First Nations

Kwakiutl First Nation master carver Stan Hunt’s 18-foot monument to Indigenous children who were abused and died while attending residential schools is taking shape and nearly ready to be painted. (Megyn Williams photo)

B.C. residential school monument ‘asking for these children’s spirits to come home’

North Island master carver finishing 18-foot work in remembrance of residential school children

 

Program manager Ben Whitby shows a similar type of buoy-based wave data collection platform to the one that will be deployed in the waters off Yuquot at the University of Victoria’s Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery (PRIMED) lab in North Saanich March 3. (Austin Westphal/News Staff) Program manager Ben Whitby shows a similar type of buoy-based wave data collection platform to the one that will be deployed in the waters off Yuquot at the University of Victoria’s Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery (PRIMED) lab in North Saanich March 3. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

Researchers hope B.C. First Nation can ride the waves to reclaim their ancestral home

Wave-powered renewable energy microgrid to power Mowachaht/Muchalaht return to Nootka Island

 

Leslie Varley, executive director of BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, says a Hyatt Regency Vancouver employee denied a cultural advisor and staff member of BCAAFC access to a washroom, causing a “public and humiliating” incident. The hotel has since publicly apologized. (Screen cap)

Vancouver Hyatt Regency apologizes to First Nations group after alleged discrimination

BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres welcomes apology, but won’t use hotel for event

 

Haisla Nation Chief Crystal Smith at a news conference in Vancouver speaking about the Cedar LNG project approval on March 14, 2023 (Jane Skrypnek).

B.C. approves LNG facility in Kitimat; to be majority owned by Haisla Nation

Cedar LNG expected to produce about 3 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year

Haisla Nation Chief Crystal Smith at a news conference in Vancouver speaking about the Cedar LNG project approval on March 14, 2023 (Jane Skrypnek).
Jessica McCallum-Miller at the Longhouse at Coast Mountain College after winning the Governor General’s Award for diversity and inclusion. (Submitted photo to The Terrace Standard)

City seeks to mediate human rights complaint by Indigenous former councillor

Settlement with Terrace’s first Indigenous councillor being negotiated

Jessica McCallum-Miller at the Longhouse at Coast Mountain College after winning the Governor General’s Award for diversity and inclusion. (Submitted photo to The Terrace Standard)
Gitxsan blockade of CN rail lines near New Hazelton in early 2020 erected in support of Wet’suwet’en opposition to the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline. (File photo)

Chiefs ban RCMP’s ‘militarized’ squadron from Gitxsan lands

Community-Industry Response Group not welcome on Gitxsan lands, say chiefs

Gitxsan blockade of CN rail lines near New Hazelton in early 2020 erected in support of Wet’suwet’en opposition to the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline. (File photo)
Mowi Canada West salmon farm. (Mowi photo)

B.C. First Nations reject continued fish farming in the Broughton Archipelago

Three First Nations announce their call on region’s last 7 fish farms through consent-based processes

Mowi Canada West salmon farm. (Mowi photo)
Drummers sing as they walk into the Sts’ailes Lhawathet Lalem (Healing House) on Friday, March 3. (Adam Louis/Observer)

PHOTOS: ‘This beautiful work’: Sts’ailes First Nation welcomes 29 baskets home

Ancestral baskets repatriated to First Nation from Kilby Historic Site

Drummers sing as they walk into the Sts’ailes Lhawathet Lalem (Healing House) on Friday, March 3. (Adam Louis/Observer)
Ceremonies that included songs, dances, and traditional regalia were performed by Nisga’a and other First Nations from across B.C. March 3 2023. (Photo Alex Antrobus)

PHOTOS: Nisga’a find a home away from home at Hoobiyee celebrations in Vancouver

Standing in the presence of it all, you can’t help but feel like this year’s harvest will be a good one

Ceremonies that included songs, dances, and traditional regalia were performed by Nisga’a and other First Nations from across B.C. March 3 2023. (Photo Alex Antrobus)
Ceremonies that included songs, dances, and traditional regalia were performed by Nisga’a and other First Nations from across B.C. March 3 2023. (Photo Alex Antrobus)

PHOTOS: Nisga’a find a home away from home at Hoobiyee celebrations in Vancouver

Standing in the presence of it all, you can’t help but feel like this year’s harvest will be a good one

Ceremonies that included songs, dances, and traditional regalia were performed by Nisga’a and other First Nations from across B.C. March 3 2023. (Photo Alex Antrobus)
Chrissie John (ḥakaƛ) and her partner are committed to teaching their two young children their First Nations language as they grow up. The family is part of an increasing number of First Nations people in B.C. who are working to reclaim their mother tongues. (Submitted photo)

Taking back identity: New learners fight to keep First Nations languages in B.C. alive

