Local Journalism Initiative

Over 60 ancestral belongings have been returned to Tŝilhqot’in territory in British Columbia through a partnership between the Tŝilhqot’in National Government and the Museum of Vancouver. This round of repatriation is the culmination of a long process, and the repatriated items are much more than artifacts to the Tŝilhqot’in people.

Sharon Fortney, the Senior Curator of Indigenous Collections at the Museum of Vancouver, says that repatriation of artifacts is a key part of the Museum’s mission, representing a shift in philosophy for this and other museums with collections of indigenous artifacts.

Many of the items returned to Tŝilhqot’in custody can now be viewed at the Tŝilhqot’in National Government Dasiqox office in Williams Lake, and the Tŝilhqot’in National Government and the Museum of Vancouver will continue their partnership by developing an exhibit showcasing the process as an example of successful collaboration surrounding the repatriation of ancestral belongings.“Celebrating Tsilhqot’in Repatriation” will be part of an exhibition titled, The Work of Repair: Redress and Repatriation at MoV, which is scheduled to open in the spring of 2025.

Produced by Jesse Wentzloff for CJSF 90.1FM and Frequency News. Made possible through the Community Radio Fund of Canada's Local Journalism Initiative

Tšilhqot’in National Government and Museum of Vancouver Partner to Repatriate Ancestral Belongings

Upper Noons Creek Drive is a busy commuter path and the site of Mountain Meadows Elementary School, and the City of Port Moody is weighing its options to make the stretch of road safer for students, residents of the neighbourhood, and everyone who travels the route.

The Upper Noons Creek Drive Traffic Calming Study will assess traffic conditions along the road, especially in front of Mountain Meadows Elementary School, aiming to recommend changes that will reduce speeding and other unsafe behaviours; encourage neighbourhood residents to walk or use other active transportation methods; and improve the stretch of road’s the safety, comfort, and accessibility.

The City of Port Moody held a pop-up event on Tuesday, November 5th to share information and gather feedback from residents and users of Upper Noons Creek Drive. Nobinur Rahman, Transportation Engineer, and Jeff Moi, General Manager of Engineering and Operations with Port Moody, welcomed the in-person feedback and urged anyone who uses Upper Noons Creek Drive to fill out an online survey and share their thoughts at Engage.PortMoody.ca

This piece is made possible by the Community Radio Fund of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative, and is made available for broadcast by media outlets across the country at FrequencyNews.ca

Port Moody Seeks Community Input for Traffic Calming Project

The Salmon Forest is a forest school, a teaching organization using an outdoor education delivery model. It hosts week-long camps and single-day events that immerse students in the Pacific Northwest ecosystem, with salmon as the focus.
School founder Simona Chutnakova says salmon and the ecosystems they inhabit provide students opportunities to discover, imagine and be inspired in ways they might never have achieved in a typical classroom.

This Saturday, November 16th from 1-2:30PM at the Mossom Creek Hatchery & Education Centre in Port Moody, the Salmon Forest will host Homecoming: The Journey of the Salmon, a one-day hands-on opportunity for kids to try out what the forest school has to offer, including participation in a live salmon dissection.

Homecoming: Journey of the Salmon

The city of New Westminster is taking a novel approach to ongoing homelessness, substance abuse and mental health crises plaguing municipalities across the country.  

The New Westminster Crises Response Pilot Project treats the three crises as related and intersecting, instead of separate and distinct, and seeks compassionate, innovative, and goal-driven ways to address the issues through trauma-informed and culturally-appropriate approaches.

New Westminster City Council received an update on the project on November 18th, and the Crises Response Pilot Project is scheduled to continue for at least the next 21 months.

The project focuses on both immediate, shorter-term solutions like sanitation trailers and a proposed inhalation-focused safe consumption site; and on long term approaches like advocating to senior levels of government for additional housing, treatment and shelter spaces. It is also designed to be responsive to data and community feedback, and will adapt accordingly as results become available.


Crises response pilot project tackles homelessness, mental health and substance abuse

As the fall semester and harvesting season wind down, students at Burnaby’s Simon Fraser University are celebrating nature’s greatest misfits: Fungi!

On December 2nd, students in the Fungal Biology course BISC 328 prepared a wide array of presentations and interactive activities as part of the first-annual Fungi Festival. The event gave students a chance to practice their communication skills and share their passion for and knowledge about fungi with the general public.

Attendees were treated to displays including board games, fungi art, foraging guides and even a murder-mystery where participants sleuthed out which poisonous fungus was the culprit – all packed with information and educational tidbits.

This piece was made possible by the Community Radio Fund of Canada's Local Journalism Initiative, and can be found at FrequencyNews.ca


Fungi Festival sprouts up at Simon Fraser University

A collection of artifacts documenting the nearly century-long history of the Riverview Hospital and the evolution of mental health care in British Columbia is now accessible to the public through an interactive online database.

The new database makes it easy to view, search and sort the approximately 2,500 artifacts, including personal effects and clothing, arts and crafts created by patients, and institutional tools and equipment – and also allows researchers and the general public to contribute by adding information and context to the collection.

The Riverview Hospital was a mental health facility in Coquitlam, British Columbia, which operated from 1913 until 2012.

Database provides unprecedented access to Riverview Hospital artifact collection

CJSF 90.1 FM is Simon Fraser University's arts, public affairs and indie music radio station!

CJSF strives to provide points of view that are rarely expressed in mainstream media. We take pride in being an alternative to mainstream media, offering the public a forum for expressing perspectives that otherwise may not be heard.

CJSF 90.1 FM broadcasts from the Burnaby Mountain campus of Simon Fraser University to most of Greater Vancouver, from Langley to Point Grey and from the North Shore to the US Border. 

As a non-commercial station, CJSF takes pride in being an alternative to mainstream media and offers the public a forum for artists and social issues that otherwise may not receive media attention. This includes music by independent artists from a diverse range of genres and public affairs programming that addresses issues faced by marginalized or disadvantages communities. 

CJSF and all campus/community radio enables the public to create the media they want to hear. They have over 150 volunteers from the SFU and Metro Vancouver community and are always looking for new recruits to come in and make radio. 