The Tseshaht First Nation are working towards establishing new economic development opportunities by building a serviced access road on a parcel of land along the Pacific Rim Highway.

The BC NDP Government is investing up to $33 million across rural areas of the province for the second intake of the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program (REDIP). Communities on Vancouver Island and other coastal communities will be receiving up to $12.9 million in funding for 41 approved projects from REDIP to help strengthen local economies.

Hundreds of Vancouver Island elders descended on Port Alberni’s Italian Hall on April 24 as Hupacasath graciously hosted the first Vancouver Island elders lunch since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Yes, it was crazy insane busy,” said Hupacasaht Youth and Elder Coordinator Carolina Tatoosh.

She went to say that she had planned for 350 elders and since their Hupacasath House of Gathering cannot accommodate that many people, they rented the Italian Hall on 6th Avenue.

But even then, it was standing-room only.

The northern communities are waking up to the exciting and happy news that kʷiisaḥiʔis (kwee-sa-hay-is), the orphaned baby orca, has left the lagoon that she has been her home since mother died in late March.

“Today the community of Zeballos and people everywhere are waking up to some incredible news and what can only be described as pride for strength this little orca has shown,” said Chief Simon John of Ehattesaht.

Homestyle food that elicits memories of grandma’s kitchen – that’s what Hupacasath’s Tom Tatoosh aims for in his newly launched food truck business, and he is quickly gaining word-of-mouth promotion thanks to his delicious menu offerings.

Besides the standard food truck staples like burgers and fries, Tatoosh offers First Nations favorites like fried bread, fish soup and his cheeky ‘hangover soup’ which he says is a hamburger/vegetable combination. He also offers house chili, hot dogs and homestyle burgers served with a grilled slice of pineapple.

Unfinished business was attended to today at the former site of the Alberni Indian Residential School.

For the last 14 years a totem pole has stood at the site, by the entrance to the institution that formerly ran on Tseshaht territory for most of a century. Today a plaque was unveiled to remind people that the pole was erected in honour of Tsaqwasup, Art Thompson, a Ditidaht artist who was among the first former students of the residential school to publicly open up about abuses suffered at AIRS.

Lovely red and soft pink Rhododendrons surround an intimate gathering of Indigenous leaders, non-Indigenous allies, hippies, misfits and a handful of media at Tofino’s Village Green on April 21. It’s been 40 years since Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, with support from the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC), famously declared Meares Island the “Wanachis Hilth-huu-is Tribal Park” under Nuu-chah-nulth law.

On March 19, MP Leah Gazan took to Parliament Hill, on behalf of the House of Commons status of women committee, to announce the beginning of their formal study for the proposed Red Dress Alert System. The system, like Amber Alerts, will notify the public when an Indigenous woman, girl, or two-spirit person goes missing.

“This whole initiative came from the hard efforts of family members and advocates, around the country, who join together to say that, should we go missing, we must be found,” said the NDP Member of Parliament.

After being stranded in a lagoon near Zeballos for a month, an orca calf is finally eating meat provided to her, giving a team more time to find a solution to a situation that appears to be getting more complicated by the day.