Cortes Currents

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.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The leaders of BC’s two largest political parties were in Campbell River over the week-end.

Andrew Wilson criticizes NDP forestry

Standing on a flat-deck truck in the Discovery plaza, Saturday, BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson criticized the NDP’s failure to address the forestry crisis.

“Last year and earlier this year, we had an eight month strike at Western. Most of you felt that – hard. If you were in Port McNeill: you watched coffee shops shut down permanently; you watched people’s trucks get towed away; you watched people lose their homes,” said Wilkinson.

“And what did the NDP do for that eight months?”

“They did nothing – because they couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to these communities. They couldn’t be bothered to come out to the meetings.”

“And how many of you were at that meeting with [former MLA] Claire Trevana that made it onto Youtube? We were talking about that on the way down here. It was an embarrassment. When the elected MLA for North Island, where the beating heart if this economy is coastal forestry, can say nothing more than ‘Yes I hear you, I will go and ask my boss in Victoria.”

“And did she do anything in Victoria? – nothing happened.”

“So you folks, rightfully, got a little fed up. You took your trucks down to Victoria, on February 18th of this year, and said ‘enough is enough.’ You circled the legislature. You showed them that you are proud of what you do. You showed them the investment you make in these massive machines, to do the work you do.”

“What happened?”

“Claire Trevana wouldn’t come out to see you. The Minister of Forests wouldn’t come out to see you. They were having a cabinet meeting in that building to the west of where you were parked. And they sat there and looked out the window because they were too embarrassed to come out and saw hello.”

“That’s just plain wrong. Does anybody here with a horn in their truck agree that’s just plain wrong?” prompted Wilkinson.

NDP Forestry

The NDP responded with a press release, in which they pointed out that the number of jobs in the forestry sector dropped 40% when the Liberals were in power, and 45% less logs were processed.

In their 2020 election platform, the BC NDP have promised to work with First Nations governments, labour, industry, and environmental groups to “implement recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review” to protect old-growth forests.

The Ancient Forest Alliance pointed out that Premier Horgan did not promise to implement all of the panel’s recommendations and he may choose to “implement only those recommendations that have the least impact on the logging industry’s short-term economic interests.”

Salmon Farms

One of the unknowns in this riding, is what effect will having a relatively high profile candidate like Alexandra Morton do for the Green party?

So perhaps it is not surprising that when John Horgan spoke at the Campbell River Museum Sunday morning, he had a lot to say about wild salmon and fish farms.

Horgan said BC is currently partnered with the federal government on the $143 million BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund, which he promises a re-elected BC NDP government would work to double.

As for salmon farms, “The vast majority of responsibility is with Ottawa. British Columbia issues the licenses for tenures, which is basically the land under the sea that the fish farms are attached to. So our responsibility in this area is limited, but we can in fact pull tenures. so [in 2017] we sat down with industry, indigenous leaders in the Broughton Archipelago, as well as communities, and we’ve now closed, I think, a dozen farms in the migratory route of the salmon through the Broughton,” said Horgan.

He added, “We’ve made a commitment that if the industry does not have buy-in from indigenous populations as well as communities by 2022, we’ll start to phase out those farms as well.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The leaders of BC’s two largest political parties were in Campbell River over the week-end.

Andrew Wilson criticizes NDP forestry

Standing on a flat-deck truck in the Discovery plaza, Saturday, BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson criticized the NDP’s failure to address the forestry crisis.

“Last year and earlier this year, we had an eight month strike at Western. Most of you felt that – hard. If you were in Port McNeill: you watched coffee shops shut down permanently; you watched people’s trucks get towed away; you watched people lose their homes,” said Wilkinson.

“And what did the NDP do for that eight months?”

“They did nothing – because they couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to these communities. They couldn’t be bothered to come out to the meetings.”

“And how many of you were at that meeting with [former MLA] Claire Trevana that made it onto Youtube? We were talking about that on the way down here. It was an embarrassment. When the elected MLA for North Island, where the beating heart if this economy is coastal forestry, can say nothing more than ‘Yes I hear you, I will go and ask my boss in Victoria.”

