Tag Archives: BC Housing

Housing

‘On The Brink’ of Success; The Cortes Housing Society Changes Leadership 

After five years at the helm of the Cortes Community Housing Society, Sandra Wood has stepped down. She continues to be involved with the society as a grant writer, a service which she provided Cortes Island with for more than a decade.

“The exciting news is we have a wonderful replacement who’s going to be stepping in to take over the leadership of the Housing Society and that person is Sadhu Johnston (pictured above). I couldn’t have found a better qualified person than Sadhu on Cortes Island.  I’d really like Sadhu to speak to some of his past experience and credentials,” she said.  

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Housing, Poverty

Homelessness Action Week at Burnaby City Council

Editor’s note: This article combines the story of one city’s fight against homelessness with an overview of the province’s actions.

By Lubna El Elaimy, Burnaby Beacon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Last week, the Society to End Homelessness delegation spoke at the city council meeting. Executive director Carol-Ann Flanagan gave a presentation on the current status of homelessness and the unsheltered in Burnaby. The presentation comes after BC Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon released an official statement on Oct. 10 marking Homelessness Action Week, in which he recognized volunteers and organizations working to end homelessness.

“Through our work, in collaboration with local governments, nonprofits, and Indigenous partners, 4,800 people have moved into supportive homes since we formed government. In 2022, we invested $633 million to take action against homelessness, and this year, we’re investing up to $1.5 billion through Budget 2023 in new initiatives aimed at helping prevent and reduce homelessness in the province,” Kahlon said in the statement. 

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Family, Indigenous Nations, Poverty

Indigenous couple fights for the return of their newborn daughter, taken by MCFD

By Anna McKenzie,  The Discourse, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.

Every day for more than a month, Sonja Hathaway sat with her newborn baby Amella in the hospital, speaking to the infant in her Dene language. 

Despite the feelings of being watched, Sonja and her husband Philip diligently spent time at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Victoria General Hospital to feed and care for their daughter. 

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Housing

Good News about the drainage at Rainbow Ridge

“ If we achieve this, which I believe we’re going to do, this is a model for other communities.  We look at places like Salt Spring and even Quadra Island and places in northern BC where they have lost their lakes. The process is called eutrophication. When the lakes just become too rich in nitrogen, they become swamps. It’s not just our issue, it’s everybody’s issue and if we show a way to improve the nutrient flow into the lake while adding these extra homes, that’s a model for the whole world,” said Rex Weyler, one of the scientists monitoring Hague and Gunflint Lakes.

He was talking about the potential impacts of what would soon be called Rainbow Ridge. 

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Community, History

About the Cortes Island Seniors Society

“The Cortes Island Senior Society, as it is now called, was registered in 1987, but previous to that there were seniors groups.  I think mainly they called themselves the old age pensioners. They eventually became a seniors group. At some point when they wanted to build,  someone told them that they weren’t even called a building society, so they decided to become the Cortes Island Seniors Building Society, which they were for a number of years,” explained Sue Ellingsen, Vice Chair of the Cortes Island Seniors Society. 

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