The housing shortage on the west coast is making it difficult for Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation (TFN) members to return to their homelands, leaving some on a housing waitlist for up to 20 years, said TFN Tribal Administrator Jim Chisholm.

Houses within the Tla-o-qui-aht communities of Ty-Histanis, Esowista and Opitsaht are becoming increasingly overcrowded, as many can’t afford the cost of real estate or rent in the area.

“We’re bursting at the seams,” said Chisholm. 

The daily provincial illicit drug overdose death toll continues to rise at an alarming rate six years after a state of emergency was declared by the provincial health officer. In a video statement issued Dec. 9, B.C.’s Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe pointed to the volatile toxicity of the unregulated drug supply as a leading factor in overdose deaths.

Sheila Malcolmson, minister of Mental Health and Addictions, said October 2021 was the worst month in B.C. history with more than 200 lives lost due to drug toxicity.

“It is heartbreaking,” she said.

Looking out from her living room window towards the Hesquiaht harbour, Dianne Ignace marveled at a bright rainbow that emerged in the sky. Within minutes, it was swallowed by thick, gray clouds. Then, came the hail.

“Today is one of those days where every 15 minutes the weather has been changing,” she said. “That's the phenomenon that I've been noticing – the speed of change around this weather is way too fast. It doesn't give me any time to plan.”

Teechuktl’s Feed the People event brought meals to the streets today, with a focus on Port Alberni’s areas of highest poverty.

The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s mental health department undertook the initiative for the 10th year in row, but for the second-year concerns over the spread of COVID-19 prevented the team from holding its usual indoor meal. With the help of donations from the community 400 meals were prepared, including hot turkey lunches cooked in the Tseshaht First Nation’s Maht Mahs kitchen.

It’s been five years since Super Valu, Gold River’s only grocery store, closed for good, leaving the village of about 1,200 people nowhere local to purchase fresh meats and produce. But that is about to change as villagers have banded together to bring a Co-op grocery store to town in 2022.

The Huu-ay-aht have tentatively agreed to protect the old growth recently identified by a provincial panel – with the exception of 645 hectares needed to continue forestry operations in the First Nation’s territory over the next two years.

Announced Dec. 1, the statement represents a balance between the First Nation preserving forest for future generations, and the immediate need to keep employment and business interests going.

It’s been more than a year since a report made 24 recommendations addressing Indigenous-specific racism in B.C.’s health-care system, but its author says “ineffective collaboration” has slowed improvements.

Led by independent reviewer Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the In Plain Sight report identified “widespread systemic racism against Indigenous peoples” which resulted in a range of negative impacts, including death. 

While Turpel-Lafond said there have been “some” signs of progress, they don’t go far enough.

Looking back on the cancer diagnosis he received over two years ago, Wally Samuel reflects that a terminal outcome never came to mind as he prepared for treatment.

“I didn’t really think of death right away or anything like that,” says the Ahousaht member. “I just said, ‘How are we going to beat this? What do we have to do?’.”

Samuel had experienced months of unexpected weakness before receiving the news of liver and colon cancer in September 2019.

Most of the food trucks have packed up and gone home for the season, but there is one run by excited new owners that will continue to sell hot, fresh food at Clutesi Haven Marina over the winter.

Rob and Nellie Lindsay are the proud new owners of Mr. Potato food truck. The previous owners operated the food truck on Highway 4 and featured the potato tornado on a stick.

The Lindsay’s have moved the food truck to Clutesi Haven Marina to take advantage of traffic coming from the west coast and the more social atmosphere at the marina.

Vina Brown has vivid memories of watching her granny, Elsie Robinson, bounce between soaking swamp grass, hanging cedar bark to dry, and weaving baskets while watching sports on the TV inside her Nanaimo home.

There was a grace and ease in her technique that Brown said she absorbed without realizing it at the time.

“The intergenerational transference of knowledge was organic,” she said.

Putting her observations to the test, Brown would retreat into her bedroom where she created hand-strung jewelry that she sold at the local flea market.