Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The 32 properties in Tiber Bay are one step closer to being included in the South Cortes Island fire protection area. They are currently outside the boundary and, consequently, the Cortes Fire department cannot immediately respond to fires in that area. It needs direction from the BC Wildfire Service. Tiber Bay residents will soon be receiving a petition in which they can state their preferences.

Cortes Island Director Mark Vonesch read out the motion at the December 11 SRD Board Meeting,  “That a petition be prepared and distributed to affected property owners to determine if they support the extension initiative, and then a further report be prepared for the Board's consideration at the conclusion of the petition process.”

The only resistance came from two Campbell River Directors who had questions about process.

Campbell River Director Susan Sinnott asked, “ With the petition being distributed during the mail strike, how are we doing this?”

Shaun Koopman, the SRD’s Protective Service’s Coordinator, responded  “We're going to work with the Cortez Island Fire Department who will, we'll also work with the resident to make sure that everyone's envelope ends up in their hands.”

Director Sinnott:  “So I'm assuming that there is a procedure under a petition that we can do this?”

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) David Leitch explained, “There's a petition process in generally. If you have a small amount of people in an area, you'll do a petition. If there's 10, 20, or 40 50 of them, whatever petition is totally acceptable. So this is a small group and a small area, and you can deliver the petitions to them.”

Campbell River Director Doug Chapman objected to this,  “The only comment I have is that I wouldn't send the volunteer fire department into the new area at the risk of appearing to be pressuring people to sign. I think it should be people in the current area seeking signatures from those who are already in the area.”

CAO Leitch: “ I think what we'll end up doing is they'll be delivering them to their door. There's no solicitation here.”

Director Vonesch: “This extension is a request of this community already. So it is a bit of a formality to go through this, the residents have signed on for this.”

Director Chapman: “So, what you're saying is that every single resident who's going to be included has already said they're in favor. Is that my understanding of what you're saying?”

Director Vonesch: “I believe that's what happened here.”

Director Chapman: “I know you believe that, but is it a fact.”

CAO Leitch: “After the petition process, we'll find out.”

Director Vonesch: I guess we will. Let's see what happens here Doug.”

Director Chapman voted against the motion being given a second reading, but the decision to send out a petition was unanimous when Vice Chair Matthew Jack called the final vote

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents -BC Ferries currently deploys 11 vessels on its major routes that connect Vancouver Island with the Lower Mainland. Six of these are decades old and nearing the end of their effective service life. While the volume of traffic has significantly increased over the past three decades, there have not been any additions to the major routes carrying capacity since the Spirit Class vessels were introduced in 1993-94. Consequently, 60% of the vehicles using the ferry on a major route last summer had to wait for at least one sailing. In a bold move to bring this portion of its fleet into the 21st century, on Friday, December 13, BC Ferries applied to the BC Ferries Commissioner for permission to add 5 New Major Vessels (NMV).

Each of these new ferries is a diesel-electric hybrid, with the capacity to go 100% electric once the necessary infrastructure is in place. This would seem to open the door for a fully electric fleet at an as yet to be determined date in the future.

Meanwhile, according to their application, “The NMVs are expected to reduce tank-to-wake GHG emissions and well-to-wake GHG emissions by approximately 90 percent compared to fossil-fuel-based diesel in support of the Province’s CleanBC goals and GHG emission reduction targets.”

If this project is approved, the first of the NMVs should be deployed in 2029 and BC Ferries expects to add a vessel every six months until 5 are in service around 2031.

The plan is to replace 4 of the fleet’s oldest ferries with 5 larger new ones. This will bring the total number of vessels serving these routes up to 12.

If this plan proceeds as planned, BC Ferries will increase the routes’ carrying capacity up to 28% for passengers and 19% for vehicles.

However their application warns, “If only four ships are approved, BC Ferries’ capacity growth will fall behind population projections for our region, meaning delays, waits and the risk of breakdowns will be worse than they are today when we are already feeling the impact of the lack of resiliency in the fleet. By approving all five vessels, the Ferry Commissioner will help ensure BC Ferries can keep pace and improve how it serves our region, with additional resiliency during refits and breakdowns, greater capacity in peak season and year-round, and demonstrable benefits to our climate with cleaner fuels (and the option for electric power) and less noise pollution.”

The British Columbia Trucking Association estimates that ferry cancellations, breakdowns, and delays can cost up to $100 million per year, every dollar of which is passed on to consumers.

These new ferries are expected to reverse this trend, enabling an increase of over $240 million worth of additional cargo by 2035. They are also projected to enable the introduction of another 130,000 incremental tourists to the islands.  

The current scenario is to deploy 3 NMVs on the Tsawassen to Schwartz Bay route (#1) and 2 on the Tsawassen to Duke Point (#30) run during peak season.

Any additions to the Horseshoe Bay - Nanaimo route (#2) will preseumably be made by 2027, by which time BC Ferries hopes to have 7 NMVs deployed.

Some of the additional features mentioned in the BC Ferries press release include:

“The NMV propulsion systems are being designed to reduce underwater radiated noise, which poses a known risk to the health of at-risk marine life, including the Southern Resident Killer Whales.”

Wider walkways on the ferries, designed to accomodate large wheelchairs.

“new kids’ play areas and updated food service offerings still in the process of being designed.”

“new pet amenities on the passenger deck, including stainless steel kennels, semi-enclosed seating for owners and pets, a handwashing station with hot and cold water, pet relieving areas with artificial turf, and a dog drinking fountain.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - he Cortes Island Food Bank recently launched a food drive to meet unprecedented needs. Cortes Currents met with two of the charity’s key personnel in the garage where most of the food is stored. Executive Director Filipe Figuera explained :

“The situation is getting worse on Cortes. It is the same across the country.  Two years ago, we had 100 client visits  a year. This year we had 600, that's about 50 clients a month. People are really suffering economically. The good news is that we're in a better situation to help those people. We've really built up the capacity of the food bank to deal with this emergency. We’ve got some really good staff and good food, but it's not a good situation.” 

Cortes Currents: I understand that Food Banks Canada has just released their annual hunger count. What are the highlights from that? 

Filipe Figuera: “The picture is pretty bleak across the country. They do a count every March and the numbers increased again this year. In March 2024, there were 2 million visits to food banks across Canada. That's the highest ever. It's a 6% increase from 2023 and a 90% increase compared to 2019.”

“The numbers just keep increasing. I think a lot of food banks are really struggling with this pressure. I know that 30% of food banks across the network actually ran out of food before they could serve all clients. At least 33% of all clients across the country are children and a new thing that's happening is that 18% of food bank users are now employed. They've got jobs, but they just haven't got enough money at the end of the month to buy the food they need to survive. That's a huge increase. It was  historically around 5% to 6% and then it crept up to 10% and now it's 18%. There's a lot of economic pressures on people across Canada.

We've known about housing for years. We've got people who won’t be able to afford to buy their home - ever - but now we're seeing working people who can't afford to buy enough food to survive to the end of the month. 

It's a great report. Google Hunger Count 2024.  Have a look at the data, it's really interesting. 

  

Cortes Currents: How can people get food? 

Angelica Raaen responded, “The easiest way and the best way is through our website.  Select the location, either Manson's or the Gorge,  and then the day you want to pick up.  It'll ask a few questions about your family size or your household size  and your dietary restrictions, if there are any. Then you just book it and we'll have it ready for you on the day that you booked. 

Cortes Currents: Why do people need to pre-book?  

Angelica Raaen: “We don't have a purpose built food bank facility.  The food is stored at a private residence, in a garage.  We have to go pack the food into  hampers and transport them to the pickup locations. This takes a  couple of days to prepare, so it's better if people book in advance.” 

“So, the best way to book is through a website with the booking form, but you can also call us  or email us if the website is a barrier for you.  The phone number is 1-672-202-0052 (it’s a local number) and our email is [email protected]."

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - It has been 85 years since the Truck Loggers Association was founded to give independent loggers a collective voice in society and the forest industry. Now they would like the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) to intervene on their behalf with BC’s Minister of Forests, Minister of State for Workforce Development and Chief Forester. This was disclosed during the discussion of a motion from the SRD’s Natural Resources Committee at the Wednesday December 11 Board Meeting.

Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney said she is not a member of the Natural Resources Committee, but the issue is a concern to her. The Forestry Practises Board recently released a report that stated there was a deficit of old growth on Quadra Island and only about 1% of the trees were greater than 250 years old. Three companies were found to be out of compliance with some aspect of forest legislation. The reported added that “the bigger issue is that no one is responsible for monitoring or ensuring that Quadra Island’s old forests are conserved, or that enough mature forests are protected from logging so that they can develop into old forest in the future.”

Mawhinney had brought this matter to the SRD Board asking that “that the board write a letter to the Minister of Forests, the Minister of Water, Lands and Natural Resources, and BC's Chief Forester, highlighting concerns with old forest management on Quadra Island.”

