Canada’s newly appointed fisheries minister has inherited a formidable task on the west coast of Vancouver Island, where a contentious relationship with Nuu-chah-nulth has seen decades of litigation, stalled negotiations and a recent directive from hereditary chiefs for their people to fish according to the nations’ own plans.

Vancouver Island and the lower mainland braced for the worst as another ‘atmospheric river’ swept over the region Nov. 14 and 15.

The  storm caused floods, washouts, mudslides and sink holes, stranding communities and claiming the lives of five people – one man remains missing. All were lost in the deadly mudslide on Highway 99, 35 kilometres north of Lillooet.

Just over a year ago, the ache in Cheryl Amos’s lower abdomen had become unbearable, leading her to seek emergency treatment at the West Coast General Hospital.

“I was in deep pain, intense pain, and I was throwing up for three days non-stop, so I went to the hospital,” recalled the Tseshaht member.

She was hooked up to a machine intravenously for her dehydration, and given Gravol for nausea, but after she was released her situation had not improved the following day, when she recalls returning with a bladder infection.

“We are a fair and independent civilian police oversight body,” reads the greeting page of the New Brunswick Police Commission, but friends and family of Chantel Moore beg to differ after learning the commission cited insufficient evidence as the reason that the police officer involved did not commit a breach of the Code of Professional Conduct Regulation.

The Commission released its report Nov. 19.

Large slash piles sit along the side of the highway leading into Tofino near the Best Western Plus Tin Wis Resort. The wood is set aside to be ground down by a chipper and used towards the development of Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation’s new RV park and campground. 

Led by the nation’s new company, Hithuiis Spirit Construction Ltd. (HSC), the Tsawaak RV Resort and Campground is slated to have a soft launch in April. 

The discovery this year of hundreds of unmarked graves at several former residential school sites has sent many survivors back to the traumatic past of their childhood. As many First Nations prepare to follow the lead set by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc in Kamloops, those who work closely with former residential school students expect that the need to enable healing will continue for some time to come.

“It’s going to be big when searches happen in our territory,” said Ruby Ambrose, a regional coordinator with Teechuktl Mental Health. “We need to be prepared.”

When 109 shipping containers were knocked from a cargo ship traveling through rough seas off the coast of Vancouver Island on Oct. 22, coastal communities and Indigenous leaders were largely left in the dark. 

Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) President Judith Sayers raised concerns over the lack of communication with the 14 Nuu-chah-nulth nations along the coast who may be impacted by the spill for years to come. 

Eunice Joe is accustomed to helping serve others.

But it was Joe, who is serving her third term as a Tseshaht First Nation councillor, who was in the spotlight recently.

An event in Joe’s honour was co-hosted in late October by the Tseshaht First Nation and the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), in part to recognize her educational pursuits as well as her current employment.

A cable-laying ship will soon begin to install high-speed fibre optics infrastructure along B.C.’s coast.

Announced in 2018, the $45.4 million Connected Coast project is bringing high-speed internet to around 139 rural and remote coastal communities, including 48 Indigenous communities. 

Denise Martineau believes an ever-changing world has proven to be extremely beneficial for Indigenous business owners.

Martineau, a business development officer with the Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development Corporation, was among the panelists this past week at an online event titled Investing In Indigenous Economies.

The event, held on Nov. 9, was part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, which began on Nov. 8 and continued until Nov. 14.

The weeklong celebration is the world’s largest honouring of innovators and job creators who launch businesses.