Tag Archives: Campbell River

Business, Food

Measuring Workforce Exposure to the US Tradewar

A new interactive dashboard on the Institute for Research on Public Policy website measures the vulnerability that specific Canadian communities have in the US trade war.

“Canada’s reliance on the U.S. market has left certain communities vulnerable to shifting trade policies, including tariffs and protectionist measures,” explained Rachel Samson, the IRPP’s vice-president of research.

“Our dashboards can help identify which communities could experience challenges if tariffs are applied to sectors they depend on, allowing governments to work with the community to plan effective responses.”

The data is organized around Canada’s 293 census divisions.  

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Arts, Community

2025 MicroGrants 4 Neighbours Program on Cortes Island

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Immanuel McKenty is the new face of the Cortes Island Microgrants 4 Neighbours Program. 

When this ZOOM interview began, he was sitting in a room that looked very similar to where  I interviewed him along with the rest of the Awakeneers on previous occasions.

Cortes Currents: Give me your spiel and then I’ll ask some questions.

Immanuel McKenty: “  The 2025 round of the Cortes Island MicroGrants is now open for applications between March 10th and April 7th. We’re accepting applications for cool projects in on in theCortes community and giving out grants between $50 and $500. The application process is super simple. The link is on the Cortes Foundation website under their Grants section. And there’s also posts on Tideline and the various different Cortes Island Facebook pages. One interesting new thing we’re trying this year for the first time is we’re planning to put all of the applications out for input to the whole community once we receive them. So anyone who lives on Cortes can log in and view all the applications and submit their votes on which are their favourites.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing all the creative projects that get submitted and there’s a few that are coming in already.” 

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Environment

Wood Stove Smoke Pollution In Courtenay, Campbell River, Quadra and Cortes Islands

Wood smoke is not good for your lungs or the planet. It produces particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers, which is small enough to inhale, travel through our bloodstream, and cause a range of health problems. According to Dr Gary Fuller, the average wood burning stove emits six times as much particulate matter as a modern diesel lorry. This can be a problem in a cities like London, Vancouver or Victoria, but what about rural Vancouver Island communities like Courtenay, Campbell River and Cortes Island?   

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Business, Politics

RIEP Presentation: US Tariffs & How Island Economies Can Respond

Around 100 people signed up for the Rural Islands Economic Partnership 2025 Virtual Forum. At least 10 were from Cortes Island and there were others from Quadra, Bowen, Texada, Hornby, Denman, Cormorant, Malcolm and the Gulf Islands, as well as the Broughton Archipelago. Several of the topics were of great importance to islanders. One of the foremost was Aaron Cruikshank’s analysis of the impact US tariffs will have on island economies and what we can do about it.

Cruikshank is the founder of CTRS, a Market intelligence company from the Lower Mainland that has worked with hundreds of organizations and governments over the past 20 years.

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Environment, Indigenous Nations

Homalco First Nation’s ecosystem approach to flooding protects people and culture

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Working with nature, and not against it, a Vancouver Island First Nation is creating a plan to climate-proof its growing community.

The Willow Creek watershed project will restore wetlands and watercourses in the Homalco First Nation’s territory to reduce flooding and other climate disaster risks, but also boost cultural values and sustainable economic development, said Xwémalhkwu (Homalco) Chief Darren Blaney. 

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