Nanaimo news

• Saving salmon v. highway upgrades: Victoria students explore perspectives

  13-10-2026 20:55 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Critical thinking took to the streams this week for one Victoria classroom.The proposed widening of the narrow Goldstream section of the Malahat provided those diverse perspectives for one Grade 8 class from Central Middle School.
  First announced in 2018, the project proposed widening 1.7 kilometres of the highway near the provincial park, plus the installation of over 1.5 kilometres of a median barrier.
  The province said it would improve the safety and reliability of the Malahat corridor.
  Conce
  
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• Nanaimo municipal candidate scorecards and questionnaires from across the community

  13-10-2026 23:28 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Local groups and non-profits are interested on seeing how these municipal election hopefuls will contend with the issues facing Nanaimo residents.
  While the main jobs of municipal council is taxes, water, sewer and zoning, other issues that fall on their lap include health care investments, homelessness and numerous others.
  Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
  Doctors for Safer Drug Policy gave grades to each of the candidates, along with a short explanation describing each grade. Those who didn’
  
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• Man enters guilty pleas nearly 3 years after Kelowna teen’s death

  13-10-2026 21:37 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Dozens of people filled the court room in Kelowna the morning of Oct. 13 to hear Brandon Kazakoff plead guilty.The defendant pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and to the lesser charge of assault for events that resulted in the death of Kelowna teenager Tristan Seeger.The court heard an agreed statement of facts in which, on Oct. 21, 2023, Kazakoff reacted to an incident in which family members, including his father, had been bear sprayed by a group of teens. Anothe
  
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• BC NDP, Conservatives both propose big investment into Kelowna’s airport

  13-10-2026 21:25 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The BC Conservatives and BC NDP are ready to pay big for Central Okanagan votes, with both parties now pledging to investment millions of dollars into the Kelowna International Airport (YLW).
  On Tuesday morning, Oct. 13, the NDP’s Kelowna Centre candidate Loyal Woolridge proposed that an NDP government would invest $20 million into YLW, supplementing a previously announced $22.4 million from the Federal government which will help construct infrastructure needed to unlock the airport’
  
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• Bride wins $4,300 judgment against Langley venue for wedding cancellation

  13-10-2026 21:15 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A woman who had to find a new location for her wedding at the last minute has won a $4,365 judgement against the original Langley venue, which cancelled after it turned out they had no business license.
  The venue was Latimer Rooftop, which was located on a lowrise office building at 84 Avenue and 200 Street. The venue appeared in 2023.
  According to an Oct. 9 ruling of the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal, the bride booked the venue in late 2023, for a Sept. 1 2024 wedding. The price was to be $3,4
  
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• Fish kill near Cowichan Lake prompts investigation into possible roof-moss runoff

  13-10-2026 20:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement Society and Hatchery president Bob Crandall was walking along Oliver Creek at about 4 p.m. Oct. 1 when he noticed something was wrong.
  Dead juvenile salmonids were scattered through the stream.
  “I collected 31 samples in a short time over 18 metres of the stream,” Crandall said in his report. “They were young coho juveniles, steelhead/rainbow fry, and a few two-year-old brown trout.”
  Based on the condition of the fish, Crandall said they
  
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• Duncan resident’s classic car, and plan to pass it on, go up in flames

  13-10-2026 20:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  It was the incredible copper colour that first caught the eye of longtime Duncan resident Joe Sawchuk, the original and sole owner of a classic 1972 Pontiac Luxury Lemans that he bought off the showroom floor on March 18, 1972 from Carter Pontiac Buick in Burnaby at the age of 21.Sawchuk, who was living in Lillooet and working for the provincial government, would head down to Burnaby to go car shopping. It was love at first sight.“When I saw the colour, I was sold, I’m very proud tha
  
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• CentreBC health plans include more nurse practitioners, internationally trained doctors

  13-10-2026 19:58 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  CentreBC leader Elenore Sturko is in White Rock this morning (Tuesday, Oct. 13) making an announcement regarding her party’s health-care policies.
  Sturko, who is running as the CentreBC candidate for Surrey South, announced that her party would add 600 more practitioners in B.C. by 2030 and add 100 more residency positions by the same year.
  She also said CentreBC would double B.C.’s assessment program for internationally trained family doctors, from 96 to 200 per year by 2028.
  Sturko
  
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• 2 dead in plane crash en route to Idaho from B.C.

