Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Around the time President Donald Trump started threatening to start a trade war, Cortes Currents reached out to Dr Kushank Bajaj from UBC’s Institute for Resource, Environment and Sustainability and Marc Doll, from Foot Forward Forest Farm on Quadra Island. 

The topic was food security and Dr Bajaj is one of the developers of a website called Canada Food Flows, which traces the amount of fruits and vegetables coming into British Columbia from other provinces and nations.

Marc Doll comes from what, at first glance, seems like a totally different perspective. Foot Forward Forest Farm sells locally grown pastured chickens, custom made sausages, grass-fed lamb, free-range goat, pastured pork and free range pastured eggs.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Cortes Island’s dream of having a makerspace has become a reality. The Cortes Wood Makerspace is being set up in the Orchard Village Shop, 671 Sutil Point Rd, Mansons Landing.

“This idea has been around for a long time. I have heard people talking about it for at least 15 years and some old timers apparently remember even longer. We have lots of people who are woodworkers  or building their own homes and not everyone has to build a shop for themselves and equip it with machinery,” explained Hannu Huuskonen, the Shop Master. 

“We had our first meeting here on Saturday and there were at least 21 of us.  That's how many names I have, but there may have been one or two who didn't write their name down. There were quite a few professionals,  a few total newbies and a few people who were working on their houses.”

“People who don't have experience will have to go through an orientation workshop, where you learn the ‘one on one’ of using shop tools safely and doing a small project.  The people who have extensive shop experience will be mentors in this process.”

Huuskonen mentioned the Cortes Community Forest Co-op partnering with the Cortes Housing Society on this project:

“Cortes Community Forest Co-op has a mandate to  increase ‘value added’ products. They had the consultation where one of the things that was recommended was a makerspace.” 

Mark Lombard, General Manager of the Cortes Forestry General Partnership, added. “The question for the community forest, in terms of  the bigger picture roadmap, is how do we get to where we want to be in the future? A woodworking maker space is a big, big next step. So this is really exciting. The community forest is putting in $15,000 towards some of the tools and the housing society is putting in $15,000 - $20,000 to upgrade the electrical service and then a little bit towards tools. It's a really great collaborative community project.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Anna Kindy was sitting in her Campbell River office. Her assistant stood almost out of the frame long enough to wave, before handing Kindy a headset and disappearing. The thing I find refreshing about Kindy is she doesn’t sound like a politician, which is understandable because she only recently became one. She and her husband are both doctors. Anna Kindy was elected as the MLA for North Island on October 19, 2024 and is the Health Critic for the Conservative party Shadow Cabinet, but has yet to sit in the legislature.

This fact emerged when I asked her about the trips between her home in Merville and the legislature.

Anna Kindy: “ The NDP didn't call the house. We had no sitting which is unusual, currently there's a lot of crisis that needs to be dealt with. The first sitting will be February 18th.”

Cortes Currents: The legislature hasn't met in how many months?

Anna Kindy: “Well apparently, if you look back, it's since May because usually they don't run the legislature during the summer.”

Cortes Currents: The NDP government dropped the writ for the last election on September 21, 2024, four months after the last sitting. The legislature will have had a 278-day break when it reopens on February 18.

Anna Kindy: “Our party did FOIs (Freedom of Information requests) to see what kind of meetings they we're doing. To me it seems almost unconscionable that you're not at work when you've been elected and part of work is becoming accountable, sitting in the legislature to make sure that you respond to the questions that the electorate has and move forward on policy that might improve certain things.”

Cortes Currents: How many times have you been to Victoria?

Anna KIndy: “Since October 19th, I think twice. Around February 12th to 14th we have MLA school and then on February 18th, the house starts.”

Cortes Currents: Are your relationships with the NDP frosty?

Anna Kindy: “I don't think. From what I hear you still talk to each other, but once it comes to the Ledge gloves are off, but behind the scenes, you try to make things work.”

