INTERESTING NEWS
Power back on Bamfield area, but
road remains closed
Months of work needed to safely reopen road, forcing communities to rely on logging route to Youbou
By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor
PortAlberni, BC - Power has returned to the Bamfield area and Nitinaht, but the road to the communities will remain closed longer than anticipated “due to unsafe conditions” caused by the Mount Underwood wildfire, says the province.
On Saturday,Aug. 23 the lights went on again for Bamfield, the Huu-ay-aht village ofAnacla and the Ditidaht village of balaac̓adt at Nitinaht Lake – one week earlier than anticipated by BC Hydro.
The provincial utility provider installed 63 new power poles to the area affected by the forest fire, with 65 new spans of electrical line along the six-kilometre section of terrain that was damaged.
“To overcome the most challenging section – a 1.5 kilometre stretch inaccessible due to slope instability – BC Hydro implemented a temporary solution to restore service while planning a permanent fix when conditions allow,” stated the utility prover, which had initially expected it would take untilAug. 30 to restore power, after being permitted to work in the burned area onAug. 16. Since it emerged just before 6:30 p.m. onAug. 11, Mount Underwood raged across the slope at a speed not seen in many years on Vancouver Island.After less than a week it grew to over 3,600 hectares, but almost 40 millimetres of rain has fallen on the forest fire since, enabling BC Wildfire crews to fully contain its perimeter and classify it as “being
held”. Currently 151 firefighters are assigned to the blaze, with five helicopters, a dozen pieces of heavy equipment and danger tree fallers.
“Mop up and patrol is ongoing which involves digging into the forest floor to expose and extinguish smoldering hot spots,” stated the BC Wildfire Service in an update onAug. 25. “Crews will continue direct attack tactics, working to
extinguish all hotspots within 100 feet of the fire’s edge around the entire perimeter.”
Bamfield Main, the road from Port Alberni to the Barkley Sound community, runs right through the area affected by the forest fire.An update from the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Transit indicates that damage to this road is more serious than many had anticipated.
“Falling rocks, dangerous trees and a fire-damaged slope are presenting exceptionally challenging conditions, and there is no timeline for reopening the road in its current condition,” stated the press release. “Further technical assessment is required to determine the timeline for any immediate fix to provide public access.”
Continued on page 3.
BC Hydro photo
Working on the six-kilometre section of line damaged by the Mount Underwood forest fire, BC Hydro restored power to affected communities one week ahead of schedule.
Nora O’Malley photo
Taking in the view of Burrard Inlet from Canada Place onAug. 26, elders beat theAugust heat under traditional cedar hats.
Mount Underwood wildfire classified as ‘being held’
Wildfire’s calculated perimeter shrinks after a week of intermiÅent rain
By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor
PortAlberni, BC - The Mount Underwood wildfire has been downgraded to “being held”, indicating that crews have gained control of the fire’s entire perimeter.
The new classification from “out of control” to “being held” was made by the BC Wildfire Service onAugust 21, meaning that the Mount Underwood fire is not expected to grow beyond the perimeter that has been established.
“Fire behaviour and activity has been minimal on this incident, primarily Rank 1 – a smoldering ground fire with no open flame,” stated the wildfire service in a statement.
Temperatures in PortAlberni are expected to return to 30C over the weekend, a warming that could increase smoke from the smouldering mountainside south of the small city. The BC Wildfire Service expects that more visible smoke will help crews target hot areas for suppression.
“As fuels continue to dry, pockets of heat may become more active, particularly in the late afternoons,” said the service.
Over the past week 40 millimetres of rain fell on the wildfire, conditions that came with an actual decrease in Mount Underwood’s calculated size. On Monday,Aug. 18 the wildfire was reported to be 3,671 hectares, but today (Aug. 21) it is reported to be 3,548. Mount Underwood emerged in the early evening of Aug. 11, quickly raging along the slope that overlooks the China Creek Campground and Marina.
As the wildfire eased this week, an evacuation order for the China Creek facility
The calculated size of Mount Underwood reached 3,671 hectares onAug. 18, but byAug. 21
was removed onAug. 20, downgraded to an alert that allows people to return to the marina and campground.An evacuation alert for a south PortAlberni neighbourhood and the Tseshaht reserve at Polly’s Point was also removed.
The road from PortAlberni to Bamfield remains closed in the area that the wild-
fire hit, and a power outage to Bamfield, Anacla and Nitinaht is expected to be restored byAug. 30.
As ofAug. 21, there are 173 fire fighters working on Mount Underwood, plus danger tree fallers. Seven helicopters are also working on the wildfire, with 14 pieces of heavy equipment.
“Crews are digging into the forest floor to expose and extinguish smoldering hot spots within 100 feet of the fire’s edge,” stated the BC Wildfire Service, adding that personnel “have now been able to access all four flanks of the fire and are continuing to push containment around the perimeter.”
BC Wildfire Service photo
it was reported to be 3,548.
All Nitinaht supplies rely on ‘unsafe’ logging roads
The road from Port Alberni has been closed since the Mount Underwood wildfire emerged on Aug. 11
By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor
Nitinaht, BC - The effects of a wildfire have once again highlighted the insufficiency of relying on a series of logging roads that lead to remote communities on southwest Vancouver Island, says the Ditidaht First Nation.
SinceAug. 11 the road from PortAlberni that leads to Bamfield,Anacla and the Ditidaht First Nation village traditionally known as balaacadt at Nitinaht Lake has been closed, as crews battled the quickly spreading Mount Underwood forest fire. Now classified as “being held”, Mount Underwood is no longer growing, but life in balaacadt is still stressful.
“Right now people are struggling to maintain some sort of continuity, some sort of normalcy of life,” said Ditidaht Chief Councillor Judi Thomas.
Along with Bamfield and the Huu-ayaht village ofAnacla, power to balaacadt has also been cut off since 6:21 p.m. on Aug. 11. This occurred during the early moments of the Mount Underwood wildfire, which burned 56 power poles and damaged a six-kilometre span of electrical lines.
“The emotions and tensions are high and difficult, then it swings the other way to feeling hope and joy as news comes out like yesterday’s, that hydro is ahead of schedule,” said Thomas.
Crews from BC Hydro were permitted to begin repairing the line onAug. 16.
The provincial utility provider said power would be restored byAug. 30, but an update given on Thursday (Aug. 21) said “strong and steady progress” could bring back electricity sooner.
The village at Nitinaht Lake regularly faces power outages in the winter, and approximately 30 of its 68 homes have fuel-powered generators. But these can’t be run 24 hours a day, says Thomas, noting that some generators have already broken down from overuse.
“We were not prepared for a summer power outage,” she said. “Most lost all
Since the logging roads from Youbou became the only land route
occurred and even a vehicle with a completely dislodged front wheel.
of their freezer food. For those that we could grab and cook, we brought to the community hall and everybody shared a meal together. We couldn’t eat it all.”
Since the power went out the First Nation has served three meals a day at the generator-powered community hall, which have been attended by 50-100 people each time.Atrailer with showers has been brought to the community, while some are venturing to Duncan or Lake Cowichan to use laundry facilities.
Nitinaht’s gas station and store are also powered by a generator, but having large fuel trucks rely on the only open route from Youbou is an ongoing concern. With the Bamfield road closed, road access into the area is only possible through a series of logging roads that begin at the western part of Lake Cowichan. Over the last two winters large holes emerged on this road, which forced the Ditidaht to warns driver and repair the openings.
“It’s bad right now,” said Thomas of the
the
current state of the road, noting multiple flat tires and even a vehicle with a completely dislodged front wheel. “It’s costly for community members and the emergency response team.”
For balaacadt residents, the increased traffic on the road looks a lot like the summer of 2023. Two years ago the Cameron Bluffs wildfire shut down highway 4, cutting off access to PortAlberni and communities on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The province designated the logging roads from Youbou as a detour route.
“It was really unsafe and put a lot of people at risk,” recalled Thomas. “We’ve never seen McDonald’s tractor trailers driving through.”
