Tag Archives: Radio

Health

Proposed Discovery Island Community Health Centre.

 The Quadra, Cortes, and Surge Narrows communities, as well as the Klahoose and We Wai Kai First Nations, have sent the BC Ministry of Health an application for funding to set up a Discovery Island Community Health Centre. 

“It offers stability for practitioners. It offers leadership stability through a joint board and a hired executive director. It offers some economies of scale in terms of practitioners being shared and supplies being shared. It offers a shared medical record between the communities. Potentially, one of the things is using video conferencing as opposed to an in-person visit, if that’s appropriate. It’s community driven, it doesn’t involve Victoria telling remote communities what works for them, because that generally doesn’t work for them,” explained Bernice McGowan, President of the Cortes Community Health Association (CCHA) and a member of the planning committee for the proposed Health Centre. 

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Communications, Education

Cortes Island Academy: Message in a bottle

On this Folk U, the students of the Cortes Island Academy took over the radio waves to answer this question: If you were to send a message in a bottle that drifts through time and space to another “time being”: another person, species, or world, what would it sound like?  

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Forests

+70% of purchase price for Phase #1 of the Children’s Forest raised


The Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island Society has raised just over 70% of the $7.5 million it needs to purchase 261 acres of forest along Carrington Lagoon, on Cortes Island, from Mosaic Forest Management.

Society Chair Chris Dragseth says this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the community:

“We’re protecting some valuable properties from an ecological point of view and from a societal point of view. The youth of the community, both residents and from afar, have benefited immensely from the protection this land has had to date. It’s got huge opportunities in the future from a continued educational perspective with the youth, but also from a research perspective.”

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Housing

First Home Foundations Poured: Rainbow Ridge Housing Project Takes Shape on Cortes Island

The long-awaited Rainbow Ridge housing development has passed a milestone. The foundations of the first two homes are in place. Sadhu Johnston, Executive Director of the Cortes Housing Society, gave Cortes Currents a tour of the site and spoke about the vision, challenges, and progress to date.

Rainbow Ridge is rising in Mansons Landing, the most settled community on Cortes Island. 

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Forests

Cortes Island’s Community Forest Operations in 2025/26

The Cortes Forestry General Partnership held its public meeting on October 9th, 2025. In today’s interview, Operations Manager Mark Lombard talks about leadership transitions, plans for selective logging, the Forest Stewardship Plan review, and other topics from the meeting. He also shares his personal opinion about how climate change is affecting our forest.

“We try to have a public meeting every year and we cover whatever topics are relevant at that point. There’s always the year in review, so what have we done in the last year since the last public meeting and what are we planning in the coming year,” explained Lombard.

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