Tag Archives: Students

How burnt out are our school teachers?

Editor’s note: While this is a report from the Sunshine Coast, one has to ask how applicable it is in other areas.

By Jordan Copp, Coast Reporter, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In a survey of nearly 200 Sunshine Coast teachers, more than 45 per cent said their mental health is declining. 

Teachers Jacquie Shields and Alison Liddicoat said their goal is to alleviate some of the main stressors teachers face as they presented the survey findings at the SD46 board meeting on Sept. 13. 

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A new semester begins at the Cortes Island Academy

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.

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For Teens Who Drink and Do Drugs, Here’s How to Reduce the Harm

Editor’s notes: “In Local Health Area 72 (Campbell River), which includes Cortes and Quadra Islands, 13.5 litres of absolute alcohol are sold per person. This is considerably higher than the Island Health average of 10.9 and the provincial average of 9.0. Given that one litre of absolute alcohol is equivalent to 58 standard drinks, residents of LHA 72 are consuming 783 alcoholic beverages annually, on average”from the the Cortes Island and Quadra Island profiles

“In Vancouver Island North, which includes Campbell River, Cortes and Quadra Islands, 52% of youth have tried alcohol, compared to 45% provincially. Similarly, 37% of Vancouver Island North youth have tried marijuana, compared to 26% provincially. Tobacco sees a similar trend, with 29% of Vancouver Island North youth trying tobacco, compared to 21% of youth provincially”from the Cortes Island and Quadra Island profiles

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

About 40 per cent of Canadian teenagers drank alcohol in the last year and one in five used cannabis, according to a bi-annual Health Canada survey that asks kids about substances. 

The 2021-22 Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey was filled out by 61,096 kids from Grade 7 to 12 — typically 12 to 17 — in all provinces except New Brunswick, which opted out. This is its 11th year collecting data on tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and drug use. 

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Migrants call on Trudeau to fulfill his promise to regularize the undocumented

Editor’s Note: According to the State of Campbell River (2021), only about ½% of the immigrants to Campbell River came from outside Canada. The percentage was 2½% on Quadra Island. The Cortes Island Profile does not differentiate between immigrants from ‘another province or another country.’ 

By Isabel Inclan, New Canadian Media, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Refugees, undocumented migrants, international students and caregivers will rally Monday outside the federal government’s winter retreat in Hamilton.

Organized by the Migrant Rights Network (MRN), demonstrators want a national immigration regularization program for the 500,000 undocumented migrants in Canada.

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Why the Cortes Island Academy is a program of the Cortes Foundation

“The Cortes Island Academy is working on becoming its own nonprofit, but right now it actually functions as a program of the Cortes Island Community Foundation. Part of this was because I  have had this interest in trying to figure out if we could create a high school pilot program and I work part-time as the Executive Director of the Cortes Island Community Foundation. So there was an obvious link, but it really goes back to the root of  why  we need a high school program on Cortes,” explained Manda Aufochs Gillespie.

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