Cortes Currents

There are several whale watching companies in our area and one of the treats they offer are Grey Whale sightings. Campbell River, Cortes and Quadra Islands are in the middle of a migration route. Thousands of Grey Whales pass through BC, en route to Alaska, during the Spring and return in the fall, while heading for the warm waters of Mexico’s Baja penninsula. Most appear to go by the West coast of Vancouver Island, but there are also sightings in our area. About 240 Grey Whales spend their entire summer feding in the shallow waters of BC and Washington state. They are often close enough to the shore to be seen from the land. However few people seem to have noticed that they are getting smaller.

A new study from Oregon State University found that the Grey Whales passing through their waters have been getting progressively smaller for the past 20 years. The average Grey Whale is now 13% smaller.

Scientists have not yet determined if Grey Whales are shrinking because of the state of the food web, or what effect this will have the health and reproductive success of the affected whales.

“This could be an early warning sign that the abundance of this population is starting to decline, or is not healthy,” said K.C. Bierlich, co-author on the study and an assistant professor at OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute in Newport. “And whales are considered ecosystem sentinels, so if the whale population isn’t doing well, that might say a lot about the environment itself.”

“In general, size is critical for animals,” said Enrico Pirotta, lead author on the study and a researcher at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. “It affects their behavior, their physiology, their life history, and it has cascading effects for the animals and for the community they’re a part of.”

Scientists used the drone images of 130 Grey Whales whales, taken between 2016 and 2022. As this study heads into its ninth year, they are tyring to identify the environmental drivers that have caused this change in size

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Viewers from Cortes, Salt Spring and Galiano Islands down to the cities of Victoria and Vancouver logged in to the virtual Cortes Housing Forum on  Friday June 14, 2024. The topic was ‘increasing rentals’ and host Sadhu Johnston invited two high profile guests. 

David Hutniak has established himself as the voice of the rental housing industry in BC with the government, media, renter groups and other stakeholders that call upon him for input and advice. He is also the CEO of Landlord BC.

Lisa Helps is a former advisor to the Premier, as well as a former mayor of Victoria. Now she heads the BC Builds program.

Sadhu Johnston is a former City DIrector of Vancouver, and wears many hats on Cortes Island in addition to being Executive Director of the Cortes Community Housing Society.

In his introduction to the program, Johnston pointed out, “Building in rural communities is even harder than building in urban communities. In many cases you've got to bring in materials, you have labor shortages. There are unique challenges that we face in our rural communities.”

Sadhu Johnston. Cortes Housing Society - Tune in on June 14 for this special pre-recorded episode of FolkU Radio. This week featured the May Transportation Forum, hosted over Zoom and presented by the Cortes Housing Society, CCEDA, and representatives from Quadra and the outer islands. This forum featured guest panelists from Denman, Gabriola, Bowen and more! Join us in chatting about passenger transportation options, and about how they could be applied to Cortes and Quadra.

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 Cortes Island’s Forum on ‘Rental and Ownership Opportunities’ came to Mansons Hall on Thursday June 13. There were breakout groups on what people were looking for in rentals, affordable ways to become an owner and renting your property out. Regional Director Mark Vonesh brought pizza. The whole board of the Cortes Community Housing Society appears to have turned out.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The future of fish farms in British Columbia is uncertain. On June 7, Judge Paul Favel supported the Ministry of Fisheries decision to not renew the licenses of 15 fish farms in the Discovery Islands, and denied a joint application by industry and the Laich-kwil-tach Nation for a judicial review. At the end of this month the licenses of the remaining 66 fish farms still operating in this province will expire. 

It has been a month since the current  Fisheries Minister, Dianne Lebouthillier, reassured the industry that, “In the mandate letter, I’m asked to put in place a transition plan. It doesn’t say that we have to close everything, that we have to close all the aquaculture centres. It really means working to put in place measures to protect wild salmon. I’ve confirmed that there will be no closure of aquaculture centres in 2025.”

Independent biologist Alexandra Morton explained,  “The  recent decision by Judge Favell was a big surprise because DFO staff appear to have worked quite actively in support of the salmon farming industry, particularly the aquaculture management division.  That's why there's an ethics commission, right now, that was launched into how they're handling the science. They made it difficult for the minister to win this lawsuit.  They offered the companies the opportunity to pay for their licenses before the minister had made her decision. So in court, the industry lawyers brought up that the companies had paid for their licenses, they expected them.”  

“For reasons like that, and many others, the lawyers cautioned us that we probably would lose this judicial review. We lost the last one as well. So the minister had to go back and make a new decision.  The companies launched a judicial review on the new decision and  we won. The industry is  almost certainly going to appeal the decision.”  

