What does wearing a tie have to do with human trafficking?
By Vivienne Hurley Will Rossland’s student-led initiative for Dressember be part of the fabric of change? High school students attending Seven Summits Centre for Learning (7S) in Rossland have created a community of advocates to fight against human trafficking and have donned their uniforms in support of Dressember. The dress...
BC committed to regional environmental assessments, but experts warn they might never happen
COVID-19 has delayed the Environmental Assessment Office’s work on establishing regulations for regional assessments, which will look at the cumulative effects of all past, present and future industrial projects By Matt Simmons, for The Narwhal At first glance, northwest B.C. is a vast wild landscape home to big forests, even...
Open letter to Dr. Bonnie Henry: speading COVID-19 in prisons
Dear Dr. Henry, Thank you profusely, Dr. Henry, for everything you and your ministry staff have done these past many months to safeguard British Columbians from the suffering of the global novel coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic. I am a sixty-six year old Extinction Rebellion climate activist residing in Victoria, and am writing...
Column: COVID-19, school and climate change
The global pandemic has created a unique and challenging back-to-school season. Many parents, guardians and teachers are struggling to balance children’s safety with education, all while keeping their households running smoothly. It’s like nothing we’ve seen before. Many adults are rightfully focused on making sure the...
Fines for 'dooring' going up -- 'way up
Drivers will soon have a stronger incentive to take a good look around before opening their car doors. To better protect cyclists, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is raising the fine for “dooring.” The new fine for anyone who opens a car door when it is not reasonably safe to do so (known as “dooring”) will...
OP/ED: Landmark decision by BC Supreme Court protects public health care
In today’s landmark ruling in the Cambie Surgery Centre case, Justice Steeves dealt a strong blow to the efforts of Dr. Brian Day and others to undermine Canada’s publicly-funded health care system. The decade-long legal attack launched by one of the largest for-profit surgical centres in Canada sought to invalidate key...
Trail Commemorates Kootenay Pride Week
City of Trail Mayor Lisa Pasin and Councillor Paul Butler join Addison Oberg from Pride Trail BC at Trail’s Rainbow Crosswalk to commemorate Kootenay Pride Week 2020. The crosswalk, installed in 2019, is located on the Esplanade by the Trail Riverfront Centre and is dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community of the Trail area. The...
Editorial: A conversation with RCMP Sergeant Mike Wicentowich
Recent ongoing media revelations of abusive, discriminatory and deadly police practices across Canada, coupled with reports of numerous racist killings and hyper-militarized police actions from south of the border, have led some to demand “defund the police!” Others have begun using the acronym “acab” – meaning, “all cops...
COLUMN: From the Hill -- Greener Hydrogen?
My role as Natural Resources critic for the NDP covers forestry, mining and energy—and the big issue these days in that trio is energy. The pandemic has intensified calls for a national energy strategy that will direct federal investments to help us recover from the economic impacts of the crisis and put us on a good footing...
Local pro climbers raise awareness of racism and violence
Bouldering, a popular form of rock climbing, is trending in the West Kootenays like never before, partly thanks to the release of the area’s first Bouldering Guidebook. Rossland-born and raised filmmaker Liam Barnes films Nelson rock climbers Tosh and Tula Sherkat as they navigate the area’s biggest and most difficult climbs,...
