Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - On July 13th, Regional Director Noba Anderson’s lawyer filed a suit against the Strathcona Regional District (SRD), in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. She seeks repayment of her legal fees, from a frivolous lawsuit brought against her last year, and the dismissal of a subsequent SRD motion of censure. The case is to be heard sometime during the assize week starting November 23, 2020. James H Goulden just filed the SRD’s Response to Petition.

>>> Legal argument for not paying court costs

This document argues that the SRD’s Indemnification Bylaw only provides protection for officials “in connection with the exercise of of the official’s powers or the performance, or intended performance of the official’s duties or functions.”

“The Disqualification Petition is not a ‘claim, action or prosecution’ and was brought against Director Anderson in respect o the alleged receipt of gifts that were not in connection with the exercise of exercise of her powers or the intended exercise of her powers or the performance or intended performance of her duties or functions. The SRD is therefore not required to indemnify Director Anderson for the legal costs incurred.”

>>> Legal argument for censorship

The Response to Petition also confirms Anderson’s contention that she was censored for showing her lawyer confidential SRD documents, while seeking his legal advice.

According to the SRD’s Code of Conduct Bylaw, “information discussed or disclosed at closed meeting or the board” or marked as confidential “must not be disclosed or released to anyone.”

>>> Chronology of events

Thus when Director Anderson’s lawyer, Matthew Voeil, cited two of these documents, in a March 7, 2019 letter to the SRD, the Board perceived it as a violation of the Code of conduct.

In response, the SRD stopped providing Director Anderson “with closed reports to the Board respecting matters that relate to Director Anderson and to which Director Anderson may be in a conflict of interest with the Board.”

On April 15, the SRD’s legal counsel wrote Mr Voeill that these documents were confidential and “should be returned to the SRD or deleted.”

On May 1, 2019, Mr Voeill responded that “Director Anderson was entitled to disclose those documents to him.”

At their closed meeting a week later, on May 8, the Board resolved to not pay Director Anderson’s legal fees.

continued on the Cortes Currents website

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Though only a little more than 2% of the electorate voted for him in the last provincial election, John Twigg is back. This time he is running for the Conservative party - which has not contested this seat for decades. Twig especially wants to talk about self sufficiency in food, policing and banking

He is a veteran journalist who previously served as Premier Dave Barrett’s press secretary (1972-75), and was the Financial Editor for the Regina Leader-Post (1978-85). He also successfully lobbied for fo the creation of the West Coast Trail and Nitinat Triangle portions of Pacific Rim National Park, as well as pioneering the concept of community gardens in Victoria’s James Bay.

He has been living in the Campbell River area, for the past 25 years.

Q: “Why are you running in this election?”

Twigg replied, “When you run you get opportunities to answer questions like the one you just asked. I use this opportunity to raise what I think is one of the major concerns for British Columbians, that’s to get more self sufficiency. When we look around the world at the troubles that are already there and getting worse - and I think the people on Cortes relate to this - I think British Columbia urgently needs to have self sufficiency strategies.

“Certainly in food, of course we have lots of water, but we also need self sufficiency in policing and in banking. I’ve been advocating the revival of the BC provincial police force parallel to the RCMP and all the municipal forces. I also want to revive the Bank of BC and issue currency. That may sound a little outlandish but, for the province’s centenary in 1958, Premier W.A.C. Bennet issued a silver dollar without approval from the Bank of Canada. So, yes, BC could have its own parallel security, police force, self sufficiency in food and many other things that are important to maintain the civil order in society.”

“There are other reasons too, like I would more jobs, better management of resources> There is more than one reason I’m running, but the main one is to get out this message of raising BC’s self sufficiency.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Though only a little more than 2% of the electorate voted for him in the last provincial election, John Twigg is back. This time he is running for the Conservative party - which has not contested this seat for decades. Twig especially wants to talk about self sufficiency in food, policing and banking

He is a veteran journalist who previously served as Premier Dave Barrett’s press secretary (1972-75), and was the Financial Editor for the Regina Leader-Post (1978-85). He also successfully lobbied for fo the creation of the West Coast Trail and Nitinat Triangle portions of Pacific Rim National Park, as well as pioneering the concept of community gardens in Victoria’s James Bay.

He has been living in the Campbell River area, for the past 25 years.

Q: “Why are you running in this election?”

Twigg replied, “When you run you get opportunities to answer questions like the one you just asked. I use this opportunity to raise what I think is one of the major concerns for British Columbians, that’s to get more self sufficiency. When we look around the world at the troubles that are already there and getting worse - and I think the people on Cortes relate to this - I think British Columbia urgently needs to have self sufficiency strategies.

“Certainly in food, of course we have lots of water, but we also need self sufficiency in policing and in banking. I’ve been advocating the revival of the BC provincial police force parallel to the RCMP and all the municipal forces. I also want to revive the Bank of BC and issue currency. That may sound a little outlandish but, for the province’s centenary in 1958, Premier W.A.C. Bennet issued a silver dollar without approval from the Bank of Canada. So, yes, BC could have its own parallel security, police force, self sufficiency in food and many other things that are important to maintain the civil order in society.”

“There are other reasons too, like I would more jobs, better management of resources> There is more than one reason I’m running, but the main one is to get out this message of raising BC’s self sufficiency.”

Tan Mei Xi/ The Pulse (CRFO 100.5 FM, Local Journalism Initiative - How can society help folks experiencing homelessness? A new study based in the Lower Mainland shows that one of the solutions can be simple—just give folks cash.

Foundations for Social Change, a Vancouver-based organization, worked with UBC researchers to examine whether direct, unconditional, and one-time cash transfers could help lift people out of homelessness. The study found that research participants who had received cash transfers were able to, on average, move into stable housing faster, achieve greater food security, and increase spending on clothes, food, and rent. The study also found that cash recipients reduced their spending on alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs by 39 per cent on average.

"[Stereotypes] are incredibly harmful to the people we are trying to work shoulder-to-shoulder with in community to better their lives," said Claire Williams, CEO of Foundations for Social Change.

"A lot of social policy is built around these broken stereotypes...we make the burden of proof for folks to get on any kind of support incredibly high because we default to this thinking that they are trying to cheat the system."

It "isn't true", said Williams, that policy makers know better than the people experiencing poverty what support is most needed.

In this research study, cash recipients were given $7,500 with conditions placed on spending. To be eligible for the study, participants had to be recently homeless and not be experiencing addiction or mental-health issues.

Foundations for Social Change plans to expand its research project with 200 more cash transfers in 2021 to 2023.

Tan Mei Xi/ The Pulse (CRFO 100.5 FM, Local Journalism Initiative - How can society help folks experiencing homelessness? A new study based in the Lower Mainland shows that one of the solutions can be simple—just give folks cash.

Foundations for Social Change, a Vancouver-based organization, worked with UBC researchers to examine whether direct, unconditional, and one-time cash transfers could help lift people out of homelessness. The study found that research participants who had received cash transfers were able to, on average, move into stable housing faster, achieve greater food security, and increase spending on clothes, food, and rent. The study also found that cash recipients reduced their spending on alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs by 39 per cent on average.

"[Stereotypes] are incredibly harmful to the people we are trying to work shoulder-to-shoulder with in community to better their lives," said Claire Williams, CEO of Foundations for Social Change.

"A lot of social policy is built around these broken stereotypes...we make the burden of proof for folks to get on any kind of support incredibly high because we default to this thinking that they are trying to cheat the system."

It "isn't true", said Williams, that policy makers know better than the people experiencing poverty what support is most needed.

In this research study, cash recipients were given $7,500 with conditions placed on spending. To be eligible for the study, participants had to be recently homeless and not be experiencing addiction or mental-health issues.

Foundations for Social Change plans to expand its research project with 200 more cash transfers in 2021 to 2023.

Max Thaysen/Cortes Currents - This past winter/spring – the conflict between Coastal Gaslink pipeline the BC gov and the wetsuweten nation resulted in nation-wide solidarity actions and mass protest. The issue was not resolved and protest was quieted by the pandemic.

Cortes Currents reached out to the NDP, Liberal, Green and Conservative candidates for their views on the conflict in Wet’suwet’en territory. We asked how the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples could accord with the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline project.

John Twigg, the nominee for the Conservative Party said that he didn’t think UNDRIP, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, gave indigenous peoples veto power over economic development, but neither did he think that they should be steamrollered. He also said that he supports reconciliation and that looks different in every location.

Alex Morton, Green party candidate stated that the history of colonization destroyed traditional indigenous governments, and they have been doing heroic work reestablishing their systems. We have to be patient and supportive and if companies can’t handle that process and schedule, then they need to walk away from the resource.

She went on to say that she was part of the Fish Farm occupation in the broughton archipelago. That occupation was led, as is the Wet’suwent’en land defence, by the members of first nations and their hereditary chiefs – – the elected chiefs were encumbered by their relationship with the provincial government.

She said that both Adam Olsen and Sonia Furstenau, Green MLAs, came to visit and demonstrated a serious commitment to reconciliation.

