Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Cortes Island resident Bruce Ellingsen was both a delegate to the recent NDP Convention in Victoria, and the original author of resolution #42 written for the segment called ‘Building a Sustainable Economy for All and Fighting the Climate Crisis.’ Unfortunately, he didn’t get to read it that afternoon.   


“We ended up only getting through 10 of the 69 resolutions, with the presentation to the floor and the debate pros and cons to any of them,” he told Cortes Currents.


Bruce does have a suggestion that would increase the number of resolutions that can be heard, and the delegates enthusiasm for citizen democracy.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -  At the November 22nd meeting, the SRD board approved a report to explore the possibility of using Cortes Island's gas tax reserve to help build the access road into the Rainbow Ridge Affordable Housing project.

"It's really great to see the SRD jumping in to work on housing using all the different tools that they have access to. This was led by our Regional Director, Mark Vonesch, who brought this to the SRD board. What was approved at this point is the request to have staff work on a report," explained Sadhu Johnson, Executive Director of the Cortes Community Housing Society.  

"We've applied to the SRD to use the Gas Tax Funds for the first phase of that road. That won't get us to the full construction level that's required by the Ministry of Transportation, but it does get us to a point that we can use it for construction, and so we can fully access that site.”

The SRD Board passed the necessary resolutions in a little over a minute.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board approved all but one of Cortes Island’s 2023 Grant-in Aid applications. It was a long, often confusing, debate. The SRD Board denied the Cortes Island Academy’s application because, as Chief Administration Officer (CAO) David Leitch explained “this Grant in Aid is in contradiction to our policy in terms of awarding money to other senior levels of government.” The Board initially granted the other Cortes applications, then seemed on the verge of rescinding them. Their decision to pass most of the applications was followed by a motion to change the manner in which Grants-in-Aid are processed.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - With the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) AGM is coming up next Tuesday, November 28, it seemed like an ideal time to ask Executive Director Helen Hall what the society achieved in 2023. 


“As Friends of Cortes Island, we're actually doing 14 different projects which involve everything from habitat restoration and conservation through to environmental monitoring and community education.  I just wanted to highlight some of those projects,” she explained.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There was a truck accident in the 1400 block of Whaletown Road, just outside of Squirrel Cove, yesterday.

Jane Campbell From BC Emergency Health Services informed Cortes Currents that the ambulance received a call at 9:56 AM and quickly responded.

A local source, who did not wish to be identified, believes the problem was black ice. They mentioned two other drivers who slid, but did not lose control. The couple in the truck were not as fortuate. Their vehicle allegedly flipped onto its side and a female passenger was trapped inside. She is said to have been extracted.

Campbell reported, “ Paramedics cared for one patient, who was transported to hospital in stable condition.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - With the COP 28 only a little more than a week away, the University of British Columbia held a press conference about key issues. In the breakout session, Cortes Currents asked Dr Simon Donner a former COP delegate and professor from the Department of Geography and Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, two questions.

1. Many people on Cortes and Quadra Islands believe in the Overshoot theory. What do you say to people who believe that Climate Change is a symptom of a much larger problem: there are too many of us living on a planet with rapidly diminishing resources?

2. What should we look for at COP 28?

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - At 10 am on Dec 2, Regional Director Mark Vonesch will be joining the Cortes Housing Society to host a community forum in Mansons Hall. In today’s interview, he gave a sampling of how a little government could help make housing more affordable 


“We are in a housing crisis. Housing is expensive to build and we don't have enough of it. What can we do as a community in Cortes to get more affordable housing done? Like a lot of issues, we have to approach this from multiple angles. There's not one thing that's going to  solve the problem. It's basically three things.”

KIm Paulley/CKTZ News -The latest salmon returns are in for 2023 and two streamkeepers from the region have made observations about the different populations. A great year for Pink Salmon was the good news. Poor returns for Chum were noted by both streamkeepers.

Janet Gemmell, a streamkeeper, president of Courtenays Morrison Creek Streamkeepers, and a former resident of Carrington Bay on Cortes island, spoke with CKTZ about the Comox Valley.

Gemmell highlighted why Morrison Creek is a very important salmon habitat and also spoke about her recent visit to Carrington Bay this past summer where she spotted Coho fry.

CKTZ also caught up with Christine Robinson, Streamkeeper for Friends of Cortes Island. Robinson provided data for this year's Cortes Chum Run and reflected on Gemmell's Coho-spotting in Carrington Bay.

For more information on the state of salmon, go to the Pacific Salmon Foundation's website for further information.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Cortes Community Housing Society and Regional Director Mark Vonesch will be teaming up to hold a Housing Forum at Mansons Hall from 10 AM to 12:30 on December 2. 


"Cortes is a very innovative community. We have an incredible 'can do' resilient spirit on this island and have done amazing things. I do think that Cortes could be a real leader for the province, and the country, around rural housing solutions. With the resources and the ingenuity, the land, the partnerships, I think we can do some amazing things here on Cortes," explained Sadhu Johnston, Executive Director of the Cortes Community Housing Society. 


"Even buying Rainbow Ridge: 50 acres and having it owned by the community in our central population hub on the island is a really significant step forward. Now we want to put more housing there and we want to create opportunities for  community members to build housing elsewhere on the island." 


"We can solve this, and I think we need to do it quickly because  many more people are discovering Cortes and are moving here.  We need to work as a community quickly to ensure that the people that are here that are inadequately housed, that we find solutions to support them to stay here, or the very fabric of our community  is at risk."

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - BC Ferries and the BC Ferry Authority have launched a joint visioning initiative called ‘Charting the Course,’ which may help shape the future of this service for years to come. In today’s story, Deborah Marshall, Executive Director for Public Affairs and Marketing for BC Ferries, describes the survey and also answered some specific questions about the Cortes and Quadra Island routes. 

“People rely on BC first for different needs, but certainly in some of the smaller communities we service, like Cortes and Quadra, people are relying on our service to get to work, to school and important medical appointments, as well as get their groceries and goods shipped to the island. So we think it's really important for people to have their say,” she explained.