Indigenous reconcilliation

CELEBRATING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY Council members and witnesses from the Hupacasath First Nation, left, and Tseshaht First Nation, right, prepare to raise their respective flags in front of Port Alberni City Hall on Monday, June 21, 2021. The flags will permanently fly as part of the city’s reconciliation work. See more coverage from the flag raising ceremony on page A5. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Hupacasath, Tseshaht First Nations flags to fly at Port Alberni City Hall

Addition of permanent Indigenous flags are a response to reconciliation

CELEBRATING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY Council members and witnesses from the Hupacasath First Nation, left, and Tseshaht First Nation, right, prepare to raise their respective flags in front of Port Alberni City Hall on Monday, June 21, 2021. The flags will permanently fly as part of the city’s reconciliation work. See more coverage from the flag raising ceremony on page A5. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Skeena MLA Ellis Ross. (Photo by Peter Versteege)

BC Liberal leadership candidate condemns ‘senseless violence’ of Okanagan church fires

Skeena MLA Ellis Ross says reconciliation isn’t about revenge for past tragedies

Skeena MLA Ellis Ross. (Photo by Peter Versteege)
Vancouver Island First Nations and others gather on the lawn of the legislature to honour the 215 children who never came home from a Kamloops residential school. The timing of the discovery will affect Victoria’s marking of July 1 as Canada Day this year. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)

Victoria cancels Canada Day events out of respect for First Nations

Reconciliation-based hour-long TV presentation to air later this summer, rather than July 1

Vancouver Island First Nations and others gather on the lawn of the legislature to honour the 215 children who never came home from a Kamloops residential school. The timing of the discovery will affect Victoria’s marking of July 1 as Canada Day this year. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)
Victoria West resident Heather Doyle beside the memorial she made to honour the 215 Indigenous children found in an unmarked, mass grave at the site of a former B.C. residential school. (Photo courtesy of VicPD)

Stuffed animal stolen from Vancouver Island memorial for residential school victims

Police have a suspect in case, replace stuffed animal and add toys to memorial

Victoria West resident Heather Doyle beside the memorial she made to honour the 215 Indigenous children found in an unmarked, mass grave at the site of a former B.C. residential school. (Photo courtesy of VicPD)
Chris Voller with Gwa’sala First Nation hereditary chief Willie Walkus at a farewell gathering for Voller. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)

Island cop earns Reconciliation Award for culturally safe and competent policing

Inaugural award given by the BC Achievement Foundation to inspire other works of reconciliation

Chris Voller with Gwa’sala First Nation hereditary chief Willie Walkus at a farewell gathering for Voller. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)
A seaweed farm installation in Klahoose First Nations Territory by Cortes Island. (Cascadia Seaweed photo)

Seaweed farming opens world of opportunity for coastal B.C.

“It’s projects like this that can show what true reconciliation is about.”

A seaweed farm installation in Klahoose First Nations Territory by Cortes Island. (Cascadia Seaweed photo)
Bob Joseph the bestselling author of ‘21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act’ has been an enabler for discourses about the Indian Act, since his 2015 blog post about the legislation went viral. (Courtesy of Vancouver Island Regional Library)

Bob Joseph: Why the Indian Act must go and Canada will be better for it

B.C. author explores the paradox of why it’s so difficult to let the act go and why it has to happen

Bob Joseph the bestselling author of ‘21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act’ has been an enabler for discourses about the Indian Act, since his 2015 blog post about the legislation went viral. (Courtesy of Vancouver Island Regional Library)
Janet Austin, lieutenant governor of British Columbia stands by a canoe carved by former lieutenant governor Steven Point. The canoe named Shxwtitostel (pronounced: Schwe-tea-tos-tel) means “a safe place to cross the river” in Halq’eméylem and is currently on display at the B.C. Legislature building. (Office of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia photo)

New award launched to celebrate champions of reconciliation in B.C.

Reconciliation Award launched by Lieutenant Governor, BC Achievement Foundation

Janet Austin, lieutenant governor of British Columbia stands by a canoe carved by former lieutenant governor Steven Point. The canoe named Shxwtitostel (pronounced: Schwe-tea-tos-tel) means “a safe place to cross the river” in Halq’eméylem and is currently on display at the B.C. Legislature building. (Office of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia photo)
Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson speaks to media during the Liberal cabinet retreat at the Fairmont Hotel in Winnipeg, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020.They blighted Indigenous lives for more than a century. Now their creation is being formally recognized as one of the events that helped shape today’s Canada The federal government has put residential schools on the official roster of National Historic Events. Two of the schools, one in Nova Scotia and one in Manitoba, have been named National Historic Sites — the first in Canada to be so marked. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Sudoma

Sites to be commemorated: Residential schools recognized as ‘historic event’

Doing so was one of the recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson speaks to media during the Liberal cabinet retreat at the Fairmont Hotel in Winnipeg, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020.They blighted Indigenous lives for more than a century. Now their creation is being formally recognized as one of the events that helped shape today’s Canada The federal government has put residential schools on the official roster of National Historic Events. Two of the schools, one in Nova Scotia and one in Manitoba, have been named National Historic Sites — the first in Canada to be so marked. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Sudoma
Keith Hunter, respected First Nations leader. (PHOTO COURTESY ANN ROBINSON)

QUINN’S QUIPS: Remembering a man with great respect

Keith Hunter’s voice of reason is missing following his death

Keith Hunter, respected First Nations leader. (PHOTO COURTESY ANN ROBINSON)
Lisa Tremblay instructs students from Bamfield Community School. (MIKE YOUDS / SPECIAL TO THE NEWS)

Portraits mask painful past of residential schools at Alberni Valley Museum

Visiting exhibition at Port Alberni’s museum open until May 8

  • Mar 17, 2020
Lisa Tremblay instructs students from Bamfield Community School. (MIKE YOUDS / SPECIAL TO THE NEWS)
Peggy Tatoosh instructs students before Strength From Within, the residential school sculpture by Connie Watts, during a cultural sharing event in School District 70 on Feb. 5, 2020. (MIKE YOUDS/ Special to the News)

Lessons from the Tseshaht longhouse: countering ignorance-based racism with knowledge

A Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation and School District 70 share their cultures during annual event

  • Feb 7, 2020
Peggy Tatoosh instructs students before Strength From Within, the residential school sculpture by Connie Watts, during a cultural sharing event in School District 70 on Feb. 5, 2020. (MIKE YOUDS/ Special to the News)
People shouted in protest and cheered in joy as the Sir John A. Macdonald statue was removed from Victoria’s City Hall on Aug. 11, 2018 (Nicole Crescenzi/News Staff)

City of Victoria considers donating Sir John A. Macdonald statue to province

In a budget meeting Mayor and Council discussed options for the controversial statue

People shouted in protest and cheered in joy as the Sir John A. Macdonald statue was removed from Victoria’s City Hall on Aug. 11, 2018 (Nicole Crescenzi/News Staff)