Tag Archives: Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h’ First Nation

Transportation

Vancouver Island transportation survey highlights key connectivity gaps for communities

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A lack of affordable, convenient, frequent and reliable options for travel between many Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast communities was the top obstacle identified in a recent regional transportation survey.

Over the summer, the B.C. government funded extensive community consultations to study passenger transportation gaps faced by Indigenous, small, rural and remote communities on Vancouver Island and parts of the coastal mainland, as well as B.C.’s north and its southern Interior.

Poor connections between coastal communities, like ferries linked to transit, insufficient public transportation options to airports or harbours, and a lack of safe, accessible or low-emission services were other roadblocks highlighted in the Island Coastal Inter-Community Transportation study.

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Indigenous Nations

Nuu-chah-nulth youth restore clam gardens for future generations

Editor’s not: Another example of First Nations youth embracing and learning from their traditional wisdom.

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In late Spring, $80,000 was allocated to the Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warrior Family Society with Ka:’yu:’k’t’h/Che:k’tles7et’h to support food security and the development of clam gardens throughout Nuu-chah-nulth territory. Since then, youth from across Nuu-chah-nulth have restored two clam gardens located in Tla-o-qui-aht and Huu-ay-aht territory with plans for more to come.

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Farming, Indigenous Nations

First Nations youth make their mark by cultivating ancient food systems in their territories

An inspiring trend to watch:

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Two dozen young men spilled out of their tents just after dawn, pulled on gumboots and work gloves, and lugging shovels and buckets, trudged down a logging road to a remote bay on Vancouver Island’s wild West Coast. 

There was a moment of calm punctuated by the breaths of two killer whales breaking the surface of the bay while they waited for the tide to drop so they could begin work. 

The moment the waters retreated, the group of First Nations youth, their adult mentors and knowledge holders, squelched onto the tidal flat in unison to haul rocks, debris and shift shellfish as quickly as possible before the ocean waters flooded back in. 

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Environment

Strathcona Regional District receives funding to mitigate climate-related disasters

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Regional District that encompasses Campbell River, the Homalco First Nation, Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h’ First Nations, K’ómoks First Nation, Nuchatlaht First Nation, Gold River, and Sayward received over $1.1 million from the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund to strengthen its resilience against climate-related disasters.

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Arts, Disaster, 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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