Fonds consists of the records of the Cortes Island Ratepayers Association, an organization of the property owners and residents of Cortes Island from 1963 to 1984. They include administrative documents such as the constitution and membership lists, minutes of CIRA meetings, annual reports, newsletters to members, correspondence and materials related to the provision of services, land use planning and other issues of island concern.
The fonds is composed of the following series: Administrative Documents; Minutes; Financial; Newsletters and Notices; Correspondence; Subject; Community Planning and Land Use (Advisory Planning Commission); Clippings; and Maps and Plans.
The Cortes Island Ratepayers Association (CIRA) was an association of property owners and residents formed in 1963 to "further the development of the island and to have a representative body in dealing with the Provincial government."
The first activity initiated by CIRA was to lobby the provincial government for the provision of electricity and ferry service to Cortes Island. Their efforts met with success. Electricity was brought to the island in 1970 and ferry service from Quadra Island to Cortes Island began in 1969. CIRA also became an important forum for the discussion of other important services on Cortes Island, including roads, fire protection, garbage disposal, water quality, rural mail delivery and library facilities.
As a result of CIRA's efforts to bring electricity to Cortes Island, in 1967 the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Dan Campbell, designated Cortes Island a Local Improvement District. This made Cortes Island into a legal entity for the purpose of negotiating with the province for electrical power. In that same year, Minister Campbell invited CIRA to participate in discussions and committee work on the formation of a regional district level of government.
In 1968, Cortes Island was designated 'Electoral Area I' in the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona (RDCS) with an elected director. Under this system, a Regional Director is elected who in turn sits on the Board of the RDCS. Each Regional Director appoints an Advisory Planning Commission (APC), a committee of island residents who advise the Director on matters of island concern. In 1968, CIRA determined that the elected members of the executive of CIRA would form the APC for Cortes Island. This arrangement lasted until the dissolution of CIRA in 1984. The first zoning by-law was completed in 1970 and an Official Settlement Plan and zoning by-law in 1979.
In 1982, CIRA initiated a court case against Raven Lumber for non-compliance with the Cortes Island Official Settlement Plan and zoning by-law. CIRA won the case upon appeal, but in 1984 an Order in Council allowed Raven Lumber to proceed with their development. The court case had absorbed a great deal of CIRA energy and fund raising effort over a four year period. At the General Meeting in November, 1984 there were no candidates willing to stand for the executive. CIRA was declared inactive at that meeting and was never reactivated.
Custodial History
During the term of the last president of CIRA, the records were kept in the Gorge Harbour Community Hall on Cortes Island. After the dissolution of the CIRA in 1984, the records continued to be stored in the hall. The records were transferred to the Cortes Island Museum and Archives by the Whaletown Community Club (owner of the hall) in 2000.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of the records of the Cortes Island Ratepayers Association, an organization of the property owners and residents of Cortes Island from 1963 to 1984. They include administrative documents such as the constitution and membership lists, minutes of CIRA meetings, annual reports, newsletters to members, correspondence and materials related to the provision of services, land use planning and other issues of island concern.
The fonds is composed of the following series: Administrative Documents; Minutes; Financial; Newsletters and Notices; Correspondence; Subject; Community Planning and Land Use (Advisory Planning Commission); Clippings; and Maps and Plans.
Regional Director of Electoral Area I (Cortes Island) fonds
Gilean Douglas fonds
Finding Aid
File list available
Arrangement
Materials were received in their original file folders, however the files were not in any discernible order. In the absence of original order, materials were arranged by function and subject at the series level and chronologically within series.
File contains a copy of a cookbook compiled and produced by Joan Disney and Joanne Saunders for the benefit of the building maintenance fund of the Cortes Island Community Church Mission. The booklet consists of photocopied pages, 14 cm x 22 cm in size, tied together with blue yarn.
File contains a copy of a cookbook compiled and produced by Joan Disney and Joanne Saunders for the benefit of the building maintenance fund of the Cortes Island Community Church Mission. The booklet consists of photocopied pages, 14 cm x 22 cm in size, tied together with blue yarn.
File consists of master pages of a fund-raising cookbook produced by the Whaletown Women's Institute. Typed recipes are pasted onto construction paper sheets; sheets are crumbling.
Complete copies of the cookbook may be found in the Whaletown Women's Institute fonds and the Island Women's Club fonds.
File consists of master pages of a fund-raising cookbook produced by the Whaletown Women's Institute. Typed recipes are pasted onto construction paper sheets; sheets are crumbling.
Complete copies of the cookbook may be found in the Whaletown Women's Institute fonds and the Island Women's Club fonds.
File contains a self-published booklet containing illustrations and notes about Whaletown, "a collection of facts, poems, short stories and drawings to enhance your visit."
File contains a self-published booklet containing illustrations and notes about Whaletown, "a collection of facts, poems, short stories and drawings to enhance your visit."
Fonds consists of material that was gathered by Thompson as she researched island history for museum exhibits and local history albums. It includes land title information about Cortes Island properties going back to the original Crown Grants, correspondence and notes about Cortes Island history, photographs, maps and ephemera.
Fonds is arranged in five series: Land Titles Research; Historical Information; Maps; Photographs; and Ephemera.
