For Curt Cunningham, of the Squirrel Cove General Store, it means not having to leave at 5 AM to ensure he can board the first ferry leaving Cortes Island on Monday mornings. He can stay in bed for another two hours. Cunningham will no longer worry about the consequences of being forced to wait for another sailing on the trip home. (Three loads of ice cream melted in the ferry parking lot last year.) There will be no more nights when he is forced to sleep on Quadra, or Campbell River, because there was no room for his truck on the last ferry. He will not have to ask an employee to open the store in the morning. BC Ferries granted assured loading to Cortes Island’s commercial food trucks.
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BC Ferries Asks SRD Board To Reconsider Postponement
On May 27th, three members of the Strathcona Regional District’s Electoral Areas Service Committee put all public hearings within the SRD on hold until sometime after September 7th. Three large projects on Quadra and Cortes Islands are being deferred. Though SRD staff told Regional Director Brenda Leigh the meeting could easily be held electronically, she was ‘not willing to put her life in jeopardy’ for the sake of a meeting on Cortes Island. Regional Director Jim Abram echoed the idea that in-person meetings were preferable and added that this would let directors and staff go on summer holidays. Now BC Ferries asks the SRD Board to reconsider delaying the public hearing for its new Quadra Island berth.
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The Cortes Island Museum Is Back
The Cortes Museum opened its doors to the community in 1998, Most of us know it as a seasonal facility, open two half days during the winter and coming out of semi-hibernation during the warmer tourism months. There were a number of special activities scheduled for 2020: a Spring film screening, an extravaganza Creative Spaces tour, Walks & Talks, a new Art in the Garden. All of that changed last March, when most of Cortes Island’s gatherings were cancelled because of COVID. Now British Columbia is reopening and, as of July 1st, the Cortes Island Museum is back.
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Cortes Island Nurseries ‘Bursting At The Seams’
Local farmers produced 85% of the food consumed on Vancouver Island during the 1950s. While a combination of high costs, low returns and cheap imports has almost squeezed them out of the market, there have long been people concerned about our losing the ability to feed ourselves. COVID 19 reminded everyone that, if distribution lines go down, food security could fast become a crucial issue. The increased emphasis has been good for the local food production sector and Cortes Island nurseries are flourishing.
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this year’s participatory Grant-in-Aid process
The invitations were emailed on April 23, 2020 and an announcement was made at www.cortesisland.com for anyone who may have been missed. Cortes Island’s entire non profit sector, “especially those not applying for funds,” were invited to a participatory Grant-in-Aid process. Fourteen organizations were at the first ZOOM meeting; eight subsequently posted final applications. Each organization was instructed to choose a designated rep to vote on how the funding should be allocated. Cortes Island’s Alternate Director, Corry Dow, will present the results to the Electoral Areas Services Committee on Wednesday, June 19th.
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