The damages caused by what appears to be a slipshod legal petition, that fourteen Cortes Island residents filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on January 2, 2019, continue to spread. One of the first casualties were the two referenda, for First Responder funding and a Community Hall Service tax, which had once been tentatively scheduled for Saturday, February 16, 2019. Though Cortes Island is in the midst of a comprehensive zoning bylaw review and on the verge of updating cannabis legislation, it still does not have an Advisory Planning Commission. This body was to have been appointed at the January 24, 2019, Strathcona Regional District Board meeting, but the decision was deferred “until the implications of the legal petition filed by Cortes constituents is fully understood by the Board.” Regional Director Noba Anderson submitted a revised list of candidates at the March 13 session, but the Board is still hesitant. The Klahoose Nation are the latest victims of this petition.
The Southern Cortes Community Association presentation was next. Though we have exchanged emails, Julian Ayers and I have never met and I didn’t think to have someone point him out to me. Nor I did not tell him that the little black device on the lectern, that looks virtually identical to a remote, was actually my recorder. Consequently, you will hear a lot of paper shuffling throughout this presentation.
The Boardroom was not large enough to contain us. We spilled out into the hallway. The final count was 36 Cortes residents, all but six of whom are known to support a hall tax to supply core funding for the island’s two community halls. The trip to Campbell River consumed the better part of our days. Collectively speaking, we spent about $1,000 in gas and ferry charges to get there. It was worth it. We came to hear two Cortes delegations address the Strathcona Regional District Board on Feb 28, 2019.
