Keith Henry certainly likes to practice what he preaches.

Henry, who is Métis and lives in Vancouver, is the president and CEO of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC). There’s no denying Henry’s workload has been compounded this year as ITAC has been dealing with the pandemic on several fronts. Many of its members are struggling since the tourism industry has been hurt especially hard.

Nine years after Namgis First Nation established one of the first land-based salmon farms of its kind, Kuterra Salmon is on track to prove the technology works, says the company’s CEO.

With a 15-year lease signed in February, the north Island First Nation handed over management of its Port McNeil facility to U.S.-based Emergent Holdings LLC, a company with a major stake in the future of North American aquaculture.

Over the past week, a protest at the Port Alberni shelter has continued to evolve with one arrest being made early Friday morning, according to social media posts.

A protest began last Friday, Oct. 23 by Port Alberni’s Graham Hughes, who says he won’t stop fighting for change until members of the Port Alberni Shelty Society (PASS) board of directors resign and an investigation is conducted into a broad range of allegations against the society.

Parks Canada is making progress building ʔapsčiik t̓ašii (pronounced ups-cheek ta-shee), the multi-use pathway that extends between Tofino and Ucluelet.

With most of the pathway now paved, Parks Canada is moving forward by installing rest areas, safety signage, line painting and designing cultural elements in collaboration with the Elders Working Group.

The Mowachaht/Muchalaht plan to restrict access on the highway south of Gold River, after negotiations with Western Forest Products for use of the road crossing through the First Nation’s reserve land have stalled.

Officials with the Ha’oom Fisheries Society are encouraged by the fishing exploits of Mowachaht/Muchahaht First Nation members this year.

The Tofino-based group works with five Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations to support and facilitate their involvement with various fisheries.

On the fifth day of protest, a group of tents had collected outside of the Port Alberni Shelter Society’s facility on eighth Avenue Wednesday afternoon.

But with the RCMP detachment across the field, the future of the encampment was uncertain after a message came from police earlier in the day that protesters would be removed, said the event’s organizer Graham Hughes.

Hughes, who recently ran as an independent in this fall’s provincial election, led the initiative with an online petition stating a broad range of allegations against the shelter’s management and operations.

Tensions on Canada’s east coast have been brewing ever since the Sipekne’katik First Nation opened a moderate livelihood lobster fishery outside of the federally regulated season last month in St. Marys Bay.

This led to violent backlash from Nova Scotia’s non-Indigenous commercial fishermen, who argue the Aboriginal fishers are threatening their way of life and will negatively impact lobster stocks.

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing widespread disruptions to how First Nations can access the justice system, and court restrictions are being felt most strongly by those in remote communities.

After the World Health Organization declared the respiratory disease a pandemic in March, courthouses across British Columbia were closed to in-person hearings. Some urgent matters were still heard by video conferencing and telephone, as the judiciary adjusted to how it would serve the public while limiting contact between people to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

October is Caregiver Appreciation Month in British Columbia and Usma Nuu-chah-nulth Family & Child Services is celebrating by delivering gift baskets to its 146 care givers. Each basket has Indigenous-inspired creations, like home-canned salmon and jam.

In previous years Usma would celebrate care givers by hosting a dinner and offering prizes and gifts. But with the pandemic still posing a danger, they had to come up with alternative plans.