After COVID arrived in the Spring of 2020, someone gave the Quadra ICAN ‘Squash The Curve Project’ the use of 2 acres of land for a year. Local residents were provided with squash starts, or seedlings, and supportive tips from more experienced gardeners. The food they did not use was freely distributed to the wider community.
This year ICAN was offered use of the property again, to be used by its Garden Share Program.
Continue reading Progress on 2 acres given to ICAN’s Growing Together Project
In the two months that ICAN’s food recovery program has been in operation, close to 1,300 people have received benefits.
“Since the beginning of March we’ve distributed 10,408.4 kilos of food, and that has been distributed to 338 individuals, who were feeding 671 people. In addition to that, we have been supplying various agencies like Quadra Circle, the Read Island Aging In Place program, the Read Island Community Kitchen. These agencies have been feeding an additional 600 people. In total, we estimate that this food has provided meals for 1,271 people,” said Ramona Boyle, Coordinator of Quadra ICAN.
Continue reading First 2 months of ICAN’s food recovery program: almost 1,300 people benefitQuadra Island’s 3-month-long beach clean-up finished over the weekend.
“Once a week, usually on Wednesdays, we would go on a remote beach hike, to different areas on Quadra that were hard to access. We had to go hiking for maybe an hour or so to some of these places and then collect and leave debris, and then we’d have to return by boat another day,” explained Nevil Hand, who organized the campaign.
Continue reading Quadra Island’s ‘Dream Team Beach Clean-up’
Fifteen years ago April Point Developments submitted a subdivision application for phase one of, what was at the time, a three-phase development proposal for a 134 acre parcel on Quadra Island. This application triggered a requirement that the developer dedicate close to 7 acres as parkland. The matter was thought to have been finally settled last summer, when the SRD Board accepted April Point’s parkland dedication offer – but the developer made some revisions.
There were more questions than answers when this matter came before the SRD Board on May 10.
Continue reading More questions than certainty about the April Point parklandEditor’s note: According to BC Emergency Health Service, this does not apply to Cortes Island which is allegedly “well staffed with all 4 Scheduled On-call (SOC) positions filled and 3 on call staff. SOC shifts are 24-hour shifts. Paramedics are at the station from 8am to 4pm, and carry a pager outside those hours.”
Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Quadra Island resident Carol Woolsey had the misfortune to experience a medical emergency in her rural community last month after the last ferry had sailed for the night.
After developing searing pain in her lower abdomen, the77-year-old and her cousin called911 around 10 p.m. on April 2.
Disoriented by pain and vomiting constantly into her kitchen sink, it seemed to Woolsey it was taking forever for paramedics to arrive. She was relieved to see two people come through the door around 20 minutes later.
However, relief turned to alarm when she learned the two were local volunteer firefighters responding because there were no paramedics available on the island. Woolsey had to wait for a crew to come by water taxi from Campbell River.
Continue reading Paramedic shortages still plague rural areas, but some remedies may be in the works
