What’s Up on Vancouver Island

Port Alberni is hoping to be the focus of HGTV’s Hometown Takeover Canada series. The show is a Canadian version of the popular U.S. series where small towns receive a makeover. Six public spaces, six businesses and six homes will be revitalized should Alberni’s bid be successful. In a report to city council, staff said the next step was to create a video about why Port Alberni should be featured on the show. Other Canadian cities, including fire-ravaged Jasper and Lytton have also pitched themselves as potential subjects of the series. The Scoop’s Nancy Wilmot did the voice over work for Port Alberni’s video, which features the mayor and leaders from Tseshaht and Hupacasath First Nations. If filming does come to Port Alberni, crews will be in town for five months beginning in April or May, with the show set to air in late 2026. There is no public vote on which Canadian town will be chosen for the show, the showrunners will be deciding which community they are most interested in featuring and revitalizing. A winner will be announced in the coming months.

Police have tracked down the car that was in the vicinity of a fatal crash in south Nanaimo last weekend, and are now renewing a call for witnesses and video. Rhys Edwards, who was 18, died in a crash on the Trans-Canada Highway on Sunday, Nov. 2, when the car he was riding in crashed in the northbound lane, near Morden Road. B.C. RCMP at the time sought information about another vehicle that left the scene, but now report that the vehicle has been located. “Both occupants of the Honda Civic … are co-operating with police,” said Cpl. Michael McLaughlin, B.C. Highway Patrol spokesperson, in the press release. “There is a lot of community chatter about this incident, and we are looking for more witnesses and video to establish exactly what happened.” Investigators are seek others who have “knowledge of the crash,” as they are looking to “establish a timeline for all vehicles that were in the area. Surveillance video is proving particularly useful, police said. “These investigations are highly technical and take a long time, but with continued help from the public, we will solve this,” McLaughlin said. Anyone with information on the incident, or video footage, is asked to call B.C. Highway Patrol in Duncan at 250-746-2751, citing file No. 2025-2168.

Much of what Vancouver Island eats comes from the mainland and Island residents would be wise to strengthen regional food structures, recommended panellists at a Nanaimo economic conference. Bolstering local food sovereignty was the topic Oct. 29 at the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance’s economic summit, with insight from Sabrina Crowley, owner of Casanova Seafoods; Kent Mullinix, director of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at Kwantlen Polytechnic; James Donaldson, chief executive officer of the B.C. Food and Beverage Association; Gaby Wickstrom, general manager of Namgis Business Development Corp.; and Maurita Prato, executive director of Lush Valley Food Action Society. Donaldson, who moderated the discussion, said agriculture, seafood and food-processing in B.C. accounts for $20 million in annual revenue, but is “really dependent on imports.” Mullinix said there is about “two days’ worth of food in our communities” and that’s because of the nature of the system that has been built over the last 70 years. He reiterated the current “transnational” food system is not sustainable and stakeholders must roll up their sleeves and build a system that is resilient and serves communities “economically and socially.” “We keep fixating on silver bullets … Our vision has to embrace the long game, and then we need to work together, all of us, and based on that vision of an alternative food system … we need to build an action plan, a thoughtful, sequential action plan, and build it piece by piece by piece, and that’s going to take a lot of thought, but it’s also going to take a lot of support via policy and regulation,” he said. “We’re going to have to attract and incentivize and reward the leaders and builders of an alternative system.” Prato said the history of industrial agriculture is based on slavery and chemical usage and there are benefits that come from supporting local food economies. Vancouver Island’s geography doesn’t allow for large-scale growing of a single crop at one time, and the Island’s largest farms don’t compare in size to farms in other places, she said, leading to a “real diversity” in what is produced locally. “I would also say, on the Island, because of the size, there’s a relational quality to the food economy,” Prato told the audience. “Often people are having exchanges at farmers’ markets and they know their producer or they know their processor. So that brings this relational, social quality where people are engaged in the food system, and the more engaged people can become, the better the outcomes for people that care about the future.” According to Crowley, Uchucklesaht Tribe member and councillor, there needs to more teamwork and collaboration to share methods and knowledge. “I do know what I need to do as a farmer, but going out into the marketing side is a little bit new for me, [and] connecting with those processes and saying, how can we make this work, how can we make this happen,” she said. Wickstrom said the industry has potential to provide more jobs, and also talked about ways to diversify offerings just from what’s already being produced. “There’s also opportunities within the processing hub that we can come up with some different value-added products. I think that there are spinoff opportunities for micro entrepreneurs…” she said. “We had an idea that we could possibly do a food box distribution, similar to what Hello Fresh does, but maybe not quite as detailed … I think the sky’s the limit.” The State of the Island Economic Summit was held at Nanaimo’s Vancouver Island Conference Centre from Oct. 28-30.

BY IAN THORPE Autumn weather is definitely here and following a heart-breaking end to the professional baseball season, focus now shifts to fall and winter sports. For many, what comes to mind first is hockey, with leagues up and running at all levels. That includes hockey for kids, most notably the Nanaimo Minor Hockey Association. Longtime administrator Vicky Long sends word that games are well underway for players ages 5-20, with 885 kids enrolled. The season runs through until next March, with leagues for co-ed recreational and female recreational teams as well as competitive teams. Amanjit Pandher returns as NMHA president for the season ahead, assisted by first vice-president Graeme Fipke and director of hockey operations Matt Hughes. Also on the executive board are female director Allison Schneider, competitive coordinator Brad Remillard and recreational coordinator Mary Pearson. Chris Lawson looks after risk and safety, Amanda Medforth is tournament coordinator, Heather McEachen handles sponsorship and community, Cody Gessner is referee-in-chief and Taylor Jenkins is equipment manager. The are six teams in the Timbits U7 league where basic skills are introduced to newcomers. A jamboree for the league will be held this weekend, November 8-9, at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. Four teams comprise the U8 league and six teams form a U9 division. For U11 there are eight recreational teams and two rep squads. Another six rec teams and two rep teams are in the U13 division. Both U15 and U18 age groups have four recreational and two rep teams and there are also two teams at the U21 level. In the female divisions, U11 has a recreational and a rep team, there are two rec teams in U13 and one each in U15 and U18. Most divisions will have a home tournament or jamboree at some point in the season. Prior to the start of the season, Nanaimo Minor Hockey Association held its annual general meeting. In addition to the election of officers as listed above, awards were presented to top players from last year, as well as to officials and coaches. From the boys’ recreational division, top graduating U11 player was Hugh Kenning, with Bentley Herman the top U13 graduating player. The Jason Gow Memorial Trophy for the top U15 recreational player went to Kyptin McLaren and the Larry McNabb Memorial Trophy for the top U18 player was given to Devin Krishan. From the female recreational divisions, top graduating U11 player was Clara Chan. Rae Gannon was chosen as top graduating U13 player, Scarlet McHady was the top graduating U15 female and top graduating U18 female recreational player was Anastasia Trenholm. Turning to competitive division awards, the Eric Kneen Memorial Trophy went to top player Sutton Ranger from the U11 age group. Joe Apter received the Dick Robinson Memorial Trophy as top U13 player. The Don Sarkasian Memorial Trophy for top U15 competitive player was presented to Chase Shahi, while Ryder Dawes received the Bud Dumont Memorial Trophy as top competitive U18 player. Recognition of Nanaimo Minor Hockey referees saw Jackson Rauh named as most improved official from last season. Malone Mann got the nod as rookie official of the year. Referee of the year honours went to Anastasia Trenholm, who took home the Rick Hodgson Award for her efforts. Coaching awards were also presented at the AGM. The Ethan Brown Memorial Trophy for rookie coach of the year went to Jake Heller. Nicole Sugiyama was picked as most valuable recreational coach, receiving the Frank Crane Memorial Trophy. Darcy Gudmundson received the Ted Holder Memorial Trophy as most valuable coach from the competitive division and Tyler Zubkowski was named coach of the year from the female division. Whatever your sport, a reminder in closing to play your hardest, play fair and show good sportsmanship.

If you're a fan of Monty Python, Mr. Bean or Dr. Seuss, then a British duo coming to Victoria is serving something up that could be your cup of tea. British Comedy legends James & Jamesy (aka Aaron Malkin and Alastair Knowles) are coming to the Royal Theatre on Nov. 7 and 8 with their multi-award-winning tea-themed comedy, O Christmas Tea: A British Comedy. The uplifting, light-hearted comedy features two characters who first appear at odds: James, who believes what happens on stage is make-believe, and Jamesy, who believes that on-stage events are real and the audience does not exist. “Theatre is in its essence an exercise in imagination, a suspension of disbelief,” said Alastair Knowles, who plays the eccentric Jamesy. “O Christmas Tea focuses on and plays with this distinction.” For over a decade, the duo – who originally met in Vancouver while working with clowns – have performed together. Each year, the show develops and the tours expand, Malkin said. This year, they're heading to 37 cities. The duo's show is reminiscent of classic British pantos, blending physical comedy, quick-witted wordplay and interactive elements. Ultimately, their show is about creating a "magical experience" that fosters a deeper connection between audience members. “At this time of year, we’re inspired to dream big and tap into our child-like imagination,” Malkin said. “O Christmas Tea is a show that brings family and friends together." Tickets for the show are available at ochristmastea.com or from the Theatre Box Office (250-386-6121).

Whether featured in Richard Wagner's The Ring Cycle or Mozart’s The Magic Flute, opera families notoriously exceed the bounds of dysfunction. So, it's a testament to their hard work, creativity and patience that real-life opera husband-and-wife team Anne Grimm and Benjamin Butterfield have proven family life off stage can be every bit as exciting without the additional drama. The Oak Bay couple met mid-career, studying at a summer singing program near Chicago (Anne being from the Netherlands and Benjamin from Victoria). They later raised two daughters, now in their early twenties — a dancer and a rower, but both good singers, too. Between being away from one another for long periods of time, conflicting work schedules and mood swings, wavering from the excitement of a good show to the misery of a bad one, the couple knows all about taking on tough roles. It's a shared passion for music, they say, that's helped strengthen their healthy and ever-evolving relationship. “Although being in the same business has its challenges, Anne and I have remained enthusiastic and philosophical about our lives as musicians and more so as singers, because it continues to be a life full of discovery and change,” Benjamin says. “We have always been supportive of each other through the ups and downs of this career and life. There is never a dull moment.” In addition to their singing careers, Benjamin and Anne have been teaching a new generation of aspiring singers at the University of Victoria for nearly 20 years. Taking on the role of head of voice at the School of Music, they moved back to Benjamin’s hometown in 2006. Anne joined the voice department in 2009 but now teaches at the Victoria Conservatory of Music as well. butterfield1 [https://www.bpmcdn.com/f/files/oakbay/2025-august/butterfield1.jpg;w=960] Anne Grimm and Benjamin Butterfield have taught a new generation of aspiring singers at UVic for nearly 20 years. Don Denton “It was the right time for me — and us — to create more stability in our lives moving on a bit from being solely freelance performers,” Anne says. Settling down with a family and full-time teaching positions has given both Benjamin and Anne another perspective on their craft. “Teaching voice in my view is a journey of exploring and searching together where and how effortless singing can be found," Anne says. "The human voice is something so personal and unique; there are, of course, lots of technical tools, but the magic of it all is something else and never stops to fascinate me. Teaching requires flexibility and adaptability, and I learn with every lesson that I teach.” She also encourages her students, and all aspiring singers, to stay curious and enjoy the journey rather than getting caught up in the results. “If your heart is truly in it, good things will happen." Perhaps, unsurprisingly, Anne and Benjamin’s like-minded principles have helped them both rise to be internationally-recognized singers, albeit coming from two different continents. Benjamin, whose Victoria debut dates back to 1990 when he took on the role of Triquet in Eugene Onegin, has since made appearances with the likes of the Houston, Montreal and Vancouver symphonies as well as at Carnegie Hall, the BBC Proms in London and the National Concert Hall in Taipei. Anne started being recognized around the same time, touring and recording with the Amsterdam Bach Soloists under renowned early music specialist, Ton Koopman, with consequent contracts at the Salzburg Festival, Ambronay, Potsdam San Souci in Berlin, as well as a recent tour to Australia playing Marilyn Monroe in Gavin Bryar’s chamber opera, Marilyn Forever. Both have performed regularly with the Victoria Symphony and Victoria Philharmonic Choir. Pacific Opera Victoria fans may recall seeing Benjamin in February's run of Rachel Portman's The Little Prince. butterfield [https://www.bpmcdn.com/f/files/oakbay/2025-august/butterfield.png;w=960] The Oak Bay couple met mid-career studying at a summer singing program near Chicago. Don Denton “My teacher in Victoria, Selena James, always reminded me that singing is a reflex. If you want something to happen, it does,” he says. “I was always reminded that the body is very smart and the head is very foolish. 'How do you sing a beautiful tone?', I would ask. 'You think it, dear. You have to have the heart of a poet. You must feel the music with your whole being, dear.' “Singing is physiological, but it is not a condition that one must try to overcome through heady techniques that can complicate the phenomena that is the human body and mind itself. Learning to sing, in my view, is learning to find the middle of everything so that you can present the totality of anything.” Being a singer supersedes everything and can take priority over some of a family's most precious moments. Holiday occasions, or anything dependent on a fixed schedule and predictability, are often sacrificed in a singer's busy and erratic schedule. Benjamin describes the process as a recurring loop of studying, auditioning, practicing, eating, travelling, performing and sleeping. One can stop and enjoy the view as well, they say, but given the rigours of an opera singer's life, it's incredible that Anne and Benjamin have found time to work on projects together along the way. The past few summers, they sang together at the Sicily Music Festival and Competition in Noto, Italy, where they also both teach. They also sang together locally for the 30th anniversary of the Victoria Chamber Orchestra and the 90th anniversary of the Victoria Choral Society. But, Benjamin says the most all-time memorable was the Butchart Gardens 100th Anniversary concert with the Victoria Symphony. “Anne was seven months pregnant with our second daughter, and our first ran down the lawn with abandon to the edge of the stage, enthusiastically wanting to join us. What a glorious day.” When they’re not on stage or in the classroom, the couple loves to take an evening walk along the esplanade at Willows Beach or Ogden Point. They enjoy walks on Mt. Tolmie to get to and from UVic each day, and try to keep their garden in shape. “We like to go to the grocery store together to get away from it all for a moment,” Benjamin says. “We also just marvel in general at how lucky we are to live in Oak Bay and to have been able to raise a family here in the first place.” Anne and Benjamin are currently at work on a faculty concert for this coming fall, as well as an upcoming 2026 tour called Opera? Are You Kidding Me? that's already booked for eight performances across B.C. There's a strong possibility the finale will be in Victoria, so Vancouver Island opera lovers can look forward to a local homecoming. This article is from the fall edition of Tweed [https://issuu.com/docs/24cddd94597e70acbafbd1e66d53ae6e].

For many, the golden era of radio is a time of happy memories. Families tuned in to programs all together in the living room, couples danced to toe-tapping classics, and popular music shows drew millions of listeners across America. That time period lasted until around the 1950s, when television became popular. Pacific Edge Chorus is bringing audiences back to those warm moments with their creative tribute, Harmony Hits the Airwaves. The chorus, a passionate group of women who stage a fabulous musical production every two years, will perform live with dynamic quartets Cascade, Chrysalis and Rumour Has It. The music they perform won't just be from yesteryear — it will also feature today's chart toppers, appealing to a broad audience. Leading it all will be a charismatic announcer "on air", guiding the audience through the fun. Those who want to "tune in" can mark their calendars for Saturday, Nov. 29, at 2 p.m., when the concert will take place at the Dogwood Auditorium at Royal Roads University, 2005 Sooke Rd., Colwood. Tickets, $25, are available at pacificedgechorus.ca [http://pacificedgechorus.ca].    

Step into the creative worlds of 13 of the valley's most talented artists with the Cowichan Valley Artisans self-guided fall tour happening across the region on Oct. 25 and 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on both days.   This is your chance to explore the valley at your own pace as you step into 13 Cowichan Artisan Studios and take in the stunning work of 15 curated artists along the way. Discover the creativity that defines Cowichan as you enter the private worlds of artists such as Bev Robertson, Tyler Hayes, Jock Hildebrand, Ruth Warkentin, Live Edge Design, Laura Gosnell, Margit Nellemann, Laurel Hibbert, Catherine Fraser, Diana Durrand, Wilma Millette, Bev Thompson and Cathi Jefferson. For more information on the artists, the map and tour visit cowichanartisans.com [https://www.cowichanartisans.com/events].  On this self-guided tour art lovers will discover the special places where local artisans transform raw materials into honest, authentic, original works. It's a great way to connect with local art and the creators behind it. See where these talented makers make their magic open, and discover the wonder of watercolours, oils, mixed media, collage, glass blowing, furniture design and redesign, fabric and wallpaper design, printmaking, sculpture, and pottery. Also on Oct. 25, and 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., local watercolourist Jennifer Lawson will be inviting people into her original log home located at 1516 Khenipsen Rd., to experience some of her new paintings along with some nibbles. There will also be a free draw to win one of Lawson's original works.       

