A Ditidaht man has died after being stabbed in a residence within the First Nation’s community west of Lake Cowichan on Saturday, March 26.

An RCMP spokesperson said it appears the incident occurred in Malachan, Ditidaht’s primary reserve located at the head of Nitinaht Lake.

In a media release dated March 27, police say on the previous day numerous 911 calls were received reporting an altercation between two men in a rural (location) of the Lake Cowichan area.

After six years at the Junior All Native Basketball Tournament (JANT), Joe Charleson Jr. managed to lead a squad to a podium finish.

Charleson has been a familiar face at the prestigious youth hoops event, which attracts Indigenous clubs from across British Columbia.

Charleson coached the Tseshaht Pride, a girls’ under-17 squad, to a second-place finish in its division at this year’s tournament, which was held in Kelowna and wrapped up on Friday (March 25).

Since time immemorial, Byron Charlie said the Ahousaht First Nation has been taking care of the salmon rivers within their traditional territory around the Clayoquot Sound, off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

“This has been our job since the beginning of time,” he said. “The only thing more integral to the fabric of coastal B.C. than the ancient rainforests is the Pacific salmon.”

Charlie has been working as a full-time guardian for the Maaqutusiis Hahoulthee Stewardship Society (MHSS) for the past year. It’s a role the Ahousaht man considers his sense of duty.

Since time immemorial, Byron Charlie said the Ahousaht First Nation has been taking care of the salmon rivers within their traditional territory around the Clayoquot Sound, off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

“This has been our job since the beginning of time,” he said. “The only thing more integral to the fabric of coastal B.C. than the ancient rainforests is the Pacific salmon.”

Charlie has been working as a full-time guardian for the Maaqutusiis Hahoulthee Stewardship Society (MHSS) for the past year. It’s a role the Ahousaht man considers his sense of duty.

The Province of British Columbia’s 2022 budget makes big investments in responding to and preventing homelessness across the province.

Investments include new complex-care housing, rent supplements and extending support for youth aging out of care until age 27.

Officials with the Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development Corporation (NEDC) can now start assisting some businesses with grand and costly plans.

Established in 1984, the NEDC is an Aboriginal Financial Institution (AFI) which has been providing loans to small- and medium-sized Indigenous businesses throughout Vancouver Island.

Earlier this month it was announced that $10 million had been advanced to the NEDC through the Indigenous Growth Fund (IGF), a new initiative created and managed by the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA).

The Nuchatlaht’s fight to gain Aboriginal title over the northern half of Nootka Island is expected to be in the B.C. Supreme Court for months.

But the trial doesn’t have to take that long if the court looks at the groundwork set out by the Tsilhqot’in Nation decision in 2014, says the Nuchatlaht’s legal team.

Almost every aspect of Nuu-chah-nulth life was enriched through whaling, said Huu-ay-aht Hereditary Whaling Chief Tom Mexsis Happynook.

“It strengthened our community’s economic structure by providing very valuable products to sell, trade, and barter,” he said. “It strengthened our relationships with other communities because it brought people from all around the Pacific Northwest, which often resulted in intertribal relationships and marriages … and finally, it strengthened our people physically and mentally because of the nutritional value of the whale.”

Through a grey, misty spring day a burst of vibrantly colored balloons float to the heavens as family and friends gathered for a candlelight vigil to remember Dontay Lucas, the six-year-old Hesquiaht and Ahousaht boy who succumbed to injuries at a family member’s home on March 22, 2018.

NTC Vice-President Mariah Charleson told the crowd that she knew Dontay and spent time with him at an event in Hesquiaht not long before he died. Known for his brilliant, happy smile, Charleson recalled being with him on the beach, entertaining him by turning over rocks so find hermit crabs.

Two Nuu-chah-nulth mothers are fighting for their sons to break free from drug addiction – but supports are not as accessible as they would hope.

Jackie Dennis of Huu-ay-aht had to wait more than a month to get her heroin-addicted son an online doctor`s appointment so that he could get on a methadone program. Without methadone her son would suffer terrible withdrawal pain and craving - or go back to using heroin. She was fortunate enough to find a friend of his that shared methadone as they continue to wait to get on the program.