  13-10-2026 19:44 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The wreckage of a small plane that was headed to Grangeville, Idaho, from Penticton, B.C., was found on a remote mountainside after it went missing on Saturday, Oct. 10.Extensive air resources were deployed throughout Washington State’s Aeneas Valley and Wauconda areas, as well as between Oroville and Okanogan where the plane last registered on radar, with cell phone forensics helping to identify more specific search areas.The plane was described as a 1976 Piper Cub, a small single-engine
  
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• North Cowichan Freeman Dave Haywood dies

  13-10-2026 19:40 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The community lost a longtime champion when North Cowichan’s David Haywood died on Oct. 7.
  Haywood was first elected to North Cowichan council in 1999 and served 11 years as a councillor (1999-2002 and 2004-2011).
  While sitting on North Cowichan’s council, he sat on numerous committees, boards, and commissions and supported improvements to the Evans Park ball fields, the move of the Cowichan Exhibition to its current location, the creation of the Cowichan Sportsplex, and the purchase
  
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• Juan de Fuca SAR wishes hiker a ‘speedy recovery’ after Friday afternoon callout

  13-10-2026 19:16 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A Friday afternoon stroll that went sideways serves as a reminder for locals about the work local volunteers provide.Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue was called out on Oct. 9 after a hiker was injured while out for the afternoon with her family in East Sooke Park.“Luckily she wasn’t too far down the trail from an access road, which made for a quick stretcher carry out,” the team said in an online update. “Thanks to BCEHS for their help with patient care and transport to hos
  
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• Volunteers dive into Sidney Pier waters to clean up crab trap debris 

  13-10-2026 19:12 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Visitors to Sidney’s iconic pier can expect a little action on and under the water this weekend as divers aim to clean up long-lost crab traps.After a group took to the Salish Sea shoreline this spring to clean up remaining ghost gear and other abandoned items below the waves, they made a vow to return. That happens Oct. 4 when divers and Surf Rider, Emerald Sea Protection Society and the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea come together.“We have a team of scuba divers and other volunteer
  
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• LRCA to transition out of operating Ladysmith emergency shelter amid rising costs

  13-10-2026 19:10 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The Ladysmith Resources Centre Association will transition out of operating the town’s emergency shelter in December, citing rising operation costs that it says were not covered by its funding agreement with BC Housing.
  LRCA announced it will end its role as operator of the emergency shelter at 631 First Ave. On Dec. 13. The organization stressed that it is not closing the shelter and said BC Housing, which owns the building and funds the shelter service, is working to identify a replaceme
  
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• Former VJ, musician and filmmaker will be performing at Nanaimo’s Vault Cafe

  13-10-2026 18:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A former video jockey and musician and filmmaker will be holding an electronic music concert in Nanaimo.Sook-Yin Lee will be performing at The Vault Cafe on Thursday, Oct. 15, as a part of a Western Canada tour.
  The performance comes hot after Lee’s recent album release, 72RHR, reaching number one on the National Electronic Music chart, and its remix 72RHR Unlock The Pain, featuring mixes of songs produced by Joni Void, Olga, Lee Paradise and Lazer Luke.
  Her album, jooj two, created with A
  
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• Nanaimo looks to strengthen food resiliency; expand access to recreation

  13-10-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Nanaimo is applying for a $100,000 provincial grant to help strengthen food resiliency in the community.
  Council voted at its meeting on Oct. 5 to direct staff to submit an application for the funding from B.C.’s mental health and climate change community action program to address the growing mental health impacts of climate change.
  According to a staff report written by social planner Emily Notley and senior financial analyst Deanna Walker, if the funding request is successful, the projec
  
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• 5 South Island second-act sleuths craft mystery anthology

