All posts by Rochelle Baker

Rochelle Baker is a staff reporter with Canada’s National Observer, thanks thanks to a grant from the Local Journalism Initiative of the Government of Canada. She previously worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer in BC’s Lower Mainland for over 7 years.
Health, Indigenous Nations

Acclaimed First Nations healer and therapist wins Reconciliation Award

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After leaving residential school in the late 1950s, Klith-waa-taa would wade into a frigid river to brush himself with sacred cedar branches, cleansing away the trauma and negativity imposed upon him as a child. 

The traditional practice he learned as a boy at his grandfather’s side became vital to Klith-waa-taa, or Dr. Barney Williams, during his healing and path to sobriety at age 26 in 1965. 

“We would go into a river to bathe and ask for strength, but also to ask the Creator to look out for other people that needed help,” said Williams. 

“We usually go for four rounds in the water. The last round is for yourself — the first three are for other people.” 

Continue reading Acclaimed First Nations healer and therapist wins Reconciliation Award →
Indigenous Nations

Youth Warriors build community, connections and culture in land-based leadership program

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Half a dozen First Nation youth and a couple of men circled to inspect a dusty truck with a punctured tire that had just limped into their remote camp on west Vancouver Island after a two-hour drive down a logging road. 

The truck’s owner — an adult mentor with the  Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warriors program — wasn’t entirely sure how to tackle the flat on his own. But he didn’t have to because Raven and Brandon stepped up to learn and do.  

Continue reading Youth Warriors build community, connections and culture in land-based leadership program →
Industry

Canada swells the ranks of nations calling for moratorium on deep-sea mining

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canada is joining the tide of nations calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining in the high seas as an international summit gets underway Monday to decide on the issue.

“The protection, conservation, restoration and sustainable use of ocean ecosystems is essential to all life on Earth,” said Mélanie Joly, minister of foreign affairs; Jonathan Wilkinson, minister of natural resources; and Joyce Murray, minister of fisheries and oceans, in a statement released Monday.

Continue reading Canada swells the ranks of nations calling for moratorium on deep-sea mining →
Cost of Climate Change

New emissions targets may sink LNG’s pitch as a shipping fuel

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The fossil fuel and shipping industries just got a serious shot across the bow over relying on liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a transition fuel.

On Friday, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) finalized stricter global emissions standards for the maritime industry while closing a significant regulatory loophole driving up the use of LNG as a shipping fuel.

LNG has lower CO2 emissions than other fossil fuels used in shipping but it also emits significant amounts of methane, a short-lived but powerful greenhouse gas responsible for more than 25 per cent of current global warming.

Continue reading New emissions targets may sink LNG’s pitch as a shipping fuel →
Food, Food Security

Farming for the climate future

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Tamara McPhail’s morning chore never changes, but the infinite variety of sounds and seasons makes milking cows every day unique. 

On this spring morning, Zinnia and her new calf Equinox are restless and nagging — bellowing, bleating and raring to get outside into the fields. 

Other mornings, they greet McPhail with gentle grunts and low moos as she enters the barn as if relishing the connection they’ll have with her. 

“I’m really attached to the livestock system,” says McPhail, who along with her partner Adam Schick, has been part of a team stewarding the land at Linnaea Farm on Cortes Island, B.C., closing on 25 years. 

Continue reading Farming for the climate future →