Midcoast Morning

With wildfires bringing smoke to the region, Midcoast Morning spoke with researchers about what we know about its health impacts, and heard about a community based research initiative aiming to help people use DIY tools to improve air quality during wildfires . Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a monthly sustaining donation of $5 to $10 a month. Mount Underwood wildfire phot...

Transit workers in the Cowichan Valley have been on strike since Febraury 8th. Last week workers voted against going to binding arbitration to settle the dispute with contractor Transdev. Midcoast Morning speaks with a Unifor representative, as well as the Mayor of Lake Cowichan, and a case worker with the Cowichan Brain Injury Society. Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a mo...

The BC Green party is getting set to choose a new leader. Three candidates are in the race to replace Sonia Furstenau. Voting will happen in September. To be eligible to vote in the contest a person needs to be a member of the party ahead of a deadline Sunday August 10. Midcoast Morning speaks with each of the candidates in the race. Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a month...

Nanaimo City Council is calling on BC Housing to contemplate sober housing for those who qualify for supportive housing and who are in recovery. Council also wants to see a sober housing model used for a planned site at 250 Terminal avenue. Midcoast Morning speaks with B.C.’s new Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Christine Boyle, as well as Francesca Plewes, a person in recovery who now ma...

Months after Tod Maffin’s Nanaimo Infusion garnered the city international attention, stories of healthcare workers moving here continue to circulate. The Nanaimo infusion was an event in April that attracted hundreds of visitors from the United States come to the city. It started when Nanaimo resident Tod Maffin mused about the idea in a TikTok that went viral. Since then, Maffin has created a we...

Nanaimo has met its provincial housing targets this year, but it didn’t add a single unit of affordable housing. There were 875 units issued occupancy permits issued in the last year in Nanaimo. Just over 100 supportive housing units also came online through the provincial HEART & HEARTH program. The vast majority of new housing in Nanaimo is rental housing, with a relatively balanced mix of o...

When you think of invasive species on the West Coast, you might think of  Scotch-Broom or English Ivy or European Wall Lizards. The Gabriola Island Shore Keepers Association (GISKA) is thinking of a different invasive species, the European Green Crab. They're hosting a talk Tuesday evening with Christine Spice about the crab and preventing their spread. Today on the program we speak with Isobel Pe...

The future of a drop-in centre and overnight shelter in the south end was the subject of extensive discussion at a pair of council and committee meetings this past week. The Hub is a facility on Nicol Street and Victoria Road that offers daytime services for people experiencing homelessness run by Island Crisis Care Society, and an evening shelter run by the Nanaimo Family Life Association. Betwee...

Qualicum Beach has a plan to acquire tens of acres of green space without raising taxes. The town has reached an agreement to buy the Eaglecrest golf course for $8.5 million. The goal is to cover the purchase price by selling about ten per cent of the newly acquired lands, which would then be developed into housing. It’s anticipated there will be around 40 acres of new parkland, with a 9 hole golf...

Running August 7th to 17th the Nanaimo Fringe Festival returns for its 15th anniversary! A milestone year, the “the little Fringe that could” is yet again bringing an assortment of creative acts from across the continent to Nanaimo for ten days. We talk fringe with the organizers and performers. ★ Support this podcast ★

With the lighting of the torch for the 55+ BC Games having happened this past June 19th and with just over a month and a half until competition starts in September. Today on the show we have former two term Nanaimo City Councillor and Host Society President Diana Johnstone on to talk about the big event. Leann Rose Crook, Director of Participant & Volunteer Services joins her. The 55+ BC Games...

On July 7th, the City of Nanaimo moved forward this past week on a long-standing need for recreational and gathering space in the south end of the city, with the purchase of land in Chase River for a South End Community Centre. Mayor Leonard Krog speaks with Executive Producer Jesse Woodward about the purchase, and the project. At that same meeting, council also finally adopted its amended off-str...

History is being carried into the future in the town of Comox with a viewing platform planned to be built on the foundation of Mack Laing's old house, Shakesides in Mack Laing Nature Park. The outdoor space will honour the historic figure's life, legacy, and wishes for future generations. But the decision is a hot topic of debate in the Comox Valley, and the question still remains, what will be do...

