First Nations COVID cases drop

By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Tofi no, BC - Lucy Sager grew up along the Highway of Tears in Terrace. The 725-kilometre corridor of highway in British Columbia has been the location of many missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW). Driven by a range of factors, including colonization, the disproportionately high number of MMIW is, in part, a result of poverty. Without a driver’s license or access to a vehicle, many First Nations are forced to hitchhike, she said. “The cost of hitchhiking can be your life,” said Sager. “And certainly, I’ve seen that.” After high school, Sager went on to work in construction but struggled to hire First Nations in the surrounding communities. “I would ask chief and council in multiple territories, ‘what is the biggest challenge for your people going to work?’” she said. “And consistently – for fi ve years – it was driver’s licenses.” The insight prompted Sager to return to school to become a driving instructor and launch the All Nations Driving Academy, which delivers driving courses through an Indigenous lens. “I did this with the intention to support nations to have their own driving schools,” she said. “I was fi nding that in Indigenous communities [across B.C.] only fi ve to 25 per cent of people have a valid driver’s license.” In coordination with Hayden Seitcher of the Tla-o-qui-aht youth warriors, Iris Frank, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation education manager, and ICBC, Sager hosted a two-week driver training session at the Best Western Plus Tin Wis Resort in Tofi no. “In community, a lot of the parents don’t have a car of their own,” said Seitcher. “So when [training] like this comes to where you are, it helps a lot … especially

Submitted photo A two-week driver training session was recently hosted at the Best Western Plus Tin Wis Resort in Tofi no. with the L [license] because it’s another Mamuk, an Indigenous program run incentive to start studying.” through the BC Centre of Disease ConBringing services like driver training to trol, 21 participants from Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/ First Nations communities helps “remove Che:k:tles7et’h’, Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht, barriers” for Nuu-chah-nulth people, said Huu-ay-aht and Ucluelet First Nations Frank. received Class 7L and Class 4 Student If you are caught driving without a Courses for free. license in B.C., you face a fi ne between Since launching the All Nations Driv$500 and $2,000. A court may also sen- ing Academy over three years ago, Sager tence you to six months in jail. If you are has continued to mobilize her eff orts by caught driving while prohibited a second studying a doctorate in social sciences to time, you face a similar fi ne and a court determine the impact of colonization on might sentence you up to one year in jail. driver’s licensing for Indigenous people “If you go to jail, then you have a in Canada. criminal record,” said Sager. “And if you Research on the topic has been studied have children, your kids go into care. It’s in New Zealand and Australia, but never actually super serious.” in Canada, she said. For many coastal communities, not only For some, their fi rst experience in a car is travelling to Port Alberni for driving was when they were being driven away to lessons logistically diffi cult, it is fi nan- residential school, explained Sager. cially inaccessible, said Frank. “There’s a lot of trauma around the car,” “All services don’t stop in Port Alberni,” she said. she said. The rates of death, hospital admission Through funding from ICBC and Chee and injury related to motor vehicle collisions are twice as high among Indigenous populations than the general Canadian population, according to a 2013 study published in the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine. Between 1992 and 2006, motor vehicle collisions were the leading cause of death for Indigenous children aged 1 to 4 years old. With a rate of 5.6 per 100,000, it was nearly four times higher than the rate for other B.C. children, according to the 2016 report Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Reducing the Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes on Health and Well-being in BC. Through exposure therapy, Sager said she hopes to create positive memories for First Nations people so they feel safe in a vehicle. “I want people to feel like they’re safe to move their life forward,” she said. “There’s so many incredible stories like mothers getting reunited with their children and people who have chosen a life of sobriety because now they can be a legal, compliant driver and get a job.” Frank said she hopes the nation continues with the pilot project after debriefi ng with Seitcher and Sager to determine how they can improve it for Nuu-chah-nulth members going forward. Not only do the courses provide members living in Ty-Histanis or Esowista the ability to complete simple daily duties, such as checking their mail in nearby towns, it gives them another skill set to add to their resume, said Frank. “When people get a driver’s license [they’re] challenging systems,” said Sager. “We’re challenging systems of policing – like justice, corrections and health, because there’s this whole conversation around social mobility. When people start to rise, we’re disrupting how people are also kept down. And I will say it’s rocking the boat, and I think it’s rocking it in a really good way.”

