Category Archives: Indigenous Nations

Indigenous Nations, Politics

Election 2022: The new Strathcona Regional District Board

More than half of the familiar faces will not be returning to the SRD Board this term. The former Chair and Vice Chair, Brad Unger and Claire Moglove, were both defeated in their bids for re-election. So were Regional Director Brenda Leigh and former Campbell River Directors Charlie Cornfield and Colleen Evans. Neither Mayor Andy Adams (of Campbell River), Jim Abram (from Area C) or Noba Anderson (from Cortes Island) sought re-election. Only 5 of the 13 Directors from last term were re-elected. Two of the previous alternates from Campbell River will most likely take a seat at the SRD table.

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Education, Indigenous Nations

Trauma and hope: Ucluelet Secondary exhibits poems inspired by residential school survivors

By Melissa Renwick, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ucluelet, BC – Ucluelet Secondary School (USS) began preparing for the Legacy of Hope Exhibit within days of welcoming their students back from summer vacation, ahead of the deadline for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30th. 

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Education, Indigenous Nations

First of 12 nsyilxcən language signs at BGC locations unveiled in kiʔláwnaʔ

By Aaron Hemens, The Discourse, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The first of 12 educational signs promoting the nsyilxcən language has been unveiled at a BGC Okanagan location in kiʔláwnaʔ (Kelowna) — part of an initiative being spearheaded by the Syilx Language House.

Sʔímlaʔxʷ Michele Johnson, the executive director of the Syilx Language House, said she reached out to BGC Okanagan more than a year ago to ask if they were interested in nsyilxcən signs outside of their 12 main locations. 

Johnson also organized a beginners nsyilxcen language course for early childhood educators who are working with BGC.

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Indigenous Nations, Tourism

Summer 2022 has been very busy for QXMC

Jason Johnson has been the General Manager of Qathen Xwegus (QXMC) for a little over four months. He took the helm of the Klahoose First Nation’s  management corporation during a busy tourist season. Johnson was back home with his family in Sayward when Cortes Currents interviewed him over ZOOM.

“I first wanted to acknowledge that I’m talking to you today on National Truth and Reconciliation Day, and I’m calling in from my home office in the unseated territory of the Comox First Nation,” he began.

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Indigenous Nations History

Spill to Sustenance

Six years on from the fuel spill that devastated Heiltsuk waters and clam gardens, the nation is pulling together to proactively build food sovereignty

Originally published on the Watershed Sentinel

by Jamie-Leigh Gonzales

The central coast rainforest, with its horizons of emerald islands roamed by wolves, orcas, and bears, is a source of life and wellbeing for all peoples who live there. The Heiltsuk Nation have lived off their land since time immemorial, and their culture is deeply rooted in the land and marine ecosystems. They continue to protect their relationship with the land against extractive industry and ongoing colonial practices that seek to eradicate Indigenous land stewardship.

In 2016, the Nathan E. Stewart tug ran aground, spilling over 110,000 litres of diesel oil in Heiltsuk waters of Gale Creek Pass. The devastating impacts on marine life and the surrounding ecosystem continue today, nearly six years after the spill. A healthy clam beach has yet to return, and the site remains a danger to the marine life, such as herring, salmon, and kelp, that once thrived there.

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