Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District is considering a Grant in Aid policy which would funnel all applications through staff. According to Gerald Whalley, who has been a Regional Director since the SRD was formed in 2008, this is the third time the idea of a policy has come up. After an intense debate, the proposal has been forwarded to the Electoral Areas Services Committee and Municipal Services Committee for further discussion. 

Some of the main points of the proposed policy include:

Financial assistance will only be considered for registered, non-profit organizations that have an operational presence within the Strathcona Regional District.

Applicants must provide a current financial statement and budget for the year

the SRD will not fund core operating expenses, capital improvements to equipment, insurance, property taxes, or multi-year funding commitments

The SRD will give priority to applications that do not exceed $5,000 and are from organizations that do not already receive funding from the SRD

Mayor Julie Colborne of Zeballos explained that in the past, “We found that it would alter many of the contributions that are already being made.  We just felt that some of the restrictions were too restrictive.” 

Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney of Area C agreed: “I just wanted to point out that the next item on the agenda is three requests for financial assistance from Electoral Area C,  and with this policy as is, none of these three very important and valid applications would be considered eligible.  That includes the Quadra Island Foundation's application for financial support because they are hiring a consultant to create a Vital Signs report for Quadra Island. Neither would liability insurance costs for the Quadra Island Conservancy, which maintains public land that is publicly accessible and is a highly used piece of land for outdoor recreation in our community for visitors and for residents, be covered. Lastly Quadra Island Concerts is asking for $1,000 to assist with administration insurance costs for bringing music to our community for the entire winter. I just want to point out that this policy would negate all three of those applications.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) wants a list of School District 72’s properties on Cortes Island and Area C. As Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney pointed out, in a letter to the other rural Directors, some of them ‘may be a good fit for a housing project.’ Mawhinney proposed that the SRD ask for a list.  

At the Board’s August 21 meeting, Campbell River Director Susan Sinnott made an amendment to Mawhinney’s motion: 

“I'm going to say that a letter be sent to School District 72, inquiring whether or not there are lands available for either  the school district to develop for housing, or over which they have an interest, that they own or have a license of occupation or right of access that they'd be interested in disposing to the Regional District.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Museum has a genealogical database. It was compiled by Bernice McGowan, whose interest in genealogy was sparked by her mother’s research of their family roots. Coming to Cortes Island some 50 odd years ago, she was intrigued by the fact that so many of the island’s older European families seemed to be related. She has also dug up some census records for Klahoose, Japanese and Chinese residents.  

Bernice McGowan: "I was always  interested in questions like,  'how are you related to so and so." When I started putting my family into a database, I thought  it would be interesting to do that for Cortes if nobody has done that before for the museum. So,  I just started doing it and when I retired, I went, 'okay, now I have some time to do that.'" 

"I started with June Cameron's book, 'Destination Cortez island: A Sailor's Life Along The BC Coast'. She talks about going around Cortes  by water,  talks about the various places  and  has lots of stories of the different families that she knows. So I just took names out of there." 

Bernice went on to incorporate the data from census returns, birth, marriage and death records, newspaper articles, interviews and all the other sources normally used by genealogists.  

Bernice McGowan: "I tend to limit myself to people who've actually lived here.  So say with one family, I might have gone like  'so and so lived here and these were his siblings' if I happened to find it, and they were born in such and such a place and their parents were such and such, but I wouldn't go any further back than that. I'm really interested in the people who lived here, the interconnections between the families that are here and then maybe where they dispersed to."

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Academy’s third year starts on Tuesday September 3, 2024. Executive DIrector Manda Aufochs Gillespie explained that there are a number of innovative new programs this semester as well as popular facilitators from previous years. The Mother Tree Network, Hakai Intitute, Hollyhock and Power of Hope are all contributing partners. For the first time ever, there are also still some last minute spots available for new students.

Manda Aufochs Gillespie: “For those of you who do not know what the Cortes Island Academy is, it's an accredited experiential place-based high school program that happens right here on Cortes Island and is a partnership with the school district, the Cortes Island School, the Cortes Island Community Foundation and pretty much every other organization and person on Cortes, because boy, does it take a lot of heart and help to make it happen.”

“This is our third year, and we've decided to change all sorts of things up in order to keep it fresh.”

“We'll start on September 3rd with a meet and greet. Please, please come and be part of it. Meet the students, some of the facilitators and get behind the scenes a little earlier on.”

“That Labor Day weekend you will start seeing teenagers arrive back on the island.”

“We still have some spots for this year. So if you have a special young person in your life who would be a great addition to this kind of experiential project based learning, send them our way.”

“This year we have lower enrollment from Cortes students because there are very few local kids going into grade 10. That's both a little bit sad and also something that we knew would come. There are just years on Cortes where there are less kids or where the kids have already had to leave in that hard effort of trying to find schooling that works for them. For the first time, we don't have foreign exchange students, but it looks like we already have two signed up for next year.”

“As we have in years past, we have students coming from other communities, most especially other rural islands - so Sonora, Reed, and some from as further out afield as Pender.”

