Two white fiberglass canoes made in the Nuu-chah-nulth dugout style quietly slipped into the Somass River on the morning of June 17, to the cheers of crowds gathered on the riverside. The 36-foot canoes were commissioned by the NTC’s Usma Nuu-chah-nulth Family and Child Services program to help children and youth in care connect with their cultures in a hands-on way.

Tseshaht people welcomed Usma staff to Paper Mill Dam that morning to lead the blessing ceremony from their traditional territory.

At the beginning of the school year, Grayson Joseph moved from the remote community of Kyuquot to the city of Port Alberni with his mother, Irene.

It was a stark transition for the teenager, who went from a tiny school where everyone knew his name to the Alberni District Secondary School (ADSS).

“I thought I wouldn’t like it and that I wouldn’t want to be here,” he said. “I was scared. It was a big school, so I wanted to go back.”

Joseph pined for the place he had always known as home and struggled to engage with his classes.

By the time Kyle Harry aged out of foster care at 19, he was full of resentment towards the system that oversaw his upbringing since infancy.

“I’m still angry. I didn’t like Usma,” said Harry. “But I’m glad where I come from, from Ehattesaht.”

He recalls living in 12-15 different homes in Ahousaht, Kyuquot, Campbell River and Port Alberni over his childhood.

Island Health says it works to involve patients in decisions regarding their care, but a Tseshaht member recently had to fight through institutional barriers while her niece stayed at the West Coast General Hospital.

Rosa Ross, who has suffered from asthma since infancy, went to the Port Alberni hospital on June 3 with breathing problems. She was brought by Gloria Ross, Rosa’s aunt who also serves as her home care provider.

What was announced as “the largest, most transformative investment in salmon by any government in history” is largely Fisheries and Oceans Canada funding itself, leaving those who rely on the species out of decision making, according to concerns from West Coast First Nations.

This is how Canada’s former Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan introduced the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative in June 2021, a $647-million commitment to “stem historic declines in key Pacific salmon stocks and rebuild these species to a sustainable level,” stated the DFO.

The Port Alberni Friendship Center is pleased to announce the development of a tiny home village to be built on a Fourth Avenue property adjacent to the Winter Green Apartments property – a site that has several old recreational vehicles rented to low-income individuals in need of low-barrier housing.

In a lead up to National Indigenous Peoples Day, the province is supporting First Nations language and culture revitalization through nearly $35 million in new funding towards the First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC) and the First Peoples Cultural Foundation (FPCF).

The funding will support FPCC and FPCF with their programming to document, safeguard, and rebuild Indigenous cultural systems to share with future generations, said Lorna Wánosts’a7 Williams, First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation board chair. 

A name change for Sproat Lake has been proposed to the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD), after a Haida Gwaii resident has brought up several claims of racism by Gilbert Sproat towards Indigenous peoples.

Joshua Dahling, director of operations for Lumara, an organization helping youth and families with grief and bereavement care, proposed the name change to ACRD directors at a recent board meeting.

After a few summers filled with wildfires and extreme temperatures, British Columbians would be happy to see a little less smoke in the air. Summer 2022 is already off to a cooler start, with this month being referred to as ‘Juneuary’ throughout the province. 

The school gym was decorated in black, blue and white as proud families smiled with pride, anticipating the grand entrance of one of the largest graduating classes From Tseshaht First Nation’s Haahuupayak School.

The event started with the grand procession of the graduating class to their head table, which had a decorated dugout canoe placed in front of it.

Cultural teacher Trevor Little got things off to a proper start with a prayer chant followed by Principal Nancy Logan’s opening remarks.