“And did she do anything in Victoria? – nothing happened.”

“So you folks, rightfully, got a little fed up. You took your trucks down to Victoria, on February 18th of this year, and said ‘enough is enough.’ You circled the legislature. You showed them that you are proud of what you do. You showed them the investment you make in these massive machines, to do the work you do.”

“What happened?”

“Claire Trevana wouldn’t come out to see you. The Minister of Forests wouldn’t come out to see you. They were having a cabinet meeting in that building to the west of where you were parked. And they sat there and looked out the window because they were too embarrassed to come out and saw hello.”

“That’s just plain wrong. Does anybody here with a horn in their truck agree that’s just plain wrong?” prompted Wilkinson.

NDP Forestry

The NDP responded with a press release, in which they pointed out that the number of jobs in the forestry sector dropped 40% when the Liberals were in power, and 45% less logs were processed.

In their 2020 election platform, the BC NDP have promised to work with First Nations governments, labour, industry, and environmental groups to “implement recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review” to protect old-growth forests.

The Ancient Forest Alliance pointed out that Premier Horgan did not promise to implement all of the panel’s recommendations and he may choose to “implement only those recommendations that have the least impact on the logging industry’s short-term economic interests.”

Salmon Farms

One of the unknowns in this riding, is what effect will having a relatively high profile candidate like Alexandra Morton do for the Green party?

So perhaps it is not surprising that when John Horgan spoke at the Campbell River Museum Sunday morning, he had a lot to say about wild salmon and fish farms.

Horgan said BC is currently partnered with the federal government on the $143 million BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund, which he promises a re-elected BC NDP government would work to double.

As for salmon farms, “The vast majority of responsibility is with Ottawa. British Columbia issues the licenses for tenures, which is basically the land under the sea that the fish farms are attached to. So our responsibility in this area is limited, but we can in fact pull tenures. so [in 2017] we sat down with industry, indigenous leaders in the Broughton Archipelago, as well as communities, and we’ve now closed, I think, a dozen farms in the migratory route of the salmon through the Broughton,” said Horgan.

He added, “We’ve made a commitment that if the industry does not have buy-in from indigenous populations as well as communities by 2022, we’ll start to phase out those farms as well.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - “If we can go out and clean up - helping another set of communities like the Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xai’Xais and Gitga’at - we can certainly start cleaning up our community. That’s what I’d really like to see coming out of this,” said Jonas Fineman.

He was one of nine eco-tour captains who had just returned from a beach clean up along BC’s central coast.

>>> The Misty Isles

Jonas was hired to serve as captain of the 70’ foot ketch "Island Odyssey", but his name is associated with another vessel here on Cortes Island.

He and his wife, Amy Bockner purchased the "Misty Isles" last year, but he was captain of another vessel most of that summer. They decided to officially launch their new venture in the Spring of 2020.

No one anticipated COVID 19.

Photo credit: Jonas Fineman and his daughter on Misty Isles

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - “If we can go out and clean up - helping another set of communities like the Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xai’Xais and Gitga’at - we can certainly start cleaning up our community. That’s what I’d really like to see coming out of this,” said Jonas Fineman.

He was one of nine eco-tour captains who had just returned from a beach clean up along BC’s central coast.

>>> The Misty Isles

Jonas was hired to serve as captain of the 70’ foot ketch "Island Odyssey", but his name is associated with another vessel here on Cortes Island.

He and his wife, Amy Bockner purchased the "Misty Isles" last year, but he was captain of another vessel most of that summer. They decided to officially launch their new venture in the Spring of 2020.

No one anticipated COVID 19.

Photo credit: Jonas Fineman and his daughter on Misty Isles

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U Radio - Achaeology 102: the BC edition of the Science of Once and Future Things.

It’s fascinating to think about how human civilization evolved. In Archaeology 102: The Science of Once and Future Things BC edition professor and neighbour Dr. Brian Hayden, archeologist, takes us through thousands of years of human history and what it can tell us about the peoples of BC.

