A heavy mist chills Nootka Sound one morning in mid May, as Ray Williams scans the rugged shores he has known for his whole life. With the motorboat resting in shallow water, Ray’s son Darrell has jumped from the vessel’s driver seat to search for a painting on a rocky cliff that Ray encountered over 30 years ago while helping with an archaeological survey in the area.

“I’d know exactly where it was if I had my eyesight,” admits the 80-year-old as Darrell scales a cliff in Hisnet Inlet.

Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park and the surrounding stretch of highway will see new pedestrian and vehicle safety improvements as soon as this summer.

Adding vehicle and pedestrian safety measures to the popular tourist attraction, on the edge of Nuu-chah-nulth territory and along Highway 4, has been a topic of discussion for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MoTI) since before the pandemic. In 2019, the ministry held several engagement sessions in neighbouring communities to hear from the public about what they envisioned to improve the area.

The Harbour Quay Clock Tower, built in the 1980s, has gotten a facelift and is about to be unveiled at National Indigenous Day celebrations, hosted jointly by Tseshaht First Nation and the City of Port Alberni.

The Clock Tower has been under wraps for months as it goes through its transformation to the Wolf Tower, or ƛuukʷatquuʔis, which means Wolf Ritual Beach in the Tseshaht language.

Port Alberni City Council and the Tseshaht First Nation leadership have been collaborating on the transformation of the clock tower.

One week after being diagnosed with bone cancer, Leo Manson Sr.’s nose started to bleed profusely while visiting his son in Ty-Histanis, a Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation community on Vancouver Island.

His wife, Maxine, immediately brought him to the Tofino General Hospital before he was transferred to the Nanaimo General Hospital for further care. 

After being awake and by his side for nearly 24-hours, Maxine said she left him in the hospital’s care to get some rest.

The Alliance of BC Modern Treaty Nations has developed a framework with the province to advance treaty implementation in British Columbia, which was announced on May 24.

It is the first of its kind within the province and renews B.C.’s commitment to effectively implement modern treaties, according to the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation.

Ahousaht elder Wally Samuel appeared before Port Alberni city council on the evening of May 31 seeking zoning amendments that would allow for the construction of much-needed affordable housing units in the city.

He was representing the Citaapi Mahtii Housing Society in its application to amend the Official Community Plan and zoning bylaws at 4210 Cedarwood Street, the site of the former Cedarwood Elementary School, that they hope will be replaced with a four-storey, 35-unit apartment complex.

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.