All posts by Roy Hales

Possibly Cortes Island’s First Plant and Skill Share 

Linnaea Farm’s First Plant and Skill Share was on Saturday, April 18. It may be the first on Cortes Island. 

Tamara McPhail, who has been at Linnaea farm the past quarter century explained,  ”I don’t know if there’s ever been a plant share before on Cortes.” 

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Shannon Marks: Behind Gorge Harbour Marina’s Concerts

Forty-nine acts will be coming to the Gorge Harbour Marina this year, the same number as last year. The driving force behind the venue’s success is Shannon Marks, who has been promoting the music industry since she was 16. In this morning’s interview she talks about the coming season and her own life promoting music. 

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MP Aaron Gunn’s April 9th Town Hall Meeting on Cortes Island

Aaron Gunn, the MP for North Island-Powell River came to Cortes Island on Thursday April 9. Jacob Mantle, the MP from York-Durham in Ontario,  accompanied him. About 60 expectant Cortes residents showed up at Mansons Hall. The resulting town hall meeting covered everything from the cost of living to the future of the resource sector. The report that follows consists of highly edited audio clips from an hour and a half meeting.

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The Klahoose ‘Elder’ and other embarrassing aspects of Aaron Gunn’s visit

About 60 Cortes Island residents turned up at Mansons Hall, on Thursday, April 9, to hear from their MP, Aaron Gunn, and his colleague, MP Jacob Mantle. Gunn gave a presentation, which was followed by answers to written questions. However, the event was marked by several logistical glitches—the most significant involving a Klahoose Cultural Protocol Representative who was invited to open our meeting and give a land acknowledgement – only to find he was not welcome to do so.  

As a reporter, I am expected to be objective. In fact we usually speak in the third person – which seems ludicrous but I still refer to myself as ‘Cortes Currents.’ In this case, I was definitely involved. I helped ‘enable’ this event.

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Getting back to Blue Jay Lake Farm: Green Valley, A Film by Morgan Tams

Morgan Tams was an integral part of the Cortes Island community for eight years before he and his partner Carly left in 2024. He recorded part of their experience as members of the Blue Jay Lake Farm community on a documentary that will air at Vancouver’s DOXA Festival on May 3 and 9, as well as the Knowledge Network later this year. 

Morgan Tams: “ It was about five years working on this, not exclusively but of my time. I’ve had some really great showings on Cortes, which was really fantastic.” 

“Now to have it play in Vancouver where I think there will be some crossover, some Cortes people in Vancouver, but I think there’s a city where people are right now so interested in alternative ways of living. I think partially just the direction the world is going, ideas about community, about being more connected to our food sources, about being connected to one another and being connected to skills like building and growing food are really pertinent topics for our time.” 

Continue reading Getting back to Blue Jay Lake Farm: Green Valley, A Film by Morgan Tams