With the fourth wave of COVID-19 sweeping across the continents, new provincial health orders are now in effect and new ones will be in place by mid-September.

Beginning Sept. 13, B.C.’s provincial health officer has ordered that people 12 and over attending certain social and recreational settings will need to show proof of at least partial vaccination for COVID-19. This means that people will need to carry their paper vaccination cards that were issued when they received vaccine with them to enter certain spaces.

With a growing community relying on aging infrastructure, Ka:'yu:'k't'h'/Che:k'tles7et'h' leaders are forced to look for alternate power sources to serve residents.

Kyuquot’s electricity comes from a privately-owned company that purchases power from the BC Hydro grid and resells it to Kyuquot. There is a single cable feeding the electricity to the village and it is at capacity.

“The old line is maxed out. It is a single-phase line and we need a three-phase line,” said Cynthia Blackstone, KCFN chief administrative officer.

As the death toll from B.C.’s overdose crisis continues, those who work closely with First Nations are urging people to look beyond the disturbing numbers and into the complexities of treating drug addiction.

On a community bulletin board outside of the Tofino Co-op Food Store, Shed restaurant advertised a $500 signing bonus for line-cooks and dishwashers. 

Live to Surf, TOFINO Kombucha and Wolf in the Fog also had job postings on display.

Meanwhile, the Dockside Smoked Fish Store has closed for two days a week.

“Staffing is the main issue,” said owner and Ahousaht Tyee Ha'wilth Maquinna Lewis George. “It’s super busy. We shouldn’t be closed, but we’re having to close.”

Wildfire conditions are improving, leading the province to lift its campfire ban for the north half of Vancouver Island on Friday.

This notice came from the province’s Coastal Fire Centre today, despite the fact that all of Vancouver Island remains under Level 5 drought conditions, the most severe rating issued by B.C.’s Water Management Branch. Currently most of Vancouver Island also remains under the “extreme” fire danger rating.

After the remains of 215 children 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.

Now, it’s time for them to be raised, said Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole.

“I do think we should be proud to put our flag back up,” he said while speaking to reporters in Ottawa on August 26. “It's not a time to tear down Canada – it's a time to recommit to build it to be the country we know it can be.”

As the new school year approaches, B.C.’s Ministry of Education said that students can look forward to the return of full-time in-person learning.

While mask requirements and other health and safety measures will remain in place, sports, music, and other extracurricular activities may resume.

The San Group, a Canadian-based forest products company, and Pacific Mayfair Estates jointly announced that they are planning to develop a 73-acre property near the east end of Burde Street that would, if approved, create more than 2000 energy efficient housing units.

San Group owner Kamal Sanghara pointed out that there is a shortage of affordable homes in Port Alberni.

“People are leaving the community – we’re trying to bring families back,” he said.  

Sheltered within a large tide pool along the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet, Kenneth Lucas took a deep breath before diving five-metres to the ocean floor. 

Armed with a weight belt and snorkel fins the length of his arms, the 15-year-old secured himself in place by clinging to a rock.

Behind him, Chris Adair pointed a flashlight into a dark hole under a boulder. A train of white tentacles came into view before Lucas kicked back to the surface for air. 

A new study has found that coastal Indigenous communities have managed their relationship with shellfish and sea otters for millennia. 

Written by Erin Slade, Iain McKechnie and Anne K. Salomon, the research challenges widely held assumptions about historical sea otter populations and is calling Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) into question.