Naomi and Ed Nicholson, owners of Chims Guest House on Tseshaht territory, have expanded their operations to include four new RV sites and an Indigenous Cultural Centre.

Chims Guest House, at 6890 Pacific Rim Hwy., will expand from one studio suite and a one-bedroom guest house to now include four serviced RV sites. The suites are currently being rented to longer-term tenants and the RV sites will be available for bookings in September.

An Ahousaht college student is pleased to announce that his first children’s book is off to the publisher and online book sales are taking off.

Ren Louie is about to start his fourth and final year in the Indigenous Studies Program at the University of Victoria and he already has a budding career as an author of children’s books.

Louie’s first book, Drum from the Heart, is off to the publisher and will be released in February 2022. Medicine Wheel Education is accepting preorders for the book on their website and sales are doing well, according to a relieved Louie.

Vanessa Sim, a Hesquiaht woman, wasn’t feeling well and decided to get checked at West Coast General Hospital on June 18.

“I was endlessly thirsty, needed the bathroom a lot and was feeling confused,” said Sim, a wife, mother and grandmother. She said her family was concerned because she would blurt out random things, not seeming to make sense. On top of that, her vision was going bad.

Concerned about her worsening symptoms, Sim went to visit the emergency department at West Coast General Hospital to get checked out.

A survey of residents on Vancouver Island’s northwest coast suggests most know the signs of an approaching tsunami but do not know evacuation routes, mustering points or where to turn for information if disaster strikes.

The survey is part of the Northwest Vancouver Island Tsunami Risk Project, a collaborative study involving Strathcona Regional District (SRD), Nuchatlaht and Ka:'yu:'k't'h'/Che:k'tles7et'h' First Nations along with various other stakeholders in the region.

Dozens of Nuu-chah-nulth-aht and Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council staff gathered at Maht Mahs parking lot Aug. 5 to hear an important announcement from Usma Nuu-chah-nulth Family & Child Services.

A white, fiberglass Nuu-chah-nulth-style canoe rested on a trailer. It served as a backdrop as Linus Lucas, with support from his mother Julia, offered up a prayer chant.

Five Nuu-chah-nulth nations have responded to stalled talks with the federal government with a declaration from their Ha’wiih, authorizing members to discard DFO’s catch allocations and harvest according to their own fishing plans.

Effective immediately, the decision announced on Wednesday by hereditary leaders from the Ahousaht, Ehattesaht/Chinehkint, Hesquiaht, Mowachaht/Muchalaht and Tla-o-qui-aht provides the nations with half of what is caught in their territorial waters, allowing the remainder to be shared with other sectors, such as commercial and recreational boats.

After months of negotiation, First Nations and DFO remain at loggerheads over co-governance of a proposed marine conservation area off the Island’s west coast.

Talks between Haida, Quatsino, Nuu-chah-nulth negotiators and their DFO counterparts have continued for the past two years over the proposed Tang.ɢwan-ḥačxʷiqak-Tsig̱is Marine Protected Area, or what the federal government refers to as the Offshore Pacific Area of Interest (AOI).

The federal government announced in June that traditional Indigenous names can be used on passports and other travel documents. 

The move comes in response to a Truth and Reconciliation Commission call to action, which appealed to the government to allow residential school survivors and their families to use their Indigenous names on government documents.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) took it further to include travel documents, citizenship certificates and permanent resident cards, for all Indigenous peoples.

Nuu-chah-nulth members are invited to come together for a cultural evening of song, dance and storytelling every Wednesday night at Maht Mahs parking lot.

Lifting Our Spirits is an event hosted by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s Child and Youth Services to bring people back together after COVID-19 shutdowns.

The event began as a response to the 215 children’s remains found at a former Kamloops residential school.