Archaeology, like all sciences, has those aspects of it which are certain, probable, and speculative Dr. Hayden tells us. Because archeology as a science has only been around for 150 years there are not a lot of certain things, such as that the first stone tools showed up 2 to 3 million years ago, that the first people came to North America 15 to 20,0000 years ago, and that both cultural and biological evolution of humans has occurred.

These things are known. Recent findings in BC, such as the 14,000 year old artifacts at Triquet Island, now compose the oldest artifacts found in North America. The artifacts were found just 500 km northwest of Victoria and included tools for lighting fires, fish hooks, and spears. They seem to confirm what many archeologists have speculated: that humans first came into North America along the coast of BC 20,000 to 15,000 years ago. Geologically at this time, the ice-sheets were parting. These ice-sheets covered the area and were covered by 1 kilometre-deep ice. This ice melted about 10,000 years ago in this area. It is probable that these first peoples were simple hunter gatherers that lived with no competition, where little or nothing was owned, and everyone lived in social equality without evidence of conflict, war, or hierarchies.

Around 4,000 to 5,000 years ago things changed. Much of Dr. Hayden’s particular research focuses on the complex hunter gather communities that began to develop around this time. These communities developed then technology to harvest and store food and are marked by more productivity and food storage capacity, more sedentary lifestyles (which in this case means that they stayed in particular areas for more of the time rather than always moving with game), larger living groups, more permanent structures, greater use of fish and other resources. The development of storage technologies had profound implications on all aspects of early human peoples. Storage meant preparing for spoilage, which meant overproduction and having more than was immediately needed. What do with the surplus? It seems to have been used for individual advantage and thus begins evidence of inequality.

The evidence of inequality in archeological terms that began to develop around 4,000 years ago, includes:—human remains began to show signs of human trauma compatible with early weapons of the times— signs of adornment (like early lip rings) in human remains— a burial site with 350,000 stone beads and shell jewelry, representing thousands of hours of labor —and the linguistic origins of the word slavery in traditional languages suggests that the slavery originated in the BC region 2,000 to 3,000 years ago.

Dr. Hayden also discussed the eponymously named Hayden Project at Keatley Creek an archeological site in B.C. with a great deal of evidence on how early people in advanced hunter-gather societies lived. This site also includes evidence of what Dr. Hayden refers to as early “secret societies.” He’s got an upcoming book out on the topic.

Photo credit: Quiggly hole, or Si7xten, in Lillooet, 1996 by Skookum1 @ en.wikipedia (Public domain)

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U Radio - Achaeology 102: the BC edition of the Science of Once and Future Things.

It’s fascinating to think about how human civilization evolved. In Archaeology 102: The Science of Once and Future Things BC edition professor and neighbour Dr. Brian Hayden, archeologist, takes us through thousands of years of human history and what it can tell us about the peoples of BC.

Archaeology, like all sciences, has those aspects of it which are certain, probable, and speculative Dr. Hayden tells us. Because archeology as a science has only been around for 150 years there are not a lot of certain things, such as that the first stone tools showed up 2 to 3 million years ago, that the first people came to North America 15 to 20,0000 years ago, and that both cultural and biological evolution of humans has occurred.

These things are known. Recent findings in BC, such as the 14,000 year old artifacts at Triquet Island, now compose the oldest artifacts found in North America. The artifacts were found just 500 km northwest of Victoria and included tools for lighting fires, fish hooks, and spears. They seem to confirm what many archeologists have speculated: that humans first came into North America along the coast of BC 20,000 to 15,000 years ago. Geologically at this time, the ice-sheets were parting. These ice-sheets covered the area and were covered by 1 kilometre-deep ice. This ice melted about 10,000 years ago in this area. It is probable that these first peoples were simple hunter gatherers that lived with no competition, where little or nothing was owned, and everyone lived in social equality without evidence of conflict, war, or hierarchies.

Around 4,000 to 5,000 years ago things changed. Much of Dr. Hayden’s particular research focuses on the complex hunter gather communities that began to develop around this time. These communities developed then technology to harvest and store food and are marked by more productivity and food storage capacity, more sedentary lifestyles (which in this case means that they stayed in particular areas for more of the time rather than always moving with game), larger living groups, more permanent structures, greater use of fish and other resources. The development of storage technologies had profound implications on all aspects of early human peoples. Storage meant preparing for spoilage, which meant overproduction and having more than was immediately needed. What do with the surplus? It seems to have been used for individual advantage and thus begins evidence of inequality.

