Nanaimo, Parksville and Area

serious injuries
Nanaimo RCMP search for suspect after downtown stabbing
NANAIMO - Police are looking for a suspect after a stabbing in downtown Nanaimo Monday afternoon sent one man to hospital with serious injuries.Mounties were called to the parking lot of the TD Bank at 9 Nicol St. behind the Port Place Shopping Centre just before 2:00 p.m. on April 14. Reserve. Cst. Gary O'Brien said a...
22h ago
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Gymnastic Excellence
Several athletes won provincial tumbling and trampoline medals for Nanaimo's VIP Gymsport
NANAIMO - A total of 14 athletes from VIP Gymsports performed well at the recent Artistic and Trampoline Gymnastics B.C. Championships in Surrey. Held April 4-6, the event drew over 800 athletes, coaches and judges from across the province and the Yukon. VIP Gymsports is in it's fourth year as a club and coach Megan Co...
Apr 15, 2025
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Fighting back
Intruder beaten with statue by Nanaimo area homeowner
NANAIMO - An offender with a strong employment history turned to crime to feed his addiction, culminating in a high-profile crime wave south of Nanaimo, resulting in a face-to-face encounter with a homeowner. Tyrone Philip Reno Poulsen, 36, was sentenced in provincial court in Nanaimo on Friday, April 11 after he smash...
Apr 15, 2025
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path to progress
District of Lantzville rolling ahead with new active transportation plan
LANTZVILLE - A comprehensive process is pledged to form an active transportation plan in Lantzville, which a District official believes will vastly improve their chances of landing senior government grants. George Robinson, Lantzville's director of planning and community services, said creating an updated vision to imp...
Apr 14, 2025
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local issues
Election 2025: Issues Nanaimo & Oceanside candidates would advocate for, regardless of election result
NANAIMO - What local issues and aspects of life on central Vancouver Island are candidates running in the 2025 Federal Election most passionate about? NanaimoNewsNOW invited all 12 candidates running in a pair of mid-Island ridings to participate in a survey, asking them about their personal beliefs and opinions on key...
Apr 14, 2025
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healthcare crisis
Public healthcare advocates hold Nanaimo event to demand action from federal candidates
NANAIMO - Our public healthcare system is in crisis, and whoever forms the next federal government must take steps to address it. Those calls were made by Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and Hospital Employees Union (HEU) reps during a Monday, April 14 news conference outside Nanaimo hospital, voicing demands for a stro...
Apr 14, 2025
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British Columbia

BC Health Coalition urges province to end contract with U.S. owner of LifeLabs
VICTORIA - A public health advocacy group is urging the British Columbia government to end a contract with an American company that owns LifeLabs, the province's main provider of outpatient lab services. The BC Health Coalition has issued an open letter urging Premier David Eby to follow through on a directive he issue...
1h ago
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Gas firm says a contractor is dead in a gas plant fire near Fort St. John, B.C.
FORT ST. JOHN - A contractor has been killed and another person hurt in a fire in a gas plant north of Fort St. John, B.C. Alberta-based Tourmaline Oil, which runs the Gundy oil and gas extraction facility in Wonowon, B.C., says the site was "immediately shut down" after the fire on Monday night. The B.C. Ene...
19h ago
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B.C. changes law to stop employers from asking for 'unnecessary' doctor sick notes
VICTORIA - British Columbia is changing its employment standards legislation to stop employers from asking employees for what the labour minister says are "unnecessary" sick notes. Jennifer Whiteside says the move is to allow health care workers to attend to patients and not spend time on the "administra...
22h ago
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B.C. accepting only 1,100 new immigrant applications, nominations to focus on health
The British Columbia government says the odds of new applications from immigrants looking to be accepted into its nominee program this year have dropped to near zero for anyone other than health workers or entrepreneurs after the federal government slashed the number of available slots. A bulletin from the province say...
23h ago
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First Nation launches challenge of B.C.'s approval to raise Mount Polley mine dam
VANCOUVER - A British Columbia First Nation has filed a legal challenge over the plan to allow the Mount Polley mine to raise its tailings dam a decade after a similar storage site at the mine gave way, creating one of the province's largest environmental disasters. The Xatsull First Nation has filed a petition in B.C....
23h ago
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Man accused of three sexual assaults on transit faces charges: police
NEW WESTMINSTER - The British Columbia Prosecution Service has approved charges relating to three alleged sexual assaults on Metro Vancouver's transit system. A statement from the region's Transit Police says the first complaint was made in January last year, when a woman on a crowded Canada Line train called police to...
Apr 15, 2025
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Canada

Court bans pro-Palestinian protests on McGill University campus for 10 days
MONTREAL - McGill University has obtained a 10-day court order against a pro-Palestinian student group forbidding protests on campus. A Quebec Superior Court judge granted the injunction Tuesday against Students for Palestinian Honour and Resistance. G...
2h ago
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Ontario to loosen internal trade, remove barriers on alcohol and labour mobility
TORONTO - Ontario has tabled legislation to make trade between provinces easier, as a way to shore up the economy against the effects of American tariffs. The bill would make Ontario the first government in Canada to unconditionally remove all current ...
3h ago
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Boy, 16, dies after stabbing in Montreal; city's eighth homicide in 2025
MONTREAL - A 16-year-old boy who was stabbed Tuesday evening in Montreal has died. Police confirmed his death today - the city's eighth reported homicide in 2025. The teenager was stabbed in the Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough. He was trans...
4h ago
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Green Party co-leader says removal from leaders' debates is 'undemocratic'
OTTAWA - The stage will look different than originally planned Wednesday night, when Canada's major party leaders square off in the first of two nationally televised debates. Instead of five podiums on the stage, there will now only be four. The Green ...
10h ago
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In the news today: Federal leaders debate in Montreal, interest rate decision due out
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed... Party leaders square off in first debate tonight Liberal Leader Mark Carney's French language skills will be put to the test, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poili...
11h ago
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Here's how people without ID or fixed address can vote in the federal election
ST. JOHN'S - Anyone who wants to register to vote in the April 28 federal election has to be able to prove who they are and where they live. Elections Canada realizes both of those things can be a challenge for someone without a home or standard ID car...
11h ago
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