Instead the matter was referred to the SRD’s Natural Resources Committee, who responded with a very different motion of their own. Perusing the associated materials, Mawhinney realized,“ This motion was coming from the Truck Loggers Association.”

Chief Administrative Officer David Leitch confirmed, “ Sure, this motion was crafted by the delegation, but it was supported by the committee. So this is a motion of the committee.”

The Natural Resources Committee is proposing that:

“WHEREAS Forestry works for communities in every corner of the province, from jobs to exports, to providing revenues for hospitals, schools and roads and communities;”

AND WHEREAS the future of forestry is at risk, with the closure of half of BC mills in the last two decades, and harvest levels falling to more than 40% below the annual allowable cut;

“AND WHEREAS a sustainable forest sector must have access to a reliable annual allowable cut to support the services and infrastructure British Columbians rely on to provide families with livable wages, and bring stability to the supply chain;”

“THEREFORE the Natural Resources Committee directs staff to send a letter to Minister Parmar, and Minister of State Mercier, and Chief Forester Shane Berg, requesting a meeting to discuss their meaningful commitment to delivering a stable, accessible and reliable annual cut.”

There was no reference to the Quadra Island backstory, when the Natural Resources Committee motion was introduced.

Instead CAO David Leitch said, “Mr. Chair, this is a motion from the Natural Resources Committee, so nothing more to add from staff.”

Regional Director, Gerald Whalley of Area A responded, “Just a question for staff here. The meeting, is that to involve the board or just that specific committee?”

CAO Leitch: “It’s unclear, you're right.”

Director Whalley: “I think it should involve the board, at least for those who are interested.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - 54% of the respondents to a new poll from Abacus Data stated they think Canada should prioritize the development of renewable energy, 36% would like to see a ‘balanced approach’ and 11% would rather prioritize fossil fuels. 

“ We commissioned Abacus to run this polling for us and see where Canadians stand in terms of their support for renewable energy and around reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. What's clear is that a majority of Canadians want to see government action to phase out fossil fuels and prioritize renewable energy. Canadians know that renewables are a win, win, win. We know that they save people money. They mean lower energy bills. Renewables mean cleaner air. They mean job creation. So the benefits are huge,” explained Julia Levin, Associate Director for National Climate, Environmental Defence.

 “The results around phasing out fossil fuels may be a bit more surprising. More than half of the people we surveyed want to see government action to phase out fossil fuels. What it says to me is that Canadians are really understanding that the production and use of fossil fuels is what's causing the climate crisis and the only way to avoid ever more catastrophic climate disasters is a transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy.”

“The extent of support, especially within progressive voters, took me by surprise because this is much bolder climate policy than what we're seeing being proposed, by any government outside of Quebec, and so I think there's a clear lesson to governments at all levels that these aren't just important policies for climate, for the economy. They're popular, Canadians want them.” 

Cortes Currents: I see that 2,700 Canadians were polled, how many of these were in British Columbia

Julia Levin: “ We had a sampling size of 278 BC voters. BC and Quebec were the highest in terms of supporting renewable energy  and prioritizing renewable energy over fossil fuels.” 

Cortes Currents: Looking over the figures I see 65% of the respondents in Quebec, 54% in BC and 52% in Ontario support prioritizing renewables. 

There is a similar alignment when it comes to phasing fossil fuels out: 

60% in Quebec, 55% in Ontario and 54% in BC.

 Julia Levin: “Only about a third of Canadians put any kind of trust in oil and gas companies, and that was similar for BC. It reflected the national average.” 

Cortes Currents: I’m wondering how important is a poll like this? Public opinion seems to fluctuate. It seems like whenever the world takes a step forward, it is followed by a backlash. A lot of governments supported the Paris Agreement in 2015, but that was followed by the election of several Conservative governments including Trump’s first presidency. We’ve seen a similar backlash here in BC, where a government which at least claims to favour climate action only narrowly won the recent election. 

Julia Levin: “ I think there's a  few observations on that. One is to validate  your observation that when we see climate progress, then we see a big backlash.  Part of that speaks to the influence of the oil and gas industry.”

“This is, globally, the wealthiest industry. A lot of political influence, political power here in Canada at all levels and around the world. Any time there's a real threat, the oil and gas industry get creative about how they push back. We see that  in the amount of lobbying that happens here in Canada. At the federal level, oil and gas companies were meeting with federal officials five times each working day last year. We see that in their massive ad campaigns. The coalition of the largest tar sands companies in Canada ran a multi-million dollar ad campaign to lie to Canadians about their climate impact.”