A free-for-all-ages Halloween bash with local music, makers and 'ghosts' will light up Market Square on Saturday, Oct. 25.  "Why we're doing this event is to get people downtown to support local culture and food," said organizer Sarah Patterson, who started organizing pop-ups during the pandemic to support local artists, designers, DJs and small businesses. Patterson is also the owner of Migration Boutique. Organizers Make Good Party, who run events throughout the year, chose Market Square as the location thanks to its proximity to many local businesses and restaurants, plus its spooky factor. "Legend says somewhere below Market Square an ancient stream flows, and in the 1800s, fortunes in the form of gold nuggets were found. This led to squabbles between gold fevering prospectors who were willing to do anything to secure their fortune, including… cold-blooded murder," the press release for the event reads. "The Make Good Party will be summoning the ghosts of prospectors past with flowing rhythms and gold sounds designed to make you jump out of your skin and hit the dance floor!" The event runs 3 to 11 p.m. and features a dance floor curated by Woodhead, a local DJ, music producer, creative lighting/video and event producer who worked on Rifflandia. DJs include Woodhead, Leanne and Sarah-Hannah, Gano, Audiofax, Dataist and Clark. There will also be a Maker's Market curated by Migration Boutique, a licensed bar, food vendors, ghost walking tours, a kids' zone, tarot readings, and prizes for the best costumes. The Market area will be indoors, and the party will be held under a tent with heat lamps. City of Victoria is supporting the project through the OUR DWTN Ideas Fund.  For more information, visit instagram.com/makegoodparty [https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fmakegoodparty%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExUUd4WEx2TkRHSFVaYlp4WAEeewMsUdcyxxpVKTkxNC_Cp-RujhShV5aaEyO5zBVAapBsdyKYuY4FpViyMY8_aem_xgrd4FjLvUCSNA4MqV8kVQ&h=AT2nXZvTDONEQgBq7qIXxVAixJVi2B5N375yHT85Xr5yE0MGlhhnNe9V-cn3Gin4m4rXIgfs15fFyMlOkOzH45RanyKQ5IhxPDw2L-bD0WIGpsNZHRtlXdAFj2kBl1le6cH-ANzE3T56gjx4EvhshyjRw1K6FepL2hM&__tn__=q&c[0]=AT2RPrSgkLw_80Mg-olnRq0nR0SN7xqtSQzJIKMq76t4CtYuiucDKyZXq6Wx2_pyhhtRKrwYnhPwdHaYCb817OLNJ4-PGPQZOpy0uSmx3FuboJeV_wY_zmumqfS1kGpb6nzNgEJ0HqLN9m7CTFUC5CNtVJ1cRhgMSQE].    

Two men meet while walking their dogs, and from that small moment, a friendship begins to grow. That’s the premise of Frank and Percy, the latest production from Attitude Theatre, which brings the British play to Victoria for its Canadian premiere later this month. Written by Ben Weatherill, Frank and Percy first hit the stage in 2023 at the Royal Windsor Theatre in the U.K., starring Sir Ian McKellen and Roger Allam. The story follows two retired men who strike up an unexpected bond while walking their dogs on Hampstead Heath. What begins as casual conversation turns into something more profound, a late-in-life romance that explores companionship, vulnerability, and identity with warmth and humour. For director Tony Cain, the story’s themes felt universal. “When I first heard about it, I thought, this story could be happening in Victoria,” Cain said. “It’s about two men who find friendship and eventually love later in life. We don’t hear these kinds of stories often, especially about people in their retirement years who are still discovering themselves. Romance and passion aren’t just for the young, they’re for all of us.” Cain said one of the cast members even shares similarities with his character, drawing from his own experiences to bring authenticity to the role. With that authenticity, the show also brings several other real-life situations that come with relationships, including tolerance.  “Tolerance is a major part of this play. The characters have conflicts, they fall out, but they work through it. It’s a very real depiction of relationships,” he said. The show, which stars veteran local actors Malcolm Harvey and Jim Forsythe, has been in rehearsal since early September. “This production has been a true collaboration. Everybody on the team has contributed, and that collective creativity makes the show special,” Cain said. With a team of about 18 people involved, Cain described it as the largest production Attitude Theatre has taken on. Frank and Percy unfolds across 22 short scenes with no traditional set, just two actors, a few wooden blocks, and a rotating mix of sound, light, and music to create the world around them. “It’s all about the relationship and dialogue,” Cain said. “There’s dance, there’s music, even a karaoke scene. It’s full of life and laughter.” Despite its humour, Cain said the play carries a powerful message about hope and human connection. “This is what theatre should do. It reminds us that no matter our age, we’re never too old to fall in love again,” he said. Frank and Percy runs Oct. 31 to Nov. 9 at SKAM Satellite Studio, 849 Fort Street. Tickets are available at attitudetheatre.ca/ticket-sales [http://attitudetheatre.ca/ticket-sales.].

Wendy Donawa is an accomplished poet hailing from Victoria B.C. She has produced her third book of poetry, ‘The Time of Falling Apart’ which explores themes such as politics, personal memories and historical memory. “I suppose all poetry is, in the end, autobiographical, because it’s what you’ve been thinking but memory, personal memory, historical memory revisits as you revisit intricate situations and rethink about them,” shares Donawa of her poetry inspirations. Recent events also shape the poetry that Donawa writes. She draws on recent events throughout the world to create her poems. “I think you can see I write in response to political events. Questions of ‘how do you live in a world that is so dark? And yet not give up on love, on beauty, on hope?” Donawa draws motivation to keep writing her poetry from several areas. “I have an itch to express feelings and put them into words. I’ve always been keen on literature. I taught literature for a long time. Sometimes I think through something and I think sometimes it takes words, so I work on that as a poetry impetus.” Donawa is touring across the Island to do readings of her latest work, something she finds connects her to her readers and helps share her intentions with her writing. “Writing is very solitary. You can get tired of your own company. So to share it in a reading, particularly if people are responsive and have interesting questions, I think it’s quite wonderful.” It takes Donawa years to put together a book of poetry and she feels a burst of activity once it is published. Be it reading tours, interviews with newspapers or feedback from readers. “You have a chance to get feedback when it’s first published. It keeps you a bit realistic, maybe a bit humble.” Her book has been broken down into themes to convey her various thoughts, reflections and ideas with her poetry. “I did that because it is such a wide range that I found myself hopping back-and-forth. THe first section is my earlier life and understanding of the territory I was born into and that I’ve come back to. Then it sort of moves into the wider world. A more widely political section. And then I think the third is an attempt to tidy it all up.” Donawa hopes to bring a light to the darkness that is happening in the world. “If you don’t have the comfort of faith, and the world is getting darker, how do you welcome in everything that is positive and hopeful? I don’t want to waste anyone else’s time with me and my work either. I want it to be worthwhile for people and worthwhile for me.” She looks to her surroundings for inspiration and comfort. Her residence in Victoria looks out over the Salish Sea and she never takes having that roof over her head for granted. Instead, she has great gratitude for all she has. Including her community. “I think one of the great blessings of life is love. Love of friends, love of a partner if you have one. I have made friends of other writers and poets. Friendships are… one of the great blessings of life.” Upcoming events include: October 24, 7:00 Reading with Laura Apol and Susan McCaslin Planet Earth Poetry Russel Books, 747 Fort Street, Victoria November 13, 7:00 Reading with Arleen Paré Artful: The Gallery 5263C Cumberland Road, Courtenay November 14, 2:00 Reading with Linda K. Thompson Qualicum Beach Museum 2:00 Beach Road, Qualicum Beach November 23, 3:30 Reading with Arleen Paré and Susan Braley Esquimalt Gorge Park Pavilion 1070 Tilicum Road

The City of Surrey and its police board are caught up in a proposed class action lawsuit by former female police officers despite none of the six plaintiffs listed having been employed by the Surrey defendants. A proposed class action lawsuit by current or former female police officers against the City of Surrey, Surrey Police Board, 12 other B.C. cities and 12 other B.C. police boards alleges the plaintiffs were subjected to gender or sexual orientation-based discrimination, harassment, and bullying by officers and management of B.C.’s municipal police forces. Counsel for the City of Surrey and Surrey Police Board sought an order that would, prior to a certification hearing under Supreme Court Civil Rules, strike out the claims against them on grounds of jurisdiction. The case is brought under the Class Proceedings Act, with Justice Bruce Elwood presiding in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. None of the plaintiffs are or were employed by the Surrey defendants, Elwood noted in his October 28 reasons for [https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/25/21/2025BCSC2120.htm]judgment [https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/25/21/2025BCSC2120.htm]. “There are no factual allegations in the amended notice of civil claim of any acts or omissions by any officers or supervisors of the Surrey police force,” he pointed out. “Instead, the Surrey Defendants are captured by the plaintiffs’ general allegations of wrongdoing against all the “Municipal Police Defendants” and all “the Defendants.” The plaintiffs allege a “wide-spread institutional failure by those responsible to investigate complaints and protect complainants; and a workplace culture that enabled and protected perpetrators.” The plaintiffs are Cheryl Weeks, Anja Bergler, Helen Irvine, Cary Ryan, Lauren Phillips, and Ann-Sue Piper. “The plaintiffs seek to represent a class comprised of all persons who have been employed by the municipal police forces and who are female or were living or presenting as women at the time of their employment,” Elwood noted in his reasons. The defendants are listed as the City of Abbotsford, District of Central Saanich, City of Delta, Township of Esquimalt, City of Nelson, City of New Westminster, District of Oak Bay, City of Port Moody, Corporation of The District of Saanich, City of Surrey, City of Vancouver, City of Victoria, District of West Vancouver, Abbotsford Police Board, Central Saanich Police Board, Delta Police Board, Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board, Nelson Police Board, New Westminster Police Board, Port Moody Police Board, Saanich Police Board, Surrey Police Board, Vancouver Police Board, West Vancouver Police Board, Police Complaint Commissioner of British Columbia, His Majesty The King In Right of The Province of British Columbia, Attorney General of British Columbia, and the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. “The plaintiffs allege negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, intentional infliction of mental suffering, harassment, civil conspiracy, breach of privacy, and violation of their rights under Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Elwood noted. “The plaintiffs seek to represent a class comprised of all persons who have been employed by the municipal police forces and who are female or were living or presenting as women at the time of their employment.” The women on behalf of the proposed class action lawsuit seek a declaration that the defendants breached their Section 15 Charter rights, and are seeking compensation in the form of general damages, damages for lost income, aggravated and punitive damages, and damages pursuant to the Charter. “In effect, the claim against the Surrey Defendants is the same claim that the plaintiffs propose to advance on behalf of the class members against all the defendants. It is, as Justice Saunders once described a proposed class action prior to the certification hearing, ‘an action with ambition,’” Elwood noted. By way of background, Surrey council on Nov. 5, 2018 voted to transition from the Surrey RCMP to a city police force. On June 29, 2020, the provincial government appointed the Surrey Police Board and on Aug. 6, 2020, the board established the Surrey Police Service, which became the city’s police of jurisdiction on Nov. 29, 2024. Elwood noted the SPS in March 2021 began recruiting officers and civilian staff in March 2021 and they became employees of the Surrey Police Board. “Initially, SPS officers were integrated into the Surrey RCMP, under the operational command of the RCMP,” the judge noted. “Although no date range is alleged in the notice of civil claim, plaintiffs’ counsel says the discrimination, harassment, and bullying of female SPS officers began in March 2021 and continues to present day. In other words, the proposed class action covers the entire period from initial hiring, including pre-unionization, collective bargaining, working under RCMP command, and ultimately serving as officers of the police of jurisdiction.” The plaintiffs’ legal counsel confirmed the proposed class includes police officers of all ranks, but not civilian staff. “As a result, it is necessary to consider the effect of two collective agreements between the Surrey Police Board and the unions representing the police officers, but not the separate collective agreement with Canadian Union of Public Employees (“CUPE”) representing the civilian staff,” Elwood noted. The Labour Relations Board certified the Surrey Police Union on July 30, 2021 as the collective bargaining unit for SPS officers below the rank of inspector and on March 10, 2022, the SPB and SPU entered into a collective agreement covering those officers, and then the LRB on Nov. 30, 2022 certified the Surrey Police Inspectors Union to conduct collective bargaining for SPS inspectors. While the SPU collective agreement covers working conditions, seniority and probationary periods, promotions, lateral transfers, remuneration, special allowances, court time compensation, overtime, employee benefits, maternity and parental leave, vacation and statutory leave and survivors’ benefits, Elwood noted, it has no specific provision against harassment or sexual harassment. The Surrey Defendants argue that the exclusive jurisdiction of an arbitrator to resolve disputes begins from the date on which the unions were certified as the exclusive collective bargaining agents for the SPS officers. They argued that as the SPS did not become the police of jurisdiction until after the unions were certified and the collective agreements took effect, that SPS officers’s working conditions “prior to that date were the responsibility of the RCMP,” the judge noted. “In other words, as I understand it, the Surrey Defendants say there is no gap in this case during which SPS officers may have had a claim against Surrey but no right to grieve their complaint under a collective agreement.” Elwood identified the “essential character” 0f the dispute, as argued by the Surrey Defendants’ legal counsel, “is the allegation that the defendants failed to ensure that the plaintiffs could work in an environment free from harassment, discrimination and bullying.” “The plaintiffs argue that the claims are not merely about working conditions. They say the essential character of the dispute is an institutional failure throughout British Columbia—spanning across all police boards, municipal employers, and levels of government—to keep the municipal police forces free from gender-based discrimination. The plaintiffs submit that the issues they seek to address are so pervasively embedded in police culture that this case is about something completely different than a dispute over working conditions.” Elwood said it isn’t “plain and obvious” the collective agreements provide access “to an effective remedy for all former employees of the Surrey Police Board who allege that they were subject to gender-based discrimination, harassment or bullying on the job. “The difficulty is that the plaintiffs have not pleaded any claims by any former members of the SPS. They have not pleaded the material facts on which a court could find that a former employee suffered gender-based discrimination, harassment or bullying that she cannot grieve under the applicable Collective Agreement. At this stage of the proceedings, there is no evidence of any claims by any former employees,” he explained. “In the circumstances,” he decided, a decision “must await the certification hearing and submissions on the criteria” concerning Section 4 of the Class Proceedings Act. “This Court does not have jurisdiction over claims against the Surrey Defendants that arose after the date on which a collective agreement became applicable to the bargaining unit to which the class members belonged,” Elwood concluded. “The question of whether, notwithstanding this conclusion, the Court should retain jurisdiction over claims by former employees of the Surrey Police Board is adjourned to the certification hearing.

When Ladysmith artist Sarah Leo began fainting without warning, she didn’t know if she’d ever get her health — or her rhythm — back. For two months, she lost consciousness regularly. Doctors never found a clear cause, but the experience forced her to rebuild from the inside out. “It took everything in my power to get myself back healthy,” she said, sitting in the cosy studio of her Ladysmith home. “This is the next chapter of my life because of that.” This chapter is one filled with art. Her creative projects span music, poetry and painting, but it’s her custom jean jackets that have become Ladysmith legends. Born in New Westminster and raised mostly in Edmonton, Leo’s family moved to Vancouver Island when she was 10. She later earned a Bachelor of Arts followed by a Bachelor of Education. She went on to teach high school, but the realities of the classroom and long evenings of marking left no time for her own creative practice. “I loved encouraging kids to believe in themselves,” she says. “But I realized I needed to take my own advice.” Then her body forced the issue. Leo began fainting several times a day. Once, when she collapsed at home, she called out to her Alexa smart speaker for help. The device connected her with her husband at work, who called a neighbour to help. Those were dark days filled with health issues and uncertainty, but Leo leaned on music to stay grounded. “I had never really listened to blues music before,” she said. “It’s people singing about their pain, and yet when they leave the stage, they’ve done something. They’ve transmuted that negative feeling and they’ve helped other people feel human.” That process of taking pain and turning it into something that helps others became central to her own recovery. “Art has always given me a way to feel better. Every challenge I’ve gone through, art has helped me get to a healthy place.” She painted, she sang, she took photos and she created a different kind of lesson plan: not one for her students, but for herself. She built what she calls her Bliss Checklist [https://sarahleoartist.weebly.com/-bliss-checklist.html], which includes music first thing in the morning, gratitude before coffee, a deep, slow breathing practice and more. That shift set the stage for an artistic breakthrough that started, quite literally, in her closet. On a previous vacation to Tofino, she had fallen in love with a thrifted jean jacket that made her feel amazing when she tried it on. She brought it home, hung it up and forgot about it. Fast forward to postpartum depression, health issues and a closet full of clothes that no longer fit. One day she came across the jacket and remembered how good it had felt in that moment in Tofino. “I found it, put it on, and I breathed the biggest sigh of relief that I’d felt in a very long time,” she recalled. “I wore it around the house like a lunatic for two weeks. I felt great. I felt like myself. I started going out again. I was going for walks. I thought to myself, ‘I have to give other people this feeling.’ Then I was like, ‘Hey, I could paint on these.’” And she did. The result is custom-painted jean jackets that make the wearer feel like a rock star. Each jacket order begins with a questionnaire Leo sends to her new client. “I ask, How do you want to feel in it?” she said. Clients provide their own jacket or choose from her inventory. Leo creates each piece digitally, projects her design onto the fabric, and then paints it with acrylics mixed with a fabric medium. Her signature style features text above and below a central image, with colour that seems to glow. Her clients are mostly local, and when she has stock, she sells in stores, but most of her business is direct and through her website [https://sarahleoartist.weebly.com/]. For now, her creations turn heads around town, but she’d love to see one on a red carpet someday and dreams of creating jackets for celebrity clients. The jackets range from $120 to $220 per jacket, but the real currency is emotional. Leo lives for the moment when a customer sees her completed work for the first time. She usually mails her creations, but not always. “Sometimes I drive the extra mile just to see the reaction,” she said. “They dance around, they scream, their eyes start tearing. It makes me feel so fulfilled to provide something that makes somebody feel that comfortable in their own skin.” That feeling is something Leo fought hard to attain for herself, always via her art. In addition to her jean jacket business, Leo is now an in-demand singer. She performs at venues across Vancouver Island, from galleries and universities to restaurants and bars. Her goal has never been about recognition. “It’s about how much impact I can leave in the places I’ve been.” Now thriving in both life and art, Leo makes her home a creative haven with her husband, Chek TV journalist Tchadas Leo [https://tchadasleo.ca/], and their young son. The family stays rooted in Ladysmith, a community Sarah credits for both inspiration and support. “It was the first place I really felt accepted,” she said. “People here take care of each other.” Surrounded by a caring community, Leo found the safety and support to care for herself. Now she’s inspiring others to do the same. “If I take care of me, I take care of everybody,” she said. It’s a philosophy that turned her own healing into art, and her art into healing for others, one song, one poem, one jacket at a time. web1_sarah-leo-before-and-after-sized [https://www.bpmcdn.com/f/files/shared/feeds/gps/2025/11/web1_sarah-leo-before-and-after-sized.jpg;w=960]Now and then. Artist Sarah Leo stands with two of her hand-painted jean jackets — one created during a period of illness and depression, and another made after she found healing through art.

