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The Nuxalk First Nation on B.C.’s Central Coast have issued a closure notice for all recreational fishing in their territory citing provincial emergency health orders barring non-essential travel and the risk posed by COVID-19 variants.
Provincially, declining COVID-19 infection counts and increasing vaccination levels have sparked discussions about when more normal activities might resume.
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However, travel restrictions remain in place and “hunting and fishing (are) not essential,” said Peter Siwallace, a Nuxalk hereditary chief and marine-use coordinator for the Nuxalk stewardship office. “That comes from the province itself, to tell people not to travel to go recreational fishing.”
VANCOUVER CTV News Vancouver has learned a vice president and chief operating officer at Vancouver Coastal Health has been abruptly removed from her position without any explanation to staff or senior administrators, and the health authority is refusing to discuss the issue publicly. Karin Olson, who is vice president and chief operating officer of the coastal district within VCH, was removed from her positions at the end of January in a move that came as a surprise to staff who’d worked under her at Lions Gate Hospital. “This unexpected news has come as quite a shock to many of the medical staff,” reads an internal memo sent to the hospital’s medical staff on Jan. 31 and obtained by CTV News.
On Jan. 19, about 75 elders, aged 65 and older, who live on the reserve received a first dose of the vaccine from the Nuxalk health team. But the next day, the team started to face serious technical difficulties.
A VCH nurse sent an email to the Provincial Health Services Authority stating that the team was struggling with very inconsistent Wi-Fi and that she was tethering internet service from her cellphone, which posed security issues.
The nurse also said the First Nations Health Authority and VCH computer systems were not compatible, creating further issues a fact that was confirmed by Nuxalk health leaders.