As Vancouver Island’s west coast sees heavier rainfall, Highway 4 could face possible road closures, though “anticipated to be much less” after the Cameron Lake Recovery Project safety measures were implemented through the summer, says the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

In early June the Cameron Bluffs wildfire sparked, leading to the closure of Highway 4 as the Cameron Lake Recovery Project began work towards slope stability to ensure safety for vehicles traveling along the highway.

The BC Achievement Foundation released its list of winners on Oct. 4, and among those awarded for business is Tiičma Enterprises, a group of businesses owned and operated by Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h’ First Nations.

According to the foundation, the 2023 BC Achievement Indigenous Business award program recognizes the outstanding accomplishments of Aboriginal businesses, entrepreneurs, partnership entities and community-owned enterprises.  

Attendance was low at the delayed 2023 Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Scholarship Ceremony, but the event made it evident that there are more language learners than ever.

Held at the Alberni District Secondary School on Friday, Oct. 13, almost every speaker, including SD70 Superintendent Tim Davie, used the Nuu-chah-nulth language as part of their speeches.

According to Julia Caranci, a fire information officer with the Coastal Fire Centre, 20 active wildfires remain burning throughout Vancouver Island while, after a summer of extreme drought, the fire danger rating has dropped to “very low”.

Throughout the summer, Vancouver Island remained in an “extreme fire rating”, meaning high risks of wildfires due to dry forest fuels. Campfire, backyard, and industrial fire prohibitions were put in place early in the season to minimize the possibility of human-caused fires.

Data from the 2023 province-wide point-in-time homeless counts has been released, showing Port Alberni as having a 30 per cent increase over the past two years.

As colder and wetter weather arrives for the winter, Victoria’s emergency shelter providers are concerned about their ability to increase the number of beds available.

“Folks find themselves in situations that [at] the last minute they need somewhere to go to that’s safe,” said Leah Young, director of Housing and Shelter for Our Place Society. “We also find folks, especially going into the colder months, they might be camping outdoors, and once the weather turns wet and cold that they need that indoor shelter setting.”

When one thinks of petroglyphs in the Alberni Valley, the etchings on a rock face at Sproat Lake Provincial Park might come to mind, but those are not the only local ones to have been ‘discovered’. There is another, lesser known petroglyph at nearby Great Central Lake with oral Hupacasath history to go with it.

Ocean Wise Canada, a conservation group that works to clean and protect the world’s oceans, has released their 2022 Dirty Dozen list. 

“Each year, Ocean Wise Shoreline Cleanup identifies the 12 most found items on Canada’s freshwater and marine shorelines,” they stated. 

Topping the list for 2022 was the 164,995 cigarette butts that were cleaned up by volunteers on Canadian shorelines.

After three years of work, decades of lobbying and multiple traffic fatalities the Bamfield road has been upgraded, offering a newly surfaced, safer passage to the Barkley Sound community.