A Campbell River author has added another award to her resume. Shari Green was awarded the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People at a gala event in Toronto on Oct. 27 for her novel, Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams. “Green’s gripping novel in verse explores the familial, personal, and political complexities of living in late 1980s communist East Germany,” the jury wrote. Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams was published by Andrews McMeel Publishing, and was also a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. The novel is centered around a 16-year-old pianist living in Leipzig, who tries to pursue her dreams during the months of protest preceding the fall of the Berlin Wall. The book begins in August 1989, and explores the pianist’s (Helena) hopes and dreams of becoming a conductor, disrupted by politics, such as the East Germany government’s ban on music such as Italian operas, Russian folk songs, and music from the United States, and even the Beatles. Her father is also a dreamer, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, and organizes protests when he is not teaching his university students to think critically about the world they live in. “When I was writing this book,” Green said during her acceptance speech,” I was struck by how often the events and themes of the time were so similar to what I was seeing in the news currently. And it reaffirmed for me the importance of listening to and sharing the stories of history.” In an interview with the Campbell River Mirror last October, Green said the book follows Helena as she is drawn into the protest movement known as the Peaceful Revolution, also known as Die Wende (“the turning point”) in Germany. The Peaceful Revolution began with a series of protests called the Monday demonstrations, which started in Leipzig on Sept. 4, 1989, outside St. Nicholas Church. Despite the Stasi’s attempts to crush the movement, the rest of the country soon followed suit.

It doesn’t happen often that a musical group comes along that redefines an entire genre and sets a new standard to which others can aspire, but that’s precisely what Gogo Penguins has done. The Manchester trio manages to seamlessly blend jazz, electronic and classical music in a way that is both exhilarating and wildly entertaining and their most recent album release, Necessary Fiction, is their most adventurous record to date. They’ve managed to retain their understated, cinematic sound while injecting expansive piano riffs, spectacularly sharp percussion and fluid baselines that set them apart from their counterparts. And that unforgettable sound is coming to Victoria on Nov. 17 when Gogo Penguins take the stage at the Royal Theatre. For those of you who haven’t yet experienced the amazing sound of Gogo Penguin, here’s a little background. They are an English jazz fusion band from Manchester, consisting of pianist Chris Illingworth, double bassist Nick Blacka, and drummer Jon Scott. They formed in 2012 and, as of 2025, they have released seven studio albums, two EPs, and three live albums. That’s the basics, but the band itself is so much more, which explains its exploding popularity in the U.K., France and across Europe. Their music features backbeats, minimalist piano melodies, and powerful baselines that have led to comparisons with modern classical composers Shostakovich and Debussy or contemporary minimal music composers like Philip Glass. “There were actually a lot of influences that we wanted to draw from,” said Blacka in a recent interview with Monday Magazine. “We’re from different backgrounds and each brings our own musical influences into the mix. Chris (Illingworth), for example, started out as a classical musician. I studied jazz double bass at Leeds College of Music and Jon (Scott) is a genius on the drums who has played for years and has this creative and flexible style that is just amazing.” “Really, though, we create music to feel the emotion of the sound, but it’s not an explicit meaning. People listen to us, and they bring their own meaning. They listen to it, and I’ve had people come and tell me how a track meant so much to them because it was the soundtrack of a particular event or crisis in their life. The same song can bring a sense of joy or hope or any of a dozen emotions out in different people.” The group has, to date, been able to create those feelings in their audience without any lyrical or vocal accompaniment, but on their most recent album, Necessary Fictions, they featured their first song with a vocalist, featuring British-Ugandan singer-songwriter Daudi Matsiko, whose smoky voice blends perfectly with the trio’s signature styles. “Daudi’s voice has been a friend for years. His voice is quite dark and gentle, and it really resonates with our music,” said Blacka. Victoria is the first stop for Gogo Penguin’s upcoming tour that will see them perform in a series of cities across Canada and the U.S. before returning to Europe for a tour that will take them across the continent for what’s sure to be sold-out crowds. “Success for me is to be able to do what we’re doing. Sure, money is always a part of success, but real success is that you get to bring something to the world that you want to say. We’re very grateful that we have that opportunity,” said Blacka. Tickets for Gogo Penguin’s Victoria appearance are available at www.rmts.bc.ca/production-detail-pages/2025-royal-theatre/gogo-penguin/.

Madrona Gallery: Ningiukulu Teevee | Nov. 8-21 | 606 View St. A leading voice among a new generation of Inuit artists, Ningiukulu Teevee bridges traditional stories and contemporary life in Nunavut through her striking drawings. Deeply rooted in Inuit mythology and the lived experiences of her community, Teevee’s work offers a modern lens on timeless narratives, blending past and present with sensitivity and clarity. The opening reception is Nov. 8, from 1-3 p.m. Tamara Bond - Plants and Animals | Nov. 22 - Dec. 6 In her newest series, Tamara Bond uses plants and animals as symbolic anchors for exploring human interconnectedness. Overlapping lines, colours, and recurring motifs invite viewers into layered visual stories, each piece a playful yet contemplative reflection on transformation, creativity, and our relationship with the natural world. Drawing inspiration from the imagery and language of children’s books, Bond’s vibrant works celebrate both the joy of painting and the beauty of connection. The artist will be in attendance at the opening reception on Nov. 22, from 1-3 p.m. Visit madronagallery.com [https://www.madronagallery.com/] for more. The Avenue Gallery: Bi Yuan Cheng - Echoes of Light| Nov. 6-20 | 2184 Oak Bay Ave. The Avenue Gallery presents Bi Yuan Cheng’s captivating ninth solo exhibition with the gallery, Echoes of Light. In this series, Cheng celebrates the beauty of the Canadian landscape through calligraphic brushwork, a mastery of light, and a refined use of colour. Born in 1957 and raised in Jinan, China, Bi Yuan Cheng began his artistic journey at the age of five under the encouragement and guidance of his father. By 11, he was mentored by one of China’s leading art professors, who honed his skills in oil and watercolour. Cheng continued his formal training at Jiangxi Art University and, after graduation, worked as a sculptor and created large-scale murals. In 1987, he received the distinguished title of “Chinese Art Master,” and in 1989, he was included in the prestigious Chinese Encyclopedia of Art. Cheng has been living and working in Canada since 1990. UVic’s Legacy Art Gallery: Salish Lines | Through Dec. 6 | 630 Yates St. This exhibit is a selective retrospective of the art and life of STAUTW artist Doug LaFortune curated by Dr. Andrea N. Walsh. Since 1973, LaFortune has worked as an artist in carving, drawing, painting, and serigraphy. Several of his totem poles stand in Duncan, and his welcome figures flank the entrance of First Peoples House at the University of Victoria. A carver for more than 40 years, Doug has been commissioned for various totem pole projects. This exhibition will include an archive of drawings dating back 40 years, and visitors are invited to meander through the decades of work. AGGV: a crack in the mirror| Nov. 22, until April 12, 2026 | 1040 Moss St. Artist Simranpreet Anand’s recent works capture the fissures emerging from her ongoing encounters with matter and material culture in our globalized world. Using plastic-laden material culture surrounding contemporary Sikh institutions as its starting point, Anand’s practice is indebted to familial and cultural community, engaging materials and concepts drawn from the histories of Punjab and its diasporas. Some of Anand’s pieces are collaborations with artist and ethnomusicologist Conner Singh VanderBeek. Also included in the exhibition will be works that consider the fabric of everyday life and its rich histories and contexts of labour. Deluge Contemporary Art: Meadow Variations | Nov. 7-29 | 636 Yates St. Vancouver-based multi-media artist and musician Lee Hutzulak brings his surreal and idiosyncratic vision to Deluge once again. Known for his long-running musical project Dixie’s Death Pool, Hutzulak has spent three decades cultivating a richly layered creative practice that moves fluidly between drawing, painting, and moving image. His visual and musical worlds often intertwine with his distinctive dreamlike imagery serving as both the visual identity of his albums and a reflection of the same imaginative landscape his music inhabits. This exhibit opens Friday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m. ,with a performance by Dixie Lee. web1_251028-obn-galleriesnovember-madrona_1 [https://www.bpmcdn.com/f/files/shared/feeds/gps/2025/11/web1_251028-obn-galleriesnovember-madrona_1.jpg;w=960]I am the Crow, You are the Crow is a mixed-media piece by Tamara Bond. (Courtesy Madrona Gallery) web1_251028-obn-galleriesnovember-biyuancheng_2 [https://www.bpmcdn.com/f/files/shared/feeds/gps/2025/11/web1_251028-obn-galleriesnovember-biyuancheng_2.jpg;w=960]The works of Bi Yuan Cheng are on display at The Avenue Gallery this November. (Courtesy The Avenue Gallery)

ECHO Players is preparing to welcome theatre lovers to the Vancouver Island One Act Play Festival, running Nov. 5 to Nov. 9 at the Village Theatre in Qualicum Beach. This adjudicated festival showcases a mix of established works and fresh new voices from across central and northern Vancouver Island, according to a news release by ECHO Players. Each evening features two one-act plays, followed by public remarks from adjudicators Eliza Gardiner and Ward Norcutt, with a final awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon. Festival Lineup: Nov. 5 – 7:30 p.m. · Yesterday by Colin Campbell Clements, directed by Alistair McVey (ECHO Players) A Lady and a British officer, late of the Indian Army, find themselves alone, after escaping from a party. They begin to talk about their past, only to discover that they had met, long ago. · Going Avocado by Marian Buechert, directed by Gail Tisdale (ECHO Players) Five women find themselves in a holding cell after being arrested at a protest. They share the cell with a cynical stranger whose assertions force them to re-examine their moral assumptions. Nov. 6 – 7:30 p.m. · After Effects by Brian March, directed by Barbara Metcalf (Yellow Point Drama Group) On Remembrance Day, two men meet in a city park. Both of their fathers fought in the war on different sides, and the repercussions are felt years later. · The First to Stand written and directed by Leila Sadeghi A gripping psychosexual drama about a young actress on the brink of her off-Broadway debut. As she navigates an increasingly volatile relationship with a powerful partner, the play she rehearses begins to mirror her life. What unfolds is a haunting exploration of passion, vulnerability and ambition. Nov. 7 – 7:30 p.m. They Glowed Green written and directed by Kelly Barnum and Sarah Kielly (NDSS Performing Arts) Based on the lives of the “Radium Girls” — female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting radium watch dials using the “lip dip paint” technique. Poptart! written and directed by Ashera Richard (ECHO Youth Theatre) Tia’s excited to introduce her boyfriend Nick to her quirky, unpredictable family — but Nick quickly realizes this is no ordinary meet-the-parents night. From awkward dinners and bizarre family games to mysterious ‘energy jam’ and confusing rules, Nick struggles to keep up without losing his mind. With a secret safe word and plenty of laughs, this one-act comedy explores the chaos and charm of family, love, and learning to fit in — one wild moment at a time. Nov. 8 – 7:30 p.m. · Laundry and Bourbon by James McClure, directed by Dennis Hawkins-Bogle (Rivercity Players Society) The setting is the front porch of Roy and Elizabeth’s home in Maynard, Texas. Elizabeth and her friend Hattie are whiling away the time folding laundry, watching TV, sipping bourbon and Coke, and gossiping about the many open secrets which are so much a part of small-town life. They are joined by the self-righteous Amy Lee who, among other tidbits, can’t resist blurting out that Roy has been seen around town with another woman. · Poetry in Motion by director Mary Littlejohn (Nanaimo Theatre Group) Four fictional characters from famous poems show up in a waiting room, unsure of their purpose for being there. When the truth comes to light, they suddenly must fight for their existence. An awards ceremony is set to follow on Nov. 9. Come celebrate bold storytelling, passionate performances and the vibrant spirit of community theatre. Tickets are available at echoplayers.ca or at the Village Theatre box office.

It’s a truism when we say those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it, but for Pacific Opera Victoria’s artistic director Brenna Corner, the act of remembrance that Canadians undertake each November is far more than ritual – it’s a deeply human exercise in empathy. It was that profoundly Canadian thing — our understanding of war and sacrifice — that in part inspired her to bring Mary’s Wedding back to the stage in a new form. The powerful play, about a young Prairie couple whose love story unfolds through dreams and memory against the backdrop of the First World War, was written by Stephen Massicotte in 2002 and later transformed into Mary’s Wedding: The Opera by Massicotte and composer Andrew P. MacDonald in 2011. The poignant piece – reworked by the pair and now called Remembering Mary’s Wedding – blends spoken word, song, and archival imagery into a moving meditation on love, loss, and the way we remember. Massicotte and MacDonald teamed up to create a new framing device that recasts the story through the eyes of a modern observer. In the re-imagined work, a professor begins a lecture on Canada’s role in the First World War, but as he speaks, memory and imagination overtake him. His talk unravels into scenes from Mary’s Wedding itself – a merging of scholarship and emotion that blurs the line between teaching history and reliving it. The result is a piece that feels at once intimate and expansive: part lecture, part dream, and wholly about the way remembrance connects us across time. For Corner, the slimmed down, more intimate work fits naturally within what she believes opera – and theatre – do best. “Remembering is one of those things we do really well in theatre and opera,” she says. “That sort of storytelling and jogging memories and reminding us of other times and other worlds – almost building our ability to empathize with that – is what the power of art is, in my opinion.” That sense of living memory is amplified through the production’s use of multimedia and archival imagery. Pacific Opera has again partnered with the University of Victoria’s Special Collections and Archives, which created a digital archive for the 2011 premiere filled with letters, photographs, and diary entries from Victorians who lived through the war years. Those images – projected throughout the performance – weave the fictional story of Mary and Charlie into the real history of the community that surrounds the audience today. Of course, Victoria has a more than passing connection to the First World War. One of its own, Sir Arthur Currie – a former real estate developer and militia officer before the war – rose to become commander of the Canadian Corps, leading Canadian troops to victory at Vimy Ridge in April 1917. It was a battle many historians describe as the moment Canada was born as a nation. Mary’s Wedding was written around another pivotal Canadian moment in that history – the Charge at Moreuil Wood, on March 30, 1918, when Lt. Gordon Flowerdew led the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) in one of the last great cavalry charges of the war. In many ways, that brutal battle signified the end of an era – a moment where courage and tragedy rode side by side into history. Corner hopes Remembering Mary’s Wedding will become an annual offering – a quiet act of reflection woven into the company’s season and the community’s remembrance rituals. “I just didn’t want it to be a spectacle,” she says. “I wanted it to be an opportunity to continue what you were doing in the ceremony – you take that moment of silence and we think and we reflect. Music is so powerful. I wanted it to offer an opportunity for us to continue that internal remembrance.” Remembering Mary’s Wedding will be performed Saturday, Nov. 8, at the Baumann Centre (3 and 7 p.m.) and on 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, at Royal Roads University’s Dogwood Auditorium, where veterans and service members will be welcomed as honoured guests.

Caryl Churchill may not have known about deepfakes or artificial intelligence when she wrote A Number, but her 2002 play feels eerily prophetic today. Not only does it probe the ethics of human cloning, it digs into greed, guilt, and the cost of trying to play God. In Dandelion Theatre’s new Victoria production, actor and producer Eric Grace brings Churchill’s spare, unsettling script to life at Paul Phillips Hall, where a father and his cloned sons wrestle with questions of identity, responsibility, and what it means to be truly human. “It’s sort of partly surreal, partly black comedy, partly tragic,” says Grace. “It’s full of ideas – what makes you unique, what happens when that’s taken away, and how far science can go before it starts rewriting who we are.” The story unfolds through five short scenes between a father and his sons – all genetically identical, yet shaped by very different lives. When a 35-year-old man discovers he’s one of an unknown number of clones, he confronts his father, demanding answers and ratcheting up the tension. What follows is a series of brutal, revealing encounters that strip away layers of deception and regret. One son was given up for adoption, another was created as a “second chance,” and a third appears – calm and self-contained – his only connection to them, his DNA. As each meeting shifts in tone, Churchill exposes human greed, the cost of tampering with nature, and the haunting impossibility of redemption. James Johnson plays all three versions of the son – the original and his two clones – shifting seamlessly between innocence, rage, and eerie composure. “It’s a real acting challenge,” Grace says. “James has to become three completely different people, even though they share the same face.” A towering figure in contemporary theatre, Churchill is celebrated for works such as Top Girls and Cloud 9, which broke ground for their feminist politics and structural daring. Her writing in A Number is famously fractured – sentences trail off, overlap, and collide – forcing actors to inhabit the halting rhythm of real thought. The result, in Grace’s words, is “hard but rewarding,” demanding absolute focus from performers and audience alike. At just under an hour, the play’s compression makes every pause and silence count. Grace sees the play’s science-fiction premise as strikingly relevant in an era of AI and digital replication. “It’s really the ultimate deepfake,” he says. “We’re already living in a time when you can copy a person’s face, their voice, their movements – and the laws haven’t caught up.” “There’ll be some laughs, some shocks, and, I hope, plenty of conversation afterward,” Grace adds. “You come away asking, if I saw someone identical to me on the street, would I be fascinated, or terrified?” Dandelion Theatre presents A Number by Caryl Churchill, Nov. 7-16 at Paul Phillips Hall, 1923 Fernwood Rd., Victoria. Tickets and information: dandeliontheatre.ca.

Police have tracked down the car that was in the vicinity of a fatal crash in south Nanaimo last weekend, and are now renewing a call for witnesses and video. Rhys Edwards, who was 18, died in a crash on the Trans-Canada Highway on Sunday, Nov. 2, when the car he was riding in crashed in the northbound lane, near Morden Road. B.C. RCMP at the time sought information about another vehicle that left the scene, but now report that the vehicle has been located. “Both occupants of the Honda Civic … are co-operating with police,” said Cpl. Michael McLaughlin, B.C. Highway Patrol spokesperson, in the press release. “There is a lot of community chatter about this incident, and we are looking for more witnesses and video to establish exactly what happened.” Investigators are seek others who have “knowledge of the crash,” as they are looking to “establish a timeline for all vehicles that were in the area. Surveillance video is proving particularly useful, police said. “These investigations are highly technical and take a long time, but with continued help from the public, we will solve this,” McLaughlin said. Anyone with information on the incident, or video footage, is asked to call B.C. Highway Patrol in Duncan at 250-746-2751, citing file No. 2025-2168.

