“Why pay for something when you have the right to get it free?” asked Alberni Pharmacy pharmacist and owner, Farah Kassam.

Having worked in pharmacies in Vancouver and Nanaimo, Kassam landed in Port Alberni and opened her own business in December 2022. She noticed that many First Nations customers come in to buy things they can get for free with their Indian Status cards. It is not unusual for her to ask new customers if they have status – and for First Nations people, they know immediately what Kassam means.

A push is underway to restore Vancouver Island’s railway, with a call for the federal government to provide funding to a partnership that includes two Nuu-chah-nulth nations.

Alberni District Secondary School’s (ADSS) athletic department is formally renaming its sports teams, taking “Armada” off the court. After four decades students, staff and coaches say the name “no longer has a connection” to the school community.

“We just felt that Armada does not represent us a whole lot,” said Dennis Bill, a teacher and coach at ADSS. “The students don't connect with it; a lot of students don't understand what an armada is [and]… it doesn’t match up with what we value.”

A hole large enough for a person to fall into was found on the road near Nitinaht on Saturday, a hazard that highlights the need for better alternative access to communities on western Vancouver Island.

Ahousaht leadership issued a joint statement on Feb. 6 that the nation is not prepared to host Canoe Journeys in 2024. The statement was made on behalf of Ahousaht Hawiih (hereditary chiefs) and the elected chief and council.

In August 2023 a video made at Ahousaht’s Thunderbird Hall showed a group of about 30 members inviting people to the Flores Island community for a potlatch on July 29, 2024. With the hashtag ‘RESPECT – Gathering of families’, people were invited to land in Ahousaht, presumably by canoe, on July 28. The potlatch was scheduled to continue until August 2, 2024.

An opaque fog fills the Alberni Inlet on a chilly February morning, the milky hue spread through the surrounding city streets. By the water’s edge the beeping of excavators and trucks pierce the morning’s silence, the grumbling hum of their engines heard from an expanse of concrete running along the edge of the inlet.

On Jan. 25, Ditidaht hosted a Health and Job Fair, organized by Grace Marshall and Esther Edgar, to showcase the employment available in the community, training and funding opportunities, as well as health services that are available.

At first Marshall wanted to bring in a dietician to teach the youth, who were taking a cooking class, about diabetes. But then she began thinking of the young adults in the community and jobs that are available to them.

Ditidaht has over 770 members, and almost 200 people live in the First Nation’s on-reserve village at Nitinaht Lake.