Nanaimo news

• Richard Damien George Stevenson

  24-06-2026 18:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Gone Fishing 1945-2026
  Rick left us Saturday, May 30th, to go to that big fishing hole in the sky. He will be sorely missed by his Wife, Janet and his hunting and fishing buddy, Barry Calvin. Rick was predeceased by his Parents, Jack and Alice Stevenson, Brother Alec and Sister Sharon. He was a Nanaimo boy at heart and enjoyed participating in many sports while a youth. Later he focused on competitive shooting, especially Skeet and Sporting Clays. He spent many years fishing and hunting with his
  
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• Wild and precious life: four marmots released on Mount Washington

  24-06-2026 20:01 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The Marmot Recovery Foundation and marmot enthusiasts ventured up to Mount Washington on June 23 to participate in releasing marmots into the wild.
  The one female and three male marmots were raised as a part of a breeding program to help this critically endangered species unique to Vancouver Island.
  In fact, Marmota vancouverensis is the only mammal endemic to the island, and in 2003, there were fewer than 30 left in the wild. Due to the hard work of the Marmot Recovery Foundation, its partners,
  
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• Vancouver Island beach visitors warned to give ‘abandoned’ seal pups space

  24-06-2026 19:40 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Pupping season has arrived in Greater Victoria.
  Beginning in June and peaking in July and August, female harbour seals will be coming ashore to birth and nurse the next generation of ‘rock sausages’.
  During this time, folks may come across the odd lone pup on the region’s beaches, which at first glance may look abandoned.
  But experts are reminding people that a lone pup is not necessarily one left to fend for itself.
  “Harbour seal mothers often leave their pups resting sa
  
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• UVic researcher speaks on MAID after Parliament committee recommendation

  24-06-2026 19:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Since the landmark Carter V. Canada decision in 2015, Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) for those experiencing mental illness and suicidal tendencies has been a hot-button topic on Parliament Hill – resulting in a number of reports, studies and debates among politicians, psychologists, physicians and academics.
  On June 17, the Special Joint Committee of Medical Assistance in Dying tabled their last report, recommending that the federal government exclude people whose sole underlying condi
  
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• Suspect charged in relation to Thursday night assaults in downtown Victoria

  24-06-2026 19:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The Victoria Police Department says a 31-year-old man is in custody and facing several criminal charges after reports of two separate attacks in downtown Victoria on the evening of June 18.
  The first attack occurred around 10 p.m. in the 1100-block of Douglas Street when the caller reported that he had been struck and robbed of cash and other belongings.
  The second occurred at around 11 p.m., where police say the complainant reported that a man had forced open their vehicle door on Fort Street,
  
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• Syilx Okanagan file emergency order for Canada to save southern B.C. caribou

  24-06-2026 19:20 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A B.C. First Nation is petitioning the federal government to act swiftly to protect a prized and threatened caribou species that continues to fall off the map near Revelstoke and Nakusp.
  On May 28, the Syilx Okanagan Nation announced it had filed for an emergency order under Section 80 of Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) to press Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to conserve federally threatened southern mountain caribou.
  The Nation says continued logging of critical old-grow
  
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• Rangers reward Langford goaltender Dylan Garand with 2-year extension

  24-06-2026 19:15 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Dylan Garand’s long-awaited NHL breakthrough has earned him a new contract.
  The former Juan de Fuca Minor Hockey Association product has signed a two-year contract extension with the New York Rangers after making his NHL debut during the 2025-26 season.
  He appeared in three games with the Original Six franchise, posting a 2-0-1 record, a 1.62 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage.
  According to PuckPedia, the first season of Garand’s new deal is a two-way contract carrying
  
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• Nanaimo breaks 34-year-old temperature record at the start of summer

