Tla-o-qui-aht Days festivities kicked off on Monday, Aug. 4 with a mid-morning parade through the streets of downtown Tofino and flag raising ceremony in front of the municipal building.

Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks led the group to the Village Green while Tourism Tofino cruised at the back of the community parade with both their old-school 1966 VW van and their new electric VW ID. Buzz.

BC Wildfire is asking drivers travelling on Highway 4 this August Long to proceed with caution and stay focused on the road as crews continue to work on containing a wildfire on the opposite side of Cameron Lake.

Drive BC also warns that there is reduced visibility due to smoke.

“The highway is open, but no stopping permitted,” reads a Aug. 1 update on Drive BC time stamped 3 p.m.

One year after the harrowing Don’t Look Away report exposed catastrophic failings in B.C.’s child welfare system, the provincial government is highlighting the first phase of its response: a coordinated, cross-ministerial strategy to overhaul how services for children and families are delivered. 

More than a decade after the old Somass Hall was shut down for safety reasons, on July 31 the Tseshaht First Nation opened a new facility for community gathering – with a lower floor dedicated to children’s and family services.

The new Somass Hall provides approximately 7,000 square feet of space in the middle of the Tseshaht’s main reserve, a structure built with over $9 million of government funding. With sunlight pouring in from the many windows on the main floor, the facility’s large room offers a high ceiling with a modern kitchen off to one side. 

BC Wildfire crews are hitting the Wesley Ridge blaze near Cameron Lake hard with multiple aircrafts to cool and contain the out-of-control wildfire that was discovered on Thursday morning, July 31. 

Wildfire smoke is wafting through Port Alberni as residents in the impacted area on the north side of Cameron Lake have been ordered to evacuate immediately by the Regional District of Nanaimo.

There is an out of control wildfire burning at Cameron Lake along Highway 4, the main road connecting the West Coast and Port Alberni to the east side of the Vancouver Island. 

BC Wildfire Service discovered the Wesley Ridge wildfire on Thursday morning, July 31. They say the fire is 20 Hectares and located on the opposite side of Cameron Lake from the highway. Wesley Ridge is located about four kilometres east of Cathedral Grove and the fire is on the north side of the lake.

Highway 4 currently remains open in both directions as Coastal Fire Centre investigates.

On a busy Saturday afternoon in Anacla, Charlie Clappis sits by the entrance to the House of Huu-ay-aht looking up at the massive structure he worked to build a quarter century ago.

“It’s just so grand. So grand,” reflects Clappis, looking at the cedar posts supporting four gargantuan spruce logs that extend across the ceiling of the structure.

Clappis was among a handful of Huu-ay-aht members who were hired as labourers to help in what would become the first longhouse built in the First Nation’s territory in over a century. 

Although the sirens didn’t go off and evacuations weren’t made, a massive earthquake that struck the north Pacific Tuesday had Vancouver Island’s coastal communities on alert.