Tag Archives: Alberta

Arts

Jemma Hicken and Robbie Banks tour: Coming Back To Cortes

The audio version of this opens with a short clip of Jemma Hicken singiing ‘Skim Milk.’ I was hoping it would be a new version, with her and Robbie Bankes singing together, but it looks like the only place to hear that will be in Mansons Hall at 7:00 on Tuesday July 2, 2024. Jemma and Robbie are just finishing a month long tour of Alberta and BC. They were about to play at Campbell River’s Spirit Square when Cortes Currents reached them yesterday. They will be on Read Island today.

 Cortes Currents: How long have you been playing together? 

Jemma Hicken: “We had one show together last November. Then we’ve just had our tour, so mostly since May 30th.”

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Animals, Health

Chronic Wasting Disease reported in the Kootenay Region

On January 31, 2024, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed that two cases of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) have been found south of Cranbrook, in the Kootenays. ‘The first sample came from a ‘harvested’ adult male mule deer and the second from a white-tailed doe that was struck on the road. 

CWD is a highly infectious and fatal disease, which the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention states, “affects many different species of hoofed animals including North American elk or wapiti, red deer, mule deer, black-tailed deer, white-tailed deer, sika deer, reindeer, and moose.”

This is the first report of CWD west of the Rocky Mountains in Canada or the United States.  

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Disaster, Indigenous Nations

Frantic escapes, damaged homes and lost time: First Nations hit hardest when wildfire season comes

By Matteo Cimellaro, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Debbie Rupke (Tomma) heard a rattle at her door. It was her cousin in a panic, telling her they had only minutes to leave. Strong winds had shifted, and the Bushcreek fire, which has burned at least 43,084 hectares north of Kelowna so far, was bearing down on their homes. Rupke (Tomma) had returned from Vancouver the day before, so she grabbed her yet-to-be-unpacked suitcase and her most precious memento: a family portrait of her daughter she gave up for adoption at 15.

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Communications

Why Cortes Island does not need Facebook

While there are Facebook groups on Cortes Island, they have largely been  marginalized by a wiki style community bulletin board. The Tideline is not a place for personal webpages or a typical news website, but for the past 20 years most of island’s population have used it to post notices, community announcements, reports and advertisements.

Someone suggested that this may be a model for the rest of the country to emulate, now that Facebook has barred Canadian news outlets from using its pages. 

This prompted me to ask a few people at Lovefest for their opinion. 

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Arts, Education

Vijen Vijendren: ‘My Life in three Chapters’

The next show in the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery promises to be a treat. Vijen Vijendren is a retired art teacher, whose resume includes nine years at the Royal Palace in Brunei. He was also an elementary school teacher serving First Nations communities in Northern Alberta. ‘My Life in Three Chapters’ is his artistic autobiography, covering the period from his time abroad to settling on Cortes Island.

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