Julie Osborne is a former mayor of Tofino and was first elected in 2020. She was appointed Minister of Health in November 2024 - courtesy BC Government News

“For example, with this specialist group that I met , they try to get a hold of the Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, and for some reason they weren't able to get through. Which surprises me a little bit, but I think she's very busy and there's probably layers of bureaucracy that they have to approve. They've talked, I think, to the Deputy Minister and they still didn't get through.”

“So my job will be two things. I want to talk to her personally if I can, say, ‘hey, these are the specialists of BC.’ I probably would listen to what they have to say and then if that doesn't happen, I bring forward what their concerns are - bring it forward so that people are people at BC are aware. That's my job as a critic.”

“I've been pretty full on since being elected, to be honest.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Close to 50 people turned up at Mansons Hall on January 24, for an update on the construction coming or already underway in the downtown Mansons area. The Cortes Housing Society, Southern Cortes Community Association (SCCA), Cortes Island Community Foundation and Cortes Island Pickleball Society were on hand to describe what’s taking place at Rainbow Ridge, the multipurpose courts and the Village Commons. 

 Regional Director Mark Vonesch exclaimed, “The big news here on Cortes is that the Housing Society is going to start building houses this year.”

Sandra Wood, who's been at the heart of the Rainbow Ridge affordable housing project from the beginning, added, “It's exciting to finally get shovels in the ground. We feel like we've been shovel ready for years.”  

Manda Aufochs Gillespie, from the Cortes Island Foundation, described another focus of the meeting “More and more, it's clear that the Village Commons is really this whole area and all the things that we gather in the heart of Mansons to do.”

She mentioned the shared office and workspace which was close to completion beside FOCI, the CKTZ radio station and the little green with a picnic table.

“The space is opened up so that you can get into that area where the pavilion is basically breaking ground as we speak. So by the summer, the pavilion will be up, wired into the radio station, and set up for performances. We also have put in these storage spaces. We have signed a lease for two of them with the Cortes Island Food Bank, as a drop off and distribution center, but also just to expand their capacity. The other two we're hoping will be for non-profit and the public because, as we all know, somehow on this island there is never enough space.”

 “This whole space has largely been possible because the SCCA was like, ‘yes, let's think about parking as a community effort downtown.’ Which I've really appreciated because before it looked like we would have to use a whole huge chunk of that rather small space for parking. There has been the creation of a set of new parking spaces, which is going to be  signed, I think, by this summer.”

Cora Moret, from the SCCA, continued,  “I love the idea that this is all the Village Commons and that all these nonprofits are looking for the same thing, which is the Cortes community. So why would each place have a separate parking lot? It's all within a few dozen metres of each other.” 

“There is a sign  as you come up past this parking lot, directly to the west of the parking lot between the skate park and the fire hall.  It just looks like  a cleared gravel area, and we'll work on that. What we'd like to see is an area that is central , that  could host some EV charging stations. That hopefully is coming in the near future. BC Hydro wants to pay for these but they have  certain parameters around them. So we're working on that too.”

“We're going to be bringing in more grant projects for  the area between the skate park and the parking lot. We are very open to input. We're happy to hear what you think of what we're doing, what you think we should do or could do.”

The main interview was with Sadhu Johnston from the Cortes Island Housing Society.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - There is a community meal somewhere on Cortes Island every week. 

“A warm bowl of soup, or a stew, that’s at the heart of it. Then there's always some sort of fresh veggies or a fresh veggie platter cut up.  Folks are getting that kind of food in them.  Then bread and butter, because that's just the  basics for everybody and usually a dessert, some sort of cookies or brownies and the whole meal includes gluten free and vegetarian options,” explained Yasmina Cartland.  

“There's nothing you have to do to come to lunch. Everyone can come. You don't have to prove that you need it. It's completely inclusive. It's meant to be a warm social time and it's meant to actually nourish people with some warm nourishing food.”  

Cortes Currents: How many people show up on a typical day? 

Yasmina Cartland: “The average is around 60. That can be folks with families and little kids. The students have been coming from the Cortes Island Academy, so we've had that youth energy there. Also seniors and then just different individuals from all sorts of walks of life and ages. It really is quite a melange of folks who come out.”  

