Cortes Currents

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/Folk U - On July 21, 2025, host Manda Aufochs-Gillespie was joined by Dr. Eric Posen to discuss naturopathy, health, and healing. This conversation unpacks what naturopathic doctors do, illness and alternative medicine, and the future of mental and physical health.

Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 p.m. and Mondays at 6:30 p.m./Wednesday at 6 a.m. @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/Folk U - July 11, 2025 was the second week of the Village Commons Music Series, a simultaneously live and live-broadcast show, happening on Fridays from 1 - 2:30pm on the new Pavilion stage.

Host Manda Aufochs Gillespie was joined Kaia Bryce (piano, melodica, vocals) and Adrian Esau (guitar, harmonica, vocals) - Lasqueti islanders with big hearts and a big sound! They played a lively genre-bending show full of creative time-feel changes and rural island sentiments.

The Village Commons Music Series is produced by Jemma Hicken, Aaron Ellingsen, and Sean Coyote. It is made possible by the Cortes Island Community Foundation, Cortes Community Radio, and the Community Radio Fund of Canada.

Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 p.m. and Mondays at 6:30 p.m./Wednesday at 6 a.m. @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.

Manda Aufochs Goillespie/ Folk U - July 18, 2025 was the third week of the Village Commons Music Series, a simultaneously live and live-broadcast show, happening on Fridays from 1 - 2:30pm on the new Pavilion stage. 

Host Manda Aufochs Gillespie was joined by local legend Rick Bockner. Tune in for Rick’s unique fingerpicking style, lots of jokes, and some beautiful songs by a favourite Cortesian songwriter.

The Village Commons Music Series is produced by Jemma Hicken, Aaron Ellingsen, and Sean Coyote. It is made possible by the Cortes Island Community Foundation, Cortes Community Radio, and the Community Radio Fund of Canada.

Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 p.m. and Mondays at 6:30 p.m./Wednesday at 6 a.m. @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/Folk U - July 4, 2025 saw the launch of the Village Commons Music Series, a simultaneously live and live-broadcast show, happening on Fridays from 1 - 2:30pm on the new Pavilion stage.

Host Manda Aufochs Gillespie was joined by Denise Wolda, Owyn Pengelly, and Thomas Aerie, 3 local musicians who sat together on stage for an intergenerational in-the-round style performance, swapping songs, stories, and jokes.

The Village Commons Music Series is produced by Jemma Hicken, Aaron Ellingsen, and Sean Coyote. It is made possible by the Cortes Island Community Foundation, Cortes Community Radio, and the Community Radio Fund of Canada.

Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 p.m. and Mondays at 6:30 p.m./Wednesday at 6 a.m. @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.

Jemma Hicken/Folk U - On June 20th, 2025 guest host Jemma Hicken was joined by the Awakeneers, a 6-person, mostly-sibling folk band, for a short live set and interview. Tune in to listen to some fiddle and folk, hear about the upcoming grand opening of the Village Commons on June 27th, and learn quite a lot about beans.

Performance Highlights: Vancouver Island MusicFest (2023), Shaw Spotlight (2022 & 2024), Duncan Showroom (2024), CBC Radio One.

"One of the most talented and professional groups of musicians I’ve ever worked with" — Karen Seaboyer, Best Roots & Traditional Album JUNO juror, Campbell River Arts Council

"wonderfully entertaining show ... left us all with a smile on our faces and a song in our hearts!" — Patty Castle, Artistic Director, Victoria Folk Music Society.

On June 13, host Manda Aufochs-Gillespie was joined by community leaders and organizers, Duane Hanson, Mark Vonesch, Jemma Hicken, Sadhu Johnston, Cora Moret, and Immanuel McKenty, to chat about summer 2025. There’s a lot happening on our small island! Tune in for community updates, developments, programming, and more!

Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 p.m. and Mondays at 6:30 p.m./Wednesday at 6 a.m. @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.

Spring Gardening Tips & Museum Hours by Cortes Currents (https://cortescurrents.ca/)

Manda AUfochs Gillespie - Folk U - On May 2, 2025, host Manda Aufochs-Gillespie was joined by Ashley Zarbatany to to unpack the outcomes of the recent federal election, explore the roots of confusion around strategic voting, and consider what these results might mean for the future of Canada and Cortes!

Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 p.m. and Mondays at 6:30 p.m./Wednesday at 6 a.m. @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.

Roy L Hales/Cortes currents - What does it mean to be a neighbour on Cortes Island? This question is at the heart of the new Cortes Island Museum exhibition 'Won't You Be My Neighbour?' curated by Melanie Boyle, Managing Director of the museum and Monica Hoffman. Opening Sunday May 4th the exhibit invites visitors on a visual and narrative journey through both the historical and contemporary communities that shaped life on the island.

“The  idea of focusing on neighbourhoods came from the prior exhibition, ‘From the Ground Up,” explained Hoffman.

