The discovery of 215 unmarked and seemingly undocumented graves of children on the grounds of the former residential school in Kamloops has produced an outpouring of grief and anger across Canada.  While the discovery was not a surprise to many people, especially to residential school survivors, it served as a shocking reminder...

Canada is in the middle of a housing crisis, and the south Okanagan, Boundary and West Kootenay areas are very much in the middle of that crisis.  This is an urgent and rapidly growing problem that demands the cooperation and priority of all levels of government. The crisis has emerged out of a perfect storm of factors....

Unceded Skowkale, Ts’elxwéyeqw, Skwah territory (Chilliwack): Erica Thomson has been barricaded in the office of the Chilliwack Union of Drug Users (CUDU) for five days. She is the president of the BC Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors, which sponsors the year-old Chilliwack group and helps fund their office space. Erica...

COVID-19 has impacted each of us in many ways. One of the areas that we are monitoring closely is mental health. Mental health affects all of us. As we mark the 70th annual Mental Health Awareness Week I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize the toll that the ongoing pandemic is having on people’s feelings of stress,...

To the Citizens of Rossland From Rossland City Council: Rossland Mayor Kathy Moore is currently in the USA. While not breaking any laws, she travelled contrary to current Federal and Provincial Public Health recommendations against non-essential travel which has raised significant concerns in our community. While Mayor Moore...

Many struggling Canadians hoped that today’s budget would offer meaningful supports and steps towards recovery. But more than that, they hoped that it would be the ultra-wealthy who have profited from the pandemic who would be paying for these supports, not the workers who have been hit so hard.  According to local MP, Richard...

Readers will have seen a news item about a couple who crossed the border after getting medical services in the United States, and were accused of not following required procedures, and were issued a fine for $3,450 for their “non-compliance.”  But there is much more to that story, and readers should know what really happened...

Dear Dr. Steve, We have now completed one Pandemic Year. Have we learned anything as a society? Signed, Unvaccinated Dear UV, It’s been a Simpsons year, really. The Simpson family has been on the living room couch for over 30 years, but Bart and Lisa are still in grade school. Endless yet static — that is our pandemic era. ...

Well, the title of this blog certainly doesn’t leave much to the imagination but sometimes you have to cut through the fluff and get straight to the point. I have shared a bit about my struggle with anxiety before but have yet to really dive into the medication end of things. Maybe I haven’t shared much because I still hold...

Last year, Gord Portman saved two people in a house fire in Penticton.  When he saw his picture in the local newspaper, he said to himself ‘Oh boy I need help.” Gord was addicted to drugs. So he turned to Discovery House, a local organization that helps men battle their addictions, and he now thanks Discovery House for saving...