General

Lisa and Craig Devine are volunteers at the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation Community Garden, which was started in August 2015. Funding for the garden comes from the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

With the help of Matthew and Eric Seitcher and Joe Martin, the Devine’s built the garden’s 24- by 60-foot fence made out of old telephone poles and wiring.

Both Lisa and Craig are learning about gardening as they go along and would like other community members to join them.

Car Crash update:

John Frank Jr., 41, said he was out with his family on the evening of Feb. 10, the night he and his son were nearly struck by an out-of-control car.

He and his wife Savannah and three of their children had been out at the swimming pool then stopped by KFC restaurant for a bite to eat . They saw the restaurant close at 10 p.m. and headed home in separate vehicles.

The theme of the next Maritime Heritage Night at the Hutcheson Gallery is Ch'apats, which means canoe in Nuu-chah-nulth. The Port Alberni Maritime Heritage Society is hosting the event on Feb. 18.

The central exhibit of the event is a dugout canoe, recently appraised and donated to the society. Tseshaht Research and Planning Associate Darrell Ross will deliver a PowerPoint presentation on the six main types of canoe.

A video posted this week on YouTube has a number of people speculating on what is going on in the flat ground near the mouth of the Somass River.

Local nature guide and columnist Sandy McRuer has titled it the Boiling Meadow. On the video, wherever McRuer focuses, the partially flooded field is bubbling. Noisily.

Kaaceema, a foodbank located at Esowista for Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation members, began operations in April 2015.

Volunteers Marie Atleo  and Deb David recognized the need to establish a food bank in the community, because members were having difficulty finding rides to the Ucluelet Food Bank.

The Ucluelet Food Bank is open every Tuesday. Eligibility requires clients to produce a piece of ID and a list of family members who live in their home. They can only access the food bank once a month unless an emergency arises.

Search and Rescue training exercises with the Canadian Coast Guard were conducted in Tofino Jan. 28 and Jan. 29 with participants from Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht. The exercises were in response to calls by the Nuu-chah-nulth nations for more training following the Leviathan II capsizing on Oct. 25 last year.

“I believe that proverb, “a people are not defeated until the hearts of its women are on the ground.” Let me tell you when we come together, regardless of any of the hurts we’ve been through, when we decide to fight for what is right, when we decide to fight for our loved ones, when we decide to become the voice for the ones we’ve lost, our hearts will never be on the ground. They will always be in the air. We will have a strong heart. And that’s what’s going to make sure our nations are never defeated.” — Mary Teegee, Director Carrier-Sekani Family Services

An intense rainstorm blowing in from the Pacific Ocean hit the west coast of Vancouver Island on Jan. 27. It dumped up to 75mm of rain overnight, causing several remote island roads to flood.

At about 4 p.m. yesterday, an RCMP 4x4 SUV came upon a flooded section of  road about two km outside of Zeballos. RCMP Constable Todd Pebernat estimates the road was under about 2.5 feet of water at the time. The officers attempted to cross the flooded section of road but stalled out. They were forced to call a tow truck to rescue their vehicle.

Hard work and a punishing training schedule have paid off for 11-year-old Tseshaht First Nation member Rain Thomas.

This March, Rain and her parents will travel to Barcelona, Spain, where she is taking part in an elite youth soccer tournament.

Last fall, Rain was accepted into the FCB Escola Vancouver soccer academy, which is affiliated with Barcelona’s top professional soccer club. Since then, she has been training on a daily basis while maintaining an A average in her studies at Southlands Elementary in Vancouver.

The Victoria Native Friendship Centre has commissioned Nuu-chah-nulth artist Moy Sutherland Jr. to carve a 25-foot Nuu-chan-nulth totem pole. The friendship centre currently has two poles adorning the front of the centre. One Coast Salish pole and the other Kwakwaka'wakw. The centre now wants to honor all the main first nations groups on Vancouver Island, so commissioned a Nuu-chah-nulth pole.