Half of the hospice beds in the Comox Valley are going to be temporarily closed as part of a contingency plan put in place for the end of COVID-era funding. During the pandemic, the province set up emergency funding to pay for contract nursing across the province. The plan was for that funding to end in 2025. However, as the deadline approached, Golden Life Management and Island Health were unable to find funds to continue with the contract nursing and have had to enact the contingency plan, which was to close hospice beds in order to maintain the level of long-term care beds in the Valley until the next fiscal year. After that, the beds can be reinstated if funding or staffing is secured. “The next step where we got involved was receiving a message from Island Health on Tuesday about this contingency plan that we knew nothing about,” said Comox Valley Hospice Society executive director Christine Colbert. “For us that was unacceptable. We really see those beds as community beds.” The hospice beds are at Aitken Community Hospice, which is owned and operated by Golden Life Management within the Ocean Front Village facility. The hospice society provides counsellors and volunteers to support the people in hospice and their families. “We know that the level of care that they get in hospice is different than what they would get in long-term care,” Colbert said. “Long-term care is not palliative care. They do palliative, end-of-life care, but hospice is a specialty place for that to occur.” The closure is supposed to be temporary, or until the end of the fiscal year in March. However, Colbert is worried that even a temporary closure will result in nurses and other staff leaving, and taking their expertise with them. “Our concern is, given the stress on the long-term care and given the stress on our acute care, that it may be all too easy not to get those beds back,” she said. Courtenay-Comox MLA Brennan Day wrote a letter to Health Minister Josie Osborne on Nov. 6, saying that the closure is “unacceptable.” Day says that the beds were cut as a “direct consequence” of the ministry’s overtime and contract nurse funding cuts. “The Aitken Community Hospice, which operates in partnership with the Comox Valley Hospice Society, will lose 50 percent of its capacity under this decision,” a release from Day’s office says. “Skilled hospice nurses have already warned they will not simply transfer into long-term care positions, meaning the province risks losing decades of experience in palliative care.” The Aitken Community Hospice was opened in 2022. At the time, it increased Comox Valley Hospice Society’s capacity from four beds to six beds. “The decision to take hospice beds offline to ‘preserve’ long-term care capacity is not a solution, it’s a symptom of a system in free-fall,” said Day. “End-of-life care deserves dignity, and that dignity is not found in a crowded hallway or shared room, nor in forcing families to take on this sacred work alone at home without support. That is unacceptable.” Day asked the minister to pause the cuts, reinstate admissions to the beds at Aitken and direct Island Health to review the decision making process. “Conflating hospice and long-term care funding is reckless and undermines the extraordinary work that the Comox Valley Hospice Society and its care team perform every day,” Day said in his letter to the minister. Colbert said that she is hoping a solution can be found, and that she values the relationship the society has with their partners in Island Health and Golden Life Management. “We want to come to a solution with them in good communications and good partnership,” she said. “But we also feel that those six beds are deserved and are needed for our growing an aging community and and we we are not accepting that.” Golden Life Management has been working towards hiring non-contract nurses, and have “done a tremendous amount of work within just the past couple of months, and we trust that will continue,” Colbert said. “It’s a funding issue, and so there is a solution,” she said.

A new facility, specializing in the food storage and distribution of local crops and value-added food processing, will be constructed in Summerland. On Nov. 7, a groundbreaking ceremony for the Okanagan Food Hub was held at 15815 Highway 97. The food hub is described as a state-of-the-art facility that will have more than 2,100 square metres, with 557 square metres of cool storage. It is scheduled to open in May 2026. The project is the initiative of LocalMotive Farmers Network Co-op and Okanagan Food and Innovation Hub. Thomas Tumbach of LocalMotive said the facility is important for the community. “The new facility will enable local farmers from our region to access new markets, create new products and increase the viability of their farms,” he said. “At the root of it, agriculture impacts our whole culture.” The food hub will provide members with access to a collaborative space with shared technology, specialized equipment, expertise and commercial kitchens. Aaron McRann, Chief Executive Officer of Community Futures of the South Okanagan Similkameen, said the money for this project came from local donors. He said many funding partners have come together to provide the money for this project. Brian Southern, a food scientist and founder of Indiana-based AgroRenew, has been involved with the food hub project. He said the facility, once completed, will provide an economic benefit for Summerland. Every dollar invested will bring in $1.75 to the local economy. He also said it is important to have an initiative that focuses on local agriculture. “We all want success for this project,” he said. “We want to have a sustainable food system. We want to be self-sufficient.” Charles Cornell of Community Futures said the project will be a pay-per-use model and will serve as an economic engine for the community. Summerland Mayor Doug Holmes said the idea of a food hub in the community has been around since at least 2013. The Okanagan Food and Innovation Hub, Community Futures Okanagan Similkameen, the Ministry of Agriculture and the municipality have been working on this regional food hub since 2023. In 2024, LocalMotive Organic Delivery joined as a partner. Holmes added that Summerland is a logical location for an agricultural facility, since the community has a strong farming and cultivation tradition. In addition to apple research and the wine industry, Summerland has also played a role in cherry development. Today, around 80 per cent of all cherry varieties in the world were developed in Summerland, Holmes said. Lana Popham, Minister of Agriculture and Food for the province, said the food hub is a way for small-scale food entrepreneurs to connect with their market. Since becoming the agriculture minister in 2017, she has cut the ribbon on 14 B.C. food hubs with provincial funding. She added that other food hubs have started without funding from the province. One of the food hubs, in Port Alberni, has expanded significantly and will have a second ribbon cutting in January 2026, she said. “What an incredible moment this is for the Okanagan,” Popham said before the Summerland groundbreaking. “This is the moment agriculture has been waiting for.”

Colin Mochrie has made a career out of thinking fast, and soon he’ll be doing it live in Victoria. The Whose Line is it Anyway? star will join longtime collaborator Brad Sherwood for their improv show, Asking for Trouble, at the Royal Theatre on Thursday, Nov. 20. The show thrives on audience participation, with no two nights ever the same. “Everything starts with the audience. They yell out suggestions, we bring people on stage for about half the show, and then we just try to survive it. It’s sort of a live version of Whose Line without the dead weight,” joked Mochrie. The tour begins this month in Ohio and runs until October 2026, with Canadian stops in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Kitchener. For Mochrie, who calls Toronto home, it’s a chance to perform closer to his roots. “Canadian audiences just love to have goofy fun,” he said. “We get such a great range of suggestions up here. It’s nice not to have to cross the border and just focus on having fun.” Mochrie found a passion for improv at a young age and honed his craft with Vancouver TheatreSports. “When we first started there, way back when, we used to go to the McDonald’s next door and say, ‘Come see our show’,” Mochrie recalled. “I don’t know what I would be doing without improv, honestly. I’m so grateful for how things have turned out.” Mochrie and Sherwood first met 35 years ago through a show at The Second City in Toronto, which Mochrie’s wife, Debra McGrath, produced, before teaming up on Whose Line just months later. It was there that their quick wit and chemistry quickly turned into a lasting partnership. “Brad’s the younger, really irritating brother, and I’m the older one trying to keep him in line,” Mochrie said with a laugh. “He loves words, I’m more surreal and weird, but it somehow works.” Their live act has evolved into a mix of classic improv games and unpredictable audience moments. No scripts, no safety nets, just two comedians trying to outwit each other and the crowd. “It’s the most death-defying experience that I’ll ever get in my life,” Mochrie said. “I’ll never jump out of a plane, but there’s something really relaxing about standing in front of an audience who have paid money to see a show that we don’t have at that particular moment.” Victoria isn’t new territory for Mochrie, who has performed in the city twice before and even attended his nephew’s wedding here in 2024. “It’s a beautiful city,” he said. “I’ll probably head over to the Empress for afternoon tea just to feel classy for a bit.” As for what to expect, Mochrie said the show will feature a few familiar Whose Line-style games, a musical nod to Victoria, and plenty of moments that can’t be replicated. “Every show is a one-time thing,” he said. “Nobody will ever see that exact show again. The audience gives us everything, and we just try to make it funny.” The show begins at 8 p.m. on Nov. 20 at the Royal Theatre.

If you asked the Victoria HarbourCats about their home field, Royal Athletic Park, being named in the 2025 federal budget, the response would be equal parts excitement and disbelief. “We’re excited, but shocked,” said managing partner Jim Swanson, still processing the news. The HarbourCats learned about RAP’s mention in the federal government’s budget outline through a phone call Swanson received Tuesday night. The ballpark was listed under the $51-billion Building Communities Strong Fund, a 10-year initiative administered by Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada that would distribute funding for community infrastructure projects across the country starting in 2026. RAP, which has stood in the same location for more than 100 years, is the only facility on Vancouver Island mentioned in connection to the fund, and one of just four in B.C. “I was first alerted to this being in the proposed federal budget by a local media member,” Swanson said. “We were very happily surprised to see it and to think of the possibilities down the road.” The City of Victoria owns the park, which hosts the HarbourCats of the West Coast League as its anchor tenant. It had been slated for renovations in 2024 with the help of $12.8 million in provincial funding from the Growing Communities Fund. But in July, the city reallocated $1.5 million of that, originally designated for park upgrades, to its community safety plan. Swanson said neither the team nor the city had any prior knowledge that RAP was under consideration for federal funding. “This is in a proposed budget, which hasn’t been passed yet,” he said. “We are dealing with governments where things can change, and where projects often take a really long time. But the initial response was awesome. It’s great to see a city-owned but regional asset recognized as something worth investing in.” If the funding comes through, Swanson said there are plenty of areas at the aging ballpark that need attention. The lights are more than 40 years old, the washrooms and fixtures are so outdated replacement parts are no longer available, and accessibility upgrades are needed throughout the facility. “The lights, the irrigation, the sod, those are big ones. The washrooms need to be redone, the concession equipment is outdated, and the seating is worn. There’s a lot of work to be done to make sure it’s a modern, accessible venue,” he said. He added that the irrigation system and field surface have not been fully redone since the FIFA Under-20 World Cup came to Victoria in 2007. While hopeful about the potential funding, Swanson said timing and coordination will be key, with the HarbourCats set to host the West Coast League All-Star Game in both 2026 and 2027. “If there’s any concern with announcements like this, it’s about the timing of implementation,” he said. “We just want to make sure the park remains usable during baseball seasons and that any work enhances the experience for fans and players.” Swanson said the HarbourCats are eager to work with the City of Victoria to ensure any upgrades strengthen the park’s value to the community. “Our approach is to work closely with the city in a spirit of open communication and partnership,” he said. “Royal Athletic Park is a vital community space. If opportunities come from this funding or any other, we want to help make sure it continues to serve the city and the 80,000 to 100,000 fans who come through its gates every year.” The City of Victoria did not respond to requests for comment on the application process or its plans related to the potential funding.

One View Royal councillor is calling for a pause to the town’s short-term rental restrictions as thousands pour into Vancouver and Seattle for next summer’s FIFA World Cup games. Coun. Don Brown says temporarily lifting restrictions will benefit fans visiting the region and give the local economy a boost. “I can see people coming up from Seattle, I can see people coming over from Vancouver,” he told the Goldstream Gazette. “Sure, they’re going to come for the games first and foremost, but they’re obviously going to want to come before and after to take part in some of the other attractions that are going to be close by.” The World Cup takes place between June 11 and July 19 and will offer 104 matches. Seven games will be played in Vancouver, and Seattle is slated to host six others. Brown wants View Royal to pause restrictions between June 1 and July 31, giving those visting the Island plenty of time to explore the region’s most popular attractions. While the councillor says local bars, restaurants and grocery stores would benefit from a potential influx of tourists, he adds the move could help families, too. “It’s … an opportunity during these tough economic times for perhaps a younger family or people that just have room in their home … to put some cash in their pocket,” he said. Brown says the pause is also a chance to test-drive possible changes to the town’s short-term rental rules. “It would give us an idea that if … all of a sudden you get hundreds and hundreds of complaints, we might say, ‘Well, we tried this, we’re not going to do it again.’ Or they might say, hey, ‘There are no problems at all, maybe we should allow … people to have short-term rentals on a regular basis,’” he said. Brown plans to table the notice of motion on Nov. 18, which, if approved, would be debated at the following meeting on Dec. 2. While communities across Greater Victoria, including Highlands, Langford, Victoria and Oak Bay, allow short-term rentals, View Royal is one of few that prohibits them alongside Colwood and North Saanich.

Victoria’s own heavy metal band Spiritbox continues to rock the stage on a whole other level. The band, nominated for a Grammy in 2024 and 2025, have been nominated again for Best Metal Performance for song Soft Spine. The first round of voting, which determines all the Grammy nominees for 2026, happened on Friday, Nov. 7. Also nominated in the Best Metal Performance category is Night Terror by Dream Theater, Lachryma by Ghost, Emergence by Sleep Token and Birds by Turnstile. To date, Spiritbox has zero wins but two nominations – also in the Best Metal Performance category. Fronted by vocalist Courtney LaPlante, the band came close last year to being the first female fronted band to win Best Metal Performance in the history of the award, which was introduced in 1990. However, Marina Viotti, the opera singer who accompanies Gojira on Mea Culpa (Ah! Ca ira!) – 2025’s winner – became the first woman to win. LaPlante is the only female lead vocalist in this year’s nominees. The band’s nomination follows a year of movement, including the release of their second full-length album Tsunami Sea in March, and a major North American tour that started in in April. They also performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on July 7. Grammy winners will be announced Sunday, Feb 1 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, broadcasting live on the CBS Television Network and streaming live and on demand on Paramount+.

Tofino just changed their downtown parking rules from parking to paid parking. While some concerns over affordability for residents were raised before the change was made, the expected $220,000+ in city revenue was too large to pass up for most of the City Council. “Frankly, people paying downtown will largely be tourists. There will be some residents, but most likely residents have the opportunity to avoid the downtown because they’re not here on holiday, and they can make other choices,” said Aaron Rodgers, Tofino’s Director of Infrastructure and Public Works, in a meeting. However, new concerns have been raised now that paid parking has been implemented. Residents from Hesquiaht, Tla-o-qui-aht, and Ahousaht communities rely on the 110 allocated offshore parking spots to safely leave their vehicles while they travel home by boat or seaplane. Forty of these spots are given to Tla-o-qui-aht, according to the District of Tofino. However, new signage has led to confusion for both locals and tourists. To avoid the pay parking, some tourists park in the offshore spots, which were previously clearly indicated as such. “Even if we have a valid permit hanging on our rearview mirror, we have nowhere to park,” lamented Ahousaht resident Curt McLeod to Ha-Shilth-Sa. He has even seen vehicles with Washington and Alberta plates using these spots. Until recently, residents could park almost anywhere if the offshore spots were taken, but now all other parking spots are paid, so offshore residents run the risk of tickets or towing. In response to the concerns, the District of Tofino has said they know of the limited parking in the downtown core and are committed to working with offshore communities for a long-term solution. However, in an email, the city stated it is “aware that parking is limited in the downtown core and cannot meet the demands of everyone.” They emphasized that all drivers must comply with the posted time restrictions. Offshore permits are free and valid for one year, and residents can obtain them at the Tofino municipal office or register online with their license plate number and proof of offshore residency. But there is not much point in having an offshore permit if tourists fill the allotted spaces. The offshore parking spaces are available on a “first come, first served” basis. Permit holders may park in unrestricted areas or time-limited spots with the applicable fee if there is no offshore parking. McLeod highlighted the importance of the offshore areas for residents. “If there weren’t offshore areas…we wouldn’t be able to park in Tofino. That’s really our parking lot down there.” The change has confused everyone, and offshore residents hope for a resolution soon.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, underwater cinematographer and editor John Roney’s travel plans were shelved. So the Parksville resident decided to take his camera and capture local marine life. “I realized I had the opportunity to just hone in and film our local wildlife rather than travelling abroad and capturing the more famous tropical creatures,” says Roney. After two years of documenting the waters off of Vancouver Island comes the short film Beneath the Pacific Northwest. “It was filmed all over Vancouver Island, a lot in Victoria, up in Nanaimo and Nanoose Bay area, some even in the north island,” says Roney. “Really what made the cut for me was trying to fit in the animals that people didn’t already know about.” Just weeks after its release on YouTube and other online platforms the video is already drawing rave reviews. “The reception’s been awesome from both locals and around the world, so that’s been really cool,” says Roney. Roney hopes that the project helps educate islanders and British Columbians alike about the beauty that lies beneath the waves. “I think people don’t realize that we do have some of the best scuba diving in the world,” says Roney. “Most people think of Vancouver Island as having murky dark waters and the visibility is pretty poor, but at the same time the amount of colour is just amazing.” To see the full video and to see more of Roney’s work, visit his website [https://www.roneydives.com/].

Whether you love it or hate it, of all the sports news, none seems to generate funnier headlines than Pickleball does. The exciting mix of tennis and ping pong has a generous fan club in the gulf islands – and a just as prominent group of haters. The reason for so many people’s vehement distaste for what most would simply view as a fun game is the record level of noise it can generate. Unlike tennis, which uses a relatively soft and furry ball, pickle palls are made of hard plastic, producing an almost gunshot-like sound with every hit. The noise can be so bad that it induces some pretty crazy behaviour from those living near a court – a Chilliwack couple just went so far as a week-long hunger strike in protest of the pickleball courts near them. Yikes. While no one has yet had to resort to a hunger strike, residents across the Island have staged their own forms of protest. On Mayne Island, a BC Supreme Court judge recently dismissed a case involving a group of tennis players who had tried to take over two tennis courts to prevent people from playing Pickleball there. Although the case has gone away, the struggle over the courts created a genuine rift between Mayne Islanders. “It’s been quite devastating,” Adrian Gowing, Mayne Island Tennis Association president, told CBC News. “You know, we’re in our little village here. At times we get on the ferries to go places, and now you’re sort of looking around going, ‘Oh, I don’t want to talk to that person, I don’t want to talk to that person.’ It’s become quite uncomfortable,” said Gowing. On the other hand, Pickleball has been gaining a massive following in the Comox Valley and seems to be bringing the community together. “Pickleball is fun….. Pickleball is competitive….. Pickleball is recreational….. Pickleball is social; Pickleball is anything you want it to be!.. YOU WILL LOVE IT!” says the uber-enthusiastic Comox Valley Pickleball [https://www.facebook.com/cvpickleball.ca] group on their Facebook page. They host weekly skill sessions and don’t seem to have gotten any public flack over generating noise – likely because the courts are mainly indoors and out of residential earshot. In recognition of National Pickleball Day, the Comox Valley group is hosting an Open House at the Rotary Highlands Pickleball Courts for their 500 group members and anyone else that would like to join! Will this be your new favourite sport? Or do you hate Pickleball just as much as pickles? Let us know in the comments.

