Tag Archives: Nanaimo

Cost of Climate Change, Energy

Carrie Saxifrage’s Climate Mitigation Presentation To The SRD Board

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Cortes Island author Carrie Saxifrage made a climate mitigation presentation at the May 22 SRD Board meeting. This is an abridged version of that talk. 

She began with a simple admission, “This is my first time. Thank you so much for having me. If I were to do it again, I’d do it a little differently, but here we are. We’re going to whisk through some slides, and I’m going to emphasize what I think is most important.”

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Politics

Pierre Poilievre aims to turn B.C. coast blue at NDP’s expense

Editor’s opinion: Prior to NDP candidate Rachel Blaney’s election in 2015, our area (North Island-Powell River) was a Conservative stronghold for 7 years. Blaney won 40.2% of the popular vote, as opposed to the Conservatives 26.2%. Since then, the Conservatives have slowly been increasing their numbers in North Island-Powell River. They lost by 5.3% in 2019 and only 3.5% in 2021. Now that Blaney has decided not to run in the next election, the Conservatives have a chance to retake the riding. As of this morning, 338Canada’s projections show the Conservative Party of Canada taking as many as 5 of Vancouver Island’s 7 seats and the most likely riding to switch is North Island-Powell River.

(This is by no means certain and any swing to the right would most likely have less momentum in the Cortes, Quadra and the other Discovery Islands – which tend to lean more to the left than Campbell River.)  

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Long before the next election, Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre is setting his sights on winning seats on Vancouver Island, despite the NDP’s domination over the past decade. 

The NDP holds six of the region’s seven ridings, with the exception of Green Party Leader Elizabeth May’s Saanich-Gulf Island riding. 

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Animals

The First Wildlife Coexistence program on Vancouver Island

Around 40 people turned out for the Wildlife Coexistence Gathering on Cortes Island. This was an opportunity for Cortesians to meet some of the extended community of advisors  to the local program and learn more about our three top predators: grey wolf, black bear and cougar. The gathering was organized and hosted by Sabina Leader Mense and Georgina Silby from the Cortes Community Wolf Project. It began with a welcoming ceremony in the Klahoose All Purpose Building on Friday, April 5. There was an all day teaching series in the Linnaea Education Centre the following day. The gathering ended with a walk through the wildlife travel corridor in Hank’s Beach Forest Conservation Park on Sunday, April 7.  

Sabina Leader Mense emailed, “We celebrated our cultural relationships to our wild kin with the Klahoose First Nations singers & drummers and our guests Grace SoftDeer from the Chickasaw First Nation and Dennis Hetu from the Toquaht First Nation. We then explored our social and ecological relationships with our wild kin in formal and informal presentations by our invited guests, Bob Hansen, Pacific Rim Coordinator for WildSafeBC and Todd Windle, Coordinator for the Wild About Wolves Project.

Cortes Currents recorded most of the sessions at Linnaea and has arranged the material in a series of articles. This is an abridged version of the segment in which Bob Hansen talked about the origins of Vancouver Island’s first wildlife coexistence program. Years later it became the model for Cortes Island’s program, and Hansen was one of Sabina Leader Mense’s mentors.

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Tourism

The #1 Outdoor Adventure Show in North Vancouver Island

More than 2,600 people went to the North Island Outdoor Adventure Show last year. 

“Most of them were from Courtenay and Campbell River. A good portion from Parksville, Nanaimo and then it got pretty slim, but Quadra, Gold River, Victoria, Qualicum. There was one that really  blew my mind: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia,” explained Joel Wheeldon, Program Coordinator with the Strathcona Regional District. 

Google  ‘what is the #1 outdoor recreation show in North Vancouver Island,” and the first result will most likely be the North Island Outdoor Adventure Show. (It appears to be the only outdoor recreation show in the area. )

The North Island Outdoor Adventure Show is held in the Strathcona Gardens Recreation Complex,  a function of the Strathcona Regional District.

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Education, Indigenous Nations

‘It was created for settlers by settlers’

Editor’s note: Indigenous students are not the only ones who do not feel they fit into the normal educational system, but there are high school and post-secondary alternatives. The Cortes Island Academy offers a high school accredited program based on experimental, project-based education. (Both ‘Indigenous’ and ‘settler’ kids are welcome.) Some Indigenous schools offer land based learning. I suspect that the ‘normal’ school experience can vary a great deal as well. The Cortes and Quadra Island elementary schools appear to have highly innovative programs. It is also interesting to read about the Vancouver Island University’s attempts to become more culturally sensitive and the Kwak’wala language revitalization at UBC.

By Roisin Cullen, Pique Magazine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A young person’s first week in university should be an exciting and equally nerve-wracking time, but for 22-year-old Aiyana Kalani of the Lil’wat Nation, it was an eye-opening experience.

Kalani went to Vancouver Island University (VIU) in 2021 to major in digital marketing and minor in journalism, but found the experience incredibly isolating. She has since returned home and does not plan on continuing her studies.

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