About 56 people came out for Community Planting Day Nov. 22 at the Tii Tiic Tsu restoration site in Zeballos. The day was a great success and a lot of fun.
Tii Tiic Tsu means in Nuu-chah-nulth "bringing life to the pond". The site is located within a cut block on the Zeballos River flood plain at Tigore Flats about three kilometres up river from the communities of Ehatis and Zeballos.
The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and Vancouver Island University signed a Learning Partnership Agreement this morning, developed with guidance and approval of NTC to improve educational performances and access to programs for all Nuu-chah-nulth learners.
VIU and NTC commit to “collective responsibility” for the success of all Aboriginal learners attending the university. VIU intends to develop and deliver appropriate and meaningful educational programs for the benefit of all Nuu-chah-nulth learners.
Huu-ay-aht treasures are one step closer to being home. They arrived in Port Alberni today in early afternoon to be revealed at the Huu-ay-aht People’s Assembly this weekend.
Ownership of the 17 items was legally transferred from the Royal BC Museum to the Huu-ay-aht Ha’wiih (hereditary chiefs) with the formal signing of papers. A Huu-ay-aht ceremonial signing will occur tomorrow with their citizens to witness before the items go home to Anacla near Bamfield.
Huu-ay-aht First Nations is preparing for the return of 17 artworks and cultural treasures that have been in the Royal BC Museum’s collections and on public display for more than a century.
On Nov. 18, as part of the historic Maa-nulth First Nations Final Agreement, completed in 2011 with the governments of British Columbia and Canada, the Huu-ay-aht will reclaim some of their cultural heritage and art from the Museum in a physical and legal transfer.
The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) is disappointed to learn that a resolution has not been found between a John Howitt Elementary school mother and School District 70 in Port Alberni. Candice Servatius, who has claimed her child was forced to participate in an Indigenous cleansing (not Nuu-chah-nulth specific) of students has filed a petition to the B.C. Supreme Court claiming the district violated the School Act and the Charter of Rights.
Tseshaht First Nation staff is working into the evening preparing for yet more rain. The Somass River, which has surrounded a number of properties on the reserve, is fast moving, swollen and ready to burst its banks.
“The Somass River is full. There is no capacity for the river or the lakes to hold more water,” Tseshaht Councillor Hugh Braker wrote on Facebook.
Well-known First Nations comedian-activist Don Burnstick delivered a mix of hilarity, hope and unfettered political incorrectness to an audience of young and old at the DAC Health Ability Fair in the evening on Nov. 3.
Burnstick has been a practicing comic for 20 years, but he has a very serious side. Earlier in the day, he delivered a workshop on Changing the Culture of Violence. He began his act with a shout-out to the Water Protectors at Standing Rock, who are protesting a pipeline project in North Dakota.
The 2016 Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development Business Awards took place at a gala event in Parksville on Nov. 4 and Nov. 5. The awards were held in conjunction with a two-day business conference, also presented by NEDC.
Approximately 50 people attended the conference during the day. More than 100 people attended the awards ceremony, which featured a performance by the Le-la-la Dance Group.
NEDC Chairman Charlie Cootes welcomed everyone saying it was an honor to make the presentations to a fine group of entrepreneurs.
Stan Matthew shared his lifelong journey of sobriety and spirituality with participants at the DAC Health Ability Fair on Thursday.
Matthew, the son of Andrew David and Lucy Matthew, has been clean and sober for 29 years, and part of that recovery process has been to share his journey with others.
“I was two months sober when I did my first public speech,” he said in his introduction.
But first, he called on guests to rise from their seats, and get 15 hugs or handshakes. That touched off a frenetic few minutes as his audience jumped into the spirit of things.
Kim Rai, Quu’asa supervisor, and clinical counsellor Dave Zryd led off the speakers at DAC Health Ability Fair, held Nov. 3 with a short presentation on the Impact of Family Violence on Nuu-chah-nulth Nations, followed by an extended question and answer session.
Rai explained that the Teechuktl Mental Health program has clinical counsellors in each of the four regions.