing industry was hit by new restrictions on chinook salmon retention.

“Then in December, your government announced the decision to phase out the licenses for the open-pen salmon farms in the Discovery Islands. The aquaculture industry is a significant employer in the region, and while I respect Minister Jordan’s decision, it will impact many sectors and businesses in my riding,” continued Blaney

” … I invite you to consider North Island—Powell River for a branch location of the new regional economic development agency for BC. It makes sense that your department will want to target economic growth in rural and remote areas of the province because these are the places that need to break the long-suffering cycle of boom and bust resource economies. Having a government office in one of our communities would allow your department to experience first- hand the challenges of connectivity and transportation in rural and remote regions, which can only lead to better local economic outcomes for all who are to be served by this agency.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - MP Rachel Blaney is inviting the Federal government to set up a branch of Canada’s seventh Regional Development Agency (RDA) in North Island -Powell River.

Minister of Economic Development Mélanie Joly is currently in the midst of regional roundtables throughout British Columbia, listening to key business and community leaders about their realities. A government press release identified “stakeholders from the South Okanagan, Kootenays, Vancouver Island and Central Coast regions.” These include eleven key BC innovation organizations, like the BC Tech Association, SFU venture labs and Accelerate Okanagan.

Prior to this, BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were all lumped together in Western Economic Diversification Canada.

It has been almost three months since Joly acknowledged British Columbia needs a separate Regional Development Agency.

Joly describes Regional Development Agencies as a “kind of a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs.” Her ministry currently has an office in Vancouver, but none across the different regions.

In a public letter released yesterday, Blaney stated “There is no region more fitting of this mandate than the one I represent.”

She described a series of negative economic blows. No sooner had the region’s 10-month long forestry strike ended, than the COVID-19 pandemic began. A thriving tourism industry was put on hold. The paper mill in Powell River was shut down. The region’s already crippled sport fishing industry was hit by new restrictions on chinook salmon retention.

“Then in December, your government announced the decision to phase out the licenses for the open-pen salmon farms in the Discovery Islands. The aquaculture industry is a significant employer in the region, and while I respect Minister Jordan’s decision, it will impact many sectors and businesses in my riding,” continued Blaney

” … I invite you to consider North Island—Powell River for a branch location of the new regional economic development agency for BC. It makes sense that your department will want to target economic growth in rural and remote areas of the province because these are the places that need to break the long-suffering cycle of boom and bust resource economies. Having a government office in one of our communities would allow your department to experience first- hand the challenges of connectivity and transportation in rural and remote regions, which can only lead to better local economic outcomes for all who are to be served by this agency.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - MP Rachel Blaney is inviting the Federal government to set up a branch of Canada’s seventh Regional Development Agency (RDA) in North Island -Powell River.

Minister of Economic Development Mélanie Joly is currently in the midst of regional roundtables throughout British Columbia, listening to key business and community leaders about their realities. A government press release identified “stakeholders from the South Okanagan, Kootenays, Vancouver Island and Central Coast regions.” These include eleven key BC innovation organizations, like the BC Tech Association, SFU venture labs and Accelerate Okanagan.

Prior to this, BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were all lumped together in Western Economic Diversification Canada.

It has been almost three months since Joly acknowledged British Columbia needs a separate Regional Development Agency.

Joly describes Regional Development Agencies as a “kind of a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs.” Her ministry currently has an office in Vancouver, but none across the different regions.

In a public letter released yesterday, Blaney stated “There is no region more fitting of this mandate than the one I represent.”

She described a series of negative economic blows. No sooner had the region’s 10-month long forestry strike ended, than the COVID-19 pandemic began. A thriving tourism industry was put on hold. The paper mill in Powell River was shut down. The region’s already crippled sport fishing industry was hit by new restrictions on chinook salmon retention.

“Then in December, your government announced the decision to phase out the licenses for the open-pen salmon farms in the Discovery Islands. The aquaculture industry is a significant employer in the region, and while I respect Minister Jordan’s decision, it will impact many sectors and businesses in my riding,” continued Blaney

” … I invite you to consider North Island—Powell River for a branch location of the new regional economic development agency for BC. It makes sense that your department will want to target economic growth in rural and remote areas of the province because these are the places that need to break the long-suffering cycle of boom and bust resource economies. Having a government office in one of our communities would allow your department to experience first- hand the challenges of connectivity and transportation in rural and remote regions, which can only lead to better local economic outcomes for all who are to be served by this agency.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -The Toki Bap Café is another Cortes Island business that has been impacted by the pandemic. It is in Mansons Hall, which closed down in March 2020. The cafe reopened on June 16th, 2020.

