Occupants wondering when things will get better The new owners of Highland Manor are making some progress toward improving safety and living conditions as promised. But improvements are sometimes undone within hours, leaving tenants wondering if things will indeed get better. Greg Vance, who bought the building with business partner Mario Morrison in February, said […]
North Island
First Nations’ vaccination clinics a big success
Between the three clinics, over 600 people were vaccinated in early March ZOE DUCKLOW, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER Mar. 10, 2021 5:30 a.m. Nurse Alexa Bisaillon waits with needle prepped for her next immunization patient at Wakas Community Hall on the Tsulquate Reserve. (Zoë Ducklow photo) Vaccines arrived on the North Island after a long […]
True extent of homelessness on North Island unknown
Mt. Waddington Health Network prepping a survey to get the full picture ZOE DUCKLOW, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER Feb. 11, 2021 10:52 a.m. Apartments in Port Hardy. (Zoë Ducklow photo) Even though it just completed an intensive housing needs assessment, the Regional District of Mount Waddington still can’t say how many people are experiencing homelessness, […]
Infamous Highland Manor sold to Creekside owners
New owners promise to improve living standards in the run-down apartment ZOE DUCKLOW, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER Feb. 9, 2021 12:48 p.m. An infamous apartment building in Port Hardy has a new owner, and with that, hopes of improved living conditions. Highland Manor, a 41-year-old, 50-unit building has been called a fire hazard. It has […]
Families displaced by fire still looking for housing
The suspicious January fire dispossessed 15 families in Port Hardy ZOE DUCKLOW, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER Feb. 3, 2021, 3:52 p.m. Published in the North Island Gazette Two weeks after a fire ripped through an apartment in Port Hardy, the six families still looking for new homes are drawing attention to the housing shortage on […]
Sisiyutł serpent ready for the new Bighouse
The triple-headed serpent is one of several intricate carvings artists have made for the Bighouse ZOE DUCKLOW, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER Jan. 28, 2021, 5:30 a.m. In the carving shed on the Tsulquate reserve there are four house posts and two cross beams, carved and painted. Lying flat they are like slumbering monsters, each measuring […]
‘Suspicious’ Port Hardy apartment fire could keep tenants out of their homes for months
A burning mattress created smoke and heat, causing several tenants to jump from windows ZOE DUCKLOW, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER Jan. 19, 2021 1:57 p.m. A hallway fire that ousted dozens of people from their homes late Sunday is considered suspicious, say RCMP, and an investigation is ongoing. The fire started in the second floor […]
Backwards tray results in 12 misinformed COVID-19 testees
Six negative and six positive results were linked to the wrong names on the North Island ZOE DUCKLOW, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER Dec. 11, 2020 5:30 a.m. Amid a flurry of tests and publicized COVID-19 cases, 12 test results on the North Island were mixed up, causing six people to mistakenly be told they were […]
Kwakiutl First Nation angry at logging in Douglas Treaty land
The nation is calling on government to honour the Douglas Treaty ZOE DUCKLOW, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER Dec. 4, 2020 8:30 a.m Kwakiutl First Nation’s Chief and Council are calling on the government to stop Western Forest Products (WFP) from logging on Douglas Treaty land, a two-mile-thick strip of shoreline between Port McNeill and Port […]
Remembering the Forgotten War in Coal Harbour
The little hangar museum has seen it all, from submarine threats to whaling to quiet hamlet life ZOE DUCKLOW, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER Nov. 11, 2020 5:30 a.m. Sitting at the huge lazy susan table in the RCAF room, Joel Eilersten flips through a book that tells of the military history on the West Coast. […]