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.

Seniors’ advocates want national standards for longer term care residents

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Seniors’ advocates are calling for federal action to better protect vulnerable long-term care residents as COVID-19 cases escalate across the country.

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Will this COVID-19 second wave cut off seniors from loved ones?

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Right now, Arne Liseth is his brother Keith’s only remaining connection to the outside world.

Liseth is his brother’s sole designated visitor at the long-term care home in Campbell River, B.C., where Keith lives.

And as the number of COVID-19 cases spike in the province, Liseth worries what little social contact his brother enjoys will be cut off again.

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Quadra Island’s clam gardens

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

British Columbia’s West Coast is a hotbed of activity when it comes to ancient aquaculture. First Nations cultivated clam gardens for millennia along the Pacific coast, modifying coastal beaches to create optimal habitat for the mollusks, boost production and feed their people, research indicates. But Indigenous clam production on Quadra Island ­— located between the B.C. coast and Vancouver Island in the territories of the Laich-Kwil-Tach First Nations and northern Coast Salish — was especially intensive, said researchers Dana Lepofsky and Christine Roberts.

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Cortes Islanders want to buy a Children’s Forest

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Katie Wheeler grew up counting salmon in creeks, swimming in icy ocean bays and examining the trees, plants and creatures in a section of rainforest on the northern end of her small B.C. island. The 17-year-old’s childhood memories are rooted in her experiences in the Children’s Forest on Cortes Island.

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Quadra streamkeepers use motion-sensor fish camera

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Stream stewards no longer need to brave wild weather, winds and rain each autumn to count spawning salmon entering Village Bay Lake on B.C.’s Quadra Island. Now, volunteers can monitor returning salmon from the comfort of their kitchen table with the help of a high-tech surveillance system, said Lauren Miller of the Quadra Island Salmon Enhancement Society (QISES). The Quadra salmon conservation group has rigged up a motion-sensor fish camera system that snaps images of passing coho salmon as they head into the lake to reach their natal creeks further afield.

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