Roy L Hales/ COrtes Currents - Transport Canada (CT) transferred administration of the wharves at Owen Bay on Sonora Island, Surge Narrows on Read Island, and Port Neville on the northern shore of the Johnstone Strait, over to the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) in 2014. The SRD was also provided with $2.9 million for maintenance and upgrades that were to be completed by 2024. These upgrades have not yet occurred. Nor has a service to carry out operations and maintenance been established for Area C. In the face of local opposition, the SRD deferred discussion of this issue until next January. At the September 21 board meeting, Chief Administrative Officer David Leitch explained, “Throughout the years, at every budget meeting that I've been at, we've been trying to establish a work service to put these in. The lack of establishment of the wharf service has delayed us in doing the capital works to these. It occurs greater liability and finally this year we had support from the area director as the other electoral area directors were adamant this year that they wanted that the liability removed from the admin function. So the Area C Director made the motion, supported all the votes on it and then for some reason we'd seen articles in social media that the director was supporting a referendum of the folks and subsequently, saying that there was gonna be increased cost of the service, lack of control and that is what we believe inspired a petition process that basically caused the service vote to fail.” In their report drawn up for this meeting, staff presented two options to the board: Option A - seek elector agreement through a vote Option B - abandon the service proposal and return the $2.9 million to Transport Canada. Jim Abram, the Regional Director for Area C, took exception to Leitch’s description, “First of all, I have to say, our CAO, with respect, is completely wrong on his assessment of why this failed. It had nothing to do with me. It had to do with a number of people on Quadra Island mainly, and on Reed Island, that were completely incensed by the fact that I had put it through to move to approval process. I was the target of the negative comments, not the SRD and it further moved to the SRD later, of course, but I have to say that the opposition to this proposal was due to a community lack of understanding and feeling that the service was being pushed through without proper consultation. That came from one local media, one of our local media and a few organizers, not me. I first heard about it when I was called by disgruntled constituents and in a letter. It was community driven period.” He explained that no money was being taken from any electoral area, including Area C. Only Transport Canada money had been used. “The service establishment could be dropped at this time and reintroduced at a later date with a better information campaign to assure approval. At that time, the service could be established for the three TC wharves,” proposed Abram. “There's no need to return the wharves to Transport Canada along with the funds. Transport Canada would not want, nor would they take them back. The money has been spent on the wharves and would be part of the return of the wharves should that take back piece happen, which it won't. I know it won't from having talked with Transport Canada.” Abram suggested this project be forwarded to either November or January, after which the meeting descended into a disagreement as to who should make the motion.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - When the auditor submitted the 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report to the Strathcona Regional District board last Spring, it showed one director biilling significantly more than his colleagues. “I received more money than other directors,” admitted Regional Director Jim Abram of Area C (Discovery Islands-Mainland Inlets) at the Strahcona Regional Dirstrict’s May 25 board meeting. A subseuquent reviewing of Abram’s renumeration payments for 67 meetings during 2021 and 2022, determined that 54 of the meetings did not meet the criteria laid out in the SRD compensation bylaw Consequently, at the Wendnesday Septermber 22 meeting, Abram announced, “Without prejudice, I'd like to agree to pay back the amount in the report from the finance department of $8,640 for meetings that were said to not meet the criteria and I hope that this will put an end to this issue. I will submit the check in full today. Sorry.” Mayor Andy Adams of Campbell River responded, “I want to preface this by saying that this is not, personal in any way, shape or form, but more a fiduciary responsibility. The motion will be that the CAO will be instructed that failing receipt of payment in the amount of $8,640 by September 22nd, 2023, no further monthly stipend expense or meeting pay claims be paid to director Abram until the balance has been fully repaid to the S R D finance department.” Abram objected, “The date is unreasonable. I have to mail that check today. It will not go out until tomorrow, which is the 22nd and it would not be received until probably