Following a spring and summer of almost no precipitation and coupled with record-breaking high temperatures, freshwater resources are under unprecedented stress, according to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.

As of Friday, Aug. 20th, all of Vancouver Island was at Drought Level 5. This means that there will likely be regulatory action and emergency response preparation on the part of the ministry, including the likelihood of mandatory water restrictions.

A fourth wave of COVID-19 dominated by the highly contagious Delta variant is making its way through British Columbia - including in communities with high populations of Nuu-chah-nulth people like Nitinaht Lake, Tofino, and Port Alberni.

On Aug. 20 the Ditidaht First Nation’s elected chief and council issued a community update. In it, the nation acknowledges that some of their community members are coming down with cold and flu-like symptoms. Since that time at least some of the cases have been confirmed to be COVID-19.

A 66-year-old man who went missing on Monday remains unaccounted for, after his boat was found empty near Rainy Bay, where the Alberni Inlet opens up into Barkley Sound.

The disappearance was reported to police on Aug. 16 when the man didn’t return to a camp where he was staying in the remote location. He left the camp on his boat to get cellular service, according to the Port Alberni RCMP.

A thick layer of fog wrapped around the Broken Group Islands on an early morning in late-July. It acted like a veil, withholding the beauty of the islands’ white sandy beaches, rocky outcrops, and the surrounding turquoise waters.

The region is a mecca for kayakers and boaters alike who flock to the remote set of islands every year, which Parks Canada has long been describing as a “wilderness” destination. 

It’s one that deeply troubles Denis St. Claire.

“To call this wilderness is just patently absurd,” he said.

A group of Ahousaht members hosted a gathering at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church Hall Sunday on Aug. 15. The purpose was to cement the friendship between the church and the Victoria-based Ahousaht members.

The City of Port Alberni has been granted more than $440,000 in joint provincial and federal funding for a multi-faceted approach to improving the health and safety of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness in the area.

The funding will allow vulnerable people in Port Alberni to have greater access to local services which will help tackle homelessness as the community recovers from the impacts of the pandemic, said Josie Osborne, MLA for Mid-Island Pacific Rim and minister of municipal affairs, in a press release.

New owners have stepped up to ensure MV Frances Barkley continues operation.

Business partners Greg Willmon and Barrie Rogers, who own Devon Transport along with a group of rental and leasing companies, announced Monday, Aug. 16 that Lady Rose Marine Services has accepted their offer to purchase the business. They gave assurances the passenger and freight service, a fixture of west coast life for generations, would continue uninterrupted.

Memphis Dick’s fall plans changed in a hurry.

And now the 19-year-old Tseshaht First Nation member will soon be continuing both her academic and athletic careers south of the border.

In August Dick signed a letter of intent to attend Northwest Indian College, located in Bellingham, a city in the state of Washington.

Though she is not quite sure which program she’ll enroll in yet, Dick was offered a partial athletic scholarship to the school where she will play for the women’s basketball team.

Jobs and fibre supply are key factors in a memorandum of understanding between Tseshaht First Nation and San Group, but the new agreement extends beyond business, promising collaboration on a cultural level as well.

“There are so many ways for us to work together,” said Wahmeesh, Ken Watts, Tseshaht chief councillor after the MOU was signed in late June.

“Today is the beginning of our formal relationship,” said Kamal Sanghera, San’s CEO. “We have been working with Tseshaht for a number of years and look forward to a number of important projects.”

The people of Houpsitas, the home of Ka:'yu:'k't'h'/Che:k'tles7et'h', can sleep well now that a new tsunami warning system has been installed.

According to Elizabeth Jack, the First Nation’s emergency coordinator, Kyuquot did not have a proper tsunami warning system until October 2020. Residents of the low-lying ocean-front community relied on a donated fire siren that was attached to the KCFN administration office.

“But it was pointed outward toward Walter’s Island so people behind it or even next door to it couldn’t hear it,” Jack told Ha-Shilth-Sa.