October 3, 1936 – October 22, 2025 With broken hearts we announce the peaceful passing of Frank Andrew Herman on October 22nd in Nanaimo, B.C. at the age of 89. Above all else, Frank loved his family and will be deeply missed by his children Craig (Tina) and Lynda (Larry), and his two grandsons, Liam and Dawson. He is survived by his sister, Sharon and preceded in death by his loving wife of 60 years, Patricia, his brother, Edison, and his dear friend, Joan. Born in Nanaimo to his parents John and Josephine (Andre), Frank graduated from NDSS in 1956. Frank met Pat in 1958, and they married in 1959. Frank was trained as a Registered Industrial Accountant and his career with McMillan Bloedel began in 1957 in Port Hardy. As his career progressed, he became a Logging Division Manager, and lived in Ucluelet, Port Alberni and Campbell River. Frank retired from McMillan Bloedel in 1991. As a side endeavor, in 1970, Frank, together with 3 partners, developed Arbutus Point Estates (now known as Madrona Point in Nanoose B.C.) Having been successful with that venture, they then went on to build a development at Fairwinds, including the Fairwinds Golf Club in 1979. Frank and Pat loved to travel the world, with his favorite destination being Australia. One of his highlights was being able to brand cattle on the Australian Outback! Another favorite pastime was fishing, where he enjoyed many adventures with Craig. Frank will be remembered as a loving, kind, generous and devoted father, Bubba and friend to many. His quick wit will be missed by all. His family is grateful for the incredible care and support from the staff members at Berwick on the Lake in Nanaimo. At Franks’s request, there will be no funeral service, but a celebration of life will take place at a later date.

It is with deep sadness that we announce the sudden passing of Kelly Brian McKenzie on October 14th, 2025, at the age of 66. He was predeceased by his beloved grandparents who raised him, Hugh and Bessie McKenzie; his father, Rex McKenzie; and his uncles Doug and Hughie McKenzie, and Clint Unwin. He is survived by his partner of 14 years, Kathy Sarrasin; her children, Jeremy (and family) and Jaclyn Sarrasin; his brothers, Michael, Sean, Collin, Kevin (Rebecca), Graham, and Aaron; and his aunt, Nita Unwin, whom he always thought of as a big sister. He is also lovingly remembered by numerous other family members and friends. Also missing him deeply is his Chihuahua, Eli — they were inseparable. Kelly drove transit in Nanaimo for 36 years. He retired 8 years ago and enjoyed every minute of it. Kelly loved animals, the outdoors, Island drives and adventures, kayaking at Spider Lake, and playing his guitars. Kelly will be laid to rest at Cedar Memorial Cemetery at a later date. Family and close friends will be notified.

For the second year in a row, the UVic Vikes women’s rugby team came up just short in the U Sports national championship, losing 15-13 to the UBC Thunderbirds on Nov. 2. The low-scoring final was a nail-biter, and fourth-overall meeting on the season between UVic and UBC. The Vikes had beat the Thunderbirds in all of those occasions, including a 18-17 win in the Canada West final on Oct. 19. But, on Nov. 2, the host Thunderbirds got the upper-hand. In the dying seconds, Claremont Secondary School graduate Adia Pye scored the game-winning try for UBC, sealing the Vikes’ fate. > The crowd goes wild!???? Adia Pye scores a breathtaking try, putting UBC ahead! > > La foule est en délire!????Adia Pye marque un essai époustouflant, mettre > @ubctbirds [https://twitter.com/ubctbirds?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] avant ! > > > > > > > Watch live ???? Regardez en direct : https://t.co/B2EnlWxShC > [https://t.co/B2EnlWxShC] > > UBC: 15 > UVic: 13#ChaseTheGlory > [https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChaseTheGlory?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] | > #ViserHaut > [https://twitter.com/hashtag/ViserHaut?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] > pic.twitter.com/j2BVYfIOlR [https://t.co/j2BVYfIOlR] > > — U SPORTS Rugby (@USPORTS_Rugby) November 3, 2025 > [https://twitter.com/USPORTS_Rugby/status/1985159087705792577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] “I want to start off by saying that UVic are an absolutely outstanding team,” said UBC head coach Dean Murten. “They’ve got some world-class players, they’re well-coached, they’re aggressive defensively and knew it was going to come down to the wire, but not the last play of the game, absolutely not.” The Vikes entered the tournament with strong credentials, coming in as the number one ranked team in the country. On the individual side, Olympic silver medalist, Carissa Norsten was named U Sports player of the year, while head coach Brittany Waters received U Sports coach of the year. “She comes to practice early, she works as hard as anyone in this league,” Waters said before the tournament. “You often see the superstars get the recognition, and with this one, it really is so well-deserved. She’s a leader for our group in more ways than one.” Norsten, along with Olivia Newsome, Justine Blatt-Janmaat, Emily Findlay and Sierra Gillis, earned spots on the tournament all-star team. Victoria opened the U Sports Final 8 tournament with a 41-8 victory over the University of Ottawa, followed by a 42-0 semifinal win against the University of Guelph.

The Nanaimo African Herage Society put fairy tales front and centre in royal tea party, at which attendees got to dance and hear stories about women of colour who have contributed to B.C.’s heritage. On Oct. 19, Elsa from Frozen, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Snow White and more gave local children a show, joining them for tea and activities. Queen Shalema’s Princess Tea Party is an annual event hosted by the society, giving opportunities for children to hang out with their movie heroes – including not only princesses, but also a guest apperance from Spider-Man. In a press release following the event, Shalema Gantt, founder of the the Nanaimo African Heritage Society, said the event was well-attended.

When Ladysmith artist Sarah Leo began fainting without warning, she didn’t know if she’d ever get her health — or her rhythm — back. For two months, she lost consciousness regularly. Doctors never found a clear cause, but the experience forced her to rebuild from the inside out. “It took everything in my power to get myself back healthy,” she said, sitting in the cosy studio of her Ladysmith home. “This is the next chapter of my life because of that.” This chapter is one filled with art. Her creative projects span music, poetry and painting, but it’s her custom jean jackets that have become Ladysmith legends. Born in New Westminster and raised mostly in Edmonton, Leo’s family moved to Vancouver Island when she was 10. She later earned a Bachelor of Arts followed by a Bachelor of Education. She went on to teach high school, but the realities of the classroom and long evenings of marking left no time for her own creative practice. “I loved encouraging kids to believe in themselves,” she says. “But I realized I needed to take my own advice.” Then her body forced the issue. Leo began fainting several times a day. Once, when she collapsed at home, she called out to her Alexa smart speaker for help. The device connected her with her husband at work, who called a neighbour to help. Those were dark days filled with health issues and uncertainty, but Leo leaned on music to stay grounded. “I had never really listened to blues music before,” she said. “It’s people singing about their pain, and yet when they leave the stage, they’ve done something. They’ve transmuted that negative feeling and they’ve helped other people feel human.” That process of taking pain and turning it into something that helps others became central to her own recovery. “Art has always given me a way to feel better. Every challenge I’ve gone through, art has helped me get to a healthy place.” She painted, she sang, she took photos and she created a different kind of lesson plan: not one for her students, but for herself. She built what she calls her Bliss Checklist [https://sarahleoartist.weebly.com/-bliss-checklist.html], which includes music first thing in the morning, gratitude before coffee, a deep, slow breathing practice and more. That shift set the stage for an artistic breakthrough that started, quite literally, in her closet. On a previous vacation to Tofino, she had fallen in love with a thrifted jean jacket that made her feel amazing when she tried it on. She brought it home, hung it up and forgot about it. Fast forward to postpartum depression, health issues and a closet full of clothes that no longer fit. One day she came across the jacket and remembered how good it had felt in that moment in Tofino. “I found it, put it on, and I breathed the biggest sigh of relief that I’d felt in a very long time,” she recalled. “I wore it around the house like a lunatic for two weeks. I felt great. I felt like myself. I started going out again. I was going for walks. I thought to myself, ‘I have to give other people this feeling.’ Then I was like, ‘Hey, I could paint on these.’” And she did. The result is custom-painted jean jackets that make the wearer feel like a rock star. Each jacket order begins with a questionnaire Leo sends to her new client. “I ask, How do you want to feel in it?” she said. Clients provide their own jacket or choose from her inventory. Leo creates each piece digitally, projects her design onto the fabric, and then paints it with acrylics mixed with a fabric medium. Her signature style features text above and below a central image, with colour that seems to glow. Her clients are mostly local, and when she has stock, she sells in stores, but most of her business is direct and through her website [https://sarahleoartist.weebly.com/]. For now, her creations turn heads around town, but she’d love to see one on a red carpet someday and dreams of creating jackets for celebrity clients. The jackets range from $120 to $220 per jacket, but the real currency is emotional. Leo lives for the moment when a customer sees her completed work for the first time. She usually mails her creations, but not always. “Sometimes I drive the extra mile just to see the reaction,” she said. “They dance around, they scream, their eyes start tearing. It makes me feel so fulfilled to provide something that makes somebody feel that comfortable in their own skin.” That feeling is something Leo fought hard to attain for herself, always via her art. In addition to her jean jacket business, Leo is now an in-demand singer. She performs at venues across Vancouver Island, from galleries and universities to restaurants and bars. Her goal has never been about recognition. “It’s about how much impact I can leave in the places I’ve been.” Now thriving in both life and art, Leo makes her home a creative haven with her husband, Chek TV journalist Tchadas Leo [https://tchadasleo.ca/], and their young son. The family stays rooted in Ladysmith, a community Sarah credits for both inspiration and support. “It was the first place I really felt accepted,” she said. “People here take care of each other.” Surrounded by a caring community, Leo found the safety and support to care for herself. Now she’s inspiring others to do the same. “If I take care of me, I take care of everybody,” she said. It’s a philosophy that turned her own healing into art, and her art into healing for others, one song, one poem, one jacket at a time. web1_sarah-leo-before-and-after-sized [https://www.bpmcdn.com/f/files/shared/feeds/gps/2025/11/web1_sarah-leo-before-and-after-sized.jpg;w=960]Now and then. Artist Sarah Leo stands with two of her hand-painted jean jackets — one created during a period of illness and depression, and another made after she found healing through art.

A Campbell River author has added another award to her resume. Shari Green was awarded the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People at a gala event in Toronto on Oct. 27 for her novel, Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams. “Green’s gripping novel in verse explores the familial, personal, and political complexities of living in late 1980s communist East Germany,” the jury wrote. Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams was published by Andrews McMeel Publishing, and was also a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. The novel is centered around a 16-year-old pianist living in Leipzig, who tries to pursue her dreams during the months of protest preceding the fall of the Berlin Wall. The book begins in August 1989, and explores the pianist’s (Helena) hopes and dreams of becoming a conductor, disrupted by politics, such as the East Germany government’s ban on music such as Italian operas, Russian folk songs, and music from the United States, and even the Beatles. Her father is also a dreamer, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, and organizes protests when he is not teaching his university students to think critically about the world they live in. “When I was writing this book,” Green said during her acceptance speech,” I was struck by how often the events and themes of the time were so similar to what I was seeing in the news currently. And it reaffirmed for me the importance of listening to and sharing the stories of history.” In an interview with the Campbell River Mirror last October, Green said the book follows Helena as she is drawn into the protest movement known as the Peaceful Revolution, also known as Die Wende (“the turning point”) in Germany. The Peaceful Revolution began with a series of protests called the Monday demonstrations, which started in Leipzig on Sept. 4, 1989, outside St. Nicholas Church. Despite the Stasi’s attempts to crush the movement, the rest of the country soon followed suit.

It doesn’t happen often that a musical group comes along that redefines an entire genre and sets a new standard to which others can aspire, but that’s precisely what Gogo Penguins has done. The Manchester trio manages to seamlessly blend jazz, electronic and classical music in a way that is both exhilarating and wildly entertaining and their most recent album release, Necessary Fiction, is their most adventurous record to date. They’ve managed to retain their understated, cinematic sound while injecting expansive piano riffs, spectacularly sharp percussion and fluid baselines that set them apart from their counterparts. And that unforgettable sound is coming to Victoria on Nov. 17 when Gogo Penguins take the stage at the Royal Theatre. For those of you who haven’t yet experienced the amazing sound of Gogo Penguin, here’s a little background. They are an English jazz fusion band from Manchester, consisting of pianist Chris Illingworth, double bassist Nick Blacka, and drummer Jon Scott. They formed in 2012 and, as of 2025, they have released seven studio albums, two EPs, and three live albums. That’s the basics, but the band itself is so much more, which explains its exploding popularity in the U.K., France and across Europe. Their music features backbeats, minimalist piano melodies, and powerful baselines that have led to comparisons with modern classical composers Shostakovich and Debussy or contemporary minimal music composers like Philip Glass. “There were actually a lot of influences that we wanted to draw from,” said Blacka in a recent interview with Monday Magazine. “We’re from different backgrounds and each brings our own musical influences into the mix. Chris (Illingworth), for example, started out as a classical musician. I studied jazz double bass at Leeds College of Music and Jon (Scott) is a genius on the drums who has played for years and has this creative and flexible style that is just amazing.” “Really, though, we create music to feel the emotion of the sound, but it’s not an explicit meaning. People listen to us, and they bring their own meaning. They listen to it, and I’ve had people come and tell me how a track meant so much to them because it was the soundtrack of a particular event or crisis in their life. The same song can bring a sense of joy or hope or any of a dozen emotions out in different people.” The group has, to date, been able to create those feelings in their audience without any lyrical or vocal accompaniment, but on their most recent album, Necessary Fictions, they featured their first song with a vocalist, featuring British-Ugandan singer-songwriter Daudi Matsiko, whose smoky voice blends perfectly with the trio’s signature styles. “Daudi’s voice has been a friend for years. His voice is quite dark and gentle, and it really resonates with our music,” said Blacka. Victoria is the first stop for Gogo Penguin’s upcoming tour that will see them perform in a series of cities across Canada and the U.S. before returning to Europe for a tour that will take them across the continent for what’s sure to be sold-out crowds. “Success for me is to be able to do what we’re doing. Sure, money is always a part of success, but real success is that you get to bring something to the world that you want to say. We’re very grateful that we have that opportunity,” said Blacka. Tickets for Gogo Penguin’s Victoria appearance are available at www.rmts.bc.ca/production-detail-pages/2025-royal-theatre/gogo-penguin/.

ECHO Players is preparing to welcome theatre lovers to the Vancouver Island One Act Play Festival, running Nov. 5 to Nov. 9 at the Village Theatre in Qualicum Beach. This adjudicated festival showcases a mix of established works and fresh new voices from across central and northern Vancouver Island, according to a news release by ECHO Players. Each evening features two one-act plays, followed by public remarks from adjudicators Eliza Gardiner and Ward Norcutt, with a final awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon. Festival Lineup: Nov. 5 – 7:30 p.m. · Yesterday by Colin Campbell Clements, directed by Alistair McVey (ECHO Players) A Lady and a British officer, late of the Indian Army, find themselves alone, after escaping from a party. They begin to talk about their past, only to discover that they had met, long ago. · Going Avocado by Marian Buechert, directed by Gail Tisdale (ECHO Players) Five women find themselves in a holding cell after being arrested at a protest. They share the cell with a cynical stranger whose assertions force them to re-examine their moral assumptions. Nov. 6 – 7:30 p.m. · After Effects by Brian March, directed by Barbara Metcalf (Yellow Point Drama Group) On Remembrance Day, two men meet in a city park. Both of their fathers fought in the war on different sides, and the repercussions are felt years later. · The First to Stand written and directed by Leila Sadeghi A gripping psychosexual drama about a young actress on the brink of her off-Broadway debut. As she navigates an increasingly volatile relationship with a powerful partner, the play she rehearses begins to mirror her life. What unfolds is a haunting exploration of passion, vulnerability and ambition. Nov. 7 – 7:30 p.m. They Glowed Green written and directed by Kelly Barnum and Sarah Kielly (NDSS Performing Arts) Based on the lives of the “Radium Girls” — female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting radium watch dials using the “lip dip paint” technique. Poptart! written and directed by Ashera Richard (ECHO Youth Theatre) Tia’s excited to introduce her boyfriend Nick to her quirky, unpredictable family — but Nick quickly realizes this is no ordinary meet-the-parents night. From awkward dinners and bizarre family games to mysterious ‘energy jam’ and confusing rules, Nick struggles to keep up without losing his mind. With a secret safe word and plenty of laughs, this one-act comedy explores the chaos and charm of family, love, and learning to fit in — one wild moment at a time. Nov. 8 – 7:30 p.m. · Laundry and Bourbon by James McClure, directed by Dennis Hawkins-Bogle (Rivercity Players Society) The setting is the front porch of Roy and Elizabeth’s home in Maynard, Texas. Elizabeth and her friend Hattie are whiling away the time folding laundry, watching TV, sipping bourbon and Coke, and gossiping about the many open secrets which are so much a part of small-town life. They are joined by the self-righteous Amy Lee who, among other tidbits, can’t resist blurting out that Roy has been seen around town with another woman. · Poetry in Motion by director Mary Littlejohn (Nanaimo Theatre Group) Four fictional characters from famous poems show up in a waiting room, unsure of their purpose for being there. When the truth comes to light, they suddenly must fight for their existence. An awards ceremony is set to follow on Nov. 9. Come celebrate bold storytelling, passionate performances and the vibrant spirit of community theatre. Tickets are available at echoplayers.ca or at the Village Theatre box office.