“We're doing a couple of things that we're pretty excited about.”

“We have partnered with the Mother Tree Network and Hollyhock Leadership Institute and are doing a leadership intensive at Hollyhock October 20th through 25th. This gathering uses the creative facilitation model, which has really been popularized through Power of Hope, and is based on exploring the interface of ecology, the arts and experiential education. We have room for 30 students in a week long intensive with Dr. Suzanne Simard, other leaders from the Mother Tree Network, the Juno nominated musician Ruby Singh, a team of other local facilitators and knowledge holders, and some of the best known facilitators from the Power of Hope camps. Kari McClelland, who's perhaps the best known and most beloved of all Power of Hope facilitators is the main facilitator for that week. They're all going to be having a camp experience at Hollyhock.”

“This case leadership intensive is for the Cortes Island Academy students and other students are coming to join. There is still some spaces for this. We're prioritizing local and indigenous youth, but there are still spaces for any kids and there are some scholarships available for this workshop.

“Cortes Island Academy students are also going to be joining with some other students at Hakai again for a climate intensive to, see what the current science is around all things related to climate and the ecological impacts of our changing ecosystems. They spend a week at the incredible state of our science facilities on Quadra Island.”

“The themes this year are climate and art."

Greg Osoba/Folk U - On Friday, August 16, Sean Coyote performed a live + live-broadcast FolkU concert in the big Village Commons tent. Hosted by Greg Osoba, Sean is a long-time Cortes resident who has been a musician & music lover since he was young. Sean mostly performs in his living room for the benefit of the cat, however he does occasionally sneak out for a few rare public performances.

Just beforehand, to wrap up her kids camp, Monica Lee also performed a kids music set. (Pictured)

The Village Commons Music Series is put on every Friday by a partnership between Cortes Island Community Foundation, FolkU, and CKTZ Cortes Community Radio. The series is generously sponsored by Decoda Literacy and Coastal Community Credit Union.

This year, the series is also highlighting community organizations and funds part of Cortes Foundation’s fundraising campaign Care for Cortes. This week, the series highlighted Cortes Community Radio’s Power the Tower campaign.

Find out more here:

https://cortesradio.ca/power-the-tower/

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 - As of this morning, Heather Deeth has been the Interim Executive Director of Hollyhock for 19 days. Cortes Currents caught up with her on Sunday to talk about the changes in her life, as well as what’s happening in one of the most dynamic retreat centres on the West Coast. 

It is the peak summer season at Hollyhock. The programs listed on their webpage are grouped into categories like: wisdom teachings, social innovation, health & healing, creative expression, the Hollyhock Leadership Institute and signature holidays. 

Cortes Currents asked, Why is Hollyhock important? 

Heather Deeth: “People have transformative experiences here.  If we can give people the skills where they can have their own transformation internally themselves, and then collectively together, whether we're bringing people together and they're collectively arriving somewhere, that's really potent. If we can be seeding that more and more out in the world right now, that's exactly what we need to be doing.”

Cortes Currents: Have there been changes in your life, now that you're in the Director's seat?

Heather Deeth: “We're feeling Peter's  departure. I really loved working with Peter. I learned so much from him. It was a total gift to have two years of working and learning  from Peter.  I miss working with him very much and I'm thankful that he's become a dear friend  and is a deep ally of Hollyhock and will be for a long time. I feel that in his continued relationship with me as well.”

“For me, the change is in being with the people. I haven't worked on site since before the start of the pandemic.  I worked remotely, many people worked remotely during the pandemic and it's my first time coming back. I've been out here a few times, but not for longer stays, always as a visitor.”

“I arrived last week. It feels very different for me this time,  really connecting with our staff who are here on the island.”  

Cortes Currents: Where are you living right now? 

Heather Deeth: “I'm in Shivon Robinsong and Bill Weaver's house.  That's where my family's been staying.”  

Cortes Currents: What’s happening at Hollyhock right now? 

Heather Deeth: “This is the first summer where it's felt like we were back at strong peak summer numbers, the way it used to be. It's nice to see our guests returning.” 

“Today's a changeover day. We have ‘The Art Of Leadership’ starting.  I have Dan Siegel coming in on Friday to offer two workshops back to back, which is very exciting.”

Insights Meditation will also be this week and Cortes Island’s very own Bill Ophoff will be running his naturalist program.

“We had Sophie Gregoire Trudeau to start July off, which was a really incredible experience.  Many of our programs were running through the month of July.  We had our Canadian Psychedelic Summit in July as well, which was our third year of running. There were a hundred people this year and the feedback from that gathering was that it was extraordinary. We're almost through our peak season and so that's feeling really good because the last couple of summers we were still in pandemic recovery.” 

Cortes Currents: Tell me about your day. When do you start in the morning? What do you do first?  

Heather Deeth: “I'm an early bird, especially because  I'm from the East Coast.  Usually I'm up  around five.  I love the birds, and so usually if I am lucky in the morning, I listen to the early morning bird song. Coffee is very important. Then usually the first thing I do is I look at my calendar,  to refresh my memory about what's on and what's happening. So I can come in clear headed and ready. On a good day, I can get out for a walk in the mornings.”

