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.
This is a Cortes Radio update about reconciliation in action taken from the introduction that Carrie Saxifrage, President of the Cortes Community Forest Cooperative, gave to a meeting at Mansons Hall on May 22, 2019.
There were two key Cortes items at the Strathcona Regional District Board’s April 25 meeting. Chair Michele Babchuk said the SRD hopes to hold a final consultation meeting, regarding funding for first responders funding and the island’s two community halls, in early June. We may be looking at a referendum next Fall. Also, the Klahoose Nation’s Grant-in-Aid application was approved.
I probably first heard his Klahoose language program sometime between 2010 and 2013. We were already on Cortes and the radio was always tuned to CKTZ. By the time you hear this, he will have returned home from another teaching venue. Norm Harry was the eldest speaker for the ɬəʔamɛn, or Klahoose, Nation. The ɬəʔamɛn and three other Northern Coast Salish nations recently came together for an event called Speaking Our Language.
