Nawel Izard is the host of a popular radio program on Cortes Community Radio and the head of the Polaris Law Collective, whose head office is in Campbell River. She was born in Algeria, but lived almost her entire life in Canada. In this morning’s interview Nawel describes her motivations and something of her legal practice.
Continue reading Nawel Izard: the lawyer behind the ‘In Session’ radio show
All things MicroGrants! Tune in for a group discussion about MicroGrants – the history of the granting program, event highlights, application tips, and more! This conversation features Connie Quayle, Mark Vonesch, Francis McKenty, Immanuel McKenty, Jemma Hicken, and your host Manda Aufochs-Gillespie.
Continue reading Folk U: All Things MicrograntsMorgan Tams was an integral part of the Cortes Island community for eight years before he and his partner Carly left in 2024. He recorded part of their experience as members of the Blue Jay Lake Farm community on a documentary that will air at Vancouver’s DOXA Festival on May 3 and 9, as well as the Knowledge Network later this year.
Morgan Tams: “ It was about five years working on this, not exclusively but of my time. I’ve had some really great showings on Cortes, which was really fantastic.”
“Now to have it play in Vancouver where I think there will be some crossover, some Cortes people in Vancouver, but I think there’s a city where people are right now so interested in alternative ways of living. I think partially just the direction the world is going, ideas about community, about being more connected to our food sources, about being connected to one another and being connected to skills like building and growing food are really pertinent topics for our time.”
Continue reading Getting back to Blue Jay Lake Farm: Green Valley, A Film by Morgan TamsOriginally published in the Bird’s Eye
Did I set out to write a two-page article this week? Nope. Did I anyway? Yup. This is a big deal for our island — and it’s still early in the series. So yes, I’m running the longest two pages in Bird’s Eye history. Sorry, not sorry. Enjoy!
By Melissa McKinney, editor/owner of the Bird’s Eye.
On March 25, the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) board voted on whether to add Quadra Island to the Strathcona Gardens recreation service area. Around 80 Area C residents showed up to watch — enough to fill the boardroom, spill out through the open double doors into the lobby, where even standing room was tight. The SRD livestreams their board meetings on YouTube, so small groups of residents huddled around phones watching their own local government meeting from the parking lot outside. Inside the lobby, the meeting’s audio played from multiple phones on a slight delay, making it difficult to follow unless you were actually in the boardroom.
Continue reading A $943,000 Question: Quadra and the Strathcona Gardens Vote
The 2026 Microgrants 4 Neighbours program is out, and there are some changes this year.
Jemma Hicken explained, “Our Microgrants 4 Neighbours is a super cool little grassroots granting program. It operates with the philosophy that our community knows what it needs, and that low-barrier granting really gives individuals a chance to get small chunks of money and make things that they’re enthusiastic about happen in our community.”
“It developed out of Cortes Island Literacy‘s Seed Grant program in partnership with Folk U, but now Microgrants is run by the Cortes Island Community Foundation, in partnership with the Neighborhood Small Grants Island Network, which is a really cool program as well. It basically operates the same microgrants-for-neighbors program under the NSG Neighborhood name. Small grants exist in many other communities around BC, so it’s happening all over the province, but maybe Cortes did it first.”
Continue reading 2026 Microgrants 4 Neighbours
