Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Awakeneers are still living in Willow Point and have just released a new single. Cortes Currents interviewed them over ZOOM and we had our cameras turned off to preserve bandwidth.

Isa McKenty explained how he came to write ‘December in the North’:

“It was the day before one of our concerts in the Acoustic Matinee Series. I was supposed to be practicing for that, but it started snowing and I looked out my window. It was so pretty that I wrote ‘December in the North’ instead of practicing. It was actually a year to the day between when I started writing the song and when we recorded most of the tracks that you'll hear on the recording,”

Cortes Currents: What is the story behind this song?

Isa McKenty: “It was many snowy winters in the interior of BC, in Chilcotin and on Cortes. Things like skating on Jack's Pond and with the campfire to warm up your hands afterward; having a wood cook stove and no electricity; coming in from playing. I am the youngest so I remember the fun parts of the snowy winters, not hauling firewood or trying to fix the frozen water pipes or those kinds of things. I remember jumping off the switchback trail to our house into the snow drifts and  basically being taken care of by the other people who were doing the hard stuff.” 

Cortes Currents: Are these Cortes memories? 

Isa McKenty: “Some of them are from Cortes, although there's not really enough snow on Cortes to jump in and not hit the ground. (Laughter) The snow-jumping was in the Kootenays.” 

Cortes Currents: How old were you when you came to Cortes? 


Isa McKenty: “I think I was six.” 

His father, Robert McKenty, added, “We've heard a lot of original songs for the first time and when this one arrived, just before the Christmas season, it was immediately recognized by all of us that the lyrical line and the whole way that the song came together was really choice.  It covers such a range of simplicity as well as experience that all ages remember and can relate to it, at least if they're from the North and they remember the first snow.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) has some serious concerns about BC’s new Emergency and Disaster Management Act, which came into effect on November 8.

According to a provincial government video, “We know people are worried about the climate driven challenges across British Columbia that are significantly affecting our families, communities, economy, infrastructure, and ecosystems. Modern realities like frequent floods, wildfires, drought, and extreme heat, as well as the COVID 19 pandemic have a lasting impact on people and communIties. A significant step in our response to these challenges involves modernizing BC’s emergency management legislation to include the requirement that the emergency management plans of provincial ministries, local authorities, and critical infrastructure operators are informed by risk assessments.”

At their Wednesday Dec 13 meeting. Protective Services Coordinator Shaun Koopman told the SRD Board his concerns with the way the government was implementing these ideas:

“ I would really want to see from the province a compilation of the data, statistics, and answers that they receive from all local authorities that are providing feedback to this regulation discussion paper that’s available to the public because I can guarantee you we’re all telling the province to put their cuckoo back in the clock.”

“I think the public needs to see that as well. It’s not entirely out of the box. When the province first started talking about updating the act back in 2020, they asked for feedback from our Regional Board. I brought a report to the board that we (recently) sent to the provincial government.”

Koopman outlined some of his objections:

Q/How long are we going to need to implement these regulations?

“At the very best, I feel that’s a question that’s being asked in bad faith because they aren’t telling us what these regulations are. I have no clue how long we’re going to need to implement these regulations until they tell us the details. You’ll see a lot of ‘nos’ in the answers to the questions in that.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Emmanuel Cappellin’s award winning documentary "ONCE YOU KNOW" is showing at the Quadra Community Centre on Saturday December 16 at 7 pm.

This film is the winner of at least seven awards including Earth’s Choice Award from the Earth Day Film Festival, Best Documentary from the Festival International du film d'éducation, and Grand Prize from the International Festival of Science Documentary Films at Prague.

To quote a couple of the reviews:

"A triumph. With rare aesthetic taste, it delivers the facts about our accelerating climate chaos with an almost tender respect for those of us confronting the crisis. Unforgettable portraits of climate leaders in Bangladesh, France, and the US, help make our own choices clear. They leave me feeling inspired to lead a life that is relevant to this global movement.”

“A poetic journey into the teeth of collapse that leaves us with one question: how will I comport myself during this time?"

“We decided to present this film because it talks about what's going to happen to humanity aNd it interviews experts who all point In the same direction, which is that we're on a runaway train, and we really can't stop it at this point. We need to start really thinking about civilization coming apart because . We need to help people get through in the next few decades as much as possible,” explained. Bonnie Bronstein of Sierra Quadro.

Brownstein said Frank Cornelson brought this film to the attention of the other Sierra quarter leaders.

“There are similar films out there, but our feeling was that this one is particularly powerful and it really sticks with you.”

Cortes Currents: What is it about this film that makes it special?

Bonnie Brownstein: “The juxtaposition of the personal story of Emmanuel Capelin, a number of the people he interviews in the film are associated in one way or another with the IPCC and they come from various parts of the world.”

These quotes are pulled from the film's trailer.

“Forty years ago, I presented a question. How can global society organize itself to provide a just, peaceful, equitable, decent living for its people? Forty years ago, it was still theoretically possible to slow things down, and now that's no longer possible. It means that we are coming into a period of uncontrolled decline.”

