Nanaimo news

• COLUMN: Nanaimo faces challenges as city grows

  11-07-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  It should come as no big surprise that the population of Nanaimo has ballooned to 112,600 people as of last year, and is projected to grow to approximately 121,941 by 2030.
  Nanaimo’s economic development officer Amrit Manhas recently revealed those numbers as part of the city’s annual state of the economy report for 2025.
  When I first moved to the city in 1996, the population was just a little over 70,000, so now we have an additional 42,600 people living here since then, which is qu
  
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• Early-morning fire damages Nanaimo Judo Club building

  12-07-2026 00:05 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Nanaimo Judo Club is temporarily halting training after a structure fire damaged its dojo facility.
  Nanaimo Fire Rescue was called out to the building on the Sid Gyro Park site, at 110 Machleary St., before 5 a.m. on Saturday, July 11. Damage could be seen on parts of the building’s exterior, including part of the roof and the side of the building, as well as on the front stairs and entrance.
  Nanaimo Fire Rescue did not immediately respond to a request for comment. There is no official cau
  
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• Vancouver Island police investigating assault after man found injured in park

  11-07-2026 22:55 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Police are investigating an alleged assault that took place in the vicinity of Craigflower Schoolhouse and Kosapsom Park.
  The Saanich Police Department said shortly before 5 a.m. Saturday morning (July 11), they received a report of an assault in the park, near Craigflower Bridge on Admirals Road.
  “The lone adult male victim was transported to the hospital for medical assistance with non-life-threatening injuries,” said a police news release.
  “After searching Gorge park, office
  
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• Trial to start for man charged in fatal shooting at Nanaimo fast food restaurant

  11-07-2026 21:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The man arrested after a fatal shooting incident at a Nanaimo fast food restaurant parking lot five years ago will stand trial later this month.
  Ronald Joseph Campbell, 42 when charged in 2024, will go to trial for first-degree murder beginning Monday, July 20 at B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo. The incident took place at the Wendy’s at Rock City Centre on May 20, 2021, during which a man was shot and killed.
  Jury selection will take place Saturday, July 18 and the trial is scheduled to last
  
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• LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Treating census workers with respect

  11-07-2026 20:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Dear Nanaimo residents,
  Please be kind to census workers, they are doing their jobs trying to prevent you from being fined for not completing your census questionnaire.
  It is a legal obligation and your civic duty to complete one. When we knock on your door or call you, we are not selling anything, we are not there to pry into your affairs nor are we collecting information for our own nefarious purposes. We are working, just as you do, and imagine if you had to endure having doors slammed in you
  
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• ‘Highlight of my summer’: Chance the Rapper wows at B.C. capital festival

  11-07-2026 18:49 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  If there was any doubt that the Phillips Backyard Festival has become Victoria’s marquee summer music event, Friday (July 10) night erased it.
  A capacity crowd of roughly 5,000 packed the backyard of Phillips Brewing Co. as the annual festival opened with one of its biggest headliners yet, three-time Grammy Award winner Chance the Rapper.
  By the time his set wrapped, fans weren’t rushing for the exits, they were standing in groups, reliving what they had just watched.
  “Wow, I m
  
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• B.C. whale watchers join forces to help tangled humpback ‘Pop Tart’

  11-07-2026 17:42 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  When a humpback whale named Pop Tart found itself in a tangle, Greater Victoria’s whale watching community sprang into action.
  Identified as the 2016 calf of famed Salish Sea humpback whale Big Mama, Pop Tart spent nearly a week entangled in fishing gear, described as a buoy with a rope more than 30 metres long.
  The Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) has praised the collaboration between Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Marine Mammal Response Team and professional whale watchers from
  
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• Iconic Victoria cathedral bells ring for 45 minutes to mark 90th anniversary

  11-07-2026 17:23 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Residents are accustomed to the peal of bells ringing from Christ Church Cathedral on a Sunday morning.
  The tone changes Sunday (July 12) with a rare quarter peal of change ringing in honour of the 90th anniversary of the dedication of the tower bells at the Victoria church.
  A quarter peal is a specific type of performance of change ringing which meets certain exacting conditions for duration, complexity and quality, and is usually done to celebrate certain occasions of historical significance.
  