An 18-year-old from Nanaimo is dead as the result of a fiery collision south of Nanaimo on the weekend. According to RCMP B.C. Highway Patrol, the crash happened in South Wellington, south of Nanaimo, near Morden Road in the northbound lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2. An Audi sedan crashed and caught fire. Witnesses told police that a second dark-coloured car was also driving in the area at the time, but did not stop when the first car crashed. B.C. Highway Patrol is looking for witnesses and dash camera video because criminality hasn’t been ruled out. “We need to know more about that second dark car, possibly a black Honda Civic, that was driving in close proximity to the black Audi in the moments before it crashed,” said Cpl. Michael McLaughlin, B.C. Highway Patrol spokesperson. “Dash-camera video and witnesses will be key to learning exactly what caused this collision.” The 19-year-old Nanaimo man who was driving the crashed Audi went to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. His 18-year-old male passenger died at scene. Anyone who has information about the dark-coloured car that drove away from the scene is asked to call the RCMP B.C Highway Patrol in Duncan at 250-746-2751 and quote file No. 7001 2025-2168.

In Animal Farm, George Orwell warned what happens when those in power rewrite the rules: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Here in Saanich, that line feels uncomfortably familiar. Rules that once seemed firm are suddenly open to interpretation — depending on who’s asking. At the centre of the controversy is the Planning Department, which applies bylaws for everything from small home renovations to major projects. Residents are seeing a pattern of inconsistency and weak accountability that’s eroding trust in local government. A striking example sits in Ten Mile Point. A new home – nicknamed the “Observation Tower” – rises almost a full storey higher than the bylaw allows. Like The Emperor’s New Clothes, the result is obvious to anyone who looks. Yet the city insists all is well. Saanich’s zoning bylaw once left little room for doubt, ensuring fairness and predictability for everyone – builders, planners, and neighbours alike. When the plans for this house first came across the counter, city staff denied a height variance. But days later, a permit was granted after officials quietly invented an off-books interpretation that stretched the meaning of “height” like an elastic band. When neighbours asked where this new logic was authorized, no one could point to any line in the bylaw. Yet the same explanation was repeated up the chain — by the directors, the chief administrative officer, and even the mayor. Each defended the decision, but none cited an actual rule. A mistake could have been corrected. Instead, it is becoming a policy. The department closed ranks, construction continued, and what began as an error is hardening into a precedent. The deeper problem is not just bureaucratic overreach – it’s the refusal to admit error and the willingness to mislead the public about what the bylaw actually says. Some will shrug and say, “It’s just a few feet.” But bylaws aren’t about inches – they’re about fairness. Every homeowner and builder should face the same rules. When staff can quietly bend those rules, the entire planning system loses credibility. Everyone agrees Saanich needs more housing. But growth must happen through transparent planning, not through rule-bending behind closed doors. Bylaws exist to create balance: encouraging density in some areas, preserving character in others, and ensuring everyone plays by the same standards. As Orwell might remind us, corruption rarely begins with bad intent. It starts when words are twisted to serve power. If Saanich wants to live up to its own principles of fairness and transparency, it must prove that all residents are equal under the bylaw – and none are more equal than others. Sign the petition: Stop the Rule-Bending: Demand Accountability in Saanich’s Planning Department https://change.org/Stop-Saanich-Rule-Bending [https://change.org/Stop-Saanich-Rule-Bending]. Franke James Saanich

A new opportunity to demonstrate your generosity and caring will be landing at the Tillicum Mall on Nov. 14. Although the concept was first developed in 2017 and has been popular in the United States, New Zealand, the U.K., Spain and even Tokyo, it’s the first time that the Light the World Giving Machine campaign has been run in B.C., and only the second time it’s operated in Canada. Essentially, the idea is that folks can use a giant, seven-foot-tall, touch screen to browse a host of items that are badly needed by a variety of charities. Then, much like the touch screens that you might have become accustomed to while doing your online shopping or at a fast-food outlet, you simply browse through the items, add your selections to your ‘cart’ and then cash out. This is where the twist comes in. “Instead of getting something, you’re giving,” said Joyce Thomson, Giving Machine City co-lead. “It’s a chance to raise community spirit and awareness and help those who so badly need our help.” The campaign is the work of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and operates in partnership with local and international charities. One hundred per cent of the donation goes directly to the charities involved, as the church covers all overhead costs and receives no financial benefit from this initiative. “I want to make it very clear that this project involves absolutely no proselytizing or religious advocacy,” said Thomson. “We will have some volunteers there with the machines in case people have some trouble navigating the screens, but they will only be there to help with those screens and to answer questions about the specific charities.” In fact, Thomson explained that the project is a cooperative effort of her church, the charities and that other faiths, churches and groups have been invited to join in the project. “All we want is to help people,” she said. In Victoria, the machines will provide 25 giving options for five local charities, as well as an additional five giving options for two international charities. “The way this is set up, a family in Victoria may choose to buy chickens for a family in a Third World country, or provide groceries for families in need locally,” said Thomson. “Other items include things such as water purification tablets, vaccine packs, emergency shelters, kids’ lunches, meals for seniors, hot meals for the homeless, wellness and fitness classes, garden supplies, postpartum newborn care, hygiene kits, and fresh linens. And the good thing is that neither the church or the charities retain any portion of the donations. One hundred per cent of everything donated goes to those who need it most.” Since its inception in 2017, more than two million people have visited a Giving Machine and have donated more than $60 million in goods and services. In the 2024 campaign alone, about 600,000 people visited a Giving Machine and purchased more than 350,000 items. The machines will be at Tillicum Mall until Dec. 3, when they will be moved to Vancouver’s Tsawwassen Mills mall.

Every time Canada’s budget season rolls around, I hear the same question: Why send money overseas when we have problems right here at home? I get that question. I live and work in communities where poverty, racism, and inequality are very real. But after more than 20 years of working with Indigenous and systemically marginalized youth through the Victoria International Development Education Association (VIDEA), I’ve seen firsthand that international aid isn’t charity — it’s connection. It’s a two-way exchange that builds strength, opportunity, and leadership both abroad and here at home. At VIDEA, a Victoria-based human rights organization, we run programs that connect Indigenous youth from across Canada with communities in Zambia, and Uganda. These youth travel, work alongside local peers, and share traditional knowledge, environmental skills, and leadership approaches rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing. What comes back is powerful: confidence, perspective, and renewed commitment to making change here in Canada. This is not “aid,” it’s about solidarity — mutual learning between communities who have both survived oppression, colonization, and systemic barriers. When Indigenous youth and youth with barriers to employment from Canada exchange knowledge with youth abroad, both sides grow stronger. They learn how to tackle climate impacts, gender inequality, and community healing in ways that honour culture and land. And the benefits don’t stop there. Studies show that every dollar spent on conflict prevention can save up to $60 in military costs, and every dollar of development assistance generates more than a dollar in Canadian exports. But the real return is human — the leadership, creativity, and global awareness our youth bring home. When Canada retreats from international cooperation, we don’t just abandon people overseas — we shrink the possibilities for our own young people. We cut off chances for them to learn, to lead, and to see themselves as part of something bigger. International cooperation helps build a safer, fairer world. It strengthens the very systems – health, education, climate resilience – that make global and local communities thrive. So as we head into another federal budget and hear talk of cuts, I hope we look beyond the numbers. Because this isn’t about charity. It’s about shared humanity – and about investing in the kind of future our youth, here and everywhere, deserve. Lynn Thornton, executive director Victoria International Development Education Association

Host Thunderbirds flock to win over Vikes in rugby final For the second year in a row, the UVic Vikes women’s rugby team came up just short in the U Sports national championship, losing 15-13 to the UBC Thunderbirds on Nov. 2. The low-scoring final was a nail-biter, and fourth-overall meeting on the season between UVic and UBC. The Vikes had beat the Thunderbirds in all of those occasions, including a 18-17 win in the Canada West final on Oct. 19. But, on Nov. 2, the host Thunderbirds got the upper-hand. In the dying seconds, Claremont Secondary School graduate Adia Pye scored the game-winning try for UBC, sealing the Vikes’ fate. > The crowd goes wild!???? Adia Pye scores a breathtaking try, putting UBC ahead! > > La foule est en délire!????Adia Pye marque un essai époustouflant, mettre > @ubctbirds [https://twitter.com/ubctbirds?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] avant ! > > Watch live ???? Regardez en direct : https://t.co/B2EnlWxShC > [https://t.co/B2EnlWxShC] > > UBC: 15 > UVic: 13#ChaseTheGlory > [https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChaseTheGlory?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] | > #ViserHaut > [https://twitter.com/hashtag/ViserHaut?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] > pic.twitter.com/j2BVYfIOlR [https://t.co/j2BVYfIOlR] > > — U SPORTS Rugby (@USPORTS_Rugby) November 3, 2025 > [https://twitter.com/USPORTS_Rugby/status/1985159087705792577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] “I want to start off by saying that UVic are an absolutely outstanding team,” said UBC head coach Dean Murten. “They’ve got some world-class players, they’re well-coached, they’re aggressive defensively and knew it was going to come down to the wire, but not the last play of the game, absolutely not.” The Vikes entered the tournament with strong credentials, coming in as the number one ranked team in the country. On the individual side, Olympic silver medalist, Carissa Norsten was named U Sports player of the year, while head coach Brittany Waters received U Sports coach of the year. “She comes to practice early, she works as hard as anyone in this league,” Waters said before the tournament. “You often see the superstars get the recognition, and with this one, it really is so well-deserved. She’s a leader for our group in more ways than one.” Norsten, along with Olivia Newsome, Justine Blatt-Janmaat, Emily Findlay and Sierra Gillis, earned spots on the tournament all-star team. Victoria opened the U Sports Final 8 tournament with a 41-8 victory over the University of Ottawa, followed by a 42-0 semifinal win against the University of Guelph. Vikes historic field hockey run ended by York University Lions Victoria’s hopes of a seventh consecutive field hockey national title ended in heartbreak on Nov. 2, as the Canada West champions fell 1-0 to York University in Charlottetown, PEI. The Vikes went 2-0-1 in round-robin play, starting with a 0-0 draw against York before defeating Dalhousie 3-0 and the University of Prince Edward Island 4-0. Juliet Redelaar of York broke through with just three minutes remaining in the national championship, scoring the only goal of the match past Victoria goalkeeper Anais Chace. It was the only goal that the Vikes conceded in the entire tournament. Libby Hogg, a fifth-year defender and Oak Bay High graduate, was named the U Sports Liz Hoffman player of the year prior to the tournament. Hogg, who led the conference with 10 points in 2025, leaves UVic with a storied career that includes five Canada West championships, four U Sports titles, five conference all-star nods, and three U Sports all-Canadian selections. Hogg was named a tournament all-star alongside Julia Boraston. Midfielder Maeve Connorton, a Lambrick Park graduate, also earned U Sports all-Canadian honours.

Ballenas Whalers suffered a heartbreaking 7-6 loss to the John Barsby Bulldogs in the 2025 ‘Border Battle’. The senior varsity game, played under wet and muddy conditions at Kwalikum Secondary field on Oct. 31, was also the final BC High School Football League regular season game. This year’s Border Battle didn’t produce a lot of touchdowns but it highlighted the defensive game of both schools. The Whalers defence was able to slow down the aggressive Bulldogs rushing game and also grabbed the early lead 6-0 on Spencer Jordan’s unconverted touchdown in the second quarter. In the third quarter, the Whalers were battling to move the ball forward and were having little success. The series that changed the Whalers’ fortune was when they were denied three times by the Bulldogs late in the quarter. It was fourth down and the Whalers decided to punt the ball to keep it far away from its end zone. Quarterback Tyler Robinson, also the Whalers’ kicker, saw an opportunity and decided to run the ball instead. It was an uncalled play but it appeared that he stretched the ball beyond first-down marker before being tackled but the referee called the attempt short, despite protestations from Whalers coaches. The questionable call led the Bulldogs to score and they also kicked the convert to take the lead 7-6, which they never relinquished. The Whalers fought hard to find that extra point. They created a scoring opportunity when they advanced the ball close to the Bulldogs red zone. However, disaster struck when a fumble essentially ended the Whalers’ chance of a comeback. The Bulldogs decided to take knee and let time ran out. “We had a good game plan going in and everything was working pretty well,” said head coach Dan Smith. “I am really proud of the way we played. We had some stuff happen to us and I thought we had a first down by at least two yards over here. And that cost us the touchdown. Otherwise, we’re still marching down the field. I’m really disappointed in this crew. I don’t really say much about the referees but this crew was awful today.” Smith commended the team’s defence, who did everything to frustrate the Bulldogs’ offence. “They were just phenomenal today,” said Smith. “That stoppage there when they were just like a couple of yards away, that was big. Huge. That’s big-time football. That is what football is all about.” The Whalers ended the regular season with a 3-3 record and shared third spot with the Nanaimo Islanders. They still advance to the playoffs where they will face the Argyle Pipers. It will be an opportunity for the Whalers to avenge their loss to the Pipers, who blanked them 31-0 earlier in the year. Smith said the Whalers performance against the Bulldogs is a good indicator they will be ready for the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Whalers junior varsity side fell 48-0 in their own Border Battle at Kwalikum Secondary. The JV Whalers will get a chance to redeem themselves when they face the Bulldogs in the playoffs. web1_251112-pqn-border-battle-game_3 [https://www.bpmcdn.com/f/files/shared/feeds/gps/2025/11/web1_251112-pqn-border-battle-game_3.jpg;w=960]Ballenas Whalers defence were not letting the John Barsby Bulldogs offence get anywhere. (Michael Briones photo) web1_251112-pqn-border-battle-game_4 [https://www.bpmcdn.com/f/files/shared/feeds/gps/2025/11/web1_251112-pqn-border-battle-game_4.jpg;w=960]The Ballenas Whalers defence makes a huge play when they stop the John Barsby Bulldogs from crossing into the end zone. (Michael Briones photo)

A Cowichan woman is missing and North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP is asking for the public’s help to find her. Kyla Gould, 34, was last seen on Oct. 31, 2025 and was reported missing the next day on Nov. 1. She is described as a Caucasian woman, 5 foot 9 inches (175 cm) tall, 181 pounds (82 kg), with blonde hair and green eyes. Gould drives a red Fiat 500 with the B.C. licence plate Xg828V. She is believed to be with a man who is known to her. Police said in the press release they are concerned for her health and wellbeing. Anyone with information about her whereabouts should call North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP at 250-748-5522, or Crime Stoppers are 1800-222-8477 (TIPS).

Police say the investigation into the homicide of 24-year-old realtor Lindsay Buziak “remains active and ongoing,” despite a recent claim that the case had been closed. “We recognize the continued public interest and emotional impact this case has had on Lindsay’s family, friends and the broader community,” Saanich Police Insp. Drew Robertson said in a Nov. 3 statement. “Detectives and members of our senior leadership team are in regular contact with Lindsay’s parents to ensure they are updated on the case.” The statement comes one day after Buziak’s mother Evelyn Reitmayer posted a three-minute video to YouTube, saying “the active investigation had come to an end and that the detectives assigned to the investigation were being transferred to other departments.” “The news has been devastating,” she added. “Even though the years pass without answers, at least with it being an active investigation, I had hope that one day justice would be served.” But Robertson says periodic reassignments are “standard practice” and “are part of routine operational adjustments and do not reflect any change in the status or priority of a case.” “Our commitment to seeking justice for Lindsay remains steadfast,” he said. “This investigation continues to receive dedicated attention from our major crime unit, with support from partner agencies. Our investigators follow up on all credible tips and information received from the public.” Those with information about this case have been asked to contact Saanich Police at 250-475-4321 – an appeal Reitmayer also made in her YouTube video. “I’m begging you to contact the police,” she said. “As her mum, I think of Lindsay every single day. I need answers and closure.” Buziak was fatally stabbed in a second-floor bedroom of a home she had arranged to show to what she thought were prospective buyers in Saanich’s Gordon Head neighbourhood on Feb. 2, 2008. Nov. 2 would have been her 42nd birthday.

Thieves have interrupted play for a Greater Victoria hockey team that supports players of all ages with developmental disabilities. According to West Shore RCMP, a large amount of hockey equipment belonging to the South Island Ravens was stolen from a storage room at the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, located at 1767 Island Hwy. in Colwood. The theft took place between Sept. 28 and Oct. 19. With an estimated total value of approximately $3,500, the stolen items include 10 pairs of ice skates, 10 team jackets displaying the Ravens’ logo, two sets of goalie gear and two pairs of goalie skates. “This theft is heartbreaking for our players and families,” said the team’s general manager and co-founder Gus Ascroft. “Our program is built on community support and inclusion – losing this gear affects our ability to get players on the ice.” The South Island Ravens welcome any donations or equipment to help the team get back on the ice as soon as possible, notes a West Shore RCMP news release. Anyone with information about the theft is asked to contact the West Shore RCMP by calling 250-474-2264 or anonymously via Crime Stoppers online or by calling 1-800-222-8477.