By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Daily new counts of COVID-19 among First Nations in British Columbia continues to fall and is at its lowest level since June 2020. According to the First Nations Health Authority’s (FNHA) latest Community Situation Report, more than 83,400 First Nations people, along with nonIndigenous people living in or near First Nations communities, have received their fi rst dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of May 6, 2021. More than 10,900 have received their second. Mariah Charleson, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council vice-president, said the decreasing case count is welcome news. “We really thank the guidance of the research that has allowed our people to be a priority,” she said. “We know that we have been hit disproportionately compared to the general population, so it’s been been really good to see [the decline.]” At least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to 50 per cent of all status and eligible First Nations people within the province, the report stated. Out of the total 7,005 cases reported, 42.8 per cent were in or near a First Nations’ community, despite 78 per cent of Indigenous people in British Columbia living off -reserve, according to the province. “Living in rural and remote [communities] adds to the risk,” said Charleson. “When we enter a lot of our communities, you don’t have to look very hard – there’s overcrowded housing, there’s a lack of essential services. It highlights a much broader issue of the lack of capacity within many of our First Nations communities.” While all 14 Nuu-chah-nulth nations have received their fi rst dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, some continue to await their second. Charleson said that FNHA has confi rmed they will all receive a second dose within the 16-week period recommended by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization. “But we can’t forget the amount of Nuu-chah-nulth people that live away from home,” she said. “We really urge communities to assist in ensuring that our vulnerable people, and all of our people, are able to receive their fi rst and second doses.” With guidance from the Nuuu-chahnulth Tribal Council, the FNHA recently released a Communicable Disease Emergency Response (CDE) Planning Guide and template to help support nations develop their own CDE plan.

Submitted photo Pictured is one of Ahousaht’s immunization sessions in early January, part of the province’s prioritization of remote Indigenous communities. “The FNHA acknowledges the importance of community autonomy in choosing strategies that work best for the community,” reads the planning guide. “The outbreak mitigation resource is a collection of wisdom provided by communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this resource may prove helpful for other communities when faced with a communicable disease and deciding on strategies to best protect elders, knowledge keepers and community members.” Only when COVID-19 restrictions are declared over by Provincial Health Offi cer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, should communities deactivate response activities, outlined the planning guide. As communities continue to keep their guard up, recognizing the pandemic is not yet over, Charleson said that the NTC health and nursing team have been helping to guide the way by sitting on numerous committees, such as the rural and remote framework. “[The NTC nurses] are really putting the care of our people at the centre of their work,” said Charleson. “Klecko-Klecko to them.”

By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor

Victoria, BC - B.C.’s forestry watchdog has released a report critical of logging practices in the Nahmint valley, pointing to inconsistencies in protecting the area’s old growth forest. On Wednesday, May 12 the Forest Practices Board released its fi ndings, nearly three years after a complaint from the Ancient Forest Alliance sparked the investigation into old-growth logging in the valley. The independent watchdog found that forestry management standards set by the government were not met in how the Nahmint was handled by BC Timber Sales, a provincial agency responsible for auctioning off Crown land for harvesting. Covering nearly 20,000 hectares south of Sproat Lake, the Nahmint Valley lies within Nuu-chah-nulth territory, containing old growth forest that includes some of the largest Western red cedar and Douglas fi r trees in British Columbia. According to the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan Higher Level Plan Order, the Nahmint is designated as a special Management Zone. The valley is also considered one of the fi ve “high biodiversity landscape units” in the Vancouver Island plan, a designation that sets particularly high levels of conservation for an unprotected forest. But the forest stewardship plan that BC Timber Sales has been operating under does not adequately protect the Nahmint according to this designation, said Kevin Kriese, chair of the Forest Practices Board.