She went on to say that the systems of government that were created on the land by indigenous people are primarily concerned with the issues on the land and are therefore often the best systems for caring for the people and places we love.

Liberal Candidate, Norm Facey, did yet not respond to a call and an email in time for publication.

NDP candidate Michele Babchuk directed Cortes Currents to her campaign manager, Kassandra Lowell, who initially sounded positive about making time for an interview. But after consulting with the NDP Regional Media Team, it was decided that there would not be time for an interview. Kassandra said that if the issue had been more urgent or local, she might have been able to make the case to the Regional Media Team to discuss the matter with us, adding we would be on a list if any time became available.

Max Thaysen/Cortes Currents - This past winter/spring – the conflict between Coastal Gaslink pipeline the BC gov and the wetsuweten nation resulted in nation-wide solidarity actions and mass protest. The issue was not resolved and protest was quieted by the pandemic.

Cortes Currents reached out to the NDP, Liberal, Green and Conservative candidates for their views on the conflict in Wet’suwet’en territory. We asked how the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples could accord with the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline project.

John Twigg, the nominee for the Conservative Party said that he didn’t think UNDRIP, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, gave indigenous peoples veto power over economic development, but neither did he think that they should be steamrollered. He also said that he supports reconciliation and that looks different in every location.

Alex Morton, Green party candidate stated that the history of colonization destroyed traditional indigenous governments, and they have been doing heroic work reestablishing their systems. We have to be patient and supportive and if companies can’t handle that process and schedule, then they need to walk away from the resource.

She went on to say that she was part of the Fish Farm occupation in the broughton archipelago. That occupation was led, as is the Wet’suwent’en land defence, by the members of first nations and their hereditary chiefs – – the elected chiefs were encumbered by their relationship with the provincial government.

She said that both Adam Olsen and Sonia Furstenau, Green MLAs, came to visit and demonstrated a serious commitment to reconciliation.

She went on to say that the systems of government that were created on the land by indigenous people are primarily concerned with the issues on the land and are therefore often the best systems for caring for the people and places we love.

Liberal Candidate, Norm Facey, did yet not respond to a call and an email in time for publication.

NDP candidate Michele Babchuk directed Cortes Currents to her campaign manager, Kassandra Lowell, who initially sounded positive about making time for an interview. But after consulting with the NDP Regional Media Team, it was decided that there would not be time for an interview. Kassandra said that if the issue had been more urgent or local, she might have been able to make the case to the Regional Media Team to discuss the matter with us, adding we would be on a list if any time became available.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - This could become the longest election in bc recent historuy. Advance voting in our riding began last Thursday, October 15th, in the Campbell River Commons. Though Elections BC states it will release a preliminary count after 8 PM on election day, October 24th, the final count begins on Nov 6, and Return day (ie the official count) is expected to be Monday Nov 16th.

This means that unless there is an NDP landslide, we may not know the final result until three weeks after the election.

There are 45,121 registered voters in the North Island riding.

Only 63% of the electorate turned out in the last provincial election.

Statistics from Elections BC show that 10% of the electorate of the electorate have taken advantage of advanced polls and another 20% or so applied for mail in packages.

So what is the turnout going to be like on October 24th?

Cortes Island residents who wish to vote in person may do so between 8 AM and 8 PM at the Cortes Island school

Quadra Island residents must go to the Community Centre on West Road.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - This could become the longest election in bc recent historuy. Advance voting in our riding began last Thursday, October 15th, in the Campbell River Commons. Though Elections BC states it will release a preliminary count after 8 PM on election day, October 24th, the final count begins on Nov 6, and Return day (ie the official count) is expected to be Monday Nov 16th.

This means that unless there is an NDP landslide, we may not know the final result until three weeks after the election.

There are 45,121 registered voters in the North Island riding.

Only 63% of the electorate turned out in the last provincial election.

Statistics from Elections BC show that 10% of the electorate of the electorate have taken advantage of advanced polls and another 20% or so applied for mail in packages.

So what is the turnout going to be like on October 24th?

Cortes Island residents who wish to vote in person may do so between 8 AM and 8 PM at the Cortes Island school

Quadra Island residents must go to the Community Centre on West Road.

Roy L Hales/Deep Roots - Toba is not an English word, or Coast Salish. The first Europeans to visit this remote fjord on the West Coast of British Columbia were Spanish. Deep Roots story producer Roy L Hales interviews Michelle Robinson and Ken Hanuse, from the Klahoose First Nation, and local historian Judith Williams about the story behind Toba Inlet's name.