While crime knows no borders, police jurisdictions on the South Island still do. In a recent push led by Victoria, discussions could soon begin between Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Saanich and Victoria to explore forming a regional police service. In an interview with Saanich News, Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said Victoria, with support of the three neighbouring municipalities, recently sent a letter to the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General expressing their interest in meeting with the minister to discuss regionalization. “At this time, the minister has received that letter and is looking to set up that meeting,” she said. Advocating for the merger, Desjardins argued that this move is long overdue. “This is something that Esquimalt has always been supportive of,” she said. “When we amalgamated with Victoria way back in 2003 it was with the understanding that… other communities were going to follow but that hasn’t happened, and here we are 23 years later.” From Desjardins’ standpoint, the benefits of amalgamation would outweigh the drawbacks, allowing police agencies to join forces and overcome today’s “significant challenges,” namely those related to recruitment and budget constraints among other things. “The opportunity to pool resources for the region may help in terms of the provision of services, and equitable funding, as well as recruitment and retention,” she said. “And there would hopefully be some help from the province if there is interest.” While it’s no done deal, Desjardins says getting all the mayors and the minister on board for a discussion, is a “baby step” toward a big decision. Speaking about the potential benefits of the merger, Desjardins is under no illusions about the challenges, citing her municipality’s police force amalgamating with VicPD over two decades ago, years before her tenure. “It was done very quickly and the parameters were not necessarily well thought out because it was a rushed process,” she said. “I learned that over the years and have done whatever we could to try and improve that situation, but it is a complicated issue. In order for parties to come together, there have to be mechanisms in place.” With collaboration and conscientiousness at its core, Desjardins believes that issues surrounding equitable service delivery, governance challenges, as well as the allocation of resources and costs could be resolved. “We need to do the due diligence and the homework, such that we can learn from our previous amalgamation, but let’s not shy away from an opportunity,” she said. On behalf of the three other mayors, Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto sent two letters to the solicitor general’s office – dated July 14 and Aug. 6 – to begin discussions on the future of regional policing in Victoria and neighbouring communities. “The letter(s) noted our collective interest in examining the future of police services in our communities, while ensuring that any future regional police force maintains excellent services in each municipality,” Alto said in a written statement. In a written response to Victoria News, Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock said he was approached by Alto earlier this year to gauge his interest in meeting with the minister to discuss regional policing. “Public safety is a priority and Saanich will participate in any discussion regarding policing in our region,” reads Murdock’s statement. “When it is convened, I plan to attend a meeting with the minister along my mayor colleagues to represent Saanich’s interests and share Saanich’s perspective.” For her part, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Nina Krieger acknowledged receipt of Victoria’s letter and said she is “open to the discussion” and looks forward to meeting with all mayors. “Our government recognizes there may be benefits to amalgamating municipal police departments and some municipal governments have begun exploring this option,” she said in a written statement to Saanich News. Krieger said B.C.’s Police Act permits police departments to merge, but stressed that close collaboration among all parties involved is paramount. “The bottom line for our government is that we want to work with municipalities and help them determine the best policing model for their needs, including amalgamated or regional models, and to ensure policing services are efficient, consistent, and reliable for people across the province.”

Police say the investigation into the homicide of 24-year-old realtor Lindsay Buziak “remains active and ongoing,” despite a recent claim that the case had been closed. “We recognize the continued public interest and emotional impact this case has had on Lindsay’s family, friends and the broader community,” Saanich Police Insp. Drew Robertson said in a Nov. 3 statement. “Detectives and members of our senior leadership team are in regular contact with Lindsay’s parents to ensure they are updated on the case.” The statement comes one day after Buziak’s mother Evelyn Reitmayer posted a three-minute video to YouTube, saying “the active investigation had come to an end and that the detectives assigned to the investigation were being transferred to other departments.” “The news has been devastating,” she added. “Even though the years pass without answers, at least with it being an active investigation, I had hope that one day justice would be served.” But Robertson says periodic reassignments are “standard practice” and “are part of routine operational adjustments and do not reflect any change in the status or priority of a case.” “Our commitment to seeking justice for Lindsay remains steadfast,” he said. “This investigation continues to receive dedicated attention from our major crime unit, with support from partner agencies. Our investigators follow up on all credible tips and information received from the public.” Those with information about this case have been asked to contact Saanich Police at 250-475-4321 – an appeal Reitmayer also made in her YouTube video. “I’m begging you to contact the police,” she said. “As her mum, I think of Lindsay every single day. I need answers and closure.” Buziak was fatally stabbed in a second-floor bedroom of a home she had arranged to show to what she thought were prospective buyers in Saanich’s Gordon Head neighbourhood on Feb. 2, 2008. Nov. 2 would have been her 42nd birthday.

One person was taken to hospital and a house left heavily damaged following a late night fire in Nanaimo. Nanaimo Fire Rescue responded to the alarm at about 11 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2, in a home on the 2100 block of Dockside Way near Cathers Lake. Stu Kenning, Nanaimo Fire Rescue deputy chief, said crews brought four engines to the scene. “The fire was in the basement and crews contained the fire to the lower level, but it had already burned through the floor,” he said. One person was outside of the house when firefighters arrived and was transported to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital for observation, Kenning said. Fire investigators and an engine crew were on standby at the address Monday morning to try to determine the cause of the fire, which caused heavy fire and smoke damage to the interior of house.

Hope has turned to heartbreak for B.C.’s endangered southern resident killer whales. Newborn calf J64, who was first spotted in mid-September, has been declared missing and presumed dead by researchers from Washington-based Center for Whale Research. The calf’s mother J42, also known as ‘Echo’, was observed travelling with other members of J pod Oct. 23, in Swanson Channel off Mayne Island. “We found J42 and held the camera trigger down while waiting for J64 to pop up behind her,” said researchers in their report. “Unfortunately, J64 did not surface after J42. We hoped maybe it was nursing or something, but we kept seeing J42 surface repeatedly, and there was no calf with her. “After a few long dives and still no calf, we had to conclude that J64 did not survive and was now gone.” Hopes the newborn was playing with other whales, including calves J62 and J63, were also quickly dashed, notes the report. While J64 is “most likely deceased,” researchers will continue to monitor for the calf in future encounters, as their standard protocol is to consider an individual dead after three consecutive encounters without the whale present. “However, unlike adult whales, which may travel a significant distance from other whales for extended periods, we would not expect a newborn to be on its own for any length of time,” researchers said. The newborn was J42’s first confirmed calf. According to the Center for Whale Research, mortality rates for young calves, especially those born to first-time mothers, are incredibly high in the southern resident population. “Poor nutritional status and the transfer of toxins from mother to calf during gestation and lactation are key factors,” they said. “Southern residents need healthy, abundant chinook salmon populations to sustain themselves and the calves they raise if this population is to survive.” News of the calf’s likely death comes only weeks after the Center for Whale Research released the results of its 2025 census study. As of July 1, the southern resident population stood at 74, up just one from last year’s 73. During the census period, one adult male known as K26 – missing since the summer of 2024 – was confirmed dead. Four births were also documented across the year – three in J pod, and one in L pod. Of those four, only two females, J62 and J63, survived to the July 1 census. Born after the census period, J64 was not included in the count.

Brock Boeser scored a dramatic overtime goal with less than two seconds remaining in overtime, giving the Vancouver Canucks a 5-4 win over the host Nashville Predators Monday at Bridgestone Arena. After a board battle, Boeser got a pass from forward Elias Pettersson and backhanded the winner past Nashville goalie Juuse Saros. It was Boeser’s sixth goal of the season, second of the game and fourth career OT tally. “I think it’s a huge win for our team,” said Boeser after the game. Evander Kane also had two goals for the winners (7-7-0), with Jake DeBrusk adding a single. Thatcher Demko made 25 saves to earn the win in goal. Filip Forsberg, Erik Haula, Michael Bunting and Nick Blankenburg replied for the Preds (5-6-3). Saros made 3o saves and took the loss. > BROCK WITH THE BUZZER BEATER❗️ pic.twitter.com/B8Mz6qIxen > [https://t.co/B8Mz6qIxen] > > — Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) November 4, 2025 > [https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1985563672882598201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] Forsberg opened the scoring at 6:47 of the first, tapping in his own rebound in front of Demko. The Canucks pulled even at 14:45, when Kane took a feed from Arshdeep Bains inside the right point and ripped a one-timer past Saros. Shots after one period were 12-4 in favour of Vancouver. The Canucks took a 2-1 lead 12:57 into the second, when DeBrusk deflected Boeser’s pass behind Saros on the power play. All three of DeBrusk’s goals this season have come with the man advantage.l Vancouver upped the lead to 3-1 two minutes later when Boeser scored his fifth of the season, picking up a puck in the slot after a winding foray from rookie Tom Willander. The youngster picked up an assist on the play for his first NHL point. At 18:45, the Preds pulled within one on Haula’s power-play marker. He took a slot feed from Forsberg and fired a shot high past Demko. It was Haula’s first goal in 10 games and third of the year. Kane restored the two-goal margin on a delayed penalty at 3:02, knocking in a cross-crease pass from Linus Karlsson to make it 4-2. With 8:08 remaining, Spencer Stastney’s point shot was directed behind Demko off the foot of Bunting to pull Nashville within 4-3. Blankenburg pulled Nashville even on the power play at 16:38, with an assist going to Nanaimo’s Matthew Wood. The Canucks return home Wednesday to host the Chicago Blackhawks (7 p.m.) and then the Columbus Blue Jackets come to B.C. on Saturday (7 p.m.) at Rogers Arena. NOTES: The Canucks had captain Quinn Hughes back in the lineup after he missed four games with a lower body injury. He had six shots on goal and played more than 28 minutes… Boeser and DeBrusk also had six shots apiece for Vancouver… The Canucks were 2-for-3 on the power play, while the Preds were 2-for-4.

The Field of Crosses Memorial project, initiated by the Rotary Club of Qualicum Beach in partnership with the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 76, will return for 2025. The display will be located on Memorial Avenue at the train tracks, across from the curling rink, from Nov. 3 to Nov. 11. This visual memorial honours the lives of 66 young soldiers of Qualicum Beach, Parksville and the Oceanside area who bravely gave their lives fighting for Canada, never returning home. A white cross with each soldier’s name, military decorations, age at death, rank, regiment or unit and date of death, adorned with a single poppy and a small Canadian flag will be erected for each soldier who is listed on the local cenotaphs. The Field of Crosses will officially open at 11 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 3. The public are encouraged to attend. Everyone is welcome to visit the crosses during days leading up to Remembrance Day. On Nov. 10 at sunset (5:30 p.m.), candles will be lit at the base of each cross to further recognize the fallen. Members of the public are invited to participate in this emotional ceremony. The display will be taken down on Nov. 12. It is the goal of the Rotary Club of Qualicum Beach to include local students in a meaningful way in the Field of Crosses project. This year the Arrowsmith Elementary Grade 3/4 class will recite ‘In Flanders Fields’ as a part of the opening ceremonies on Nov. 3. Classes from local schools will be hosted by the Legion and Rotary to visit the Field of Crosses and complete school projects to explore the story of the soldiers represented. By gaining a better understanding of the sacrifices so many made we will continue to ensure that present and future generations understand the reasons for remembrance. In the past 100 years, nearly 2 million Canadians have served in the military. About 117,000 were killed or died in action. In World War I alone, 66,000 Canadians gave their life with almost 20,000 of those buried in unmarked graves overseas. The Qualicum Beach Field of Crosses is a tribute to 66 young soldiers who left from this area and did not return, their bodies are buried overseas. We strive to ensure that present and future Canadians do not forget those who gave their lives, providing us with the freedoms that we enjoy today.

Guide and service dogs perform an important service, but those skills aren’t something they’re born with. On Wednesday, Oct. 29, the non-profit B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs took a class of more than half a dozen puppies to Nanaimo’s Departure Bay ferry terminal to train on the important task of learning how to use an escalator. While the program is based in Parksville, the relative scarcity of escalators on Vancouver Island meant working with B.C. Ferries to use theirs during a low-traffic day, said Matthias Lenz, B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs director of puppy raising. “It’s a really weird thing for a dog to experience and it’s a really good thing to introduce early on,” he said. “We find if we introduce it early on and we take our time and let our dogs set the pace we encounter less problems, because with an older dog in advanced training we don’t have a lot of time.” To get familiar with the escalator, first the puppies use it when it’s turned off. The volunteer trainers let the puppy walk around and sniff it, before walking up like stairs. The volunteers raise the pups until they are about 15-18 months of age, then they enter advanced training for four to six months, making the dogs about two years old when they graduate. Once they become certified, they are sent to their new homes. “It’s not just guide dogs. It’s guide dogs for the visually impaired, autism service dogs for children with autism and OSI-PTSD service dogs for veterans and first responders…” Lenz said. “There are some who can do anything, and some that are more suited to one than the other. We don’t decide that early on, that happens at some point when the dogs are about 14-15 months we have to send them into advanced training and then we have to decide, in the puppy raising department, we decide if they go to service … or guide.” Volunteers don’t need any prerequisite experience, with each of them being taught alongside the dogs they help train. B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs requires volunteers to attend group classes, as well as additional meet-ups, training and online support. One of the volunteers, Danielle Swanson, brought the 13-week-old labrador in her care, Gibuu, to the escalator training. “When I became self-employed I got a dog and then I found out I was really good at training dogs,” she said. “So I did it first with St. John Ambulance as a therapy dog … Then I saw an ad in the paper for B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs and I thought I would give it a go.” This is her 12th puppy through the program, and while it doesn’t make her sad to see them go to their new home, she said she does tear up when running into the dogs she trained out in public, seeing them assisting people and doing the important jobs they were trained for. “You go into the mall and you see your dog with a vet with PTSD or a first responder with PTSD and you see them working, then you [cry] … Just knowing how they change people’s lives so completely.” As a retired single woman, Swanson said being a volunteer trainer is perfect for her. “We need puppy trainers so badly, that is where the bottleneck is, volunteers like me who have the time and the energy to do it. Really, it has always been a wonderful socialization [opportunity] for older people, most of us are in our 60s or 70s.” Shannon Graham, puppy training supervisor, told the News Bulletin that a big portion of her job is coaching volunteers to train the animals. “It’s a lot of fun working with the volunteers and watching them help their puppy along, learning the ropes,” Graham said. “Aside from teaching their dog basic obedience, it’s really building calm, confident and connected dogs – letting them be dogs but teaching them they can try different things and be resilient and they can look to their person for direction when it is needed, because in the puppy stage if we can build that foundation they can take it to the advanced training stage and teach them all the things they need to know.” While a human may see an escalator as a simple machine, for a dog, Graham said it looks funny, smells funny, sounds funny and moves. “We have to sort of break the experience of the escalator apart.” More information can be found online at http://bcandalbertaguidedogs.com [https://bcandalbertaguidedogs.com/].

After nearly two decades at the helm of Esquimalt, Mayor Barb Desjardins says it’s time to make room for new voices. Desjardins announced during Esquimalt council on Oct. 27 that she will not seek re-election in the 2026 municipal election, marking the end of an 18-year tenure that has made her the longest consecutively serving mayor in Esquimalt’s history. “It’s a bittersweet feeling,” Desjardins told Victoria News. “Esquimalt has undergone a transformation that is exciting, and after what will be 18 years, there can be a new vision. It’s an opportunity for our community to continue to do what it’s doing, which is showing it is the best place to be.” Desjardins first joined Esquimalt council in 2005 and was elected as the township’s 22nd mayor in 2008, winning re-election four more times in 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2022. “When I started, Esquimalt was a community that was shrinking slightly, losing businesses, not having development,” she said. “Now it’s a very sought-after community. That’s because of the vibrancy of the events that are now occurring yearly and the economic development that’s taking place.” Among the milestones Desjardins points to with pride are the construction of the Gorge Pavilion, securing $17 million from the McLoughlin Amenity Fund, and the long-awaited public safety building. She’s quick to note, though, that much of that success belongs to the community itself. “It’s not one person,” she said. “It’s the community that embraced all of that and said, ‘We like where this is going.’ We remain feisty, we remain with heart, and I look forward to seeing how that continues.” While she’s proud of what’s been achieved, Desjardins says there’s one issue she wishes she could have resolved: Esquimalt’s ongoing policing situation. “I would say not resolving that to a satisfactory place, where there would be cost control and better governance, is one thing I regret,” she said. “But I’ve got a year and a bit left, and I don’t think I’m going to sit down on that.” As she prepares for her final year in office, Desjardins plans to focus on those remaining priorities: continuing work on policing, supporting Esquimalt’s economic development strategy, and launching a full review of the township’s official community plan. Her decision not to run again also comes with a personal shift. “I think we’re in a good place,” she said. “Now there’s a perfect opportunity for me to step back and allow a whole new generation of people to come in and help create that vision. And, not small in my decision is the fact that I’m a grandmother now. I want to focus on family again.” Still, she was quick to add she won’t be disappearing. “I’m not done yet,” she said with a laugh. “I’m still here to do things for the community, just in a different direction.”

A Campbell River man is facing 15 charges, including three counts of sexual assault and four counts of forcible confinement in connectionwith a series of Ontario incidents from nearly 30 years ago. The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) announced the arrest of Jason Timothy Davidson, 52, on Oct. 29, following a three-decade investigation, dubbed Project Aerial. Three of his four alleged victims were teenagers at the time. Police arrested Davidson on Oct. 26. “For 28 years, our teams have worked extremely hard to identify the accused by re-examining evidence, following up on more than 450 tips, and reviewing countless witness statements,” said OPP Deputy Commissioner Marty Kearns. “Advancements in DNA technology open new doors, allowing our team to apply modern investigative techniques that ultimately led to the investigation of the accused.” Kearns confirmed investigative genealogical research was used in the investigation, but declined to offer specific details or other evidence, as the case is before the courts. However, he did say it took the case to Campbell River, where the arrest was made. The four assaults took place in Ontario between March and August 1997. The first was on March 26, when a youth was abducted near Indian Road in Sarnia. She was taken by an unidentified man to Sombra in Lambton County, where she was sexually assaulted. Another youth was abducted on May 23 in Thamesville in Kent County. She was abducted while walking on Hwy 21 and taken to a wooded area. The third incident was on June 7 in Sarnia. An adult woman was picked up on Campbell Street in Sarnia and driven to another location. The fourth incident involved another youth, who was picked up on Grand Avenue West in Chatham and driven to a remote area and sexually assaulted. In each incident, the victims were able to reach safety and contact police. The three youths were 15 or 16 at the time of the attacks. OPP Detective Inspector Michael Moore said that the four cases were intially investigated separately by OPP and Sarnia Police Service. “While tips were received and thoroughly investigated, none led to the identification of the assailant,” said Moore. “However, it did not take long before investigators noticed the similarities in the attacks and the suspect descriptions. In each case, the assailant used the vehicle to transport the victims to a remote location, committed the sexual assault, and drove away, leaving the victims at the site of each attack.” Moore said the unidentified male was described as in his 30s, tall (around 5’8” or taller), with medium-length brown hair, a mustache, and a distinct nose. “Over time, DNA analysis helped link two incidents from March and June. However, investigators believe that the same unknown offender was responsible for all four sexual assaults,” said Moore. “At that point, investigations were transferred to the OPP under the direction of the Criminal Investigation Branch.” The suspect remained at large and unidentified, despite extensive investigation work and public appeals, until this year when Moore said the Centre of Forensic Sciences and advanced DNA technology connected all four cases to one individual. From there, police deployed other techniques and genetic genealogy to identify Davidson as a suspect. He faces 15 charges, including one count of kidnapping, four counts of forcible confinement, three counts of uttering threats, three counts of sexual assault, one count of sexual assault causing bodily harm, one count of sexual assault with a weapon, one count of aggravated sexual assault, and one count of theft. Police say Davidson has ties to the area where the offences were committed, and moved to British Columbia sometime in 2017. “We wanted to put Davidson’s name and picture out there in the media today because we’re hoping to encourage anybody who may have information that can assist this investigation to come forward,” said Moore. The OPP included two pictures in their press conference. One is from the 1990s, and one is from 2025. The one from the 90s is his photo for his Ontario Driver’s Licence, and the one in 2025 was taken after his transportation to Ontario after his arrest. “Today marks a pivotal moment in a historical investigation that has spanned years and provinces. Project Aerial began nearly three decades ago in 1997, and today, we are finally able to provide answers to the public and bring justice to the four survivors and their families,” said Kearns. Kearns said it was the courage and reports of the four survivors who initiated the investigation. He also said sexual assault remains one of the only violent crimes in Canada that is not on the decline. It is also the most underreported crime in Canada, with only six per cent of sexual assaults reported to police, compared to 36 per cent of physical assaults reported. “To the victims of historical sexual assaults, we recognize that the journey to answers can be long. Project Aerial reinforces that time does not diminish our commitment. We remain focused on delivering on answers, supporting the victims and surviviors, and upholding our dedication to public safety. “We hope this message reaches others who’ve experienced sexual assault. We encourage you to come forward to the police. You are not alone, and we are here to help,” said Kearns. “And finally, to those offenders who remain unknown and at large, often many years later, we are coming for you. I am confident that the continued advancements in DNA technology will continue to greatly assist police in solving many more historical cases.”

