As of the end of 2025, Campbell River, RCMP reported a significant decline in crime within their jurisdiction. Roy Hales interviewed Inspector Jeff Preston of the RCMP and Campbell River’s Director of Community Safety, Jeff Fort, to find out what they think about these statistics, whether there really is a decrease in crime and what may have caused this.
Continue reading Decrease in Street Crime Reported in Campbell RiverTag Archives: Crime
What B.C. Premier Eby’s mandate letters mean for Indigenous peoples
By Bhagyashree Chatterjee, The Squamish Chief, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
What do Premier David Eby’s latest mandate letters for ministers mean for Indigenous peoples?
These letters, all dated Jan. 16, shape the government’s priorities, and this term, they focus on “reconciliation, economic growth, and community well-being.”
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Restorative justice program growing after three-year hiatus
By Lubna El Elaimy, Burnaby Beacon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
After nearly two decades, the Burnaby RCMP’s restorative justice program experienced disruptions in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Restorative justice started in Burnaby in 2001 as a community-based program called the Burnaby Restorative Action Group. Staff changes during the pandemic contributed to the program’s disruption.
In the spring of 2023 the City of Burnaby hired new staff to take over the restorative justice program. Staff members who work on the program are municipal employees, but their offices are located within the Burnaby RCMP detachment, and they work closely with RCMP members.
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RCMP seize drugs and guns in Campbell River
The RCMP have been attempting to crack down on drug trafficking in Campbell River.
Their most recent press release states that on Thursday March 16, a cache of drugs and guns were found in a house on Ebert Road
According to Cst. Maury Tyre, Media Relations Officer for the detachment, “Police seized over $3000 in cash, 17 grams of crack cocaine, 4 grams of cocaine, 13 grams of Fentanyl, 316 Hydromorphone pills and several other prescription pills.”
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A New Approach to Homelessness: Housing First
As Currents recently reported, homelessness is not just “an American thing,” or “a big-city thing,” or even “a Vancouver Island thing.” Homelessness is also here on Cortes, where a recent survey found that about 50 people rated their housing situation as “unstable,” and 11 were living rough (with no permanent shelter, in tents or other makeshift accommodation).
Although “housing” might sound like a single issue, it has has knock-on effects throughout our community.
Continue reading A New Approach to Homelessness: Housing First