Manda Aufochs Gillespie/Folk U -On December 6, 2024, Tina Willard-Stepan from Comox Strathcona Waste Management joined us to talk all things circular economy and waste. Along with the students of the Cortes Island Academy and some community members, we learned about where our garbage goes, how much we produce, repair cafes, and the Cumberland dump (where our garbage on Cortes is sent to!)

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 -The final numbers for Cortes Island's 2024 Chum run are in. Local streamkeepers Cec and Christine Robinson gave a rundown.

Christine Robinson: “I think we all know that this was  a stupendous year for Chums up and down the coast. So not just Cortes, not just Quadra, not just the Sunshine Coast, but from the mainland all the way up to Alaska and down through to Puget Sound and I think possibly further south.  The numbers on Cortes were the highest that we have seen since we've lived on Cortes, which is now 34 years.”

Cec Robinson: “To put it in context, they're probably three times higher than the best years we've ever seen. So it was pretty huge.”

Christine Robinson: “So it was very exciting and the interesting thing was that fisheries did not predict this. They were predicting a very low term return to the coast. They were caught off guard, and everybody probably was.”

“The numbers that we keep are an approximation given that we don't have a fish fence across the creek that counts every fish.  We've had a pretty high degree of accuracy, but there were so many fish that we couldn't count accurately this year. We did several bank walks, and at some point we stopped counting because we couldn’t count - which is always what we hope for.”

“All eight creeks that we have kept an eye on over the years had something to report this year. In Basil Creek, we have about 2,500 Chum.”

Cec Robinson: “At least.”

Christine Robinson: “At least, they were higher up in Basil Creek because as more came in the lower parts of the creek it pushed them higher up. So it extends the spawning area. Squirrel Cove Creek, which is a little creek around the corner of where the Klahoose village is, was a huge surprise. It often has no fish and it often has no water. We figured there were 350 Chum there one day. Another 300 were in Hansen Creek. In James Creek, flowing through the Children's Forest into Carrington Lagoon, there were 220 - which was tremendous. The exciting thing about Whaletown Creek is with the new arch culvert, they all got through easily and they were further up the creek than we have ever seen. There were probably a hundred. For the little Frabjous Day Creek, which flows into Cortes Bay, our best guess is 20. There were probably more, but they weren't counted in the stream so much as in the intertidal area. Manson's Lagoon was the lowest, seven were counted.”

Cortes Currents: Have you heard any explanations as to why there were so many Chum this year?  

Cec Robinson: “I think that the consensus lies with ocean conditions  and so the bottom line would be feed. I'm  not sure why. I know that the  El Nino was backing off and the waters were cooling, which certainly favours more food, but it's only in the last year that  cooling has been taking place. Those fish were relying on the ocean for three and a half years, so I'm not sure that even the El Nino phenomenon explains that, but probably conditions at sea and most likely food.”

Christine Robinson: “ The fisheries people that we talked to would say the oceanic conditions, the food, was so right that they came into the creeks bigger, stronger, healthier than we typically see. That was everybody's observation. That wasn't just us and streamkeepers. Everyone who came to look at the fish that we talked to said, we talked to said,  ‘my gosh, they're big and they're strong. Certainly they're healthier than we've ever seen come in.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Over 100 people came to the Quadra Community Centre on December 7, to learn about the acoustic dialects and social connections of Orca, Humpback and Fin Whales. Sierra Quadra invited Janie Wray - CEO and co-founder of the North Coast Cetacean Society, BC Whales, and the manager of the BC Hydrophone Network - to share from her more than two decades of research.

“One thing that we've recognized is that if we want to understand and protect whales, we have to listen them. That is why we think hydrophones are so important. It's a non-invasive way of trying to understand whale communication and how communication between whales has changed over the years. There's so many different whale species along this coast that are communicating,” she said.

“The more we learn, the better our chances are to protect whales and the only way we can protect whales is to work in collaboration with other people along this entire coast of BC, especially with Indigenous communities.”

Cortes Currents: How did you come to study whales?

Janie Wray: “I was about nine years old. I had heard the recording of Humpback whales singing. It was the first time that I had an emotional response to a sound, especially the sound of another species. That pretty much put me on track. I was fascinated by whales and whale communication.”

“After school, I traveled a bit and then went to university. From there, I worked as an intern at a place called OrcaLab, which is near the top end of Vancouver Island. They have a large number of hydrophones in the water. A hydrophone is like an underwater microphone, it allows you to listen to the underwater marine soundscape. It was listening to a lot of different whales, especially Orca in those days. The more I learned about whale communication, the more I wanted to know.”

