Improving mental health supports when dealing with repeat criminal offenders and random violent attacks is at the forefront of an expert-led report that provided 28 recommendations to the provincial government.

Expert consultants Amanda Butler and Doug LePard say the recommendations should help keep people and communities safe by connecting repeat offenders with the supports they need to break out of that cycle.

In a small city that can be seen as a microcosm of Canada’s movement towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, Port Alberni’s residents poured onto its streets Sept. 30, clad in orange to mark the day of recognition.

But during the evening of the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a collective spirit of understanding and support became tainted when an “Every Child Matters” slogan painted on a Port Alberni landmark was vandalized with a racist slur.

A court ruling has put a young Tseshaht girl into the custody of her grandparents, moving one Indigenous child out of foster care, while thousands remain in a system that is being compared to the removal of children during the residential school era.

Judge Alexander Wolf cited the decision as an example of what needs to happen more if the number of Indigenous children in care are to decline, an issue that is particularly relevant on Sept. 30, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

On September 30th, Orange Shirt Day, also known as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, started at the Harbour Quay in Port Alberni with an overcast sky. “Every child matters,” echoed through Port Alberni while orange took to the streets.

When Wahmeesh (Ken Watts), elected chief councillor of Tseshaht First Nation, arrived at the Harbour Quay he was taken aback by the number of people gathered in orange for the event.  

One day prior to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also a day recognized as Orange Shirt Day, orange fills lower 4th avenue as Nuu-chah-nuth walk through Port Alberni’s vulnerable neighborhoods handing out orange T-shirts. 

John Gomez, the Quu’asa coordinator for the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s Teechuktl Quu’asa program, said the effort was to show the at-risk population that there are resources and support for them, and that they aren’t left behind.

Myra Mack lives near Tseshaht’s Haahuupayuk Elementary School and can see the playground from her living room window. She likes to watch the children playing at recess and sometimes she catches a glimpse of her son playing there.

The Emerald Room of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in downtown Vancouver was packed with treaty teams from First Nations as well as the federal and provincial governments as the BCTC marked 30 years of treaty-making in the province.