  24-06-2026 19:15 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A 34-year-old temperature record fell in the Nanaimo area amidst the heat yesterday.
  According to an Environment Canada weather summary, the mercury in the thermometer hit 32.2 C at the monitoring station at Nanaimo Airport on Tuesday, June 23, which broke a previous record of 31.1 C set on the same day in 1992.
  Jennifer Kowal, Environment Canada operational meteorologist, told the News Bulletin conditions were ideal for high temperatures.
  “We’ve just had a persistent area of high pr
  
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• Surrey Schools seeks $5.5B from B.C. to address future growth, overcrowding

  24-06-2026 19:01 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Surrey Schools is asking the province for billions of dollars to help accommodate the district’s student population growth.
  At its final meeting of the 2025-26 school year, held June 10, the Surrey school board approved its 2027-28 Five-Year Capital Plan.
  The plan requests $5.49 billion from the Ministry of Education and Child Care for 76 major capital projects aimed at addressing overcrowding and future enrolment growth.
  Included in this plan were requests for 29 new schools, 19 school ad
  
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• Over a half-tonne of opium seized at Tsawwassen inspection facility

  24-06-2026 19:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  More than half a tonne of opium was seized from a marine container at Canada Border Services Agency’s Tsawwassen Container Examination Facility.
  CBSA announced the seizure in a press release issued Tuesday (June 23), though the contraband was found over five months prior.
  According to the release, the container was referred for examination by border services officers on Jan. 14 based on information provided by the CBSA’s National Targeting Centre, Pacific Regional Intelligence Sectio
  
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• CRD issues blue-green algae alert for popular Greater Victoria swimming lake

  24-06-2026 19:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  In the ebb and flow of blue-green algae in regional lakes, Thetis is the latest to detect the toxin, according to the Capital Regional District, which routinely tests water quality.
  The CRD, in consultation with Island Health, advises that a blue-green algae advisory is in place for the main beach at Lower Thetis Lake in Thetis Lake Regional Park.
  An advisory remains in place for Beaver Lake in Elk/Beaver Lake Regional Park.
  Visitors are advised to avoid contact with blue-green algae and to keep
  
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• World’s largest EV battery repurposing facility opens in Surrey

  24-06-2026 18:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Moment Energy now operates what the company calls the world’s largest EV battery repurposing facility at a Bridgeview industrial building.
  The new facility, dubbed Megafactory 1, transforms retired EV batteries into “cost-effective, rapidly deployable energy storage systems that support critical infrastructure, including data centres, hospitals, factories and microgrids,” the company boasts.
  At 12850 112B Ave., a ribbon-cutting event Tuesday (June 23) celebrated work to bring d
  
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• Victoria breaks 2nd consecutive daily temperature record, rain on the way

  24-06-2026 18:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Victoria’s Gonzales Point scored a second consecutive daily temperature record on Tuesday.The high of 30.4 C recorded on June 23 defeated the 2017 record of 26.6 C, according to preliminary data from Environment and Climate Change Canada.The day before, the same weather station in Victoria recorded a daily high temperature record of 27 C to trump the 1961 record of 25.As is often the case, mid Island came in even hotter on Tuesday with several communities breaking records, including Duncan
  
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• Kelowna Rockets forward Tij Iginla named CHL second-team all-star

  24-06-2026 18:20 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Tij Iginla has been recognized as one of the best junior hockey players from the 2025-26 season.
  On Wednesday, June 24, the Kelowna Rockets forward was named a second-team all-star by the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), which is made of the WHL, OHL, and OMJHL.
  The Utah Mammoth prospect from Lake Country led the CHL in points per game (1.88) as he collected 90 points (41 points, 49 assists) in 48 games played.
  He was named a second-team all-star along with Markus Ruck (Medicine Hat Tigers), Nikita
  
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• Kelowna sprinter set to represent Canada at 2026 Commonwealth Games

  24-06-2026 17:52 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Kelowna’s Jerome Blake will compete in his first Commonwealth Games this summer.
  On Wednesday, June 24, the 30-year-old sprinter was named by Commonwealth Sport Canada (CSC) and Athletics Canada to the roster, along with 50 other athletes, for the 2026 games, taking place in Glasgow, Scotland.
  Blake will be sprinting in the 4×100 metre relay with his teammates who he won gold with at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, and Brendon Rodney. He’ll also b
  