“Strangely enough, last summer was good. We were just open one day a week and it still worked. We still had fun. Everyone got a bit of pocket money to get them through the next cycle.” said Sujon, the manager and sole proprietor.

“The cafe has always been a community hub. Kids are running around, colouring; people coming and going, touching each other, hugging, kissing. It still was that gathering, but it has really slowed down a lot. It is a lot quieter, in fact no one goes into the cafe room anymore, it is all take-out. So we don’t get to see each other as a group and I really miss that a lot. I think it is very much missed.”

The Toki Bap was born out of homeschooling project in 2017. Some of the parents wanted to add some extra curricular activities. Some of the teenagers said they wanted to cook. After they went through the first round of everyone doing something on the wish list, this became ‘cooking with Sue.’

“We covered cooking techniques. I’ve always liked the chemistry of food, how you work with heat and water, also taste, flavour, emotions, memories – that type of stuff… That’s a good avenue for me.” Sujon explained. “We cooked some Asian stuff that they have never seen. We made Mochi, which is basically working with rice flour. A lot of gluten free stuff, because there were a few people who had gluten free needs. Of course they wanted to do sushi. We did different variations of rice things, from pilafs to dumplings.”

Sujon’ daughter was a catalyst in the transition from a homeschool program to a cafe.

The kitchen at Mansons Hall was not in use at the time.

“She was like ‘Mum, running a cafe was sort of your bucket list thing, right?“

“I said,” yes.”

“So she said, ‘Why don’t we do it.”

So, in 2018, Sujon rented the hall and employed a group of teenagers to work there. Nola, Laara and Lilly were in the core group. There was also Amber and Asha. Hall Manager Mary Lavelle was one of the parents, and helped out.

Sujon explained, “

The full name of her business is Toki Bap, Celebrating Cortes Pan Pacific Cuisine & Culture.

“People started coming, we set a menu and we picked up speed – we definitely picked up speed,” she said.

In addition to the cafe, Toki Bap, with $420 seed money received from Cortes Literacy in 2018 and the numerous community volunteers, sponsored AC/DC(another community dinner club). For two years ACDC was able to provide during the quiet winter months, affordable if not free, to 40 guests at a time, gourmet sit down big family style dinners. Unfortunately, Covid has put this project on hiatus.

A Friday take-out service

Everything changed after COVID brought the island’s economy to a near standstill.

“Right now it’s only Fridays,” explained Sujon. “We still get long shifts, where we do it once a week. I don’t know if I really qualify as a restaurant in the typical sense. What restaurant opens one day a week for four hours or less? It’s more of a canteen.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -The Toki Bap Café is another Cortes Island business that has been impacted by the pandemic. It is in Mansons Hall, which closed down in March 2020. The cafe reopened on June 16th, 2020.

“Strangely enough, last summer was good. We were just open one day a week and it still worked. We still had fun. Everyone got a bit of pocket money to get them through the next cycle.” said Sujon, the manager and sole proprietor.

“The cafe has always been a community hub. Kids are running around, colouring; people coming and going, touching each other, hugging, kissing. It still was that gathering, but it has really slowed down a lot. It is a lot quieter, in fact no one goes into the cafe room anymore, it is all take-out. So we don’t get to see each other as a group and I really miss that a lot. I think it is very much missed.”

The Toki Bap was born out of homeschooling project in 2017. Some of the parents wanted to add some extra curricular activities. Some of the teenagers said they wanted to cook. After they went through the first round of everyone doing something on the wish list, this became ‘cooking with Sue.’

“We covered cooking techniques. I’ve always liked the chemistry of food, how you work with heat and water, also taste, flavour, emotions, memories – that type of stuff… That’s a good avenue for me.” Sujon explained. “We cooked some Asian stuff that they have never seen. We made Mochi, which is basically working with rice flour. A lot of gluten free stuff, because there were a few people who had gluten free needs. Of course they wanted to do sushi. We did different variations of rice things, from pilafs to dumplings.”