the 23rd, possibly the 24th of September and I believe the amount is incorrect, so I would have to vote against the motion, although I have already totally agreed to the concept.” Chair Brad Unger said, “$8,640 is the correct amount if I'm not mistaken. As far as the dates and that …” Abram agreed, “yes. You're you're correct. You're correct. I'm sorry.” Chief Administrative Officer Davd Leitch said, “Mr. Chair, the date is moot there. I think the 22nd is fine. We don't regularly make payments till the end of the month anyways. So as director Abram said, if the check's mailed in takes a few days, we would certainly get it before the end of the month. Anyway. So I don't think the date is an issue in this resolution.” Regional Director Gerald Whalley objected, “Mr. Chair, in my opinion, I think this is inopportune. I believe what the directorate is doing to Adams is calling the question, the integrity, the honesty of director Abraham into question. I think that's out of line. Director Abram is giving his word that he's going topay. I think we should take that and if in the future there was some untoward thing that was to happen, we can look at this item again, but at this point in time, I think this is disrespectful.” Campbell River Director Charlie Cornfield added, “Wouldn't it be more reasonable to put by the end of September, is when we normally issue payments, distribute money, et cetera.” Adams agreed, “I’m fine with that. I'm leaving it at the discretion so that our finance department and the CIO have that ability in the unforeseen circumstances that that would be required if it's not, then it becomes mute. This is A fiduciary responsible motion and then nothing other.” Unger said, “Okay. Thank you. So if it's okay with a mover, then we'll have a friendly saying September 30th.” The following motion carried, with five Directors (Whalley, Abram, Leigh Davis and Kerr) voting in opposition: “That the SRD CAO be instructed that failing receipt of payment in the amount of $8,640.00 by September 30, 2022, no further monthly stipend, expense or meeting pay claims be paid to Director Abram until the balance of $8,640.00 has been fully repaid to the SRD Finance Department.” Image Credit - Cover of the Strathcona Regional District 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There have been numerous reports of BC ambulances being understaffed recently. According to Prince Rupert Northern View, the Bella Coola ambulance was only in service for 52% of July. Quadra Island volunteer firefighter Marc Doll recently informed Cortes Currents there are times when no paramedics are available on Quadra and ‘any firefighter that currently has a class four license is basically being put on standby because they no longer have the ability to have two people scheduled to keep the ambulance going.’ After receiving a couple of anonymous tips on Cortes Island, Cortes Currents asked BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) for an update on the local situation. A BCEHS spokesperson named Cindy described the situation on Cortes as very different from Quadra Island. “Cortes Island is well staffed with all 4 Scheduled On-call (SOC) positions filled and 3 on call staff. SOC shifts are 24-hour shifts. Paramedics are at the station from 8am to 4pm, and carry a pager outside those hours,” she said. The report that a ‘Cortes firefighter’ has driven the ambulance is true, but only because ‘BCEHS has a staff member who also works as a duty officer for the Cortes Island Volunteer Fire Department.’ “There have been instances where the staff member was available by pager while on duty for the Fire Department. In those instances, the staff member was paid, as a BCEHS employee, for each time he drove the ambulance.” Fire Chief David Ives added, “I can confirm that the Cortes Island Fire Department works very closely with BC Ambulance service and intends to further improve this relationship via additional joint training sessions as well as the fire department broadening the types of medical calls we are automatically dispatched to. This initiative has less to do with BC Ambulance shortfalls – either perceived or real and more to do with the fire departments’ drive to provide an ever-evolving and ever-improving level of service to Cortesians and their guests.” Cindy confirmed a report that paramedics were brought up from Courtenay when there were no local paramedics available. “Once in August, the Cortes Island crew timed out. A Courtenay crew was brought over via water taxi to respond to calls on Cortes.” She added, “Cortes Island is not facing any significant staffing issues.” “On Quadra Island, BCEHS has asked for the assistance of Firefighter First Responders to act as drivers at times, and we greatly appreciate their assistance. Between May 1, 2022 and September 6, 2022 our records indicate that the Quadra Fire Department drove an ambulance for BCEHS 17 times.” She said that this relationship is not unusual: “BCEHS has agreements with many fire departments throughout the province. Firefighter first responders can provide basic first aid and emergency health services, such as CPR