Tseshaht First Nation is among those who have stepped up to ensure youth can continue to watch junior hockey contests in Port Alberni for free.

The Alberni Valley Bulldogs, a Junior A squad that competes in the British Columbia Hockey League, and the Port Alberni Bombers, a Junior B club in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, had a previous sponsorship deal with the San Group in place to allow those 18 and under to come to their home games for free when accompanied by an adult.

That deal, however, ended at the end of the last hockey season.

While a crisp air greets the Alberni Valley marking the beginning of autumn, chinook, sockeye and coho salmon continue their annual migration up the Somass River. But this season has been “an interesting year” for fisheries, with commercial, sports, recreational, and First Nations fishing less chinook than what’s been expected.

“The fishing season has been a little bit of a grind this year,” said Nasimius, Ed Ross, a Tseshaht elected councillor and fishermen, noting that though the chinook season was anticipated to be good this year, they’ve been hard to catch.

The Tseshaht First Nation has received a major boost towards its economic endeavours with a $16.45 million agreement with the provincial government.

Announced by the First Nation on Sept. 17, the Incremental Economic Reconciliation Agreement entails over $16 million in provincial funding, spread out in annual payments until 2027. The funds are to support Tseshaht’s “near term” economic goals, with the intention to “establish a pathway for future generations,” according to a press release from the First Nation.

Leaders of Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che’tles7et’h’ First Nations have made a giant leap in their efforts to reclaim territorial stewardship with the acquisition of a forestry tenure from Interfor Corporation.

In 2016 KCFN launched their own Tiičma Forestry LP company with a vision of managing tenures in the territory in a sustainable, efficient manner that will support future generations its people.

The Nuchatlaht have filed with the B.C. Court of Appeal, launching the next phase of its legal battle to gain title over the northern part of Nootka Island.

The appeal was announced Sept. 16, seven and a half years after the small First Nation’s late Tyee Ha’wilth Walter Michael stood on the steps of the B.C. Supreme Court to begin his community’s claim to own what they have considered their home territory for countless generations.

Ceremony, prayer and plenty of singing and dancing marked the re-opening of treatment centre Tsow-Tun Le Lum at its brand-new facility located at 2850 Miller Road, on the south end of Duncan, B.C., in Cowichan Tribes territory.

Sipping endless coffee under the dim lights of Port Alberni’s Barclay Hotel banquet room, Indigenous and non-Indigenous forestry professionals sat together for two days soaking in the first annual Indigenous Forestry Conference, Sept. 10-11. 

They talked about closing the economic gap, innovative ways to increase market space, streamlining processes and fixing the stumpage system, the multigenerational aspect of forestry as well as creating a collective vision for the future.

The Best Western Barclay Convention centre was packed with Indigenous leaders and foresters who were there to share ideas, resources, and successes as they move forward in a new era of sustainable, First Nations-led forestry practices in their territories.

Sponsored by Indigenous Forestry, the First Annual Indigenous Forestry Conference brought together First Nations leaders, policy makers and industry experts to allow an opportunity to  network, strategize and gain insights into traditional Indigenous knowledge.

The Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warrior Society has embarked on the arduous journey of youth substance use prevention by turning to an upstream initiative called the Icelandic Prevention Model.

The Icelandic Prevention Model is being used in hundreds of municipalities and communities around the world. The model is a community-based, bottom-up approach designed to deter adolescent substance use by focusing on holistic community building and long-term progress rather than standard short-term solutions.

The road connecting Port Alberni to the West Coast of Vancouver Island is back to single-lane alternating traffic as of Sept. 9 for essential road repairs, according to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

Traffic queues start about two kilometres east of Kennedy Hill and will be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Drivers should expect and plan for delays of as much as 20 minutes in both directions until late October 2024.