Tag Archives: Klahoose First Nation

Local Politics

What is going on within the SRD?

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Cortes Island’s Regional Director, Noba Anderson, has been under attack throughout 2019. The first that many of us heard of this was probably in January, when one of the silliest lawsuits ever was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. I almost felt sorry for the plaintiffs’ lawyer on June 10, as he sat in court listening while the random gossip that his clients brought forward as evidence was torn apart.

He did not dispute a single argument, and in fact filed a joint submission with the defendants’ lawyer admitting there was no basis for the allegations made in his clients’ legal petition. The only excuse he offered was that his clients “were put up to it.” He did not say who was the real instigator of the legal petition; but we know that something odd has been happening within the Strathcona Regional District Board for more than a year, in addition to partisan shenanigans on Cortes Island. Are the two somehow related? What is going on within the SRD Board?

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Local News

Returning the Quadra-Cortes FAC To Normality

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By Roy L Hales

If the posts in the Tideline are an indication, the October 25 Quadra-Cortes Ferry Advisory Commission (FAC) meeting dealt with a potentially explosive situation. Our Regional Director, Chief Kevin Peacey and former FAC President Paul Ryan were among those who published their views. When the meeting was finally convened in Gorge Hall, one of the BC ferry executives stated the previous meeting (June 7, 2019) had gone off the rails. Committee members subsequently exchanged something like 130 emails. A significant portion of the October 25 meeting was devoted to discussing ways of returning the Quadra-Cortes FAC to normality. 

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Local Politics

Unresolved Indigenous Issues

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By Roy L Hales

They occupied Cortes Radio’s broadcast area for thousands of years before the European advent. The Homalco, Tla’amin, Klahoose, and K’ómoks nations’ shared language testifies to their common ancestry. Their neighbours, the Laich-kwil-tach were fierce warriors, whose canoes carried raiders into the southern Georgia Strait, Puget Sound and up the Fraser River. (They attacked the Hudsons Bay Company post at Fort Langley in 1837). When the influx of settlers was sufficiently numerous, they took over. The indigenous population was deprived of lands they had occupied for generations. Their customs and governance was superseded. Prior to 1960, the native population could not vote in a Federal election unless they first surrendered their treaty rights and Indian status. This situation is slowly improving. The BC Treaty Commission was set up in 1992, but so far has only signed a single treaty within our area. So I asked the candidates running in the Powell River – North Island what their parties will do about unresolved indigenous issues  

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Local Politics

Cortes Island Grant-in-Aid Debate Moved In Camera

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Originally published May 24; some additional information added May 30

By Roy L Hales

The Electoral Area Service Committee (EASC) continues to thwart Cortes Island’s Grants in Aid from going forward. At their May 8th committee meeting, three of the four EASC Directors (Abram, Leigh & Whalley) did not acknowledge the Cortes applications, in an obviously concerted attempt to prevent the applications from reaching the Stathcona Regional District Board. At the May 22nd Board Meeting, the remaining EASC Director (Noba Anderson from Cortes Island) made a motion for the SRD board to receive the applications. Quadra Island Director Jim Abram responded with a motion to defer the matter. This was secounded by Oyster Bay – Buttle Lake Director Brenda Leigh. They were defeated. This prompted Directors Abram and Leigh to recuse themselves “due to legal ramifications.” After the board approved receipt of the applications,  the Cortes Island Grant-in-Aid debate moved in camera.

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