At the beginning of January, Hipolite Williams began carving a 35-foot canoe for Uchucklesaht Nation. Through winter, spring, summer, and fall, he and his apprentice, Cooper Styan, worked daily toward carving the red cedar canoe.

The log, chosen by Williams and sourced from C̕awak ʔqin Forestry, was 45 feet long, 5 feet at the base, 3.5 to 4 feet at the top, weighing 16, 000 pounds, said Ryan Anaka, director of Lands and Resources for Uchucklesaht.

As B.C. continues to struggle with an overdose crisis and its underlying contributing factors tied to mental health, the provincial government has announced a new focus on youth to “prevent small problems from turning into big ones.”

With a recent executive order banning commercial fish farms in Washington State waters, British Columbia is left as the only jurisdiction on the North Pacific coast to still have large-scale, industrial finfish aquaculture.

And now the industry faces an approaching deadline to make “a responsible plan to transition from open net pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia by 2025,” according to a mandate from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

A new multi-unit facility is being built in Port Alberni, providing safe living spaces for women and their children escaping violence.

The Attorney General and Ministry Responsible for Housing made the announcement on Nov. 25.

Sage Haven (formerly Alberni Community and Women's Services Society) offers first-stage transition homes to women and their children. This new development is set to offer a temporary place to stay for women and children escaping violence.

On Tuesday, Nov. 29, Gina Amos, Wally Samuel, George Frank, and Ed Ross met with Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions. They came together for the signing of the deed to the former Cedarwood Elementary School, where they plan to build an affordable housing complex for Ahousaht members living in Port Alberni.

Roughly four years ago Ahousaht’s elected chief and council initiated the search for housing for the First Nation’s members living in Port Alberni, said Ahousaht elder Wally Samuel.

In the early morning of Saturday, Nov. 26, Carl Martin began preparation for a traditional canoe steaming at Naa’Waya’Sum Coastal Indigenous Gardens.

At around 5 a.m., Martin prepared a fire with roughly 150 rocks. These rocks would then go in the canoe with six inches of water covered by a tarp, explained Martin. It took 45-minutes for the red cedar wood to expand.

The event was an opportunity to share knowledge of canoe carving and steaming with the community.

It has served thousands of people on their healing journeys since opening its doors in June 1988 at its home in Nanoose, and now, Tsow-Tun Le Lum is spreading its wings with a move to brand-new facility in Duncan, BC.

Tsow-Tun Le Lum, which means Helping House, is a fully accredited, registered, non-profit treatment society. But Executive Director Nola Jeffrey prefers to call it a healing house, because they offer holistic and cultural supports for people, not only in addictions, but also for survivors of trauma.

Students and staff of Maaqtusiis elementary and secondary schools were sent home today due to high numbers of flu cases.

Of the 238 students attending both the elementary and high school, only 41 showed up for school on Monday morning.

“Unfortunately, Ahousaht has been hit hard with this nasty flu bug and has affected the attendance in our schools. We closed last week due to low attendance in all departments of the school system,” said Ahousaht Education Director Rebecca Atleo.

A fourth dead humpback whale has washed up on the shores of Haida Gwaii. The sad discovery was made Nov. 20.

According Paul Cottrell, a marine mammal coordinator for DFO, the remains are in an advanced state of decomposition and may be the same whale spotted floating offshore from Prince Rupert on Oct. 12.

Cottrell said photographs were taken of the Rupert whale carcass but were not clear enough to confirm whether it is the same whale.

The Meares Island Cultural Centre will get some modernizing upgrades thanks to funding from the First Peoples’ Cultural Council.

The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation was awarded $400,000 from the FPCC as part of more than $5.4 million to support 16 projects that conserve, repair and develop First Nations heritage infrastructure in B.C.

The projects are made possible with funding from the Province of British Columbia’s 150 Time Immemorial Grant Program to the First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation.