By Roy L Hales
A local novel is getting traction in stores from Courtenay to Campbell River. The author describes his work ”a collection of stories, some real, some fiction, all filled with nostalgia of recent (1960’s).” I recently had an opportunity to ask Frank Wayne what is behind The Cumberland Tales.
What was life like in the era before cell phones, computers and televisions. Did British Columbians feel closer to nature when they worked outside in the elements rather than within the artificial confines of a building? In this mornings program I ask Mike Manson, a descendant of one of Cortes Island’s oldest European families, and Mike Moore, one of our better known eco-tour guides, how public attitudes towards nature changed since the first settlers arrived.
Continue reading How People’s Attitudes Towards Nature ChangedBy Roy L Hales
Everyone was talking about the murals, when they were first unveiled. Thirty-seven years later, the image of three proud First Nations faces comes to many people’s minds when they hear the name Chemainus. Municipalities throughout British Columbia embraced this former logging town as a model for how communities can be reinvented after their principal industry collapses. There are still hundreds of thousands of visitors coming to see this Vancouver Island town every year. I recently dropped in to see how how Chemainus Transformed itself.
Continue reading How Chemainus Transformed ItselfGeorge Sirk’s radio program comes from a lifelong passion. He became a specialist in “tropical ecology, in places such as Australia, Papua New Guinea and tropical America,” and later an expedition leader in the Canadian Arctic. He first brought this to the airwaves for CFUV in Victoria. George also produced seven minute clips on the Arctic for CBC’s Morning Show, before Prime Minister Harper cut back on funding. He returned to Cortes Island in 2016 and on February 1 became CKTZ’s newest talk show host. In this morning’s interview, I ask George Sirk about becoming Nature Boy.
Continue reading Becoming Nature BoyBy Roy L Hales
When the Cortes Island Business and Tourism Association (CIBATA) was launched, it faced some tough challenges. Some believe Cortes is still stuck in the seventies and many residents would like to preserve that. Yet there is a need for the same business sectors you find everywhere else: retail, health, building and trades, tourism medical marijuana, aquaculture, learning / professional development and social profit. On February 24, CIBATA will be unveiling the draft of Cortes Island’s Local Economic Action Plan at the Klahoose Multipurpose Building, between 10 AM and 4 PM. In this morning’s program the association’s President, Colin Funk, talks about economic development while preserving Cortes’ core values.
Continue reading Economic Development While Preserving Cortes’ Core Values