and defibrillation while paramedics are on route to a medical emergency call. The program is voluntary, and each First Responder partner agency determines which types of medical emergencies they are able to respond to and when.” According to Doll, ”There are periods of time where there is no one scheduled and there is no ambulance available on Quadra Island.” Fire Chief Sharon Clandening told the National Observer that there were 6 occasions where there were no paramedics on duty this past summer. Cindy admitted that Campbell River paramedics have responded to events when there were no paramedics available on Quadra. “Currently, there is one projected shift vacancy for the month of September on Quadra Island and we are working hard to fill this shift.” photo credit: Man in front on headlight – Photo by Eugene Triguba Unsplash

Roy L Hales/ COrtes Currents - Over the past 20 years, Christian Gronau has documented 149 fossiliferous rocks in our area. Fossil #144 was recently installed at the Cortes Island Museum, but the German-born and trained palaeontologist said, “Palaeontology became a question for me when I was settled here. I looked around, of course was interested in the local geology, and realized that Cortes is just a big pile of granite with very little exceptions to that rule and started wondering what I was going to do with my interest in fossils.” He moved to Canada in 1972 and met his partner, Aileen Douglas, while working in the mining sector. Regarding their decision to move to Cortes Island in 1978, he explained, “it's a winding path, a complicated path, but a happy path that led me here and palaeontology didn't feature into the decision making. More the landscape, the political climate of Canada, people of Cortes. This was a long time ago.” He and Aileen moved to a water access only property without hydro or telephone and became shellfish farmers, but palaeontology is very important to Christian Gronau.   “It's one of the major aspects of defining our existence, explaining our origins, putting us in some context and giving us an identity on this planet. It gives us a real sense of deep time, because we can trace our ancestry as far back as life itself, which I think is pretty profound, pretty important.” Everything changed after fossil #1 turned up in Gorge Harbour. Image credit: The important pieces of evidence in support of Bute Inlet having been the main conduit for the transport of Buchia erratics from the Potato Range to Cortes Island. Fossil #129 found by Barry Saxifrage, Fossil #130 by Christian Gronau - photo courtesy Christian Gronau

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - On Saturday, September 3, 2022, Christian Gronau installed a 130 million year fossil on the Cortes Island Museum porch. This is the third rock from his collection on display, and fossil #144 of a series. “I believe this quest for fossils, the erratics that he's been searching for has been a 20 year project,” said Melanie Boyle, Managing Director of the Cortes Island Museum and Archives. Gronau added, “It's a very fine specimen, different from the other two specimens that are already there. So it makes a very nice combination.” He wrote, “Every one of the fossiliferous rocks (containing Buchia spp. bivalves) found around Cortes and neighbouring islands, is an ‘erratic.’ They have been transported by glaciers of the last Ice Age all the way south from the Potato Range in the Chilcotin  -  a journey of roughly 200 kilometres. The main travel route was down the Homathko River and Bute Inlet.  Once the glaciers escaped the confines of their respective valleys (fjords), they spread out and deposited their rock loads as far as West Thurlow Island and as far south as Smelt Bay, Cortes Island.” He described finding fossil #144 ‘as a collaborative effort in the widest sense of the word.’ It came to his attention as a result of a conversation during which his neighbouor told a visitor from Vancouver there are fossils on some of the local beaches. The girl responded, “Oh, I've seen one on Marina Island. It's much bigger than what you are talking about.” She had a photograph of the general location, but said the boulder was too large to move. So with his partner, Aileen Douglas, and regular collaborators, Carrie and Barry Saxifrage, Gronau set out in his boat to find to find the boulder. “We did find it fairly high up the beach on the really bad side of Marina Island, where the boulders reach out about a quarter mile in very erratic patterns and it's tricky boating. We realized that we would have to time the tides and correctly,” explained Gronau. “One beautiful summer day which was very hot, so it was good to work half underwater, we approached the location with our boat. One old trick that every old timer who ever cleared a patch of beach knows, it is a lot easier to move rocks when they're underwater because their buoyancy cuts their weight roughly in half. So we were able to move this boulder underwater onto a wooden ramp that led onto the back transom of our boat and walk the rock, which we estimate was about 300 pounds, up onto our boat. We took it to a boat