Editor

Why Re-elect George Sirk As Regional Director?

By Roy L Hales

In my second interview with the candidates for Cortes Island’s Regional Director, I became aware that they have a very different vision of how the island should be governed. The current Director, Noba Anderson, portrays herself as an instigator, who “convenes conversations that would not otherwise happen.” Many of the island’s best known projects came about through her direct…

Is Germany Abandoning The Fight Against Global Warming?

A disturbing report in Unearthed this morning suggests one of the world’s champions may joining the recalcitrant nations. Is Germany Abandoning The Fight Against Global Warming?

Originally Published in Unearthed.

By Zach Boren The European Commission has reportedly given up on plans to raise the EU’s 2030 carbon emissions target — with critics blaming the German government for ‘torpedoing’ the…

Why Re-elect Noba Anderson As Cortes Island’s Regional Director?

By Roy L Hales

Cortes Islanders will choose their next regional Director on October 20, 2018. There is a sense in which both candidates are seeking re-election. George Sirk was our representative from 1996 until 2005. Our current director, Noba Anderson, has been in office since 2008. In the first of two interviews with the candidates, I ask why re-elect Noba Anderson as our Regional Director? (mo…

The Lip Sync’s Ongoing Success

Originally Published on Cortes Radio.Ca

For something like the 21st time in a row, Cortes Islanders packed Manson’s Hall to see the Lip Sync. This was a relief. Speaking as the first time “Producer” this summer, I did not want to be the man “in charge” when we break that stellar record. There is a bit of self delusion wrapped up in this. The Lip Sync’s ongoing success is almost totally organic.

Catching English Fish & Chips

By Roy L Hales

Bernie Anderson and Leila Gmeiner had big expectations in the Spring of 1978. For the past two years, they had been homesteading in the wilderness of Toba Inlet, British Columbia. Then a friend offered them the use of his fishing boat. They had to make the monthly payments to the bank of course, but any profits beyond that were theirs to keep. Nobody could foresee they would be…

Queen Of The Greenroom

By Roy L Hales

Her artistic roots go back to Vienna, while Russian troops still occupied part of the city. Cast as the female lead in “As You Like It,” she found a much more fulfilling role than centre stage. She will be performing it again at this summer’s Lip Sync. Lella Gmeiner is the Queen of the Green Room.

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Riding Vancouver’s Old Interurban

By Roy L Hales

In 1910, Vancouver had one of North America’s most advanced electric train networks. The old interurban line ran for 114 miles,  to Chilliwack in the heart of the Fraser Valley. It also serviced the sleepy village of Steveston to the south. This technological wonder was abandonned when British Columbians turned to the automobile, in the 1950s. A 4.6 mile segment of the route was…

A Genealogist Looks At DNA Testing

By Roy L Hales

How much faith can we put in elaborate DNA based family trees that stretch back to a long vanished epoch in Africa? Have these tests shown themselves to be accurate when checked against genealogies based on written records? What does it look like when a genealogist looks at DNA testing.

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By Roy L Hales

The audio version of this story opens with a clip from Laura Balducci’s art installation “The Other-Side Presents That Wall,” which was at the Old SchoolHouse Art Gallery on Cortes Island in the summer of 2016. The video of another of her multi-media performances, “Sense That Sin” was part of another show last month. Laura is a film maker, promoter, curator, painter, doll-maker,…

Pursuing Paths of Beauty

By Roy L Hales

His musical roots go back to the McCarthy era, when the United States was purging itself of anything that could be labelled communist. Pete Seeger gave him tips on how to play the guitar. He was a member of the psychedelic rock band Mad River, which released two albums in San Francisco before it disbanded in 1969. On Cortes Island, he is somewhat of a musical icon. In addition to…

Tl’emtl’ems Left Squirrel Cove

By Roy L Hales

Its almost 550 km from Squirrel Cove, on Cortes Island, to Puyallup, Washington, by car, but centuries by canoe. In 1884 the Canadian Government joined in a conspiracy to destroy the canoe traffic that had once plied coastal waters from Alaska to California. First Nations people were restricted to their reserves and had had to obtain permission to leave. The reawakening started…

Stop Recreational Boaters From Polluting Cortes Island Protected Areas

By Roy L Hales

There are good reasons that boaters are not allowed to dump chemicals, sewage and other debris in Carrington Bay, Cortes Bay, Gorge Harbour, Squirrel Cove, or Manson’s Landing. “[Cortes Island] has the best oysters in the area, I think, because it is supposed to be such pristine clean water,” says Julia Rendall, President of the 13 member Bee Islets Growers Corporationin the Gorge.…

Living Between Two Worlds

By Roy L Hales

From the beginning, Meinsje was been a prominent voice in Cortes Island’s artistic community. She taught art at the Linnaea school for fifteen years and is a director of the Old SchoolHouse Art Gallery. Meinsje’s “Dream Caravan” dance troop, her performances at Cortes Island Lip Syncs and Cabarets, puppetry and paintings continue to captivate viewers. In this morning’s interview, I…

Originally Published on Cortes Radio

What was the role of the canoe in pre-contact indigenous culture? What caused its decline? And how are canoe journeys finding their way back to Klahoose and her sister nations? In this story, Deep Roots story producer Roy Hales outlines the Klahoose Tribal Journey. (more…)

The Story Behind Toba Inlets Name

Originally Published on CKTZ’s Deep Roots Island Waves

Toba is not an English word, or Coast Salish. The first Europeans to visit this remote fjord on the West Coast of British Columbia were Spanish. Deep Roots story producer Roy L Hales interviews Michelle Robinson and Ken Hanuse, from the Klahoose First Nation, and local historian Judith Williams about the story behind Toba Inlet’s name? (more…)