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This Friday, the annual No More Stolen Sisters Memorial March will be held on Snuneymuxw territory (downtown Nanaimo).
Last year, hundreds of people came out to honour and remember missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people. Many of the people I spoke with had a personal connection to someone who had gone missing or been killed.
This year, I spoke with Lugil Wilaaysm Hanaa (Hyla McQuaid), the Indigenous student representative at the Vancouver Island University Students’ Union, about why she is helping organize the march. Like the people I spoke with at the march last year, she has had friends and family go missing and has participated in community search parties for them in her home community of Lax Kxeen, on the territory of the Smalgyax-speaking peoples, near Prince Rupert.
You can read more about the memorial march in my story below.
Thank you for reading,
Mick Sweetman
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| Nanaimo march calls for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people
| No More Stolen Sisters Memorial March to take place Friday, Feb. 13 in downtown Nanaimo.
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| Read the full story!
| | Council Corner |
The city’s Public Safety Committee will meet on Wednesday, Feb. 11. On the agenda is a presentation by RCMP insp. Donovan Tait about police priorities. Another presentation by Kasia Biegun will outline pre-zoning for social housing.
The committee will also discuss its annual report to council as well as survey results by committee members about their experience on the committee.
A regular update on the drop-in hub at 55 Victoria Rd. will be presented to the committee.
Coun. Sheryl Armstrong will give a verbal update about road and sidewalk repairs on Hammond Bay Road. The committee will also discuss allocating $350,000 to a roundabout at Hammond Bay Road and Brickyard Road.
The next city council meeting is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 23 in the Vancouver Island Conference Centre’s Shaw Auditorium at 7 p.m.
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On the Island |
| 🌊 Mike and Heather Trask’s Comox Valley-based fossil discovery in 1988 inspired a flood of amateur paleontologists. It also inspired the first paleontological society in B.C. and led to the creation of a policy to protect fossils. Comox Valley reporter Dave Flawse has the story.
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| 🌊 A seven-metre red cedar log was hauled into the Cowichan Valley Arts Council gallery this week and will soon become a canoe. Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw artist Rupert Scow will carve it live during the exhibition Many Hands — Working Together, and visitors can help carve. Cowichan Valley reporter Eric Richards has the story.
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| In other news |
👉 BC Ferries says it is reviewing data and considering solutions to address concerns about the affordability of Experience Card minimum reload amounts after facing pressure from ferry-dependent communities, including Gabriola Island. The Gabriola Sounder has the story.
👉 Nanaimo’s Unplugged Canada chapter is pushing for legislation to restrict social media access for youth under 16, citing concerns about device addiction and mental health. CHLY has the story.
👉 The City of Nanaimo is looking at pre-zoning some areas for social housing. CHLY’s Midcoast Morning spoke with Kasia Biegun from the City of Nanaimo about the proposal. You can listen here.
👉 Environmental 360 Solutions, an industrial waste management and cleaning company, has been identified as the source of an oil spill into the ocean at Duke Point in early January. Nanaimo News Now has the story. |
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📣 The Nanamo Art Gallery’s community survey is designed to help the gallery improve its services, website and the experiences of visitors. Responses will help shape future exhibitions, programs and how the gallery “shows up as a safe space for our community.” You can take the survey here.
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