  13-10-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Over coffee and sweets at Oak Bay Marina, Joanna Vander Vlugt, Judee Fong and Debra Henry reminisce over the journey of building Murder on the Menu.The setting is fitting, with their own foodie inflection in each of the tales told in the anthology.It started in lieu of a standard New Year’s resolution. Chemainus writer, illustrator and podcaster Vander Vlugt – who co-edited alongside Winona Kent of New Westminster – embarked on 2025 with a vow to bring her back-of-mind memo to
  
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• Nanaimo Musician’s Association’s Big Band performing at Simonholt Restaurant

  13-10-2026 02:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A 19-piece band will be coming to Simonholt Restaurant.Founded by Bryan Stovell in 1967, a former professor at Vancouver Island University’s music program, who remains involved to this day, the Nanaimo Musician’s Association’s Big Band will be playing at the Simonholt Restaurant on Sunday, Oct. 18, beginning at 7 p.m.
  “It’s actually been a funnel for some of the greatest jazz talent in Canada that’s passed through that band, and is still doing so today,”
  
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• Staff report requested on possibility of Nanaimo banning continuous-flame butane lighters

  12-10-2026 22:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  What the City of Nanaimo can do to mitigate the harms of continuous-flame butane lighters will be the subject of a staff report.
  Council unanimously voted for the report at its meeting on Oct. 5, after hearing from frontline workers of the harm they cause in the community in regards to fires, displacement of people and causing at least one death in the city.
  Staff are being asked to explore ways in which the city could regulate the retail sale of the lighters, and other proactive measures to inc
  
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• Six elementary schools on Nanaimo’s list for speed-management measures

  12-10-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Six elementary schools in Nanaimo are being eyed for the installation of more than $1 million in speed-management measures.
  The city’s governance and priorities committee voted unanimously at its meeting on Sept. 28, to recommend that council invest most of the remaining $1,110,000 in the 2026 active transportation unallocated budget to support the completion of partially funded projects, and the implementation of speed-reduced measures near select elementary schools.
  Those schools include
  
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• New York Rangers score 4 unanswered goals in 6-2 win over Vancouver Canucks

  12-10-2026 02:40 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Tye Kartye and Will Cuylle each scored their first two goals of the season, leading the New York Rangers to a 6-2 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks in NHL action Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
  Alexis Lafrenière and Gabe Perreault also scored for the Rangers (5-2-0) while former Canuck J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad had two assists apiece. Dylan Garand made 19 saves to earn the win in goal.
  Jake DeBrusk and defenceman Elias Pettersson scored for the Canucks (2-5-0), who
  
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• MLA candidate fighting for better youth-in-care supports in Nanaimo-Gabriola Island bid

  11-10-2026 22:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  With a journalism background and Indigenous heritage, the B.C. Green Party candidate for Nanaimo-Gabriola Island is championing better youth-in-care supports and affordability.
  Anna Mary McKenzie, a member of Opaskwayak Cree Nation (Manitoba), has resided in Nanaimo for eight years with family that are part of Snuneymuxw First Nation and told the News Bulletin she is well-versed in a variety of issues.
  “I am really wound up for a lot of the political ways of the world right now … As
  
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• Climate crisis at heart of B.C. Green Nanaimo-Lantzville candidate’s election bid

  11-10-2026 19:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Atmospheric rivers and heat domes affecting B.C. drove a high school teacher to make a run in the upcoming B.C. provincial election.
  Sharleen Weatherly is the Nanaimo-Lantzville B.C. Green Party candidate, who is a high school teacher, former data scientist and outdoor professional, with experience in engineering, statistics and environmental education, according to her profile.
  She told the News Bulletin she has first-hand experience with a number of environmental phenomena in the province the
  
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• Hereditary chiefs call for closure of park on Vancouver Island over ancestral graves

