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.

Two days after a staff member at Tsawaayuus Rainbow Gardens tested positive for COVID-19, a case has been reported with a resident in the long-term care facility.

Island Health declared an outbreak at the Port Alberni care home on Nov. 16, following its policy when a staff member is confirmed to have the highly contagious respiratory disease. All workers and the facility’s 44 residents are being tested, and results from one resident came back positive on Wednesday, Nov. 18.

After over a decade of trying to secure funding, the final phase of construction for Hot Springs Cove’s Ah’ta’apq Creek Hydropower Project is underway.

As a windstorm blustered through the west coast, prompting a warning from Environment Canada, its need became all the more apparent.

Every month, the community barges trucks full of diesel through Clayoquot Sound. Residents within the remote village depend on the fuel to power and heat their homes. It racks up a price tag of over half a million dollars each year and poses an ongoing risk of a spill within the region.

A small Nuu-chah-nulth nation still awaits its day in court to prove Aboriginal title over its traditional territory, while the province prepares a case against the Nuchatlaht’s historical occupation of Nootka Island.

It’s been nearly four years since the 161-member First Nation filed its statement of claim to the BC Supreme Court, seeking Aboriginal title over approximately 20,00 hectares of land on Northern Nootka Island, territory that includes the village site of Nuchatlitz.

A new study has found that COVID-19 will have significant consequences on children’s mental health. Researchers at Simon Fraser University are urging government to invest in the province’s youth mental health services system so that children’s symptoms don’t extend through to adulthood.

One staff member at Tsawaayuus (Rainbow Gardens) has tested positive for COVID-19, Island Health stated in a media release dated Nov. 17.

“Island Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at Tsawaayuus (Rainbow Gardens) long-term care home located in Port Alberni,” reads the statement.