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• Survey ranks Victoria 2nd-best city in Canada

  11-07-2026 16:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Among the hundreds of towns and cities that pepper Canada’s forests, coastlines and prairies, Victoria has been named one of the best.
  Travel + Leisure recently released its 2026 World’s Best Award, which annually ranks the best places to stay, eat and explore in Canada and beyond, as decided by its readers.
  This year, Victoria was voted the second-best city in Canada, behind Quebec City.
  Victoria received an 83.77 score, while Quebec City took home an 86.99 ranking.
  Scores are calcu
  
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• WORLD CUP DAILY, July 11: Spain heads to semi-finals

  11-07-2026 16:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Daily FIFA World Cup soccer match updates and news for Black Press Media publications.
  Spain is heading to the semi-finals after defeating Belgium 2-1 on Friday (July 10).It is a busy day at the World Cup today (July 11), with two quarter-final matches. Norway will take on England at 2 p.m. PT in Miami, followed by Argentina vs. Switzerland at 6 p.m. PT in Kansas City.
  QUARTER-FINALS
  Friday, July 10:
  Spain vs. Belgium at 12 p.m. in Los Angeles
  Saturday, July 11
  Norway vs. England at 5 p.m. in Mi
  
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• Impasses slowing treaty process in Cowichan: chief negotiator

  11-07-2026 14:45 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Deal weariness: unresolved tension or endlessly protracted negotiations cause parties to feel helpless, exhausted, and deeply fed up.
  Feeling undervalued: prolonged negotiations, especially when trying to secure fair value, often result in ongoing resentment.
  But even after 26 years of negotiationg, Robert Morales is in it for the long game. As the chief negotiator, and a lawyer, for the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group, he is representing five area indigenous nations in their efforts for A
  
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• Iconic Parksville sand sculpting competition now underway

  11-07-2026 03:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The annual Quality Foods Sand Sculpting Competition is now underway.
  This year, there are 30 sand sculptors from all over the world vying for top honours in one of Parksville’s most cherished summer events. They had started laying the foundation of their art pieces on Thursday and will have until Sunday, July 12, at 2 p.m. to finish carving their creations that will be based on this year’s “Beauties and Beasts” theme.
  Prior to opening the gates to the public, a ribbon-cut
  
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• New involuntary care facilities to be opened in Surrey and Prince George

  11-07-2026 00:14 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The B.C. government is creating two new secure facilities to involuntarily hold and treat people with combined mental health and addiction diagnoses, one in Surrey and another in Prince George.
  Premier David Eby announced the plans on Friday, July 10, at the site of the new facility in Prince George. Both units will be located in already-existing structures to save costs.
  The Prince George centre, previously announced without site details, will be located on Gunn Road in a renovated youth correc
  
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• B.C.’s jobless rate stable, but some age groups and areas still having hard time

  11-07-2026 00:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The latest job numbers from Statistics Canada for June show slightly increased hiring in B.C. overall, but also reveal major remaining demographic and regional disparities, including stubbornly high youth unemployment and rising joblessness in the Interior.
  “People are maybe tired of hearing about tariffs, but they have an impact,” said Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s jobs minister. “They have an impact directly, but also it creates uncertainty, which is a real challenge.”
  B.C.
  
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• Special mediators appointed amid B.C. Nurses’ Union job action

  10-07-2026 22:33 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Labour Minister Jennifer Whiteside has appointed two special mediators in the dispute between the B.C. Nurses’ Union and the Health Employers Association of B.C.
  Long-time mediator Vince Ready and Amanda Rogers were named special mediators Friday, July 10, eight days after job action began.
  Ready and Rogers will work wth the two parties for 10 days with the aim of helping to reach a settlement, or if needed, to provide recommendations to the minister.
  The ministry says the two appointed un
  
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• UPDATE: Amber Alert cancelled in Alberta, but RCMP say 6-year-old still missing

