In effort to address ongoing critical gaps in our understanding of Indigenous health, EHN Canada hosted an online webinar on March 10 to highlight the disparities in healthcare access among Indigenous peoples living in urban centres. 

Hosted by Celina Sqwasulwut Williams, a spiritual advisor at Ravenswood Consulting, participants were guided through the current state of the healthcare system and how it needs to improve its diversity and inclusion measures for Indigenous communities.

Over 100 shipping containers have been missing off the west coast of Vancouver Island since they fell off the Zim Kingston in late October, but in the coming weeks the ship’s owner plans to conduct a sonar scan to locate any of the wreckage remaining on the ocean floor.

When Mike Roberts looks back on his time attending Alberni District Secondary School (ADSS) in the mid-80s, the Totem Tournament continues to stand out in his mind.

Roberts, who’s now the school’s athletic director, said he’s not alone.

“If you were to ask anybody who has gone to this school to name five things they remember 10 to 20 years from now, I’m going to guess almost everyone will mention Totem,” he said. 

It’s part of the fabric of the school, he added.

Excitement came from the only remaining household in the ancient Mowachaht village site of Yuquot today, as residents encountered the richest herring spawn in years.

“The whole bay has been spawning for two days,” said resident Ray Williams, who has lived in the Nootka Island village for most of his life. “The whole bay is just completely white, all the way to outside the cove.”

Temperate forests in B.C., long a carbon sink and buffer against global warming, have become net carbon sources and now contribute to accelerated climate change in the 21st century.

Through computer modelling, the province’s greenhouse gas inventory shows forests in the province have begun producing more carbon than they take in, an alarming reversal over the last 20 years caused in part by worsening wildfires and mountain pine beetle devastation.

“The system is set up for failure,” said a worried and frustrated mother of a young, heroin addicted man. Jackie Dennis of Huu-ay-aht is doing whatever she can to help her adult son get clean, including taking him home to Anacla to care for him as he goes through the painful process of withdrawing from heroin addiction.

Dennis says her 30-year-old son wants to get clean after using heroin for six years.

“He told me he’s done with it, he wants out,” said Dennis.

But heroin is like a clingy lover, it doesn’t let you go easily.

A new film featuring Nuu-chah-nulth efforts to save salmon habitat on the west coast of Vancouver Island is made its premiere at Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) on March 2 in Vancouver.

Filmed in Mowachaht/Muchalaht territories, Salmon Parks, an 11-minute documentary, was filmed in 2021 by director Carter Kirilenko.

The filmmakers say that wild salmon and old-growth forests have evolved together over time and without one, the other couldn’t survive.

The Alberni District Secondary School (ADSS) senior girls’ Armada basketball team recently returned to Port Alberni after competing in the 2022 BC AAAA senior girls’ provincials in Langley. 

In the lead up to their first game at the Langley Events Centre on March 2, assistant captain Jenelle Johnson-Sabbas said her nerves were running high. 

Unlike her home gymnasium at ADSS, the basketball court in Langley hosted larger crowds, an announcer’s table, and a big screen TV that broadcasted the game. 

A plan is in place to ensure high school graduates have a better understanding of the ancestral history of British Columbia, with a requirement to complete coursework that focuses on Indigenous culture.

Announced by the B.C. Ministry of Education on March 4, this development would begin for high school students in the 2023-24 school year. To earn a Dogwood Diploma, all high school students would need to complete coursework with an Indigenous focus among the 80 credits they currently earn to graduate. A typical, one-semester course earns four credits towards the diploma.