The BC Government wants to hear your input on how to improve our democracy. The province’s special committee on democratic and electoral reform is accepting written submissions from members of the public with something to say about democratic engagement, voter participation and models for electing MLAs. CHLY speaks with Nanaimo-Lantzville MLA and committee member George Anderson. Two West Vancouve...

A visit from the city’s namesake ship helped people in Nanaimo mark Canada Day Tuesday. Large crowds gathered to take in the sunshine in Maffeo Sutton park, where local musicians performed,  community groups showed off their work,  and a bevy of food trucks saw their services in high demand. Midcoast Morning brings you sounds from the event, including an interview with the CO of HMCS Nanaimo. ★ Su...

Nanaimo is looking to ban the sale of invasive plant species at shops in town. This Monday at a governance and priorities committee meeting councillors voted in support of a plan to ask staff to draft a bylaw banning the sale of invasives. A number of species including English Ivy, Himalayan Blackberry, Scotch Broom, and Daphne were listed in a staff report as impacting the city’s parks and natura...

Nanaimo is debating how much new developments should have to pay to support community infrastructure. The city is looking at updating its Development Cost Charge (DCC) bylaw for the first time in seven years, and creating an Amenity Cost Charge (ACC) bylaw. Midcoast Morning breaks down what DCCs are, what the timelines are for changes to the bylaws, and what the province and members of the develop...

A group promoting local food took to Nanaimo City Council Monday,  The folks behind the Nanaimo Food Hub are looking to boost awareness of the project, and lay the foundations for future growth. Founded two years ago, the hub has a vision of connecting people to locally grown food. They’re getting ready to start a second season of Friday markets at the Nanaimo Montessori School. Midcoast Morning s...

Nanaimo is asking for voters' permission to sell an acre of parkland to pave the way for a road to a planned subdivision. At a meeting Monday, Nanaimo city council approved a plan that would ultimately see the north edge of Elaine Hamilton Park in the city’s south end become a road that would serve as the main entryway to a residential development, one of six sections of the Sandstone Project. A w...

Midcoast Morning speaks with Gordon Robinson of the Coastal Fire Centre in Parksville to assess wildfire risks on Vancouver Island. The program also speaks with Steve Mjaaland of Mosaic, who manage nearly 1.5 million acres of private land on southeastern Vancouver Island. ★ Support this podcast ★

Dinosaurs of BC, a traveling exhibition from the Royal British Columbia Museum, is making its way to Nanaimo for the summer. Midcoast Morning speaks with paleontologist Victoria Arbour about the kinds of fossils around what’s now B.C, and what the mass extinction event at the end of the cretaceous period 66 million years ago was like. ★ Support this podcast ★

A Documentary filmed on the front lines of what’s been called Canada’s largest act of civil disobedience is coming to Nanaimo. Fairy Creek from director Jen Muranetz tells stories from the anti old growth logging protest and blockade that began in 2020.  Midcoast Morning spoke with the filmmaker ahead of the documentary’s theatrical run in the city. ★ Support this podcast ★

Two stories about making a change in the environment, one on a systems level, and one about a community member trying to make a difference The British Columbia Community Forest Association gathered in Nanaimo for a three day conference this week, Midcoast Morning explores the state of community forests in the province with the group’s executive director. Plus Jim Senka says an experience in Northe...

The O in Nanaimo’s downtown sign is getting a new design after several incidents of vandalism over the last few years.  The sign was installed in Maffeo Sutton Park in 2021. Each of the five foot letters in Nanaimo are painted white, except for the O, which features a rainbow design made up of 15 coloured segments. A release from the city at the time the sign went up said that:  “The colourful "O"...

A new project puts the Coast Salish Wooly Dog in the spotlight. Several sources suggest the dogs, which are now extinct, experienced a severe population decline in the 1850s. The pelt of one Coast Salish Wooly dog that was lying in the Smithsonian for more than a hundred and fifty years inspired a research project that brought together knowledge holders from a variety of Coast Salish communities....