Mark Vonesch is very passionate about Cortes Island and his activities as Regional Director. If this were a video, rather than a radio broadcast, you would see this it in his facial expressions. There is a hint of this passion in the words he chose and the tone of his voice.
Cortes Currents asked him for a recap of this past year and what to expect going forward into 2024.
Continue reading Mark Vonesch’s First Year In Office: Things ‘Accomplished’ and ‘In Process’Editors note: The 300 or so employees of Rogers Communications Inc currently on strike in Campbell River, belong to United Steel Workers, Local 1944.
According to statistics Canada, 29.7% of British Columbia’s workforce was unionized in 2022. While the word ‘union’ does not appear to be used often in our area, teachers working at the Cortes and Quadra Island schools are members of the Campbell River District Teacher’s Association. School District 72’s other employees belong to CUPE 723. CUPE 401 represents Vancouver Island Public Library employees on Cortes, Quadra and throughout Vancouver Island, as well as staff working for the city of Campbell River. United Steelworkers Local 1-1937 represents forestry workers and the 82 unionized workers at Strathcona Gardens Recreation Complex. There are undoubtedly more examples of unions in our remote corner of the globe.
In addition to the union aspect, this story is of local interest because it is about the struggle to obtain a liveable wage while prices continue to rise.
By Zak Vescera, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Raine Wright yells into his megaphone as men in neon yellow jackets circle around a chain-link gate outside an East Vancouver industrial yard.
They’re members of United Steelworkers Local 1944, some of the roughly 300 technicians who have been locked out by telecom giant Rogers after contract talks broke down and the union announced it would launch rotating strikes.
Continue reading Unions to Get More Power with Replacement Worker Ban
After more than a decade of service, the Oyster Bay schoolhouse was barged over to Whaletown in 1950. There it opened its doors to the children of a new community.
Brigid Weiler started attending the Whaletown School in 1959.
Her earliest memories are in that area.
Continue reading Memories of the old Whaletown Schoolhouse
The Cortes Island Academy kicked off its second year with a ‘meet and greet’ barbeque on Tuesday, September 5. Students and homestay parents met with some of the people working behind the scenes. School started the following day.
“Right now, the students are just going back into the classroom after being in Carrington for the last four days on a camping trip that started on the weekend and went into the week. They are still in the outdoor education fundamentals getting to know each other part of the semester,” explained Manda Aufochs Gillespie, the Academy’s principal Board member.
Continue reading A new semester begins at the Cortes Island Academy
The course of Denise Larson’s life took a radical change in 1983, when she and two of her band members came to Merville. They were professional musicians promoting her third record. It was nice to get out of Vancouver, but Denise did not have any expectations of a small dance in the Merville Hall. Then Ron Wolda walked into her life. She had actually met him two years earlier in Courtenay, but at that time they both had other partners. Now they were single. Ron sat himself down beside her at the dinner being given for the musicians. The next morning, Ron took her out to see the home he built beside the ocean.
Continue reading Denise Wolda (Part 2 of 2): Coming home to Cortes Island
