Nanaimo news

• Blind Hockey returning to Victoria with help from Royals

  19-10-2026 18:30 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  An oversized steel puck filled with ball bearings will take centre ice in Victoria.
  Canadian Blind Hockey and the Victoria Royals are teaming up to bring an adapted version of Canada’s game to the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. A Try Skating and Blind Hockey event will take place on Oct. 21 for anyone in the community who is blind or partially sighted.
  Volunteers from the Royals will hit the ice alongside the new Victoria Canucks Blind Hockey Team, an all-ages program supported by the Canu
  
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• Obama-backed doc film focused on Ghana produced by woman with B.C. roots

  30-10-2026 20:36 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  Surrey-raised filmmaker Nana Adwoa Frimpong produced The Eyes of Ghana, an acclaimed documentary executive-produced by U.S. presidential couple Barack and Michelle Obama, Higher Ground founders.
  The 90-minute feature doc explores the life and work of 93-year-old Ghanaian filmmaker Chris Hesse, whose archive chronicles Ghana’s early years as a sovereign nation.
  Hesse served as personal cameraman to Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president. As his eyesight faded, Hesse rescued more than 1,000 fi
  
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• Victoria owl attacks spark safety warning

  30-10-2026 20:31 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  The City of Victoria has issued a safety warning after an owl attacked the same person twice in three days.
  On Oct. 4, bylaw staff received a complaint about a barred owl attacking a resident on the shared pedestrian and bike walkway along Dallas Road, between Douglas Road and the Beacon Hill Park Road exit.
  Signage was subsequently installed to raise awareness for park users regarding an “aggressive” barred owl in the area.
  “This activity is common and is typically a result of territory e
  
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• Province clears residents of Penticton encampment off Highway 97

  30-10-2026 20:15 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  Work to clear an encampment of unhoused people off Highway 97 in Penticton following a court-ordered injunction is underway as of Oct. 30.
  Those living in the encampment had just over 96 hours to prepare to leave after Justice Briana Hardwick granted the provincial government an injunction barring occupation of the highway dedication at the intersection with Fairview Road.
  The province launched its legal action in February, citing dangerous conditions including fires and the proximity to one of
  
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• Eye in the sky: Saanich police may use drones over UVic this Halloween

  30-10-2026 19:50 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  The Saanich Police Department anticipates using drones to surveil for safety reasons this Halloween.
  Officers anticipate using its Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) at the University of Victoria during Halloween weekend, to help ensure public safety on campus.“If deployed, the aircraft will be flown in a public space in accordance with privacy legislation, federal aviation requirements, Transport Canada guidelines, and departmental policy,” the department said in a news release. “The
  
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• Dark chapter in Canada’s history remembered on National Internment Day

  30-10-2026 19:03 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  On the outskirts of MacDonald Park near Vernon, B.C.’s Seaton Secondary School, a monument has stood since 1997. It commemorates a chapter in the city’s history that needs to be remembered.
  So say the folks who have cared for the Vernon Internment Camp monument and had it replaced a few years ago. Those people and others gathered at the monument on National Internment Commemoration Day Wednesday, Oct. 28, to share words about a local First World War-era injustice and the lessons that can be
  
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• Patricia Annette Husband (Knott, Brotherstone, Tennant)

  30-10-2026 18:27 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  In Loving Memory ~
  January 26, 1937 ~ September 26, 2026
  It is with hearts full of love and sadness that we say goodbye to our treasured mom.
  We will love and miss you forever. Judi, Wayne, Sharon, Shelley and Kathleen.
  “No Rain, No Rainbows”
  
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• Cumberland man who pleaded guilty to fatal 2024 hit-and-run faces life in prison

  30-10-2026 18:23 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  A two-day sentencing hearing began for Cumberland man Steven Squires on Oct. 29, in a Courtenay, B.C. Supreme Court.On Sept. 8, Squires entered a guilty plea to second degree murder after a fatal 2024 hit-and-run collision with cyclist Rod Kelly on the Comox Valley Parkway near Minto Road. A passerby found Kelly and called 911, but the cyclist died from his injuries after being taken to hospital.
  The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit took control of the investigation. The unit asked a
  
