Anna Kindy Vists Cortes and Quadra Islands

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - On Monday, September 15th, 2025, Anna Kindy, the MLA for our riding, visited Cortes and Quadra Islands. Cortes Currents met up with her at the Cortes Medical Clinic and then we took a quick tour of the downtown Mansons Landing area. Cortes Currents: What’s it like coming to Cortes Island? Anna Kindy: You forget how beautiful it is. Just taking the ferry over, my first thought was: it’s beautiful. So you guys are lucky. Cortes Currents: You’ve been here before? Anna Kindy: Many years ago, when my husband had a small boat. I remember docking somewhere on Cortes. Cortes Currents: What brings you to Cortes? Anna Kindy: I’m taking my job seriously, and I’m trying to find out what communities need. We’ve done quite a bit of traveling over the summer—we just came back from Tahsis, went to Gold River, Port Hardy, Port McNeill, different areas. This was one of the areas I hadn’t come to yet. Second, with my medical background, I wanted to find out how the services were on the two islands—or all the islands around. Cortes Currents: What did you find out about the medical service? Anna Kindy: It reaffirms my thinking: the community knows best what they need. Sometimes you drive ideas from communities. The health authorities need to listen because they already have a good product that can be made better. I’m seeing a lot of dedication—staff who’ve been there for years and love what they do. There’s a real connection between staff. Like somebody mentioned, it’s a multidisciplinary approach. There are no boundaries—they all help each other, which is fantastic. I also appreciate the welcome feeling. People picked me up from the ferry. They fed us. They’re excited that we’re here. Cortes Currents: Tell me about your visit to Quadra Anna Kindy:  We went to the clinic. Their facility is fantastic. They're wanting to plan for the future. All of BC has a lack of primary care access and they want to make sure that they have proper primary care access for long-term. They also have a multidisciplinary team. There's a nurse practitioner and they sometimes get other parts of medical services. Long-term, they’re looking at an even better model where all of the islands are serviced by one community health centre with potential outreach. I think that’s a sustainable way of doing things. Cortes Currents: Our tour of Mansons Landing happened more or less spontaneously. It began at the Rainbow Ridge Affordable Housing project, beside the Medical Clinic, where construction on the first duplex starts today. From there, it seemed only natural to walk over to the Village Commons. We looked at the stage, the food bank sea cans, the Nook, FOCI and Cortes Radio. Standing in the parking lot at Mansons Hall, I pointed out some of the surrounding businesses. When I came to the Cortes Natural Food Co-op, Ms. Kindy asked, “How is it a Co-op?” I suggested, “Why don’t you ask them?” So we went inside. After that we walked up Beasley Road, past the Cortes Market, Skate Park, Fire Department and Museum to the Cortes Elementary School. When the tour was finished, I asked Ms. Kindy for her impressions.