Norm Gibbon’s novel ‘Sea Without Shores’ is set in the tiny village of Refuge Cove, on West Redonda Island, during some of the years he was a member of the community. Refuge Cove’s story goes back several decades before that, but in today’s broadcast Norm outlines some of the history surrounding the beginnings of the Refuge Cove Land and Housing Co-op.
Continue reading Beginnings of the Co-op at Refuge CoveIn 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 EmergencySunday, August 13, was Sandcastle Day at Smelt Bay on Cortes Island. There were about 20 entries, made by sculptors whose ages ranged anywhere from 18 months to 81 years. Some of participants live on Cortes, but others are visitors from as far away as Campbell River, Victoria, Vancouver, Langley, Quebec City or even England.
Continue reading Sandcastle Day 2023 on Cortes IslandImage credit: Kim Pauley singing ‘The Book of Right On’ during Wiley Ferguson’s performance – Igor Backmann photo
(The podcast of this program opens with a clip of saxophone player Dave Blinzinger’s version of the blues classic ‘Route 66,’ in which he added lyrics like ‘Get your kicks right here on Cortes Island’ and ‘When you take that Linnea Farm trip, get your kicks on Route 66.’)
I can’t take too much heat anymore and had to pack it in by 4:30, but it was already apparent that this year’s Lovefest was another success.
Continue reading Why is Lovefest such an ongoing success?
By Mick Sweetman, CHLY 101.7 FM Nanaimo, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca
Violent crime in several Vancouver Island communities is on the rise according to new numbers from Statistics Canada.
Warren Silver, an analyst with Statistics Canada says that’s part of a broader trend across Canada where violent crime peaked in the mid to late 1990s before falling until recent years.
“Violent crime is something that we’re really tracking right now, because we’ve seen increases in quite a lot of places,” he said.
Continue reading Breaking down crime statistics on Vancouver Island
