Nanaimo news

• 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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• Palmieri scores 2 as Islanders edge struggling Vancouver Canucks 3-2

  14-10-2026 04:29 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Kyle Palmieri scored twice, leading the New York Islanders to a 3-2 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks in NHL action Tuesday at UBS Arena Elmont, N.Y.Matias Maccelli also scored for the Isles (3-3-0), with llya Sorokin making 23 saves to pick up the win in goal. Max Sasson and Brock Boeser replied for the Canucks (2-6-0), who have dropped five straight games.Leevi Merilainen took the goaltending loss, stopping 35 of 38 shots.
  The Isles opened the scoring 14:57 into the first period. After a
  
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• Conservatives commit $60 million towards new cardiac-catheterization laboratory at NRGH if elected

  14-10-2026 01:58 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  If elected to be the next provincial government, the B.C. Conservative Party is promising to commit $60 million toward the long-anticipated cardiac-catheterization laboratory at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
  Brennan Day, the Conservative candidate for Courtenay-Comox and former Opposition Critic for Rural and Seniors Health, made the announcement at Nanaimo’s Millstone Medical Building on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
  He said the construction of a cardiac cath lab at the NRGH is long overdue.
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• Conservatives commit $60 million towards new cardiac cath lab at NRGH if elected

  14-10-2026 01:58 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  If elected to be the next provincial government, the B.C. Conservative Party is promising to commit $60 million toward the long-anticipated cardiac-catheterization laboratory at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
  Brennan Day, the Conservative candidate for Courtenay-Comox and former Opposition Critic for Rural and Seniors Health, made the announcement at Nanaimo’s Millstone Medical Building on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
  He said the construction of a cardiac cath lab at the NRGH is long overdue.
  &ld
  
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• Woman found dead at Vancouver Island landfill

  14-10-2026 01:38 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Police are seeking the public’s help to identify a woman found dead at a waste disposal facility in Central Saanich on Tuesday morning (Oct. 13).Central Saanich police responded to a report of a deceased person at the facility, and the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit has taken over the investigation with assistance from local officers.
  The woman is believed to be in her 30s and is approximately 5’9” with a heavy build, brown hair with blonde highlights and a horizo
  
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• B.C. party leaders lay out economic visions at board of trade event

  14-10-2026 01:31 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  NDP, Conservative and Green Party candidates vying to be Premier of B.C. presented their competing visions for the province’s economy to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade on Tuesday.
  NDP Leader David Eby continued working to assuage concerns about the recent contract to build four new BC Ferries ships in China, promising that if his government is re-elected, he will work with Ottawa to build a new shipyard in the province.
  “We can build B.C. Ferries here at home, driving economic
  
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• B.C. southern resident orca census counts 76 in 2nd year population growth

  14-10-2026 01:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The plight of the endangered southern resident killer whales remains in the balance despite a rise in their population.
  The annual photographic census of the killer whales, conducted by Washington-based Center for Whale Research, found that as of July 1, there were 76 living individuals, up two from last year’s 74.
  During the census period, four calves were born, with only two surviving.
  “J64 survived for less than a month, while L129 was only photographed during a single encounter,&
  
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• ‘Catastrophic’ sediment dump threatens spawning salmon at Shawnigan Creek

  14-10-2026 00:44 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A catastrophic sediment dump into Shawnigan Creek on Friday, Oct. 2 has killed an unknown number of spawning fish that had been set to be moved from a fish trap the following day by members of the Mill Bay and District Conservation Society.
  For decades, MBDCS volunteers have been trapping and then physically assisting a run of Coho salmon during their migration above a series of waterfalls on Shawnigan Creek where it enters the Salish Sea near Mill Bay.The sediment release was due to a ruptured
  
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• Candidates share climate views across B.C. ridings

  14-10-2026 00:44 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Voters across British Columbia – from Greater Victoria to Nelson – can now read about their 2026 local election candidates’ positions on climate and environmental issues.
  Climate action groups across the province have posted positions at a new website: Vote4Tomorrow.ca. The survey platform was developed by My Sea to Sky with input from the South Island Climate Action Network.“Climate change is already harming our communities, and driving up costs for everyday people,&rdqu
  
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• NDP’s Eby says he donated back B.C. childcare subsidies, won’t say if he got tax benefit

  14-10-2026 00:10 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  B.C. NDP Leader David Eby says that when his children’s YMCA childcare centre became one of the 10 per cent in the province to offer its services for $10 per day, he and his family decided it was best to donate the difference to the centre.
  “We made that decision because we didn’t feel that we needed that benefit,” he told reporters in Vancouver on Tuesday. “We wanted other families to benefit.”
  Since 2024, the total amount donated, including the amount the fa
  
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• NDP’s Eby says he donated back B.C. childcare subsidies, but won’t give details

  14-10-2026 00:10 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  B.C. NDP Leader David Eby says that when his children’s YMCA childcare centre became one of the 10 per cent in the province to offer its services for $10 per day, he and his family decided it was best to donate the difference to the centre.
  “We made that decision because we didn’t feel that we needed that benefit,” he told reporters in Vancouver on Tuesday. “We wanted other families to benefit.”
  But he dodged questions about the donation amount, or whether he
  
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• Eby promises ‘some of the toughest rules in North America’ on AI data centres and watershed protection

  13-10-2026 23:50 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  BC NDP Leader David Eby promised what he called “some of the toughest rules in North America” around AI data centres and watershed protection at a Comox Valley campaign stop over the weekend.
  “Rural communities in the province understand very intimately where their water comes from. It comes from the watershed,” Eby said. “They understand that if their community is to survive, if it is to have the water that it needs for agriculture, for food, for drinking, then the
  
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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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• 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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• 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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