Community

A B.C. conservation officer being smudged prior to an eagle feather harvest. (Photo submitted)

Blessed eagle feathers will help Nanaimo RCMP with culture-informed policing

Members of Snuneymuxw and Snaw-Naw-As First Nations share traditions with police and conservation

A B.C. conservation officer being smudged prior to an eagle feather harvest. (Photo submitted)
Pixabay photo

Comox Valley Regional District headed to court over water bottling decision

Bruce Gibbons of Merville Water Guardians is taking the Comox Valley Regional…

  • Nov 17, 2023
Pixabay photo
Vernon’s Rose the Jack Russell mix is featured in the month of June on the national 2024 Companions for Change calendar. (Beacon Communications photo)

Paddleboarding B.C. pup featured in fundraising calendar

Rose, a Jack Russell mix, appears in 2024 Companions for Change calendar

Vernon’s Rose the Jack Russell mix is featured in the month of June on the national 2024 Companions for Change calendar. (Beacon Communications photo)
Toni King is head baker at the Second Chance Cafe in Saanich, where the eatery is staffed by brain injury survivors and serves as an educational tool for Cridge Centre programs. (Christine van Reeuwyk/News Staff)

VIDEO: Program for brain injury survivors feeds souls at Saanich rec centre

Saanich, Cridge Centre partnership fully led and staffed by survivors of brain injury

Toni King is head baker at the Second Chance Cafe in Saanich, where the eatery is staffed by brain injury survivors and serves as an educational tool for Cridge Centre programs. (Christine van Reeuwyk/News Staff)
The Sooke Salmon Enhancement Society collect brood chinook salmon brood stock in the Sooke River. (Contributed – SSES)

Swimmers aid DFO in assessing returning Vancouver Island salmon numbers.

Chum well below average across southern B.C.

The Sooke Salmon Enhancement Society collect brood chinook salmon brood stock in the Sooke River. (Contributed – SSES)
West Coast General Hospital Foundation president Robbie O’Dwyer cuts a piece of ceremonial cedar ribbon at the official opening of the new emergency department, Nov. 10, 2023. Mid Island-Pacific Rim MLA Josie Osborne, right, waits her turn. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

West Coast General Hospital officially opens new emergency department

Community contributed $2.4M of total $6.95M cost for expanded ER

West Coast General Hospital Foundation president Robbie O’Dwyer cuts a piece of ceremonial cedar ribbon at the official opening of the new emergency department, Nov. 10, 2023. Mid Island-Pacific Rim MLA Josie Osborne, right, waits her turn. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
The House at Pooh Corner, a 2020 Kaleidoscope production. (Veronica Bonderud)

Victoria’s Kaleidoscope Theatre for Young People celebrates 50 years

Vancouver Island’s oldest professional theatre company continues to shape how people experience theatre for youth

The House at Pooh Corner, a 2020 Kaleidoscope production. (Veronica Bonderud)
Oak Bay worm farmer Sandra Birrell shows off a handful of the 10,000 worms that call Gilligan home. (Christine van Reeuwyk/News Staff)

VIDEO: Oak Bay worm farmer gathers gourds to feed her brood all winter

Roughly 170 donated pumpkins put to good use making compost

Oak Bay worm farmer Sandra Birrell shows off a handful of the 10,000 worms that call Gilligan home. (Christine van Reeuwyk/News Staff)
Veteran Edwin “Ted” Adye at the Trafalgar/Pro Patria Legion Branch in Victoria. His battalion was awarded the United States Presidential Unit Citation for fighting off thousands of Chinese at Kapyong, Korea, preventing the capture of Seoul. (Samantha Duerksen/BlackPress Media)

From the front lines of the Korean War to total darkness near the North Pole

Veteran Edwin ‘Ted’ Adye shares his life and legacy as one of Canada’s remaining Korean War vets

Veteran Edwin “Ted” Adye at the Trafalgar/Pro Patria Legion Branch in Victoria. His battalion was awarded the United States Presidential Unit Citation for fighting off thousands of Chinese at Kapyong, Korea, preventing the capture of Seoul. (Samantha Duerksen/BlackPress Media)
Knut Moeskau wanted to join the Canadian Airforce during the Second World War. He was rejected for having acne. He went on to serve in the Canadian Technical Training Core. (Submitted/Broadmead Care)

‘Boy soldier’ recalls the hullabaloo at the end of Second World War

Saanich veteran enlisted in the Canadian Technical Training Core at age 17

Knut Moeskau wanted to join the Canadian Airforce during the Second World War. He was rejected for having acne. He went on to serve in the Canadian Technical Training Core. (Submitted/Broadmead Care)
On Nov. 11, Remembrance Day ceremonies will be held across the country. This picture is from a 2022 Remembrance Day ceremony in Sidney, B.C. (Black Press file photo)