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• Ladysmith, Nanaimo RCMP ask for witnesses in case of indecent act

  30-10-2026 17:55 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  Ladysmith and Nanaimo RCMP are asking anyone who may have witnessed suspicious behaviour in the case of a man alleged to have committed an indecent act near the Nanaimo River in September to contact police.
  At about 3 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 7 a woman reported seeing an adult man commit an indecent act while she was recreating near the Nanaimo River. The incident took place in the area just north of Spruston Road, close to the boundary between the two RCMP jurisdictions.
  The suspect is described a
  
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• Nanaimo RCMP offers safety tips for Halloween

  30-10-2026 17:49 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  Nanaimo RCMP wants to make Halloween fun for everyone, so they are offering tips to keep people safe.
  In a press release, Nanaimo RCMP reminded people that on Saturday, Oct. 31, within city limits, fireworks may only be lawfully possessed or discharged with prior approval and the appropriate permit issued by Nanaimo Fire Rescue.
  Firecrackers, however, are prohibited, and it’s illegal to possess, sell, or detonate firecrackers in the city. Individuals found using firecrackers in a dangerous man
  
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• Bonnie Oressia Kinnaird

  30-10-2026 17:12 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  In Loving Memory ~
  Bonnie Oressia was born in Shaunavon, SK on March 5, 1948 to Emma(nee Jacobson) and Percy Langille. Bonnie was their third child. She got her schooling in Ravenscrag and Maple Creek, SK. As a young teenager she started in the hospitality business as a waitress at Maple Creek’s 1 & 21 Family Restaurant. There with the help of Bert, her future father-in-law who poured the coffee, she was able to handle 2-3 Greyhound busloads of people during their very early morning stops.
  
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• Historian hopes to save heritage apple tree in south Nanaimo

  30-10-2026 17:00 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  Ruby Smith Díaz is on a mission to save what may be one of the last remaining original Stark apple trees in south Nanaimo.
  Smith Diaz, an afrolatina educator, historian, artist, and award-winning author, said the tree is on private land in the Chase River area that is expected to be developed soon, and she’s been working and researching hard to establish that the tree, which she thinks is more than 100 years old, is a Stark apple tree that was once located on the approximately 365-acre apple
  
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• Newlyweds face long recovery after devastating Saanich crash

  30-10-2026 14:31 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  A Greater Victoria couple is facing an uncertain future after a serious head-on collision in Saanich left one of them with life-altering injuries.
  Miranda and Josh Shaffer were involved in a two-vehicle collision on West Saanich Road on Tuesday, Oct. 27, leaving Miranda hospitalized with multiple serious injuries.
  According to a GoFundMe campaign organized by Miranda’s brother, Marty Milner, she suffered a brain bleed, two broken bones in her neck, a broken hand and foot, and multiple head lac
  
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• Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district grapples with permanent daylight saving time

  30-10-2026 13:30 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  With the B.C. government eliminating “fall back” clock adjustments, Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools’ officials are examining student safety with anticipated darker mornings in the coming months.
  Unlike others in the Pacific time zone, British Columbians will not set clocks an hour back on Saturday, Nov. 1, and at a Wednesday, Oct. 28 meeting, school trustees were informed about measures staff are taking, with “sunrise [occurring] after the start of the school day during portions of wint
  
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• Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district adjusting to permanent daylight saving time

  30-10-2026 13:30 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  With the B.C. government eliminating “fall back” clock adjustments, Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools’ officials are examining student safety with anticipated darker mornings in the coming months.
  Unlike others in the Pacific time zone, British Columbians will not set clocks an hour back on Saturday, Nov. 1, and at a Wednesday, Oct. 28 meeting, school trustees were informed about measures staff are taking, with “sunrise [occurring] after the start of the school day during portions of wint
  
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• ‘Very hopeful’: Syilx Okanagan keep eyes and ears out as sockeye salmon return to Upper Columbia

