A remotely operated vehicle revisits a Nootka Sound shipwreck this week to probe for a permanent solution to an especially challenging oil spill.

Four months after an all-out spill response got underway, officials are counting on a two-week technical assessment in waters off Bligh Island to yield critical information on fuel still seeping from the 50-year-old sunken wreck of the freighter Schiedyk.

“It’s what we’ve been building up to for the last few months to really ascertain what is down there,” said Gillian Oliver, a Coast Guard incident commander.

Tofino’s Wickaninnish Inn has been closed since November 2020. 

The decision was made in the interest of the “safety of our staff, our community of Tofino and the surrounding First Nations populations,” said Charles McDiarmid, managing director of the Wickaninnish Inn.

“We thought it was prudent and best supportive of the message of our public health officer,” he said. “[Dr. Bonnie Henry] is the expert and if she’s recommending against non-essential travel, we felt we should be in support of that.”

Blockades remain to prevent logging in an untouched valley near Port Renfrew, despite a court injunction to have them removed and a statement from the Pacheedaht criticizing the “unsolicited” involvement in the First Nation’s territory.

A registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) is working to help those with diabetes - or at risk for diabetes - cook healthier at home.

Rachel Dickens has created a cookbook to share healthy recipes that are helpful for managing or preventing diabetes. The cookbook also addresses the increased cost that is often associated with healthy eating, offering cheaper ingredients and substitutions.

More than 80 per cent of Huu-ay-aht citizens voted in favor of purchasing a portion of Tree Farm License 44 at a recent Special People’s Assembly held online.

The purchase will increase Huu-ay-aht’s interest in the TFL partnership, bringing opportunities to its citizens while protecting hahulthi for future generations.

On April 10 the Huu-ay-aht entertained the motion asking for support of a second investment of 28 per cent in TFL 44 LP, bringing the total investment to 35 per cent interest in the large section of Crown land south of Port Alberni.

After more than a year of social isolation due to the pandemic, diabetics and other foot pain sufferers are finding relief in the form of mobile foot clinics.

Prior to the pandemic, the NTC hosted annual health fairs where foot care professionals were brought in to see people. But gatherings like health fairs have been prohibited by provincial public health orders since March 2020.

In honour of this year’s Red Dress Day on May 5, sisters Nora Martin and Grace Frank are planning to hang three red dresses within Tla-o-qui-aht’s traditional territory.

“We want people to know that our family and relatives are still missing,” said Martin.

The national day of awareness aims to recognize and shed light on the increasingly high numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. 

The long delays Highway 4 travelers face as they travel between Port Alberni and Tofino and Ucluelet are about to get worse.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure issued a traffic advisory April 14 stating that more major blasting work needs to be done during daylight hours.

On March 16 the Kennedy Hill construction zone was closed for 10 hours to conduct major blasting safely, during daylight hours. At that time, boulders the size of houses were blasted off of the rock face. But there’s much more work that needs to be done.

After seeing the number of overdose fatalities nearly double over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the provincial government is pushing to decriminalize possession of illicit drugs.

An agency that provides substance use counselling to youth and families will be consulting with Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations to determine how to spend additional funds for overdose response.

West Coast Community Resources Society (WCCR) is among the 23 rural, remote and Indigenous communities and organizations to receive the extra support, totalling more than $1 million, from the B.C. Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions.