Tag Archives: Gov of BC

Forests

On third anniversary of B.C’s promise to protect old-growth, ancient trees still falling

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Conservation groups are alarmed that endangered old-growth forests continue to fall three years after B.C. promised to protect the ancient ecosystems and transform the province’s approach to forestry.

The province hasn’t fully met any of the 14 recommendations of the 2020 Old Growth Strategic Review (OGSR), said Torrance Torrance Coste, national campaign director for the Wilderness Committee.

Continue reading On third anniversary of B.C’s promise to protect old-growth, ancient trees still falling →
Housing, Poverty

A remote Canadian island makes history in fight for affordable housing

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A remote Canadian island is breaking ground on a new way to buffer the negative effects short-term vacation rentals have on the housing crisis facing small, rural tourism-based communities. 

B.C.’s Cortes Island is making housing history as the first community in the province to tax short-term holiday rentals and have all the funds directed to affordable housing projects, said Mark Vonesch, the area’s Strathcona Regional District director. 

Continue reading A remote Canadian island makes history in fight for affordable housing →
Fire

Wildfire Update for our area: Day 4 of the State of Emergency

In the midst of the worst fire season in BC’s history, Premier Eby declared a state of Emergency last Friday. 

However there are no major fires in the Discovery Islands. The Village Bay Lake Fire, on Quadra Island, seems to have been brought under control in a single day. Aside from that, the closest wildfires are in Phillips Arm and the Strathcona Provincial Park. 

Cortes Currents asked BC Wildfire Information Officer Kimberly Kelly for an update on local conditions and insight into what they mean.

Continue reading Wildfire Update for our area: Day 4 of the State of Emergency →
Health

Curing the Most Deadly Communicable Disease on the Planet

Editor’s note: A health warning for our area as well the urban centres mentioned.

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The hepatitis C Virus kills more people than most other communicable diseases, including AIDS and tuberculosis, says Dr.  Brian Conway, medical director of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases  Centre. Conway was recently named an Elimination Champion for his work fighting the disease.

This excludes COVID-19 which, as a generational pandemic gets measured differently by infectious disease experts, Conway adds. 

HCV killed 290,000 people globally in 2019 according to the World Health Organization, including 1,162 Canadians. 

Continue reading Curing the Most Deadly Communicable Disease on the Planet →
Forests, Indigenous Nations

First Nations leader celebrates evolution of stewardship in Great Bear Rainforest

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

There are new measures to better protect bear and fish habitat in the globe’s largest remaining coastal temperate rainforest, thanks to First Nations’ increasing role in stewarding the Great Bear Rainforest (GBR).

The new protections resulted from the latest five-year review of an agreement between the B.C. Ministry of Forests and two First Nations alliances — Coastal First Nations and Nanwakolas Council — which represent 11 of the 26 Nations with territory in the rainforest.

Continue reading First Nations leader celebrates evolution of stewardship in Great Bear Rainforest →