The B.C. government is deferring old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek and Central Walbran regions, spanning 2,000 hectares on southern Vancouver Island. 

The move was made following the Hišuk ma c̕awak Declaration, which was signed by leaders from the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations, who called for a two-year deferral of old-growth logging in those areas as they prepare resource management plans.

San Group is investing $100 million in Port Alberni facilities that will in the coming months see finished wood products leaving local shipyards rather than raw logs.

The announcement was made at the Coulson mill site on Seizai Road in Port Alberni on June 2. The facility has significantly expanded over the past few years accommodate the construction of a new mill and a lumber yard.

The yard was buzzing with activity as several lumber trucks lined up on the hill that drops down into the waterside mill site to be loaded with finished lumber.

After reviewing the BEI (Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes du Quebec) report on the investigation following the death of Chantel Moore, the New Brunswick Office of the Attorney General said they do not recommend any kind of homicide charges against Jeremy Son, the Edmundston Police Force officer that shot and killed Chantel on June 4, 2020, during a wellness check.

News of the remains of 215 undocumented children unearthed at the Kamloops Indian Residential School continues to reverberate through Nuu-chah-nulth communities, prompting the Ditidaht Ha’wiih to venture to another former site to make a statement.

The federal government released a National Action Plan (NAP) in response to the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people on Thursday, June 3. 

It comes two years after the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ (MMIWG) final report was released.

“No, no, no, no, no, nooooo. How could he get away with this?” asked the grief-stricken grandmother of Chantel Moore, Grace Frank, on her social media page. Today the family received word from New Brunswick Crown prosecutors that no charges will be laid against Edmundston Police Force Officer Jeremy Son.

The news comes three days after the first anniversary of the shooting death of 26-year-old Chantal Moore of Tla-o-qui-aht.

As the largest anti-logging movement to hit the West Coast since the 1990s continues in southern Vancouver Island, three Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations are asserting authority over their territories.

On Friday the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations signed the Hišuk ma c̕awak Declaration “to take back their power over their ḥahahuułi”, according to a release issued today. The declaration pledges to end the 150-year period of the First Nations watching others decide what’s best for their lands, water and people.

As he continues to chip away at an 800-year-old cedar log lying by Port Alberni’s waterfront, Hesquiaht carver Tim Paul has had to draw upon the teachings he received as an artist.

“My discipline and my upbringing is that I go the distance; I complete and I finish,” said Paul as he stands over the developing totem pole.

After over a decade of documenting B.C.’s last remaining old-growth ecosystems, TJ Watt said he hadn’t come across anything quite like the grove of red cedars hidden in the upper reaches of the Caycuse watershed, near Port Renfrew.

“It was truthfully one of the most stunning old-growth forests I’ve been in,” said the co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “The sheer volume of giant cedars was mind-blowing – every direction you looked was another 10 to 12-foot-wide ancient cedar that could be 800 years old, or older.”

A government pledge to modernize forest policy, double forest tenure held by First Nations and protect old growth forests in the province amounts to the same old “talk and log,” critics say.

Premier John Horgan and Forests Minister Katrine Conroy announced the policy initiative Tuesday, June 1, coupling it with reconciliation while stressing an expanded role for First Nations in the forest sector and land-use decisions in their territories.

Horgan said the goal is to transition the forest industry from “a high-volume past to a high-value future.”