Woman shot during confrontation with RCMP

By Denise Titian Ha-Shilth-Sa Reporter

Hitacu, B.C. – A young woman is in a Victoria hospital recovering from multiple gunshot wounds after the Ucluelet RCMP were called to the home for a domestic disturbance. According to a statement released by RCMP, at around 5:12 p.m. on Saturday, May 8, frontline offi cers from the Ucluelet RCMP were called to a report of a disturbance and a male needing medical assistance at a residence in the Port Albion community. “Responding offi cers entered the home and encountered a woman with a weapon. Shots were fi red by the police offi cers. The woman suff ered gunshot wounds and was transported to hospital by BC Emergency Health Services. A male was also transported to hospital for treatment. No one else was physically injured in this incident,” reads the statement. According to sources, the young women was put in a medically induced coma to better stabilize her condition and fl own to Victoria for emergency treatment. “I just fi nished cooking dinner for my family and went to cool off out front and then I seen two cop cars move in on the triplex,” said Hita cu resident Trish Miller. “Soon after I heard two to three gun shots, and it felt like just seconds later they were already putting the (crime scene) tape up.” “More cops and ambulances came after, all happened so fast,” she added. The name of the young woman is being withheld. Source have said she is Tlao-qui-aht member, but this has not been confi rmed by the First Nation. Miller said the couple had been staying in one of the units of a triplex for a few weeks. During that time, according to Miller, there were plenty of interactions between the couple and the police, much of it domestic violence towards each other. According to Miller, the male had sustained injuries from a weapon in an assault by his girlfriend on the day of the shooting. NTC President Judith Sayers said she has heard that the injuries the young woman sustained were not life-threatening. “We are very concerned there was another shooting by police and hope for a quick recovery for (female). We will be overseeing the situation to make sure police are held accountable for their actions and that a thorough investigation is carried out,” she added. Miller said that on Sunday, May 9, the community was holding brushing ceremonies open to everyone. She added that members of the RCMP were taking part in the ceremony. If the young woman is in fact Tla-oqui-aht, this incident would make her the third member of the First Nation to be shot by police in eleven months. Chantel Moore, 26, was shot by an Edmundston, NB police offi cer during a wellness check on June 4, 2020. Julian Jones, 28, was shot at his parent’s home in Opitsaht on Feb. 27, 2021. The initial incident is being handled by Island District General Investigative Services in assistance to Ucluelet RCMP. The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council has also been engaged, said the RCMP in a written statement. The B.C. Independent Investigations Offi ce is conducting a concurrent investigation into the actions of the police. As the matter is now under investigation by the IIO, no further information will be released by police. The IIO is asking any person with relevant information to please contact them on the witness line toll-free at 1-855-4468477 or via the contact form on the iiobc. ca website.

Submitted photo A young woman is in a Victoria hospital recovering from multiple gunshot wounds after the Ucluelet RCMP were called to a home for a domestic disturbance on Saturday, May 8.

As a little girl Julia understood some day would be her day Julia George, June 25 2020 is the grand daughter of Perry George and Rebekah.... Our elders in spirit dancing up in the sky Heaven Cecelia George (Chitska) and Moses George (Johnny). Graduation June 2020 wonderful smile, Congratulation’s it is what it is. From Mom and Dad and your Brother’s & Family.