QUIZ: A time for remembrance

Remembrance Day, on Nov. 11, is a sombre time to remember the cost of war

On Nov. 11, Remembrance Day ceremonies will be held across the country. This picture is from a 2022 Remembrance Day ceremony in Sidney, B.C. (Black Press file photo)
Korean War veteran Roy Mackay holds a photo showing him (left in the photo) around 1950 when he was in the army. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)

Saanich veteran dove from planes before sailing with the navy to Korean War

Roy Mackay never flew in a plane before he became a paratrooper with the army

Korean War veteran Roy Mackay holds a photo showing him (left in the photo) around 1950 when he was in the army. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)
Sailor 1st Class Ryan Black attending to duties on HMCS Ottawa. (Courtesy of the CFB Esquimalt)

CFB Esquimalt sailor shares snapshot of his life on board HMCS Ottawa

Sailor 1st Class Ryan Black has been deployed to the Indo-Pacific for the last four months

Sailor 1st Class Ryan Black attending to duties on HMCS Ottawa. (Courtesy of the CFB Esquimalt)
Assistant Operations Manager Eric Falkenberg has created pop can box displays for six years at the Orchard Plaza Save-on Foods in Kelowna. (Brittany Webster/Capital News)

‘Adult Lego’: Kelowna grocery store manager winning with pop box displays

Eric Falkenberg has two displays planned for the holidays at the Orchard Plaza Save-On Foods

  • Nov 9, 2023
Assistant Operations Manager Eric Falkenberg has created pop can box displays for six years at the Orchard Plaza Save-on Foods in Kelowna. (Brittany Webster/Capital News)
A Good Samaritan came to Murray Kennedy-MacNeill’s aid when he rolled his custom cycle and ended up in the bushes, with the bike on top of him. Photo by Terry Farrell

Disabled cyclist thanks Vancouver Island Good Samaritan for help after fall

Murray Kennedy-MacNeill’s faith in humanity has been reaffirmed. Kennedy-MacNeill can often be…

A Good Samaritan came to Murray Kennedy-MacNeill’s aid when he rolled his custom cycle and ended up in the bushes, with the bike on top of him. Photo by Terry Farrell
Veteran Gordon Usipiuk outside the Langford Legion on Station Avenue. (Sam Duerksen/BlackPress Media)

Greater Victoria veteran an uncelebrated hero of the Battle of Medak Pocket

Hero Gordon Usipiuk reminds the importance of ‘lest we forget’

Veteran Gordon Usipiuk outside the Langford Legion on Station Avenue. (Sam Duerksen/BlackPress Media)
Lt.-Cmdr. Jordan Thwaites is currently on a mission in the Indo-Pacific onboard HMCS Vancouver. (Courtesy of CFB Esquimalt)

Lieutenant commander grateful for his ancestors who served before him

For the fourth-generation member of the CAF, remembrance is ‘deeply personal’

Lt.-Cmdr. Jordan Thwaites is currently on a mission in the Indo-Pacific onboard HMCS Vancouver. (Courtesy of CFB Esquimalt)
Standing in front of her father’s medals and holding up his autobiography that focuses on his time in the army, Elizabeth Macrae recalls how it was a struggle for her parents to get the support they needed after serving (her mother was also a decoder in the army). Macrae is the president of the Victoria - Fred Whitehouse Branch at the National Association of Federal Retirees. (Samantha Duerksen/BlackPress Media)

‘I fought fiercely’: Victoria organization helps veterans find support

National Association of Federal Retirees, whose founder was from Victoria, celebrated its 60th anniversary

Standing in front of her father’s medals and holding up his autobiography that focuses on his time in the army, Elizabeth Macrae recalls how it was a struggle for her parents to get the support they needed after serving (her mother was also a decoder in the army). Macrae is the president of the Victoria - Fred Whitehouse Branch at the National Association of Federal Retirees. (Samantha Duerksen/BlackPress Media)
Veterans lay a wreath at the Saanich Cenotaph during a previous Remembrance Day ceremony. (Black Press Media file photo)

Remembrance Day ceremonies taking place across Greater Victoria

Victoria ceremony takes place at the cenotaph on the legislature grounds starting at 10:30 a.m.

  • Nov 7, 2023
Veterans lay a wreath at the Saanich Cenotaph during a previous Remembrance Day ceremony. (Black Press Media file photo)
A woman stands on the Sooke flowline shortly after it was built. Some hikers still use the flowline trail, though it is marked as off-limits to the public. (Image provided by the CRD)

Hidden, high-rated Vancouver Island hiking trail designated as hazardous

While the Sooke Flow Pipe Trail has an interesting history, the CRD says to appreciate it from afar

A woman stands on the Sooke flowline shortly after it was built. Some hikers still use the flowline trail, though it is marked as off-limits to the public. (Image provided by the CRD)