NANAIMO - A pair of men pleaded guilty to an illegal Nanaimo River Estuary off-roading excursion, which caused an estimated $151,000 in damages. Liam Aiden Ashton Sage, 20, and Brandt David Olsen, 25, pleaded guilty to a provincial Wildlife Act charge of damaging land set aside for wildlife during a Friday, April 10, s...

LANTZVILLE - Closed for a month to make way for construction crews, a primary public gathering space in Lantzville has re-opened. Huddlestone Park on Lantzville Rd. located on the edge of Lantzville's village core recently re-opened, following several accessibility-related improvements. Enhancements include a new zipli...

QUALICUM BEACH - An adult male sea lion found injured in waters in Oceanside has died of his injuries. Staff from the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society, with support from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, located and rescued Colonel on Monday, April 6 near Qualicum Beach after locals had seen him in distress f...

NANAIMO - Local wastewater officials contend a recent B.C. government advisory notice is merely a snapshot of an otherwise high performing sewage treatment service. The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy last month issued the Regional District of Nanaimo a non-compliance letter in reference to three se...

QUALICUM BEACH - An Oceanside family programming facility is closing its doors at the end of June, much to the dismay of some community members. Last year, the Town of Qualicum Beach and the Qualicum School District (QSD) signed a one-year lease agreement to allow the Qualicum Commons at 744 Primrose St. to remain open...

NANAIMO - From humble beginnings, the Cedar Farmers Market has grown into one of the destination events of its kind on Vancouver Island. The event will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2026, opening for the season on May 10 and running through until the Sunday before Halloween, with organizers making the final off-sea...

NANAIMO - Local volunteers through the area's Lions Clubs are helping a large number of kids see a little clearer. Between November 2025 and mid-March 2026, Nanaimo, Hub City, and Ladysmith Lions Club members, along with selected volunteers, toured local schools and helped vision test around 2,000 students in grades on...

NANAIMO - It's been tweaked over the years, but Regional District of Nanaimo parks staff aren't willing to move on from a popular annual tradition. The RDN launched its 20th annual installment of the Golden Shoe Hunt in early April, in which weekly clues are offered on Friday mornings teasing a new hiding place in an R...

NANAIMO - More than $4 million will benefit a local company's ability to establish an advanced robotics facility to construct wooden trusses. The funds to benefit Atlas Engineered Products Ltd. will allow the company to build a "cutting-edge wood manufacturing facility" to boost efficiency and reduce waste. A...

NANAIMO - A popular wooded trail is closed following apparent vandalism to a wooden walkway. City staff were made aware of the damage on Thursday, April 9, involving a small section of the stairs and walkway on Beach Estates Trail, near the Departure Bay Rd. access point. City manager of parks operations Kirsty MacDona...

NANAIMO - Increasing deficits and impacts from declining international student recruitment are hoped to be in the past for Vancouver Island University.The University announced Wednesday, April 8, it will present a balanced budget next month for approval by its Board of Governors after finishing the 2025/26 financial ye...

NANAIMO - What started as an idea from a viral video in early 2025 continues to grow as a massive tourism and healthcare movement. The second Nanaimo Infusion will take place April 24-26, highlighted by a gathering and family photo at Maffeo Sutton Park on Saturday, April 25, and is projected to see well over 500 visit...

NANAIMO - Ahead of the summer tourist season, a popular micro-mobility option is launching in Oceanside. Evolve will add Parksville to its growing list of communities served by their rentable e-bikes and e-scooters, beginning Wednesday, April 22, continuing a growing presence on Vancouver Island, which debuted in Nanai...

NANAIMO - As average asking residential rents see multi-year lows both nationwide and in B.C., renters in the Harbour City are being asked to pay more. The April report from Rentals.ca and Urbannation highlights a 5.3 per cent drop year-over-year in rents nationwide to an average of $2,008 among all property types, and...

