Editorial Rant: RCMP Surveillance of Social Media -- to What End?
Recent articles in The Tyee discuss the revelation that the RCMP have been engaged in monitoring social media – characterized in the article as “ongoing wide-scale monitoring of individuals’ social media use [that] could pose a threat to Canadians’ privacy and charter rights, say experts.” But ...
Investigation: Petrowest numbered company awarded $10 million Site C dam contract on eve of bankruptcy
Petrowest’s financial woes were widely known when BC Hydro quietly awarded a major contract to a B.C. numbered company — 1054143 — that an investigation by The Narwhal reveals was incorporated by key Petrowest executives. The numbered company received millions in public funds while Petrowest fell into...
Column: From the Hill -- Canada needs Pharmacare
When Canadians are asked what makes them proud to be Canadians, many say that our health care system is a big part of that pride. We care about each other and want to make sure that everyone has access to health care when they are sick or injured. But our medicare system has some big gaps, and one of those is our access to...
Castlegar, Trail, Nelson, Rossland and the RDCK to participate in immigration pilot project
A handful of Kootenay communities will participate in BC’s brand new Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) Entrepreneur Immigration Regional Pilot. Castlegar, Trail, Nelson, Rossland and RDCK Area J are among more than 30 BC communities to join the pilot, which aims to attract foreign entrepreneurs to establish businesses in rural...
Open Letter: Support for the Immediate Passing of Bill C-262
To The Editor: Dear Senators, The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) is calling on each Senator of Canada to support the passage of Bill C-262, An Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, without delay. The Truth and Reconciliation...
In-Depth: Sprawling clearcuts among reasons for B.C.’s monster spring floods
Wildfire, drought and a pine beetle epidemic are piling on top of a long history of logging, pushing the province’s forests to a dangerous tipping point that experts say will make bad flooding worse By Ben Parfitt for The Narwhal Every spring and typically in May the Kettle River hits peak flow. A gauge placed in the ...
Editorial: We aren't enlightened, we're just short of workers
Will the new Builders Code help women and other minorities survive in the trades? Time will tell. Race and gender still provoke ostracism, bullying, harassment, hazing … call it what you will, it is all too common, and it creates a toxic workplace, especially for those at whom it’s directed. In some cases,...
$50,000 to save forest above Cottonwood Lake may be too little, too late
Caught off guard by a plan to log more than 600 hectares of treasured local forest, residents near Cottonwood Lake discovered that privately owned lands can be clearcut without public notice, consultation with neighbours or the requirement to replant logged areas By Judith Lavoie, for The Narwhal Against a dramatic backdrop...
Forum: State of the Kootenays: An Economic Update slated for next month in Castlegar
Castlegar & District Economic Development and the Chamber of Commerce will be hosting an exciting event on April 11. The event, titled the State of the Kootenays: An Economic Update, is Castlegar & District’s Economic Development’s first ever Economic Forum. The event will be on April 11 from 6 - 8.30 p.m., with a...
Column: on SNC-Lavalin and our government
Last Wednesday we heard riveting testimony from former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould on her account of events in the SNC-Lavalin story. This is a long and sordid tale of corruption both abroad and here in Canada. As the SNC-Lavalin scandal rolls out, I’m reminded of Tommy Douglas’ political fable “Mouseland”. In it,...
