Save Our Forest Comox Valley is a volunteer organization that partakes in old growth and urban forest advocacy. Photo by Madeline Dunnett/The Discourse Holding a wake for a forest may not be the most common way to spend a Saturday morning, but some Comox Valley residents gathered to do just that last weekend.  The wake was hosted by local, volunteer-run Save Our Forests Comox Valley (SOFT-CV). It invited people to come together on the unceded traditional territory of K’ómoks First Nation to mourn a patch of second growth forest off of Pritchard Road that was recently logged for developme ..read more

Takao Tanabe’s 1964 painting, Sun Over Swamp forms the title piece of Nanaimo Art Gallery’s exhibit, which opens Friday. Photo submitted by Jesse Birch It has been almost exactly 10 years since I interviewed Canadian artistic giant Takao Tanabe when I was a reporter at the now-shuttered Nanaimo Daily News. Back then, Tanabe was being acknowledged by an honorary doctorate from Vancouver Island University which celebrated his decades of work to become one of Canada’s most accomplished artists. This month, Tanabe is in the local spotlight again with his 1964 painting Sun Over Swamp, which forms ..read more

Youth and adults colour with crayons to reveal collagraph prints of fish as part of Project 84,000, a project to honour the thousands of fish that died in the Cowichan River last summer. Photo by Shalu Mehta/The Discourse When Jennifer Shepherd heard that at least 84,000 trout died in the Quw’utsun Sta’lo’ (Cowichan River) last summer due to environmental factors, she felt moved to do something. Shepherd, a community researcher with the Xwulqw’selu Connections project, considers the fish to be her relations, her kin — a teaching that is prevalent among Quw’utsun Mustimuhw (Cowichan People ..read more

Nanaimo Forest School owner Michael Geselbracht pulls English Ivy out of Colliery Dam Park. Photo by Michael Edwards English ivy woven into spiderwebs, native plant seed bombs, interpretive dance performances, storytelling and a salmon cookout are just some of the art and activities people can expect to see at the Pulling To Gather Earth Day celebration at Colliery Dam on Saturday, April 27. Organized by the Art Action Earwig Collective in partnership with the Nanaimo Forest School, the event is the culmination of a series of ivy-pulling work parties the collective have organized over the pas ..read more

Deep Water Recovery’s site on Oct. 22, 2023. Photo by Madeline Dunnett/The Discourse Since October 2023, The Discourse has been following the ship breaking occurring in Union Bay by a company called Deep Water Recovery.  The site along Highway 19A was previously a log sort, but Deep Water Recovery has been dismantling derelict barges and vessels at the location since 2020.  The site lies amongst a cross-jurisdictional mix of regulations and has received opposition from K’ómoks First Nation, a number of community members and the Comox Valley Regional District, who took the company to ..read more

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Last week, youth, Quw’utsun Elders and adults gathered along the Xwulqw’selu Sta’lo (Koksilah River), for Stth’lhnamut sqw’ulum, the First Salmon Ceremony. Along the banks of the river, near the Cowichan Estuary, those in attendance heard teachings from Quw’utsun Elders, welcomed salmon to the river and committed to stewarding it and the lands around it. The ceremony began with Qwiyahwultuhw, Elder Robert George, welcoming those in attendance. “We wanted to lay down some teachings to all the people about looking after our river, looking after our salmon, looking after our environment,” he sai ..read more

Snaw-Naw-As Chief Gordon Edwards and Premier David Eby look on as Snaw-Naw-As singer ‘Ćum’qwa:tun’ (Lawrence Mitchell) opens the event with his son Jaylen George. Photo by Julie Chadwick/The Discourse Located down a quiet street on the territory of the Snaw-Naw-As First Nation with an ocean view, the new Orca Lelum Youth Wellness Centre — which offers youth addiction services — gives off a placid spa vibe. Clean and inviting, in addition to the bedrooms which will house 20 youth, the space features a media room, outdoor sauna, gymnasium and a large meeting room for group sessions or Elder tea ..read more

A two-day festival that started as a memorial to local musician Anton Lemieux will return in May after fears it may have to be cancelled. Photo submitted by Dave Read Emotions ran high this weekend as organizers announced the cancellation — and then the un-cancellation — of Backyard Fest, a grassroots two-day music festival held in May and celebrated for its highlighting of local musicians and artists. Typically the festival is held in mid-May, but it originally started in the fall of 2017 as a memorial and celebration of life event for Anton Lemieux, who died of a fentanyl overdose in March ..read more

Deep Water Recovery, the company taking apart derelict vessels in Union Bay, has been hit with a pollution abatement order from the province.  The company is illegally allowing toxic effluent to run off into Baynes Sound and the marine environment, B.C.’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy has found.  Discharges from the ship-breaking operations are collected in sump pits, which occasionally overflow with untreated effluent. Testing of that runoff confirmed high concentrations of pollutants, including copper, iron, zinc and cadmium.  “I am satisfied with reason ..read more