A sea of orange shirts could be seen walking from Harbour Quay to Maht Mahs parking lot on Tseshaht territory today to honour both Orange Shirt Day and the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Orange Shirt Day, held on Sept. 30, is an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day that honours the children who survived residential schools and remembers those who did not. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation honours the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. 

Gathered around the totem pole outside the Best Western Tin Wis Plus Resort in Tofino, dozens of community members from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and the surrounding area stood in silence for 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

As the 215 children who never made it home from the Kamloops Indian Residential School were commemorated, only the sounds of nearby waves crashing onshore permeated the silence.

In a shift away from recognizing a past leader who stood for “a white British Columbia”, the name of a Port Alberni elementary school has been changed to honour the river that connects the community.

Today A.W. Neill was dropped from the school on Compton Road, which is now called c̓uumaʕas (Tsuma-as) Elementary. Pronounced ‘tsu ma-as’, the new name gives a nod to the local First Nations who have lived off of the Somass River for generations.

Port Alberni’s 2021 homeless count shows a drop in the number of individuals who identify as homeless, but of those, a significant increase was reported in people who identify as Indigenous.

Marcie DeWitt, Alberni-Clayoquot Health Network coordinator, told Port Alberni city council on Sept. 27 that this year’s 24-hour homelessness count recorded 125 individuals who identified as homeless, both sheltered and unsheltered. This is down from the 2018 24-hour count that saw 147 homeless individuals.

An ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 has pushed the start day of Ahousaht’s elementary and high schools back to the second week of October.

On Friday, Sept. 24, Ahousaht administration issued an update stating that there were 18 confirmed cases in the village of Maaqtusiis, with an addition four cases away from home. One of those cases was reported to be hospitalized.

On Monday, Sept. 27, the First Nation reported 19 active cases in the village with another 8 members testing positive for COVID-19 away from home.

The provincial government is allocating $1.5 million to address the need for culturally safe and trauma-informed support for residential school survivors, their families, and communities.

Dispersed between three Indigenous service providers, the funding is part of the $12 million BC Residential School Response Fund that was promised after the remains of 215 children were revealed at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in May.

A new land-based steelhead fish farm is being proposed in Gold River at the site of a former pulp and paper mill that closed in the ‘90s. 

Ushered by Gold River Aquafarms, the development project would be a “win” for the small Vancouver Island village, said Gold River Mayor Brad Unger.

“We haven’t had a major economic development push for a long time,” he said. “It’s going to improve our community.”

With the potential to create 75 to 100 new jobs, Unger said he hopes they can get shovels in the ground “as soon as possible.”

You’re going through an Indigenous-owned gas station and realize that your status card has expired. Maybe you come from a remote First Nation and can’t get home to get your status card renewed. You ask around where you can get a card made in urban areas, without solid answers.

Many Indigenous people are finding it more difficult to get or renew expired Indian Status Cards, which are required for health services, tax exemptions at some businesses and for crossing the Canada/US border.

This year Orange Shirt Day coincides with the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation—a new federal statutory holiday that recognizes the colonial legacy of residential schools while honouring Indigenous survivors.

Although schools will be closed on September 30, events are still planned for students to recognize Orange Shirt Day and learn about the legacy of residential schools.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been going for 18 months, affecting the incomes of many Canadians. In 2020, the federal government offered up CERB, Canada Emergency Relief Benefit, intended to provide support to people whose incomes were reduced due to public health orders.

According to Service Canada, the CERB, which is no longer available, was meant to provide temporary support to Canadians forced to stop working due to the pandemic.