It has been two months since the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) put the public hearing for Cortes Island’s affordable housing project, originally scheduled for last April, on hold until September. When they applied, the Cortes Island Senior’s Society explained that delaying the project would lessen their chances of obtaining a $2 million grant from BC Housing. Now, in one of the letters to submitted for the July 22nd board meeting, the Coalition to End Homelessness is asking the SRD to reconsider.
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Regional Director Noba Anderson is Suing the SRD
In January 2019, Cortes Island was rocked by the news that 14 residents filed a legal petition, in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, to remove their recently re-elected Regional Director, Noba Anderson, from office. The petitioners claimed that “Anderson took money from her constituents for personal gain and a number of those same constituents received gifts and grants in return.” Many hoped that the affair was finally over after the lawyers from both sides filed a joint application stating “There is no basis for the declarations sought by the petitioners.” The Supreme Court Of British Columbia adopted this application as its judgement. However the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) refused to pay Director Anderson’s legal fees and subsequently censured her for revealing confidential materials to an undisclosed recipient. On Monday, July 13, 2020, this conflict entered a new phase: Regional Director Noba Anderson is Suing the SRD.
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Cortes Island Slowly Reopening
There were four tables when Mansons Friday Market reopened, on May 29th. Last week there were seventeen. They spilled outside the hall and throughout much of the parking lot. There were a lot of new faces: some covered by masks, but mostly not. This was only one of many examples of Cortes Island slowly reopening.
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The Definition of Homelessness In Our Area
Summer is here, and with it an increase in the number of homeless people in our communities. According to Sue Moen, the Salvation Army’s representative in the Campbell River and District Coalition to End Homelessness, this problem goes back about forty years – to when the federal government stopped subsidizing affordable housing. In the wake of the COVID pandemic, many Canadians have come to the realization that issues like this are community problems and we all need to seek solutions. In this morning’s interview, we talk about the definition of homelessness.
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Update on Poaching in The Community Forest
On June 27, Cortes Currents published a personal report about poaching in the Community Forest. Odette Auger lives beside the woodlot in Larsen’s Meadow and says there has been a significant increase in theft since the Community Forest took over management. While her account is subjective, it contains pictures, details of several specific incidents and a record of correspondence with the Cortes Community Forest Cooperative (CCFC) going back several years.
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