A driver exhibiting sings of impairment had their vehicle impounded by Oak Bay police last week. At approximately 3:50 a.m. on Oct. 17, officers conducting patrols near the Oak Bay-Saanich border observed a Toyota hatchback “swerving heavily, accelerating at a high rate of speed and making abrupt side-to-side motions.” A traffic stop was initiated in the 3800 block of Gordon Head Road, where the driver exhibited signs of impairment. The motorist was arrested for dangerous driving and refusal to comply with a mandatory alcohol screening demand. The vehicle was impounded for seven days due to excessive speed and stunting, and the driver was released at the scene with a future court date.

Guide and service dogs perform an important service, but those skills aren’t something they’re born with. On Wednesday, Oct. 29, the non-profit B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs took a class of more than half a dozen puppies to Nanaimo’s Departure Bay ferry terminal to train on the important task of learning how to use an escalator. While the local program is based in Parksville, the relative scarcity of escalators on Vancouver Island meant working with B.C. Ferries to use theirs during a low-traffic day, said Matthias Lenz, B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs director of puppy raising. “It’s a really weird thing for a dog to experience and it’s a really good thing to introduce early on,” he said. “We find if we introduce it early on and we take our time and let our dogs set the pace we encounter less problems, because with an older dog in advanced training we don’t have a lot of time.” To get familiar with the escalator, first the puppies use it when it’s turned off. The volunteer trainers let the puppy walk around and sniff it, before walking up like stairs. The volunteers raise the pups until they are about 15-18 months of age, then they enter advanced training for four to six months, making the dogs about two years old when they graduate. Once they become certified, they are sent to their new homes. “It’s not just guide dogs. It’s guide dogs for the visually impaired, autism service dogs for children with autism and OSI-PTSD service dogs for veterans and first responders…” Lenz said. “There are some who can do anything, and some that are more suited to one than the other. We don’t decide that early on, that happens at some point when the dogs are about 14-15 months we have to send them into advanced training and then we have to decide, in the puppy raising department, we decide if they go to service … or guide.” Volunteers don’t need any prerequisite experience, with each of them being taught alongside the dogs they help train. B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs requires volunteers to attend group classes, as well as additional meet-ups, training and online support. One of the volunteers, Danielle Swanson, brought the 13-week-old labrador in her care, Gibuu, to the escalator training. “When I became self-employed I got a dog and then I found out I was really good at training dogs,” she said. “So I did it first with St. John Ambulance as a therapy dog … Then I saw an ad in the paper for B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs and I thought I would give it a go.” This is her 12th puppy through the program, and while it doesn’t make her sad to see them go to their new home, she said she does tear up when running into the dogs she trained out in public, seeing them assisting people and doing the important jobs they were trained for. “You go into the mall and you see your dog with a vet with PTSD or a first responder with PTSD and you see them working, then you [cry] … Just knowing how they change people’s lives so completely.” As a retired single woman, Swanson said being a volunteer trainer is perfect for her. “We need puppy trainers so badly, that is where the bottleneck is, volunteers like me who have the time and the energy to do it. Really, it has always been a wonderful socialization [opportunity] for older people, most of us are in our 60s or 70s.” Shannon Graham, puppy training supervisor, told the News Bulletin that a big portion of her job is coaching volunteers to train the animals. “It’s a lot of fun working with the volunteers and watching them help their puppy along, learning the ropes,” Graham said. “Aside from teaching their dog basic obedience, it’s really building calm, confident and connected dogs – letting them be dogs but teaching them they can try different things and be resilient and they can look to their person for direction when it is needed, because in the puppy stage if we can build that foundation they can take it to the advanced training stage and teach them all the things they need to know.” While a human may see an escalator as a simple machine, for a dog, Graham said it looks funny, smells funny, sounds funny and moves. “We have to sort of break the experience of the escalator apart.” More information can be found online at http://bcandalbertaguidedogs.com [https://bcandalbertaguidedogs.com/].

Vancouver Island’s economy is at a critical point and hard decisions need to be made to ensure long-term prosperity. This is according to Susan Mowbray, partner at MNP, who delivered the State of the Island economic report at the annual Vancouver Island Economic Alliance summit on Tuesday, Oct. 28, in Nanaimo. “Last year, we talked about how things are going to be OK in the short term, but we need to do something in the longer term,” she said. “I would say today we’re kind of at the beginning of where we actually really need to do something because the foundation upon which our prosperity is built is starting to crumble and we’re starting to see those indicators show that. That’s not just because of what’s happening with the U.S. administration, this is primarily because of past choices we’ve made.” Since the pandemic financial bounce-back, B.C.’s annual economic growth has been a “really low” 1-1.5 per cent, Mowbray said, though there was a small increase this year compared to the previous year. Vancouver Island continues to have a lower GDP than the rest of the province. “We’re not producing a lot of things that are bringing money into the province from the outside, but we’re producing things to support the local population – this is great in the short term.” Vancouver Island has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Canada, but participation rates are starting to marginally decline, which Mowbray said suggests the beginning of weakening economic conditions “and people are getting discouraged.” “People aren’t able to find jobs so rather than keep looking, they are exiting the labour market.” She reported that most of the employment growth has been in public sectors such as education, health care, social assistance and government. From 2006-2024, the share of employment in the public sector grew from 26 per cent to 34 per cent, while the private sector shrank from 55 to 51. Goods industries such as forestry, agriculture and mining went from 19 to 15 per cent. Mowbray had a mixed outlook of the Island’s major sectors, with forestry down year-over-year with an uncertain outlook, and the farmed salmon sector similarly uncertain. “Those resource sectors that have traditionally been the backbone in the economy are continuing to shrink, with weak market conditions, increases in softwood tariffs by the U.S. and just regulatory strangulation is hammering our forest industry.” Conversely, tourism is doing well as visitor numbers trend up along with occupancy rates, presenting a stable outlook. Mowbray said there are indications of continuous growth in the knowledge economy, such as in professional jobs, film, scientific and technical services, as well as growth in information and culture. Construction of residential homes throughout B.C. showed a decline to $9 billion in 2024 from $10 billion in 2023. “Even though we’re talking about building all this housing, we’re not actually building all this housing,” she explained. “We’re seeing a lot of projects get cancelled, a lot of the insolvencies we’re seeing in businesses are construction companies. So we’re not building housing that is going to help us to address our housing affordability challenges because we’re actually seeing construction start to decline.” Housing costs have also increased, with rents going up between 40-60 per cent on the Island over the past five years. In Nanaimo, the average cost of rent went from an average of $1,166 to $1,775, while in Victoria it went from $1,454 to $1,995. “If you were graduating from post-secondary this spring, you would probably have a really hard time finding a job because firms weren’t hiring, and if you found a job it probably wasn’t in your sector. Those people are struggling already because of high housing or rental costs, and that’s going to have some serious implications in the future of not being able to get started, get out of their parents’ basement and start to work, develop their skills and build up some assets.” Looking ahead, Mowbray said over the next 25 years, population growth is expected to slow, increasing about 13 per cent over that time frame, while an aging population will shift the 70-plus demographic from just over one-fifth of the population to almost a quarter of the population by 2045. “That means we need to be thinking of infrastructure investments and how we address things like housing needs, the provision of health care and transportation services as well as how we respond to a changing climate,” Mowbray said. “Just because Trump has decided climate change doesn’t exist, doesn’t mean the climate isn’t changing, doesn’t mean we’re not facing forest fires and rising sea levels and all those different things that we’ve been talking about for the last few years.” She explained all those considerations will be fundamental in building economic resilience in Vancouver Island’s economy, regardless of trading partners. Potential economic edges Mowbray suggested were the development of technology infrastructure on the Island, and opportunities that may come through Indigenous reconciliation. Following the event, Mowbray told the News Bulletin the goods sector and goods production will always be part of the economy, but moving forward, Vancouver Island has high-value opportunities in the development of technology and meeting the needs of the population in ways that could also be turned into export goods. Potential opportunities may lay in food processing and food security to produce more food locally that can be exported to other parts of Canada or internationally. “We should be thinking about this as an opportunity. It’s scary but we should be thinking about this as an opportunity to lay the foundation for a prosperous future.” The economist said hard decisions need to be made, such as accepting the trade-off that to get affordable housing means the cost of housing will have to go down across the board, resulting in homeowners losing money. Additionally, social programs may need to be cut, she suggested, as the “government debt is not at a level we can sustain going forward.” VIEA’s State of the Island economic summit continues Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 29-30.

The City of Surrey and its police board are caught up in a proposed class action lawsuit by former female police officers despite none of the six plaintiffs listed having been employed by the Surrey defendants. A proposed class action lawsuit by current or former female police officers against the City of Surrey, Surrey Police Board, 12 other B.C. cities and 12 other B.C. police boards alleges the plaintiffs were subjected to gender or sexual orientation-based discrimination, harassment, and bullying by officers and management of B.C.’s municipal police forces. Counsel for the City of Surrey and Surrey Police Board sought an order that would, prior to a certification hearing under Supreme Court Civil Rules, strike out the claims against them on grounds of jurisdiction. The case is brought under the Class Proceedings Act, with Justice Bruce Elwood presiding in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. None of the plaintiffs are or were employed by the Surrey defendants, Elwood noted in his October 28 reasons for [https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/25/21/2025BCSC2120.htm]judgment [https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/25/21/2025BCSC2120.htm]. “There are no factual allegations in the amended notice of civil claim of any acts or omissions by any officers or supervisors of the Surrey police force,” he pointed out. “Instead, the Surrey Defendants are captured by the plaintiffs’ general allegations of wrongdoing against all the “Municipal Police Defendants” and all “the Defendants.” The plaintiffs allege a “wide-spread institutional failure by those responsible to investigate complaints and protect complainants; and a workplace culture that enabled and protected perpetrators.” The plaintiffs are Cheryl Weeks, Anja Bergler, Helen Irvine, Cary Ryan, Lauren Phillips, and Ann-Sue Piper. “The plaintiffs seek to represent a class comprised of all persons who have been employed by the municipal police forces and who are female or were living or presenting as women at the time of their employment,” Elwood noted in his reasons. The defendants are listed as the City of Abbotsford, District of Central Saanich, City of Delta, Township of Esquimalt, City of Nelson, City of New Westminster, District of Oak Bay, City of Port Moody, Corporation of The District of Saanich, City of Surrey, City of Vancouver, City of Victoria, District of West Vancouver, Abbotsford Police Board, Central Saanich Police Board, Delta Police Board, Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board, Nelson Police Board, New Westminster Police Board, Port Moody Police Board, Saanich Police Board, Surrey Police Board, Vancouver Police Board, West Vancouver Police Board, Police Complaint Commissioner of British Columbia, His Majesty The King In Right of The Province of British Columbia, Attorney General of British Columbia, and the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. “The plaintiffs allege negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, intentional infliction of mental suffering, harassment, civil conspiracy, breach of privacy, and violation of their rights under Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Elwood noted. “The plaintiffs seek to represent a class comprised of all persons who have been employed by the municipal police forces and who are female or were living or presenting as women at the time of their employment.” The women on behalf of the proposed class action lawsuit seek a declaration that the defendants breached their Section 15 Charter rights, and are seeking compensation in the form of general damages, damages for lost income, aggravated and punitive damages, and damages pursuant to the Charter. “In effect, the claim against the Surrey Defendants is the same claim that the plaintiffs propose to advance on behalf of the class members against all the defendants. It is, as Justice Saunders once described a proposed class action prior to the certification hearing, ‘an action with ambition,’” Elwood noted. By way of background, Surrey council on Nov. 5, 2018 voted to transition from the Surrey RCMP to a city police force. On June 29, 2020, the provincial government appointed the Surrey Police Board and on Aug. 6, 2020, the board established the Surrey Police Service, which became the city’s police of jurisdiction on Nov. 29, 2024. Elwood noted the SPS in March 2021 began recruiting officers and civilian staff in March 2021 and they became employees of the Surrey Police Board. “Initially, SPS officers were integrated into the Surrey RCMP, under the operational command of the RCMP,” the judge noted. “Although no date range is alleged in the notice of civil claim, plaintiffs’ counsel says the discrimination, harassment, and bullying of female SPS officers began in March 2021 and continues to present day. In other words, the proposed class action covers the entire period from initial hiring, including pre-unionization, collective bargaining, working under RCMP command, and ultimately serving as officers of the police of jurisdiction.” The plaintiffs’ legal counsel confirmed the proposed class includes police officers of all ranks, but not civilian staff. “As a result, it is necessary to consider the effect of two collective agreements between the Surrey Police Board and the unions representing the police officers, but not the separate collective agreement with Canadian Union of Public Employees (“CUPE”) representing the civilian staff,” Elwood noted. The Labour Relations Board certified the Surrey Police Union on July 30, 2021 as the collective bargaining unit for SPS officers below the rank of inspector and on March 10, 2022, the SPB and SPU entered into a collective agreement covering those officers, and then the LRB on Nov. 30, 2022 certified the Surrey Police Inspectors Union to conduct collective bargaining for SPS inspectors. While the SPU collective agreement covers working conditions, seniority and probationary periods, promotions, lateral transfers, remuneration, special allowances, court time compensation, overtime, employee benefits, maternity and parental leave, vacation and statutory leave and survivors’ benefits, Elwood noted, it has no specific provision against harassment or sexual harassment. The Surrey Defendants argue that the exclusive jurisdiction of an arbitrator to resolve disputes begins from the date on which the unions were certified as the exclusive collective bargaining agents for the SPS officers. They argued that as the SPS did not become the police of jurisdiction until after the unions were certified and the collective agreements took effect, that SPS officers’s working conditions “prior to that date were the responsibility of the RCMP,” the judge noted. “In other words, as I understand it, the Surrey Defendants say there is no gap in this case during which SPS officers may have had a claim against Surrey but no right to grieve their complaint under a collective agreement.” Elwood identified the “essential character” 0f the dispute, as argued by the Surrey Defendants’ legal counsel, “is the allegation that the defendants failed to ensure that the plaintiffs could work in an environment free from harassment, discrimination and bullying.” “The plaintiffs argue that the claims are not merely about working conditions. They say the essential character of the dispute is an institutional failure throughout British Columbia—spanning across all police boards, municipal employers, and levels of government—to keep the municipal police forces free from gender-based discrimination. The plaintiffs submit that the issues they seek to address are so pervasively embedded in police culture that this case is about something completely different than a dispute over working conditions.” Elwood said it isn’t “plain and obvious” the collective agreements provide access “to an effective remedy for all former employees of the Surrey Police Board who allege that they were subject to gender-based discrimination, harassment or bullying on the job. “The difficulty is that the plaintiffs have not pleaded any claims by any former members of the SPS. They have not pleaded the material facts on which a court could find that a former employee suffered gender-based discrimination, harassment or bullying that she cannot grieve under the applicable Collective Agreement. At this stage of the proceedings, there is no evidence of any claims by any former employees,” he explained. “In the circumstances,” he decided, a decision “must await the certification hearing and submissions on the criteria” concerning Section 4 of the Class Proceedings Act. “This Court does not have jurisdiction over claims against the Surrey Defendants that arose after the date on which a collective agreement became applicable to the bargaining unit to which the class members belonged,” Elwood concluded. “The question of whether, notwithstanding this conclusion, the Court should retain jurisdiction over claims by former employees of the Surrey Police Board is adjourned to the certification hearing.

I read with great interest the letter from Lee Thiessen in the Oct. 22 Saanich News because it stated many thoughts I have had on this “gung-ho let’s build it big” mentality of our current council. Why do we need 10-15 storeys in our residential areas? Saanich is quickly losing its lovely leafy neighbourhoods, to be replaced by really ugly, no-imagination, too-tall, Lego-block buildings. As Lee Thiessen said, “mind-numbingly dull buildings containing overpriced tiny spaces designed to churn through transient tenancies.” Would people want to raise a family in such a place? Think of the blocks on Mackenzie and Shelbourn – no imagination put into those buildings, just Lego-block construction. And if their “plaza” is going to be like Tuscany Village’s “plaza”, which is really a badly planned parking lot, I say, why bother trying to make it something it isn’t? I will say the Tuscany Village height restriction is more in keeping with what Saanich could do, and isn’t doing. On the whole, I find it disheartening in the rush to meet the demands of housing, so little charm and character is being applied. Jan Cook Victoria