Tag Archives: Klahoose First Nation

Indigenous Nations, Politics

Fact-Checking MP Aaron Gunn: Are Private Property Rights Actually at Risk?

In the most recent round of a social media war of his own making, MP Aaron Gunn makes the misleading claim that the government is sending homeowners letters that their property may now belong to First Nations. 

His statement is based on a notification that the city of Richmond sent out to property owners within the boundaries of the old Cowichan summer village of TI’uqtinus, in October 2025. 

To put this in context: the land should have been made into a reserve. Instead senior colonial officials ignored their government’s instructions to protect the settlement and purchased it themselves in a series of transactions between 1871 and 1914. After a lengthy lawsuit, the Supreme Court of British Columbia restored title to the 800 of the village’s original 1,846 acres ‘over which they have proven sufficient and exclusive occupation.’ 

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Indigenous Nations, Politics

MP crashes out over harmless land acknowledgements

Local Chiefs reassure Aaron Gunn: “Chillax, bud.”

press release from the four cited First Nations

March 11, 2026

Chiefs from four First Nations communities are urging the public to please approach Aaron Gunn with no caution whatsoever. He is completely harmless, though momentarily unsettled by the alarming possibility that someone might acknowledge the land before a meeting.

Yesterday on social media, the MP appeared to crash out and demand to speak to the manager of land acknowledgements, a position that observers confirm does not exist.

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Forests

2026 Spring Cut in the Cortes Community Forest

Work is about to resume in the Cortes Community Forest. 

Mark Lombard, General Manager for the Cortes Forestry General Partnership, explained, “The spring cut is going to happen in the Coulter Bay area of the community forest. We’ll probably start a small segment of road in about three weeks. While the road is being built, maybe a month from now, we’re going to move over to Larsen’s Meadow. They’re both relatively small projects.”

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Indigenous Nations, Politics

Reconciliation: Two Regional Directors Speak Out on DRIPA and the Path of Reconciliation

With all the current hype about the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), Cortes Currents reached out to two rural politicians to ask how they see this legislation working at the local level. Mark Vonesch is the Regional Director for Area B (Cortes Island) and Robyn Mawhinney is the Regional Director for Area C, which includes Quadra and most of the other Discovery Islands. They both sit on the board of the Strathcona Regional District (SRD). 

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Indigenous Nations, Transportation

Klahoose Bus Receives Jo Ann Green Award

Every year, the Friend of Cortes Island (FOCI) presents the Jo Ann Green Award to a Cortes Islander who made significant contributions to the environmental well being of the community. 

There are pictures of Green at some of the island’s early social gatherings in the Cortes Island Museum Archives. She was one of the actors in the 1981 Cortes Cinema Production: Where Does the Lone Ranger Take His Garbage? Jo Ann Green was also a founder and the first President of FOCI, a member of the Cortes Oyster Co-op and an active homemaker is support of home services on the island. The award certificate states she ‘represents the spirit of Cortes Island’s resilience and its residents’ recognition of the vital importance of the natural environment.’

The 2025 Jo Ann Green Award recipient was the Klahoose Bus. 

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