Running 28 minutes, Midcoast Morning covers local news and current affairs happening in Nanaimo and on the Salish Sea. Midcoast Morning focuses in on one big story per show, interviewing reporters about their stories, as well as those making news and those impacted by it. We also feature the curators and creators in our local arts and culture scene. Midcoast Morning broadcasts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 8:30 A.M.. The podcast edition releases at the same time.
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Lauryn Mackenzie — Host and Producer.
Jesse Woodward — Executive Producer.
Arbie Fru — Technical Assistance.
And other contributors in our news department.
Have a lead on a story? Feedback regarding an episode? Drop us a line. We read all of our emails, and respond when we can.
Rail lines on Vancouver Island have sat mostly unused for years. But the impacts of the deal it took to create those rail lines continue.
Back in the 1880s, around 2 million acres of land on southern Vancouver Island were privatized, when they were granted to the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Company in exchange for building the railway.
Historian Kelly Black speaks about some of the consequences of the grant on Vancouver Island today.
Read MoreA motion that included calls for Nanaimo city council to recognize homelessness as an existential crisis, and to adopt a housing first plus strategy was recently referred to the Nanaimo Systems Planning Organization(SPO).
Midcoast Morning follows up with SPO Executive Director John McCormick.
Read MoreDave Witty is calling on Nanaimo to recognize homelessness as an existential crisis.
Witty brought a motion before city council this month that included a call for Nanaimo to adopt “housing first plus” as the foundational element of a homelessness strategy.
He sits on the Mayor’s leaders table, and has been exploring the response to homelessness in Switzerland.
Read MoreNanaimo city council is split between two different plans to upgrade its public works yard.
The issue, which was the subject of two cancelled AAPs returned to the agenda this week at a governance and priorities committee meeting.
Staff presented different options for the future of the project, and councillors were divided between two of them. Midcoast Morning brings you up to speed on the debate, and debriefs with Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog.
Read MoreA local neighbourhood association is raising concerns around vacant properties
Karen Kuwica and Nancy Mitchell of the Newcastle Community Association brought the issue to city council in a delegation that shared examples of vacant property bylaws from other communities.
They say they want to see the city implement measures to help proactively address potential issues.
Also on this episode, Joy Bremner shares details on an event Friday June 21st at Maffeo Sutton Park to mark National Indigenous Peoples Day
Read MoreThe dollar’s in the details in Nanaimo’s 2023 annual municipal report.
Adopted at a council meeting this week, the 122 page document breaks down last year’s finances.
Midcaost Morning explores the state of the city’s finances with Wendy Fulla, director of finance for the city of Nanaimo.
Read MoreA new report has provided insight into what went wrong with the two alternative approval processes that have been abandoned in Nanaimo since last fall.
It also makes recommendations to the city on what to do if it decides to run a third AAP on the same project.
The report and the alternative approval process were on the agenda at a governance and priorities committee this week, Midcoast Morning brings you info on what happened, and what comes next.
Read MoreIn the last week representatives from both the encampment and the school’s administration have started to hold dialogue with each other.
The school has disclosed its investment information, and representatives from the Palestine Solidarity Encampment have agreed not to disrupt convocation ceremonies.
And around 70 staff at the university have signed an open letter raising concerns about the school’s security response to the encampment.
Read MoreWorld Ocean Day is Saturday June 8th.
First proposed back in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD), an organization that no longer exists, the event was officially recognized by the United Nations in 2008.
This year the theme is Catalyzing Action for Our Ocean & Climate.
There are going to be an events to mark the occasion Saturday at Maffeo Sutton Park in Nanaimo, from 11 to 3, and on Gabriola Island at Degnen Bay from noon to four.
To mark the occasion, Midcoast Morning spoke with Tim Green of VIU’s Deep Bay Marine Research Centre.
The Nanaimo Pride Parade and Pride Festival are taking place on Sunday June 9th.
CHLY reporter Lauryn Mackenzie spoke with Nanaimo Pride Society President Lauren Semple.
Read MoreExploring cycling in Nanaimo with people at a Go By Bike Week station. Learning about the advocacy behind new minimum passing distance laws coming into effect this week, and checking in on the best way to merge lanes during construction season.
Read MoreThe sights and sounds of Cable Bay Trail in Nanaimo’s south end could be very different in a few years time.
The 2 kilometre trail down to the ocean is nestled amongst private land, which its owners have plans to develop.
For three years, a group called Save Cable Bay has been campaigning in an effort to turn the area around the trail into a park.
Read MoreA number of community initiatives have gotten a boost this week, as Nanaimo City Council approved grants for fourteen projects.
More than forty thousand dollars is going to be spread across a number of organizations, for things like watershed restoration and community toolshares.
Midcoast Morning checks in on four of the projects, and their journey from idea to approval.
Read MoreA new exhibit at the Vancouver Island Military Museum features the Chinese Labour corps from the first world war. Museum Vice President Brian McFadden spoke with Midcoast Morning about the exhibit.
Read MoreA group of novelists, poets, and playwrights will be giving readings at an event Wednesday May 22 at the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on the grounds of Vancouver Island University, which has been installed since May 1.
Called the Watermelon Seeds Festival of Literature, the authors include a number of VIU faculty.
Three of the authors giving readings joined Midcoast Morning to speak about the event.
Read MoreThe Regional District of Nanaimo has a new plan to manage growth in our area through 2040.
This week the RDN board approved the adoption of Shaping our Future 2024, which contains goals related to climate mitigation and adaptation, economic and food system resiliency, among others.
Jamai Schile, a senior planner with the RDN spoke with Midcoast Morning about the strategy.
Read MoreBrechin Lanes owner Ray Brittain is planning to sell the business that’s been in his family for more than 50 years, citing rising costs and competition from a foreign owned chain worth roughly a billion Canadian dollars.
Midcoast Morning host Joe Pugh paid a visit to Nanaimo’s only 5 pin bowling alley, to learn about it’s past, present, and what remains of its future.
Read MoreThe RDN and BC Transit have a survey open, asking about the impact of a potential fare increase for trips on busses in the city.
And you may have noticed a bunch of new e-bikes around town. The City of Nanaimo has partnered with BCAA’s Evolve E Bike share to launch a bike sharing pilot program.
Read MoreVancouver Island University’s response to a Palestine solidarity encampment on its grounds has drawn criticism from the B.C. Federation of Students, The Vancouver Island University Students Union, and more than a hundred of the school’s faculty and staff.
Read MoreThousands are expected to gather Saturday at a comic convention in Nanaimo that’s paying tribute to the man who founded it.
Curious Comicon is on Saturday at Country Club Mall.
It got started in 2016, when the Nanaimo branch of Curious Comics take Free comic book day, an annual, North America wide event, and expand it into a local convention convention.
With guest artists, a cosplay contest, and various activities.
Curious Comicon Founder Mike Drummond died earlier this year. Midcoast Morning spoke with some of the organizers who are keeping the event going in his memory.
Read MoreAs of May 1, in communities with a population over ten thousand, short term rentals will only be allowed in an owner’s principal residence, or in a secondary suite or accessory dwelling on the same property.
A number of less populated communities, including Gabriola Island and Tofino have opted in to the regulations. In those areas the rules will take effect on November first.
According to data obtained from the website Air DNA earlier this week, there are 999 short term rental listings in Nanaimo.
The city requires short term rental operators to have a licence which costs $165 per year.
A March staff report found that there were fewer than 300 licences for short term rentals in the community.
Midcoast Morning explores the impact of the potential impact of the new rules in our area, and speaks with B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon
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