It was a beautiful day May 31 for the Ditidaht Community School’s 10th anniversary celebration.
The school and community pulled together to organize a luncheon, inviting former students and teachers to attend.
Students demonstrated cultural dancing to open the event after a welcome from emcee Phillip Edgar. On the menu was delicious Dungeness crab, which the community has become known for, and ling cod donated by Ditidaht Fisheries.
Thomas Mulcair, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, said it’s not fair that B.C. has not been provided its fair share of funding under the Enhanced Prevention Focused Approach,a federal child welfare initiative that works to prevent children from being taken into care.
It was introduced in 2007, and $452 million has been spent over five years to 2012, but no money for B.C. delegated agencies like the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s Usma program.
“There is no excuse for that,” said Mulcair. “The kids need it and they deserve their fair share.”
Rugby Canada star Phil Mack and his Vancouver Island Thunder youth organization held a skills camp for Nuu-chah-nulth youth on May 24 at the Port Alberni Black Sheep facility.
Mack, a member of Toquaht First Nation, recently completed a grueling season with the national Rugby Sevens squad.
“We played in Las Vegas in February, then we were in New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan. Then we had the Glasgow Sevens and wrapped it up in London,” he said.
Budding basketball star Memphis Dick is looking forward to her next big challenge when she takes to the court with Team BC in Kelowna on May 23 and May 24.
Last fall, the young Tseshaht hoopster was selected to take part in the North American Indigenous Games, which take place this July in Regina. The Kelowna tournament will be the first time the team, drawn from First Nations across the province, has a chance to practice and play together.
While Memphis is only 12 years old, she has pushed her athletic limits from the very beginning.
Linda Gomez-Seitcher has taken over as Program Coordinator for Enhanced Service Delivery and the First Nations Job Fund within the NTC Health Promotion & Social Development Department and the Nuu-chah-nulth Employment and Training program ( NETP).
Gomez-Seitcher most recently served as Acting K-12 Supervisor for Nuu-chah-nulth education workers. She now takes the helm in the new employment training initiative, mandated by Aboriginal Affairs.
After Jackelyn Seitcher graduated from high school in Ucluelet in 2002, she worked seasonally at the local fish plant for a couple of years. That was enough to convince her that she needed post-secondary education to build a career.
Seitcher is the daughter of Debbie Mundy and the late Jackie Williams.
“I grew up as a member of Ucluelet First Nation, but a few of us from my mom's dad's (Earl Mundy) side transferred back to Tseshaht,” she explained.
A young Tseshaht woman has won an award at the Cowichan Aboriginal International Film Festival for a documentary film about aboriginal teen parenting.
Nicole Watts, now 21, became pregnant at the age of 15. As a young mother, Nicole sought out resources for teen parents in Port Alberni and quickly noticed that many of the teaching materials had little relevance to the aboriginal population.
Matilda Atleo is quick to tell you she is not a nurse, but her job is to help people in the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations stay healthy and, if they are already sick, to help them manage their illnesses.
Officially, Atleo is the Senior Community Health Development Worker for the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, and her job is to educate Nuu-chah-nulth people on how to avoid some of the hazards of 21st century diet and lifestyle.
Former Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council treaty manager Cliff Atleo Jr. is the winner of Yale University’s 5th annual Henry Roe Cloud Dissertation Writing Fellowship in American Indian and Indigenous Studies.
Atleo is in his fourth and final year of his academic studies. He is finishing up a degree in political sciences and is working on his dissertation, a requirement for a PhD.
A multi-year, multi-million-dollar project that partners tech giant IBM with Ocean Networks Canada holds the promise of enhanced safety on the B.C. coastline, as well as educational and employment opportunities for Nuu-chah-nulth youth in remote communities.
Ocean Networks Canada operates the NEPTUNE underwater observatory. It’s an 800-kilometre seabed cable network based in Port Alberni, with an extensive array of sensors, seismographs and remote-operated cameras installed in Barkley Sound and off the West Coast of Vancouver Island.