Tag Archives: Cortes Island

Health, Indigenous Nations History

Dedication of the Tsakwa’luten Healing Centre

It began with sacred songs, drumming and dancers.  Executive Director Kristie Lamirande would later tell Cortes Currents that while many healing centres have Indigenous spiritual components, as far as she knows none of them possess the 50/50 blend of Indigenous and Western healing methodology that the new Tsakwa’luten Healing Centre will offer. Some will remember this property as the Tsa Kwa Luten Lodge, on the southern tip of Quadra Island. There will be 42 beds for people struggling with addiction. 20 of them should be ready when the Centre opens this Fall. Jennifer Whiteside, the province’s Minister for Health and Addictions, MLA Michele Babchuk, Councillor Susan Savoy of the K’omoks First Nation and a number of leaders from the health community joined the We Wai Kai First Nation for the dedication on Tuesday July 16, 2024.       

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Politics

MLA Michele Babchuk visits Cortes Island

MLA Michele Babchuk was on Cortes Island for a few days last week. She spoke to Cortes Currents after meeting with some of the island’s non-profits in the Village Commons. This was the third time she’s visited the island since she was elected in 2020. 

“I’m hearing that Cortes actually has a lot of capacity and we’ve known that for a long time. There’s a lot of not for profit groups here. A lot of them are feeling extremely underfunded,” she explained. 

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Community, Development

Changes Coming To The Heart of Mansons Landing

The audio version of this story starts with Michael Keith’s impromptu response to a car horn sounding off during his Friday, July 12, performance in the Village Commons Music Series.  

  • “I don’t want to live in this crazy place, 
  • all the horns are beeping all over the place. 
  • Every time I try to play, I can’t – I hear another horn, 
  • it’s probably someone shopping for corn.” 

There have been a lot of changes in what Manda Aufochs Gillespie calls the heart of ‘Mansons Landing.’ The big tent where Michael played has been moved  beside the Mansons Hall parking lot for the summer. Cortes Currents did not check to see if  Reef Point Farm is already selling corn at the Friday Market, but Sara Stewart was there. Her stall was involved in the realignment which now connects the Market with the Village Commons.

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Arts

Lovefest 2024: Sampling of Musicians

Lovefest 2024 is coming to Cortes Island on Saturday, August 10. The full slate of performers has now been confirmed. Today’s program is going to be a sampler from five of the acts: 6 Foot Johnson, Doc Fingers, Elise LeBlance, the Adonis Puentes Cuban band and Ann Mortifee 

“ It’ll be a great  day of music; it’s a family affair. There’s food, of course, and all the crafts vendors and  there will be massages. There’s a kid’s tent. We’re going to have fun and games for kids. It’s the Cortes annual music festival. This is for the people that are here in the summer and of course, the year round residents that live on Cortes. We like to feature our local musicians and we like to bring in new bands that people haven’t heard.   Doors open at 11:00 AM, the music starts at noon, Lovefest will probably go till 9:00, PM,” explained Rex Weyer, one of the Festival’s principle organizers.  

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Arts

Adrift Above The Arctic Circle: Love Of Place

The current exhibition at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery, by Iris Steigemann, is an expression of Topophilia: the affective bond between a person and a place. The art works of Adrift above the Arctic Circle are symbols that have the power to suggest the whole. The whole of a place–with no editing, shaping, distorting through politics, commercial interests or customs. In our daily lives, primary experience is often screened by multiple layers of distortion, yet art can clear this fog. Here are some ways in which I think Iris has met this critical challenge of clear seeing.

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