Exhibits are coming down and artifacts placed in storage as the provincial museum in Victoria prepares to “decolonize” its three core galleries, a move drawing applause and criticism.
Visitors have until Dec. 31 to see the First People’s and Becoming B.C. galleries along with Our Living Languages: First Peoples Voices in BC at Royal B.C. Museum (RBCM).
When a Tofino Air floatplane struck an Ahousaht First Nation water taxi in the Tofino Harbour on Oct. 18, vessel operators started raising questions over the lack of regulation in the open water.
The incident triggered Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) President Judith Sayers, who was inside an Atleo Air floatplane that flipped after hitting a sandbar upon takeoff in the harbour less than three months prior.
“I still have a couple of physical injuries that I'm working through,” she said. “It was a very traumatic experience to have to go through.”
In early November, Hesquiaht First Nation turned off the diesel generator that normally powers their entire community at Hot Springs Cove, off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
It was the first time the nation ran solely on green energy, which was made possible by the Ah'ta'apq Creek Hydropower Project.
“It was extremely exciting for us,” said Hesquiaht First Nation Elected Chief Joshua Charleson. “It’s exactly what we wanted.”
Widely championed by the late-chief Richard Lucas, the project has been over 10 years in the making.
This winter, the Province of British Columbia is providing more than 1,900 temporary shelter spaces and nearly 360 extreme weather response shelter spaces to ensure people experiencing homelessness have a warm place to sleep and can get out of the cold and rain.
These emergency shelters supplement more than 2,250 permanent year-round shelter spaces open throughout B.C.
The temporary shelters will be open every night during the season, many of them 24/7, with meals provided. Some have already opened, with more opening this month and later this season.
Benedict David has always felt an affinity towards the ocean. Born in a “little hole in the wall” cabin on Nootka Island, the surrounding Pacific waters were like his playground.
He spent his childhood on Meares Island, off the coast of Vancouver Island, living in the remote Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation village of Opitsaht.
David has vivid memories of trailing behind his mother through the forest to pick blackberries.
“We were free,” he said.
All of that changed when an Indian agent came to take David away in 1949.
He hasn’t been inside a classroom since March 2020, but that is about to change since eight-year-old Cole Gonzales received his COVID-19 vaccination on Nov. 8, making him the first child under 12 in Neah Bay to receive the shot.
Ellen Gonzales, Cole’s mother, comes from the Robinson family of Uchucklesaht and has another home in Kildonan. But she hasn’t been to her Canadian home in more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
In the lead up to Indigenous Veterans Day and Remembrance Day, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) executive committee released a statement on how they think Canada should proceed in raising the Canadian flags on federal buildings.
After the remains of 215 people were found buried in unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in May, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau ordered that Canadian flags on federal buildings be flown at half-mast.
This Thursday on Remembrance Day Canada pauses to recognize those who sacrificed their lives during past conflicts, but the week begins with another national day of acknowledgement today.
Each year Nov. 8 marks Indigenous Veterans Day, when Canada’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit are held up for their service in the Canadian Armed Forces.
The Vatican recently announced that Pope Francis will visit Canada to further “reconciliation with Indigenous peoples”, another indication that the world may be finally noticing what residential school survivors have known since their childhood. The Catholic Church ran residential schools across Canada for a century, ending in the 1990s.
First Nations say they were not adequately consulted before the B.C. government laid its old-growth strategy on the table with major implications for forests in their territories.
Premier John Horgan announced Tuesday harvest deferrals within 2.6 million hectares of B.C. forest land represent a fundamental shift in how forests are managed in the province.
“Following the recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review, we are taking steps to fundamentally transform the way we manage our old-growth forests, lands and resources,” Horgan said.