This emerged a multi-jurisdictional dispute over who was responsible for maintaining the route, as it crosses over a complex collection of landowners and tree farm licence tenure holders. The time is long overdue to change the passage
from a forest service road to a provincial road, which would bring clear standards and management, says Thomas.
“That road goes through federal land, provincial park land, provincial Crown lands, TFL holders, TFL owners, forest company private landowners, there’s just so many,” she said. “Nobody could really make a decision easily without consulting all of those jurisdictions and getting them all on the same page.”
For the time being, Ditidaht has secured emergency assistance funding from the province. This has enabled the First Nation to get the shower trailer and manage the road until Bamfield Main reopens, with daily grading and flaggers in different locations to direct traffic.
The southbound route from PortAlberni remains closed from the China Creek Campground and Marina to the Franklin River.Areopening date has yet to be announced.
Nitinaht remains isolated despite regaining power
Continued from page 1.
“There is substantial work necessary over the coming weeks and months ahead to reopen Bamfield Road,” noted Minister of Transportation Mike Farnworth in the government release.
Fifteen kilometres of Bamfield Main is overseen by Mosaic Forest Management, which owns private timber land in the area. The damaged terrain is within this stretch of road, a route that initial engineering assessments have determined is “unsafe for all traffic”, according to the ministry. Currently the affected area isn’t even deemed safe enough for Mosaic to get in there and establish a timeline for slope reparation and road repairs.
“Based on initial assessments, BC Wildfire Service has determined the road is currently unsafe for all transit,” said D’Arcy Henderson, Mosaic’s chief operating officer. “Safety remains our top priority in all decisions.”
The indefinite road closure forces those in the remote communities south of Port Alberni to rely on a series of logging roads that begin at Youbou on the western half of Lake Cowichan.After visitors were discouraged from coming to the area over the first week of the forest fire, Bamfield businesses are inviting tourists
back, but with warnings about using the forest service roads to the destination.
Travellers are advised to prepare for the unexpected, as cellular service is unreliable on the route, which demands a keen focus on the bumpy, dusty road.
“Ensure you have at least one spare tire, and that you know how to change it,” cautions theAlberni-Clayoquot Regional District. “Make sure your gas tank is full, so you are prepared should something go wrong.”
“Drivers are asked to exercise caution, be prepared for driving on a gravel surface and give the right of way to industrial vehicles,” said the Ministry of Transportation.
In recent years the Ditidaht First Nation has seen large holes open in the section of the road near its community on Nitinaht Lake. The First Nation has called for the section to Youbou to be taken under provincial designation rather than its current patchwork of forestry tenures, private landowners and various levels of government.
“The Ministry of Transportation and Transit does not have jurisdiction over the secondary route. Ownership of the roads is mixed, but all are private industrial roads,” wrote in the ministry in an email to Ha-Shilth-Sa. “The province is
working with the owners of these roads to support maintenance of the route until the primary road to Bamfield reopens.”
“Road maintenance is a wicked problem overlapping several jurisdictions—this has delayed remediation and sparked what we’ve heard called a ‘grader war,’” said Ditidaht Chief Councillor Judi Thomas. “Ditidaht First Nation continues to assert our inherent rights and title to this land. We urgently need action to
maintain the road so emergency services can reach our people, visitors, and our neighbours.”
As Bamfield Main remains closed for the foreseeable future, the Ditidaht has secured a contract through provincial emergency assistance funding. This enables the First Nation to grade the logging roads to Youbou seven days a week, with flaggers at certain sections to direct traffic.
Judi Thomas photo
to
Ditidaht village of balaacadt, multiple flat tires have
Judi Thomas photo
Ditidaht member Margaret Eaton loads supplies into a vehicle to help her community of balaacadt deal with a power outage, which lasted fromAug. 11 to 23. Over this period the village relied on generators for electricity.
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‘I was very, very upset,’ says sister
Police had to use force to gain compliance and prevent further injuries, says RCMP
By Nora O’Malley Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
PortAlberni, BC - Caroline Hall says her brother Shawn is an addict.
Shawn Hall, 33, has been living on the streets of PortAlberni for months now, she says.
“I really care about him. He’s a good person, he just got in a really bad place. I’m just hoping one day he’ll get better ‘cause I don’t know... He’s my baby brother,” said Hall.
“I deal with my brother a lot. I usually hold on to his paycheque and distribute it out to him throughout the month, so he doesn’t spend it all at once,” she shared. Shawn is Indigenous, with Cree and likely Hesquiaht First Nation roots. He is a repeat offender with a criminal history dating back to at least 2011. His past charges include break and enter with intent to commit offence and possession of stolen property under $5000.
OnAug. 17 PortAlberni RCMP charged Shawn with assaulting a peace officer, wilfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer and breach of release order.
In an RCMP media statement issued the day after Shawn’s arrest, police said he fled from officers, and a brief foot pursuit ensued, ending in a nearby alley between 6th and 7thAvenue.
Awitness captured part of incident on video and posted it on Facebook with the title ‘PortAlberni police brutality’. The video, which has since gone viral, shows Shawn being taken down by two officers, held face down on the ground. The footage documents Shawn being struck by one of the officers, including three times in the side and back of the head with an elbow.As the male officer holds down Shawn and handcuffs him, a female officer restrains his legs and assists in the arrest.
“I was very, very upset,” said Hall after watching the video. “I don’t know why the (cop) needed to keep punching him in the head. He’d already been on the ground and the (cop) is like three times the size of my brother.All he had to do was sit on him and he can’t really move much. My brother is maybe 150 pounds soaking wet.”
Inspector Kim Bruce, detachment commander for the PortAlberni RCMP, said in a statement issued by police that
“while use of force by police in any arrest may be disturbing to onlookers, it is important to look at the totality, rather than the result.”
“The Criminal Code provides us with the authority to use force, and it is not something we take lightly,” said Bruce.
Hall thinks the officer went overboard.
“If he would had hit him one time I would have understood, but he didn’t need to continuously keep hitting him. He was already on the ground and he wasn’t moving and he elbowed him in the head again,” she said.
The BC First Nations Justice Council (BCFNJC) weighed in on the incident.
“This is another example of excessive force by police, and it happens far too often,” wrote Boyd Peters, BCFNJC vicechair, in a statement sent to Ha-Shilth-Sa.
“Events like this don’t instill confidence from the public, especially Indigenous people who are continually harmed by police. There needs to be stronger oversight to address and eventually prevent police brutality.And there needs to be trauma-informed processes to de-escalate these types of events,”
During the process of Shawn’sAug. 17 arrest, police said they observed a sharp object in his hands, and that he allegedly resisted arrest and attacked the officer.
Ha-Shilth-Sa belongs to every Nuu-chah-nulth person including those who have passed on, and those who are not yet born.Acommunity newspaper cannot exist without community involvement. If you have any great pictures you’ve taken, stories or poems you’ve written, or artwork you have done, please let us know so we can include it in your newspaper. E-mail holly.stocking@nuuchahnulth.org. This year is Ha-Shilth-Sa’s 51st year of serving the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations. We look forward to your continued input and support. Kleco! Kleco!
“Police had to use force to gain compliance and prevent further injuries,” stated the RCMP in a media release.
Hall spoke to her brother on the phone about a week after the incident. She says he told her that he did run, but he claims he did not provoke the officer.
“He didn’t have any weapons or anything in his hand, but he did have glass pipes in his pocket and a bag of weed,” she told the Ha-Shilth-Sa.
Shawn was not offered, nor did he seek, medical assistance after being struck in the head multiple times by an RCMP officer, according to Hall.
If a situation requires it in such incidents, officers do provide or seek medical assistance for someone, said RCMP media relations officer Cpl.Alex Bérubé.
“All RCMP officers are trained (and are required) to have a valid FirstAid certificate,” wrote Cpl. Bérubé in an email.
“They render assistance, provide first aid and contact medical trained professionals such as paramedics to assist as the situation(s) dictate. If an individual, whether under arrest, detention or [is] simply in need of medical attention, efforts will be made to provide that service.”