Roy L Hales - Andrea Padovani is a professional artist who has been living on Cortes for much of the last 17 years, but there is a sense in which his show ‘Deep Breath,’ which opens in the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery this Friday, is his introduction to the larger island community.

He explained, "I have a problem  expressing my real deep feelings  in a conversation, if you really want to know me, look at my paintings. That this really represents a hundred percent of what I am." 

Cortes Currents: Do you find people get it? 

Andrea Padovini: "10 percent."   

"It took me 17 years before I really understood and allowed myself  to go and to really portray the different beauty of Cortes.  Obviously I could do the first year, but that would've been a technical expression. What I'm going to show in my show is the way in which I see Cortes."

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - CKTZ is looking for donors to help power the tower during 2024 and 2025.

Cortes Currents caught up with Bryan McKinnon, station manager and President of CKTZ, while he was manning the radio’s booth at Lovefest. In addition to the hum of conversation from some of the first people to arrive at the festival, in the background you can hear a sitar and tabla from the opening performance.

Q: So tell us about the power the tower campaign?

Bryan McKinnon: “Our broadcast antenna is on a tower, and all that equipment goes back 20 years to when the radio station was first set up. Back then it was a pirate station where people were really pulling together equipment that was already used and old at the time. What we want to do is make sure that our signal goes far, wide, and clear as possible.”

“We're looking to upgrade basically all the equipment around the broadcast tower. A broadcast tower has three components, generally. There is the radio shack at the base of the tower, which has a lot of the receivers , transmitters , all sorts of equipment, internet and then also backup power.”

“There is the main tower itself, the mast. I believe David Rousseau was saying that tower was already falling over when we set it up. So, it's really past its due date and so we're looking to replace that. Then at the very top of the tower is the antenna, which is the most important piece.”

“People may have noticed that the signal sometimes cuts out, depending on where they are on the island. In order for us to really get it to where it needs to be and where we're actually allowed to broadcast, we need to upgrade the equipment.”

“Right now we are broadcasting in mono because it extends our reach a little bit. With the new upgrades, we'll be able to go back to broadcasting in stereo, which would be best for us and also for listeners.”

“So this is Cortes Community Radio's Power of the Tower campaign. We have a goal to raise $25,000, which seems like a lot for us, but that includes full upgrades of all our equipment, a new tower, and then also to access the tower site. It's very difficult, and so in order to get equipment up there, we're going to have to do a little bit of landscaping.”

Cortes Currents: How do people give you money?

Bryan McKinnon: “Donors can give any way they, that they feel most comfortable with. You can give us cash, you can give us by check. E transfer is a really great way to give it to us and that information is all on our website at cortesradio. ca forward slash donate. You can also get by credit card right through our online portal. Or if you see us at the Friday Market, you can make a donation there, right at our table.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Earlier this year,  the Cortes Island community learned that there were renovations underway at the island's old gravel airstrip. At a town hall meeting last June, around 125 residents turned out to express their concerns. Very little transpired until yesterday, Monday, August 12, when an asphalt truck was spotted in the BC Ferries webcam feed from Heriot Bay. It did not take long to confirm that the truck was coming to help lay a layer of chipseal on the runway. During the next hour, around 20 people gathered at the corner of Raven and Suitil Point Roads to block access to the airstrip. From the beginning it was clear this demonstration was a brief expression of displeasure and, after a delay, the truck would be allowed to proceed to the airstrip. The truck was delayed for about half an hour. Ben Ajami, who Martine Rothblatt employs as the project’s lead contract, came out to politely listen to the protester’s concerns. He then clarified some details about the project.

Chris Dragseth explained, “We’ve tried, as a small group of people, to engage in a respectful way. Unfortunately, to date, that has been totally unsuccessful. We're wanting to go on record stating the community is not happy. The contractors are stuck in the middle. Our intent is to allow this truck to go through, but we want to demonstrate that there is some concern at all levels within the community.”

Louis Belcourt/ Folk U -On Friday, August 9, WITCH POP performed a live + live-broadcast FolkU concert in the big Village Commons tent. Hosted by Louis Belcourt, WITCH POP emerges as a new duo of Heather Wolf & Raqa Down, fusing queer intuitive pop with folk lineages, moody soulful vocals, minor drones of the Appalachian mountain dulcimer layered with synth & 808 beats. They create dark wave electro psych folk trance rooted in the multidimensionality that is witch wisdom. Their music is quirky and playful, while descending into scorpionic depths, spellcasting visions for a healing collectivism.

The Village Commons Music Series is put on every Friday by a partnership between Cortes Island Community Foundation, FolkU, and CKTZ Cortes Community Radio. The series is generously sponsored by Decoda Literacy and Coastal Community Credit Union.

This year, the series is also highlighting community organizations and funds part of Cortes Foundation’s fundraising campaign Care for Cortes. This week, the series highlighted the Social Profit Network.

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.