Tag Archives: Denman Island

Family

The Cortes DeathCaring Collective

(A five part series airing daily on CKTZ ,89.5 FM, April 4-8, 2023.)

For the last several years, a small but dedicated group of Cortes Islanders have been taking practical steps towards an ambitious goal for themselves and their community: a healthier relationship with death and dying. Their projects include regular meetings for discussion and support, humane and family-led funeral arrangements, and green (natural) burials in our local cemeteries.

The DeathCaring Collective was kickstarted by Margaret Verschuur, in collaboration with Quadra Island’s similar effort (Way To Go). The two groups share an informational website, communityleddeathcare.ca, and the Cortes group now includes over a dozen volunteers and a larger membership connected by email list and regular meetings. The core group of volunteers offer several kinds of assistance for islanders dealing with a death (or anticipated death) in the family.

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Food Security

Quadra Ican: The Nut Tree Project

On Saturday, 14 volunteers turned out to plant the first batch of hazel-nut trees for the Quadra ICAN Nut Tree Project. 

The organizer, Jennifer Banks-Doll, explained, “For a few years now on Quadra, we’ve been working towards increasing food security. There’s been lots of different ideas about how to do that. From  perhaps the more obvious, perhaps not more obvious ideas about gardening workshops and learning how to preserve food —  different types of gardening, things like that.”

“Then we thought, one of the gaps here is really plant protein and oils. How do we address that gap? You can’t really produce a lot of oils in this climate or on a small island because they require expensive equipment. Actually it was my husband, Marc Doll, who came up with the idea of planting nut trees.”

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Rivers & Oceans

What can Cortes Island do with its abandoned boats?

Last month Cortes Currents published a story about a local initiative to use some of the abandoned boats around Cortes Island for housing. There were more than a dozen boats at that time. Dominic dos Santos said he had found a Victoria based firm that will tow them away. Some would undergo any needed repairs and be sold. The remainder will be scrapped. dos Santos said he has fixed up a number of abandoned boats himself and sold them to Cortes residents who needed housing. Since then a person identifying himself as ‘Storm’ emailed Cortes Currents that putting people who cannot find housing onto boats ‘is a disaster waiting to happen.’ 

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Politics

Doll: Why Quadra Island and/or Area C needs a Community Association

Editors note: This is what some Cortes Island residents were discussing in late 2019, and early 2020.

One of the key points that Marc Doll keeps mentioning, in his campaign to become Regional Director of Area C, is the need to form a Community Association.  In today’s interview he explains why. 

“There’s significant differences between a Community Association and an Advisory Council,” explained Doll.

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Communications

High Speed Internet could reach Cortes Island as early as December

Cortes Island’s new high speed internet system could be live as early as December, otherwise early in 2023.

Randy, from CityWest, gave Cortes Currents a very graphic illustration of what this will mean. I am currently downloading data from the internet at a rate of 21.35 megabits per second (Mbps) and uploading at 6.50 Mbps.  Randy discussed plans for up to 100 or up to 500 Mbps, download and upload, depending on how much I wanted to pay. That ‘up to’ is important because customers might not experience these speeds at their computer terminals, but we are still talking about much faster service. He also said there are no limits for the number of gigabytes I could use in a month, hence no overage charges.

Continue reading High Speed Internet could reach Cortes Island as early as December →