Children playing “Tla-o-qui-aht warriors” paddled in cardboard cutouts of dugout canoes around the wooden pirate ship play structure at Tofino’s Village Green to recount the fate of the Tonquin. The 269-ton American trade ship sank to the bottom of Clayoquot Sound in 1811 after being overwhelmed by the warriors – and blew up.

Indigenous business owner Brian Quick points to a For Sale sign across the street from his barbershop on Tofino’s Campbell Street. 

The 12,389 square-foot property with a mix of commercial space below and residential units above is listed at roughly $2.4 million.

Quick sighs. 

“That’s the kind of property only people with generational wealth can afford. It’s hard busting into their world,” he says.

A new study is offering the first national assessment of Canada’s kelp Forest, indicating a potential nature-based solution for the climate crisis. 

A research team from the University of Victoria investigated how much carbon ocean ecosystems absorb and whether this process stores it long enough to help counter climate change. Over the last six years, scientists have increasingly focused on ecosystems like kelp forests, grasslands and wetlands as natural carbon sinks - areas that capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 

A Social Justice class at Alberni District Secondary School has turned project into a lesson for the entire community. Through banners, plaques and a freshly painted orange crosswalk in front of the school, the ADSS Social Justice class in raising awareness of the legacy of Canada’s Indian residential school system, and - more importantly - is teaching future generations about acceptance.

Tin Wis Resort, a Tla-o-qui-aht owned and operated business, is getting a $1.149-million cultural makeover. 

A permanent carving shed has been built on the property, new totem poles will be erected and the Wickaninnish Conference Hall is getting primed for a new roof and kitchen space – and that’s just phase one.

A new series of interpretive signs along the Ancient Cedars section of the Wild Pacific Trail pays tribute to the legacy Bob and Vi Mundy, the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ couple who shared priceless traditional knowledge with the west coast.

Bob passed away on May 5, 2024. Vi passed shortly after on July 31, 2024. 

“We couldn’t imagine in our family Bob without Vi or Vi without Bob. They came as a unit, and they were really beautiful to watch. They were a testament to not giving up on each other,” said Jeneva Touchie during a June 7 ribbon cutting ceremony. 

The Port Angeles Police Department has arrested Tina Marie Alcorn in connection to the 2016 murder of 65-year-old George Cecil David.

George David was a Tla-o-qui-aht master carver who lived in Neah Bay at the time of his death. On March 26, 2016 he boarded a bus in Neah Bay headed for Port Angeles. He was planning to take a ferry to Vancouver Island to attend a family funeral.

On March 28, 2016, David’s remains were discovered in the apartment of a friend who invited him to stay over. Reports say that he died from a head injury. 

– Recent reports of a pack of sea wolves in the Pacific Rim corridor acting habituated towards humans has prompted Parks Canada to issue a public reminder about how to stay safe and respect these animals. 

Francis Bruhwiler is a specialist in human-wildlife co-existence in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve (PRNPR). He says the pack is likely the same two or three coastal wolves acting “very indifferent” when they see people. 

With evacuation orders already in place in British Columbia’s northeast and the uppermost sections of Canada’s prairies, the wildfire season hit Vancouver Island June 8 with a growing incident on the side of Nahmint Mountain.

Deep in Nuu-chah-nulth territory south of Sproat Lake, the Nahmint fire was first spotted during a hot Sunday when the temperature rose to 32 Celsius. Over the following day the fire grew to over 23 hectares, sending from the mountain a cloud of smoke that’s visible from Sproat Lake. 

Representatives from a Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation were able to lend a helping hand to their neighbours who dealt with a recent crisis.

Officials from the remote British Columbia community of Bamfield discovered they had a leak within their water distribution system back on the evening of May 23. The leak was fixed about 36 hours later.

But a boil water advisory remained in effect until June 2. That would be 11 days after the issue first arose. 

A release from the Bamfield Water System on June 2 confirmed the water from taps was once again safe to use.