Shawn Hall had anAug. 29 PortAlberni Courts appearance.
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Facebook video still
The arrest occurred in a PortAlberni alley onAug. 17, suspect shown being held down and struck by an officer in viral video.
Major changes for BC Ferry travellers at Horseshoe Bay
Terminal upgrades force all vehicle travellers to book and prepay fares beginning Fall 2025
By Denise Titian Ha-Shilth-Sa Reporter
British Columbia – Just when the end of the busy tourist season is in sight and ferry travellers feel like they can expect relief at the crowded terminal, BC Ferries has announced major changes affecting users of the Horseshoe Bay Ferry terminal that will change the way they travel.
Beginning October 15, 2025, all vehicles and motorcycles traveling from Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay (Nanaimo) will no longer be able to pay their fares at the terminal. BC Ferries Corporation is planning major upgrades to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal west of Vancouver that will reduce available space during construction. Consequently, those traveling in vehicles will be required to go online to reserve a space and prepay their fares in order to use the route.
“BC Ferries is beginning a multi-year program to upgrade the Horseshoe Bay terminal, which serves the Departure Bay route, starting this fall with major construction that will reduce vehicle staging space by 25%. To manage the resulting limited capacity and prevent highway congestion, vehicle reservations will be mandatory for travel from Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay beginning October 15, 2025,” BC Ferries Corporation stated. Customers will need to book and pay in advance to secure their spot and will no longer be able to drive up and pay at the terminal. Foot passengers are not affected by the changes.
According to BC Ferries, the 65 year-old Horseshoe Bay terminal is one of their busiest and most operationally complex. The upgrades, which will take several years to complete, will help the corporation meet the growing demand for the route.
“The upgrades will focus on critical infrastructure improvements, including upgrading or replacing three berths, enhancing seismic resiliency, and improving operational efficiency,” BC Ferries stated. The multi-year project will see the removal of an elevated concrete holding area, the relocation of the control tower, repairing or replacing berths and seismic
upgrades.ABC Ferries spokesperson said the project will be done in phases and will likely take up to five years, but it may take longer.
“We understand this is a big change, and for a terminal that already has limited space, it may feel frustrating at first,” said Melanie Lucia, Vice President of Customer Experience at BC Ferries. “No one wants to be turned away when they’ve made the trip to the terminal. By requiring advance bookings, we’re giving customers more certainty and a better chance of securing their spot, especially as space becomes even tighter during construction. It also helps our crews manage the terminal more smoothly and safely, so they can focus on getting everyone where they need to go.”
This change applies to one-way onlyHorseshoe Bay to Nanaimo (Departure Bay). Bookings are recommended but not
required for the return trip from Nanaimo (Departure Bay) to Horseshoe Bay.
After October 15, 2025, you must go online to reserve your space and pay in advance if you’re traveling from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. Drive-up fares and Reservation only fares will no longer be available.
BC Ferries says it will double the number of fare discounts on the Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay (Nanaimo) route on select sailings.
For those that don’t use credit cards or cannot use online resources to prebook their sailings, the only option to get to the island is to sail from the Tsawwassen Ferry terminal. Cash payment and drive-up bookings will remain available
at Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal.
Check-in at Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal will open 120 minutes before sailing and closes 30 minutes prior. Early arrivals will be asked to return within this check-in window.
For flexible plans, consider walking on. TransLink provides direct bus service to the terminal: view schedule here.
BC Ferries will also introduce a Sailing SpaceAlert system to notify customers of available spots on sold-out sailings and a wait-list tool for securing a spot.
Visit the BC Ferries website for the most current information and to access the booking system at BC Ferries official website.
BC Ferries photo
Arial view of Horseshoe Bay Ferry terminal, now requiring upgrades due to advanced age.
Mowachaht/Muchalaht unveil new water taxi
Worth almost $800,000, the vessel was acquired with funding through Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor
Gold River, BC - It will now be easier for Mowachaht/Muchalaht people to reach Yuquot and other parts of their home territory, with the First Nation’s acquisition of a large water taxi.
OnAug. 28 the new vessel was unveiled at the Gold River harbour. Stretching 31.5 feet, it can seat 13 people, including the skipper and first mate, and is equipped with inboard and outboard motors as well as backup batteries for the boat’s engine system. Prepared for the harsh weather that hits Nootka Sound for much of the year, the water taxi is fully enclosed, heated and has a small bathroom.Alife raft is installed on the vessel’s roof for emergencies.
The water taxi cost nearly $800,000, funded by the federal government according to a directive from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. Issued in November 2021, CHRT 41 orders the federal government to fund the purchase and construction of capital assets that are needed for First Nations’family services on reserve. With this funding the Mowachaht/Muchalaht also purchased two vans for members’services.
Since being relocated from the southern shore of Nootka Island in the late 1960s, the Mowachaht/Muchalaht’s main reserves have been in the Gold River area – firstAhaminaquus at the shore of Muchalaht Inlet until 1996, then the current inland community of Tsaxana, located just outside of Gold River. But over the years the need has remained to sustain a connection to the First Nation’s territory in Nootka Sound, says Tyee Ha’wilth Mike Maquinna.
“It’s also been an understanding among our members that no matter what size of boat we have, we need to have people on the water,” he said. “For many a year we didn’t have that.”
Although many of the First Nation’s members have no recollection of permanently living in Yuquot, the desire persists to sustain a connection to their ancestral home, which once served as a central cultural and economic settlement for northern Nuu-chah-nulth tribes. For the last 33 years Mowachaht/Muchalaht members have camped in Yuquot each summer, culminating in the Summerfest celebration which welcomes visitors as well.
But this year transportation to Yuquot became more of a challenge. The MV Uchuck III, which makes regular trips to the Nootka Sound village site, was missing a critical part, and it wasn’t clear if the large shipment and passenger vessel would be ready for the annual celebration.
“It’s an aging boat and parts for that are few and far between,” said Maquinna regarding the missing part. “Apparently they had to go across the world to get it. They did what they could and they came through on the day of the Summerfest.”
Les
members
of Gold River.
Afew years after Summerfest began in the early 1990s the First Nation decided to relocate from theAhaminaquus reserve, which was constantly exposed to pollution from the nearby Gold River Pulp Mill. The No. 1 choice among members was to move back to Yuquot, but the cost of setting up another main settlement in such a remote location was prohibitive, recalls Maquinna.
“The first choice that people had was to move out to Yuquot,” he said. “Amillion dollars to get everything out there was taking a million dollars from the cost of building.”
“We don’t have the resources that we need to fully connect to our old ways of life to Yuquot,” said Mowachaht/ Muchalaht CEOAzar Kamran, although he detailed a growing initiative that could make life on southern Nootka Island more sustainable.
The First Nation is designing a micro grid at the location, which would harness and store solar energy and the power of waves through an ocean-based turbine.
The hope is that the micro grid would enable more people to spend time in Yuquot without relying on diesel-powered generators. If plans proceed, the first phase would produce 150 kilowatts, enough to power three to four homes and the tourist cabins, saving the First Nation from otherwise using 120,000 litres of diesel over a year of servicing these buildings.
So far approximately $9 million has been sourced for the project from a variety of entities, explained Kamran.
“We needed $13 million for the wave turbine side of it, and at this point we are short about $4 million,” he said. “We are working towards that with a few applications.”
Over the years the Williams family have been the First Nation’s only household to remain in Yuquot since the main reserve
began moving in the 1960s.Although the site is a popular destination for members, its remoteness became a concern during a tsunami advisory in late July. The advisory was issued for the B.C. coast after a 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck the north Pacific Ocean floor off of Russia at 4:24 p.m. on July 29.
That afternoon Emergency Info BC cautioned people to stay away from coastal areas, harbours and marinas, as larger waves were expected at about 11:30 p.m. This was not an evacuation
order, but the vulnerability of the 120 or so people camping in Yuquot at that time was palpable. The First Nation decided to coordinate any motorboats that were available to move people off Nootka Island, including Mowachaht/Muchalaht members, 11 hikers and those staying at a nearby fishing lodge.
“We did what we could to provide transportation for members,” said Maquinna. “Most went to Mucha Bay, that was closest.”
Looking for......
Usma Nuu-chah-nulth Family and Child Services are looking for individual/s or families who are interested in caregiving for teens with high-risk behaviors.
The Caregiver(s) would provide 24-hour care in a culturally safe and suppor!ve environment, responding effec!vely to challenging behaviours.
Compensa!on would be built around the specific needs of the youth and the Caregiver, and could include both direct services and financial support to allow Caregivers to meet the needs of the youth.
For more informa on, please call Joni or Julia at 250-724-3232.
Eric Plummer photos
Mowachaht/Muchalaht
look at a new water taxi acquired by the First Nation, which is docked at the West Coast Marine Terminal south
The water taxi can transport 13 people, including a skipper and first mate. It is fully enclosed, has heating and a bathroom.
‘Moving forward together’: 49th BC Elders Gathering
Vancouver’s Canada Place welcomed about 2,000 elders on August 26 and 27
By Nora O’Malley Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Vancouver, BC – Braving an intenseAugust heat wave, British Columbia elders made the journey to Vancouver’s Canada Place overlooking the Burrard Inlet for the 49th Annual First Nations Elders Gathering onAug. 26 and 27.
Spirits soared as the boom of traditional drumming filled the air for the Grand Entry, a parade of nations led by cultural hosts the Squamish Nation Elders (Sḵwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw Siiyúxwa).
“I raise my hands to each and every one of you, my friends and relatives. Thank you for bringing the gifts of your people – your elders – here to spend some time. We hope you enjoy our home very much, this beautiful place we have lived to take care of since time immemorial. I hope you will find our home as beautiful in your heart as it is when you look at it,” said Squamish First Nation spokesperson Sxwíxwtn (Wilson Williams).
Organized by the B.C. Elders Communication Center Society, the 2025 BC Elders Gathering brought together about 2,000 First Nations elders, helpers and service providers under the theme ‘Moving Forward Together’.
Toquaht Nation elder Naomi Mack travelled from Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island. She dodged a two ferry wait by leaving her car in Nanaimo and hopping on the Hullo passenger ferry.
Mack thinks the theme is about moving forward together in a positive and healthy way. The two-day event marked her second Elders Gathering.
“The trauma of residential school is still a burden on some people’s hearts and spirits, but the generations that come after that are floating around and learning that experience and filling the happiness for the elders, being the sunshine, you know, the brightest for them,” said Mack.
Lillian Jack, 65, left her home in the remote village of Kyuquot on the northwestern coast of Vancouver Island at 4:15 a.m., picked her younger brother up in Campbell River, and after a five hour wait at the ferry terminal, they made it to Vancouver by nightfall.
“There have been a lot more kakawin (orca whales) this year that have been showing up at home. Even right in the bay, going by, where I live, it’s been
interesting. I don’t know why. It’s the young ones who seem to get curious and come in.
Maybe fish,” said Jack.
She didn’t mind her long trek to the mainland for the annual gathering.
“It’s easier for all the other nations to come here,” said Jack, who is responsible for Kyuquot’s housing and infrastructure portfolio.
She says the key to improving is lives of people in rural First Nations communities is “keeping communications open to be able to work with each other.”
Ehattesaht leaderAnnie John drove a van of 10 elders from Zeballos on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island.
“It was a long day sitting in the sun. We barely made the ferry. We were the last two vehicles on,” said John.
“This is my third year doing this for the
elders. I just really like the experience of coming and being with our elders,” she continued.
Her sister Dorothy John came as a helper or ‘elder-in-training’.
“We are reconnecting as a nation,” said John. “We are gaining a lot of culture back. We are gaining our families back because we are all reconnecting. Just looking after the elders is a blessing for me. I love the growth of our lives that are changing.”
Ehattesaht elder Sheila John says moving forward together is important because
each other.”
Each year, a King and Queen is selected for their long-standing service to their community. The 2025 King was Squamish elder Kiyo-iis (Bob Baker) and the Queen was Squamish elder Slawiya (Andrea Jacobs).
At the age of 92, Kiyo-iis is currently the oldest male Squamish elder in the Squamish Valley.
“I hope I have a few years left so I can come back and see the rest of the Kings and Queens,” said Kiyo-iis during his welcome speech.
“This is a great gathering, bigger than the last one. Enjoy yourselves and mix with one another. Get to know one another. Make new friends. Do a lot of shopping,” said Slawiya.
Throughout the two-day event, elders could peruse 64 information and craft vendors, plus enjoy free haircuts, manicures, foot care and therapeutic wellness. Members of the Indian residential School Survivors Society were offering healing brushings and there was also a health centre this year, performing hearing and vision exams. Elders could leave with glasses ordered or hearing aids if needed.
“we are one”.
“Everyone needs to start believing that. We are all one family and we need to be one again,” said Sheila.
Wally Samuel, elders council representative with the Port Alberni Friendship Centre, has been coming to the annual Elders Gathering with his wife Donna for the past 20 years.
“It’s always good to see old friends from up north and all over,” he said. “Hopefully people work together and teach
The nap room was also a hit, with most of the 45 beds filling up around 1:30 p.m. so participants could rest for the afternoon dance onAug. 26 and the Red Dress Orange Shirt Fashion Show this year with Phyllis Webstad, Orange Shirt Society as a speaker on Aug. 27.
Nora O’Malley photos
2025 King Bob Baker and QueenAndrea Jacobs, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh
Úxwumixw Siiyúxwa - The Squamish Nation Elders
‘A glimpse of the future’: Nitinaht Narrows operation rides
Carl Edgar has been transporting hikers on the West Coast Trail for 50 years, a period that has seen his involvement grow from a man
By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor
Nitinaht Narrows, BC - Carl Edgar recalls a time, at the age of 14 or 15, when an epiphany came. He was on the southwestern edge of Vancouver Island, camping at Cheewaht, when his father’s friend Rob Archer delivered words at the campfire that would remain with Edgar for the rest of his life.
“He said, ‘Carl, if you can find out what people need, what people want, if you can do it, do it’,” recalls Edgar, who is now 70. “Here I am.”
Ayear or two earlier Edgar had seen his first hiker, the boots and backpack a strange sight for someone who spent his early childhood at Clo-oose, located the next beach over from Cheewaht in Ditidaht territory. Young Carl wasn’t fully aware of it at the time, but the first signs were becoming evident of what would become one of Vancouver Island’s major destinations for outdoor enthusiasts. Stretching 75 kilometres from Port Renfrew to Bamfield, The West Coast Trail now attracts over 7,500 hikers a year from across Canada and around the world.
And for the last 50 years Edgar has been an integral part of this, an involvement that began with transporting hikers across the impassible Nitinaht Narrows for $1 each.
“My grandmother told me, ‘If you own a boat, you’ll never be hungry’,” reflects Edgar.
It’s a bright July morning as he sits in his designated captain’s chair at the Nitinaht Crabshack, an ever-expanding collection of docks at the southern end of Nitinaht Lake, where the narrows give way to the open Pacific. To his right family members hustle around a well-stocked kitchen, preparing breakfast orders for a crowd of eager hikers.Awood stove burns by Edgar’s feet, helping with the remains of the morning’s chill as his daughter Krissy stands at the water’s edge, effortlessly cracking open crabs to prepare seafood for lunch, tossing the shelled remains into the saltwater lake. Boats come and go to the floating assembly, some delivering supplies or hikers to start their journey from the mid-way point of the West Coast Trail, others crossing the narrows to transport trekkers in a service that Edgar began in 1975.
“There were no plans for this. It just evolved all by itself,” he says.
An ever-expanding operation
Along with his wife Shelley, Edgar owns Nitinaht Wilderness Charters, a multi-faceted operation that taps into the popularity of the West Coast Trail and the surrounding region. From May until late September the company transports hikers from the
along the popular destination.
Ditidaht village at the north end of Nitinaht Lake to the narrows, where they can hike the trail halfway through.
Trips across the narrows now cost $28 per person - an indication of how much demand has grown since Edgar sat alone in a small motorboat, waiting to transport hikers to the other side for $1.
“I seen it never ending, then I had a glimpse of the future,” he reflects, admitting that it still took 25 years to make a profit from the operation. “This is a bunch of different jobs to keep this place going.”
With Shelley at the helm of kitchen operations, the Nitinaht Crabshack serves a full menu, ranging from eggs, hashbrowns and bacon for breakfast to a full seafood dinner. It’s not cheap, with the “Nitinaht Ultimate JACKED” meal of a whole crab, baked potato and accompanying ling cod of halibut topping the list of offerings at $85, but the hikers don’t seem to mind forking out the cash after days of subsisting off dehydrated meals.
Edgar started serving food to hikers in the late ‘90s, but at the time what he offered wasn’t popular and he had to eat the surplus.
“I sold burgers, fries, even tried sandwich-
es. We tried soup, stew, mashed potatoes, rice, nobody would buy it,” he recalls. “I quit trying to sell food. I built the dock in 1999. I was cooking my lunch, as you get tired of sandwiches after eating it for two or three weeks every day. So I started cooking lunch, crab or a salmon, and people would ask for one. They’d say, ‘Can I have one?’ And it turned into this.”
Tent decks and heated cabins are rented at the narrows, part of a continually expanding operation that has become a family business for the Edgars, who also offer accommodation in the Nitinaht village.
Carl’s daughter Sarah Tom remembers spending time at the narrows in the summer, making boats out of corks and balancing on the logs that float next to the dock.
“I remember playing here all the time when I was young, seeing how fast I could go and if I could go backwards on it,” she recalls. “My dad used to say, ‘If you fall in, clear the seaweed that’s there. Clean it up’. It was pretty rare that I ever fell in, though.”
At a young age a business ethic was instilled into Sarah, who saw opportunity abound as the flow of hikers never ceased.
Sarah spent hours each day selling cookies, but she had to cover costs before she could keep any cash for herself.
“‘Don’t forget, you need to buy more to sell more’,” she recalls her parents telling her. “You say hello to everybody. You’re encouraged to talk to all the strangers here.”
‘No TV, no radio, nothing’ Under an open blue sky, the time is right one early summer afternoon for Carl Edgar to rush his wide-hulled fishing boat to where the Nitinaht Narrows meet the open sea. He’s trying to catch a “10-minute window” when a school of sockeye salmon will be passing into the narrows, and has gathered a group of his grandchildren for the trip.
Wearing bright orange fishing overalls, helper Garrett Edgar scrambles at the bow of the aluminum boat when they reach the
mouth of the narrows. He tosses a net with a float on the end into the ocean, which soon extends across the water flowing from the Pacific.After some sockeye are caught, Marques Edgar, Carl’s 14-year-old grandson, joins Garrett to quickly pull in the net, and with it the latest seafood harvest to supply the crab shack.
Carl Edgar transports hikers across Nitinaht Lake to the West Coast Trail, part of the array of services offered by his company Nitinaht Wilderness
operation rides the popular current of the West Coast Trail
ement grow from a man in a motorboat to a multi-faceted family business
by his company Nitinaht
Later in the day the vessel heads out again to pull up crab traps scattered along the coastal water and across Nitinaht Lake.
Carl’s irritation becomes evident, as some of the youngsters appear more occupied with their phones than the task at hand, so he directs them to help pull up the traps and measure crabs to determine if they’re large enough to keep. Females are tossed back,
the lake,” he says, referring to the growing Ditidaht reserve of Malchan, which has the traditional name balaacadt.
That was the last time Carl would return to live in his childhood home, where the remains of past settlement are gradually being overtaken by the encroaching wildness.
Past the beach a boarded-up church can be found, and nearby sits a palatialA-frame cabin built by the late lawyer Martin Chambers in 1970, which is occasionally used by those who own the structure through a shared property agreement.
1917-31.
“When I learned, I got mad,” says Carl. “Back in 1920 all the big fish companies came in here, BC Packers, Canadian Fish, all the big companies, and they fished seven days a week, 24 hours a day. They outlawed our people from selling fish to them.”
Carl first ran for band council at age 30, and represented his First Nation in fisheries issues for many years. This was his way of taking back power for his people.
identifiable by the shell pattern on their bellies.
“We never had technology down here,” recalls Carl of his childhood in the area.
On the distant shore Carl points to a large sand dune up from the beach, a centuries old mark from the 1700 tsunami that hit Vancouver Island and its many coastal Indigenous settlements. Then he points to Clo-oose, where Carl spent his early childhood, one of several formal settlement sites that dot Vancouver Island’s southwestern coast. For countless generations Ditidaht people subsisted off the ocean resources by their doorstep, but as the modern era took hold, the First Nation moved to its current main reserve at the north end of Nitinaht Lake in the mid 1960s.
“I remember absolutely no communication with the outside world,” recalls Carl of his time in Clo-oose, where he lived with his grandparents among the seven houses at the time. “No TV, no radio, nothing.”
At the age of six young Carl moved to Bamfield for a year, then was sent to the Alberni Indian Residential School. He didn’t speak English, nor was he familiar with typical Canadian food. He remembers peeling the skin off of sausages.
“I’d never seen cheese before,” he says with a slight smile. “I remember picking the bread off a grilled cheese sandwich because I didn’t know what cheese was.”
As a means of assimilatingAboriginal children into Canadian society, the Indian residential school system disallowed the speaking of Indigenous languages. For Carl the Ditidaht dialect of Nuu-chah-nulth was soon replaced by English, leaving only whispers of his mother tongue in the distant corners of his mind.
“I do know more than half of my language, but I don’t use it too much,” he admits. “Sometimes it comes back, I remember some words now and then.”
After five years at the residential school, Carl moved from PortAlberni to live with his parents.
“We went right back to Clo-oose, and then the house burned down, so we moved up
Across the beach a collapsing roof is visible within a sea of berry bushes and ferns. Inside are rusted appliances and scattered household items, the remains of the last year-round residence at Clo-oose. This is where Carl’s brother Ralph lived for the last decade of his life, a return to his childhood home after a 40-year absence.
Carl’s older brother Sam says that his late sibling returned to Clo-oose as a means to overcome the lasting effects of residential school. Ralph passed a dozen years ago.
“He went there to get the residential out of his head,” says Sam.
“When he was out there, songs came back to him, and he started singing,” continues the brother. “He was our cultural leader for our family.”
Reclaiming business and culture
When he was 14, Carl saw people coming to Nitinaht Narrows in a herring skiff, taking bricks from an abandoned cannery to sell them. This was the remains of the Nitinat Cannery, which operated from
Ageneration later, Carl’s daughter Sarah did this by picking up where her father left his language. She studied Ditidaht for many years, along with other Nuu-chahnulth dialects, and now teachers at the Ditidaht Community School. She considers herself “proficient”, but has yet to gain the fluency that Carl was once surrounded by at Clo-oose.
“How can we say we’re Ditidaht people if we don’t know our songs, our culture, our protocols in life? We need to be proud of who we are, what we are,” says Sarah.
She speaks at a table full of hikers, people from various corners of NorthAmerica who on this day have converged at the Nitinaht Crabshack. Included in the group are Cindy Browse and Kamie Brainard, international trekkers from Phoenix,Arizona who the previous month undertook a hike in Slovenia.
“We’re unique in the world,” continues Sarah. “We’re not as common as French speaking, we’re not as common as Spanish speakers, we’re distinctly Ditidaht, and that’s something to be prideful of.”
Eric Plummer photos
Wilderness Charters. For the last 50 years Edgar has moved hikers by boat
Stanley Sam’s chaputs goes home to Ahousaht
Roy Alexander, former fisheries advisor returns carving to family
By Nora O’Malley Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Tofino, BC – “Stanley gifted it to me and it’s time to go home now so his grandchildren’s grandchildren can have it,” RoyAlexander told the group of old friends over a specialAug. 20 lunch at Brown’s Socialhouse in Tofino.
