Tag Archives: Namgis Nation

Politics

Nic for North Island, an Interview with The Green Party Candidate

While the Green party has shown promise in the past, especially on Vancouver Island, this has yet to translate into votes on election day. So my biggest question for Nic Dedeluk, the candidate for North Island riding, is why should we vote Green? 

Nick Dedeluk: “The Green Party is running candidates in 69 ridings, but we have six ridings that we are really hopeful will actually get elected. Getting six green MLAs voted in would be really positive for BC politics and holding the other parties accountable to moving forward  in a way that’s better for our environment.” 

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Health

BC’s Rural Emergency Room Crisis

An alarming trend to watch.

Editor’s note: During a protest over closures at North Island ERs, Adriane Gear VP of the BC Nurses Union told CHEK NEWS, “Our nurses are very worried. The Campbell River Hospital, I understand at any given time could be at 140%, 145% capacity, and at the same time there’s maybe only 60% to 70% of the nurses that would be normally scheduled to work.”  

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The province’s emergency rooms are in crisis.

ERs across the Lower Mainland have made the news for being at capacity and past their breaking points. This overcrowding led to the death of an infant in 2020 and a senior in 2022.

Doctors have even been urging people to stay away and seek help elsewhere. In the Lower Mainland one in 10 patients are leaving ERs without seeing a doctor, according to reporting by CTV. 

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Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

DFO raids seafood company, possibly over federal agency’s own paperwork error

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Federal fisheries officers descended in force to raid a sustainable seafood company in Vancouver Friday afternoon, seizing the catch of an Indigenous fish harvester and alleging it was illegally caught.

But enforcement officers are taking an unnecessary and heavy-handed approach to what seems to be a bureaucratic error caused at least in part by the Department of Fisheries’ (DFO) own licensing branch, said Sonia Strobel, CEO of Skipper Otto community-supported fishery. 

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Indigenous Nations, Justice

Community rallies for Carsyn Seaweed, as RCMP apologize for ‘miscommunication’ in her case

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

People gathered outside of an RCMP detachment in Cowichan territories on Friday to demand justice for 15-year-old Carsyn Mackenzie Seaweed, whose sudden passing has rattled the community. 

On May 15, Carsyn was found in “Duncan” in a “semi-conscious state under suspicious circumstances,” according to a statement from police issued Thursday. Family members of Carsyn say she was found covered under pallets, cardboard and twigs. Tragically, Carsyn did not make it.

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Animals

‘Absolutely gutting’: Mourning the death of Spike the humpback whale

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

When a humpback whale dies, it is — and should be — personal, says Jackie Hildering of the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS).

A young female humpback named Spike was found dead in the shallows of Malcolm Island off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island, B.C., on Sunday. 

Continue reading ‘Absolutely gutting’: Mourning the death of Spike the humpback whale →