“The result is going to be an immense human tragedy.”

“We failed the now; we are now talking about tomorrow.”

 Bonnie Brownstein: “The filmmaker, Emmanuel Capela is a young French man who lives in a small village in a mountainous area of France and there's a lot about the community. It ends up saying that community, community action and community democracy is super important. That is why Sierra Quadra invited ICANN, the Island Climate Action Network, to join us in this evening.”

“It's at the Quadra Community Centre on Saturday, December 16th, doors open at 7, and the film starts at 7. 30, and as usual in Quadra events, there is a concession, and we're hoping there will be time for That people won't all leave immediately afterwards, and there will be time for discussion, and we're hoping that it will encourage people to get involved in ICAN projects because they're always looking for more people.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - BC Ferries announced a series of changes coming in 2027,  including new vessels for the Campbell River and Cortes Island routes and the next steps towards electrifying the fleet.


“We've received approval from the ferries commissioner to procure  four new vessels, hybrid electric and they will bring new capacity into the system, which is great news. In addition to that,  as part of this capital investment that will be electrifying or putting a lot more power into 2 routes that are going to eventually be able to run these hybrid battery electric vessels in the way that they're built. For the purposes of the investment being announced today, it's just  two routes , Nanaimo to Gabriola and  Campbell River to Quadra that will be serviced with this capacity to actually run these vessels in their electric form," explained Nicholas Jimenez, CEO of BC Ferries.

"Currently we have 6 hybrid electric vessels in play in the island class series, but we don't have the terminal infrastructure yet to support the charging to take advantage of the capabilities of these vessels. We had hoped for that to be true, but we didn't have the funding needed in order to be able to electrify or put more power into the terminal."


"So we're building new capacity and the expectation is that when funding is available for this whole program, we'll be able to electrify every terminal where these vessels are in service." 

Cortes Currents: Are we talking fully electric?  

Nicholas Jimenez: "They will be fully electric when the terminals , the electrification component of the project, is in place. Yes, that is the expectation.”

"You need a lot of power in order to generate a charge on a quick turnaround, so the vessels can run all day long on their batteries." 

"It's really the beginning of the future, which is great news. I think both for the people who live in that part of the world, but also for our commitment to helping BC meet its climate goals." 


Cortes Currents: When is the electrification expected to be ready? 

Nicholas Jimenez: "I'm going to have to follow up on that  because we're in the process right now of negotiating with the shipyard. 1 of the items for negotiation is the undertaking of the power supply into those two routes that I mentioned.”

"It's hard for me to give firm delivery timeframes when we're still in the process. Literally: this week we are meeting with one of the shipyards that we're in the procurement process with, to talk about how this work is all going to get done. We'll have a little bit more  to say specifically when these negotiations are concluded.”

"I hope it's going to be successful. Yes, we expect the vessels -  because we know what it takes to build a vessel. This vessel is already in service. We have the design. It's well established. We believe that 2027 is a reasonable timeframe for these vessels to be built by any yard.” 

Cortes Currents: What about the electrification of the Campbell River and Gabriola routes? 

Nicholas Jimenez: "The expectation is we're going to electrify Campbell River, Quadra and then Nanaimo and Gabriola.”

Cortes Currents: Another expectation is that one of the existing hybrid electric vessels will be going over to Cortes. Can you talk about that? 

Nicholas Jimenez: "I can. We are getting four new cleaner vessels and remember these are 40 to 50 year investments. So when we're looking at this, we're really looking at the latter part of the century that we expect these vessels would still be in service."  

"That's a great thing to be able to bring in hybrid electric and at the same time, we're going to be able to redeploy the vessels that are currently servicing those routes and put them onto other routes. There'll be vessels deployed to Crofton and Vesuvius, to Quadra and Cortes, to Denman and Hornby. All to increase the capacity in those particular routes."

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents - On Monday December 11th, four SRD staff came to Cortes to hold a local zoning hearing at noon, followed by a three hour open house starting at 1pm. Cortes residents were invited to provide input to assist SRD in revising and updating the zoning bylaw for Area B.

SRD was represented by Senior Manager Aniko Nelson, along with Planning and Parks Manager Meredith Starkey and Planners Annie Girdley and John Neill. They brought with them several large signboards, and placed them at tables in the hall. The first table explained what a Zoning Bylaw is; subsequent tables were focussed on four main topics: Water Zones (foreshore, waterfront, harbours), Cannabis Production and Sale, Housing Density, and Short Term Rentals.

There was no formal presentation. On each table, a large sheet of paper presented various options for zoning law revision, and attendees were invited to vote for their favourite options by applying coloured stickers, as well as writing comments directly on the sheet. SRD staff also provided official forms for written feedback, which were gathered in a large “ballot box”.

KIm Paulley/ CKTZ News - Cortes Island’s first community meal took place at Mansons Hall on Dec. 7, an event which hopefully will be the first of many in the coming year.

