Podcast
Cortes Currents
Hosted by Cortes Currents (https://cortescurrents.ca/) · EN
Cortes Currents is a news platform that asks what's current in Cortes and the Discovery Islands. Web articles & radio podcasts: Cortes Island, Quadra Island, Discovery Islands, Campbell River: news, lifestyle, local politics, affordable housing, economy, food security, health, ferries, tourism, history, culture, environmental issues, sustainable forestry, oyster farming, the arts, First Nations, energy, climate change, overshoot
10episodes
Episodes
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Ann Vriend at the Village Commons Music Series
3d ago01:25:50Tap to summarizeManda Aufochs Gillespie/ Folk U - Thanks for joining us on July 10, 2026 for another week of the Village Commons Music Series, a simultaneously live and live-broadcast show, happening on Fridays from 1 - 2:30pm on the new Pavilion stage. Host Manda Aufochs-Gillespie was joined by Ann Vriend (AV) from Edmonton. The Village Commons Music Series is produced by Jemma Hicken, Sean Coyote, and Bryan McKinnon. It is made possible by the Cortes Island Community Foundation, Cortes Community Radio, and FolkU. Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 p.m. and Mondays at 3 p.m./Wednesday at 6 a.m. @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.
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Q & A WIth CityWest
4d ago00:05:36Tap to summarizeRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There are a lot of would-be customers who were not connected to CityWest for various reasons. In Tiber Bay and Red Granite Road, for example, the problem was allegedly that the route was across solid rock. I do not know why some of the customers in the southern tip of Cortes (like Siskin Lane and South Point Road) were not connected, only that there were a large number of them. I'm also aware that CityWest customers in the Whaletown area have recently been connected. Are there parts of Cortes that, for one reason or another, you will not be able to service? The Cortes fibre project is being built in phases, so not every eligible property is connected at the same time. As each phase of construction is completed, additional homes become eligible for service. While some areas present more complex engineering or construction challenges than others, our goal is to make fibre internet available to as many residents as possible. This is an aerial fibre build, which allows us to reach the vast majority of homes on Cortes Island. There may be a small number of properties in particularly remote or difficult-to-access locations that won’t have service. Residents may notice that one neighbourhood is connected while another is still waiting. That's a normal part of a phased infrastructure project. We appreciate the community's patience as construction continues. Q: I heard rumours of a grant to enable you to finish the job. Is there any truth to this rumour and, if so, will it be enough to connect all of Cortes Island? Or are parts of the island too difficult to connect? Yes. In 2021, CityWest entered into a funding agreement to bring fibre internet to households on Cortes Island. In January 2026, that agreement was amended to provide funding for an additional 186 households that were not included in the original scope. The additional funding allows us to expand the network and reach significantly more residents than originally planned. Construction will continue in phases as engineering, permitting and build work progresses.
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The Shape of Solace Jul 2026 20m16s
6d ago00:20:16Tap to summarizeDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - And the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery is currently hosting an exhibition by three local artists: Melanie Boyle, Karen McDarmid, and Jane Newman. They have just opened a joint show called The Shape of Solace. It opened a few days ago, drawing a crowd of over 100 people, and will continue through July twenty-sixth. Gallery hours are Fridays from six to nine PM and Saturdays and Sundays from two to six PM. The exhibition also involves some related events: an Artists' Talk on July 17th from seven to eight-thirty PM, a Collage Writing Workshop on July 19th from noon to two PM, and a Solace Show-and-Tell on July 24th from seven to eight-thirty PM. The three artists arrived on Cortes by quite different routes. Karen and Jane's friendship goes back decades, to years when both lived in Banff. Karen says that "a series of misadventures" landed her on Cortes in early 2020. At that point in her career as a counselor, thanks to COVID, a job contract fell through -- and a month-long stay with her friend Jane on Cortes turned into staying for good. Jane had made her own move to the island a few years earlier, in 2017. After four decades of a life shaped by the Rockies she found a new relationship with wilderness, trading the inland mountains for the coastal ranges. She made a good landing on Cortes, and eventually became the museum director. Melanie's path was a bit more circuitous. Raised in Vancouver and Prince George, she spent twenty years in Michigan raising her own family before circling back to the BC coast -- literally, by means of a BC Ferry circle ticket. The island drew her in, and she settled on Cortes a little earlier than her fellow artists, in 2014. One day she met Jane walking her dog on the beach, started volunteering at the Cortes Island Museum, and later became its managing director herself when Jane moved on from that job. The artists are three friends who took three different paths to the same small island. But this is the first time all three have shown their work together. Until now, each had only exhibited solo or -- in the case of Karen and Jane — together, but a while back, in Banff
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A Week at Hollyhock
1w ago00:23:01Tap to summarizeRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - I was the only male among eighteen female writers at a retreat called Tapping the Stream. One of the things that set this program apart was the relaxed atmosphere in which widely recognized writers mixed with would-be authors. Personally, I might have totally frozen up had I known more about the company I was with. (That came as a series of surprises, which continues as I google their names.) Instead, we got to know each other as people as we all worked to improve our craft. This was only one of three programs during the week I was at Hollyhock. Coming To Hollyhock As preparation, I interviewed Chief Executive Director Katia Sol, who has just finished the 18 month transition from her old life in California. The trips back and forth are largely over. "We just arrived back on the island a few weeks ago, and I'm really excited to be here now for the indefinite future."
