Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation Dwayne Martin opened the Truth, Honour & the Way Forward exhibit at the Tourism Tofino Visitor Centre on Oct. 8 with a chant called Winds of Change are Coming. 

The exhibit is available to the public until Oct. 19 and showcases the work of Ucluelet Secondary (USS) students, including poetry, screen printed orange shirts and investigations into the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action. It also features the latest exhibit from the Legacy of Hope Foundation called A National Crime.

Alcohol and consent are at the heart of another high-profile sexual assault court case involving an ex-NHL hockey player.

Plaintiff S.D.K., a Tofino resident with an academic background in oceanography, is suing former NHL player William Reid Mitchell and for an incident that allegedly took place in his Tofino home on Sept. 11, 2022. 

From its humble beginnings at the corner of Second Avenue and Angus Street, the Port Alberni Friendship Center has grown in leaps and bounds to over 70 employees at its current home base on 4th Avenue.

PAFC Executive Director Cyndi Stevens started working there in 1986. She said in those earlier days of the PAFC there may have been five staff members delivering three programs. 

“Now we have over 70 staff and probably more than 30 programs,” she told Ha-Shilth-Sa

When you go up the road from the dock to the site of the former Christie Indian Residential School, there is a barely noticeable clearing off the side of the road surrounded by a weathered split rail fence. It is a cemetery with a single stone grave marker and, in another area, a Madonna statue sheltered from the weather by a wooden structure. 

Editor’s note: The following story contains strong language from former students of the Christie Indian Residential School and references that may be upsetting to some readers.

Shattered glass. 

Wailing cries soothed by traditional drums.

Wood cracked as the digger excavator tore into the roof of the old Christie Indian Residential School, releasing decades of bridled sorrow and anger. 

The 2025 Point-in-Time (PiT) Count shows shifting rates of homelessness across Vancouver Island, particularly in Campbell River, Port Alberni, and Nanaimo, three cities where Indigenous people continue to be overrepresented among the unhoused.

Conducted across 20 communities, the count found homelessness decreased in eight and increased in 12 compared to 2023. The surveys for Campbell River and Port Alberni were conducted on April 30, 2025, with funding from BC Housing, while Nanaimo’s report followed on July 21 under the federal Reaching Home program.

The road to Bamfield is now expected to reopen by Oct. 24, two and a half months after the only southbound land route to Bamfield, Anacla and Nitinaht was shut off due to the Mount Underwood forest fire.

Announced by the province on Oct. 9, the road’s reopening is set to occur one week sooner than initially expected, as “significant progress has been made in recent weeks,” according to a press release from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

Judith Sayers and Les Doiron have been elected serve another term as the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s president and vice-president.

Voted in by a majority of society members, the incumbent leaders were re-elected at the NTC’s annual general meeting on Oct. 1, which was held at the Tigh-Na-Mara resort in Parksville. Reflective of populations in the tribal council’s 14 First Nations, there are currently 108 NTC society members, who are determined by the leadership of their respective nations. Sayers and Doiron were the only candidates to step forward to be on the ballot.

The Citaapi Mahtii Housing Society is reaching an exciting milestone with the grand opening ceremony of their new apartment building set for Oct. 17, 2025. 

Established in 2019, the Citaapi Mahtii Housing Society saw a need for Ahousaht members living in Port Alberni. 

“We have a housing crisis, and we have people waiting to get in,” said Citaapi Mahtii operations manager Jude Newman. 

When problems erupt between the people and their First Nations administrative workers or leadership, it can feel like there is little that can be done to resolve it. That’s because members are often connected by familial relationships to those in leadership or in the band office.

When dynamics like that happen, members often cite favoritism or nepotism, with certain individuals or families getting preferential treatment, while other issues are seemingly swept under the rug. Huu-ay-aht is working to resolve this with the introduction of their HFN Ombudsman Program.