Ahousaht’s new affordable housing project – čitaapi Mahtii is one step closer to groundbreaking as demolition of the old school building on site begins on the second week of May, 2023.

According to Ahousaht’s previous council, there are more than 500 registered members living in the city of Port Alberni. Many struggle to find affordable housing.

So, when BC Housing offered to support Ahousaht in creating an Indigenous housing development, the former Ahousaht council jumped at the opportunity.

A paper published in April has suggested marine species usually only found on the Pacific coasts are able to survive in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and the recent study has a Vancouver Island connection.

A new health clinic is coming to Port Alberni’s inner-city area, presenting a collaborative approach to primary care that aims to improve upon a traditional system that, for many patients, has proved to be ineffective.

The B.C. Ministry of Health has approved funding for the Indigenous Urban Community Health Centre. Launched by the Port Alberni Primary Care Network, the new clinic is planned to open in 2024 in the small city’s South Port area, between 3rd and 10th Avenue where needs were identified to be most urgent.

This fall a new nursing stream is coming to six universities in B.C., offering Indigenous graduate students training that aims to empower First Nations to determine their own path to wellness.

Port Alberni, BC – It was at 10 a.m. that the color red, along with posters of missing and murdered loved ones, began to fill the parking lot at n̓aasn̓aasʔaqsa totem pole, near the Victoria Quay.

May 5th marks National Red Dress Day, where, in Port Alberni, Nuu-chah-nulth-aht and community members gathered to raise awareness of MMIWG2S+ and remember their missing and murdered loved ones.

For Jennifer Cody, a Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) dietician, she comes from a family of healers. Being a dietician has come natural for her since she enjoys the way food connects to harvesting, growing, community building and nature.

“Food is sort of one of those things that’s kind of woven into everything within…culture with Nuu-chah-nulth people,” said Cody. “Many of the teachings in terms of how we respect and connect with our environment and the land and how we see other living beings as being a part of everything around us.”

With the province seeing 596 deaths due to the toxic drug crisis from January to the end of March, 2023 is only three deaths short of the record breaking year in 2022, which had 599 fatalities over the first three months. Since 2016, when the provincial public health emergency was declared, more than 11,000 lives have been lost.

Drugs across the province have grown increasingly toxic, leaving Nuu-chah-nulth friends, family, and the broader communities grieving the loss of their loved ones.

“Connection is the correction” was the prevailing belief during a gathering at Nitinaht Lake last month, an event held to help the village work through the aftermath of pandemic-era isolation – as well as the ongoing sense of disconnect that the village’s elders attribute to a technologically fixated modern world.

Building more housing for Hupačasath members is a continued priority for the First Nation’s recently re-elected Chief Councillor Brandy Lauder.

Hupačasath First Nation held an election for chief and council in early April, resulting in three new councillors, only seeing Lauder re-elected to serve a second term as chief councillor. 

Lauder, Serena Mayer, Cameron Tatoosh and Leah Wrigley will make up the First Nation’s chief and council for the next two years.

A staffing shortage has been cited as the cause for the indefinite closure of the Ditidaht Community School, although the First Nation hopes to have the facility reopened within the next two weeks.

On Monday, May 1 residents of the small on-reserve community by Nitinaht Lake were informed through the school’s Facebook page that the learning facility would be closed for the day due to a lack of staff.

“We apologize for any inconvenience and hope to open Tuesday, May 2nd,” stated the social media post.