  10-07-2026 20:20 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  UPDATE: Friday, 3:59 p.m. Pacific Time
  Beaverlodge RCMP say the Amber Alert for six-year-old Lanakai Morrison is being cancelled as of Friday afternoon (July 10).
  However, Lanakai, his mother Krista Morrison, her partner Daniel Ludwig and four-year-old Karl Morrison are still missing.
  “This alert was cancelled as there is no reasonable expectation the public, in Alberta, will be able to action the instructions in the alert.”
  The Amber Alert was extended to B.C., the Yukon and the Nor
  
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• UPDATE: Alberta Amber Alert continues with ‘number’ of B.C. sightings

  10-07-2026 20:20 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  UPDATE: Friday, 12:44 p.m. Pacific Time
  Police say there have been “a number of sightings” in B.C. of Lanakai Morrison, 6, who is the subject of an ongoing Amber Alert out of Alberta.
  RCMP issued the latest update Friday (July 10) at 12:44 p.m. after Beaverlodge RCMP confirmed a sighting of Lanakai in Fort St. John on Wednesday, July 8 at approximately 9:30 a.m. Previous Amber Alert updates gave an incorrect date.
  Fort St. John is about 160 kilometres, or about a two-hour drive, nort
  
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• Alberta Amber Alert extends into 2nd day, last sighting in Fort St. John, B.C.

  10-07-2026 20:20 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The six-year-old who is the subject of an Amber Alert originating out of Alberta was last seen in northeastern B.C. on Thursday morning.
  Lanakai Morrison, 6, was last seen in Fort St. John, B.C. on July 9 at approximately 9:30 a.m., according to an Amber Alert update from Beaverlodge RCMP around 9:25 p.m. Pacific time Thursday.
  Fort St. John is about 160 kilometres, or about a two-hour drive, northwest of Valhalla Centre where Lanakai was reportedly taken from.
  The sighting came about nine hours
  
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• Nanaimo report outlines climate-related hazards and mitigation options

  10-07-2026 20:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The severity of hazards related to extreme heat, including wildfires, in the Nanaimo area are expected to increase by as much as 400 per cent in the near future.
  Nanaimo’s emergency manager, Evan Lloyd, presented a hazard risk and vulnerability analysis at a council meeting on Monday, July 6, that will allow for the prioritization of work to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and plan to recover from climate-related hazards in the city and on Snuneymuxw First Nation lands.
  The analysis was
  
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• Headline history: Nanaimo Port Authority works on ‘passenger-only ferry’ in 2000

  10-07-2026 19:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Nanaimo has a history of foot passenger ferry business ventures promising to shuttle residents to-and-from the Lower Mainland.
  One such plan was reported in the Oct. 5, 2000 issue of the Nanaimo News Bulletin, where the Nanaimo Port Authority was working out details with Halcyon Transportation, a company based in Courtenay.
  Bill Mills, port manager at the time, was quoted as saying talks were progressing “very positively,” with the subsequent three to four months a period that would
  
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• Victoria teen pedals across Canada for Terry Fox Foundation

  10-07-2026 19:20 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  What began as a gap-year adventure has become a cross-country fundraiser that has already raised thousands of dollars for cancer research.
  Victoria’s Mateo Berkhout, 18, is cycling from Mile 0 in Victoria to Mile 0 in St. John’s, N.L., raising money for the Terry Fox Foundation.
  Berkhout left the Terry Fox memorial near Beacon Hill Park on May 1 and expects to complete the journey in less than three months. As of this week, he had spent more than two months on the road and was nearin
  
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• Nursing picket lines to expand across B.C. as bargaining reaches ‘impasse’

  10-07-2026 19:19 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  More nurses are expected to join the picket lines outside hospitals across British Columbia in the coming weeks, as negotiations have once again reached an “impasse,” the B.C. Nurses’ Union announced on Thursday, July 9.
  Picket lines were established at Vancouver General Hospital on Tuesday, July 7, and new lines began forming outside Surrey Memorial Hospital and the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre in Surrey early on Thursday, July 9.
  “Nurses do not want t
  
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• Victoria police handcuffed on returning fugitives with out-of-province warrants