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• Nanaimo neighbourhood associations list their priority requests

  24-06-2026 17:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The upcoming major sewer project that will see several kilometres of Hammond Bay Road torn up provides a unique opportunity for the City of Nanaimo to invest in much-needed pedestrian, cyclist, and transit-user infrastructure on the road, according to neighbours.
  That was one of the priority requests offered by the Linley Valley-Stephenson Point Neighbourhood Association to the city at the municipality’s fourth annual neighbourhood-association engagement event that was held in April, discu
  
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• WORLD CUP DAILY, June 24: Canada continues march to Round of 32 vs. Switzerland, noon today

  24-06-2026 16:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Daily FIFA World Cup soccer match updates and news for Black Press Media publications.
  There are six matches today to avoid “fixing” on the final day of play for Groups A, B and C, with two at a time at noon, then 3 and 6 p.m.
  Canada will clinch top spot in Group B with a win or tie vs. Switzerland today, noon start in Vancouver.
  The march to the match promises another flag-waving celebration outside BC Place Stadium, to be filled with 52,000 soccer fans for the afternoon clash.
  The
  
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• Nanaimo looks to cap off-street parking requirements for some developments

  24-06-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  The City of Nanaimo is moving forward with plans to lower to eliminate off-street parking requirements for commercial and residential developments.
  Council endorsed an update to the city’s off-street parking-bylaw regulations at its meeting on Monday, June 22, intended to help manage population growth, support housing affordability by reducing or removing requirements and costs for developers of providing off-street parking, and increase supports for a sustainable-transportation network.
  I
  
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• Defence argues mental illness in long-running Kelowna homicide trial

  24-06-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Five years after Darren Middleton died of blunt force trauma to the head, suffered a severed penis, missing his testicles, and was found in a bathroom of the home in Rutland, the second-degree murder trial for the woman accused of his death is one step closer to being completed.
  Gabriella Sears was first arrested and charged on the morning of June 17, 2021, with the killing of 49-year-old Middleton.
  Sears had confessed to police that she had killed Middleton following her arrest, but after a voi
  
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• Despite recent modest increase in visits, cross-border traffic still down from 2024

  24-06-2026 05:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Southbound trips across the border are still far below 2024 levels in B.C., despite a recent modest increase reported by Statistics Canada.
  When the federal agency reported a 9.5 per cent increase in Canadian-resident return trips in May of this year, it was seen in some news reports as an easing of the travel reluctance that was trigggered when U.S. president Donald Trump launched a trade war and suggested Canada should become the 51st state.
  However, a review of cross-border travel statistics
  
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• ‘Just disappointing’: Island World Cup fans lament England-Ghana tie

  24-06-2026 02:45 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  While most of the country was getting ready to cheer on Canada in their game against Switzerland, a small crowd of die-hard soccer fans were busy supporting an entirely different team.
  On June 23, the Penny Farthing Pub in Oak Bay was swarming with England followers, all wearing white as the nation’s FIFA squad took on Ghana at 1 p.m.
  Coming hot off a 4-2 win in what was predicted to be a tough match against Croatia, hopes were high among the roughly 20 supporters that England would have n
  
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• Advocates press B.C. to curb NDAs in harassment, abuse cases

  24-06-2026 02:05 via nanaimobulletin.com
  For several years now, advocates in the legal profession have been calling for the B.C. government to create new rules restricting the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of sexual assaults, harassment or abuse.
  In 2024, the Canadian Bar Association’s B.C. Division sent Attorney General Niki Sharma a letter urging changes.
  Sharma responded at the time, saying that B.C. is monitoring other jurisdictions while participating in a working group on the subject, “all in the aid of de
  
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• Nanaimo United FC teams want to finish season off strong