  30-10-2026 13:00 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  On a sunny Sept. 18 in Revelstoke, Patrick Zubick clambered out onto an uprooted tree off the Illecillewaet River and hoisted out a brick with a small wired device inside.
  A fisheries biologist for the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) — the tribal council of the Syilx Okanagan Nation — Zubick drove three-and-a-half hours from Castlegar to check on a network of underwater acoustic monitoring stations that track sockeye salmon in the Upper Columbia River.
  “They’re not reintroduction fish,”
  
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• Smith nets 2 as Sharks rally for 3-2 win over Vancouver Canucks

  30-10-2026 05:34 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  Will Smith scored a pair of goals, leading the San Jose Sharks to a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks in NHL action Thursday at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
  Mason Marchment also scored for the Sharks (7-6-1), who trailed 2-0 midway through the third period. Yaroslav Askarov made 23 saves to earn the win in goal.Drew O’Connor and Liam Öhgren scored for the Canucks (3-11-1), who ended a 10-game losing skid Tuesday in Anaheim. Leevi Merilainen stopped 21 of 24 sh
  
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• Nanoose Bay resident scores $100,000 MAXPLUS prize playing Lotto Max

  30-10-2026 02:59 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  Richard S. was relaxing at home when he won a $100,000 MAXPLUS prize from the Oct. 16, 2026 Lotto Max draw, leaving him in a state of shock.
  The Nanoose Bay resident first shared the news with his wife. “She was speechless!”
  Richard doesn’t have any immediate plans to celebrate his win, but shared his plans to complete some home maintenance.
  “It feels good,” he said, when asked how it feels to win. “It’s a wonderful win.”
  The winning ticket was purchased at Walmart at Woodgrove C
  
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• Nanaimo RCMP seeing public’s help locating missing woman

  30-10-2026 01:05 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  Nanaimo RCMP is asking for the public’s assistance in locating 43-year-old Ashley Edgars.
  According to an RCMP press release, she was reported missing on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026.
  Edgars was last known to be in Nanaimo approximately one month ago.
  Family members have not been able to contact her, and are concerned for her safety and well-being.
  Edgars is described as 5 ft 3 in tall and 133 lbs, with black hair and brown eyes.
  She also has a scar on left side of neck, a scar on her left ankle and
  
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• $55K in support helping victims of Bradley Creek wildfire near Vernon

  30-10-2026 00:54 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  Support continues to make its way to people affected by the Bradley Creek wildfire near Vernon.Community Foundation North Okanagan (CFNO) has granted $55,000 from the Wildfire Response 2026 Fund to 13 local organizations supporting people displaced by the blaze that rapidly spread on Aug. 1.
  The grants are funding food security, mental health support help for families who were evacuated or lost property, animal rescue, and services for newcomers and Indigenous residents.
  The fund was established
  
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• Nanaimo Concert Band to perform concert on theme of flying

  30-10-2026 00:18 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  Nanaimo Concert Band is preparing to take flight for its next concert.Flying High is the fall concert the band will be putting on and Scott MacInnes, music director, said that it is about “anything and everything to do with flight from airplanes to dragons.”
  He added that he picked the music because he felt there was something to music inspired by flying that has a different feel to it.
  “I thought it would be a really fun concert for an audience member to just sit and get that feeling of �
  
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• Longtime advocate for people with disabilities in Vernon dies

  29-10-2026 23:58 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  A woman who spent nearly a lifetime dedicated to caring for and supporting those with disabilities is being fondly remembered.
  Isabella Dorothy Alexander died Oct. 1, 2026 at the age of 87.Better known as Dorothy, her contributions to the Vernon area touched countless lives and continue to be felt through the community.
  “Dorothy Alexander was not only a remarkable advocate for persons with disabilities in our community, but also a true pioneer whose vision and dedication helped shape the servi
  
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• UPDATE: More than 30 cms of snow falls on Vernon’s SilverStar Mountain

  29-10-2026 23:09 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  Winter has come early to SilverStar Mountain Resort.
  The Vernon ski hill has been blanketed with more than 30 centimetres of snow since Wednesday, Oct. 28, nearly a month ahead of downhill season.
  With fresh powder accumulating on the mountain and more snow in the forecast, winter preparations are beginning to ramp up ahead of opening day.
  “This is the time of year when the excitement for winter really starts to build across our team and community,” said Doug Chimuk, marketing manager at Sil
  