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No Lineups for Island Nagalis, But Up to Three-Ferry Waits on the Campbell River Run
2w ago00:04:41Tap to summarizeRoy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - While lineups appear to have virtually disappeared since Island Nagalis took over the BC Ferries Cortes–Quadra run, there are often three-ferry waits at midday for people sailing between Quadra Island and Campbell River.
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The West Coast Pipeline, BC's Prosperity Agreement and Canada aborts its emission targets
2w ago00:24:15Tap to summarizeRoy L Hales / Cortes Currents - The new West Coast Pipeline will closely follow the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMX) route. BC has been promised billions of dollars through a new prosperity agreement, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has stepped back from Canada’s emissions targets because they are too divisive. In this morning’s broadcast, two experts provide their insights into these matters. Jennifer Lash is a former senior analyst with Environment and Climate Change Canada and ran as a Liberal candidate in the 2025 election. She endorses the Prime Minister’s actions. Ian Sanderson, a senior analyst in the oil and gas division at the Pembina Institute, explains his reservations.
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Summer 2026 with the Friends of Cortes Island
3w ago00:09:53Tap to summarizeRoy L Hales / Cortes Currents - The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) is set to run a busy, engaging summer calendar in 2026, beginning with sold-out programming launched Monday, June 28. Early highlights included “Misty Isles” and “The Secret Shelf Exploration,” a guided intertidal snorkel-style visit where participants explore a rich marine environment while learning about local ecosystems. Although that first event is already fully booked, it reflects the organization’s strong community interest in hands-on nature learning. Looking ahead, FOCI’s summer events continue to blend local expertise with conservation-focused education. A “Moss Magic” session on July 4, led by Dan Tucker, introduces the hidden world of mosses, liverworts, and lichens. Later in July, “Gumbooting the Lagoon” returns as a low-tide walk at Manson’s Lagoon, done in partnership with the museum and featuring local history insights from Melanie Boyle. They also aim to try new experiences, including “Moths by Moonlight” (August 15), a moth-trapping event that attracts moths with light traps and allows participants to observe and learn before releasing them unharmed. Beyond events, FOCI’s work in 2026 is equally active on the ground. They recently completed their third annual Big Beach Clean-Up, collecting 2,570 kilograms of garbage through community participation, partnerships with Klahoose Aquaculture and waste management, and sponsorship support. The organization is also collaborating with Cortes Island School on renewable, creative land-based education projects—like willow-based pollinator fencing and the living green willow dragon sculpture. Meanwhile, they maintain and improve regional parks and access points, support habitat restoration with BC Parks (including broom removal on the spit), conduct eelgrass surveys, prepare European green crab trapping with DFO to protect eelgrass and native species, and invite ongoing volunteer and donation support to sustain this breadth of impact.
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Women's Centre Update 2026 Part 3
3w ago00:19:26Tap to summarizeDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - tTanya is also committed to the Women’s Centre’s participation in Truth and Reconciliation on Cortes Island. The two priorities that we’ve put forward since becoming a nonprofit are creating kind of a mental emotional wellness team agenda, and reconciliation. And that’s a spot where volunteers of any gender could participate and help out. We want to find opportunities to show that we’re devoted to reconciliation, and figure out how can we do that in accessible ways, in ways that involve community more I’m hoping that we can do some indigenous film nights in the fall. Last January we did a reading challenge, and this is something that we intend to do every winter now — and the challenge is to read a book by an indigenous author. And, you know, that could expand in ways to come in the future. Maybe we’ll make it actually like a book club. Tanya said that the Centre does have some indigenous Access Members and she feels there’s some potential for it to serve as a bridge between the settler and first-nations communities. Not all of our members arenecessarily here because they’re going through trauma! Women are a lot of the time here because they want the warm space, and their trailer’s not that warm in the winter. Or because we’ve got internet or they can print up colored posters for their, events or offerings that they’re putting out in community, you know? But yeah, we definitely have indigenous members. And I feel that Cortes as a community could do more on the level of reconciliation. I just think that it could be something that’s more of a working part of our community and something that we do on a more regular basis, and that the settler community should be putting together. Centre
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Women's Centre Update 2026 Part 2
3w ago00:18:02Tap to summarizeDe Clarke/ Cortes Currents - This is the second of three broadcasts about the COrtes Island Woomen's Centre
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Women's Centre Update 2026 Part 1 14m44s
3w ago00:14:44Tap to summarizeDe Clarke? Cortes Currents - Some seven or eight years ago, longtime Cortes residentTanya Henck perceived a need for more support for women on the island struggling with various issues — domestic violence, sexual harassment, housing insecurity, poverty, mental health, social isolation — and launched the idea of a Women’s Resource Centre. Joined by a few other island women, she rented a space in the Mansons Hall building and formed a partnership with North Island Transition Society. In 2019, the Centre opened — just in time for the Covid pandemic. Since then, the Cortes Island Women’s Resource Centre has served island women in many capacities. In an interview with Tanya in late May, we discuss recent organisational changes (the Centre is now a BC Non-Profit Society in its own right), current programming and services, the level of need on the island for those services, the ongoing relationship with North Island Transition, and Tanya’s plans for expanded services and projects in the coming year.
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