When you talk about Cortes Island’s population, most of us think of humans but there is an even larger avian population. The Cortes museum has been taking part in the Audobon Society‘s annual Christmas Bird Count since 2001. There were 38 participants this year. Most were in five groups, but there were also a number of people who reported birds visiting feeders, or parts of the island not on the established routes.
Continue reading 2019 Christmas Bird CountTag Archives: Cortes Island
Work On Squirrel Cove Dock Nearing Completion.
Pacific Industrial & Marine returned on Tuesday. They were too busy maneuvering the new western float into place to answer any questions this morning. One of the crew mentioned their work on the Squirrel Cove dock is nearing completion and will probably be finished on Monday, Feb 24, 2020.
Continue reading Work On Squirrel Cove Dock Nearing Completion.
How Community Decisions Were Made
The process behind a revision of Cortes Island’s Community Plan has been cited as an extreme example of how community decisions were made. According to the most recent (2012) version, “During the winter of 1983 and the spring of 1984, the APC (Advisory Planning Commission) and other community volunteers proceeded to assess the current community feelings concerning zoning regulations through an extensive questionnaire, including the tabulation and reporting of the results to the community, conducting seven question and answer evenings in homes throughout the island …”
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Local Governance Alternatives Discussed
About forty Cortes Islanders attended a public meeting on February 15th at Manson’s Hall, to discuss local governance models and alternatives. The meeting was announced in Regional Director Noba Anderson’s article “Seeding Community Council: Hornby and Cortes” which appeared in Tideline on February 2nd; it was co-hosted (with introductory remarks) by Director Anderson and moderator Kristen Scholfield-Sweet. Folk U co-sponsored the event. While some were disappointed in their expectations of a much larger turnout (“I thought the hall would be full!”) others pointed out that many people are still engaged in the ongoing search for missing island youth Miles Meester.
Continue reading Local Governance Alternatives DiscussedWe have a regional district system that, by its very nature, regardless of the people involved, leaves decisions off-island with a group of people that know little about our community.
— Regional Director for Cortes Island, Noba Anderson
Protect Our Hospital Services
(Editor’s note: The following article mentions matters of concern to residents of the entire Greater Campbell River Health Area, which includes Cortes, Quadra and other Discovery Islands.)
According to Dr David Robertson of Island Health, transferring the consultation of clinical pathology samples from Campbell River to specialists in Nanaimo and Victoria was a significant improvement. He insists the turnaround time on lab results is consistent with, or better than, when those services were provided in Campbell River. Dr. Aref TabarsiI, senior general pathologist at the Campbell River hospital, 75 doctors, the Campbell River Hospital’s surgeons, lab technologists, assistants and board of directors all disagree. Campbell River’s City Council, the Regional Hospital Board and the laboratory staff demand that local pathology services be restored – but neither Island Health or the Ministry of Health are responding. Two hundred citizens came to hear more at the Citizens for Quality Health Care/Council of Canadians Town hall meeting ‘Protect Our Hospital Services’ held in the Campbell River Sportsplex on Sunday, Feb 9, 2020.
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