Category Archives: Indigenous Nations

Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Yukon River’s salmon runs likely to stay small while Indigenous Peoples’ sacrifice grows

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The collapse of wild salmon is causing a current of pain that spans the length of the Yukon River, from its mouth at Alaska’s Bering Sea to the headwaters in Canada’s Yukon territory 3,000 kilometres away.

Indigenous people on both sides of the border spoke about the devastation the loss of chinook salmon and the more recent collapse of chum stocks are having on communities while testifying at the Yukon River Panel, a bilateral commission that manages salmon stocks, during its meeting in Whitehorse this week. 

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Arts, Environment, Indigenous Nations

Filming Dillon Creek, more than just a wetland restoration

Lives changed because of the Dillon Creek Wetland Restoration.

Project manager Miranda Cross said, “ This project really initiated a whole new life path where I am now working as a wetland restoration professional.” 

Monitoring Technician Autumn Barret Morgan studied soundscapes before she came to Cortes Island, but it was at Dillon Creek that she “started really diving into the soundscape” – which she has carried on with the Western Screech Owl Monitoring Project.

Beatrix Baxter has been making films for about 15 years, but she was feeling burned out by the time she moved to Cortes Island. The documentary film Replenish: Bringing Back the Dillon Creek Wetland is both a chronicle of the project, and part of a personal transformation.

“I’m pretty choosy about the projects I take on these days. I just really want to choose projects that are going to be quite meaningful to me and to the world,” she explained. 

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Business, Food, Indigenous Nations

First-of-its-kind” Collaboration Between the We Wai Kai Nation and Starbucks

Editor’s note: The following story pertains to the new Starbucks store, in Campbell River’s Quinsam Crossing development.

Originally published on the Bird’s Eye

Members of the We Wai Kai Nation gathered on Monday for a ceremonial ground breaking to honour the land that will become the site of a new Starbucks store. This location will be operated by the We Wai Kai Nation, making this a first-of-its-kind collaboration for Starbucks in Canada.

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Housing, Indigenous Nations

Homeless allege harassment, while Victoria’s bylaw ensures the ‘safe passage of people’

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

Victoria, BC – In the wake of an unsuccessful legal challenge against the City of Victoria’s bylaw department – a case that a tribunal called “extraordinary” for municipal enforcement – members of the city’s unhoused community hosted a rally on March 10 to share the challenges they face.

Niki Ottosen is founder of the Backpack Project in Victoria, an organization that provides supplies like tents, sleeping bags, clothing, and food to Victoria’s homeless. 

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Indigenous Nations

SISȻENEM will be the first land trust returned to a First Nation

By Chadd Cawson, The Columbia Valley Pioneer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

An untouched piece of Indigenous land called Halibut Island, also known as SISȻENEM, near Salt Spring Island, will be the first piece of land given back to an Indigenous community through a land trust. The nearly 436,000 square foot island has been stewarded by the Saanich, or W̱SÁNEĆ, Peoples for thousands of years.

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