Austin Westphal

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Westshore Skatepark Coalition member Jimmy Miller cuts the ribbon alongside West Shore mayors and councillors at the Thrifty Foods Skatepark grand opening at West Shore Parks and Recreation in Colwood May 13. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

World-class Thrifty Foods Skatepark opens on the West Shore

West Shore gets new skatepark almost 8 years after old Belmont site removed

Westshore Skatepark Coalition member Jimmy Miller cuts the ribbon alongside West Shore mayors and councillors at the Thrifty Foods Skatepark grand opening at West Shore Parks and Recreation in Colwood May 13. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
The 12-and-a-half metre totem pole carved by about 160 inmates which stands outside the Vancouver Island Regional Corrections Centre in Saanich. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

Totem pole carved by inmates dedicated at Wilkinson Road jail in Saanich

About 160 at Vancouver Island Regional Corrections Centre participated in first-of-its-kind project

The 12-and-a-half metre totem pole carved by about 160 inmates which stands outside the Vancouver Island Regional Corrections Centre in Saanich. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock outside two 11-unit purpose-built rental buildings on Richmond Road near Royal Jubilee Hospital. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

Saanich endorses zone allowing small apartment buildings on single-family lots

Staff report indicates district needs more than 1,200 new bachelor, one-bedroom units by 2025

Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock outside two 11-unit purpose-built rental buildings on Richmond Road near Royal Jubilee Hospital. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
The province has chosen a temporary operator for Victoria’s historic Point Ellice House, just over a month after the non-profit managing the site announced its closure due to a lack of funds. (File photo courtesy Vancouver Island Local History Society)

Province chooses interim operator for Victoria’s historic Point Ellice House

Popular heritage site to reopen to public by end of the month

The province has chosen a temporary operator for Victoria’s historic Point Ellice House, just over a month after the non-profit managing the site announced its closure due to a lack of funds. (File photo courtesy Vancouver Island Local History Society)
The Canadian men’s national cricket team holds a scouting session at Beacon Hill Park in Victoria on April 28. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

Canadian national cricket team scouts talent in Victoria

ICC One Day International status restored after nearly a decade

The Canadian men’s national cricket team holds a scouting session at Beacon Hill Park in Victoria on April 28. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
Crews with the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation conduct a simulated oil spill outside Esquimalt Harbour April 26. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

Simulated oil spill off southern Vancouver Island tests marine response

Crews from the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation deployed as part of biannual exercise

Crews with the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation conduct a simulated oil spill outside Esquimalt Harbour April 26. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
Safaa Naeman inside her Esquimalt restaurant, Syriana, on April 20. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

Greater Victoria’s first Syrian restaurant opening in Esquimalt

In a diverse culinary scene, Victoria is about to get its first taste of authentic Syrian fare

Safaa Naeman inside her Esquimalt restaurant, Syriana, on April 20. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
Safe supply advocates hold a rally outside the B.C. Ministry of Health in downtown Victoria April 14. The day marks seven years since the province declared the overdose public health emergency. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

Safe supply advocates rally in Victoria to mark 7 years of toxic drug crisis

More than 11,300 British Columbians have died from toxic drug deaths since 2016

Safe supply advocates hold a rally outside the B.C. Ministry of Health in downtown Victoria April 14. The day marks seven years since the province declared the overdose public health emergency. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
Greater Victoria Harbour Authority CEO Robert Lewis-Manning speaks to media after the arrival of the Sapphire Princess at Ogden Point Tuesday (April 11) morning. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

‘Economic boom’: Sapphire Princess docks in Victoria as first ship of cruise season

Greater Victoria Harbour Authority expecting fewer ships, more passengers this year

Greater Victoria Harbour Authority CEO Robert Lewis-Manning speaks to media after the arrival of the Sapphire Princess at Ogden Point Tuesday (April 11) morning. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
Local author Valerie Green holds a copy of her first historical fiction book, called Providence, inside her home library in Saanich. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

Saanich author takes a page from B.C.’s past in first work of historical fiction

Valerie Green’s debut historical fiction novel, Providence, is the first in a four-book series

Local author Valerie Green holds a copy of her first historical fiction book, called Providence, inside her home library in Saanich. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
Members of Victoria’s Chinese diaspora community lay flowers and light incense in celebration of Qingming at the Chinese Cemetery at Harling Point in Oak Bay April 5. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

‘They paved the way for us’: Chinese community honours others at Island cemetery

Qingming event held at historic cemetery at Harling Point in Victoria

Members of Victoria’s Chinese diaspora community lay flowers and light incense in celebration of Qingming at the Chinese Cemetery at Harling Point in Oak Bay April 5. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
Masami Teramachi (right) delivers her map to Burnside-Gorge Community Association board member Michelle Peterson. (Courtesy Masami Teramachi)

