Tag Archives: Penelakut tribe

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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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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Animals, Indigenous Nations History, Tourism

Environmentalists protect local history and seabirds on Galiano Island

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A new conservation area on B.C.’s Galiano Island with deep cultural significance for local First Nations will protect a pristine shore for a multitude of seabirds and help an increasingly rare ecosystem withstand global warming.

A kilometre of beach in Cable Bay and the adjoining 66 acres of land inside the threatened Coastal Douglas-Fir biogeoclimatic zone (CDF) have been acquired by the Galiano Conservancy Association (GCA) and the Nature Trust of British Columbia.

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Food, Weather

Two ferries away from Vancouver Island: No food or gas shortages on Cortes Island

The panic buying that swept throughout Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland last week has not reached Cortes Island. 

Eva, from the Gorge Harbour General store suggested that, “People on Cortes are probably better prepared.”

The only place she noticed the shortage was gasoline, because the provincial government was limiting sales to 30 litres.

Curt Cunningham, from the Squirrel Cove General Store, believes that rationing boosted his gasoline sales 50% – because most people purchased up to the limit!

Continue reading Two ferries away from Vancouver Island: No food or gas shortages on Cortes Island →
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. 

Continue reading Remembering Kuper IslanD Residential School: Thousands march in Chemainus →