Several Nuu-chah-nulth nations have been awarded with major funding from the Province of BC to help with suffering tourism sectors that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has only been eight months since the tragic loss of their only son, but a Tseshaht couple has found a way to cope: by inviting guests to their newly opened bed and breakfast beside the river.

Don and Linda Pelech were given a beautiful piece of property on the edge of Somass River by her grandfather in the late 1980s. They bought a 1978 single-wide trailer for $5,000 which would serve as their home until Don could build their new home.

“It was the best $5,000 we ever spent,” he said.

West coast residents and visitors alike are advised to “proceed with caution” while using a 25-kilometre multi-use pathway, part of which is still under construction through Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

The $51-million ʔapsčiik t̓ašii (pronounced ups-cheek ta-shee), located within the hahuuli of Tla-o-qui-aht and YuułuɁiłɁatḥ First Nations, is scheduled for official opening in spring 2022, but Parks Canada announced a partial or “conditional opening,” June 21 on National Aboriginal Day.

Although Lisa Marie Young went missing 19 years ago, Nanaimo police have encountered new information into her disappearance over the last year and a half.

A press conference was held today at the Nanaimo RCMP detachment, where family members of the Tla-o-qui-aht woman and police investigators urged others to come forward to keep momentum going on the search for truth. Const. Hayley Pinfold and Corp. Markus Muntener said that since they took over the file in late 2018 police have introduced techniques into the investigation, such as a police dog and ground-penetrating radar.

A court battle over Nuu-chah-nulth fishing rights that has spanned nearly two decades appears to be over, with a decision from the federal government not to appeal a recent court ruling.

When Jeff Cooke first heard that the remains of 215 children were found buried in an unmarked grave at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, he was pained with heartache. 

As the Huu-ay-aht elder thought of all of those children who never made it home, he said he was reminded of his own experience at the Alberni Indian Residential School and the possibility that more burial sites remained uncovered. 

“It’s pretty emotional,” he said. “Particularly for survivors of residential schools.”

In an effort to help its members with the prevalence of negative news recently, today nearly two dozen officers from the Port Alberni RCMP detachment underwent a traditional Nuu-chah-nulth cleansing ceremony.

The Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre (NAC) has launched a fundraiser to create the first K-12 independent school in B.C. dedicated to serving urban Indigenous youth.

The initiative is in response to community feedback about the consolidation of two Indigenous learning centres into the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district at the end of this month, in accordance with a B.C. Ministry of Education directive.