All Native Basketball Tournament

from Ha-Shilth-Sa Newspaper April 21, 2022

Push for a new hospital in Tofi no

April 21, 2022—Ha-Shilth-Sa—Page 11 Young players shine at All Native tournament

Basketball event returns with the typical pre-pandemic crowds after a cancellation in 2021 due to COVID-19

By Karly Blats Ha-Shilth-Sa Contributor

Prince Rupert, BC- With COVID restrictions easing, Two Nuu-chah-nulth basketball teams were able to once again travel to Prince Rupert for the 2022 AllNative Basketball Tournament (ANBT). Running from April 3 to 9 this year, the annual basketball tournament took a oneyear hiatus in 2021 due to the pandemic, but this month the event was back in action again for the 62nd year. Tournament president Peter Haugan said organizers were unsure how the tournament would look with COVID restrictions just recently easing and whether supporters would still come to the event. But he said it was as if the event never stopped and “fl owed along like it normally does.” “The fan support in the initial opening ceremonies of course is always sold out and then through the week it seemed like [the crowd] was down a little bit but it picked up on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday.” Haugan said. “The atmosphere was the same…we didn’t know as an organization how it was going to go. We had to screen people at the front and we didn’t know how that was going to work, but it went fi ne.” Haugan said there were a lot of close games throughout the week and teams were happy to see the tournament back in action. “The communities are so used to having this tournament,” Haugan said. “It’s a bright light they see every year where they can come back and visit with old friends and meet new ones and compete in the sport, but also there’s more to it then that it’s a lot of culture.” Cultural events and exhibits are also part of the week-long event. The tournament’s Women’s Division champions were All My Relations from Vancouver, the Senior Men’s champions

Photo by Mariah Charleson The Hesquiaht Descendants placed sixth our of 16 teams in the Women’s division at the All Native Basketball Tournament in Prince Rupert April 3-9. Left to right: Janae Sam, Jada Touchie, Francine Charleson, Shania Sabbas, Mariah Charleson, Destiny Hanson, Dalainee John, Chantelle Thomas, Zacari Thomas, Shauntelle Dick-Charleson, Jaylynn Lucas, Bev Hansen-Michael. were the Kitkatla Warriors, the Intermediate Division champions were the Burnaby Chiefs and the Masters champions were New Aiyansh, who took their second consecutive Masters title. Two of the 55 teams competing were Nuu-chah-nulth—the Hesquiaht Descendants in the Women’s division and Ahousaht (Maaqtusiis Suns) in the Men’s Senior division. Mariah Charleson with the Hesquiaht Descendants said she’s proud of how strong her team played, fi nishing sixth out of 16 teams. “We only lost to the two best teams in the tournament and managed to come out with three wins so we did really, really well and if we had a diff erent draw we would have easily been top three,” Charleson said. “We had four 18-yearolds, they all did amazing, it was their fi rst All-Native tournament and our fi rst tournament in a few years being able to compete as a team, so I’m really, really happy with the outcome and how everybody played.” Charleson said her teammates are all Hesquiaht but live spread out from one another, so practicing before the tournament was challenging. The team has players from Bella Bella, Vancouver, Nanaimo, Kyuquot and Port Alberni. “Me and a few of my teammates play in a league in Nanaimo together, the girls in Port Alberni play together and luckily the older ladies on the team, we’ve played together for years, and then the younger girls, they all played together on the Hesquiaht Storm,” Charleson said. “Half of us have played together and the other half have played together and [the tournament] was just our fi rst time all playing together. I’m really impressed how every body performed.” A stand out moment for Charleson, who was named an All Star player, was the team’s fi rst game against Bella Bella. She said her team played strong and took a win. “We played against the young, fast Bella Bella team. It was good for us to start that way,” Charleson said. “I feel like it was a statement game where people knew we were there after that. All of our games were really good.” Charleson said it was the fi rst time her team has played in a tournament together in more than two years and with the ANBT being such a big event, there were some nerves around gathering in large groups. “Defi nitely a little bit anxious, just that feeling of being in such a crowded place, I think there was defi nitely some nerves involved,” Charleson said. “I literally only went to the gym for my games. I think everyone took precautions. FNHA (First Nations Health Authority) was there and they were giving out free test kits.” Charleson said a lot of people came out to watch the games and that the crowds were at similar capacity as in previous years. She said she’s also grateful for all the supports back home who were cheering the team on remotely. Ahousaht’s Maaqtusiis Suns placed fourth out of 14 teams in the Senior Men’s division. Sun’s assistant coach Tom Campbell said the team played strong in all fi ve of their games, especially the young players. “We had fi ve guys age 18 and under, so we had a very, very young team,” Campbell said. “Three of them stood out like a sore thumb in the crowd with their performance on the fl oor—Gredy Barney, Russel Robinson, Qwammi Robinson and Ray August, they battled it out with all the big boys every game.” Two Ahousaht players received All Star Awards—Luke Robinson and Jalen Charleson.

