When Mehana Vaughan spoke over a Zoom call to celebrate the book launch of Plants, People, and Places, she was inside her home in Hawaii making leis with her children.
“We are plant people,” said the professor of natural resources and environmental management of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. “This is an art shared by my grandmother and a way we share our love.”
Volunteers at the forefront of Port Alberni’s homelessness issue are feeling frustrated with the city and other community stakeholders who they say aren’t offering immediate housing solutions for the most vulnerable.
On Nov. 19 the second dwelling made by a group of homeless individuals and advocates was torn down by City of Port Alberni officials and members of the Port Alberni RCMP.
Some members from Ahousaht First Nation are involved with a historic initiative.
But a celebration to recognize being part of the first Indigenous-led Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary will in all likelihood have to wait until the COVID-19 pandemic subsides and it is safe to do so.
Ahousaht is one of the five First Nations that are part of the Coastal Nations Coast Guard Auxiliary (CN-CGA). The CN-CGA is an official partner of the Canadian Coast Guard.
A new award has been launched by the lieutenant governor of British Columbia that aims to honour those who have demonstrated a commitment to furthering reconciliation with Indigenous peoples within the province.
In partnership with the BC Achievement Foundation, the British Columbia Reconciliation Award was established to help inspire British Columbians to work together to help forge a new future.
A youth worker that visited Ahousaht from Nov. 17 – 20 has tested positive for COVID-19, raising concern among parents whose children engaged in recreational activities with the visitors.
According to Curtis Dick, director of Ahousaht’s Emergency Operations Center, a group of two or three “youth-type” workers arrived in the village by chartered water taxi on the evening of Nov. 17. The following day the school was closed due to a power outage.
Six months after she laid her daughter to rest, Martha Martin is facing the unthinkable; she is preparing for the funeral of another child. Martin, the mother of Chantel Moore, the young woman shot and killed by Edmunston, NB police during a wellness check last June, has made another long journey back to her west coast homeland after receiving word that her son has died.
Michael Martin, age 23, was found deceased in a city jail cell after an apparent suicide. Martin explained that her son had been struggling lately but he had hopes and dreams.
As B.C.’s provincial health officer urges people to not congregate and risk spreading COVID-19, Nuu-chah-nulth communities on the west coast are locking down with even more stringent restrictions than what people across the province are struggling with.
A member within Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation has tested positive for COVID-19.
The Esowista resident started displaying symptoms upon returning home from a trip to Port Alberni and contacted the nation’s Emergency Operations Centre. A COVID-19 test was issued and once it was confirmed positive on Nov. 22, community members were notified.
“We knew going into the second wave that we were going to experience this at some point,” said Elmer Frank, Tla-o-qui-aht Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) chair. “It’s unfortunate that it did happen, but our community was ready.”
The windstorm that swept through the west coast of Vancouver Island on Tuesday last week (Nov. 17) left more than 121,000 British Columbians without power.
Ditidaht First Nation was among the affected communities, losing its power for around 38 hours, said elected chief Brian Tate.
“It’s a natural occurrence every year,” he said unfazed.
There are only four or five homes in the remote community by Nitinaht Lake without a generator, as the nearest town of Port Alberni is over an hour away.
A young Ditidaht mother is warning people that COVID-19 is real after she spent two weeks in hospital fighting for her life. In late October, when what was believed was a simple head cold worsened to the point that she couldn’t walk anymore, Denise Thompson knew she needed to call herself an ambulance.