“This is going to drag on and on and on, but what the decision did was it alerted the Canadian government to the fact that they can close the salmon farms. They do have what is needed. Their concerns are valid.”  

When Judge Favel made his decision about the Discovery Island fish farms, he weighed the opposing concerns of two groups of First Nations. 

Seven of the closed fish farms are within traditional territories of the Wei Wai Kum First Nation, We Wai Kai Nation and Kwiakah First Nations, collectively known as the Laich-kwil-tach Nation. Another of the closed farm sites, Raza Island, is off the northern tip of Cortes Island. 

In a press release last year, Wei Wai Kai Chief Councillor Ronnie Chickite declared, “This court challenge is not about whether we support fish farming or not – it is about our inherent right as title holders to decide how our territory is used, and determine for ourselves if, when, and how fish farms could operate in the future. We strongly believe the minister’s decision to not reissue licences in our territories was a political decision heavily influenced by nations who do not have title in our territory.” 

Yet many Indigenous Nations are dependent on sockeye salmon that pass through the Discovery Islands en route to the Fraser River.

Judge Favel reasoned, “The Minister owed a deep level of consultation to Indigenous peoples outside the Discovery Islands since the right and potential infringement is of high significance to the Aboriginal peoples and the risk of non-compensable damage is high. Fraser River salmon play a significant role in the exercise of Aboriginal rights by many Indigenous peoples and the risk to the health of the Fraser River salmon posed by fish farms in the Discovery Islands is unacceptably high. In contrast, the risk of non-compensable damage to the Laich-kwil-tach and Klahoose is low because the impact of a decision not to reissue licences is the loss of economic benefits from their territories, which is quantifiable and compensable.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Will Rendall released a CD called Keep on Smiling on May 22, 2024.

Some Cortes Island residents will remember him as Julia Rendall’s son. He was 7 when he moved to Squirrel Cove in 1976.

He emailed, “I had always liked music but it wasn't until I heard Billy Joel in 1978 that i became a rock and roll fan. I always thought his lyrics were amazing. I think it would have been around 1981 when I started writing songs. To me lyrics were the most important part of a song.

“I used to take a bunch of 5 gallon buckets we used for digging clams and would make a drum set out of them with a couple of pieces of kindling for drum sticks. I would set it up by a salal bush and that would become my hi-hat. Then I would sing my songs and pretend I was in a rock band. I would build guitars for my two brothers out of wood and they would pretend to play them.”

Julia gave Will a real drum set after they moved to Mansons Landing in 1987. He started jammming with a few of the local Cortes musicians after that.

When he was 20, Will moved to Quadra Island, where he met his first wife and they had a child. He put the drum set to rest.

“I had written tons of lyrics and always had a tune in my head, but not being a guitar player I didn't know how to convey them to other people. I always had a passion for singing and remembered the words to most songs but did not have much confidence in my singing voice.”

“One night I went to a karaoke bar. Most of the singers there were terrible so I thought ‘what do I have to lose?’ After doing a couple of tunes people kept asking me to sing. After that I started to go to open mic jam sessions and became the 'Rock and Roll Guy' on Quadra.”

“I hooked up with Duane Hansen, an old friend from Cortes Island and started a band. Our first gig was at the Quadra Legion.

Rendall either started, or helped start a number of bands in the years that followed: the Iron Pyrates, Electric Lemonade, Arabella Drummond and finally Queen Anne’s Revenge in 2015, That last band was a reformation of the Iron Pyrates which was active up until the time COVID reached Campbell River.

“When the Covid restrictions were lifted and we were allowed in the bars I would bring an acoustic giutar and play some of my original songs.”

“My friend Dylan Alps, a songwriter who could play any instrument, told me he would like to record me. So I would go to his little trailor where he had an interface hooked up to a laptop. He would then go to his studio in Campbell River, re-record the music and then I would sing along with his recording. It took about a year of me going to his trailor once a week for a couple of hours before the album was finally released.”

Most of the songs on the album were written over the past 4 years with a couple from the 80's and one song I had written in the 90’s. All in all I am pretty proud of the final product. I feel there are a variety of topics as well as different styles on this album. I have just put it on BAND CAMP and also have some CDs for sale at $15 each. I can be contacted at 236-997-3265 via phone, text or e-mail at [email protected]

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Creative Spaces Garden and Studio Tour is Saturday June 22, from 10 am to 4 pm. This is an annual fundraiser for the Cortes Island Museum, as well as a showcase of some of the island’s hidden gems.

