News

Rachelle Stein-Wotten Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder The Regional District of Nanaimo is not pursuing setting up a business licensing service at this time, though recent provincial legislation gives it the authority. As part of the Short-Term...

Rachelle Stein-Wotten Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder No major changes are proposed for school bus routes for Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools though several routes are under the 50 per cent utilization rate that marks them for review by staff....

Derek Kilbourn Sounder News The Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District is increasing the offered wage for Deputy Fire Chief to $75,000, per a request from Fire Chief Will Sprogis. During the Fire Chief’s report portion of the February Board meeting, Sprogis...

The inaugural Breaking Bannock event, organized by the Gabriola Arts Council, featured guest speakers Gabriolan Katherine Palmer Gordon, and Sqwulutsultun William (Bill) Yoachim, Snuneymuxw First Nation citizen, recently re-elected Snuneymuxw Councillor and Executive...

Rachelle Stein-Wotten Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder Reserve contributions related to the Regional District of Nanaimo’s administrative building plans will go down following an amendment to the 2024-28 financial plan. The board of directors...

Rachelle Stein-Wotten Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder How Regional District of Nanaimo directors could be supported with parental leave will be the subject of a report following the unanimous passing of a motion at the RDN’s Feb. 13 board...

African chamber music - Kurai Mubaiwa, Kofi Gbolonyo and Curtis Andrews will be performing at the Phoenix Auditorium on March 9. Photos courtesy Ruby SinghAlexander Varty Lulu Performing Arts Society Curtis Andrews, the globetrotting adventurer behind the African...

Rachelle Stein-Wotten Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder The B.C. government’s secondary suites incentive program (SSIP) has expanded to 16 regional districts, including the Regional District of Nanaimo. The three-year pilot program launches April...

Derek Kilbourn Sounder News The Board of the Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District Board issued a statement at its last meeting, read aloud by Chair Paul Giffin. In it, the Board outlines the difficulties that Freedom Of Information requests are placing on the...

Rachelle Stein-Wotten Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder Regional District of Nanaimo staff say they hear the community’s frustration about sports field access on Gabriola and are working to bring improvement proposals to the parks and open spaces...

People for a Healthy Community March 19 has been set by PHC for their first medical appointment van trip to Nanaimo.  The Gabriola MediGo van will provide free rides to Gabriolans going to medical appointments.  Riders will book a ride on the PHC website, or by phone...

Rachelle Stein-Wotten Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder Paving work for the last stretch of the Village Way path began this week, and it will involve use of a new material for the Regional District of Nanaimo in some sections. A contractor will...

Rachelle Stein-Wotten Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder The Regional District of Nanaimo is resubmitting its “groundbreaking” waste hauler licensing (WHL) bylaw for approval after working on changes requested by the Ministry of Environment and...

Sounder News UPDATE: Gabriola RCMP advise that as of 4pm on Feb. 7, North Road had been reopened to traffic. A section of North Road on Gabriola is closed after one of the fire trucks from the Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department went into the ditch around 10am on...

Derek Kilbourn Sounder News Call volumes for all of Gabriola’s emergency response agencies continue to climb. BC Emergency Health Services (which runs BC Ambulance Service), as well as Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department, and the Gabriola RCMP Detachment, shared their...

Press Release NDP MP Lisa Marie Barron (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) is celebrating that Members of Parliament agreed to the NDP’s amendments to Bill C-33 to get freighter anchorages out of the Salish Sea. These changes are a much-needed first step in bringing relief to coastal...

Gabriolans Against Freighter Anchorages (GAFA) Special to the Sounder In the fall of 2023, the South Coast Ship Watch Alliance (SCSWA) made submissions about Southern Gulf Island (SGI) freighter anchorages before the parliamentary Transportation Committee in Ottawa...

Gabriola Arts Council As Gabriola Island warmly welcomes the returning light, the Gabriola Arts Council is gearing up for the much-anticipated 14th Isle of the Arts Festival (IoTA), set to take place from March 28th to April 7th. Spring on Gabriola is a time for...

Gabriola Arts Council The Gabriola Arts Council is breaking out a new series of events this year. Next month we will introduce the first in a series of events with Gabriola’s own Katherine Palmer Gordon, noted lawyer and author, as well as; Bill Yoachim, Snuneymuxw...

Alexander Varty Lulu Performing Arts Society Despite having been the kind of child who read the dictionary for fun, I’ve just been introduced to a new word, xenophrenia, which the online Encyclopedia of World Problems & Human Potential defines it as “any state...

Rachelle Stein-Wotten Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder With one or both of the sports fields at Rollo McLay Community Park closed for multiple months of last year due to poor field conditions, Regional District of Nanaimo staff are currently...

Derek Kilbourn Sounder News Lisa Marie Barron, MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith, was on Gabriola recently, hosting a session to discuss her motion for the federal government to call a Citizens’ Assembly On Electoral Reform. The session was held at the Phoenix Auditorium at...

Snuneymuxw Chief Mike Wyse and Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, Federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, at the signing of the historic agreement, which will allocate 80.09 hectares of land (the “Camp Nanaimo Lands on Te’tuxwtun”) to be set aside as a reserve...

Derek Kilbourn Sounder News Gabriola’s GERTIE bus system is receiving $9,278 share from a $230,000 Community Passenger Transportation Fund. The one-time fund is being administered by the Island Coastal Economic Trust (ICET) and Vancouver Island Economic Alliance...

Heather Menzies Special to the Sounder Picking up garbage, clothing, cooking utensils and assorted camping gear from (illegal) encampments on the Gabriola Commons has evolved into a twice weekly patrol in recent months. In the minus-10 cold of a recent Saturday...