Ester Strijbos, coordinator of Better at Home for Cortes, says the meal is not just about food. The community meals are envisioned as all ages events that bring people together, she told CKTZ. “We know that food in a social setting is a super big component of building connections.”

She said that they're hoping to host a meal on a weekly basis and rotate thru the three community centres, Mansons Hall, the Gorge and Klahoose.

The community meal program, funded through the Better at Home Food Security Initiative, takes inspiration from the weekly community meal on neighbouring Quadra Island.

“They have this on Quadra Island, a weekly community meal, and it’s very popular there,” stated Strijbos.

A second community meal will take place at Mansons Hall on Thursday, Dec. 14 at noon.

Anastasia Avvakumova/CKTZ News - Becca’s Beans, a local coffee business started by Becky and Scott Knutson in 2008, is now in the enthusiastic care of Doug and Melanie McCaffry.

The couple moved to Cortes Island from Central Saanich at the end of October, and their very first days on the island coincided with a marathon power outage. Undeterred, they consider it "an initiation," and are overwhelmingly pleased with the warm welcome they've received as well as the pace of life and wild beauty.

Although they are in no hurry to make big changes to the business, they are considering expanding their distribution area off the island, as well as working on a few new roasting profiles. But the McCaffrys said they will likely keep the name, Becca's Beans, because of the shop's local history.

Both also have a wealth of other skills, such as herbology and aromatherapy for Melanie, and restoring old film for Doug.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Two hundred and sixty-five people (265) filled out responses to the Cortes Island Housing survey which was carried out by the Cortes Community Housing Society and Regional Director Mark Vonesch. While this is only about 30% of the adult population, their answers provide a clear picture of the current housing situation, as well as specific areas where the majority of the population appear to support change.

“Other housing surveys they've done in the past have just broken over 100, so people are really engaged around this issue,” explained Vonesch. “40% of the people who responded to the survey have been here for over 20 years, which is significant.  The people that have been here for a long time and seen a lot of changes over the years and seen the way that Cortes is going and where it's at now and where it has been.” 


According to the press release accompanying the Housing survey, 175 of the respondents were property owners. 56% of them own their property outright, but half of those with mortgages have higher payments than they can reasonably afford. 82 of the respondents were renters, 42% of whom are paying more than 33% of their income on housing. This is more than what CMHC states is affordable and they're regarded as ‘at risk.’ The remaining 8 respondents were ‘unhoused.’

Mark Vonesch: “Probably two thirds of the people that filled out the survey also wrote a paragraph or five in the comment section saying ‘here's my answer, but here's the specifics of why I said that.’  We thought about releasing all these comments right now, but I think it's really important  to protect people's privacy and we want to do it in a sort of thoughtful way that captures the essence of what most people are saying, but doesn't make people feel vulnerable as they're sharing the vulnerable things.” 


Cortes Currents: What were the key points that the majority of the population already appears to agree we should act on?


Mark Vonesch: “67% of the people said that they would support an empty homes tax on Cortes. Only 18% said ‘no.’ What would that tax look like? Is it even possible? How is it done? Can we do it in a Regional District way? Do we have to lobby the government? There's lots of details to work out, but this is showing that a large proportion of people think the idea is a good thing.”

“We asked, ’Do you support Cortes opting into BC government legislation so people can only operate short term rentals on land that includes their primary residence?’ This would mean that if you live in Victoria and you buy a property on Cortes, you can't just Airbnb it out. Either rent it out long term, or not at all. 21% of people said ‘no’ to that, almost 16% were ‘unsure’ and 63% said ‘yes.’” 

“‘Do you support Cortes opting into BC government legislation allowing greater density on lots currently zoned for single family homes?’ 261 people answered this question; 72% of them said yes.”

Mick Sweetman / CHLY 101.7FM - Nanaimo’s Jewish community marked the first night of ​​Chanukah with the lighting of a giant Menorah at Maffeo Sutton Park.

Organized by Chabad of Nanaimo the event attracted hundreds of people to mark the start of the holiday celebrating the triumph of light over darkness.

Rabbi Bentzi Shemtov says that the public celebration of ​​Chanukah is important for the community.

“The holiday is all about light, freedom,” he said. “That's what we celebrate on this holiday, the holiday of freedom over light over darkness, and to be able to come out into the streets in the open and light those candles the first night knowing that tomorrow night's going to be two nights, two candles. It's really good.”

The Chabad of Nanaimo and Central Vancouver Island will hold another Menorah lighting at Courtenay City Hall on Sunday, Dec. 10 at 3:30 p.m.

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents -CCEDA continued its series of Conversation Cafés on Thursday December 7th at the Gorge Hall, to discuss the issue of "food security on Cortes Island." Facilitated by Colin Funk and organised by Kate Maddigan, the event attracted over 20 participants.

CCEDA will be releasing a detailed report on the results of this guided discussion; in the meantime, Currents can offer our readers an overview and a few highlights.