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.

This week a court in Vancouver hears from First Nations affected by residential schools to determine if Canada should proceed with a $2.8-billion settlement to help communities recover from long-standing harms caused by the assimilationist institutions.

A tradition that’s been happening for more than 30 years is returning to the Ucluelet-Tofino area in March.

The 35th Pacific Rim Whale Festival will be running during spring break, following limited festivities over the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Started by whale watcher Brian Congdon in the 1980s, he realized that the industry every year was waiting for the return of grey whales to the area, and proposed a festival to celebrate this.

First Nations people living on reserve who had water advisories for extended periods of time could be eligible for compensation if they lived somewhere listed in the settlement agreement.

According to the First Nations Drinking Water Class Action website, the courts have approved a settlement. The agreement is between Canada and certain First Nations, concerning members who were subject to a drinking water advisory that lasted at least one year between November 20, 1995, and June 20, 2021.

Bill C-21, gun control legislation that is currently being considered in Ottawa, was intended to address firearm violence and strengthen laws by controlling handguns and assault rifles. In late November, the Liberal party proposed amendments to the bill that would impact hunters with its broader scope of banning rifles.

At the beginning of February, the amendment that would include some long guns and rifles used for hunting had been withdrawn, though it has been speculated that is only temporary.

After a disappointing first trial, the second batch of fish being raised in a semi-closed system in Ahousaht territory is “exceeding expectations”, raising hope that the technology will add another stage to salmon farming that removes contact between farmed and wild stocks.

This month the Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia reported that the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) did not provide Indigenous peoples in correctional centers with adequate or consistent mental health and substance use services.

In British Columbia, Indigenous people are starkly over represented in corrections centers. With Aboriginal people making up 5.9 per cent of the population in the province, 35 per cent of those in custody at correction centers identify as Indigenous.

The Ahousaht Wellness Center, under construction on the site of the former Ahousaht Indian Residential School, is near completion and plans are to have it up and running by the end of May, according to elected Chief n̓aasʔałuk (John Rampanen).

“Construction has been ongoing for just over two years and there was a financial hiccup but that has been resolved,” he told Ha-Shilth-Sa.