Tag Archives: Powell River

Rivers & Oceans, Waste

The story behind the Tire Islet clean-up

A waste education program from Powell River recently cleaned up an islet that was partially buried under tires. Cortes Currents re-published the story from qathet Living and that probably would have ended the matter, except some of you had questions. The biggest one was something between shock and disbelief that such a beautiful Islet had actually been turned into a tire dump. So Cortes Currents asked Abby McLennan of Let’s Talk Trash for an interview. 

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Community

Running in the rain is “relaxing” 

Originally published on qathet Living

No matter what the weather is this week, Doug Lanigan has been out running in it at least four of those days. The 63-year-old instrument mechanic usually runs the trails through Lot 450, covering dozens of kilometres a week, usually by himself. “My big problem is my hands get cold,” he said. 

“But once I get going I’m fine. I remember one morning when I got up when the kids were young, it was about 5:30 am, and I opened the door. It was windy, blowy, and rainy, and I thought, ‘Nah, I’ll go back to bed.’ No, I made it out the door, and five minutes in, I was fine.” 

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Rivers & Oceans

70% of the fish farms sampled had PRV-1, study finds

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A new study published by the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, states that 70% of the samples taken from 56 fish farms had PRV-1.

One of the co-authors is independent biologist Alexandra Morton, who explained, “The study was my concept and I funded a lot of the analysis and did a lot of the sampling myself. It was truly collaborative with Clayoquot Action sampling the Farms in Clayoquot Sound. An extraordinary man, Dr. Neil Fraser from Powell River got in his speed boat and went to the central coast. The Wild Fish Conservancy down in Washington State, sampled farms there. So it was  a sustained effort by a lot of people, and then Dr. Gideon Mordecai did the analysis of the relationship between the different strains that we picked up.”

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Housing, Politics, Poverty

Rachel Blaney: Canada needs a ‘Bar of Dignity’

According to data from the 2016 census, 20% of Quadra Island residents and 27% of Cortes Island residents are paying more for their homes in rent or mortgages than they can afford. More recent studies suggest that a significant number of families throughout the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) are so financially stretched that they are at risk of becoming homeless. 75% of the ‘housing insecure’ respondents to the ‘Collecting Stories of Where We Live’ survey on Cortes Island, and 33% on Quadra Island, are working. These are some of the people North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney is referring to, when she talks about the need for a bar of dignity.

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Justice

More Chaos, Less Patience – qathet has a serious crime problem

Originally published on qathet Living

By Isabelle Southcott

More than most, Debbie Dee’s words hold weight on issues affecting marginalized locals. So when she stood at the lectern at the Evergreen Theatre on September 14, the 200-plus people who had come to discuss solutions to the escalating crime issue listened intently. Debbie has been executive director of the Powell River Brain Injury Society since 2003. She was a Powell River city councillor from 2008 to 2014. In her speech at the meeting, she revealed that last year, she lost her step-son, Bodie, to a fentanyl overdose. 

Debbie was very clear: Powell River’s support system for struggling people isn’t working. It’s not working for people with addictions, mental health challenges and sometimes brain injuries. It’s not working for the wider community, who have to live with theft, vandalism, and fear. 

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