UVic graduate depicts locals’ favourite spots with hand-drawn Greater Victoria maps

Masami Teramachi’s latest Saanich map was a collaboration with a community group

Masami Teramachi (right) delivers her map to Burnside-Gorge Community Association board member Michelle Peterson. (Courtesy Masami Teramachi)
Members of the B.C. Community Safety Unit raid the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club’s new location on Quadra Street on March 23. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

Victoria cannabis club gets third raid, already facing $6.5 million in fines

CSU officers seizing product from the unlicensed medical cannabis store

Members of the B.C. Community Safety Unit raid the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club’s new location on Quadra Street on March 23. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
Program manager Ben Whitby shows a similar type of buoy-based wave data collection platform to the one that will be deployed in the waters off Yuquot at the University of Victoria’s Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery (PRIMED) lab in North Saanich March 3. (Austin Westphal/News Staff) Program manager Ben Whitby shows a similar type of buoy-based wave data collection platform to the one that will be deployed in the waters off Yuquot at the University of Victoria’s Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery (PRIMED) lab in North Saanich March 3. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

UVic researchers help bring First Nation back to Nootka Island with wave power

Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation looks towards renewable energy microgrid to power future community

Program manager Ben Whitby shows a similar type of buoy-based wave data collection platform to the one that will be deployed in the waters off Yuquot at the University of Victoria’s Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery (PRIMED) lab in North Saanich March 3. (Austin Westphal/News Staff) Program manager Ben Whitby shows a similar type of buoy-based wave data collection platform to the one that will be deployed in the waters off Yuquot at the University of Victoria’s Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery (PRIMED) lab in North Saanich March 3. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
B.C.’s police watchdog has found no offence was committed by Saanich police during a May 2022 encounter that left a man with Asperger’s Syndrome seriously injured. (Black Press Media file photo)

IIO clears Saanich police after man with Asperger’s injured, but called actions ‘close to the line’

Man shot twice with non-lethal ARWEN rounds, bitten by police dog

B.C.’s police watchdog has found no offence was committed by Saanich police during a May 2022 encounter that left a man with Asperger’s Syndrome seriously injured. (Black Press Media file photo)
Speed limits will be reduced along nine major corridors in Saanich starting this spring as part of a larger effort to save lives. (Black Press Media file photo)

Saanich lowering speed limits in 9 major corridors after teen’s death

Changes spurred by death of 16-year-old at Cedar Hill Cross Road in December 2021

Speed limits will be reduced along nine major corridors in Saanich starting this spring as part of a larger effort to save lives. (Black Press Media file photo)
Val Napoleon, acting dean of law, along with Patricia Barkaskas, strategic advisor to the dean for the National Centre for Indigenous Laws, show a rendering of the future building at the University of Victoria Thursday (March 9). (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

Construction gets underway for National Centre for Indigenous Laws at UVic

Building to house joint degree program in Canadian Common Law, Indigenous legal orders

Val Napoleon, acting dean of law, along with Patricia Barkaskas, strategic advisor to the dean for the National Centre for Indigenous Laws, show a rendering of the future building at the University of Victoria Thursday (March 9). (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
Oak Bay Fire Lt. Jason Joynson holds the flag of fallen colleague chaplain Kenneth Gill, who took his own life in 2018, at the south lawn of the legislature in Victoria Monday (March 6). (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

PHOTOS: B.C. firefighters honour fallen colleagues with Victoria parade

The same gear that’s supposed to protect first responders is also killing them due to cancer, says firefighter

Oak Bay Fire Lt. Jason Joynson holds the flag of fallen colleague chaplain Kenneth Gill, who took his own life in 2018, at the south lawn of the legislature in Victoria Monday (March 6). (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
Sara Ellison looks at a basket star while snorkelling off the coast of northern Vancouver Island. (Courtesy Sara Ellison)

UVic astronomer writes ultimate Vancouver Island, Gulf Islands snorkelling guide

The same sense of curiosity that first inspired Sara Ellison to look…

Sara Ellison looks at a basket star while snorkelling off the coast of northern Vancouver Island. (Courtesy Sara Ellison)
A rendering of Abstract Development’s three storey, 25-unit residential project near Swan Lake in Saanich. (Courtesy Abstract Developments)

Saanich council passes controversial Swan Lake townhouses in narrow vote

Abstract Developments’ 25-unit residential project at 3977 Rainbow Street gets green light

A rendering of Abstract Development’s three storey, 25-unit residential project near Swan Lake in Saanich. (Courtesy Abstract Developments)