Today the federal and provincial governments announced that small quantities of illicit drugs will no longer bring criminal charges, a long-awaited move that health authorities hope will curb a fatal crisis that’s escalated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

When B.C.’s proof of vaccination requirement expired on April 8, it was the last major COVID-19 measure removed by the province. 

Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation has followed suit by easing its COVID-19 restrictions, and after more than two years, the nation’s Tribal Administrator Jim Chisholm said “life is getting back to normal.”

When Tseshaht Chief Councilor Ken Watts heard about the province’s plan to spend $789 million to replace the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, he thought about the province’s First Nations and all the artefacts in the museum that belong to them.

Watts told Ha-Shilth-Sa that there are Tseshaht artefacts in the RBCM collections and the Tseshaht were not consulted about the rebuild or whether or not they will repatriate their belongings.

Over the past 18 months, the northern Nuu-chah-nulth region has been coming together to participate in a series of land-based trauma treatment programs.

Centered around collective healing from colonization and the intergenerational trauma caused by the residential school system, 196 people have been involved in “Reawaken the Spirit.”

Tammie Myles has been facilitating the project with the help of community liaison workers from the Ka:'yu:'k't'h'/Che:k'tles7et'h', Nuchatlaht, Ehattesaht Chinehkint and Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations.

Daley Forbes, 27, loves sports and the natural beauty of Vancouver Island with all the recreational activities it has to offer. She grew up at Sproat Lake where she spent endless hours on the water and walking the rural roads.

During her teen years she took part in the school wrestling program. She was well on her way to a competitive wrestling career but in her early twenties was sidelined by an injury. Suffering with a dislocated kneecap, Forbes decided it was time to leave competitive sports behind.

Island Health has reached agreement with Ucluelet Medical Clinic, assuming the lease to head off closure at month’s end and ensuring another 3,000 patients do not lose family doctors.

The move ends months of uncertainty for Ucluelet residents as well as for 1,500 others in outlying coastal communities such as Hitacu and Macoah who rely on the sole clinic in the village. They can consider themselves fortunate in a province where roughly 900,000 residents are not connected to a general physician and primary health care.

A five-member jury from a coroner’s inquest into the death of Chantel Moore is calling the tragedy a homicide, with a list of measures to improve police response in crisis situations.

The inquest released its findings today regarding the death of the 26-year-old Tla-o-qui-aht member on June 4, 2020 during a police wellness check in Edmundston, New Brunswick. A coroner’s inquest is a formal court proceeding that cannot determine legal responsibility, but rather makes recommendations to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

In April Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced over $30 million dollars in support for 22 projects under the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF).

The investment from the federal and provincial governments is designed to support monitoring, research and planning to better understand what’s impacting wild salmon populations.

Of the 22 projects, 18 will be led by or conducted in partnership with Indigenous organizations and communities, according to the province. 

Unlike the empire that claimed sovereignty over Nuchatlaht territory and other parts of British Columbia in 1846, the Nuu-chah-nulth nation did not document its history with written records.

Although the legacy of habitation on Nootka Island was transferred from one generation to the next orally, other evidence of ancient ties to the remote area can be seen in the forest, which archaeologists and Nuchatlaht members look to as proof their land was stolen when the Crown asserted authority 176 years ago.

Members of the Alberni Valley United Church (AVUC) delegation have been holding monthly meetings with residential school survivors to discuss reconciliation and what that could look like for the group.

Mary Heatherington is a member of AVUC and invited Ha-Shilth-Sa to a meeting called Road to Reconcili-Action that was held April 29 at the United Church in Port Alberni.

The group started about 2019, according to Heatherington, when church members went to Tofino to meet with Tla-o-qui-aht leadership.