“It's a great opportunity to feature creative talents of people on the island, and it's a self guided  tour of studios and gardens that takes you all the way around from Whaletown, down to Smelt Bay, and Cortes Bay. We've got painters, textile artists, weavers, spinners,  ceramicists .  We've got a number of potters and pottery studios that are participating. And then some beautiful spaces with gardens that range from low bluff to high bluff. You pick up a map, which includes a button, and you just go around the island visiting people that you may not know that they've had all these hidden talents, or see spaces that you were curious about but never had an opportunity to actually walk into. Walk through the gates and see what people are growing there,” explained Melanie Boyle, Managing Director of the Cortes Island Museum.

“We have 15 spots, when I say spots I mean locations, because, even though one person's name may be on the garden description, we know that there are a lot of people who participate and contribute to the shape of any garden. So we say 15 different locations, and I would say that we've had a good representation  of artists.”

Some of the artists will be selling work .And it's a great opportunity just to engage with your neighbors, for locals, as well as people coming from off island.

Cortes Currents: Can you give examples of some of the spaces on the tour?

Melanie Boyle: “Suzu Matsuda and Larry Cohen are longtime friends and longtime residents  of Cortes.  They have some beautiful works to show and their studios beautiful. Volker Steigeman and Larry built it together. It's a really unique space and a lot of people on the island may know of  their space because they held an annual pottery sale, which was  really popular.”

“Brian Hayden's house up on the gorge is one of the houses that we're featuring here in the exhibition. When people go to visit Brian's garden, which is a really unique Mediterranean focused garden, they have an opportunity to see the outside of his home, which is based on a traditional pithouse design from the interior of BC First Nations design. Brian's landscaped and really integrated  the building with the landscape. The home was designed by David Shipway and built by Trigva Ellingson and his crew.”  

“Christer Ekstrom has a very beautiful contemplative style of painting. He has a beautiful studio up north of Whaletown, and  it was a delight to have visited his studio last year.”

“Filipe Figuera  will also be showing at the Schoolhouse Gallery this year. He was on the tour last year, and  Philippe will be featuring his  paintings as well.”

“Jeremy Ellingson and Aaron Ellingson live in a historic float house on Haig Lake. Jeremy has a ceramics practice, and she will be opening the doors to  her studio, as well.”

“Mary Claire Preston is down at Foxglove Pottery Studios.”

This is the first time Ayami Stryck has opened her her textile studio for the tour.

“Hollyhock Garden is always spectacular and they're on the tour as well.  Hollyhock is offering a 10 percent discount  for lunch for  ticket holders. This lunch discount requires pre-reservation, as spots are limited.”

“The heritage garden here at the museum has really been spruced up. So much hard work has been put in through our volunteers.”

“That's a few spaces.  I don't want to mention too many people because I think everybody  is bringing some really unique work to this tour.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The first truckload was filled over the roofline with beach debris. Sam Gibb drove into the Klahoose village shortly after 10:30 AM on Saturday. Alex Bernier, followed with a smaller load. Helen Hall and Autumn Barrett Morgan, two other members of the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI), were there to help them unload. Stephanie Valdal, Services Coordinator for the Comox Strathcona Waste Management Service, had come from Courtenay. The debris collected by Klahoose Aquaculture had not yet arrived. By the time the month long Cortes Island wide beach clean-up officially ended, on Sunday, there was a bin full of beach debris. This year’s clean-up was a collaborative initiative between Klahoose Aquaculture, FOCI, the Ocean Legacy Foundation and Comox Strathcona Waste Management Service.

“This is the first time we've done a whole island beach cleanup. We've been able to do that because we've been able to work with Comox Strathcona Waste Management and with Klahoose to bring an Ocean Legacy bin to the island, and also to get the super sacks that we've distributed around the community. So suddenly from us just doing one beach cleanup, which is what we've done for a number of years, we've been trying to target the whole island,” explained to Helen Hall, Executive director of FOCI.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Eighty-three people turned out on Friday June 7, for the gala opening night of the Old School Art Gallery’s 2024 season. This was a group show, with 28 contributing artists, that will be open to the public on Fridays (6-9 PM) and on weekends (2-6 PM) until June 16th.

Bianca Lee,  Manager of the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery, was delighted by the large turnout, “I wasn't sure how it was going to work out having the member show at the beginning of the season, but it worked out pretty magnificently. There was so much interest and participation in the show. It seems like a really beautiful way to start out the season, get people excited about the gallery and also avoid the burnout of late season.”

Early visitors were treated to an instrumental selection by Cortes Island guitarist Rick Bockner.  

