At daybreak teams from Hot Springs Cove and Ahousaht plan to resume the search for Harry Lucas, who has not been seen since he stopped at the Ahousaht General Store in his small boat on New Year’s Eve.

The Hesquiaht elder left Tofino in his skiff early in the afternoon of Dec. 31, heading north for Hot Springs Cove. Lucas didn’t arrive in the remote village, leading the Canadian Coast Guard and teams from Hot Springs and Ahousaht to search for him.

An investigation is underway into the death of a Tla-o-qui-aht man who was found deceased Boxing Day morning in Nanaimo.

Leonard Martin, 59, was last seen in the evening on Christmas Day, before his body was discovered at approximately 5:45 a.m. Dec. 26 on Fitzwilliam Street, near Wallace. The RCMP’s serious crime unit is investigating.

Leonard’s younger brother, Bruce Martin, said that he lived in a tent on Fitzwilliam Street by the Occidental bar. 

Following an alleged racist attack over a parking altercation in Campbell River, a Kyuquot woman was sent to hospital with non-threatening injuries last Thursday, Dec. 10.

All parties have been identified and the incident is still under investigation.

“At this point the details we can share are extremely limited,” said Campbell River RCMP Const. Maury Tyre. “In situations like this, we try and maintain contact with [all parties] and see if we can find a resolve.”

Indigenous and environmental groups are monitoring a containment system trial in Clayoquot Sound designed to eliminate interaction between wild and farmed salmon.

Maaqutussis Hahoulthee Stewardship Society (MHSS) together with Uu-a-thluk, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council fisheries department, and Tofino-based environmental group Clayoquot Action are watching and analyzing as Cermaq begins testing a semi-closed containment system (SCCS) in Millar Channel.

David Kiemele, Cermaq Canada’s managing director, said the company sees potential in SCCS for several reasons.

Members from Ahousaht First Nation are being encouraged to apply to the Indigenous Ecotourism Training Program, which will be running its fifth cohort of participants from January to July.

Developed in partnership between Vancouver Island University (VIU), Heiltsuk Tribal Council and North Island College (NIC), the program aims to give students skills for employment within B.C.’s Indigenous tourism sector.

Today the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia rejected an argument for the province to share more COVID-19 data with Indigenous governments.

Issued by Michael McEvoy, who heads the independent body which protects the public’s information and privacy rights, the decision highlights the failure of the province to honour government-to-government cooperation with First Nations, says a coalition that launched the request in mid-September.

As First Nations leaders and communities look toward the New Year, some remain frustrated by the province’s inaction on implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

However, new Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister, Murray Rankin, said he is “hitting the ground running,” to develop an action plan that will “begin to align our laws both past and future.”

When the province of B.C. began to re-open in July as part of their COVID-19 restart plan, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) had some reservations.

A 50-year-old shipwreck leaking diesel and oil in Nootka Sound lies more than 100 metres down, an extra challenge for a spill response working to limit environmental damage.

Fuel bubbling from the wreck of the Schiedyk, an 8,700-tonne Holland America freighter that hit a reef off Bligh Island on Jan. 3, 1968, has increased in recent weeks, threatening shoreline and wildlife.

The Ehattesaht/Chinekint are asking the Ministry of Health to put the First Nation “high on the vaccine list”, as one quarter of its on-reserve community in Ehatis has now been infected with COVID-19.

“We all know how challenging COVID is and for those of us who have not been infected and for our vulnerable members, we need this kind of attention,” states a recent notice from Ehattesaht chief and council.