Tag Archives: Denman Island

Housing

Coming Feb 17&18: Free Ecotrust Canada Workshops On Energy Retrofits

The energy team of Ecotrust Canada will be visiting Quadra and Cortes Islands next week. They are part of a registered charity which works primarily in rural and remote areas and helps guide people through the process of doing energy retrofits, installing heat pumps, new windows and solar panels.  They will be giving free workshops at 2:00 and 6:30 in the Quadra Community Centre on Monday, February 17 and at the same times in Mansons Hall on Tuesday, February 18, 2025.   

 “The upcoming workshops are to introduce residents to our Home Energy Savings Program. We’re offering a one on one support service, often called a concierge service. So once you register for our program, you’ll get an email from me asking very  basic information about your home, like the age of your home, the heating system you have etc. After that, you will receive a phone call from me and we’ll go through more questions about your home. You explain what your desires are, what challenges you’re experiencing around your energy bill, and then I can help guide you toward the right rebates and the right renovations, or retrofits, so that you can achieve that goal,” explained Michael Anthony Lutfy, the program manager for our area. 

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Rivers & Oceans

Recent Concerns with Eating Raw Oysters; Unaffected Oysters & Areas (like Cortes)

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Editor’s note: Someone pointed out this article is too specific for International readers who, for example, may not even know where Vancouver Island is. There is a lack of specific information. I have written Fisheries and Oceans Canada, pointing out: “Most of The articles I see mention Tidal Area 14 (which is the little stretch of Vancouver Island coast between Comox and Parksville), but when I talk to Cortes growers they mention Baynes Sound, which is only a small part of Tidal Area 14. If it is only Baynes Sound, a lot of growers in other parts of Tidal Area 14 are being negatively impacted for something that is not even in their immediate vicinity. At the moment, a lot of Vancouver Island growers appear to be negatively impacted for something that is not in their Tidal Area.“

There was a 10 hour interval during which Erik Lyon of Rising Tide Oysters, on Cortes Island, thought he was going to reap big profits. Dozens of Californians had fallen ill after eating raw oysters from ‘Tidal Area 14’ in British Columbia. That’s on the east coast of Vancouver Island, between Comox and Parksville. Lyon specifically pointed to Baynes Sound, where there are oyster growers that sometimes ship 20,000 dozen oysters in a week. By way of contrast, he described most Cortes Island growers as ‘little mom and pop operations.’ 

“We’re a little bit removed from Baynes Sound. We tend to have cleaner water and a lot of the buyers can reliably pick up more product from us when the big guys go down,” he explained. 

That’s what seemed to be happening on Saturday, December 13, 2024. 

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Food, Rivers & Oceans

Advisory Against Eating Raw Oysters From Comox, Parksville, Denman and Hornby

More than 70 people reported feeling ill after eating raw oysters at the glitzy LA Times 101 Best Restaurants event earlier this month. Since then there have been similar reports from a number of restaurants in California. S&M Shellfish has issued an urgent recall for product sold as Fanny Bay, Buckley Bay and Royal Miyagi Oysters because of ‘multiple confirmed illnesses due to Norovirus contamination.’ 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an advisory against ‘certain oysters’ from BC Tidal Area 14, which is Comox, Denman Island, Hornby Island, and Parksville.  There have been no cases reported north of there, or in the Discovery Islands.

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Cost of Climate Change

Loss of Electricity and CityWest Internet During Recent Storm

Close to 400,000 BC Hydro customers, primarily on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, lost power during the recent windstorms. Gusts of up to 159 km/h were reported on November 19, the first night of the storm.  By 4 PM on Friday, November 22, all but about 5,000 customers on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands were back online. Parts of Cortes and Quadra Islands were among the last areas to be restored. 

BC Hydro identifies extreme storms like this with climate change and, in their 2023 Climate Change Accountability Report, states:

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Arts

A Weekend of Live Theatre at Mansons Hall

Two live theatre productions are coming to Mansons Hall this weekend

Cortes Radio sent over five audio tracks. A lot of Cortes residents are going to recognize the voices of the two people who conducted the interviews that follow but as they chose to not introduce themselves, they are labelled CKTZ in the written version of this story. This is their show and it starts with the PSA for ‘Moonrise, the Rock Opera,’ which opens on at 6 PM on Friday, November 8, 2024:

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