A Tla-o-qui-aht man has made the best of a bad situation. After losing work in the service industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brian Quick launched into a new career that’s proving to be a winner in an otherwise competitive industry.

The Windy Clipper, a new barber shop, opened on the main street leading into the tourist town of Tofino in February 2024.

“I envisioned it to be a cool, funky little company,” says Quick, who designed the space. “It’s a good location, smack dab on the main drag into Tofino,” said Quick.

The Tseshaht and Ditidaht First Nations are receiving close to $30,000 each for emergency service equipment and training from the Province of British Columbia.

The B.C. government is launching a one-day training model for Emergency Support Service (ESS) responders in response to feedback from communities and input from the Premier’s Expert Task Force on Emergencies.

Over its first week of operating, the introduction of a public bus in Clayoquot Sound has already enormously benefitted those in Tla-o-qui-aht communities, says the First Nation’s elected chief.

With Indigenous women accounting for 50 per cent of the federal female inmate population - a statistic that has almost doubled since 2006 - the BC First Nation Justice Council released the final draft of a document aimed to build better and safer outcomes for women, girls, and two-spirit folks.

Despite high prevalence rates of diabetes in First Nation communities, gaps in education and healthcare services prompt diabetes educators to bolster culturally safe, Indigenous-led and accessible services for people with the condition.

Matilda Atleo, an Indigenous educator in diabetes for First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), takes every opportunity to educate people about the disease.

“I'm aware that there are people that have diabetes and don't even know it,” said Atleo. “There's likely a high prevalence of diabetes in First Nations.”

Tla-o-qui-aht is bringing back its successful Indigenous tourism experience to Tin Wis Resort in May 2024.

“Given its debut success in 2023, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and its Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks initiative are pleased to announce the return of its Indigenous tourism experience, titled naaʔuu (meaning ‘feast’ in Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation language),” they wrote in a March 13 statement.

Chef Ximana Nola Mack of Nuxalk works with traditional foods that she grew up on. Highly sought after, Chef Nola was invited to cook for the Prime Minister of Canada. She was a guest at the Island Indigenous Foods Gathering on March 21-22 and delivered a presentation on how traditional foods, medicines and alternative recipes can be used to heal our gut and improve the overall wellness of Indigenous peoples.

Ximana Nola Mack started off by saying that she was raised up in a smokehouse, learning how to prepare and care for traditional foods by her elders.

The team overseeing an orphaned killer whale stranded in a lagoon near Zeballos is planning to physically transport the animal to the open ocean, with hopes of connecting it to a passing family pod.

Tidal and weather conditions over the last week haven’t been favourable to coax the young orca out of the lagoon, where it has remained for almost two weeks since entering the area with the mother on March 23. Since then, the transient killer whale has been reluctant to pass over the shallow area by the Fair Harbour road causeway where its mother died on a sandbar.

In late February the First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society released their annual Poverty Report Card, announcing that in 2021, 14 per cent of children were living in poverty - while on reserves this is more than double the provincial rate.

In late March Nuu-chah-nulth and surrounding communities gathered at Maht Mah’s for Ahousaht’s food sovereignty event. After a full day of presentations, attendees and presenters gathered to competitively trade teas, herbs, seeds, smoked sockeye, soaps, and other goods, representing an economy that traces back thousands of years.

“Traditionally, we had vast trade routes,” said Nitanis Desjarlais, a traditional food advocate, noting there was language associated with trading. “It opened up our plates to this variety of foods, and it strengthened our relationships.”