Qaamina, Sam’s eldest son, accepted the chaputs (canoe) on behalf of his family in Ahousaht.
“It’s heading to Maaqtusiis,” says Qaamina. “Stanley went toAhousaht Residential School. He was always one to give and he always wanted his grandkids to have better.”
Stanley Sam or T’sasiits (wise one) was a Nuu-chah-nulth speaker for the Tyee Ha’wiih and a lifelong fisherman. He was born on Feb. 29, 1928, in Moyaha (Herbert Inlet),Ahousaht hahoulthee (territory) to Paul Sam and Katie Lucas. His mom Katie had strong ties to Tla-o-quiaht and Hesquiaht.
During his lifetime, Sam owned seven commercial vessels and raised his family of 12 children with his wife Catherine in Ahousaht. T’sasiits passed away on July 27, 2016.
“He had 13 generations of history in his mind,” said Qaamina.
Alexander, a fisheries management professional, was a volunteer director on the Nuu-chah-nulth License Committee in the ‘80s. He worked with Sam on the 2006Ahousaht fishing case to confirm their commercialAboriginal Fishing Rights. With his vast knowledge of Nuuchah-nulth fishing history and trade, Sam was a main witness in the case. The Supreme Court of Canada confirmed these rights in 2009.
“I suggested a portion of the trial be held in Stan’s home village,”Alexander recalls.
“I supervised converting the old gymnasium to a courtroom that would meet Supreme Court standards. The NTC sound system was brought in for acoustics and the lawyers were very impressed with the venue. This trial in a remote village was the first in many years and T’sashiits testifying in his home village at the three-
day trial was a highlight of his life,” he continued.
Sam began to carve a model chaputs complete with tiny cedar whalers for Alexander as a gesture of appreciation for their friendship and win for his people.
The carving even had mini sea lion bladders for the whalers to throw over the side.
About a year after he began the carving, Sam surprisedAlexander with wrapped cardboard box.
“I thought it was smoked fish when he gave it to me,”Alexander chuckled.
He says he treasured the “priceless” gift for years and displayed it on a mantel in his Parksville home until he heard Sam’s family had few of his early works.
Then it was decided, alongside his wife Karen, that Stan’s chaputs should go home to his family inAhousaht.
Phrase†of†the†week:†hišuki%a+†na%aatah=†himwitsa†%a>quu†nanaaniqsu† %ayanak%iš%a+†%uuyaqh=mis
Pronounced ‘He shook ii alth na aha tarh it’s alth ah yuk nuk ish alth ooh yuk h miss’, it means ‘Everyone, younger generation listen to your elders. They have lots of stories to tell about their past’Supplied by ciisma.
Nora O’Malley photos
RoyAlexander, left, and Qaamina Hunter hold the chaputs carved by the late Stanley Sam onAug. 20 at the Tin Wis in Tofino.
Illustration by Koyah Morge-Banke
First Nations call for shared economic decision-making
Despite growing number of Aboriginal projects, legislation blocks Indigenous communities from co-governing
By Olivia Thomas Ha-Shilth-Sa Contributor
Courtenay, BC – More than 30 First Nations across Vancouver Island and coastal British Columbia are calling for sweeping changes to the Island Coastal Economic Trust (“the Trust”), saying the time has come for equal decision-making power in shaping the region’s economic future.
Anew Indigenous-led report, prepared by Vancouver Island-based Sanala Planning, recommends transforming the trust into a permanent, co-governed development organization with long-term, sustainable financing. The report reflects months of engagement with 33 First Nations and input from all 53 Nations whose territories fall with the trust’s service area, which stretches from the Salish Sea to Cape Caution and includes Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast, and dozens of inlets and smaller islands.
The recommendations mark a turning point for the trust, which was created in 2005 to help diversify the economy of coastal communities but has never included First Nations at its decisionmaking tables.
The report, known as the First Nations Strategic Recommendations Report, was delivered to the trust in June 2025 and simultaneously shared with the government of British Columbia. It urges the province and the trust to work with both First Nations and local governments to create a consensus action plan that would fundamentally reshape the trust’s governance and financing.
Key proposals include appointing First Nations to at least half of the trust’s board seats, removing the legislative funding cap that limits how the trust can operate, and permanently capitalizing the organization to ensure its long-term sustainability.
For Jessie Hemphill, CEO of Sanala Planning, the logic behind the recommendations is straightforward.
“First Nations have been self-governing and taking care of these lands since time immemorial,” Hemphill said. “It’s a logical correction to past injustice that we would be included in the governance of any organization with the level of impact that the trust has, and I hope to see this same shift happening in other regional and provincial organizations where we don’t already sit at the decision-making table.”
The call for inclusion is not new. Local
Nora O’Malley photo
In June 2024 the West Coast Multi-Use Path opened in Ucluelet, a 1.2-kilometre paved trail that was built for almost $1.5 million, $200,000 of which came from the Island Coast Economic Trust. From left:ACRD ChiefAdministrative Officer Daniel Sailland, retiredArea “C” director Kel Roberts, Toquaht ChiefAnne Mack and Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ Government President Charles McCarthy walk the completed West Coast MUPtogether on June 7, 2024.
governments across the Island and coast have passed resolutions supporting a cogovernance model since 2022, and three separate provincial legislative reviews have highlighted the exclusion of First Nations as a problem with the original act that created the Island Coast Economic Trust.
The recommendations also align with the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Poeples Act (DRIPA) Action Plan 2022-2027, which commits B.C. to ensuring First Nations are represented in regional decision-making bodies. In 2024, the province provided $10 million to the trust, some of which funded the Indigenous engagement process that culminated in the new report.
“Aportion supported the development of the transformation report, but the vast majority was allocated to ongoing project investments and keeping the trust active in serving communities,” said ICET in an email to Ha-Shilth-Sa.
Since 2006, the trust has leveraged more than $370 million in investments across coastal B.C., supporting projects in tourism, infrastructure, innovation, and community development. But First
Nations leaders and their partners say the priorities of the trust could broaden and deepen if Indigenous voices were formally included in decision-making.
Brodie Guy, CEO of the Island Coastal Economic Trust, pointed to a dramatic rise in Indigenous-led projects funded by the trust in recent years.
“We have seen a significant change in Indigenous people, companies, and governments driving the new economy across the coast for many years,” Guy said. “For the trust, there was very little investment in Indigenous-led projects going back a decade ago – in recent years it has been 40 to 50 per cent of total project investments but really peaked last year at 72 per cent. We want to see that sustain and grow for the benefit and wellbeing of all people and our environment across the coast.”
He added that the law governing the trust, the North Island-Coast Development Initiative Trust Act, has been flawed since its beginning:
“The fact that the law of British Columbia that governs the trust does not allow First Nations to appoint their people to the decision-making tables has been
wrong since that law was first passed in 2005,” said Guy, noting how the trust could become a co-governed development organization. “Our hope is this will not only strengthen decision making, investment decisions, and economic development here in our region, but also serve as a leading example and inspiration for governments across the rest of B.C., Canada and beyond, that Indigenous leadership is vital and shared decision making is a pathway to a better future for everyone.”
The report emphasizes consensusbuilding as the next step. The trust’s board has committed to implementing the recommendations by working with First Nations, local governments, and the province to create a concrete action plan. That plan would include exploring new models of permanent investment and may also require legislative changes in Victoria to modernize the act governing the trust.
Michelle Staples, chair of the trust and mayor of Duncan, said the shift is about more than symbolism.
“We are committed to walking with First Nations and the province to bring this co-governance vision to life, not as a symbolic gesture but rather as a path towards transformation in how decisions are made and futures are shaped throughout Vancouver Island and coastal communities,” she said.
