Category Archives: Family

Community, Education, Family, Housing, Jobs

The 2024 Vital Signs Report for Cortes Island

The Cortes Island Community Foundation (CICF) just published the Cortes Island’s Vital Signs report.  

“ When I started with the Community Foundation a few years ago, I  was already in the community, trying to make things happen. In particular, I tried to make things happen in the most grassroots  small nonprofit ways possible, but often in the area where I saw that there was a lot of need. Very quickly, I was in the process of writing grants and trying to figure out how to bring in those resources that I knew were out there somewhere,” explained Manda Aufochs Gillespie, Executive Director of the Cortes Foundation. 

Continue reading The 2024 Vital Signs Report for Cortes Island →
Family

Green burials: review and determination of natural burials to be made for Nelson’s cemetery

By Timothy Schafer, The Nelson Daily, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The city’s cemetery could be going green.

City council has put its staff on the path of reviewing and determining if green burials can be accommodated in the Memorial Park Cemetery, as well as City staff to complete a Parks and Cemetery Master Plan in 2024.

Continue reading Green burials: review and determination of natural burials to be made for Nelson’s cemetery →
Family

Local Death Caring Collective expands services, helps community navigate health care options

By Greg Osoba, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

Cortes Island Death Caring Collective is looking to expand its services and hire a staff member as the local island’s population ages.

Collective Co-founder Margaret Verschuur says that more community members are needing help to navigate the myriad of health care options available for addressing physical or mental health needs, or both. She adds that those needs can be due to physical limitations, loss of a loved one, or ageing in place.

Continue reading Local Death Caring Collective expands services, helps community navigate health care options →
Family, Indigenous Nations, Poverty

Indigenous couple fights for the return of their newborn daughter, taken by MCFD

By Anna McKenzie,  The Discourse, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.

Every day for more than a month, Sonja Hathaway sat with her newborn baby Amella in the hospital, speaking to the infant in her Dene language. 

Despite the feelings of being watched, Sonja and her husband Philip diligently spent time at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Victoria General Hospital to feed and care for their daughter. 

Continue reading Indigenous couple fights for the return of their newborn daughter, taken by MCFD →
Family

The Cortes DeathCaring Collective

(A five part series airing daily on CKTZ ,89.5 FM, April 4-8, 2023.)

For the last several years, a small but dedicated group of Cortes Islanders have been taking practical steps towards an ambitious goal for themselves and their community: a healthier relationship with death and dying. Their projects include regular meetings for discussion and support, humane and family-led funeral arrangements, and green (natural) burials in our local cemeteries.

The DeathCaring Collective was kickstarted by Margaret Verschuur, in collaboration with Quadra Island’s similar effort (Way To Go). The two groups share an informational website, communityleddeathcare.ca, and the Cortes group now includes over a dozen volunteers and a larger membership connected by email list and regular meetings. The core group of volunteers offer several kinds of assistance for islanders dealing with a death (or anticipated death) in the family.

Continue reading The Cortes DeathCaring Collective →