Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wes Erikson has spent his entire life working the waters of B.C.’s west coast, working gruelling hours on deck in some of the worst kinds of weather.
A fourth-generation commercial fisherman, Erikson started fishing on his father’s vessel at the age of five, graduating to paid deckhand by age eight. By 19, he’d purchased his first boat — and its associated halibut licence.
Continue reading BC’s Fishing Industry Needs A LifelineCanada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Indigenous people are being disproportionately impacted by the opioid overdose crisis during the pandemic, according to the First Nations Health Authority in B.C. But the overdose crisis is not just a story about numbers, Dr. Shannon McDonald, FNHA acting chief medical officer, said in an interview with Canada’s National Observer on Monday.
Continue reading First Nations Disproportionately Impacted By Opoid Overdose CrisesCanada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
B.C. recorded its deadliest month ever for illicit drug overdoses as fatalities from increasingly toxic street drugs continue to spike during the pandemic.
Continue reading Another Record Breaking Month Of Deaths From Illicit Drug OverdosesCanada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
BC islanders are feeling trapped and calling for action on a Covid-19 measure that allows residents to board ferries first as the summer tourist season heats up.
Continue reading Should BC Ferries Board Local Residents First?Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
It’s a thoroughly unromantic name. Lot 302.
Yet the 20-acre parcel of timber symbolizes the achievement and ongoing battle by a tiny coastal community to protect as much mature forest as they can on their remote B.C. island.
Continue reading Saving A Forest On Read Island
