One hundred and ten delegates attended the first Rural Island Economic Forum on Pender Island, on November 7-8, 2019. Cortes Island Regional Director Noba Anderson describes the gathering as the beginnings of an alliance of BC’s rural islands, and to some extent the San Juans, “with the intend of connecting like minded communities in this time of climate chaos.”
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Island Health Will Fund Cortes Island's Augmented Home Support Program During 2020
The Cortes Community Health Association’s (CCHA) Augmented Home Support Program (AHSP) provides minimal assistance to elderly people who might otherwise be forced to leave the island. So far, they have given 37 Cortes residents transportation to shopping and/or doctor; moved firewood; or light housekeeping. When needed, AHSP has provided some pre-cooked meals. This service is not a substitute for personal care provided by Island Health (like bathing, dressing changes or help with taking medication), but has been of great assistance to Cortes residents undergoing surgery or soon to be released from the hospital. The program’s funding challenges were such that CCHA actually contemplated terminating it last fall. Island Health will fund Cortes Island’s Augmented Home Support Program during 2020.
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A Vision For Cortes Island’s Political Future
By the time you hear this, everyone on Cortes Island will have received a newsletter from their Regional Director (or read it on the Tideline). I found it left me with more questions than answers. So I asked Noba Anderson to explain her vision for Cortes Island’s political future.
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What is going on within the SRD?
Cortes Island’s Regional Director, Noba Anderson, has been under attack throughout 2019. The first that many of us heard of this was probably in January, when one of the silliest lawsuits ever was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. I almost felt sorry for the plaintiffs’ lawyer on June 10, as he sat in court listening while the random gossip that his clients brought forward as evidence was torn apart.
He did not dispute a single argument, and in fact filed a joint submission with the defendants’ lawyer admitting there was no basis for the allegations made in his clients’ legal petition. The only excuse he offered was that his clients “were put up to it.” He did not say who was the real instigator of the legal petition; but we know that something odd has been happening within the Strathcona Regional District Board for more than a year, in addition to partisan shenanigans on Cortes Island. Are the two somehow related? What is going on within the SRD Board?
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Funding For Community Halls & First Responders Passes
The Strathcona Regional District passed the bylaws to provide funding for Community Halls & First Responders at their November 21, 2019 Board Meeting. This follows Cortes Island’s October 26 referendum, in which approximately 75% of votes cast favoured the halls and 83% were for first responders.
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