General

Tseshaht Chief Councillor Hugh Braker helped organize a work crew to split and deliver firewood to the community’s elders today. There were about 20 homes on the list, said Braker as he piled firewood into the box of a pick-up.

There were 10 carloads of volunteers onsite by 10 Saturday morning, and more promised to be on the way with the lure of donuts and coffee from Braker, posted on his facebook page. He noted there were even two bald eagles watching over the crew from a distance.

“Proud to be Tseshaht today,” he wrote.

Call it destiny: Basketballer Shania Sabbas was born in Victoria in 1997. The city was celebrating the fourth edition of the North American Indigenous Games. This summer, she will take to the court in Regina when the city hosts NAIG 2014.

Shania, a member of Kyuquot-Checklesaht First Nation, earned a slot on the Team BC U-19 Girls’ Basketball squad, following a grueling tryout camp that took place in Langley from Dec. 20 to Dec. 22. Just 16, the 5’ 4” point guard found herself pitted against girls that were older and bigger, but that’s nothing new, she said.

Uchucklesaht Tribe hosted an education/career forum at Athletic Hall on Dec. 18, open to all students in the Alberni Valley.

The event featured a keynote address by Caledonia Fred of the Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development Corporation, plus a hall full of booths representing the many organizations both to guide the career paths and to recruit young First Nations members in the Valley.

Survivors of the notorious Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS), supported by family members, packed Maht Mahs gym on Wednesday for a forum on the “Hunger Experiments” conducted at the school in the 1940s and ‘50s.

For the 200-plus people who attended, their first question was obvious: Why were they subjected to chronic malnutrition and spurious biomedical experiments with the blessing of the Government of Canada?

The director for the B.C. & Yukon Region of the Canadian Red Cross spoke to residential school survivors and their families to clarify the role of the Red Cross in the notorious “Hunger Experiments” which took place between 1947 and 1952 at six residential schools, including AIRS.

Kimberly Namrava attended the Dec. 11 forum on the biomedical experiments, hosted by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and Tseshaht First Nation at Maht Mahs gym, and acknowledged the longstanding relationship her organization has had with First Nations across the country.

Family came together to celebrate the 92nd birthday of Nan Hilda Hansen Dec. 6 in Campbell River.

The event was held at the United Church, and the room was decorated in purple and gold; purple because it is Hilda’s favorite color, said El Nicolaye. And gold because she has a heart of gold.

Update as of Dec. 10, 2013 2:45 p.m.: A recent report from a Facebook Vancouver Island hunting site that an elk poacher had been arrested in the Nitinat Lake area with the carcass of a cow elk in the back of his truck is untrue, said Sgt. Ben York of the Conservation Officer Service.

NTC President and Vice-President present NTC Education Declaration to BC Leadership; BCAFN, UBCIC and Summit. See our education declaration from September at http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2013-09-25/nuu-chah-nulth-nations-stand-together-face-education-legislation

Ha-Shilth-Sa readers are invited to the Bread & Butter Loonie-Twoonie FUN!draising Event, which takes place on Saturday, Nov. 30 at Gyro Youth Centre. All proceeds go to the Bread of Life soup kitchen, which serves nutritious meals five days a week to those who are struggling in poverty or unable to makes ends meet.

For those affected by addictions or family crises or long-term health issues, there is always a place at the table at the Bread of Life.

Update: 10:31 a.m. Nov. 25

The Sud’s Benefit Loonie Twoonie held Nov. 23 at Maht Mahs raised more than $8,000 for the extended family of Bob Suds Soderlund in the Philippines. Their homes were destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan.

“The benefit for Suds’ family was an unbelievable outpouring of generosity. I never dreamed it would be so successful,” wrote Tseshaht Chief Councillor Hugh Braker on the facebook event page. He has begun the transfer of money in smaller increments of a number of hundred dollars each transfer. The transfer slip has been posted on the facebook page.