“There used to be 200 totem poles lining the front of Opitsaht,” said Tla-o-qui-aht artist Hjalmer Wenstob.

Most were broken or burned when American Captain Robert Gray bombed Opitsaht back in 1792, he added.

Back then, historians say there were 200 long houses in Opitsaht, located on Meares Island across from Tofino. Each longhouse held 50 to 100 people. But the village was abandoned that day, its residents likely at other seasonal villages.

The longhouses and totem poles were hit with cannon balls and burnt, leaving Opitsaht in ruins. But the people rebuilt.

BC Hydro has announced the installation of a second fast-charging electric vehicle (EV) unit at the Pacific Rim Visitor Centre. The centre was originally built in 2018 with one charging unit. The second was installed in December of 2022.

The site, which was funded as part of a collaboration between BC Hydro, the provincial government, and Natural Resources Canada, is one of 81 sites with 133 units across British Columbia, operated by BC Hydro. Including privately operated charging sites, there are now nearly 20 in the Tofino-Ucluelet area alone.

Kuu-us Crisis Line Society is one of 22 Indigenous-led non-profits awarded $216, 000 over the course of three years from a provincial program.

Cindy McAnerin, associate director at Kuu-us Crisis Line Society, said a need that they have is to upgrade their vehicles for outreach.

“The vehicles we have now are fairly old, [and have] high kilometers. So we've been really in need of a new vehicle,” said McAnerin. “Without a dependable vehicle, it essentially prevents us from being able to do our outreach.”

After years of negotiating the shared governance of a vast offshore area west of Vancouver Island, today the federal government and four First Nations groups announced a major step towards protecting the unique deep-sea territory.

“We’re not going to save Pacific Salmon through a government program,” says the head of the First Nations Fisheries Council of B.C., during the announcement of a coalition formed to stop the path to extinction for the species.

Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation is breathing life back into trailers used in Ahousaht to create a new wellness center at their Ty-Histanis reservation.

Five trailers that served as bunkhouses for crew members working on Ahousaht’s wastewater treatment plant are being moved out of the Flores Island community. Tla-o-qui-aht purchased the trailers from the contractor that built Ahousaht’s wastewater treatment plant.

Tchadas Leo, multimedia broadcaster, journalist, and podcaster, hosts a limited series podcast called 4VI Indigenous Voices, featuring a number of Nuu-chah-nulth travel companies and entrepreneurs.

In the podcast Leo, of Homalco First Nation, travels across the borders of the traditional territories of Nuu-chah-nulth, Coast Salish, and Kwakwaka’wakw meeting with local Indigenous travel companies, while learning about traditionally infused and Aboriginal-led tourism in the respective territories.

With the rise of retail food costs many remote coastal communities are turning to community gardens as a source for food security.

Kristi Walker, a wellness practitioner and master gardener, has always been an advocate for community gardens in remote communities. Walker is the lead gardener for Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation, which provides fresh produce to the it’s members and Nuu-chah-nulth people living in Gold River.

As a working group begins to assess the Alberni Pacific Division sawmill’s future, Huu-ay-aht’s elected chief cautions that the parties involved will need to closely collaborate to find a solution – with keen participation from the province.

The Eagles Hall on lower Third Avenue has become a temporary cold weather shelter while the Bread of Life Centre undergoes renovations.

Port Alberni city council authorized temporary deferment of the zoning bylaw at Eagles Hall to enable Salvation Army to operate a temporary cold weather shelter until March 31, 2023.