Nanaimo News Bulletin

B.C. Wildfire Service says a dry upcoming forecast is expected to hit the regions most impacted by wildfires so far this season. Operations director Cliff Chapman said Tuesday (Aug. 4) that upcoming forecasting calls for the potential return of dry lightning and continued dry conditions in the Cariboo, Kamloops and Southeast fire centres. “What we are also forecasting now is that we may see the return of dry lightning, which means lightning that is associated with little to no precipitati

MUSIC Summer Sizzle Festival: From the Deep is continuing in venues around the mid-Island until Aug. 8. People are invited to explore the rich, resonant world of the low strings. Tickets are available at www.porttheatre.com. Gnarwhal with Hexenbane and Scraped Blind will be performing at The Globe Live Studio on Aug. 5 at 6 p.m. Gnarwhal is a Yellowknife-based heavy alternative fuzz rock band. Tickets are available at www.theglobelivestudio.com. Nanaimo Blues Festival Launch Party will be taking

On Wednesday, Aug. 5, there are six major out-of-control wildfires in the Cariboo region. Pear Lake fire The Pear Lake wildfire continues to be the most significant wildfire in the Cariboo region. On Wednesday morning, it is sized at 124,656 hectares, according to the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS). On Tuesday, the fire grew by nearly 10,000 hectares. READ MORE: Cariboo region’s Pear Lake wildfire now 124,656.1 hectares As of Tuesday, Aug. 4, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) rep

Sometimes help can come from unexpected places. At her lowest point, Leah Wilson found solace in the natural world around her – the smell of the forest after rain, the rhythm of the tides and the changing seasons. As her world slowly began to open again, she noticed the life all around her, including a flock of feathered friends whose unlikely companionship would become a turning point in her healing journey. After experiencing a workplace injury in 2023, the Victoria social worker’s

A late night man overboard situation ended safely with search and rescue crews and family joining the rescue mission. The Sicamous RCMP called in search teams July 26 after boaters reported a young man had fallen overboard unnoticed sometime after dark near the Cinnemousun Narrows. Teams from the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station 106 in Sicamous and the Shuswap Search and Rescue (SSAR) deployed to “sweep-search” the water surface and do a shoreline search. “Duri

Parksville drivers could soon face slower speed limits, but it will be up to the next city council to decide. The city is looking at reducing the speed limit from 60 km/h to 50 km/h from the southern city limits on Highway 19A up to McVickers Street and from 50 km/h down to 40 km/h from McVickers Street to Bay Avenue. The speed limit could also be lowered to 50 km/h from Bay Avenue to Wright Road, as well as from 50 km/h to 40 km/h at Highway 19A to Jensen Avenue East. Speed limits through all n

Mother Nature provided a beautiful sunny day on the morning of July 24, appropriate to mark a bright future for the Cowichan Estuary as the province announced they will provide $500,000 to support the Cowichan Estuary Restoration Project. Special guests joined members of Cowichan Tribes, Ducks Unlimited Canada, and The Nature Trust of British Columbia for a site tour. Cowichan Tribes Elder Christopher Alphonse, and Randene Neill, minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship began the morning

A new report from the Cowichan Coalition to End Homelessness is calling for five new village-style supportive housing developments, along with expanded shelter space, supportive housing and homelessness prevention programs, to help address homelessness across the Cowichan Valley. Presented to the Cowichan Valley Regional District Board by Director Alison Nicholson at its latest meeting, the report outlines a three-phase strategy — prevention, intervention and stabilization — to bette

The Victoria Police Department is asking for public assistance in identifying a man after possibly “hate-motivated” graffiti appeared in the 2100-block of Vancouver Street. The incident occurred at around 4 a.m. on Aug. 2, where CCTV footage captured a man – about six feet tall with long, dark hair, a dark moustache and a tattoo on his left hand – spray painting a building. VicPD says the graffiti is being investigated as mischief and a possible hate-motivated offence. An

Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers is warning the public after two midday indecent exposures near University Heights. According to Saanich Police, the offences happened on June 22 and June 30 around the 1600 Block of Garnet Rd. In both cases, a man driving a car pulled up to a woman to ask for directions. “Both women were approached by a man in a vehicle who asked for directions. When they moved closer to assist, they discovered the man was exposing himself inside his car,” Greater Vic

