This year has seen British Columbia’s most severe forest fire season on record, but while blazes in the province’s Interior have caused the evacuation of thousands of people, the largest on Vancouver Island has not warranted suppression efforts.
Thomas Dick got his introduction to some top-calibre fastpitch softball competition.
And now the 45-year-old Tseshaht First Nation member is keen for more elite-level action.
Dick was a member of the Abbotsford Builders who participated in the 2023 Men’s and Master Men’s Canadian Fastpitch Championships.
The five-day tournament, held in Surrey, B.C., concluded on Sunday, Sept. 3.
The Builders participated in the Master Men’s category, which featured players aged 40 and over.
As for the men’s division, it was open to players 18 and over.
The need for an adequate fire response will always be burned in the memory of Cecil Joseph. He pulled his niece and her family from a blaze about seven years ago, as their house burned in the Ditidaht First Nation’s village by Nitinaht Lake.
“I had to run in,” said Joseph, who had no training in responding to a house fire at the time. “I helped my niece and her children out. Her spouse was in there, but he was sleeping, he didn’t know it was on fire. I woke him up.”
Joseph frantically searched for another occupant in the house as the flames grew.
The Province of B.C. with coastal First Nations are co-developing British Columbia’s first-ever Coastal Marine Strategy.
Slated to be released in 2024, the Coastal Marine Strategy will guide the provincial government for the next two decades on setting priority actions to improve the health and biodiversity of coastal marine environments, adapt to climate change, grow a sustainable economy and advance reconciliation.
British Columbia is one of the few maritime jurisdictions in North America without a comprehensive coastal marine strategy.
On the last day of August a cloudy sky opened to a rich blue, awaiting the release of butterflies from those whose thoughts were with loved ones lost to drug overdose.
The release of 10 butterflies occurred in the parking lot behind Usma Nuu-chah-nulth Family and Child Services’ main office in Port Alberni, marking International Overdose Awareness Day.
Jaimey Richmond, a youth harm reduction outreach worker with Usma, hoped that the event would allow people to think beyond the shame that is often associated with a victim to drug overdose.
Since July 13, Vancouver Island has been in a drought level five, making for an earlier dry season than last year. Some experts say that smaller salmon bearing streams could face impacts from the early drought if no substantial and sustained rainfall begins.
With last year’s drought causing weeks of delay, entailing salmon holding up and awaiting rainfall, this year is the first time that Jim Lane, manager of biologists with Uu-a-thluk, has seen extreme drought two years consecutively.
Kids and their parents lined up along 5th Avenue in Port Alberni in front of NTC’s new health services building on Wednesday August 30th for the Back to School Support event.
This was the first time Child and Youth Services had held this event, which was also jointly organized by Lynnette Lucas, the NTC’s Director of Health Services and SebatienTitone, Manager of Child and Youth Services.
As the sun was setting on Saturday, Aug. 26 three kakawin, the Nuu-chah-nulth word for orca, traveled into Port Alberni’s Harbour Quay for what some would say is the farthest up the Alberni Inlet they've been seen.
Only meters from Fisherman's Wharf, orcas breached multiple times, putting on a show for the lucky crowd who cheered them on. Soon, videos and photos would be circulated on social media to share the incredible sight.
As the West Coast Multiplex Society launches a new logo, designed by Hjalmer Wenstob of Tla-o-qui-aht, they strive to see the project breaking ground in late 2024 or early 2025 pending government grants, shared Samantha Hackett, board chair of the group.
In an interview with Ha-Shilth-Sa, Hackett said that they are currently working on design and costing reports as they prepare to apply for funding to shoulder some of the project’s costs.
In late Spring, $80,000 was allocated to the Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warrior Family Society with Ka:’yu:’k’t’h/Che:k’tles7et’h to support food security and the development of clam gardens throughout Nuu-chah-nulth territory. Since then, youth from across Nuu-chah-nulth have restored two clam gardens located in Tla-o-qui-aht and Huu-ay-aht territory with plans for more to come.