At 7:00 Kristen Schofield Sweet gave a welcoming address,  “We had 28 artists this year. (Cheers and clapping) It's the most we've ever had and I’m going to read out the names of a group of people, just to give you some sense of what it takes to hang a show.  Besides myself, we are thanking Christann Kennedy, Gerry Davis, George,  Orien Lee, Bianca Lee, Pamela Boles, Janet Turpin, and Ayami Stryck. It took that many people four days to get all that on the wall.”

“Next Friday, the 14th, I'm going to be doing a walking tour of the show saying, ‘To get it on the wall didn't just happen by accident, here's some of the things that we considered. Why is this piece next to that piece? And those two are over there, but not with this one?’ A show is also a piece of work. How those parts come together is really fascinating. Especially when you have nine people doing it.”

One of her colleagues, Christann Kennedy, later explained, “The idea is to try and create a dialogue so that the different pieces are  talking to each other. Maybe they have a similarity of colour or a similarity of subject matter or a similarity of material that makes them  seem like they might have something to say to each other.  What we try to do with a group show like this is set up some relationships that are interesting, and that might illuminate the artworks in a way that if you were just seeing one piece, you might not see that.”

“It's great to have so many creative people living on this island and to have a venue where everyone can come together and show their work and open up conversation between each other. I just think it's a really exciting thing that this gallery exists and I feel really lucky that I'm getting to participate.”

Several viewers remarked upon their success. 

Sole Arico said, “It’s just an incredible diversity and the quality is just  really high. Very beautiful work.” 

Jonathan Ogilvie went further, “I will say,  as someone who has spent a good deal of time in art galleries as a religious practice, that this collection  is exquisitely put together, that each one of these pieces complements  all of the others.  And that's not easy to do when you have so many artists at play together.  So I'm feeling it.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District will be carrying out FireSmart assessments on Cortes Island between Tuesday, June 11, and Thursday June 13. This is a free evaluation of the exterior of your home and surrounding yard,  which usually takes about an hour.   

“I started doing home assessments across the Strathcona Regional District in January.  I have come to Cortes a few times to do public education and have tagged on some home assessments.  I was just there in May for emergency preparedness week, and through that we had quite a few requests to come back for home assessments,” explained Bonnie Logan, Wildfire Risk Reduction Coordinator with the SRD.

“Usually there's only one wildfire risk reduction coordinator and that would be me, but I am eight and a half months pregnant. I'm  in that danger zone at that point where they like you to be close to a hospital. We hired Jeff as my maternity leave replacement. So Jeff will be coming over to Cortes  and he's going to be doing free FireSmart home assessments.” 

 Cortes Currents: How did the assessments go in other communities?

Bonnie Logan: “There’s definitely some common trends that we do see, like  firewood stacked up against a home or under a deck because it's nice dry storage, and most people are lacking sufficient storage. Wood decks are another one. Unfortunately, wood combustible,  there isn't really a good answer. That is  the most common decking system.

“We do have some suggestions on how to mitigate that. Again, it's not a pass or fail. It's not 'all of these things need to be done right now!' Some of these things are very small. There’s general housekeeping, like keeping your roof and gutters clean, mowing your lawn, raking some debris away from the home and then maybe moving that firewood pile in the summer when you're not using your wood stove.”  

“Everybody really buys into the program because it's not all or nothing. It’s a bit of a choose your own adventure.  Everything we're talking about is scientifically backed.  These aren't just  Bonnie Logan's ideas, or Jeff Caring's ideas, and they're not just the Strathcona Regional District pushing this program. These are tried, true and tested; based on science and research. So once you start talking to people and pointing out some of these things, they say, ‘Oh, I never looked at that’ or ‘I never considered that.’  It's a conversation with people and people realize that Rome wasn't built in a day. So the feedback's been really great, actually.” 

 Cortes Currents: How do you carry out an assessment?

Bonnie Logan: “We start with the roof and the structure, and then we work down and out.” 

“FireSmart has three zones.”

“The immediate zone, which goes out about five feet, is going to be your roof. We'll be looking at what type of materials on the outside of the house. What materials the house is built with, and then what materials surround the house. Something super common we see is  firewood stacked up right against the house, which can be a hazard in wildfire season.” 

“Moving outwards: we move into the intermediate zone and then the extended zone. We get a little bit more lenient about what can be in those zones.  Depending on how big your property is, you might not have that bigger zone. You might end up in your neighbour's yard and at that point, you have no control over what your neighbour does.” 

“Nothing is a requirement, it's just education and awareness for the homeowner. There's no follow up.  We're not going to come back a month later and finger wag at anybody and say, you didn't do these things.” 

“Some of these things we're talking about, like a roof, that's a big ticket item to potentially replace.  It's more about when that roof does need to be replaced, maybe we make a different choice if we have a combustible roof, like a cedar shake roof.”