Cortes Currents

an Mei Xi/ Vancouver Co-op Radio - In a time when many have felt hopeless, Libby Davies is anything but.

The former MP of Vancouver East of 18 years told The PULSE that she believes every group, no matter how marginalized, can “absolutely” make change.

"People know what needs to be done. The hard part is knowing how to do it," says Davies, in the podcast above.

"Libby Davies is one of Canada’s leading advocates for social justice. She was known for her principled yet collegial approach to important but often contentious issues as a community activist, a Vancouver city councillor and, subsequently, a long-serving member of Parliament. Throughout her 18 years in the House of Commons, she provided leadership and continuity during a tumultuous period in our political history. She gave a voice to the voiceless on such issues such as the plight of thalidomide survivors, LGBTQ rights, affordable housing, missing and murdered women, and safe injection sites - Governor General of Canada

She points to many wins for the neighbourhood during her decades as an elected representative, including the successful opening of Insite, North America’s first supervised drug injection site.

Davies said that a tip she would offer advocates is to persevere. Political change is an inherently slow process, said Davies, but a concerted effort over time will yield change.

an Mei Xi/ Vancouver Co-op Radio - In a time when many have felt hopeless, Libby Davies is anything but.

The former MP of Vancouver East of 18 years told The PULSE that she believes every group, no matter how marginalized, can “absolutely” make change.

"People know what needs to be done. The hard part is knowing how to do it," says Davies, in the podcast above.

"Libby Davies is one of Canada’s leading advocates for social justice. She was known for her principled yet collegial approach to important but often contentious issues as a community activist, a Vancouver city councillor and, subsequently, a long-serving member of Parliament. Throughout her 18 years in the House of Commons, she provided leadership and continuity during a tumultuous period in our political history. She gave a voice to the voiceless on such issues such as the plight of thalidomide survivors, LGBTQ rights, affordable housing, missing and murdered women, and safe injection sites - Governor General of Canada

She points to many wins for the neighbourhood during her decades as an elected representative, including the successful opening of Insite, North America’s first supervised drug injection site.

Davies said that a tip she would offer advocates is to persevere. Political change is an inherently slow process, said Davies, but a concerted effort over time will yield change.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - I decided to finish this hour off by redoining the story of a visit I took to a fish farm, four years ago.

Some people will call this program one sided, which is what happens when you interview the people on one side of an argument.

Prior to this, I interviewed Alexandra Morton on three occasions, and also reviewed her movie “Salmon Confidential Documentary.”

On August 23, 2016, Morton joined members of the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw nation to board Marine Harvest's Midsummer farm in Kingcome Inlet, BC. The video embedded on Cortes currents shows what Morton found after lowered a Go Pro camera into the pens for ten minutes.

“I was stunned. I saw a fish go by with a big tumour on its’ head. This is one fish out of 800,000 in this pen. How many of the others have this? … Are they going to sell that fish for people to eat, or is that dogfood? I would worry about that,” she said.

When I asked Marine Harvest about the incident, they invited me to visit their fish farm in Phillips Arms.

This is one of the Discovery Island locations now scheduled to be phased out by 2022. In the audio above I describe the visit and how it relates to what I saw in Morton's video.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - I decided to finish this hour off by redoining the story of a visit I took to a fish farm, four years ago.

Some people will call this program one sided, which is what happens when you interview the people on one side of an argument.

Prior to this, I interviewed Alexandra Morton on three occasions, and also reviewed her movie “Salmon Confidential Documentary.”

On August 23, 2016, Morton joined members of the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw nation to board Marine Harvest's Midsummer farm in Kingcome Inlet, BC. The video embedded on Cortes currents shows what Morton found after lowered a Go Pro camera into the pens for ten minutes.

“I was stunned. I saw a fish go by with a big tumour on its’ head. This is one fish out of 800,000 in this pen. How many of the others have this? … Are they going to sell that fish for people to eat, or is that dogfood? I would worry about that,” she said.

When I asked Marine Harvest about the incident, they invited me to visit their fish farm in Phillips Arms.

This is one of the Discovery Island locations now scheduled to be phased out by 2022. In the audio above I describe the visit and how it relates to what I saw in Morton's video.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - I decided to finish this hour off by redoining the story of a visit I took to a fish farm, four years ago.

Some people will call this program one sided, which is what happens when you interview the people on one side of an argument.

Prior to this, I interviewed Alexandra Morton on three occasions, and also reviewed her movie “Salmon Confidential Documentary.”

On August 23, 2016, Morton joined members of the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw nation to board Marine Harvest's Midsummer farm in Kingcome Inlet, BC. The video embedded on Cortes currents shows what Morton found after lowered a Go Pro camera into the pens for ten minutes.

“I was stunned. I saw a fish go by with a big tumour on its’ head. This is one fish out of 800,000 in this pen. How many of the others have this? … Are they going to sell that fish for people to eat, or is that dogfood? I would worry about that,” she said.

When I asked Marine Harvest about the incident, they invited me to visit their fish farm in Phillips Arms.

This is one of the Discovery Island locations now scheduled to be phased out by 2022. In the audio above I describe the visit and how it relates to what I saw in Morton's video.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix issued a joint written statement urging British Columbians to stay home during the Family Day long weekend and lunar new year approach:

“The risks from COVID-19 remain high for all of us, especially with the variants of concern, which is why staying in our local community and avoiding any unnecessary travel is so important right now. This weekend is the weekend to stay home – to show your family and friends you care by not giving COVID-19 the opportunity to spread.”