If realized, the change would mark the first time a regional economic trust in B.C. has been co-governed by First Nations and local governments on a permanent basis. Leaders believe the model could serve as a precedent for other parts of the province and country.
Sayaačatḥ, John Jack, chief Councillor of Huu-ay-aht First Nations and vice chair of the trust, called the moment one of transformation.
“Co-governance is not just about inclusion. It’s about building institutions that reflect the values, leadership, and potential of all communities on this coast,” he said.
For communities across Vancouver Island and the coast, the recommendations represent both continuity and change – a continuation of years of calls for reform, and a significant shift in how regional development might be governed in the future. Whether the province and partners can deliver on that vision will determine if this moment becomes the historic turning point many leaders believe it to be.
Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the last few weeks of summer. My sympathies to all families and friends who lost someone in the past month.
The Tlu-piich games were on this month in the very intense heat and at the beginning of the Mount Underwood forest fire. The track races were popular and many participated in the different age categories. As always, watching the really young ones and “the turtles” was fun. There was good energy.
By Wednesday, the smoke was very bad and the NTC executive decided we needed to stop the games as they were outside and people were breathing in the heavy smoke. It was not a happy decision but one we made for the health and safety of our members.
I Would really like to thank Deanna Samuel and her entire team for coordinating and pulling the games together to be such a success.
This month brought many emergency situations with it. On July 30th, there an 8.8 earthquake in Russia which prompted a tsunami advisory for the west coast of Vancouver Island. This meant that all our communities were on alert for a tsunami. Thankfully, by the time it arrived it was low tide and was about a one-foot wave.
People noticed the water in the river was higher for a few days and the currents were stronger. This happened during canoe journeys and everyone was worried about safety. The canoe families all took precautions to ensure their people and canoes were safe.
There have been three major forest fires that have affected Nuu-chah-nulth territories. On June 8th, a fire started on Nahmint Mountain where there is old growth forest and many valuable ecosystems and biodiversity. Today the fire is classified as under control and is estimated at 19.8 hectares.
Then, on July 31, the Wesley Ridge fire started on the far side of Cameron Lake. The fear with this fire was that it could impact the highway, forcing another long closure. But it is now under control and 588 hectares in size.
OnAugust 11, 2025, the scariest fire of all started at the doorstep of PortAlberni on the south side. The Mount Underwood fire tripled in size in three hours and continued to grow exponentially in the following days. Large red flames and lots of smoke could be seen from many places in PortAlberni.
The Tseshaht reserve known as Tiipis was put on alert. The road to Bamfield was closed and the fire burned many power lines and poles leaving Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht without power for many days.
The winds, steep terrain, heat, and very dry conditions all contributed to this fire raging out of control. Everyone in Port Alberni was acutely aware of the danger to our communities and many lived in fear, hoping the fire could be stopped before it reached town.
It was finally stopped between 8-12 km from town.
OnAugust 14th, minimal amounts of rain fell and it helped suppress the fire. The rain on the fire created the worst smoke ever on Friday,August 15.
I was impressed at how many First Nations got their members air purifiers. This fire is now considered being held and is 3518 hectares.
The issues arising from the fire have heavily impacted Ditidaht and Huu-ayaht. Both communities were without power for 13 days. BC Hydro did a great
job in restoring power a week earlier than estimated and we thank them for their work.
The road to Bamfield is still closed and many assessments are being done to determine slope stability and other issues. This will take at least a month to figure out how to fix it.
The only way out for these two communities is through the Youbou road which was in very poor condition. Both communities and myself raised this issue politically to make sure the government of BC, Mosaic Forest Management, Teal Jones TFL 46, Western/Caawackin TFL 44 got out and worked on the road.
Ditidaht worked hard to get money fromACRD/BC to do some of the work themselves. It was critical to get the road passable to get people out for medical appointments, supplies and getting propone into Ditidaht who run their generators on propone.
Propane trucks were refusing to use the road due to its poor condition and this was what ran the First Nation water system. This road should be in good shape at all times as an alternate route out for Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht.
I have been working on ensuring that the road will be assessed quickly and be in good condition before it opens again.
BC has taken the lead on these road repairs in partnership with Mosaic.
This has been a time to assess our emergency procedures in all our First Nation communities.
Are we prepared for emergencies be they fire, flooding, tsunamis or earthquakes?
All our communities made emergency plans years ago with First Nation Emergency Services. Do those plans need to be updated?
What have we learned from recent events?
Our capital team has been working closely with First Nations affected by the fire and a big thank you to Doug Neff and his capital team. They worked with communities to deal with issues and be prepared.
We need to work with ISC and BC to ensure we have enough and proper resources to be prepared for emergencies.
Our deepest thanks to firefighters whether they were on the ground or in the air, strategists, and everyone that helped to bring these three fires to being in control or being held. So many of our communities were at stake and many of us are still praying for rain, lower temperatures and no winds till the fires are out.
Respectfully,
Cloy-e-iis,
Judith Sayers
ActiveAll Stars
Wednesdays from July 16th –August 27th
4841 Redford Street – The Nucii Gymnasium
Every Wednesday 2:00pm – 4:00pm Drop In and join theActiveAll Stars!A fun and supportive gym program for kids aged 5+. TheActiveAll Stars supports a growth mindset, building gross motor skills, team work and positivity. For more information contact Desiree at desiree. sanderson@nuuchahnulth.org or 250724-3939 ext. 5282
President’s Message &Community Beyond
NCN Mental Health Counselling Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:30am – 4:30pm
4841 Redford Street, PortAlberni
NCN Mental Health Services – DropIn Counselling with Margaret Bird, Registered Clinical Counsellor and Play Therapist. For on and off reserve members of all ages of the Nuu-chahnulth Tribal Council. Call (250) 724-3939 to book your appointment.
Object selection wraps up in Victoria
After more than 6 months of meetings and tours at the Royal B.C. Museum’s archives, the final day of object viewing occurred at the warehouse. Canoes, and totem poles were horizontally stacked more than 60 feet high. The session involving Nelson Keitlah, Willard Gallic, Jerry Jack, Stan Smith and Helen Dick, was a guided tour given by Museum curatorial researcher Shelly Riley. “This is our history in here, and it’s a bittersweet feeling because you can
feel the power of the objects and their longing to come home. We appreciate what the museum has done in preserving many of our valuable houseposts and other objects that deteriorate with exposure to the elements,” expresses Central Region Co-chair Nelson Keitlah.After the completed viewing the process of repatriation could begin, while agreements on a possible joint exhibition with the museum had yet to be finalized.
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Reps from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation as well as various Tofino-area partners have renewed a Memorandum of Understanding first signed in 2022.
Submitted photo
First Nation and partners renew MOU stewardship
Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and the Tofino chamber partner to renew the 2022 Memorandum of Understanding
By Sam Laskaris Ha-Shilth-Sa Contributor
Tofino, BC – Officials from a Nuu-chahnulth First Nation are among those who are pleased they have renewed a noteworthy Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
It was announced in mid-August that Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, the District of Tofino, Tourism Tofino and the Tofino Chamber of Commerce have renewed an MOU first agreed upon in 2022.
The MOU reinforces the partners will collaborate and take actions to share stewardship efforts in Tla-o-qui-aht territory.
“Tla-o-qui-aht has made great progress in creating relationships with the businesses and local governments,” said Saya Masso, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation’s lands and resources director. “The renewal of our collaborative MOU creates a positive space for our efforts to incubate. Our goal is to have a functional, reciprocal relationship to the economies that occur (here).”
The renewed MOU has three key highlights.
One is that all of the parties commit to encourage local businesses to join and contribute to the Tribal ParksAllies program, a Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation stewardship initiative.
The program asks local businesses to impose a tax on their customers. That money is then turned over to Tla-o-quiaht officials for stewardship of their lands.
An issue is that the program is voluntary and not all businesses have been willing to support it.
Samantha Hackett, the executive director for the Tofino Chamber of Commerce, insists the Tribal ParksAllies program has been well received.
“I think they’ve had amazing buy in for it being a very new program,” she said.
