Island Insider

Linnaea Farm's seed library will preserve Cortes Island's stock of heritage seeds, but it will also help the local community, and others across Canada, to improve food security and resiliency to climate change.

The once common treasures of the tidal pool are at risk of being eradicated along the Pacific coastline from a deadly combination of disease and warming oceans due to climate change, says biologist Alyssa Gehman.

The province’s messaging around pandemic protocols seems contradictory when it comes to kids in school, say parents and teachers.

DFO and conservation groups are sounding the call on the B.C. coast – especially the waters off east Vancouver Island – to be on the look out for the highly invasive European green crab.

Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan announced Wednesday that the Fish Harvester Benefit and Grant Program will open for applications from Aug. 24 to Sept. 21.

Gardening is a powerful and symbolic medicine for what ails us during the pandemic, mental health experts say.

Island residents will no longer board BC Ferries before tourists after the B.C. government revised the COVID-19 emergency order Thursday.

Three cases of entangled humpback whales have been reported within the past four days, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has confirmed.

Judy Darcy, B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, says a controversial bill that would allow youth to be involuntarily hospitalized after they overdose is on hold. But critics want it permanently nixed.

Food insecurity can only be solved by raising incomes and food banks are an ad hoc solution that senior levels of government rely on to avoid repairing a frayed social safety net, says expert Graham Riches.

Cortes Island area director Noba Anderson is suing the Strathcona Regional District for legal costs and punitive actions linked to a 2019 lawsuit.

"Slipper skippers', who have never fished a day in their lives, are leasing quota to commercial fishers who can see 85 per cent of their catch going to quota and licensing fees,” Gord Johns, NDP Fisheries critic on who benefits from B.C's fish and what needs to change.

In June, 175 people died from illicit drug overdoses across the province, up from the previous record high of 171 fatalities set in May, the BC Coroners Service reported Thursday.

B.C. First Nations people continue to be disproportionately impacted by the opioid overdose crisis during the pandemic. Though First Nations people comprise 3.3​ per cent of the province's overall population, they represent 16 per cent of all overdose deaths as of May 2020.

Discovery Islanders want BC Ferries to act on an emergency measure allowing residents priority boarding.