  10-07-2026 19:15 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  As of mid-June, the Victoria Police Department says its officers have encountered 80 fugitives with out-of-province warrants, though none of those people have faced the justice system for their outstanding charges.
  At a Victoria Esquimalt Police Board meeting on June 16, Deputy Chief Jamie McRae explained the gaps in the RCMP’s Fugitive Return Program – which allows for fugitives with provincial warrants to be returned home to face the courts.
  McRae explained that some people fall un
  
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• Campbell River distillery casks single malt whisky for science

  10-07-2026 18:55 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Scotland has earned its whisky preeminence, but Campbell River’s Shelter Point Distillery is also on the world stage for its premium single malts, harnessing the craft’s tradition in a coastal Canadian way.
  “Whisky” originates from Scottish Gaelic, translated from Latin’s aqua vitae or “water of life.” In the 1960s, Scotland casked the first bottle of single malt: “single” meaning one distillery, and “malt” referring to the way ba
  
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• Sewage discharge closes popular Victoria swimming spot

  10-07-2026 18:44 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Those hoping to beat the summer heat with a quick dip off the Banfield Park dock are out of luck – for now.
  A recent sewage discharge has prompted a July 9 beach advisory for the waters surrounding the popular Victoria swimming spot.
  “While public beaches are not technically closed to public access, it is highly recommended to not enter the water while an advisory is in place,” Island Health said on its website.
  Beach advisories are recommended by Island Health when there is an
  
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• B.C. volunteer braves Ukraine war for all creatures great, small and bizarre

  10-07-2026 18:43 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The bond between a person and their pet knows no bounds, capable of enduring even the horrors of war.
  On the front lines of Eastern Ukraine, Sooke volunteer Jesse Adams experiences firsthand just how unbreakable those bonds can be.
  “When you love something, you’ll put yourself in the way of danger to take care of it, to make sure it’s safe,” he says. “Ukrainians love their animals, and from what I’ve seen, they will do anything to help protect those animals, e
  
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• Island student wins prestigious $100K scholarship to UVic

  10-07-2026 17:12 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Hard work has paid off for one Saanich student who just won the largest undergraduate scholarship in Canada.
  Mount Doug Secondary graduate Jason Zhang has recently been selected to receive a $100,000 Schulich Leader Scholarship to study at the University of Victoria this fall, where he plans to pursue a combined major in math and data science.
  “Receiving the Schulich Leader Scholarship is incredibly impactful to me,” Zhang said in a news release. “A full ride means I don’
  
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• WORLD CUP DAILY, July 10: France heads to the semi-finals

  10-07-2026 16:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Daily FIFA World Cup soccer match updates and news for Black Press Media publications.
  France is heading to the semi-finals after defeating Morocco 2-0 on Thursday (July 9).
  They will play the winner of today’s Spain vs. Belgium match in Dallas on Tuesday (July 14).
  QUARTER-FINALS
  Friday, July 10:
  Spain vs. Belgium at 12 p.m. in Los Angeles
  Saturday, July 11
  Norway vs. England at 5 p.m. in Miami
  Argentina vs. Switzerland at 8 p.m. in Kansas City
  SEMI-FINALS
  Tuesday, July 14
  France vs. winn
  
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• E&N Trail will be extended almost another kilometre in Nanaimo

  10-07-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Another approximately 900-metre section of the E&N Trail in Nanaimo’s south end is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
  City council voted unanimously at its meeting on Monday, July 6 to spend up to $550,000 for the construction of the additional section of the trail.
  Lisa Bhopalsingh, the city’s general manager of community services and deputy CAO, said the newest section of the recreational trail will run between Junction Avenue and Extension Road, and provide a dir
  
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• North Okanagan orchardists propose drilling into aquifer to alleviate drought

  10-07-2026 14:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  As an unprecedented drought carries on with next to no relief in the form of rain in the North Okanagan, drastic Greater Vernon water restrictions continue to hammer agriculturalists.
  But two Coldstream orchardists are proposing a solution that could help their orchards survive this year, while taking pressure off the water system next year when conditions could be just as dry.
  Local agriculturalists have been informed they can only use 30 per cent of their remaining water allocation for the yea
  
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