By Norman Galimski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Prince Rupert residents spilled out of the Service BC Centre into the parking lot and down the sidewalk on Sept. 8, as they queued to get their vaccine passports verified, set up and printed due to a myriad of difficulties. Some residents said they attended in person to simplify the vaccine passport registration process but…
By Tom Summer, Local Journalism Initiative The Northern Rockies Fire Department has had a quiet season this summer, but continues to keep busy training and serving the community. Deputy Fire Chief Hayward Sheppard says two challenges when it comes to firefighting are the small community and the amount of area the department covers. “You’re always working with a small group, and you…
By Hannah Scott, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The city is hoping to add more community gardens to address the long waiting list of interested residents, and is looking for public feedback. “These gardens build community by bringing people together to share their gardening knowledge and stories. The numerous benefits derived from community gardens deem them special places and the city would like…
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com Though he had applied to participate in the prestigious WarnerMedia Access Writers Program last year, Corey Payette insists he was not actually counting on becoming part of the program. When the call for applications was sent out last year, it was announced between eight and 12 Canadian individuals would be selected, but program officials…
By Mark Nielsen, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A B.C. Supreme Court Justice has ordered the Cariboo Regional District to pay a Wildwood-area couple $77,000 in damages and to bring their property back to the state it was in before it was twice struck by overflow from a nearby sewage line. Bawnie and David Ward had been in the process of taking the…
By Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Five years ago, marine ecologist Aaron Galloway surfaced with a ling cod he had spearfished off the coast of Oregon and proceeded to freak out. Endemic to the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California — but most abundant in British Columbia waters — ling cod are big-mouthed, feisty, bottom-dwelling fish that make for good sport and…
By Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Kevin Gourlay and Chelsea Brager describe their job as “marmoteering.” The two are part of a team of five field technicians who go to formidable lengths to find and monitor Canada’s most endangered, and possibly most endearing, rodent — the Vancouver Island marmot. It’s a case of climb every mountain, ford every stream in the…
By Tom Summer, Local Journalism Initiative The Northern Cohort launched the roll out of its plan for a food hub in the Peace region on Wednesday, which would see local producers work together to make their products available under one banner. The aim of a food hub is to allow multiple producers, processors, and distributors to share facilities, equipment, and services to…
By Mark Nielsen, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The unprotected portion of British Columbia’s inland temperate rainforest is in danger of being wiped out in nine to 18 years if logging continues at the current pace, an international team of scientists is warning. The alarm was raised in a recently-published study of the forested portion of the province’s interior wetbelt (IWB), a 16.46 million-hectare region…
By Michael Potestio, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A North Kamloops Tim Hortons restaurant has closed indefinitely as a result of an incident last weekend that was the latest in a series of property crime and other social issues impacting the area. At about 8:40 a.m. on Saturday, July 17, a man reportedly entered the business at 481 Tranquille Rd., went behind the…
