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May 2012: Year in review

A collection of the top stories from this month last year.
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Norman Walkus-Janssen of Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw School dances before a large crowd at the school's 15th anniversary Yayuma.

The Mt. Waddington Local Working Group established last Fall to develop a community-led plan to strengthen and stabilize health services in Mt. Waddington presented its report and recommendations this week to senior leaders with the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

“VIHA welcomes the Local Working Group’s (LWG) report and recommendations and we are committed to supporting accessible and sustainable health care services on the North Island, recognizing that additional measures are urgently needed in these more rural and remote areas,” said Dr. Bob Burns, Executive Medical Director, Population and Community Health.

Mere weeks after the B.C. Teachers Federation voted to withdraw teachers from extra-curricular activities, jeopardizing planned field trips for students, the Camp Homewood trip was back on — albeit without teachers.

When notified the teachers would not be taking part in the overnight field trips, and that funds raised by the students for the trips would be held by School District 85, several Sunset parents reacted angrily.

Following a hastily called meeting with parents, administrators at Sunset Elementary School  decided the field trips would take place as scheduled, with administrators taking on supervisory roles.

Less than two months after being told their jobs were going to disappear, employees of the Fields department stores in Port Hardy and Port McNeill gained a bit of job security.

Vancouver-based FHC Holdings Ltd. announced its purchase of 57 Fields stores province-wide. The outlets were among those that had been slated for closure by the previous owner, Hudson's Bay Company.

The Honourable Steven L. Point, B.C.'s Lieutenant Governor and a Grand Chief of the Stó:lo First Nation, was treated to dancing at the Kwakiutl Big House and addressed band members before being guided on a walking tour of the community.

"Inside a building like this, the children can learn their history and culture," Point said while admiring the Big House. "They can hear their language spoken. In this house the stories are passed down to the children, and I know that history continues."

A North Island Secondary School graduate won an award for his carpentry project at The Skills Canada Competition in Abbotsford B.C. and qualified to compete in the Skills Canada National Competition.

Morgan Brown, a third-year student and apprentice carpenter at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, won gold in the post-secondary carpentry category. He was up against apprentices from other major post secondary training schools for apprentice carpenters in B.C. Judging was based on knowledge, quality and speed.