“It’s only something that was created in the last six years I think. Right now, we’re still at the very early stage of that organization, that program, that mentality because it was the first of its kind.”
Hackett said more than 100 local businesses have signed up to be part of the program.
“There’s a bit of a misconception,” she said. “We have 700 business licenses in Tofino, which is huge. We have 2,500 residents. So, 700 business licenses is a lot. But with a lot of those, one business might have four licenses because they have a café and they do surf lessons (and other things). So, Tribal ParksAllies considers them as one ally. But the district considers them as four businesses.
“Proportionally, over 100 is actually a very significant portion.And we’re still in that early stage of just starting the program out.”
While supporting Tla-o-qui-aht’s program is a highlight of the renewed MOU, another highlight is that partners will be looking to replace it with something else. That’s because all of the partners have agreed to work together and advocate to provincial officials for a new source of funding. They are hoping to come up with a plan that would direct a portion
of visitor spending towards community infrastructure projects.
“I think the province has been recently very open to this idea,” said Dan Law, the mayor of the District of Tofino, adding other resort communities have also approached B.C. officials for a similar concept. “Tofino and Tla-o-qui-aht would like to see a new financial instrument. And it’s just a matter of finding the right fit.”
Hackett believes securing new provincial funding will be difficult.
“That’s going to be the biggest challenge,” she said. “It’s very easy for us to work together locally and understand the nuances and the uniqueness that we’re dealing with. But with the province, it’s sort of like, well, if we do something for you then we have to do something for everyone. We don’t see it that way.”
Law said Tofino reps are prepared to tackle this issue.
“There’s lots of work to do,” he said. “But I think it’s good work.And it’s moving forward and I hope to see some success.”
Myles Beeby, the president of the Tofino Chamber of Commerce, also believes the MOU and its proposed work is worthwhile.
“This renewed MOU advances our shared commitment to strengthening partnerships that support the business community, uphold local stewardship values, and recognize the responsibilities of operating within Tla-o-qui-aht territory,” said Beeby, who is the assistant general manager at Hotel Zed, a Tribal ParksAllies supporter. “Together we can continue
Tofino’s spirit of leading with purpose and action.”
Brad Parsell, the executive director of Tourism Tofino, is also among those pleased to see the MOU has been renewed.
“The original MOU really was about infrastructure and the First Nations,” he said. “Obviously, infrastructure and First Nations in Tofino are both impacted by tourism quite a bit.”
That’s why he believes it’s vital for parties to join forces and support one another.
“It is the main economic engine here for everybody that lives on the West Coast,” Parsell added. “And it is important that we nurture that industry.”
That work includes trying to find solutions to alleviate a hectic summer period where Tofino is packed with tourists.
“There are quite a lot of impacts on the community,” Parsell said. “Tourism Tofino works really, really hard to try to disperse visitation across the calendar and try to get people here in fall, winter and spring to try to take that pressure off.”
The third highlight of the renewed MOU is that the parties all support the three per cent Municipal and Regional District Tax (MRDT) renewal, in effect from 2022 through 2027.
The partners also agree to continue supporting the allocation of $400,000 annually, which started in the second year of the renewal, to assist with the debt of the district’s wastewater treatment plant and conveyance upgrades.
Totem raised at Tin Wis presents ‘natural teachings’
Pole erected at Tla-o-qui-aht owned resort stands next to another at former residential school site
By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor
Tofino, BC -At the height to Tofino’s tourism season, a large crowd gathered by the beach at Tin Wis onAug. 27 to witness the raising of a totem pole.
Standing 23 feet above the ground, the new totem accompanies another pole of equal height that was raised years ago in honour of former Indian residential school students. The Best Western Tin Wis Resort is owned by the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, standing on the last location of the Christie Indian Residential School.
Atop the new pole rests a thunderbird with spread wings, a serpent carved into each. The thunderbird rests on a whale, under which sits a human, representing the late Tla-o-qui-aht hereditary chief Ray Seitcher. Before his passing in 2012 Seitcher worked throughout the coast as a drug and alcohol councillor. On the pole the human character holds a canoe, referencing a gift the late Bill and Joe Martin carved for Seitcher.
“My dad used to speak highly of him, how he was so helpful, and talk about how ‘That guy is a real chief. He’s helping the people’,” said Joe Martin, who guided the project and decided on the characters included in the pole.
Under the man is a wolf, representing the clan that traditionally upheld the teachings of natural law, including community-imposed discipline.
“Back in those days, it was rare that anyone molested a woman or child,” said Martin of when justice had to be administered. “What would happen, is the person would be taken immediately, and the whole village would gather.”
The thunderbird’s chest reveals a crest of the sun, a sign of respect that was traditionally instilled in a person before they were born.
“When mother was carrying them, the elder would sit there and sing this lullaby, so once you were born, they would continue on with that lullaby so the little one was familiar with that. It would make them comfortable,” explained Martin.
“Once you came to the age of about 12 years old or so, when you lose all your baby teeth, then you’re initiated into the wolf clan,” he continued, noting that this applied to males and females.
The totem was carved out of a western red cedar log that was cut down over 20
years ago, and since then lay in the forest by Kennedy Lake. Joe Martin was aware of this stand for years.
“It took me three or four weeks to get it out of the bush,” he said.
After years of applications, $100,000 worth of federal grants came through last October, enabling the project to hire carvers Gordon Dick and Kelly Robinson. Since early February, the pair had worked on the piece at Dick’s gallery on the Tseshaht reserve.
“Joe shared with us what needed to be on the pole, so that’s what we ran with,” said Dick.
Many totem poles that are erected these days are lifted by crane and fixed to a steel and concrete assembly in the ground. But this project was lifted by hand, with six feet of the structure buried for it to stand permanently before the Tlao-qui-aht-owned resort. It was originally eight feet longer, but a section had to be removed from the top due to breaks and imperfections in the wood.
Dick said that he and Kelly Robinson did their best to work around any cracks in the wood and stabilize the piece. But the carver expects that this challenge will only become more common due to the difficulty in finding quality old-growth cedar.
“That’s one of the challenges that Kelly and I have been talking about for the last decade. The writing is on the wall,” said Dick. “There’s just smaller and smaller pockets of old growth standing or blown down - in this case, cut down and left.”
The new pole is one part of a 10-year, $1.2 million cultural project that Tin Wis has secured funding for. More totems are planned for the beachfront, as are other carvings.
It’s part of continuing an ancient form of communication that once sent messages from one tribe to another along the coast, explained Martin.
“These things were basically teachings of natural law,” he said. “When Europeans arrived, certainly our people were illiterate, they could not read stuff. But I say so were Europeans when they arrived here and seen all these totem poles that used to be in front of our villages. They had no idea what these things were about.”
Martin recalled stories from his father of the four poles that once stood before his family’s house. There was a pair for
and
Wis Resort
his grandfather and grandmother, then a pole for his father, which was a combination of the other two, and another for his mother, with content taken from her parent’s poles.
“All of these teachings moved across this coast through this kind of arrangement,” said Martin.
Dick looks to what the pole will mean to future generations.
“I feel that one of the bigger honours is to be part of something that’s going to be here long after I’m gone,” he said. “My little girl and maybe her children will know that I took a part.”
Eric Plummer photos
Joe Martin (left) stands with Tla-o-qui-aht Tyee Ha’wilth Hiyoueah, Raymond Seitcher,
carvers Kelly Robinson and Gordon Dick by a newly erected totem pole at the Best Western Tin
in Tofino onAug. 27.
Eric Plummer photo
Jolene Joe poses with Ciara Joseph, her baby Savannah Joseph-Frank and Wade Lindley on July 16 at Clo-oose. The Ditidaht members were exploring the area in mid July, as their nation camped nearby at Cheewaht. For Joe it was a return to where her mother, Shirley Joseph, spent the early part of her life, as Joseph was born nearby in Whyac. These sites were once regular habitations for groups of Ditidaht people before they moved to what is now their main community at the north end of Nitinaht Lake.
