People living in the west Vancouver Island communities of Toquaht Nation and Salmon Beach will soon be getting better access to high-speed internet.

The BC Government announced on July 11 that it would invest up to $700,000 through the Connecting Communities B.C. program, administered by the Ministry of Citizens' Services. The Government of Canada is also investing up to $700,000 through its Universal Broadband Fund. CityWest will contribute approximately $835,000.

Some West Coasters say it reminds them of herring spawn. Others say it mirrors the milky blue of glacial waters or the warm palette of a tropical lagoon. 

The phenomenon taking place off the coast of Vancouver Island is called a coccolithophore bloom, and according to researchers at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, B.C., it’s happening more frequently since the heatwaves and El Nino events that started in 2015.

Pollution from the Gold River Pulp Mill continues to effect Muchalaht Inlet a quarter century after the closure of the facility – but the degree that marine life is contaminated remains to be determined.

The seeds of an idea that was once planned to become a Nuu-chah-nulth cultural centre have been returned to the tribal council, two and a half years after the passing of the project’s famous designer. 

Three young, adult male black bears were executed by B.C. conservation officers this week in the Ucluelet area to ensure public safety. 

One of the black bears was killed on Wednesday, July 9 after multiple reports of over several days of the animal accessing garbage and non-natural food from a campground, including accounts of the bear breaking into tents to access food, according to BC Conservation Officer Service (COS). 

The First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC) has released two landmark reports detailing the deep impacts of colonial theft and the path toward meaningful repatriation for First Nations in British Columbia. 

The reports, From Stealing to Healing: Repatriation and B.C. First Nations and the Repatriation Cost Analysis: A Framework and Model, offer a sweeping account of the more than 2,500 ancestors and 100,000 cultural belongings from B.C. currently held in 229 institutions around the globe, and the long journey to bring them home.

Amid cries that a new government in Ottawa is steamrolling over Indigenous rights to get national projects built, today the Assembly of First Nations hosted a forum on what to do about Bill C-5.

July has arrived on Vancouver Island’s West Coast and so has the onslaught of ignorant campers – plus the garbage they leave behind.

To encourage respectful camping practices, Parks Canada and local authorities are conducting regular patrols, targeting illegal camping within the areas of the Clayoquot Arm, along the Kennedy Lake Watershed, within Tla-o-qui-aht, Yuułuʔiłʔath, and Toquaht traditional territories, on municipal streets and lots, and within BC Parks and Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

Legislation that determines how British Columbia’s heritage sites are protected is being updated, with an eye on how the new act will align with UNDRIP.

The Heritage Conservation Act applies to over 64,000 protected sites on the provincial registry – 90 per cent of which are of First Nations origin. The act regulates how these sites are protected when work is done at the locations, but as it was last revised in 1996, the current legislation is admittedly lacking, says Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar.