Tag Archives: COVID 19

Communications

A New Internet Provider for Cortes: Raincoast Networks

As of September 30th, 2025, Raincoast Networks serves the 347 remaining customers in what was once the Twincomm service area on Cortes Island. Mascon by Telus acquired Twincomm in 2022. 

“I come from Savary Island. We provide internet to those who have decided to live off grid and in remote communities and cannot be served well by other telecom providers, majors and things from space, explained Oliver Linsley, owner of Raincoast Networks.

“We’ve been doing this for eight years and we service areas from Howe Sound all the way to Cortes. It has been a wonderful adventure, mainly because I get to meet some fantastic people in places I didn’t even know existed. We’ve helped communities up and down the coast, and that’s where we got our pride from. It’s not from a paycheck (laughs), I can tell you that, but it definitely is from the fact that I can go to someone’s house and they have baked cookies for me. They’re just super happy that we came in a boat and we’ve driven across a whole bunch of crazy oceans and we’re at their house and we’re going to fix it.”

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Arts

The Awakeneers: coming back to Cortes (July 2023)

Originally published June 23, 2023

The Awakeners came home to Cortes in the summer of 2023. They played at Gorge Hall on Friday July 28, and Mansons Hall the following day.

“We are excited that we’ll have a brand new album with us,” said Immanuel McKenty. 

“It was mostly recorded on Cortes Island and the majority of the songs were also written while we were on Cortes. The album will also be for sale at the Cortes Natural Food Co-op, as well as at our concerts,” added his brother Francis McKenty.

This is the beginning of a two part series about that ‘nomadic tribe of multi-instrumentalist songwriters (most of whom are siblings)’ called the Awakeners. We talk a great deal about their album and where most of the songs were written. In part two, which airs next week, we will go to their home in Willow Point, Campbell River. 

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Business, Food, History

More Than Just A Store: Cortes Natural Food Co-op

“One of our mandates is to create good employment for Islanders who are here full-time year round. And for our youth returning in the summer as well. It’s a great place for people who move to the island to start out and get to know the culture of the island by working with us.” –– Mary Lavelle

Originally published Mar 1, 2023

The Cortes Natural Food Co-op is one of the top five or six employers on the island, an attraction for tourists and visitors, and the go-to grocery store for many year-round residents. Active members enjoy several benefits, but membership is not required to shop there — so the store serves many times more people every year than its approximately 360 active members.

Employing 20 people even in the off-season, and with over $2 million in sales each year, the Co-op is a significant island business. But it also makes a conscious effort to be a good neighbour. As General Manager Mary Lavelle put it during our interview, “Staff, board, management — we’re always considering the community. That is one of the factors that we always consider in our decision making: our community. And I think that’s part of what makes us so special.”

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Health

Canada’s billion-dollar border gamble won’t end the drug crisis

Editor’s note: Approximately 0.2% of fentany entering the UnIted States comes from Canada (10 pounds in 2024), the rest comes from Mexico. 98.5% of the US border patrol’s encounters with migrants are on the US-Mexican border – gleaned from a CNN report using US Government sources.

By Richard Young Megaphone Magazine, Local Journalism Initiative

In response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of heavy tariffs, Canada has appointed former RCMP deputy commissioner Kevin Brosseau as the country’s first “fentanyl czar.” 

This role, created to address concerns over fentanyl trafficking across the northern border, aims to ease tensions and avert a potential trade war.

In a statement about the appointment, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Brosseau is being asked to work closely with U.S. counterparts and law enforcement agencies to “accelerate Canada’s efforts to detect, disrupt and dismantle the fentanyl trade.”

The idea that fentanyl is being manufactured on such a large scale right here in the province of B.C., considering the volume of it, is a surprise to many communities. There has been an assumption that the deadly drug was primarily coming from China and Mexico.

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Food Security

Food Nutrition, Prices And Security: Local And International  Perspectives

Around the time President Donald Trump started threatening to start a trade war, Cortes Currents reached out to Dr Kushank Bajaj from UBC’s Institute for Resource, Environment and Sustainability and Marc Doll, from Foot Forward Forest Farm on Quadra Island. 

The topic was food security and Dr Bajaj is one of the developers of a website called Canada Food Flows, which traces the amount of fruits and vegetables coming into British Columbia from other provinces and nations. 

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