The ‘vicious circle’ has deepened a persistent worker shortage during a period of record demand. Part seven of our labour series, Pay Check There’s a labour shortage in the construction industry, but it’s not for lack of people wanting to work. The number of new workers may even have increased over the past few years, […]
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Westshore drug users are suffering in silence: harm reduction worker
‘If you deny that the need is there, then you’ll never build the services and you’ll never see it.’ The phrase, “Build it and they will come” is usually reserved for business and baseball fields. But Olivander Day, a harm reduction worker in Langford uses it differently. Day coordinates the Westshore AVI Health Centre, a […]
‘I hate to ask’: How a fraudster manipulated a Colwood single mother out of tens of thousands of dollars
Christine Hale says she lost as much as $100,000 to a man who told her he loved her while inventing lawyer fees and death threats Steven Vanbuskirk was Christine Hale’s first love. At 16, he was the first person who told her she was pretty and made her feel like she mattered. She was badly […]
Updates to Victoria emergency psychiatric care are insufficient, say teen advocates
After taking on the province in a public battle last spring, Ella Hale and Emma Epp feel brushed off by the system that promised change Psychiatric Emergency Services at the Royal Jubilee Hospital released an update last week on their efforts to improve care for people in a mental health crisis. But the two teens […]
#vanlife not just for influencers, says Colwood security guard
Overnight security plus a place to sleep a win-win for van dweller Raffi the dog pops his fluffy head out the RV window, eager for pets. Judy Dreger shouts a greeting from the kitchen in the back of her van, a 76 Dodge Chinook Sportsman with moss-green siding, where she lives with Raffi and Dexter, […]
Fairy Creek update: RCMP play waiting game with determined protesters
South Island old growth logging protesters not blinking at criminal charges The blockades on logging roads in the Fairy Creek Watershed are about to mark one year (Aug. 9) of working to prevent licence-holder Teal Cedar from logging old-growth trees. Arrests have topped 500, and the standoff north of Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island […]
Fairy Creek logging protesters may face criminal charges
B.C. Prosecution Service to review each case, will lay charges where evidence is sufficient The B.C. Prosecution Service might press criminal charges against some of the more than 400 people arrested at the Fairy Creek Watershed. Various blockades have been in place since August 2020, as protesters try to stop Teal Cedar Products from logging […]
Pacheedaht Elder politely refuses First Nation’s request to leave Fairy Creek
Bill Jones says protesters will minimize activity, but stay until until logging ceases A Pacheedaht First Nation elder has responded to a call made Monday by the elected Pacheedaht chief requesting all protesters to leave the Fairy Creek area, citing a risk of wildfires. Bill Jones politely said the protesters would only reduce their presence […]
Elder group heading to Victoria court to protest RCMP exclusion zones at Fairy Creek
A group of determined seniors who call themselves Elders for Ancient Trees are bringing court action to stop the RCMP from blocking access in the Fairy Creek Watershed. They argue the RCMP’s exclusion zones, which police have been using to tightly control access to the area, are a violation of Justice Frits Verhoeven’s injunction order. […]
RCMP arrest all but one at Waterfall blockade, protesters take it back next day
Crowds of supporters and a car of elders breached the police line The people working to stop old-growth logging on southern Vancouver Island are using inventive tactics, determination and sheer numbers to prevent the RCMP from removing them from the various blockades in the forests west of Lake Cowichan and north of Port Renfrew. On […]