By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor

Bamfi eld Main, BC - In a move to prevent dangerous clashes from forestry protest activity in it’s territory, the Huuay-aht First Nations have introduced a checkpoint halfway down the road to Bamfi eld. The checkpoint went up May 11 on Bamfi eld Main. If a driver isn’t recognizable, personnel will inform the visitor that while in it’s ḥ ahuułi, Huu-ay-aht’s three sacred must be followed: ʔiisaak (Utmost Respect), ʔuuʔałuk (Taking Care of), and Hišuk ma cawak (Everything is Connected). “People who violate our sacred principles are no longer welcome on our ḥ ahuułi,” reads a notice given to visitors at the checkpoint. “Violations will be dealt with to the full extent of the traditional laws of the Huu-ay-aht Ḥawiih and the laws of the Huu-ay-aht Government and Canada.” The checkpoint was announced on Friday, May 7, one day after the First Nation reported that a logging protestor had driven through a safety barrier onto an active cutblock to remove signs. “They’re endangering their lives and endangering the workers there - for us that’s unacceptable because we have to be concerned about the safety of our workers,” said Chief Councillor Robert Dennis Sr., noting the Huu-ay-aht’s growing stake in Tree Farm Licence 44, which extends across much of the First Nation’s territory. “With us being on the other side of the ledger now that where we’re 35 per cent owners we have to be concerned about our workers.” After the May 6 incident TFL 44 LP, a partnership co-owned by the Huu-ay-aht and Western Forest Products, engaged confl ict resolution specialist Dan Johnston. He is assigned to prepare a report and recommendations on how to ensure safe forestry practices while allowing people to exercise their right to peaceful, legal protest. Dennis said that the First Nation is not against protesting, but it must be done in a respectful way that doesn’t endanger forestry workers. “Some of those people are our people,” he said. “We now have 16 Huu-ay-aht people working in forestry operations.” Tensions have been rising recently across southern Vancouver Island, as a growing number of blockades and protest camps are being established by the Rainforest Flying Squad, a loosely affi liated collective of activists taking a stand against old-growth logging. Their fi rst blockades were set up in August last year to prevent road building into the Fairy Creek watershed, an area near Port Renfrew that is believed to be one of Vancouver Island’s few valleys still untouched by industrial logging. The Huu-ay-aht have heard of loggers fi nding spikes in trees in the Fairy Creek area, an old technique used to disrupt harvesting that became common during the large-scale protests in Clayoquot Sound in the 1990s. Tayii Ḥawił ƛiišin, Derek Peters, doesn’t want the same hazardous measures undertaken in his territory. “We don’t agree with that approach,” said ƛiišin. “We’d much rather have people come and ask permission, and say what they’re here for, and get information from us.” While standing at the checkpoint, which lies at the entrance to his nation’s territory, ƛiišin pointed to the historical impacts

Photo by Eric Plummer Tayii Ḥawił ƛiišin, Derek Peters, and daughter Olivia stand at the entrance to Huu-ay-aht territory, where a checkpoint was set up on May 10 to ask visitors to respect the First Nation’s sacred principles.

of logging evident in the surrounding area. Not far from the checkpoint the enormous Camp B was located, which at its peak house as many as 400 forestry workers. As the Huu-ay-aht claim a growing stake in the industry, ƛiišin noted that his nation has had to work with some of its own members opposed to logging. “We have people in Huu-ay-aht too that are against what we do as well,” he said. “When you look around here and you see how much devastation has occurred through forestry practices since forestry started, it takes time for change to happen.” Dennis added that logging intensifi ed in Huu-ay-aht territory after much of Clayoquot Sound became protected a generation ago. “The other thing that people don’t realise is that when Clayoquot Sound was successful in their protests and they quit cutting over there, well guess what? They had to cut somewhere else,” he said. “B.C. declared Huu-ay-aht territory a forest enhancement zone.” But since then the annual timber harvest has declined from approximately 1 million to 500,000 cubic metres, and now the Huu-ay-aht are placing a greater emphasis on planting western red cedar, after Douglas fi r was the mainstay for replanting before the 1970s. For each cubic metre harvested $5 is reinvested into salmon habitat renewal work, adding to the $375,000 Western Forest Products has already committed in watershed enhancement projects. “We’re in a good position to start infl uencing management in a way that incorporates our values as Huu-ay-aht people,” said ƛiišin. “What you take out you must put back in is the philosophy we go by in our value system.” In any given year forestry accounts for 60-80 per cent of the Huu-ay-aht’s revenue as a First Nation with a modernday treaty. Meanwhile tourism accounts to about 1 per cent of what the First Nation takes in, said Dennis, who noted that providing employment opportunities needs to be considered while managing the Huu-ay-aht’s natural resources. “We’ve got to balance the two: we need an economy, but we also need a healthy environment,” he said. “If you can fi nd an alternative way that we can have an economy, bring it to us. Nobody is coming forward.” Meanwhile, 7,000 hectares of old growth in Huu-ay-aht territory remain protected, as this is part of the Pacifi c Rim National Park Reserve. The nation is planning 150 years ahead, and now ƛiišin has the authority to decide which second growth will become old growth over a century from now. “He now has the ability to say, ‘I want to set that aside for future generations’,” said Dennis.