There has been no update on the spread of the UK variant, since four cases were reported on Vancouver Island a week ago.

None of these were in the northern half of Vancouver Island and associated islands.

The BC Centre for Disease Control released geographic statistics, on the spread of COVID 19 within specific local health areas.

During the week ending on Saturday, February 6, there were two (2) active cases in the Greater Campbell River Health Area, which includes Campbell River, Sayward, and the Discovery Islands.

There were also four cases in the Comox Valley and one in Vancouver Island North.

On Sunday February 7th, Loblaws confirmed that one of the employees at the Real Canadian Superstore in Campbell River had tested positive. The employee had not worked since the previous Wednesday. 

Island Health COVID-19 Dashboard has more up to date information for the whole of North Vancouver Island, which stretches north from Courtenay. There were 11 active cases as of 4:30 PM yesterday, February 10.

There are currently 269 active cases within Island Health, 21 of these are in hospitals and 8 in critical care.

1,625 Island Health residents have recovered since the pandemic began and 20 have died.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix issued a joint written statement urging British Columbians to stay home during the Family Day long weekend and lunar new year approach:

“The risks from COVID-19 remain high for all of us, especially with the variants of concern, which is why staying in our local community and avoiding any unnecessary travel is so important right now. This weekend is the weekend to stay home – to show your family and friends you care by not giving COVID-19 the opportunity to spread.”

There has been no update on the spread of the UK variant, since four cases were reported on Vancouver Island a week ago.

None of these were in the northern half of Vancouver Island and associated islands.

The BC Centre for Disease Control released geographic statistics, on the spread of COVID 19 within specific local health areas.

During the week ending on Saturday, February 6, there were two (2) active cases in the Greater Campbell River Health Area, which includes Campbell River, Sayward, and the Discovery Islands.

There were also four cases in the Comox Valley and one in Vancouver Island North.

On Sunday February 7th, Loblaws confirmed that one of the employees at the Real Canadian Superstore in Campbell River had tested positive. The employee had not worked since the previous Wednesday. 

Island Health COVID-19 Dashboard has more up to date information for the whole of North Vancouver Island, which stretches north from Courtenay. There were 11 active cases as of 4:30 PM yesterday, February 10.

There are currently 269 active cases within Island Health, 21 of these are in hospitals and 8 in critical care.

1,625 Island Health residents have recovered since the pandemic began and 20 have died.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix issued a joint written statement urging British Columbians to stay home during the Family Day long weekend and lunar new year approach:

“The risks from COVID-19 remain high for all of us, especially with the variants of concern, which is why staying in our local community and avoiding any unnecessary travel is so important right now. This weekend is the weekend to stay home – to show your family and friends you care by not giving COVID-19 the opportunity to spread.”

There has been no update on the spread of the UK variant, since four cases were reported on Vancouver Island a week ago.

None of these were in the northern half of Vancouver Island and associated islands.

The BC Centre for Disease Control released geographic statistics, on the spread of COVID 19 within specific local health areas.

During the week ending on Saturday, February 6, there were two (2) active cases in the Greater Campbell River Health Area, which includes Campbell River, Sayward, and the Discovery Islands.

There were also four cases in the Comox Valley and one in Vancouver Island North.

On Sunday February 7th, Loblaws confirmed that one of the employees at the Real Canadian Superstore in Campbell River had tested positive. The employee had not worked since the previous Wednesday. 

Island Health COVID-19 Dashboard has more up to date information for the whole of North Vancouver Island, which stretches north from Courtenay. There were 11 active cases as of 4:30 PM yesterday, February 10.

There are currently 269 active cases within Island Health, 21 of these are in hospitals and 8 in critical care.

1,625 Island Health residents have recovered since the pandemic began and 20 have died.

De Clark/ Cortes Currents - [OPINION/EDITORIAL/RESEARCH]

The “fish farm” issue simmering for decades on the BC Coast has boiled over again, in the controversy over DFO’s recent decision to close down open-net Atlantic salmon “farms” in the Discovery Islands and Broughton Archipelago areas. Locally, the issue is mostly being discussed in terms of First Nations sovereignty vs employment, though debate continues over the scale and impact of externalities like sea lice infestations, chemical and biohazard effluent, etc.

I’d like to back up a bit and try to put this local conflict into a larger perspective. “Fish farming” is a global issue, with a long history. Canada is only one minor player in the international Great Game of Atlantic salmon feedlots. This is such a big subject that it can’t be fully covered in a readable article; I’ve compiled a brief bibliography (of links) by topic, at the end. There are also many links and footnotes throughout the text, so readers can dig deeper.

De Clark/ Cortes Currents - [OPINION/EDITORIAL/RESEARCH]

The “fish farm” issue simmering for decades on the BC Coast has boiled over again, in the controversy over DFO’s recent decision to close down open-net Atlantic salmon “farms” in the Discovery Islands and Broughton Archipelago areas. Locally, the issue is mostly being discussed in terms of First Nations sovereignty vs employment, though debate continues over the scale and impact of externalities like sea lice infestations, chemical and biohazard effluent, etc.

I’d like to back up a bit and try to put this local conflict into a larger perspective. “Fish farming” is a global issue, with a long history. Canada is only one minor player in the international Great Game of Atlantic salmon feedlots. This is such a big subject that it can’t be fully covered in a readable article; I’ve compiled a brief bibliography (of links) by topic, at the end. There are also many links and footnotes throughout the text, so readers can dig deeper.