With an emphasis on the path to “economic reconciliation,” April 13 marked 10 years since First Nations gained director status with the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District.
Leaders from the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ and the Huu-ay-aht First Nations spoke before a full board meeting on April 13, a decade since they became the first Indigenous communities in the province to gain representation on a regional district.
B.C. has to bridge deep divisions before it can put healthy ecosystems and biodiversity ahead of timber supply, says a co-author of the province’s Old Growth Strategic Review.
“This sector has been rife with conflict for a very long time and there’s a lot of scared people out there,” said Garry Merkel, a registered forester and member of Tahltan First Nation. “Everybody is afraid for different reasons. We see each other as enemies and it causes deeply rooted behaviour that stops us from coming together and solving this collectively.”
With COVID restrictions easing, Two Nuu-chah-nulth basketball teams were able to once again travel to Prince Rupert for the 2022 All-Native Basketball Tournament (ANBT).
Running from April 3 to 9 this year, the annual basketball tournament took a one-year hiatus in 2021 due to the pandemic, but this month the event was back in action again for the 62nd year.
Although the recently announced federal 2022 budget commits $11 billion over six years towards housing, health, social services and education for Indigenous people, Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns says it still falls short of addressing some injustices facing First Nations.
The NDP caucus has entered into a Supply and Consent Agreement with the minority Liberal government. According to Johns, the agreement aims to bring stability to parliament and get Canadians the help they need “following a sustained period of chaos and disruption in national politics.”
The Tofino General Hospital (TGH) was built in 1954 to service a regional population of 400 people, according to the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce.
Since then, the region’s population has grown to around 10,000, with visitation levels reaching an estimated 600,000 people per year in 2018, the chamber added.
In a letter addressed to Health Minister Adrian Dix on March 28, the chamber urgently stressed the need to replace the hospital to accommodate this growth.
Many Nuu-chah-nulth people are aware that through their health coverage provided by Pacific Blue Cross, they have access to free over-the-counter medications and supplies. There is a long list of OTC medications called Plan W on the First Nations Health Authority website stating what people on this plan have free access to.
Ideally, people under this plan can go to their pharmacist to ask for their OTC medications, and the pharmacist does the necessary prep work and hands the items to the client. But people are reporting that this has not been the case at some pharmacies.
British Columbia’s largest private landowner, Mosaic Forest Management, is halting logging in nearly 100,000 acres of old-growth forest for the next 25 years.
The forestry company announced the deferral on March 16 and said it’s transitioning to a carbon credit program, which is expected to generate several hundred million dollars in revenue.
Hailed the BigCoast Forest Climate Initiative, Mosaic said it’s the largest project of its kind and is aiming to capture and store more than 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Six years after the opioid crisis was declared a public health emergency by the province, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council is calling for immediate action on Vancouver Island, as families continue to be torn by tragedy at an increasing rate.
Linus Lucas Sr. created a Nuu-chah-nulth family tree five years ago to help children and youth in care reconnect with their families.
The senior Quu'asa wellness worker now has a genealogy database filled with approximately 21,000 people with Nuu-chah-nulth roots. Drawing from first-hand knowledge and the Royal BC Museum’s genealogy archives, Lucas said the database contains family records that date back to the mid-1800s.
When Ahousaht began debt reduction measures nearly a decade ago, one of the largest contributors to the financial burden, Ahousaht’s sea bus, was sold, to the dismay of many residents.