The evidence of inequality in archeological terms that began to develop around 4,000 years ago, includes:—human remains began to show signs of human trauma compatible with early weapons of the times— signs of adornment (like early lip rings) in human remains— a burial site with 350,000 stone beads and shell jewelry, representing thousands of hours of labor —and the linguistic origins of the word slavery in traditional languages suggests that the slavery originated in the BC region 2,000 to 3,000 years ago.

Dr. Hayden also discussed the eponymously named Hayden Project at Keatley Creek an archeological site in B.C. with a great deal of evidence on how early people in advanced hunter-gather societies lived. This site also includes evidence of what Dr. Hayden refers to as early “secret societies.” He’s got an upcoming book out on the topic.

Photo credit: Quiggly hole, or Si7xten, in Lillooet, 1996 by Skookum1 @ en.wikipedia (Public domain)

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Cortes Currents - The Rainbow Ridge Rezoning Public Hearing was held this Thursday October 15, 2020, at 2 p.m., six months after it’s originally scheduled date, which was postponed due to COVID19. In question was the rezoning of a 2.45-hectare portion of the 20.75-hectare Rainbow Ridge property. The public hearing involved an in-person option, a phone-in options, and a livestream option: to ensure numerous options for the public while maintaining public safety protocols. There were three Strathcona Regional District staff in person at Manson’s Hall. The rest of the SRD staff and the four rural directors joined virtually, this included alternate director Corry Dow sitting in for Noba Anderson for Cortes Island.

The Public Hearing heard from fourteen Cortes Island residents: 3 in person and 11 virtually. The fourteen speakers represented nearly 300 years of living on Cortes Island and all of them spoke in support of the Rezoning Proposal for Rainbow Ridge. This included one neighbour who said she had originally been opposed to the project and then after listening to the other speakers had changed her mind and decided to speak in support of the project.

To read more about Rainbow Ridge visit Cortes Currents https://cortescurrents.ca/tag/rainbow-ridge/ or to listen to a recent podcast about the project visit: https://cortescurrents.ca/findng-home-options-and-challenges/

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/ Cortes Currents - The Rainbow Ridge Rezoning Public Hearing was held this Thursday October 15, 2020, at 2 p.m., six months after it’s originally scheduled date, which was postponed due to COVID19. In question was the rezoning of a 2.45-hectare portion of the 20.75-hectare Rainbow Ridge property. The public hearing involved an in-person option, a phone-in options, and a livestream option: to ensure numerous options for the public while maintaining public safety protocols. There were three Strathcona Regional District staff in person at Manson’s Hall. The rest of the SRD staff and the four rural directors joined virtually, this included alternate director Corry Dow sitting in for Noba Anderson for Cortes Island.

The Public Hearing heard from fourteen Cortes Island residents: 3 in person and 11 virtually. The fourteen speakers represented nearly 300 years of living on Cortes Island and all of them spoke in support of the Rezoning Proposal for Rainbow Ridge. This included one neighbour who said she had originally been opposed to the project and then after listening to the other speakers had changed her mind and decided to speak in support of the project.

To read more about Rainbow Ridge visit Cortes Currents https://cortescurrents.ca/tag/rainbow-ridge/ or to listen to a recent podcast about the project visit: https://cortescurrents.ca/findng-home-options-and-challenges/

Roy L HaLes/Cortes Currents - Though the number cases is still rising, there are still fewer deaths and and hospitalizations in the second wave of COVID 19. There were 968 new cases reported in British Columbia last week. The majority were in the Fraser and North Coast Health Regions. Vancouver Island continues to report the lowest numbers in the province and there were only two new cases in North Vancouver Island last week.

Comparing weekly maps released by the BC Centre for Disease Control yesterday and a week before, we find: two new cases in North Vancouver Island; eight in Central Vancouver Island and six in Southern Vancouver Island

Photo credit: Quadra Island by Pierre Mariotta via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)