Tag Archives: Films on YouTube

Politics

April 25-27: 2023 RIEP Forum

The first Rural Islands Economic Partnership (RIEP) Forum was held on Pender Island during 2019. They were forced to hold virtual events after COVID hit, but the 2023 RIEP Forum is an in-person event that will be held on Gabriola Island, April 25-27.

“This is a flagship event for the 18 plus rural islands of BC. The reach is from Bowen Island to Malcolm Island to Salt Spring to Gabriola, to Cortes, and Quadra. Our motto is, ‘No one island can be resilient alone, and together we’re stronger and better,’” explained Francine Carlin, Chair and Interim Executive Director of the Rural Islands Economic Partnership.

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Arts, Environment, Indigenous Nations

Filming Dillon Creek, more than just a wetland restoration

Lives changed because of the Dillon Creek Wetland Restoration.

Project manager Miranda Cross said, “ This project really initiated a whole new life path where I am now working as a wetland restoration professional.” 

Monitoring Technician Autumn Barret Morgan studied soundscapes before she came to Cortes Island, but it was at Dillon Creek that she “started really diving into the soundscape” – which she has carried on with the Western Screech Owl Monitoring Project.

Beatrix Baxter has been making films for about 15 years, but she was feeling burned out by the time she moved to Cortes Island. The documentary film Replenish: Bringing Back the Dillon Creek Wetland is both a chronicle of the project, and part of a personal transformation.

“I’m pretty choosy about the projects I take on these days. I just really want to choose projects that are going to be quite meaningful to me and to the world,” she explained. 

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Education

Cortes Island Academy: Looking back to lessons learned and forward to 2023/2024

“It’s such a different experience from normal school. I think really just connecting with people, and having a class where you can be friends with everyone in it.” 

 “It regains my faith in humanity a little bit, seeing everyone be so supportive.”

“A lesson that I’ll be taking with me, is that I can learn from everybody who I meet.”

Those were some of the student comments from the Cortes Island Academy website. The 2022/2023 semester is now over and the academy is preparing for a Forest Ecology Semester in 2023/2024.

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Forests

February 25th Rally for Old Growth in Victoria BC

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— with on the spot reporting, films and photographs from Helen Hall

In recent years, the BC government has made many promises, many representations to the public, about its intent to preserve what little is left of the Province’s old growth forests. Many BC residents, however, feel that — despite the arrival in office of more reality-based politicians such as David Eby — no real progress is being made.

Some of these residents attended a March and Rally in Victoria on February 25th, to express their concerns about deforestation and their frustration with the slowness of government response to what many describe as an ecological crisis. Helen Hall, longtime Cortes resident, traveled to Victoria to participate in this protest.

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Forests

Highly generative community forest meeting launches next phase of opportunity roadmap

On Sat. Jan. 28, Cortes Community Forest Cooperative (CCFC) public meeting succeeded in providing a “local knowledge download” for the external consulting team, who are now working on a plan for CCFC to keep more of its cut wood on island, simultaneously creating jobs through tapping the value-added wood products sector.

The meeting was held at the Klahoose First Nation’s Multi-Purpose Building. The Nation is a strategic partner with the non-indigenous side of the island in holding and guiding development on approximately 3,869 hectares of Crown land that makes up the Forest’s tenure.

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