When Ottis Crabbe’s parents opened Abbondanza in 2014, the pizzeria became like the family’s home-away-from-home. 

To this day, Crabbe’s father, Cory, jokes that he only returns to his house in Ucluelet to sleep at night.

“We’re always here,” he said.

Crabbe got his start working at the Italian eatery by running the cash register, before transitioning to manning the wood-fire in a bid to help his father on a busy night. 

“It’s no easy feat,” said Cory. “It’s an art in itself.”

Results of an investigation looking into allegations against the Port Alberni Shelter Society (PASS) have been submitted by the contractor to BC Housing and the findings should be available soon.

A protest began late last year by individuals citing a number of allegations against the society’s management and operations, including not allowing people to return to the shelter if their name was on a banned list and strict rules.

Offshore booms and shoreline cleanup crews have so far managed to contain and collect heavy fuel oil seeping from a shipwreck in Nootka Sound, a unified command group says.

Jeff Brady, federal incident commander, said they have made steady progress since the operation began in early December 2020 but must still determine how to plug, patch or remove oil slowly seeping from the sunken wreck of MV Schiedyk.

“I guess the key word is stabilized,” said Brady, a Coast Guard pollution response specialist, summing up the situation six weeks into the response.

Roy Jack is hoping to substantially step up his efforts for his annual cycling fundraising efforts.

This marks the fifth consecutive year that Jack, a member of Ahousaht First Nation, will participate in the Great Cycle Challenge.

This event sees cyclists set a goal of how far they can cycle in a month. During the month-long challenge participants raise funds with the proceeds going to childhood cancer research.

In 2020, Jack raised about $5,600 while officially cycling 1,500 kilometres last August.

The province is imposing an overbearingly institutional system on B.C.’s young people who struggle with mental health issues, thereby failing those who need the support the most, according to a recent report from the Representative for Children and Youth.

On Tuesday Jennifer Charlesworth released a critical study of how the B.C. Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions is serving vulnerable young people in the province, noting that forced detentions into treatment facilities has gone up 162 per cent over a decade.

An Ahousaht woman escaped an early morning apartment fire in Port Hardy, without serious injury.

Melissa Dick, 38, of Ahousaht, was with her spouse in their second-floor unit at Town Park Apartments when a fire broke out in the hallway Sunday night (Jan. 17).

Andrew Dawson, 35, said the fire alarm had gone off but, seeing no sign of fire, he called the building manager to have the alarm turned off. He said he and his girlfriend Melissa were preparing to go to bed when he decided to go out for a smoke.

The West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni is set to undergo a $6.25-million emergency department redevelopment in March.

The 2,626 square-foot expansion will include the addition of three new patient exam beds, extra space for those awaiting test results, a private room for people in need of emergency mental health care, improvements to the triage and admitting areas, along with two separate entrances for ambulances and the public. 

Not only will the increase of clinical space reduce wait times, it will also offer more privacy and security for patients.

Indigenous communities in the province are among the first to receive the vaccine for COVID-19, nearly a year after the first cases were recorded in the province. People are lining up in droves with grateful smiles as they roll up their sleeves to receive the vaccine that, in time, promises a return to ‘normal’ life. But health officials are warning people that they must continue to avoid gatherings.

Over three years ago, Hayden Seitcher spent a lot of time at home in Ty-Histanis sulking.

At 16 years old, he felt cynical of the world outside his shell.

“I was expecting the world to turn on me,” he said. “I was just in my own bubble.”

That bubble was popped when Seitcher was invited to join the Tla-o-qui-aht Warrior program.

Designed to foster brotherhood and build leadership in First Nations youth through land-based learning, the Warrior program re-ignited the “fire that burned inside,” he said.