Several Nuu-chah-nulth families are reeling after the sudden deaths of two young men from overdoses of toxic street drugs in Port Alberni over the weekend.

The BC Coroner’s Service confirms that they have been notified of the deaths and is investigating.

Sources say that three men were treated for drug overdoses at an apartment on the 3200 block of Third Avenue in the early morning hours of March 4. One young man was revived with Narcan, the other two could not be saved. One of the deceased males was a father of young children. The other two involved were in their teens.

For Marjorie White of Huu-ay-aht, she was given her traditional name, Nanaahimyis, at a potlatch she hosted for her family in 2010. This Tseshaht name had been passed down in her family maternally for generations and given to the eldest daughter.

At the 2010 potlatch, White’s brother said that it was time for her to take the traditional name, Nanaahimyis, that had belonged to her great-grandmother of Tseshaht.

“To carry that name is an honor and I carry it with pride,” said White. “I carry it with dignity because of where it comes from.”

Regulations that would protect a vast undersea mountain range west of Vancouver Island are currently available for public commenting, a step that brings the biodiverse region closer to being conserved under Canada’s Oceans Act.

With snow falling and temperatures hovering around 0 degrees Celsius, more than 100 walkers faced the cold to walk in the annual Coldest Night of the Year fundraising event on Feb. 25.

This year’s walk raised more than $43,000 for Port Alberni’s Sage Haven Society, which is 124 per cent of their goal.

Sage Haven ExecutiDECve Director Ellen Frood said they are thrilled to have surpassed their fundraising goal.

For the first time in three years, thousands gathered in Vancouver for First Nations performances marking the Nisga’a New Year.

Hoobiyee was held March 3-4 at the Pacific National Exhibition grounds, bringing an estimated 12,000 to watch cultural performances from over a dozen First Nations, including groups from Tseshaht and Ahousaht. The annual event was not held at the PNE since March of 2020, days before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and widespread societal restrictions took hold.

A new eco-tourism business called Ahous Adventures has been launched by the Ahousaht Ha’wiih in time for the start of the 2023 tourism season.

Based in Tofino and set open May 1, Ahous Adventures will offer both cultural and wildlife/nature viewing within the hahulthi of Ahousaht Ha’wiih (hereditary chiefs).

In the wake of findings that list 67 children who died while attending the Alberni Indian Residential school, the Tseshaht First Nation is calling on Ottawa to get behind its push to dig deeper into what caused the tragedies.

The multi-use trail that skirts along Highway 4 west between Tofino and Ucluelet will have the last 1.2-kilometer gap closed thanks to a grant from BC Active Transport.

According to the ACRD (Alberni Clayoquot Regional District), who received the $500,000 grant, the funds will go towards finishing a gap in the trail near the Tofino/Ucluelet junction on Highway 4. The announcement was made in an ACRD media statement issued Feb. 22, 2023.

Two new videos that harness virtual reality technology are aiming to change how people see land conservation by telling stories from Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht territory.

Nature United, a conservation organization affiliated with the international Nature Conservancy, produced the videos, which provide an immersive virtual reality experience in Clayoquot Sound.

Tsawaayuus Rainbow Gardens has opened its new apartment building adjacent to the existing facilities, offering 48 affordable, independent living spaces for seniors.

Meaning side of a hill in Nuu-chah-nulth, the Huupsitas Apartments opened in November 2022 at 6161 Russell Place in Port Alberni. It is the latest expansion of the Tsawaayuus senior’s complex that started in 1992 with the construction of a facility that offered 30 long-term care beds primarily for Indigenous elders.