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.

A Hupacasath First Nation member has captured one of the top journalism awards in western Canada.

Wawmeesh Hamilton took top honors in the Best Feature/Enterprise Reporting category for radio or a podcast at this year’s ceremony for the Jack Webster Awards. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s ceremony was held online on Dec. 8.

The awards are named after Webster, a journalist who had a career in British Columbia spanning more than 40 years in print, radio and television. Webster retired in 1986 and died 13 years later at the age of 80.

As a young girl, Gina Laing spent her days in the remote village of Ethlateese living off the land. Considered the wettest place in North America, Ethlateese is tucked away in the Uchucklesaht Inlet. Surrounded by uninterrupted forest, the tiny village looks as though it is about to be swallowed whole by the surrounding mountains.

It was the birthplace of Laing’s father, who lived there his entire life – the way his mother had before him.

Those deep ancestral ties have connected Laing to the quiet piece of land ever since her earliest memories.

An Ahousaht resident’s battle with COVID-19 is showing fundamental flaws in the health care system’s response for remote communities, after it took four visits seeking medical attention before Darlene Dick was transported to ICU.

A pop-up warming site has been set up on Fourth Avenue next to the Friendship Centre to serve the community’s homeless population.

Lisa George and a group of advocates were given approval from the City of Port Alberni to set up tents on a gravel lot on a trial basis. Three 10 X 10 tents will be erected from 6 p.m. to midnight this Friday, Saturday and an unannounced day next week to provide those in need a place to warm up by a propane fire and grab some food.

An all-out tripartite response to rescue Fraser River stocks after the Big Bar Slide should be a template for reversing steep declines of Pacific salmon coastwide.

That proposal was among a raft of reforms demanded by witnesses who appeared Wednesday, Dec. 9 before the Parliamentary standing committee on fisheries and oceans. The two-hour testimony gave a handful of First Nation representatives a chance to speak their minds on the collapse of wild salmon stocks, a disaster unfolding.