ramp, onto a dolly to our car and onto the porch of the museum, where it has since been properly installed and on a base and cemented securely so that it won't tip over. It's a very specimen different from the other two specimens that are already there. So it makes a very nice combination.” Boyle added, “Christian’s done this beautiful hand painted sign that will track the progress of these erratics and I'm hoping that more and more people will stop by and explore. There's a wonderful binder chronicling the whole quest with his team,His friends who've been on the journey with him and lots of the young people who were inspired by this research, who've probably gone on to careers in geology or palaeontology, many other things.” She added, “Christian has had a long relation with the museum and he has so generously offered off his knowledge through this project, but also just generally.” Gronau also curated the ‘Curiouser & Curiouser’ show at the museum in 2018. He has posted 17 blogs on the museum website so far.'Living With (Paper) Wasps' (2015), ‘F stands for Fossil’ (2021) ‘The Mystery of the Perambulating Clam’ (2022) are among them. This is part one of a series about the erratic fossils found in this area, in part two Christian Gronau describes his research in greater depth.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Whaletown may get its name from an old whaling station, but Europeans really did not settle in the area for about 15 years. In today’s program Lynne Jordan, former President of the Cortes Island Museum, traces the modern community back to a logger named Moses Ireland. First Nations people were using Whaletown Bay before that and a fish trap is believed to have once stretched across entrance of the lagoon. The whalers came for 18 months, in 1869 and 70. “It wasn't very many years after the whaling station left, in the mid 1880s, that Moses Ireland moved into the area as a logger and set up camp where the whale station had been,” explained Jordan. That is where the ferry terminal is today and Ireland also preempted a number of other properties around Whaletown Lagoon. He stayed there until about 1893, then relocated to what was then called Camp Island and now the Subtle Islands. Ireland was in his 50s when he married a widow and they built a hotel on the Northern island. “His saloon was very popular. Loggers often stayed there when they were between jobs or on a holiday from a camp. There was not a wharf to start with, but a float where the Union Steamships could stop. They often were dropping loggers off, or picking loggers up and taking them to other places,” said Jordan. A lot of little camps and communities were starting up all around the Discovery Islands. Whaletown’s post office made its official debut around 1894. William and Laura Drinkwater had bought the property across the bay from Ireland. “There was a little dock, and at the top of the dock was a small building. That was a store that had not too much in it, just small items and the post office. it wasn't officially a post office until I think it was 1894. Mail was being delivered on the Union Steamship,” said Jordan. “Post was very important in those days. There was no other communication, no telephones, no radios back then. People ordered things to come up on the boats by mail. They, kept in touch with their families and friends. When you got a letter, you kept it and you reread it many times in many cases. So there's actually a lot of saved handwritten letters, business letters too, that were typed on the old typewriters.” The Drinkwaters house became a community centre, where there were dances and other events. Meanwhile Ireland sold the Subtle Islands to Charlie Strange, who came out from London with his two sisters. The two women were used to an urban lifestyle and brought trunks full of fancy dresses for dances, teas and going to the theatre. They also brought hats, matching purses, fancy shoes and magazines from England, like Vogue and The Ladies Home Journal. Most of this remained in their trunks when they moved into the old building in the Subtle Islands. Charlie Strange pre-empted 160 acres, at the bottom of Sawmill Road, around 1902. He ordered a big round saw, which came up on a Union Steamship. Whaletown had spread out from Von Donop Inlet to Gorge Harbour by this time. A lot of people lived in float houses. The loggers used to move their house from bay to bay, as they were working. They sold a lot of logs, but at that time most buildings were log cabins. “When that saw arrived, it was big news that spread over the whole island because now people could come to Strange and have lumber made for them to build their houses,” said Jordan. “Charlie Strange built one of the largest houses at the time on Cortes, it had three stories.” Sawmill Road was named after his mill.