“BCTS’s FSP did not meet the legal objective, and it should not have been approved,” he said. “We looked at the remaining forest in the watershed and found there are some ecosystems that could be at risk if more logging takes place in them.” After a 2019 fi eld trip to the Nahmint with the Ancient Forest Alliance, plus dozens of interviews with regional experts and government staff , the Forest Practices Board uncovered a series of systemic errors in how the valley was managed by B.C. Timber Sales. “What we found was that the district manager made an error in approving this forest stewardship plan, even though it was not consistent with the government objectives,” said Kriese. He noted that the necessary level of site-specifi c planning was never done, even though the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan prioritized the Nahmint for such a detailed assessment. “More detailed landscape unit planning was supposed to provide clear direction on how much and where to conserve old and mature forest, but that planning was never completed,” said Kriese. “BCTS was left with a complicated set of legal objectives to interpret, and we found it missed important details that are required to manage for biodiversity in the Nahmint.” The investigation began when the Ancient Forest Alliance discovered enormous trees that were recently cut in the valley, including a few with dimensions comparable to stands listed on the BC Big Tree Registry, a public archive of the province’s largest examples of diff erent species. A disturbed bear den was also discovered inside one of the logged old growth trees, raising concern that forestry practices in the Nahmint were below provincial standards for the area. “With the Forest Practices Board’s investigation now complete, the evidence is irrefutable: BC Timber Sales are failing to adequately protect old-growth in the Nahmint Valley,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness. “This failure exposes the gross inadequacies and lack of accountability that are inherent in BC’s forest system and the need for immediate, systemic change.” But while the watchdog found that provincial standards weren’t met in Nahmint, logging can continue in the valley with no legal ramifi cations. This is due to gaps in the Forest and Range Practices Act, a legislative issue that made actions to protect the old growth forest by the Compliance and Enforcement Branch futile. “It later asked BCTS to bring itself into compliance by amending the forest stewardship plan. BCTS stated at the time it was not required to comply with the higher-level plan order because it had an approved FSP,” explained Kriese of the failure in enforcement. “It closed the fi le and referred to the fi le to the Forest Practices Board.” The FPB has recommended that the province conduct landscape unit planning, and to not sell any more timber in Nahmint’s “high risk ecosystems” until a more specifi c assessment of the area is conducted. An answer from the Ministry of Forests is expected by Sept. 15. In an emailed response to Ha-ShilthSa, the ministry did not say logging will cease in the Nahmint’s high risk areas. But some measures are being taken. “[T]he ministry if updating the Nahmint Landscape Unit Plan, adjusting Old Growth Management Areas to better capture rare and underrepresented ecosystems and biodiversity targets at the landscape level,” wrote a ministry spokesperson. “The updated Landscape Unit Plan will come into eff ect soon, ensuring biodiversity protection across the range of ecosystems in the Nahmint.” Meanwhile, softwood lumber prices have reached records highs, with some species tripling in value since the beginning of the pandemic. These economic

Photo by Eric Plummer This Douglas fi r was discovered by the Ancient Forest Alliance in 2018, with dimensions comparable to trees listed on the BC Big Tree Registry. The alliance sent a complaint to the Forest Practices Board about logging activity in the area. factors with undoubtably put demands on the old-growth trees within the Nahmint valley, where an average of 56 hectares have been harvested a year by BCTS since 2003, while another 22 hectares is typically cut annually by the Tseshaht First Nation under its current fi ve-year license.

Photo by Eric Plummer

A men’s healing group gathered on May 7 in the Ahousaht village of Maaqutusiis, in the First Nation’s territory on Flores Island. Going ‘through the fi re’ to heal from sexual violence

