Through traditional songs, food and medicine, homeless individuals who identify as Indigenous are receiving much-needed cultural healing in the Alberni Valley.

Culture Enriches Lives, a newer event put on by KUU-US Crisis Line Society in collaboration with other service providers, provides cultural healing, teachings, food and gathering for the unhoused Indigenous community.

There are 81 active mineral claims in Ehattesaht territory, but none of them will be mined without the First Nation’s permission after a provincial order came down this month.

Issued under B.C.’s Environment and Land Use Act, the order pauses mining activities and the issuance of new permits in the territories of the Gitxaala and Ehattesaht First Nations unless they agree to the activity. This also applies to the registration of new mineral claims in the territories.

They are here in abundance – k̓ʷaqmis/siiḥm̓uu/siix̣bu/Indigenous Easter eggs – herring eggs are here and coastal First Nations are excited.

Up and down the coast of Vancouver Island the seagulls are flocking while whales, seals and sea lions are feasting as herring approach the shoreline to release their gold.

According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada the Pacific herring are found from Baja California in the south to the Beaufort Sea in the north.

The province is preparing, earlier than ever, for what could be a challenging wildfire season with above-average fall and winter temperatures predicted to continue, leading to persistent drought and a lack of snowpack accumulation.

“It is no secret that we did not accumulate the snowpack that we were hoping for in main parts of the province,” said Bowinn Ma, B.C.’s minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness. “While we all hope to get more rain in the months ahead, we are taking action now to prepare for what could be a very challenging season.”

The latest snow survey from the River Forecast Centre for March 1 shows Vancouver Island’s snowpack sitting at 46 per cent of normal, up 16 per cent from February.

The province’s average snowpack on March 1 also remained low, averaging 66 per cent of normal across B.C.

Last year, the provincial average was 91 per cent for March 1 and Vancouver Island’s was 77 per cent of normal.

According to the RFC, dry conditions persisted across the province through February until a stormy pattern brought the most significant snowfall of the season in the final week.

How is a nation’s territory defined? How are borders determined, with consideration to who rightfully owns the land, and has used it historically?

With Port Alberni’s history as a resource town, the Alberni Valley Town Transition Society (AVTTS) is looking to create an economic future that is rooted in community values.

“It's important to get a certain message out about sustainably living in place,” said Cliff Atleo, Jr., associate professor in Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University. “For Nuu-chah-nulth people, that's a given because this is our home, our home territory, and in this case, the territory of the Tseshaht and the Hupačasath.”

Cody Gus sits in the comfort of his rocking chair, enjoying an unobstructed view of the snow-peaked Mount Arrowsmith. His two remaining daughters sit nearby in the home that’s been in his family for as long as Gus can remember.

“This property belonged to my dad’s brother, uncle Jimmy Santo,” Gus shares.

When he started his own family, Cody and his wife built their family home on the lot.

Gus’s family is throwing him a birthday party and invited Ha-Shilth-Sa over to hear about their father’s eventful life.