Over the coming months the Senate is tasked with finalizing legislation that pledges to hold the federal government accountable in improving Canada’s relationship with its Indigenous peoples.
But the day after Bill C-29 was unanimously passed by the House of Commons, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami withdrew support for the legislation, while another national organization advocating for off-reserve Indigenous people stands against the act.
With the aim of thinning out the commercial fishing fleet to lessen its strain on threatened salmon stocks, the DFO has announced another round of licence buy backs, including an upcoming program that encourages First Nations’ communal operations to transition to other species of fish.
A review of the province’s handling of the pandemic has painted a positive picture, but the recent report also notes that relations with First Nations could have been better as the government dealt with COVID-19.
A murder in Port Alberni’s poorest neighbourhood has raised the urgency for an upcoming development that will house the city’s marginalized residents.
Just before 9 p.m. on Dec. 2 police found three people injured from knife wounds, with one person who was killed during the incident on Port Alberni’s lower 4th Avenue. Police tape was put up at a unit in the Wintergreen Apartments, a building next to an empty lot full of run-down trailers being rented for low rates.
As B.C. continues to struggle with an overdose crisis and its underlying contributing factors tied to mental health, the provincial government has announced a new focus on youth to “prevent small problems from turning into big ones.”
With a recent executive order banning commercial fish farms in Washington State waters, British Columbia is left as the only jurisdiction on the North Pacific coast to still have large-scale, industrial finfish aquaculture.
And now the industry faces an approaching deadline to make “a responsible plan to transition from open net pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia by 2025,” according to a mandate from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
One year after an advisory panel warned that a large proportion of B.C.’s oldest forest is at risk, the province is reporting the lowest levels of old growth logging on record.
B.C.’s police watchdog has ruled out criminal charges from a fatal RCMP shooting in Opitsaht last year, but those affected by the tragedy will have to wait until an upcoming trial is completed for reasons why the officer is being cleared.
Considered “the most harmful form of debris to sea life”, the DFO plans to improve the reporting of lost and discarded fishing gear in the coming years, with millions set aside for collecting equipment left from commercial operations.
In an effort to keep more Indigenous children out of the foster care system, a transitional living facility is coming to Port Alberni to support mothers and their young ones.