Each week at Global BC we highlight our stories to bring a bright spot to your Friday and into the weekend.
Here are the five stories we want to share:
‘Gathering around culture’: 2 B.C. powwows return for Father’s Day
Families across Canada celebrated the role of grandfathers, fathers and sons last weekend, including two special events in B.C.: Father’s Day powwows in both Vancouver and Williams Lake.
Powwows create spaces for Indigenous people to celebrate and honour longstanding traditions, and for non-Indigenous people to connect with the culture and people in their communities.
Song and dance are the essence of the event with seven traditional dances being performed over the weekend.
Beyond the intricacy of the dancers’ vibrant regalia lies deep cultural meaning with each outfit and every movement telling an important story.
“We are seeing those kids and youth putting those regalias on,” Williams Lake First Nation Chief Willie Sellars said.
“We are also seeing everyone out there and having a good time in a healthy atmosphere. Gathering around culture, gathering around ceremony.”
Vancouver Island’s critical Highway 4 to reopen ahead of schedule Friday
A critical highway linking west coast communities to the rest of Vancouver Island has reopened ahead of schedule following a multi-week closure due to wildfire.
The B.C. Ministry of Transportation announced Highway 4 will reopen to single-lane alternating traffic at 3 p.m. on Friday. Officials had initially estimated the earliest the route would open was June 24 or 25.
Highway 4 was closed on June 6 due to the Cameron Bluffs wildfire.
With the road closed, coastal communities were left to rely on a treacherous multi-hour detour via an industrial logging road, limiting supplies and starving businesses and tour operators of revenue at a critical time of year.
The road is not expected to fully reopen until mid July.
Organizers hit fundraising home run to bring Ukrainian softball team to B.C.
Organizers of an annual global women’s softball tournament have hit a fundraising home run, raking in enough cash to bring a Ukrainian national team to Surrey to compete.
The Canada Cup, held between July 7 and 16 at Softball City, is set to be the largest of its kind in Canadian history, with more than 1,500 elite athletes from around the world.
Athletes on the Ukrainian Women’s Junior National Softball Team, scattered across Ukraine and Poland as a result of Russia’s incursion, will now be able to attend, thanks to the efforts of hundreds of local donors.
The goal was to raise $60,000 — a sum reached in less than two weeks with help from the City of Surrey, a handful of businesses and more than 500 individual donors.
‘This is my only purpose now’: B.C. recovery programs help parents get clean
After years of alcohol and opioid use, B.C. couple Jean-Pol and Tausha are getting their lives back on track after the birth of their daughter Abbey.
“We did it for our daughter,” Tausha said.
“She was the prime motivator, the initiator. She went and got help and I was left on my own. I was lonely and sad,” said Jean-Pol.
When Tausha got pregnant, she got help from the BC Women’s Hospital Families in Recovery program (FIR), which is the only program of its kind in Canada.
“When we admit a patient into our unit, we are essentially admitting the whole family,” said Darci Skiber, a BC Women’s Hospital Families in Recovery spokesperson.
The couple was then able to connect with Together We Can, a treatment program for partners of patients in the FIR program.
The two have set new goals for themselves, with Tausha working on her high school diploma and wanting to become a nurse. John-Pol is lining up work in entry-level machinery operations.
Okanagan’s 1st cat café opens its doors, hopes to help felines find homes
A new café has opened in Kelowna — but this one offers a lot more than just coffee and baked goods.
“This is a place where you can come and hang out with rescued and adoptable cats,” said café owner Ashley Karnes.
Called Catelowna, the cat café is just the fourth in all of B.C.
Years in the making, the downtown cafe officially opened on Thursday, and Hanna Hamaguchi was the cafe’s first customer.
“Everything is so cute, there are so many scratching posts, all these shelves on the wall,” she said.
Customers can come in and enjoy a cup of coffee while enjoying the company of cats. And if they make the right connection they can apply to adopt a feline friend and give them a fur-ever home.