  11-10-2026 18:03 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Standing above a site they say fails to respect their ancestors, W̱SÁNEĆ hereditary chiefs called for action Saturday, demanding the closure of Patricia Bay Park and greater protection for ancestral burial places.
  Roughly 40 people gathered at the park on Oct. 10 to hear Tseycum Nation (W̱SÍḴEM) Hereditary Chief Vern Jacks, or XÁLÁȾE, and Tsawout (SȾÁUTW̱) Hereditary Chief Eric Pelkey, or WIĆKINEM, speak about the ongoin
  
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• Nanaimo’s Rock City neighbourhood association seeks to protect wetlands

  11-10-2026 18:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The Rock City Neighbourhood Association wants to work with the city to create a neighbourhood plan for their community.
  In a delegation at the city council meeting held on Oct. 5. Association president James Boak pointed out that of particular concern to the association is the preservation of the Rock City wetland, an approximately three-hectare groundwater-fed peatland ecosystem located near Rock City Road and Linley Valley in Nanaimo’s north end.
  Boak said the wetland is drying out, but,
  
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• Canada’s best pickleball players volley in Vernon

  11-10-2026 18:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Some of the best pickleball talent in Canada and the Okanagan will converge in Vernon Oct. 15 to 18 for the inaugural Okanagan Open, bringing a new level of competitive pickleball to the Vernon Pickleball Association (VPA).
  Hosted at the Vernon Air Conditioning, Plumbing and Electrical Services Pickleball Complex at Marshall Field, the four-day tournament will feature a $10,000 total prize purse, with the Open Division expected to deliver some of the most competitive and exciting pickleball ever
  
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• QUIZ: A season of Thanksgiving

  11-10-2026 17:40 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The second Monday of October is Thanksgiving Day in Canada.
  The day is a time for families to gather and enjoy a meal together. It is also a day off from school and work.
  How much do you know about Thanksgiving traditions and customs in Canada? Put your knowledge to the test with these 10 questions.
  Good luck.
  
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• Bell assumes CEO duties for Hullo Ferries in new year

  11-10-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The company operating Hullo ferries will have a new person at the helm come the new year.
  In a press release, Vancouver Island Ferry Company announced Louisa Bell as its new chief executive officer beginning in January. She takes over for acting CEO Marco Ahrens, who will continue on as general manager of the Nanaimo-Vancouver foot-passenger ferry service.Bell has a wealth transportation business experience, the press release noted, most recently as chief commercial officer of P&O Ferries, a
  
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• Hischier nets 2 as Devils dump visiting Vancouver Canucks 4-1

  11-10-2026 00:12 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Nico Hischier scored twice, lifting the New Jersey Devils to a 4-1 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks in NHL action Saturday afternoon at the Prudential Centre in Newark, N.J.
  Jesper Bratt and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Devils (2-2-0), with Jack Hughes adding a pair of assists. Jake Allen made 20 stops to pick up the win in goal.
  Linus Karlsson had the lone goal for Vancouver (2-4-0), with Leevi Merilainen taking the loss in goal, stopping 31 of 34 shots. Kevin Lankinen made two sav
  
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• City of Nanaimo will review its permissive-tax exemption policy

  10-10-2026 22:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The permissive-tax exemption policy in Nanaimo will be reviewed within the next six months.
  Council unanimously voted for the motion that was put forward by Coun. Ben Geselbracht at its meeting on Oct. 5.
  “We give out more than $2.7 million in permissive tax exemptions (each year), and there has been a few cases where I feel that our policies are a little bit broad,” Geselbracht said.
  “I don’t want to be overrun with applications, and the policy might not be aligned with
  
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• World No. 1 Schwaller, Canadian legend Koe battle on B.C. ice: ‘Best spiel there is’

  10-10-2026 21:40 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller didn’t think twice when posed with the opportunity to take his red-hot momentum from 2025-26 to southern B.C. this weekend.
  The world’s No. 1-ranked curler is among the 24 skips at the Nufloors Penticton Curling Classic until Oct. 11.Schwaller, coming off an Olympic bronze medal and his first-career Grand Slam title, is leading his team into playoff action on Saturday after going 4-0 in round-robin play.
  “This was a no-brainer for us coming
  
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