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - “One of the core messages and core reasons that I am running for Regional Director is because I want decisions to be centered on island values. To me, island values are respect for First Nations, long term sustainability, also the rural nature that we all love. That's why we live here. Quadra Island has a rich history of volunteerism. The role of the director is really to be an advocate for the majority of the community at the Strathcona Regional District (SRD),” said Robyn Mawhinney who hopes to be elected Regional Director of Area C (Discovery Islands and Mainland Inlets) on October 15th, 2022.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The fish farm industry does not want to leave British Columbia’s coastal waters in 2025. In a recent press release Andreas Kvame, CEO of Grieg Seafood, said, “Our industry is in continuous development with new technologies and innovations, and in Grieg Seafood we are committed to improvements that strengthen biological control and reduce interactions with wild salmon.” David Kemiele, Managing Director of Cermaq emailed Cortes Currents, “Our new protocol extends to the end of 2025 and we are using that time to refine what our operations will look like moving forward beyond 2025 and definitely innovation plays a critical role in that plan.” Dan Lewis, executive director of Clayoquot Action, explained, “They call it an SCCS semi closed containment system and what we're seeing with the consultation that DFO is running is the wording the ministry is using is things like we want the industry to leave the way with technological change and is becoming more and more clear that what they're talking about is these semi-close containment systems in the water.” Stan Proboszcz, senior scientist with the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, added, “There aren't any proven semi-closed containment projects that I know of anywhere that work. I know a few of the companies have been trialing that technology in British Columbia over the last several years and all I've heard about are failures. If they're talking about it, I honestly believe having worked on this issue for so long that it is just talk to maintain the status quo, which is open nets."

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is in the midst of consultations about the immediate future of fish farms in the Discovery Islands and transitioning the open net pen industry out of coastal British Columbian waters by 2025. But DFO approved the expansion of Cermaq's farms at Bawden Bay, Millar Channel and Dixon Bay in Clayoquot Sound. Interviews with Dan Lewis of Clayoquot Action, Stan Proboszcz from Watershed Watch, Robyn MaWhinney and Marc Doll, who are both in the race for Regional Director of Area C in the upcoming October 15 election, and an email from David Kiemele, Managing Director of Cermaq Canada.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -Squirrel Cove was much more important during the first part of the 20th century. Union Steamships tied up at the long wharf twice a week. There is still a Squirrel Cove General Store and post office, but there were once log boom, a sawmill, boatyard, machine shop, community hall, church and a school. Much of this infrastructure disappeared during the years that steamships were supplanted by motor boats and floatplanes. However Lynne Jordan, former President of the Cortes Island Museum, has another explanation for Squirrel Cove’s decline. It starts back in the years when there were no roads on Cortes Island. “For the longest time, there was no connection from anywhere in Whaletown to the other side of the island. There was a wagon road to where Robertson road is now, then it became a walking trail. You went up over the hill and down into Squirrel Cove on a very rugged rocky trail that more or less follows Whaletown Road,” she explained. There was a road connection from there to Mansons Landing, but anyone travelling between Whaletown and Mansons had to pass through Squirrel Cove. Jordan explained that this changed during the late 1950s, when the Hansen brothers started construction of what is now called Gorge Harbour Road. “Everybody could bypass Squirrel Cove and go to Manson's Landing if they wanted to, rather than the long way around. That made a big difference to Squirrel Cove, because it was a major place that people went to from both Mansons and Gorge and Whaletown,” she explained. Jordan believes the Squirrel Cove route was still important when BC Ferries arrived in 1969. “In the first few years I think you had to drive all the way around to get to Mansons. You had to drive through Squirrel Cove. When they put the shortcut through, Squirrel Cove kind of died.” Construction of the Gorge Harbour Road also changed the face of Whaletown. “Between where the post office building was and the library, there was actually a little tiny bay. When the connector road was built from Gunflint over to whale town road, the loose rock was used to fill in that bay. Also just below the church on that road, above where the library, is that road had on both sides, rock that kind of narrowed the road. They blasted and all that rock went into that to fill in that bay. It's now a parking area between the old post office and the library.” You have been listening to part of an interview with Lynne Jordan, who is writing a history of Whaletown for the Cortes Island Museum.