By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ahousaht, BC - As Jenzen Thomas sat in a circle with nine other men from Ahousaht First Nation, he thought he was apart of just another support group. Gathered together for the fi rst time on May 7, the group’s facilitators explained they would be focusing on exploring pathways to stop sexualized violence in their community. The men sat quietly, nervously looking around at each other, Thomas recalled. But nobody walked away. “It was very powerful,” said Thomas. “I can’t stop praying now. I can’t stop praying for no [more] sexual abuse.” Sexual violence is not only an issue that plagues Ahousaht, but all First Nations communities across Canada, said Tom Paul, Chah Chum Hii Yup Tiic Mis drug and alcohol councillor. It is a learned behaviour that stems from the traumas of colonization and residential schools, he added. After being victimized by sexual abuse in residential schools, Paul said it started a cycle of people victimizing each other. “And then it came into our communities and was passed on,” said Paul. “It’s a vicious cycle that needs to be stopped … we’re so great at talking about what happened to us from the colonizer, but we don’t want to talk about what we’ve [done] to our woman and our children.” Indigenous women are physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, or robbed almost three times as often as nonIndigenous women, according to the 2017 National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls interim report. And yet, “it’s not talked about,” said Paul. Deciding to grab the torch, Paul applied for funding through the Maaqutusiis Hahoulthee Stewardship Society (MHSS) to form a men’s group to address the topic. Through his role as a councillor, he asked those he was already working with to join. Although John Swift, a consultant for Makwag Consulting, came to the table as a facilitator with over 28 years of experience exploring Indigenous pathways to health and wellness, he said he felt as lost as the other men. In the beginning, the group was “unfocused,” he said. “We were trying to create knowledge around a subject matter that none of us had really discussed as a group before,” he said. “It’s a dark subject and no one wants to talk about it – but it needs to be talked about.” Swift said his involvement was a “cultural responsibility.” It’s not about shaming or blaming, it’s about creating safe space so men can work towards healing. “If we’re not actively working to stop this in our communities, then we’re passively saying that it’s OK,” he said. “As men, we really have to come up with localized strategies of dealing with sexualized violence and provide safe, nonjudgemental, empathetic spaces where men can unpack this stuff .” Over three days, the group of men participated in talking circles, sweat lodge ceremonies and cold-water bathing, called oosimtch, at the Aauunuuk Lodge, in their traditional territory on Flores Island. “[They] decided to align and start working on this from a community-based level,” said Swift. “There is magic that happens when you work with culture.” Each morning at 6 a.m., the men went down to the beach to plunge into the ocean and pray to the creator. “Watch over our people,” Thomas would ask. “Watch over our ladies – our wives, our sisters, our mothers, our grandmothers and granddaughters – they’re our world. They carried us for nine months.” For Ahousaht First Nation hereditary chief, Richard George, whose traditional name is Hasheukumiss, the men’s retreat signals real progress and is the “only way to move forward as a community and as a village.” “This is a real ongoing issue,” he said “This has been going on for decades … there’s no better place to [confront] it then right at home.” Acknowledging the importance of the Tom Paul

#MeToo Movement, Hasheukumiss said that MHSS is committed to off ering continued fi nancial support towards Paul’s eff orts. When Paul invited Alphonse Little to participate, the 56-year-old considered it another opportunity to continue on his own path toward healing. “I just knew it was cultural, so I was game,” he said. Little’s journey began one year ago when his wife, Sherri, pleaded with Ahousaht First Nation elected councillor Curtis Dick to get him into a six-week men’s cultural retreat at Mahtsquiat, on Meares Island. At the time, Little was heavily drinking and using drugs. Sherri feared for his life. While his trauma hasn’t simply vanished, he said he now has tools to deal with it and recently celebrated one year of sobriety. “I’ve never been more proud of myself,” he said. “I can look in the mirror now and say ‘I love you.’ I couldn’t say that before.” Little said he turned to the bottle as a coping mechanism, unable to face the abuse and violence he suff ered as a child. “I still have tough times,” he said. “But I talk about it now, whereas before I didn’t want to talk about it – I drank.” Sexualized violence tends to hide behind closed doors, he said. “It’s happening more than people like to say it does,” said Little. “And It needs to be addressed … it’s a subject that a lot of people are hurting from.” Only when you’re honest with yourself and confront your past are you able to “begin letting stuff go,” said Little. “If you hold on to something, it’s going to haunt you,” he added. “Put it out there and leave it out there.” Accountability is built when you hold sexualized violence out in the light and let everybody gather around it, said Swift. Because it’s no longer a secret, he added. Like Little, Billy George has been on a spiritual journey of his own for the past eight months. “[The men’s group] is a place where someone can go and feel safe and be open about anything that’s happened to them in their life,” he said. “To see and hear stories that you normally don’t hear men talking about is something that really gave me strength and helps me to move forward.” Near the end of the retreat which coincided with Mother’s Day, the group appointed Thomas as the leader and gifted him a drum. If he got tired, the group assured him he could hand the drum off to another member. It’s the fi rst drum Thomas had ever been gifted, which was a “real honour,” he said. He was also tasked with naming the group and designing the drum. The word “transforming” comes to mind, he said. “Transforming from hurt to love.” As a community, Ahousaht had to start somewhere, said Paul. And while the weekend marked a necessary fi rst-step, it’s only the beginning. Paul is now planning a second men’s retreat. He has been individually asking men to participate and already has ten lined-up. Once he has the funding secured, it will run over another weekend in Ahousaht. “In order to heal, we need to go through the fi re,” he said. “We need to go through that pain so that these vicious cycles break.”