“I met my partner at that point and we ended up purchasing a small liveaboard research vessel. We traveled up the whole coast of BC and ended up in the First Nations community of Hartley Bay. We asked the Hereditary Chief at that time for permission to build a whale research station within their territory. Not only did they give us permission, they shared with us their own historical knowledge of whales and also pointed us in the right direction concerning a great place to build a facility. So we built that in 2001. I've pretty much been working up there ever since.”

“We record and analyze every whale call that we hear, whether that be an Orca, a Fin Whale or a Humpback whale.”

“In regards to Humpback whales, we have a heavy focus on this song display, which is a song that evolves and changes year to year. It's only the males that sing this song, but when you listen to it, it really is a song. We're trying to understand how that song is being learned between individuals within the community of whales along the coast of BC, but also how it changes from the North coast to the South coast. Then as they migrate towards Mexico and Hawaii, how is the song changing and evolving through time and from season to season?”

“The other call type we're fascinated with is this bubble net feeding call. It's a call that they only use when they're bubble net feeding. So we can actually put a behaviour to a call type, which is unusual to do with whales. When we hear that call, we know they're bubble net feeding, but even that particular call type has changed and evolved over the last 20 years. What these whales have actually done is they've taken a call type that was a bit complicated and they simplified it.”

“There's a large number of Humpback whale social calls that are quite consistent. All of the Humpbacks within the Pacific Ocean use somewhat similar social calls. Up and down the whole coast, from Mexico, to Hawaii, we're having lots of fun trying to catalog those.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - With the rise of global emissions already at 1.4°C, we are currently on track to reach 2.8°C by the end of this century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims, “every additional 0.1°C of global warming causes clearly discernible increases in the intensity and frequency of temperature and precipitation extremes, as well as agricultural and ecological droughts in some regions.” 

Denise Mullen, from the Business Council of BC, recently informed the SRD’s Natural Resources Committee that the province faces a more urgent problem. British Columbia is in the midst of a productivity emergency.

“BC is unique among the provinces in registering effectively no private sector growth in the last five years.”

“Almost all of the job growth in British Columbia has been in the public sector. Mainly in education, health, and public administration and even more so in general government administration.”

85% of the job growth on Vancouver Island has been in this sector.

“The point to take away from the two, public and private, is that you need a strong private sector to pay for public sector jobs.”

Mullen pointed to CleanBC, the provincial government’s plan to fight climate change, “the plan is to shrink the economy.”

According to the Canada Energy Regulator, BC’s “emissions have INCREASED 26% since 1990.”

This is only half the amount of the global increase, but during this same time period the EU reduced its emissions 37% BELOW 1990 levels while dramatically growing its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The European Commission states this reduction was ‘driven by the growth in renewable energy generation and fall in coal and gas use.’  

Denise Mullen: “We should be focusing on global emissions and not domestic emmissions. Our hard targets on emissions are damaging to the economy, especially given that the rest of the world is responsible for 99.81% of global emissions. There's not a lot we can do to create an inflection point in the direction of either energy use or GHG emissions, but we can hurt ourselves economically.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - “ Lunch is duck tortellini, which is one of the smaller ravioli. It'll be floating in a broth of vegetable and parmesan rind that have been simmered for six hours. It's very cheesy, but also subtle and just really complements a spoon sized tortellini.”

I just met Trever Bass and his wife, Elizabeth Anderson-Bass, at Manson's Friday Market. Someone had suggested I do a story on them. When I asked Trevor for an interview, he suggested I come over for lunch. The duck tortellini was delicious.

“I love feeding people. A plate of pasta can mean a lot of different things to a lot of people, so you can have a lot of different shapes, you can have the pasta itself can be made from a lot of different things, it can be sauced a lot of different ways, it can be presented a lot of different ways, so within just making pasta for people, there's endless variety,” explained Trever.

“I'm an American living in Canada, making Italian food. it was more of a hobbier business, I would call it. In the most modern terms, ‘a side hustle’ - a thing that that I do to make some extra money to round out our household income. In my previous life, I ran breweries. I have a certificate in brewing science and engineering, fermentation science. I really liked being an American making styles from all over the world and got pretty good at it, but then also just put my own fingerprint on those traditional styles. I can make a Irish stout, which would be a lot like what you'd have in Ireland, that would be reminiscent of Guinness, but it'd be my impression of that thing. They try to honor the thing, but also make something that tastes delicious and pasta is a lot like that too.

Elizabeth added “This is all Trever and his magical pasta making. I just get to enjoy it and be supportive. Trevor used to be my customer when we both worked in the beer industry.”