Sujon’ daughter was a catalyst in the transition from a homeschool program to a cafe.

The kitchen at Mansons Hall was not in use at the time.

“She was like ‘Mum, running a cafe was sort of your bucket list thing, right?“

“I said,” yes.”

“So she said, ‘Why don’t we do it.”

So, in 2018, Sujon rented the hall and employed a group of teenagers to work there. Nola, Laara and Lilly were in the core group. There was also Amber and Asha. Hall Manager Mary Lavelle was one of the parents, and helped out.

Sujon explained, “

The full name of her business is Toki Bap, Celebrating Cortes Pan Pacific Cuisine & Culture.

“People started coming, we set a menu and we picked up speed – we definitely picked up speed,” she said.

In addition to the cafe, Toki Bap, with $420 seed money received from Cortes Literacy in 2018 and the numerous community volunteers, sponsored AC/DC(another community dinner club). For two years ACDC was able to provide during the quiet winter months, affordable if not free, to 40 guests at a time, gourmet sit down big family style dinners. Unfortunately, Covid has put this project on hiatus.

A Friday take-out service

Everything changed after COVID brought the island’s economy to a near standstill.

“Right now it’s only Fridays,” explained Sujon. “We still get long shifts, where we do it once a week. I don’t know if I really qualify as a restaurant in the typical sense. What restaurant opens one day a week for four hours or less? It’s more of a canteen.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -The Toki Bap Café is another Cortes Island business that has been impacted by the pandemic. It is in Mansons Hall, which closed down in March 2020. The cafe reopened on June 16th, 2020.

“Strangely enough, last summer was good. We were just open one day a week and it still worked. We still had fun. Everyone got a bit of pocket money to get them through the next cycle.” said Sujon, the manager and sole proprietor.

“The cafe has always been a community hub. Kids are running around, colouring; people coming and going, touching each other, hugging, kissing. It still was that gathering, but it has really slowed down a lot. It is a lot quieter, in fact no one goes into the cafe room anymore, it is all take-out. So we don’t get to see each other as a group and I really miss that a lot. I think it is very much missed.”

The Toki Bap was born out of homeschooling project in 2017. Some of the parents wanted to add some extra curricular activities. Some of the teenagers said they wanted to cook. After they went through the first round of everyone doing something on the wish list, this became ‘cooking with Sue.’

“We covered cooking techniques. I’ve always liked the chemistry of food, how you work with heat and water, also taste, flavour, emotions, memories – that type of stuff… That’s a good avenue for me.” Sujon explained. “We cooked some Asian stuff that they have never seen. We made Mochi, which is basically working with rice flour. A lot of gluten free stuff, because there were a few people who had gluten free needs. Of course they wanted to do sushi. We did different variations of rice things, from pilafs to dumplings.”

Sujon’ daughter was a catalyst in the transition from a homeschool program to a cafe.

The kitchen at Mansons Hall was not in use at the time.

“She was like ‘Mum, running a cafe was sort of your bucket list thing, right?“

“I said,” yes.”

“So she said, ‘Why don’t we do it.”

So, in 2018, Sujon rented the hall and employed a group of teenagers to work there. Nola, Laara and Lilly were in the core group. There was also Amber and Asha. Hall Manager Mary Lavelle was one of the parents, and helped out.

Sujon explained, “

The full name of her business is Toki Bap, Celebrating Cortes Pan Pacific Cuisine & Culture.

“People started coming, we set a menu and we picked up speed – we definitely picked up speed,” she said.

In addition to the cafe, Toki Bap, with $420 seed money received from Cortes Literacy in 2018 and the numerous community volunteers, sponsored AC/DC(another community dinner club). For two years ACDC was able to provide during the quiet winter months, affordable if not free, to 40 guests at a time, gourmet sit down big family style dinners. Unfortunately, Covid has put this project on hiatus.

A Friday take-out service

Everything changed after COVID brought the island’s economy to a near standstill.

“Right now it’s only Fridays,” explained Sujon. “We still get long shifts, where we do it once a week. I don’t know if I really qualify as a restaurant in the typical sense. What restaurant opens one day a week for four hours or less? It’s more of a canteen.”

Cortes Island e-Bike update - 2021 by Cortes Currents (https://cortescurrents.ca/)

Cortes Island e-Bike update - 2021 by Cortes Currents (https://cortescurrents.ca/)