UPDATE: April 13- The Nanaimo RCMP has reported 50-year-old Peter Jonathan Cameron Ludvigson turned himself in to police less than 24 hours after his photo and information were released.Cst. Gary O'Brien said this is a good example of the essential relationship between police and the public. "News releases play a ...

NANAIMO - Excessive levels of toxic fecal matter are among several infractions listed in an advisory notice against the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN). A recent Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy non-compliance letter references monitoring data between January 2023 and January 2026 indicating waste...

LADYSMITH - A brand new school building and an expansion to another are coming to support a growing community.A new, seismically-sound and fully accessible 390-seat Ladysmith Intermediate School is being planned at the site of the former École Davis Road Elementary, along with a 10-classroom, two-storey, 250-sea...

WHISKEY CREEK - A fully engulfed structure fire levelled a rural property east of Cameron Lake, prompting several regional crews to respond. Coombs-Hilliers Volunteer Fire Department (CHVFD) chief Enzo Calla said their crews responded to a Whiskey Creek residential lot on Tuesday, April 7, at 2:30 p.m., impacting a Cha...

NANAIMO - Distracted driving and not wearing seatbelts remains an issue in the province, and Vancouver Island is no exception. BC Highway Patrol members spent the month of March focusing on drivers not paying attention behind the wheel and ensuring everyone in the vehicle is properly restrained. Cpl. Michael McLaughlin...

PARKSVILLE - An Oceanside electric vehicle company has received a big financial boost to develop technology to charge EVs in rural areas. Canadian Electric Vehicles (CanEV), located at 1530 Springhill Rd. in Parksville, received $125,000 from Innovate B.C. to test large, portable, and scalable battery systems capable o...

NANAIMO - Increasingly high fuel costs are causing both direct and indirect complications for pocketbooks in the region. While regular gasoline has hovered around 200 cents per litre over the last two weeks, diesel fuel has continued to spike, reaching the mid-260 cent mark on Tuesday, April 7, at many stations around ...

NANAIMO - A small number of homes near the city's downtown had their gas service shut off following a line break. Road crews working along the 400 block of Third St. near Howard Ave. called 911 just after 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 7, after a piece of equipment struck a natural gas line. Damage was contained to a small s...

NANAIMO - Six Harbour City pharmacies are participating in a research project aimed at boosting organ donor registration numbers in the province. Initiated by UBC Pharmacy and made possible by a BC Transplant-acquired research grant, Nanaimo was selected as the lone community in the province to work collaboratively wit...

NANAIMO - Around 100 racers honed their skills and tried their luck at a first-of-its-kind event.The 1st Departure Bay Scouts hosted the inaugural Campfire Cup at Woodgrove Centre on Saturday, April 4, seeing racers construct gravity cars to race on a track, reinforcing key STEM principles and having a lot of fun in th...

NANAIMO - Global Village Nanaimo is getting ready to open its largest spring store, promising a wider variety of fair trade items for sale than ever before.Starting Monday, April 6, their spring fair trade pop-up location will be open inside Nanaimo's Country Club Centre beside JYSK during regular mall hours. The store...

LADYSMITH - Construction workers will soon be replaced by mountain bikers and pickle ballers at a growing Ladysmith sports and recreational hub. Known formally as Lot 108 Park where Fourth Ave. meets Jim Cram Dr., but widely referred to as Forrest Field, ambitious second phase enhancements to the Town of Ladysmith spac...

NANAIMO - While Rainbow trout is the primary restocking species for Vancouver Island lakes, an increasingly popular type of fish is gaining notoriety. Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. has been busy topping up nearly 60 Vancouver Island lakes, with Duncan-based Vancouver Island Trout Hatchery manager Tristan Robbins...

NANAIMO - The B.C. government wants to implement a mandatory code of conduct all regional and municipal elected officials must adhere to. They said in a release having a single provincial code of conduct will "bring clear complaint, investigation and sanctions processes and end the current patchwork of local codes...