30 cm of textual records
40 photographs
12 maps
2 CDs
History / Biographical
Doreen (Huck) Thompson, 1944-2006:
Doreen’s grandparents, William Edward Huck and Mabel Wells Huck, arrived on Cortes Island in 1915. Widowed in WWI, Mabel and her four children left Cortes for Vancouver in 1923. Her son Harry, Doreen’s father, returned to Cortes in the 1930s. He married Edith Launchbury in 1937 and had two children, Doreen (b.1944) and Ed (b.1945, d.1993). Doreen and Ed were raised in Whaletown and attended school there and at Manson’s Landing.
Doreen graduated from Vic High in Victoria before marrying Bob Thompson in 1962. From 1961 to 1963, Doreen lived in Teakerne Arm in a floathouse Bob had built on the shore of the Whaletown Lagoon and then moved to the shores of Heriot Bay on Quadra Island. Her children were born in 1964 (Janny) and 1965 (Debby). In 1970 the family and the house moved to Cortes Island where both daughters attended school to Grade 10.
Doreen spent a few years living in Alberta and Victoria in the early 1980s and then returned to Cortes Island. Doreen developed a deep knowledge of the history of the island and she devoted considerable time to preserving, gathering and sharing her own and others knowledge of the island through her volunteer work at the Cortes Island Museum and Archives.
Doreen was one of the founders of the Cortes Island Museum. She curated four exhibits at the Museum, including “Windows on Whaletown” in 1999, “Von Donop Inlet”, the commercial fishing portion of “Celebrating Wild Salmon”, and “Memories of Manson’s Landing”. She researched and created albums which combine photographs, reminiscences and clippings to document the history of various island areas, such as Green Valley and Whaletown. The Doreen Thompson Exhibit Gallery at the Museum commemorates her contributions.
Doreen was making a fourth cross-Canada road trip from Cortes to Newfoundland when she was killed in a car accident near Fort McLeod, Alberta on August 1, 2006.
Custodial History
Material was stored at the museum or collected from Doreen Thomas' house.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of material that was gathered by Thompson as she researched island history for museum exhibits and local history albums. It includes land title information about Cortes Island properties going back to the original Crown Grants, correspondence and notes about Cortes Island history, photographs, maps and ephemera.
Fonds is arranged in five series: Land Titles Research; Historical Information; Maps; Photographs; and Ephemera.
Photograph of the clinic building, with the Rectory beside it. Note the lack of telephone and electrical lines, which indicates the date is between 1950 and 1969.
Photograph of the clinic building, with the Rectory beside it. Note the lack of telephone and electrical lines, which indicates the date is between 1950 and 1969.
Photograph of a group of people in front of the freight shed on the Whaletown wharf. A sticker on the back indicates the photograph was originally from the collection of Gilean Douglas.
Photograph of a group of people in front of the freight shed on the Whaletown wharf. A sticker on the back indicates the photograph was originally from the collection of Gilean Douglas.
Photograph of Alex McKee standing outside. Notes on a paper with the photograph: "Ann McKee came to Whaletown. Lived in Cousins Thompson's - house burned down early 50's. Moved to Prince Rupert where daughter lived; Mrs. M died. Alec returned early 70s. Lived in a small cabin, fished a bit."
Photograph of Alex McKee standing outside. Notes on a paper with the photograph: "Ann McKee came to Whaletown. Lived in Cousins Thompson's - house burned down early 50's. Moved to Prince Rupert where daughter lived; Mrs. M died. Alec returned early 70s. Lived in a small cabin, fished a bit."
CD (2006.001.041) contains transcripts of interviews with Bert Summers, Beth (Martin) Slater, Betty Jeffery, Bill and Mary Block, Bill Guthrie, Bob Martineau, Don Levey, Frank Hayes, Fred Tomlinson, George Gardner, Heay family, Ken Summers, Otis Coulter, Pat (Fuller) Haines and Violet Herrewig. A Directory List for the CD is in folder 1-41. The transcripts may be viewed on the Archives computer, in the folder "2006.001.041 - Doreen Thompson, interview transcripts".
CD (2006.001.041) contains transcripts of interviews with Bert Summers, Beth (Martin) Slater, Betty Jeffery, Bill and Mary Block, Bill Guthrie, Bob Martineau, Don Levey, Frank Hayes, Fred Tomlinson, George Gardner, Heay family, Ken Summers, Otis Coulter, Pat (Fuller) Haines and Violet Herrewig. A Directory List for the CD is in folder 1-41. The transcripts may be viewed on the Archives computer, in the folder "2006.001.041 - Doreen Thompson, interview transcripts".
File contains a Cortes Island Visitor's Information hand-out with a map of the island and lists of businesses and services, published by the Whaletown Community Club; and a set of ticket book backs for the Cortes-Quadra and Quadra-Campbell River ferries.
File contains a Cortes Island Visitor's Information hand-out with a map of the island and lists of businesses and services, published by the Whaletown Community Club; and a set of ticket book backs for the Cortes-Quadra and Quadra-Campbell River ferries.
 Slater.pdf?width=280&404=no-doc.jpg)
 Haines.pdf?width=280&404=no-doc.jpg)
