Tag Archives: Squirrel Cove

Stories from Lovefest 2024

Brenda Hansen, with her brother Dwayne and Kenny Hanuse, greeted the audience of Love Fest 2024 with the ‘Klahoose Welcome Song.’ (You can listen to it, sung in the ʔayʔaǰuθəm language, in the podcast version of this story.) 

Close to 700 people purchased tickets, performed, or were at the event on Saturday August 10. Cortes Currents went backstage to interview some of the performers and record clips of their music. 

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Cortes Community Forest receives funding, moves to complete Wildfire Protection Plan

By Louis Belcourt, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

The Cortes Community Forest Cooperative has obtained funding to implement two wildfire risk reduction projects in the community forest, a project that’s been in the works for years.

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QXMC Squirrel Cove: The Next Phase

As anyone passing through Squirrel Cove in recent months knows, there has been a great clearing in the upper part of the new Klahoose property. QXMC, the business arm of the Klahoose First Nation, hopes to open a store and gas bar there by March 2025.

Ron Buchhorn, Chair of the Board of QXMC, explained, ”We retained a project manager back in November of last year and we have signed a letter of intent with Chevron for the gas station component of the store and gas bar. We have a commitment from Co-op that they will assist us with stocking the store and helping us basically manage to their standards.  Co-op will supply us with all the products in the store through their wholesale distributor TGF. We’re very happy about that. It won’t be branded Co-op because obviously with the Chevron branding on the facility, you can’t have two brands.” 

“The footprint of the store will be about 4,000 square feet. Full service with everything from groceries to produce, to meat, to deli to some prepared warm foods. It looks as though we’ll have four suites upstairs. A 2 bedroom and three 1 bedroom suites, to ensure that we have accommodation for staff at the store.” 

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 Recent Sinking & Previous Derelict Vessels in Squirrel Cove

On Sunday, June 2nd, a 50 foot vessel sank near the Squirrel Cove dock on Cortes island.

“There was quite a lengthy,  involved, process with the Coast Guard and Transport Canada. I am very happy to say  that the vessel has now been removed and environmental remediation has taken place, but that was quite an exciting event for the Harbour Authority,” explained Jenny Hartwick, Harbourmaster for the Harbour Authority Cortes Island (HACI).

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Will Rendall: Keep On Smiling

Will Rendall released a CD called Keep on Smiling on May 22, 2024. Some Cortes Island residents will remember him as Julia Rendall’s son. He was 7 when he moved to Squirrel Cove in 1976.

He emailed, “I had always liked music but it wasn’t until I heard Billy Joel in 1978 that i became a rock and roll fan. I always thought his lyrics were amazing. I think it would have been around 1981 when I started writing songs. To me lyrics were the most important part of a song. 

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