Latest news with #Tofino
CBC
13 hours ago
- CBC
Chantel Moore's mother walks 33 km in B.C. on anniversary of daughter's killing by police
A couple of months after Chantel Moore, 26, was shot and killed by Edmundston Police during a wellness check in New Brunswick in 2020, Moore's mother and daughter were sitting in a Subway when an RCMP officer walked in. "She was beside me, trembling, this little six-year-old shaking, asking 'Are the police going to kill us?'" said Moore's mother, Martha Martin. Martin, a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation in B.C., said the moment in the sandwich shop led her to try and create a safer world for her granddaughter, and to honour her daughter's memory. She and other community members spent June 4 — the fifth anniversary of Moore's death — on a 33-kilometre memorial walk from the Tofino-Ucluelet Junction to Tofino, B.C. Martin said she chose to hold the walk on Vancouver Island rather than near her home in New Brunswick because of the difference in her relationship with local police in both places. "Right now I'm still not comfortable doing these kinds of demonstrations within the province of New Brunswick," Martin said. She pointed to the killings of Rodney Levi in 2020 and Iggy Dedam in 2024, who were both killed by RCMP in New Brunswick during mental health crises. In an emailed statement to CBC Indigenous, Edmundston Police Chief Steve Robinson said that the force is working to build relationships based on trust and co-operation, and that most staff have received cultural sensitivity training. "In regards to wellness checks, our Police Force is now equipped with body cameras and the mobile crisis service is regularly called upon when it is needed," he said in the statement. They have also hired a full-time outreach worker, Robinson said. An Indigenous-led crisis intervention team was operating in New Brunswick when Dedam was shot by RCMP but the team was not alerted by police until after Dedam was killed. 'A safer feeling' In order to feel comfortable holding an event for Moore in New Brunswick, Martin said she would like to have more conversations about the impacts of police violence which she says hasn't happened with any forces other than the Victoria Police Department (VicPD). "Being out here [in B.C.] and being able to work alongside [Victoria police] Chief Del Manak, there's a little bit of a safer feeling here than what it would be in New Brunswick," she said. Manak, who's been chief of VicPD for nearly a decade, said the department worked hard to build a relationship with Martin over the years since Moore was killed. They first met in-person at Saxe Point Park not long after Moore's death, when the community planned to hold a rally for her at the B.C. legislature. That began a years-long relationship where they mourned Moore and improved wellness checks, he said. Martin said she initially approached with skepticism, but when she saw follow-through, the relationship evolved. "The beauty of the relationship for me as the police chief was that Martha was the driving force behind making positive change in the Victoria Police Department in how police respond to mental health calls," Manak said. Manak said VicPD launched a new way to conduct wellness checks where a plainclothes officer works with a mental health clinician from the local health authority, and that the program is one of the highlights of his 35-year career. Manak also said he was struck by how little anyone seemed to listen to Martin after the deaths of her daughter and son. Max Martin, 23, died in an apparent suicide while in police custody six months after his sister's death. "Martha was a grieving mom and she just wanted answers," Manak said. "People weren't willing to give her the time to listen to her story and all I did was meet with her for an hour and a half and that really changed how I felt." Martin said she thinks it helps for police and other officials to understand the long term impacts violence does to families, and being able to tell her story has helped make positive change. "That gave me hope that, if we can get this done in Victoria, we can get this done across Canada," Martin said.
CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Salmon recovery gets funding boost
The Pacific Salmon Foundation is helping push a major salmon habitat restoration project near Tofino over the finish line with $100,000 in financial support.
CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
West Coast salmon habitat restoration earns financial boost, support toward completion
The Pacific Salmon Foundation is helping push a major salmon habitat restoration project near Tofino over the finish line with $100,000 in financial support. ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ (Tla-o-qui-aht) First Nation has been leading the recovery of a salmon watershed at Tranquil Creek, in partnership with Redd Fish Restoration Society. 'We're really excited. This is one of the bigger projects we've ever taken on and having it properly and thoroughly funded means we don't cut corners. We don't have to do things less than we intended,' says Redd Fish restoration biologist, Tom Balfour. The multi-million-dollar project is in its eighth and final year of work. The groups are addressing historical impacts of forestry by recreating necessary log jams for salmon. 'That's been a restoration technique for a long time, but the difference for us here is working at a very larger scale,' says Balfour. 'At the end of this project, we're going to put over a thousand second-growth cedar conifers, cedar spruce hemlocks, into this river just replacing a process that was lost.' According to Pacific Salmon Foundation, the project has restored more than 40 hectares of riparian habitat, planted 800 trees and installed 41 log jams. There are another 18 engineered log jams that are needed. 'Around the world, people are working hard to save and restore wild salmon,' says PSF CEO and president, Michael Meneer, in a news release. 'These fish – both Pacific and Atlantic – need our help. By working together, we can raise awareness for the challenges wild salmon face and help drive meaningful change.' Balfour says the new funding will help address some unexpected financial hurdles – such as harsh winter weather eroding logging roads, which cost more money to maintain to access the site.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
‘See how cool it can be': B.C. engineer inspired to make music video about wastewater treatment plant
Adam finds out the story behind an engineer who was inspired to write a song and film a music video about wastewater treatment. Adam finds out the story behind an engineer who was inspired to write a song and film a music video about wastewater treatment. NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. – When Sarah Ries was young, she felt like she was living a real-life Disney movie. 'I actually wore a Cinderella dress throughout my whole kindergarten, every day,' Sarah smiles. She would also constantly carry around a toy tape recorder and microphone, so she could sing along to all the songs from 'The Little Mermaid.' 'But (my younger self) had dreams of doing something bigger,' Sarah says. So Sarah paused performing until after she realized her dream of becoming an engineer, specializing in wastewater. 'When we developed sanitation, it was the biggest improvement in public health,' Sarah says. 'So (wastewater management) is super essential to human health.' Sarah's first big job was working on the construction of a new wastewater treatment facility in Tofino. She was so passion about the project, she decided to write a song about it. 'I know that most people just flush and no one ever thinks about it,' Sarah explains. 'So I thought (a song) was a good opportunity to tell people what's going on.' Sarah then summoned up the courage to play her 'Wastewater Song' at a local open mic night hosted by Geoff Johnson. 'She came in the first time,' Geoff says. 'And I thought, 'Oh. This is a little bit weird.'' But the next times, Geoff really listened to Sarah's thoughtful lyrics, noticed the enthusiastic response from the audience, and was so impressed, he pitched the possibility of making a music video 'There was a version of the video that had laser sounds zapping bacteria and they would explode,' Geoff says of the creative process. '(There were) little poop emojis dancing around and stuff like that.' But in the end, Geoff and Sarah choose to produce a more professional product. It features drone shots and behind-the-scenes mechanical backdrops, while Sarah plays guitar and sings about the plant's process. While the lyrics offer practical and scientific details about wastewater management, like 'You may not know it, the system is aerobic,' 'Organics get eaten in a vat of bacteria,' and 'We blast it with UV for disinfecting,' the chorus poses the comical question, 'Who's dealing with your s#!t?' The girl who wore fairytale dresses and sang 'Under The Sea' has grown up to don personal protective equipment and showcase the complex process of keeping human waste out of the sea. While it's unlikely a song about treating 'number two' will hit No. 1 on the music charts, Sarah does hope — like the fairytales with morals she once loved — her and Geoff's work both entertains and educates. 'For people to hear at least once how their wastewater is more than many have heard before,' Sarah smiles, before revealing the final lyric of the song. 'I hope you can see how cool it can be.'
