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NORTH ISLAND
49th Year No. 51
December 18, 2014
• Big Share
Port McNeill Minor Hockey players give $2,000 to Hamper Fund. Page 4
Gazette Hamper Fund
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G&N Nations mark 50 years Gazette staff PORT HARDY—Wakas Hall was filled with song and story last weekend as the community hosted a two-day feast to commemorate 50 years since the relocation to Tsulquate. Part reflection, part celebration and part community healing, the event
served as a forum for a stark look back at the Nations’ forced move from their homelands in 1964 and the struggles endured since. But there was also a hugely positive feel to proceedings as the community took stock of its strength and tenacity and looked to the future.
As MC Charles Willie noted Sunday, “As it was yesterday, we acknowledge all the struggles that the Gwa’sala and ‘Nakwaxda’xw went through and at the end of the night we celebrated that survival. Today we celebrate your living — all your accomplishments
since relocation: education; children coming back to their families from care; people going out and getting an education and coming back and working with our people.” In the early sixties the Gwa’sala and ‘Nakwaxda’xw were encouraged to move to
Tsulquate from their homelands with the promise of new housing, education and medical care. On leaving, village sites were burned to prevent the people returning. They arrived at Tsulquate
See page 3 ‘GNN looks to future’
Wonderful Wonderland • Slammin’ art
NISS hosts annual Poetry Slam and Art Night before big crowd. Page 9
• Still in control
Alumni top Eagles midgets in annual Hamper Fund benefit game. Page 17 Hot spots Page 5 OPINION Page 6 Classifieds Page 13-15 Sports Page 17
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Macey Guldager performs as the title character in Portside Academy of Performing Arts’ presentation of Alice in Wonderland at Sunset Elementary School Friday, Dec. 13. See more on page 19 and online at www.northislandgazette. J.R. Rardon com.
Salmon interaction study funded Gazette staff CAMPBELL RIVER—The BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA) announced last week that it will invest $1.5 million over the next five years to further scientific knowledge of the coastal environment, particularly interaction between farmed and wild salmon. The BCSFA expects to announce its initial collaborative project in the first quarter of 2015,
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and anticipates its seed funding to generate more than $3 million in research projects by 2020. This funding announcement follows the completion of a series of priority-setting workshops that included 50 participants from academia, independent research institutes, conservation organizations, government and the aquaculture industry. With backgrounds in fish pathology, ecology, populasubscriptions: 250-949-6225
tion dynamics, oceanography and genomics, these researchers will focus on five key research areas: fish pathogen transmission, salmon migration routes, environmental management, fish health reporting and information sharing. “The workshops have effectively moved the discussion from broad concepts to designing and implementing specific research projects,” said Dr. Don Noakes,
Dean of Science at Vancouver Island University. “This research will improve our understanding of how wild and cultured salmon interact in the environment, with the goal of ensuring that future generations can enjoy the economic, social and cultural benefits
See page 2 ‘Salmon research’
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