  24-06-2026 02:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Nanaimo United FC teams want to finish on a high as their seasons conclude.
  The Harbour City’s B.C. Premier League men’s and women’s soccer teams play their final home games of the season Saturday, June 27 at Q’unq’inuqwstuxw Stadium with tilts against Langley United.
  The men’s side sports a 4-5-2 record going into this weekend’s action and Daragh Fitzgerald, Nanaimo United FC technical lead, is pleased with how the men have performed, saying they have b
  
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• Trial begins for Kelowna equestrian coach accused of sex crimes, child luring

  24-06-2026 01:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A high-performance equestrian coach based in Kelowna appeared in B.C. Supreme Court on June 23 for day one of his criminal trial.
  Sebastien Devrainne, originally from France, has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual touching, sexual exploitation and making sexually explicit material available to minors for incidents that are alleged to have occurred as early as 2011.
  Crown counsel called its first witness to the stand, a former student of Devrainne. The witness was a minor at the time of the
  
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• 3 B.C. clean-energy projects among $16M announced from feds

  24-06-2026 00:59 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Three clean-energy projects in B.C. are among the $16 million announced by the federal government Tuesday (June 23).
  The federal government announced five projects would be getting the funding: three in B.C., one in the Yukon and one in the Northwest Territories.
  In B.C., the three projects are located in Penticton, Prince Rupert and Vanderhoof.
  The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen is the recipient of the Penticton project funding, which is for renewable and electrification feasibility
  
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• Campaign kicks off to help Loaves and Fishes finish food centre in Nanaimo

  24-06-2026 00:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The charitable organization of a late Nanaimo philanthropist has kick-started an initiative that will help Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank complete its new facility.
  On Friday, June 19, Tony Harris announced a $750,000 commitment from the non-profit bearing his father’s name, the Tom Harris Community Foundation, for completion of the food bank’s regional food centre building on East Wellington Road – it will be named the Tom Harris Regional Food Centre.
  “Friday&rsqu
  
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• Vernon resident swings her way to a world record

  24-06-2026 00:08 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  On June 19 Tammy Kovaluk broke the world record for most weight lifted by kettle bell swing in 12 hours.
  After 10,105 reps of kettle bell swings for a total of 416,326 pounds swung, the record was hers.
  “The women’s record I did it kind of halfway through. The men’s record was like 11 and a half hours,” said Kovaluk.
  The previous mens record was 410,896 pounds.
  In 2021, Kovaluk broke two Guinness world records for most chest to ground burpees by a female for both 12 hours
  
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• Gas station car blaze quickly put out by Parksville Fire Rescue

  23-06-2026 22:35 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Three people escaped injury after a vehicle caught fire at a Parksville gas station on June 22.
  Parksville Fire Rescue responded to the Gas N Go on the Island Highway shortly after 7:45 p.m., to find a car ablaze about 15 feet from the building, according to Cam Cruickshank, assistant fire chief.
  “It didn’t spread to the building. There was a small grass fire kind of behind the building but it was very slow moving, probably just from the exposure to the heat,” Cruickshank said.
  
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• IIO looking for witnesses to June 12 arrest in Port Alberni

  23-06-2026 22:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO) is seeking witnesses to an arrest that happened in Port Alberni on Friday, June 12 after a man suffered injuries during an interaction with police.
  Shortly before 3 p.m., Port Alberni RCMP responded to a call about a possible domestic disturbance at a residence in the 4600-block of Burke Road. When officers arrived they observed a man running from the residence in question. They arrested him a short distance away, near the intersection of Arrow
  
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• Missing man’s body found in woods near Duncan

  23-06-2026 22:25 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The body of Parminder Singh Grewal, 33, has been found in a wooded area near Duncan, his brother has confirmed.
  Grewal had last been seen on May 23 walking near Allenby Road and Government Street in Duncan. A large search from police, family, friends, Cowichan Search and Rescue and other volunteers yielded no further sightings.
  North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP Cpl. Kim Granneman said that Grewal’s body was located on June 13.
  “Victoria Police were the lead investigating agency as he was re
  
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