Page 12— Ha-Shilth-Sa— April 21, 2022 President’s message to Nuu-chah-nulth-aht

Hello everyone, hope you are all doing well and enjoying the coming of spring. Also hope you are taking precautions as the sixth wave of COVID is coming through our communities. March/April have been very busy months. B.C. is doing a lot of “dialogues” with First Nations on clean energy - the roadmap to 2030, anti racism data legislation and cultural heritage. I participate in as many sessions as I can, reading their material and putting forward a strong Nuu-chah-nulth position regarding the environment, our rights and the need to be self determining in the forests, the economy, our culture and language. Huu-ay-aht and Ditidaht in particular have been very vocal about having the management of the forests in their territory. The province fi nally tabled its Action plan regarding their Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. The Action plan is for all ministries of government that need to change, policies and actions with regards to rights set out under the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I attended at the legislature and was able to sit on the fl oor behind MLAs to witness the launch of the Action Plan and see Cheryl Casimir (First Nations Summit), Jerry Jack (Mowachaht/Muchalaht) who spoke on behalf of BC AFN and Don Tom on behalf of UBCIC. Seeing our leaders speak in the legislature happens a lot more often than it used to. I remember Joe Gosnell, Nisga’a, speaking to the legislature but from the far end of the hall behind a roped off area - not offi cially in the legislature. It is a step forward but so much work has to be done in actually doing the actions they have set out working with First Nations in an appropriate manner. There was a delegation of Indigenous peoples that travelled to Rome to see the Pope. They were seeking an apology and other actions. He did apologise to those who were there and it was televised but it was not an apology to all Indigenous peoples who went to residential schools. There were many mixed emotions of people who were happy with the apology but others said there has to be more than words to be a real apology. Others did not want an apology from him at all. Throughout Nuu-chah-nulth I saw varying views of those being interviewed by media, those expressing their thoughts on Facebook and just talking to people. He does plan a visit in the summer and where he goes and what he does it is not known. We sent out a press release asking for more than just an apology but money so we can provide more services to Nuu-chah-nulth, including counselling, language and healing centres, etc. We also issued a press statement demanding more to be done on toxic overdose deaths. Though it has been a public health emergency since 2016, deaths from overdoses have increased. Much resources were put into COVID - we need the same kind of investment in preventing overdose deaths as we are losing too many of our people. I did several TV interviews an radio interviews raising the profi le of this issue. A group of Nuu-chah-nulth people and staff participated in the hiring of the next School District 70 superintendent to replace Greg Smyth, who is retiring. I participated in the fi nal found of interviews and though we only made recommendations and did not have fi nal say on the hire, we were happy they hired Tim Davie, who is Haida, to be in that position. First time a First Nation person has ever been in such a position. Times are changing and we need attitudes and policies and actions to change for our students in school. We continue to work with the Haida, Quatsino and Pacheedaht to establish a Marine Protected Area off the west coast of Vancouver Island. We had a meeting with the fi sheries minister last month and were not too hopeful with her direction. This recent meeting was with the Regional Director General Rebecca Reid and her staff and we felt they were a bit more open to working with us for comanagement at least on the environment. This is work in progress and I hope to be able to share better news with you in the future. It is important to Canada that they establish this MPA and we will not allow it to happen without a strong say in protecting what is important to us. I am working with a provincial group to establish working with First Nations as we look at changing the Heritage Conservation Act to more fully protect our sacred, cultural and burial sites. Right now, they are protected until the archaeology branch allows a developer to destroy wholly or partially our sites. We will be coming to talk to all the First Nations people and leaders in what they want to protect and how they want to manage their sites. By mid-July we hope to get this done, so watch out for dates of gatherings to discuss these very important topics. We were able to approve the 2022-2023 NTC budget. ISC is only providing a 2 per cent increase in funding this year, not much when we look at infl ation and growing membership. Most of the funding we receive is formula driven as approved by motions of the society members. Many items were brought up that are not funded suffi ciently, if not at all. We still have a ways to go for the government to be providing us with enough funding for all needs for our members. I also had a meeting with Dr. Bonnie Henry and Dr. Danielle Behn Smith. They wanted to meet with us to let us know they would only be providing weekly numbers for COVID cases. We had some good discussions of ongoing concerns in our communities. These are some of the highlights of my work in the past month and look forward to sharing more next month. Take care everyone.

