Thanks to $400,000 in provincial funding the Uchucklesaht Tribe is able to move forward on several climate-related projects.

The British Columbia government is providing the funds to the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation via its Disaster Resilience and Innovation Funding (DRIF) program. This funding will in part help create projects that will assist communities with their ability to mitigate climate-caused disasters.

Earlier this month government officials announced they would spend a total of about $41 million to fund 61 projects throughout the province.

Dog bites, animal overpopulation, disease – these are the ongoing problems remote First Nations continue to face when it comes to animal welfare and community safety. 

James Rodgers is executive director of the CARE (Coastal Animal Rescue and Education) Network, based in Tofino. He says any community would face these problems if they don’t have access to pet services found in larger cities.

With her family helping to deal with a list of health issues that hospitalized Gloria Fred for over two months this year, she was hoping to soon move back into her house on the Tseshaht reserve. But now plans have changed for the family, after a fire devastated the building on May 14.

Direct efforts are underway to address the distrust and problematic history First Nations face within Canada’s justice system.

At the beginning of May, Tofino Provincial Court was relocated from the Tofino Community Hall to the Tin Wis Conference Centre on Tla-o-qui-aht-First Nations traditional territory. Court will continue to be held at this new location on Tla-o-qui-aht land for the next few years.

Tin Wis is the former site of Christie Indian Residential School.

Organizers of a tournament that will be held in Port Alberni during the May long weekend have quickly discovered there is quite a thirst for basketball.

The second annual Tseshaht Lightning Open Tournament will be staged May 16-19 at various facilities in Port Alberni.

A total of 67 teams, competing in six divisions, will participate in the event. That’s a substantial increase from the 46 squads that competed in the inaugural tourney a year ago.

After engaging in a practice that once sustained their ancestors over a century ago, dealing with a whale that washed up on Long Beach has been a massive learning experience for Tla-o-qui-aht members. 

“It takes a whole community to get this done,” said Gisele Martin, after her and other members of the First Nation harvested parts of the deceased grey whale, or maaʔak, on May 10. “I think it’s been a great big, amazing learning experience.”

He had just turned 65, was always relatively healthy and had quit alcohol a decade earlier. But, according to Doreen Little, her husband died very suddenly last year. She believes he could have lived much longer had he followed doctor’s advice more diligently and made a simple diet change.

William Little, an Ahousaht man, worked all his life in the automotive repair industry and even had a side hustle, fixing people’s vehicles at his home on evenings and weekends. He was a busy man with a quiet family home. 

An offering of dried Devil’s Club, the plant used by Indigenous peoples for a range of medicinal, ceremonial and spiritual purposes, sat beside a sign-up sheet for traditional cedar brushings as members of the ʔuukʷinkpanač (ook-wink-panach) West Coast Primary Care Initiative (WCPCI) team welcomed guests to the Tin Wis Conference Centre on May 10 for a grand opening celebration.

Ahmber Barbosa’s interest in health care began at the age of four.

“I was in the delivery room when my brother was born,” she said. “It was just the most magical experience. I knew I wanted to deliver babies when I was that young, but there’s a few different paths you can take to do that.”

Tla-o-qui-aht released 20 Calls To Action for the RCMP, BC Corrections and the Independent Investigation Office (IIO) on May 9 after a Missing and Murdered Indigenous People and Children Walk that weaved through all three of the First Nation’s communities, starting in the ancient village site of Opitsaht and ending in Esowista and Ty-Histanis.