Category Archives: Arts

Sachika, The Things I Cherish

Her first performance was as a little girl at Linnaea School on Cortes Island. She was 21, when she produced her first CD. Since then, she has become one of the area’s better known artists. She is living on Mayne Island now, but her mother, Naomi Hayter, still lives on Cortes Island. That is where Sachika Kosky talked about, “the things I cherish.” 

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The Music In Rex Weyler’s Life

While better known as an environmentalist and one of the co-founders of Greenpeace, some of Rex’s earliest memories involve singing. “Being with a group of people and making music together is one of the most intense forms of communication I’ve ever experienced.” In this morning’s interview we get to hear a little of the music in Rex Weyler’s life. 

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The Merry McKentys Return Home On Tour

According to the description on their website, the McKentys saga starts sounds on a steep snowy mountainside in the backwoods of British Columbia. Robert and Elizabeth had a small cabin, “many children of various sizes, a wood stove, a small battery-powered stereo system that sometimes worked, a mandolin, and several fiddles.” By the time they moved to Cortes, the Merry McKenty were on their way towards becoming a band.

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Pato Banton & The Now Generation

Coming To Cortes & Quadra Islands

Pato Banton & The Now Generation are coming to Cortes Island in a special fundraiser for the Cortes Garden Club. they will be performing at Mansons Hall on June 10 and Cortes Elementary Junior Secondary School on June 11. Their last performance, before returning to the United States, is at the Heriot Bay Inn on June 12.

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These Are My Words

As an immigrant to Canada, I was shocked to learn about the Canadian legacy of residential schools. I had no idea growing up in the U.S. that such things were happened and had happened just north of the border. The indigenous residential schools operated in Canada starting in the 1870s with the last one not closing until1996. Children as young as four were taken—often against the will of their families or with coercive techniques such as threatening jail time—and it is estimated that over 150,000 Indian, Inuit, and Métis children attended residential school. I was reminded that it is a  legacy that continues to shade aspects of Canadian culture and identity for all Canadians this year when I became a citizen. At the ceremony, the judge encouraged all of us new Canadians to make the act of reconciliation personal and spoke about how she was doing that in her life. 

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