“At one point around this time last year, maybe a little further into the spring, it was sunny and people said, ‘Oh, I'm going to go to this community lunch.’ Folks just came out of the woodwork. I hadn't been quite ready and we didn't have quite a big enough pot. There were about 80 people.  Luckily somehow, loaves and fishes,  we were able to feed everybody who came right down to the very last scraping of the pot. Which is great, but I said, ‘okay, we need a bigger pot and I need to be ready every time.’ Not that there's been 85 people every time, but  we need to be ready every time.” 

“There's people in their neighborhoods that might need a meal for whatever reason. People who don't get out much, or  don't like to be in social settings or who've just been home from hospital or people are just ask, 'Is there enough to take home?' There are takeouts that go out into various neighborhoods, with the neighbors thinking of their neighbors that way.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - A timeline on the REC-REATE – Strathcona Gardens Revitalization Project website traces the origins of this project back to an operational review in 1998. At that time, most of the community was satisfied with the existing facility and the idea of building a new complex did not gain momentum until 2015. A community survey taken between February 2nd and March 2nd that year found that someone from 72% of the Campbell River and 64% of Area D households visited Strathcona Gardens at least once a year. Construction for Phase One,  the New Aquatic and Wellness Centre, finally began on September 10, 2024. However the estimated cost of this project had risen to $73 million and the Strathcona Regional District is exploring the idea that Quadra Island and Sayward taxpayers should be contributing. Nothing has been decided, but the SRD has received a stream of letters from hundreds of Quadra Island residents stating they do not use Strathcona Gardens and definitely do not want to pay for it! A little group calling itself the Friends of Area C collected hundreds of names on a petition opposing the suggestion that Quadra taxpayers should be included in Strathcona Garden catchment area.

 Cortes Currents: How long have you been collecting signatures?

“We've been collecting for two and a half weeks. We have well over 600. My last estimate, because I haven't actually collected the form, is that we're closer to 800 already.  We're actively canvassing, in some cases door to door. We have signing tables in front of the grocery stores. We have petition sign up locations at a multiple business locations throughout the island,” explained Mike Gall from the Friends of Area C.

Cortes Currents: How long will you continue to collect?

Mike Gall: “Well, I could set a limit and say 1,000. We think that would be a pretty good representation of the sense of the community. Or a week or so before the next board meeting, which will be February 19th. There's no set timeline for all of this because it's really a non-binding petition.”

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents - The grand finale of a series of interviews in which Rex Weyler offers his personal memories of the early Greenpeace campaigns and of Paul Watson, who became a lifelong friend.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Campbell River’s Strathcona Gardens is in the midst of re-development. Following a successful Alternative Approval Process (APP) in Campbell River and Area D, whose residents use this complex, in 2023 the Board authorized borrowing up to $64.6 million for this project. Crews are currently building the foundations.

The SRD is exploring the possibility of using Area C property tax dollars to support this complex, but has not yet decided upon a course of action. This sparked a great deal of resistance from Area C residents who do not want to see their property taxes increased to pay for a ‘Campbell River’ project.

In a motion made by Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney in November, she referred to hundreds of items of correspondence to that effect. The flow of correspondence continues. Emails and scanned letters from 65 Quadra residents, 2 Read Island residents and 1 Maurelle Island resident were received as correspondence at the January 22, 2025 SRD Board Meeting.

None of the 68 correspondents supported the project. One admitted to using the Strathcona Gardens approximately 4 times during her 40 years on Quadra Island.

De Clarke/Cortes Currents - The fourth in a series of interviews in which Rex Weyler offers his personal memories of the early Greenpeace campaigns and of Paul Watson, who became a lifelong friend.

De Clarke/CityWest - In the third of a series of five programs, Rex Weyler talks about Captain Paul Watson, some of the personality dynamics onboard the Greenpeace vessal and blockading the Russian whaling fleet.