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• $840K byelection looms in B.C. city where Conservative was twice elected in October

  29-10-2026 23:02 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  A judge might decide whether Surrey will have a school trustee byelection at a cost of close to $840,000.
  The situation involves Garry Thind, re-elected trustee on Oct. 17 and then elected Conservative MLA in Surrey-Guildford a week later, Oct. 24.
  Once sworn in as MLA in coming weeks, Thind will be disqualified from being a school trustee, Surrey Schools confirms.
  Moving forward, if a court application is made under the Local Government Act, a judge can order that the trustee position is vacant
  
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• UPDATE: No injuries in large blaze at UBC Okanagan building, fire started due to roof work

  29-10-2026 22:38 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  UPDATE: 2:17 p.m.
  A fire that broke out at the Creative and Critical Studies building at UBC Okanagan has been contained, according to the Kelowna Fire Department (KFD).
  The blaze, which started at around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, was extinguished due to the efforts of the KFD, who deployed 30 firefighters, five engines and two ladder trucks to the scene.
  Deputy Fire Chief Larry Watkinson told reporters at the scene that the preliminary investigations suggest the fire was started due to c
  
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• New Westminster-Coquitlam MLA named interim leader of B.C. NDP

  29-10-2026 22:25 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  New Westminster-Coquitlam MLA Jennifer Whiteside has been named the interim leader of the B.C. NDP as the party tries to get back on its feet following a devastating loss in the 2026 provincial election last week.
  The former cabinet member announced her leadership role after a caucus meeting at the legislature on Thursday, Oct. 29. She said it was a unanimous decision of the caucus.
  “I have to tell you this is deeply, deeply humbling,” she told reporters after the meeting. “It is not an ou
  
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• Man arrested in Quebec after fatal hit-and-run in the South Okanagan

  29-10-2026 21:45 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  A man has been arrested in Drummondville, Que., following a fatal hit-and-run collision that occurred near Oliver in June 2025.
  Dominic Kavanagh Latreille was arrested on Oct. 14, four months after the BC Prosecution Service approved one charge against him for failing to remain at the scene of the crash.
  The collision took place on June 15, 2025, near the Cassini Winery south of Oliver along Highway 97. BC Highway Patrol responded to the single-vehicle incident in which a 22-year-old pedestrian
  
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• Shuswap’s Quaaout Lodge begins ‘building back better’ with groundbreaking ceremony

  29-10-2026 20:30 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  The ground breaking ceremony Friday, Oct. 23 was a major milestone in Quaaout Lodge rising from the ashes in its journey to rebuild following the fire that destroyed the guest wing at Talking Rock Resort in 2022.
  The start of the rebuild of the lodge rooms comes after “years of planning, community engagement and navigating significant setbacks.”
  Friday’s long awaited ceremony brought together community members, leadership, and project partners to celebrate this step forward.“Today’s gr
  
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• CPKC moves 130 small-town rail workers to Kamloops after housing, cost-of-living issues

  29-10-2026 20:30 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  It’s been four months since CPKC, a major railway company and Revelstoke employer, began relocating a large amount of its local workforce to Kamloops.
  The company first shared in summer 2025 that it would transfer away as many as 125 Revelstoke-based railroaders to resolve housing and cost-of-living issues that caused repeated turnover there.
  This summer, the relocation was underway by July after CPKC and its union failed to reach a settlement and an arbitrator decided what benefits and assist
  
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• Sparwood’s Hadden Kelloway is first known transgender mayor in B.C

  29-10-2026 20:28 via Nanaimo News Bulletin
  
  When Hadden Kelloway stepped into his role as mayor of Sparwood following the 2026 municipal election, he finally felt like the person he’d always wanted to be.
  Kelloway, 65, is a transgender man who began transitioning in 2011. Electing a transgender mayor to town council is a big milestone in a community that has a reputation for being a right-wing conservative mining town, and for greater B.C. Kelloway is the first mayor in B.C to publicly come out as a transgender person.
  Kelloway’s camp
  
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