All posts by Guest Post

Rivers & Oceans

Some species benefited from BC’s 2021 heat dome — but at an enormous cost, study finds

Editor’s note: Millions of marine creatures may have perished in the Discovery Island’s during the 2021 heat dome. Their remains covered the beaches at places like Smelt Bay, Mansons Lagoon and Squirrel Cove on Cortes Island. Dr. Chris Harley, from UBC, initially told the media that more than a billion mussels, clams, sea stars and other invertebrates may have cooked to death in the area between Campbell River and Washington state. The article that follows cites his initial estimate. As more data became available, Harley revised that figure to possibly as many as 10 billion.

By Hope Lompe, National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Some plants and animals are better off than they were before the 2021 heat dome, despite a week of record-breaking heat intensity across Western North America. 

In a study of approximately 50 species, researchers from across Canada found more than three quarters were negatively affected by the heat dome, while about 25 per cent actually saw a positive outcome. 

Continue reading Some species benefited from BC’s 2021 heat dome — but at an enormous cost, study finds →
Forests, Indigenous Nations

Clayoquot Sound’s only tree farm licence subdivided into three lots to assert First Nations’ land visions

Editor’s note: In 1993, Tzeporah Berman and Kairn Mahon Carrington were leaders of the Clayoquot Protests. They now live on Cortes Island.

By Nora O’Malley, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Clayoquot Sound, BC – The logging tenure for a landscape made famous by the “War in the Woods” protests on the west coast of Vancouver Island has been divided up into three new Tree Farm Licences (TFL) to assert First Nations’ unique land-use visions. 

Continue reading Clayoquot Sound’s only tree farm licence subdivided into three lots to assert First Nations’ land visions →
Housing

A tale of two cities: Port Alberni’s new supportive housing is drafted for uptown while Campbell River takes a different approach

By Nora O’Malley, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Port Alberni, BC – In the face of public dissent, Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions holds the line on the construction of a controversial 55-studio unit supportive housing complex in the Uptown core.

“I don’t for a second believe that housing people within a neighbourhood where they are currently homeless is going to make it worse. I think it will make it better, and I feel very strongly about that,” said Minions during the Feb. 9 regular council meeting question period. 

Continue reading A tale of two cities: Port Alberni’s new supportive housing is drafted for uptown while Campbell River takes a different approach →
Indigenous Nations History

RCMP ordered to pay damages for failing to investigate Catholic school abuse claims

By Bob Mackin, Prince George Citizen Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) decided March 2 that the RCMP discriminated against Indigenous people who accused the Mounties of failing to properly investigate claims they were abused at Catholic-run Immaculata Elementary School in Burns Lake and Prince George College in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Accommodating the Indigenous crime complainants by ensuring they were told that they could report allegations of abuse, be given an update about the outcome of the investigation into their allegations of abuse, and not be repeatedly offered a polygraph would not have interfered with the RCMP’s duty to conduct its investigations in the public interest,” CHRT member Colleen Harrington wrote in the 145-page decision, which was originally expected in early 2025.

Harrington ruled, on a balance of probabilities, that race and national or ethnic origin were factors in “some of the adverse differential treatment or denial of service that was experienced by some of the complainants and their witnesses in relation to the RCMP’s investigations.”

Continue reading RCMP ordered to pay damages for failing to investigate Catholic school abuse claims →
Forests, Indigenous Nations, Tourism

Could shifting gears from forestry to tourism pay the bills?

By Nora O’Malley, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Jordan River, B.C. – At the mouth of Jordan River in Pacheedaht First Nation territory on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, the tide is pushing. Heat from a February sun warms the face as sets of friendly waves roll in under the backdrop of the Olympic Mountains. Parking at the day-use area of this regional park is squeezed on this fine Friday away from the screen. 

A tugboat called Miss Jordan cruises by a bob of surfers, dragging a line of thick rope towards a raft of floating logs, otherwise known as a log boom. Some of the surfers catch a wave towards the cobble shoreline and exit the water.

“They’ll run right over us if we don’t get out of the way,” says a stand-up paddler. 

“But it is a nice day for it,” he concedes.

Continue reading Could shifting gears from forestry to tourism pay the bills? →