In 2025, the Province of British Columbia funded homeless counts in 20 communities. To virtually everyone’s surprise, the numbers were down in eight communities. Campbell River, Powell River, Comox and Parksville/Qualicum were among them. Port Alberni and Sechelt/Gibsons were not. In this morning’s broadcast, Cortes Currents looks into the reasons why, as well as some popular misconceptions and possible remedies about homelessness.
Continue reading Why Some Local 2025 Homeless Counts DroppedAfter Oxford University Press released its 2007 edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary, a keen reader noticed what was not included in its more than 10,000 entries. Some 40 common words had been removed, like dandelion, bramble, heron, leopard, oyster and newt. They all related to nature. And they were replaced with terms such as blog, bullet-point, and voice-mail.
Oxford’s explanation to inquiries about the deletions was that many children no longer live in rural environments so such words are not familiar to them. Other words that were deleted were blackberry, clover, hamster, herring, lark, minnow, almond, mussel, otter, ox, adder, ash, beech, bluebell, catkin, cowslip, cygnet, ivy, nectar, wren, raven, bramble, magpie, starling, weasel and panther in favour of analogue, graph and celebrity.
Continue reading The Lost Words – The Quadra Project
Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The BC coast is “not for sale.”
BC Premier David Eby and coastal First Nations sent that message to Ottawa on Wednesday as they called on the federal government to uphold the oil tanker ban on the province’s north coast.
Eby and First Nation leaders stressed oil spills would cause irreversible environmental harm, the destruction of critical marine ecosystems and significant economic damage to First Nations and coastal communities.
Continue reading BC and First Nations unite to defend tanker banThe numbers are not in yet, but there are enough returning Chum in Basil Creek to justify milking them for eggs. A group of nine Klahoose employees and Cortes Island Streamkeepers carried this out on Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
No one wished to comment at this time.
Continue reading Milking the Chum in Basil CreekCanada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Local governments on Vancouver Island are frustrated after finally receiving a long-awaited answer to when legislative changes are coming to the law governing how some forest lands are managed in BC.
The answer: with the trade war targeting BC lumber, the priority is protecting forestry jobs. In short, after years of fighting, change is not coming.
Continue reading Long-awaited changes to BC’s private forests not coming, government confirms