Cloy-e-iis Judith Sayers General Principles

1. Prior approval is required.

2. The client must: a. Be eligible for the NIHB Program; and b. Be currently enrolled or eligible to be enrolled in a provincial or territorial health insurance plan and continue to meet residency requirements for provincial/territorial health coverage.

3. For Transportation to Medical Services: For transportation to medical services outside of the country the client must be referred for provincially/territorially insured medical services by a provincial or territorial health care plan for treatment Shaganappi Plaza: wage change for Building Maintenance and Superintendent Windspeaker.com http://www.windspeaker.com/news/sweetgrass-news/building-maintenanceand-superintendent/ ammsa.com http://www.ammsa.com/content/careers/shaganappi-plaza-ltd-calgary outside of Canada.

4. For Supplemental Health Insurance Premiums: Full-time students enrolled in a post-secondary institution to study outside of Canada must provide a letter of confi rmation that tuition, which is not an eligible benefi t under the NIHB Program, has been paid.

What is covered?

For Supplemental Health Insurance Premiums: -

The cost of privately acquired health insurance premiums for approved students or migrant workers and their legal dependents will be reimbursed.

For Transportation to Medical Services: -

Transportation benefi ts when eligible clients are medically referred and approved for treatment outside of Canada by a provincial or territorial health care plan.

For further information on coverage outside of Country you are encouraged to call First Nations & Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB), Vancouver BC toll free @ 1-800-317-7878

What You Should Know- “Before” Leaving British Columbia

If you are leaving the province, you should be aware that your coverage may not pay all health care costs.

Health services provided outside Canada often cost more than the amount paid by the Ministry of Health Services. Sometimes the diff erence is substantial; for example, the amount we pay for emergency inpatient hospital care will not exceed $75 (Canadian) a day for United States of exceeds $1,000 (US) per day and can be as high as $10,000 a day for intensive care.

In addition, some items/services that may be a benefi t in BC are not covered outside the province; for example, prescription drugs and optometric services. Further, the Ministry does not subsidize fees charged for ambulance service obtained outside BC.

We advise you to buy additional health insurance to supplement your basic coverage before you leave the province, regardless of whether you’ll be in another part of Canada or outside the country – even if your company or travel agency can advise you about extra coverage to pay for any diff erence in fees and to provide benefi ts not covered by the Ministry. If you have a pre-existing medical condition, you must mention this when purchasing additional insurance as most policies will not cover treatment of that condition outside the province.

In some cases you may purchase an insurance policy where the insurance company has a signed agreement with the Ministry. This permits the company to pay physician and hospital claims and receive reimbursement on your behalf thus eliminating the need for you to handle your own claims.

NOTE: Ambulance – If you require ambulance service while in another province or outside Canada, you will need to obtain service from an ambulance company in that jurisdiction and will be charged the fee established by the-out-of-province service provider. Fees range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

When purchasing additional out-of-province health insurance you are advised to obtain insurance that will cover emergency transportation while you are away and, if necessary the cost of transportation back to BC.

Tseshaht First Nation Employment Opportunity

The Tseshaht First Nation Administration Offi ce is now accepting applications for :

Part-time Elders Coordinator position.

and

Offi ce Services Assistant (Casual) position.

To view full job summary please visit www.hashilthsa.com/jobs

HOW TO APPLY Submit a cover letter, resume and two (2) current references to: Tseshaht First Nation, Attention: Victoria White, Executive Director by mail: 5091 Tsuma-as Drive, Port Alberni BC, V9Y 8X9; or by email: vshrimpton@tseshaht.com