Number of fluent speakers declining, but new learners on the rise

Chrissie John (ḥakaƛ) and her partner are committed to teaching their two young children their First Nations language as they grow up. The family is part of an increasing number of First Nations people in B.C. who are working to reclaim their mother tongues. (Submitted photo)
The NK’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course presents stunning views of the South Okanagan Valley. (nkmipcanyon.ca)

B.C.’s first Indigenous Golf Championship tees off in South Okanagan

The event, hosted at Nk’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course, will see 128 golfers compete

The NK’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course presents stunning views of the South Okanagan Valley. (nkmipcanyon.ca)
Family, friends and hereditary chiefs gather in a ceremony in Victoria on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, to witness the historical repatriation of the Nuxalk Nation totem pole after years of effort to release the pole back to the nation from the Royal BC Museum. The pole that embodies the history and culture of the Nuxalk Nation is being welcomed back to its ancestral home in Bella Coola, more than 100 years after it was taken. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Celebration marks repatriation of B.C. totem to Nuxalk Nation after century-long wait

Dancing and feasting to accompany return of totem pole to its home in Bella Coola Monday

Family, friends and hereditary chiefs gather in a ceremony in Victoria on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, to witness the historical repatriation of the Nuxalk Nation totem pole after years of effort to release the pole back to the nation from the Royal BC Museum. The pole that embodies the history and culture of the Nuxalk Nation is being welcomed back to its ancestral home in Bella Coola, more than 100 years after it was taken. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
First Nations LNG Alliance former board member Chief Dan George, chief executive officer Karen Ogen and board member Chief Clifford White in Victoria in front of the Legislative Buildings in 2018. (File photo)

Energy companies sign up with First Nations LNG Alliance

Blend of industry and First Nations called a significant move

First Nations LNG Alliance former board member Chief Dan George, chief executive officer Karen Ogen and board member Chief Clifford White in Victoria in front of the Legislative Buildings in 2018. (File photo)
John Woodworth and Hälle Flygare at the bronze plaque placed on a granite boulder east of Burnt Bridge Creek in Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park on July 31, 1988 when the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail was dedicated as a provincial heritage site. (Photo courtesy of Halle Flygare)

Efforts afoot to correctly identify one leg of Alexander Mackenzie’s 1793 travels near Bella Coola

Hälle Flygare of Canmore, Alta. has been documenting, researching the trail for decades

John Woodworth and Hälle Flygare at the bronze plaque placed on a granite boulder east of Burnt Bridge Creek in Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park on July 31, 1988 when the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail was dedicated as a provincial heritage site. (Photo courtesy of Halle Flygare)
Chief Grace George with the Katzie First Nation wants Trans Mountain Corporation to stop work on Katzie First Nation territory. (The News files)

B.C. First Nation orders Trans Mountain to stop work on their land

Katzie First Nation claims work at two sites is being done without proper notice or consultation

Chief Grace George with the Katzie First Nation wants Trans Mountain Corporation to stop work on Katzie First Nation territory. (The News files)
TNDC crews working at Red Chris, summer 2021 (Photo courtesy of TNDC)

Heavy equipment training program coming to Tahltan First Nation

Program hopes to remove barriers preventing Tahltans from accessing in-territory employment

TNDC crews working at Red Chris, summer 2021 (Photo courtesy of TNDC)
Advocates took to Highway 16 in Terrace on Valentine’s Day alongside the families of missing and murdered people. (Michael Bramadat-Willcock/Terrace Standard)

Making sure they’re not forgotten

Group walks in solidarity with grieving families

Advocates took to Highway 16 in Terrace on Valentine’s Day alongside the families of missing and murdered people. (Michael Bramadat-Willcock/Terrace Standard)
A totem pole is removed and lowered from the Royal B.C. Museum on Feb. 13 as Nuxalk Nation members and others watch on. The totem pole is being repatriated to the Bella Coola territory, its original home before it was taken. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)

PHOTOS: Nuxalk chief ‘teary-eyed’ as totem pole removed from Royal B.C. Museum

Sacred item’s return to Bella Coola will help bring back their stories, says hereditary chief

A totem pole is removed and lowered from the Royal B.C. Museum on Feb. 13 as Nuxalk Nation members and others watch on. The totem pole is being repatriated to the Bella Coola territory, its original home before it was taken. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)
Snuxyaltwa (Snooks-yell-twa) totem to the Nuxalk Nation of Bella Coola before it was removed in 1913. (Photo submitted)

Coming home: A history of the Nuxalk totem and its return to Bella Coola

More than 100 Nuxalk are expected to travel to Victoria Feb. 13

  • Feb 6, 2023
Snuxyaltwa (Snooks-yell-twa) totem to the Nuxalk Nation of Bella Coola before it was removed in 1913. (Photo submitted)