Manda AUfochs Gillespie - Folk U - On May 2, 2025, host Manda Aufochs-Gillespie was joined by Ashley Zarbatany to to unpack the outcomes of the recent federal election, explore the roots of confusion around strategic voting, and consider what these results might mean for the future of Canada and Cortes!
Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 p.m. and Mondays at 6:30 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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1:40:34
'Won't You Be My Neighbour' Exhibit explores Community Life on Cortes Island
Roy L Hales/Cortes currents - What does it mean to be a neighbour on Cortes Island? This question is at the heart of the new Cortes Island Museum exhibition 'Won't You Be My Neighbour?' curated by Melanie Boyle, Managing Director of the museum and Monica Hoffman. Opening Sunday May 4th the exhibit invites visitors on a visual and narrative journey through both the historical and contemporary communities that shaped life on the island.
“The idea of focusing on neighbourhoods came from the prior exhibition, ‘From the Ground Up,” explained Hoffman.
Boyle added, “We did touch on how people work together to build structures, in terms of collaboration. It was also about repurposing material and sharing of resources and, in a way, this is also what this new exhibition is about. Collective land arrangements are a way for people to live affordably on Cortes, to share the land, but also to share the material, resources and work collaboratively. So there's a lot of overlap.”
Monica Hoffman: “This is about those very focused areas on the island, such as Tiber Bay, Blue Jay Lake, or Siskin Lane - that sort of community, and what it means to be a neighbour is all about.”
Cortes Currents: It is also about the definition of ‘community,’ in all its manifestations from the pioneer era to modern times, from ‘communal groupings’ to individual dwellings.
Monica Hoffman: “A focal point for this exhibition is this north facing wall where we have a map of Cortes Island. We focus on various communities and give a little bit of commentary and interviews with the shareholders and the landholders. Some of these we did look at briefly in the prior exhibition, but this allows there to be a bit more space and more opportunity to explore them more.”
Melanie Boyle: “Monica’s right, this wall is a little microcosm of the community itself. It's a reference to all the voices that make this exhibition happen. This exhibition stemmed from an interview we did during the last exhibition with Amy Robertson, who is one of the co-founders of Treedom. Jill Milton and Bernice McGowan interviewed Paul Kirmmse, who is one of the co-founders of Redlands. We spoke with Ron Bazaar. Jim Murphy came into the museum and spoke about Tiber Bay. We also interviewed Ron Wolda, more to do with the mill itself. I know Ron from selling the spoons as a craftsperson and I didn't know his ties to Vancouver, the business community and now Tiber Bay.”
Monica Hoffman: “I didn't know where that Tiber Bay connection started.”
Melanie Boyle: “It was serendipity and people looking at that particular time for options to live on Cortes or just live on the coast. Land comes available and they organize a bunch of people to get together to purchase the land. Everwoods came out of discussions that were happening at Hollyhock at the time.”
“We respect the fact that these are the co-ops and collaborative living arrangements on Cortes, of people who are willing to actually share their story. We only can profile a small handful. There are people who choose to remain private and we respect that, of course, but these would be ones that are publicly known.”
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14:24
Earthday & The New Exhibits at Wild Cortes
Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - It was Earth Day at Wild Cortes, Cortes Island’s centre for natural history, community science and collaborative conservation.
“It is a very exciting place to be, with new displays coming in every year, always on Earth Day. That's probably the most important thing to say. It's Earth Day, so let's celebrate,” explained Sabina leader Mense, a professional advisor to Wild Cortes.
The centrepiece of this year's displays is the ‘Humpback Comeback’ section highlighting the stunning recovery of Humpback Whales in our local waters.
Sabina Leader Mense: “They used to be everywhere, then the Douglas Whaling Station was set up in Whaletown Bay. Its history is in the little display here, ‘the Dawson Whaling Company, 1869.’ It only lasted a year. They realized it was not the most optimum site, so moved it down to Hornby Island the next year. So we only had the legacy of bonking Humpback Whales on the head and flensing them for a year, but the name stuck. That's how ‘Whaletown’ got its name. The Humpbacks completely disappeared. We eliminated them from the Strait of Georgia, not a Humpback to be seen.”
Cortes Currents: When did they start coming back?
Sabina Leader Mense: “Some of the first Humpbacks that we saw were in the early eighties. I was working out at the Bamfield Marine Station,running research programs, but I put myself through university fishing off the West Coast and would interact with the fishermen. They started telling me that they were seeing Humpback Whales out on the finger bank in the early eighties and sure enough, the Humpbacks were coming slowly back to the coast of BC.”
“Then we have this brilliant work by the Marine Education Research Society (MERS) whose work Donna Collins is featuring in this display.”
“The Marine Education and Research Society has been documenting them and identifying them individually,” said Collins, who is also one of Cortes Wild's co-curators.
“Donna has done a fantastic job. There's lots of pictures and all kinds of interesting things, including two sea lion skulls, both of which were found on local beaches,” added Laurel Bohart, Cortes Wild’s other co-curator.
Sabina Leader Mense: “We can reliably identify Humpback Whales from the underside of their tail flukes, as well as the little nubbin that we call the dorsal fin but the underside of the tail flues is very characteristic. They have these colorations, black and white splotches, big chunks taken out of them, very readily identified by the underside of the tail flukes.”
Donna Collins: “As of 2024, 776 Humpback Whales have been identified.”
Sabina Leader Mense: “That’s in their entire catalog for BC.”
“We brought Jackie Hildering, from MERS, in six years ago. 86 individual Humpback Whales were identified in 2019. This figure of 86, why it's so impressive is it's from here. There were 86 individua Humpbacks found in the area from the northern end of Cortes to Powell River, across to Heriot Bay on Quadra Island.”
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12:34
Visit to the Liberal Headquarters in Campbell River & Poll #3
Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - I volunteered for the NDP Party during the 1968 election. Aside from that, the only campaign headquarters I’ve stepped inside was Elizabeth May’s Salt Spring Island office in 2019. So when in the midst of doing errands in Campbell River, I found myself with more than an hour to spare, it seemed like a fun idea to visit a campaign headquarters. Somebody told me the ‘red guys’ are behind Save On Foods, which is how I ended up at Jennifer Lash’s headquarters.
After returning home, I learned that yet another poll has been conducted in our riding. The first two were not connected to any political party, but the LIberals comissioned #3. Like poll #2 which was not their’s, it shows the Liberals having taken over the second place slot. After contacting 318 voters in North Island Powell River between April 20 and 21, Spadina Strategies reported that 37% intended to vote for the Conservatives, 30% for the Liberals, 25% for the NDP, 5% Green and 2% were undecided.
The projection website Poliwave is also reporting a shift in voter intention. On April 18, they stated the #2 party in our riding was the NDP. Their latest projection, published on Wednesday April 23, showed the Conservatives at 45%, the Liberals trailing at 29%, the NDP at 20% and the Green’s at 5%.
This is not what I intended to report, when I dropped in at the Liberal Party’s Campbell River office on Friday. Jennifer Lash was away, knocking on doors, but there were five people gathered in the entrance when I arrived. A young woman immediately detached herself from their conversation. She was one of the four staffers from Ottawa who are working on the Liberal campaign. Sarah Manney gave me permission to walk around the office taking pictures and interviewing people. I started with her.
Sarah Manney: “Well, I'm Sarah, I'm the campaign manager. I was working in Ottawa, but grew up in Comox. My family's in Nanaimo. When I found out that Jen was running, I knew her in Ottawa and I said, ‘this is the candidate I've always dreamed of for my hometown.’ What better person could I ask for to represent the people I grew up with.’ So it was just a dream to be able to come work for her and try to make that a reality here in North Island Powell River.”
“My whole family's been knocking on doors. We have Jen's family. We have at least five times the number of volunteers that we've ever had in this riding. It's amazing just to see the energy. The other day someone remarked, ‘I've never seen so many Liberals in one place.’ It was just this magical feeling like we've all waited for this moment to have someone like Jen to rally around.”
The next person I interviewed looked a lot like Jennifer Lash, for good reason.
“My name is Wendy Lash. I am Jennifer's sister.”
Cortes Currents: How did you end up working for her in a campaign office?
Wendy had not been expecting that question, but after a few hesitant seconds she suddenly sounded like an old pro.
“Well, how can you not support somebody when they're living their purpose? Jen has had a fabulous career of doing good for many people and many things in Canada, but right now - this is an important time for us! She's bravely taken this on and she's doing a fabulous job. When we heard that she was going to be doing this, as a family, we knew we needed to support her. So we booked our tickets and we've come from Ontario. We are thrilled to be here and in action.”
Cortes Currents: Whereabouts in Ontario are you from?
Wendy Lash: “My husband and I are from Barrie. Our sister Catherine is coming from Toronto. Jen's kids are coming back from Ontario and they're also here with us.”
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8:31
Folk U talks about education, the importance of play, and children’s development
Manada AUfochs Gillespie/ Folk U - On April 4, 2025, host Manda Aufochs-Gillespie was joined by Dayna Davis and Christina Macwilliam to chat about education, the importance of play, attachment, and children’s development. This is a fascinating conversation with two incredible Cortesian educators.
Folk U Radio is taking old school viral every Friday at 1 p.m. and Mondays at 6:30 p.m./Wednesday at 6 a.m. @CKTZ89.5FM or livestreamed at cortesradio.ca. Find repeats anytime at www.folku.ca/podcasts.
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
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