North Island Gazette, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Heiltsuk First Nation from Bella Bella is calling on Fisheries and Oceans Canada to order open-net salmon farms to close and to shut down commercial and recreational salmon fishing next year, only opening fisheries after “conservation and food, social, and ceremonial needs can be met.”
Continue reading Heiltsuk First Nation calling on DFO to close fisheries and salmon farmsNorth Island Gazette, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The coronavirus pandemic has created a rare opportunity for B.C.’s debris-strewn shoreline – eco-tour operators have free time and available boats to pick up ocean trash.
Continue reading Tourism Operators Become Beach CleanersNorth Island Gazette, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The scent is unmistakable. Warm, dry cedar stills the air in the potlach room that’s full of Kwakwaka’wakw masks and regalia. If it weren’t for electric lights and the hum of climate control, it would feel like time didn’t exist.
The potlach room at U’mista Cultural Centre on Cormorant Island (home of the ‘Namgis First Nation) is designed somewhat like a big house. Museum-goers enter from the back and work around the room counter-clockwise, like a dancer would at a potlach ceremony.
Continue reading U’mista Cultural CentreNorth Island Gazette, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal has decided in favour of ‘Namgis First Nation’s allegation that Fisheries and Oceans should have consulted them before issuing a salmon farm transfer licence to Mowi in 2018.
Continue reading Namgis WIn Salmon Farm AppealNorth Island Gazette, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Preliminary test results from COVID-19 antibody testing in Alert Bay are in, and they’re positive. Around 60 per cent of eligible people came to get tested, and just 3.7 per cent of them had the antibody present, indicating they had had COVID-19 and fought it off. Most of those were people known to have had COVID-19 and their close contacts.
Continue reading 3.7% of Alert Bay Residents Tested Have Anti-Covid Antibody