Boyle added, “We did touch on how people work together to build structures, in terms of collaboration.  It was also about repurposing material and sharing of resources and, in a way, this is also what this new exhibition is about. Collective land arrangements are a way for people to live affordably on Cortes, to share  the land, but also to share the material, resources and work collaboratively. So there's a lot of overlap.” 

Monica Hoffman: “This is about those very focused areas on the island, such as Tiber Bay, Blue Jay Lake, or Siskin Lane - that sort of community, and what it means to be a neighbour is all about.” 

Cortes Currents: It is also about the definition of ‘community,’ in all its manifestations from the pioneer era to modern times, from ‘communal groupings’ to individual dwellings.

Monica Hoffman: “A focal point for this exhibition is this north facing wall where we have a map of Cortes Island. We focus on various communities and give a little bit of commentary and interviews  with  the shareholders and the landholders. Some of these we did look at briefly in the prior exhibition, but this allows there to be a bit more space and more opportunity to explore them more.” 

Melanie Boyle: “Monica’s right, this wall is a little microcosm of the community itself. It's a reference to all the voices that make this exhibition happen. This exhibition stemmed  from an interview we did during the last exhibition with Amy Robertson, who is one of the co-founders of Treedom. Jill Milton and Bernice McGowan interviewed Paul Kirmmse, who is one of the co-founders of Redlands.  We spoke with Ron Bazaar. Jim Murphy came into the museum and spoke about Tiber Bay.  We also interviewed Ron Wolda, more to do with the mill itself. I know Ron from selling the spoons  as a craftsperson and I didn't know his ties to Vancouver, the business community and now Tiber Bay.” 

Monica Hoffman: “I didn't know where that Tiber Bay connection started.”  

Melanie Boyle: “It was serendipity and people looking at that particular time for options to live on Cortes or just live on the coast.  Land comes available  and  they organize a bunch of people to get together to purchase the land. Everwoods came out of discussions that were happening at Hollyhock at the time.”

“We respect the fact that these are the co-ops and collaborative living arrangements on Cortes, of people who are willing to actually share their story.  We only can profile a small handful. There are people who choose to remain private and we respect that, of course, but these would be ones that are publicly known.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - It was Earth Day at Wild Cortes, Cortes Island’s centre for natural history, community science and collaborative conservation.

“It is a very exciting place to be, with new displays coming in every year, always on Earth Day. That's probably the most important thing to say. It's Earth Day, so let's celebrate,” explained Sabina leader Mense, a professional advisor to Wild Cortes.

The centrepiece of this year's displays is the ‘Humpback Comeback’ section highlighting the stunning recovery of Humpback Whales in our local waters.

Sabina Leader Mense: “They used to be everywhere, then the Douglas Whaling Station was set up in Whaletown Bay. Its history is in the little display here, ‘the Dawson Whaling Company, 1869.’ It only lasted a year. They realized it was not the most optimum site, so moved it down to Hornby Island the next year. So we only had the legacy of bonking Humpback Whales on the head and flensing them for a year, but the name stuck. That's how ‘Whaletown’ got its name. The Humpbacks completely disappeared. We eliminated them from the Strait of Georgia, not a Humpback to be seen.”

Cortes Currents: When did they start coming back?

Sabina Leader Mense: “Some of the first Humpbacks that we saw were in the early eighties. I was working out at the Bamfield Marine Station,running research programs, but I put myself through university fishing off the West Coast and would interact with the fishermen. They started telling me that they were seeing Humpback Whales out on the finger bank in the early eighties and sure enough, the Humpbacks were coming slowly back to the coast of BC.”

“Then we have this brilliant work by the Marine Education Research Society (MERS) whose work Donna Collins is featuring in this display.”

“The Marine Education and Research Society has been documenting them and identifying them individually,” said Collins, who is also one of Cortes Wild's co-curators.

“Donna has done a fantastic job. There's lots of pictures and all kinds of interesting things, including two sea lion skulls, both of which were found on local beaches,” added Laurel Bohart, Cortes Wild’s other co-curator.

Sabina Leader Mense: “We can reliably identify Humpback Whales from the underside of their tail flukes, as well as the little nubbin that we call the dorsal fin but the underside of the tail flues is very characteristic. They have these colorations, black and white splotches, big chunks taken out of them, very readily identified by the underside of the tail flukes.”

Donna Collins: “As of 2024, 776 Humpback Whales have been identified.”

Sabina Leader Mense: “That’s in their entire catalog for BC.”

“We brought Jackie Hildering, from MERS, in six years ago. 86 individual Humpback Whales were identified in 2019. This figure of 86, why it's so impressive is it's from here. There were 86 individua Humpbacks found in the area from the northern end of Cortes to Powell River, across to Heriot Bay on Quadra Island.”