Tag Archives: Cowichan Tribes

Cost of Climate Change, Indigenous Nations History

Salvaging the sacred from climate disaster

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The floodwaters rose swiftly and silently inside Nicole Norris’s family home and other residences of the Halalt First Nation on Vancouver Island when a storm unleashed a furious deluge of rain in November 2021. 

Her brother, asleep in the home’s ground-floor suite, awoke when his leg, hanging off the side of the bed, became submerged by overflow from the Chemainus River, said Norris, an Indigenous planning officer for the B.C. Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness. 

“Our home took on four feet of water in the basement. There was no sound to it,” said Norris, also known as Alag̱a̱mił. 

“Instantly, he yelled for my daughter and they were able to start pulling things from the basement.” 

Not everything of value escaped unscathed, said Norris, a regalia maker, weaver and cultural knowledge holder. 

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Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

The First Nations calling for a renewal of fish farm licenses

Editor’s note: The licenses for 79 fish farms will come up for renewal by the end of June, 2022. If the Department of Fisheries fails to reissue them, there will only be seven farms left in the province. These are all in the Broughton Archipelago and their licenses come up for renewal in 2023. 

On March 21, a group of what was supposedly 17 First Nations supporting the fish farming industry put out a press release. Cortes Currents is not on the First Nations for Finfish Stewardship email list, and at that point had not heard of the group. We subsequently asked Dallas Smith, spokesperson for this coalition, for an interview. When he did not reply, Cortes Currents published a write-up largely based on that original press release. Within hours of posting a link through social media, someone directed Cortes Currents to independent biologist Alexandra Morton’s Facebook page where there was evidence that this group of 17 was at best 12 and more likely 11 First Nations. Since then, the list has grown smaller. 

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Indigenous Nations History

Hul’qumi’num First Nations & the “Great Land Grab”

Originally published on Ramshackle Pictures (2014)

Robert Morales represents the six Hul’qumi’num First Nations (Cowichan, Chemainus, Penelakut, Lyackson, Halalt, Lake Cowichan), whose territories span the southeastern coast of Vancouver Island. These lands were almost entirely sold off by the Federal government in 1887 to coal baron Robert Dunsmuir, in order to finance the construction of the E&N Railroad from Nanaimo to Victoria, which enabled BC and Vancouver Island to join confederation and become part of Canada.

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Disaster, Indigenous Nations

Social inequities put Indigenous communities at greater flood risk, study finds

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A recent study has identified Indigenous communities that are “hot spots” for flood risk in Canada, which can help senior levels of government shape and prioritize flood management strategies in line with social equity and environmental justice.A recent study has identified Indigenous communities that are “hot spots” for flood risk in Canada, which can help senior levels of government shape and prioritize flood management strategies in line with social equity and environmental justice.

A total of 40 risk hot spots were identified in the University of Waterloo study among 360 Indigenous reserves, with the highest number of hot spots located in B.C. at 13 and in Ontario with 10.

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Community, Indigenous Nations, Spirituality

Remembering Kuper IslanD Residential School: Thousands march in Chemainus

Warning: This article contains content about residential “schools” that may be triggering. 

By Anna McKenzie,  The Discourse, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.

On the shores of the town of Chemainus, on the traditional territory of Puneluxutth’, thousands of people in orange shirts gather in memory of the survivors, victims and intergenerational survivors of Canada’s residential “school” system. 

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