The COVID pandemic has brought a lot of financial stress on British Columbia’s municipalities. Surrey is losing about $4 million every month. To reduce its losses, Vancouver laid off 1,800 unionized staff. More locally, how is the City Of Campbell River coping with the financial pressures?
Continue reading How Is The City Of Campbell River Coping With The Pandemic’s Financial Pressures?Tag Archives: Campbell River
Namgis Elder’s Death Heightens Concern
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The shutdown of First Nations communities is more crucial than ever with the sad news that an Indigenous elder from another island has died from COVID-19, says a Quadra Island, B.C., council member.
“My first thought was real sadness to hear this,” We Wai Kai Councillor Ted Lewis said. “It hurts all First Nations to hear this. Quite a few members have family up there, lots of people are related to that community.”
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New COVID-19 Survey Stats May Not Reflect Elder Cortes & Quadra Islanders
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Seniors are the most likely age group to be extremely worried about their health and social isolation during COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new Statistics Canada survey. But the older residents on Quadra and Cortes, rural islands located off B.C.’s west coast may be bucking that trend.
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Isolation Of Rural Women Facing Violence
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The danger to rural women facing violence is higher than ever due to the COVID-19 crisis, but the number of victims reaching out for support is not growing apace in the North Island region, troubling the agencies that help them.
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Masks For Those Who Need Them Most
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Quadra Island quilter Terry Phillips is running a small but frenetic manufacturing assembly line in her bucolic rural community during the COVID-19 pandemic. When her sister-in-law Wendy Richardson issued a plea in mid-March for cloth masks to protect front-line social service workers on neighbouring Vancouver Island during the novel coronavirus crisis, Phillips turned to her fellow Quadra Island Quilters. The group, working in tandem with the Campbell River Friendship Quilters Guild, immediately established a cottage industry, revved up their sewing machines and churned out hundreds of masks for those who needed them most.
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