The man arrested after a fatal shooting incident at a Nanaimo fast food restaurant parking lot five years ago will stand trial later this month. Ronald Joseph Campbell, 42 when charged in 2024, will go to trial for first-degree murder beginning Monday, July 20 at B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo. The incident took place at the Wendy’s at Rock City Centre on May 20, 2021, during which a man was shot and killed. Jury selection will take place Saturday, July 18 and the trial is scheduled to last

Dear Nanaimo residents, Please be kind to census workers, they are doing their jobs trying to prevent you from being fined for not completing your census questionnaire. It is a legal obligation and your civic duty to complete one. When we knock on your door or call you, we are not selling anything, we are not there to pry into your affairs nor are we collecting information for our own nefarious purposes. We are working, just as you do, and imagine if you had to endure having doors slammed in you

If there was any doubt that the Phillips Backyard Festival has become Victoria’s marquee summer music event, Friday (July 10) night erased it. A capacity crowd of roughly 5,000 packed the backyard of Phillips Brewing Co. as the annual festival opened with one of its biggest headliners yet, three-time Grammy Award winner Chance the Rapper. By the time his set wrapped, fans weren’t rushing for the exits, they were standing in groups, reliving what they had just watched. “Wow, I m

When a humpback whale named Pop Tart found itself in a tangle, Greater Victoria’s whale watching community sprang into action. Identified as the 2016 calf of famed Salish Sea humpback whale Big Mama, Pop Tart spent nearly a week entangled in fishing gear, described as a buoy with a rope more than 30 metres long. The Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) has praised the collaboration between Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Marine Mammal Response Team and professional whale watchers from

Residents are accustomed to the peal of bells ringing from Christ Church Cathedral on a Sunday morning. The tone changes Sunday (July 12) with a rare quarter peal of change ringing in honour of the 90th anniversary of the dedication of the tower bells at the Victoria church. A quarter peal is a specific type of performance of change ringing which meets certain exacting conditions for duration, complexity and quality, and is usually done to celebrate certain occasions of historical significance.

Among the hundreds of towns and cities that pepper Canada’s forests, coastlines and prairies, Victoria has been named one of the best. Travel + Leisure recently released its 2026 World’s Best Award, which annually ranks the best places to stay, eat and explore in Canada and beyond, as decided by its readers. This year, Victoria was voted the second-best city in Canada, behind Quebec City. Victoria received an 83.77 score, while Quebec City took home an 86.99 ranking. Scores are calcu

Daily FIFA World Cup soccer match updates and news for Black Press Media publications. Spain is heading to the semi-finals after defeating Belgium 2-1 on Friday (July 10). It is a busy day at the World Cup today (July 11), with two quarter-final matches. Norway will take on England at 2 p.m. PT in Miami, followed by Argentina vs. Switzerland at 6 p.m. PT in Kansas City. QUARTER-FINALS Friday, July 10: Spain vs. Belgium at 12 p.m. in Los Angeles Saturday, July 11 Norway vs. England at 5 p.m. in

Deal weariness: unresolved tension or endlessly protracted negotiations cause parties to feel helpless, exhausted, and deeply fed up. Feeling undervalued: prolonged negotiations, especially when trying to secure fair value, often result in ongoing resentment. But even after 26 years of negotiationg, Robert Morales is in it for the long game. As the chief negotiator, and a lawyer, for the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group, he is representing five area indigenous nations in their efforts for A

It should come as no big surprise that the population of Nanaimo has ballooned to 112,600 people as of last year, and is projected to grow to approximately 121,941 by 2030. Nanaimo’s economic development officer Amrit Manhas recently revealed those numbers as part of the city’s annual state of the economy report for 2025. When I first moved to the city in 1996, the population was just a little over 70,000, so now we have an additional 42,600 people living here since then, which is qu

The annual Quality Foods Sand Sculpting Competition is now underway. This year, there are 30 sand sculptors from all over the world vying for top honours in one of Parksville’s most cherished summer events. They had started laying the foundation of their art pieces on Thursday and will have until Sunday, July 12, at 2 p.m. to finish carving their creations that will be based on this year’s “Beauties and Beasts” theme. Prior to opening the gates to the public, a ribbon-cut