Blog

Chasing a dream

It’s an overlooked truism we live through history. Most of us have difficulty contemplating our day-to-day experiences being historical.…

Whistler officials planning for ‘dual-emergency scenarios’

Unseasonably dry conditions cause for concern; residents reminded to stay vigilant on wildfire

Even with COVID-19 taking the bulk of the attention of local elected officials in recent weeks, other potential emergencies haven’t been forgotten in the meantime. “From the beginning, when the Whistler [Emergency Operations Centre] was activated, one of their early tasks was to advance a number of different dual-emergency scenarios, so the consideration of COVID-19 and wildfire, or the consideration of COVID-19 and a flood freshet,” said Mayor Jack Crompton.…

Whistler council holds workshop on COVID-19 budget impacts; amendments to come in May

Council briefs: New CAO Virginia Cullen takes the reins; CEP reallocated to community services

Burning questions about municipal budget cuts, tax increases and more in light of COVID-19 will have to wait—Whistler mayor and council will consider them today, April 23, in a budget workshop. “We had just gone through a really long and exhaustive budgeting process coming into 2020, and so I’m not eager to make reactionary decisions that damage the rigour that was inserted into that process originally,” said Mayor Jack Crompton after a regular council meeting held by Zoom on April 21.…

Creativity in the time of COVID-19

Several weeks ago, as the world was watching the tragedy of COVID-19 unfold in Italy, we are also uplifted and mesmerized to hear physically isolated people singing from their balconies or playing music. Said RAI Orchestra violinist Aldo Sebastián Cicchini from Milan at the time: “Music is not a cure for the disease, but it is maybe a cure for our hearts.…

‘If you can bring a little bit of joy to somebody, it’s pretty amazing’

Celebrating Whistler Food Bank volunteer Elly Johnston during National Volunteer Week

For many Whistler newcomers, their initial reaction upon hearing that this bustling, expensive resort town has a food bank is one of surprise. Well, that reaction, in turn, always surprises longtime Whistler Food Bank volunteer Elly Johnston.…

New research aims to use CT scans to better diagnose COVID-19

Vancouver-based radiologists are at the helm of an international study that aims to better predict the presence of COVID-19 using CT scans. As part of the project, thousands of CT scans from COVID19 patients around the world – including Canada, the Middle East, Italy and South Korea – are being collected, analyzed and labelled by radiologists, fellows, residents and medical students at the University of British Columbia (UBC).…

Take this Earth as a whole

Please…take it, and look after it!

With metrics of a whole other order preoccupying most of us these days, I just wanted to take a breather here, channel my old inner hippie, and remind us all that Earth Day is marking its 50th anniversary this year. An anniversary like no other.…

Horgan offers hope of ‘reopening’ B.C. in May

Expect permanent changes to private long-term care homes: Horgan

Premier John Horgan offered hope in a press briefing today that restrictions on society and business can begin to be eased around or before mid-May. But he also said there will likely be some permanent changes to the way the private long-term care and assisted living sector operates, and that “a dialogue” will need to be had with industry to address the problem of workers who don’t get sick pay showing up for work sick – as was the case in a poultry plant that has had a COVID-19 outbreak.…

LETTER: Governments cannot stand by any longer

As we settle into this new normal of greatly diminished and rapidly disappearing business, it is important to reflect on forgotten financial victims of this unfolding tragedy. Let us first discuss who is not suffering.…

COVID-19 infections up, hospitalizations down in B.C.

B.C. had 71 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, but six fewer people in hospital, according to provincial health officer Bonnie Henry

What happened: The number of new COVID-19 cases in B.C. jumped by 71, to 1,795, on April 22, perhaps showing that the trajectory has not yet been flattened. In recent days, the number of new infections has been in the 20s.…

‘I want to scare myself’: After 21 years in Whistler, Angie Nolan takes a chance on herself

Writer, director and educator moving to Vancouver to pursue filmmaking career

Angie Nolan likes to joke that she’s been self-isolating since January. Not because of some Nostradamian premonition of the global pandemic to come, but something more in line with her style: a roller-disco injury.…

As Magee Road fire wanes, District of Squamish cancels state of emergency

Authorities have reclassified the Upper Squamish fire as ‘under control’

With favourable weather and ongoing efforts from crews, the District of Squamish has cancelled its state of local emergency in relation to the Upper Squamish Valley fire. As of today, April 22, the blaze has been reclassified as “under control,” meaning that, barring any freak weather changes, authorities believe the fire will not spread.…

Celebrate 50 years of Earth Day at AWARE’s (virtual) AGM

All invited to attend via Zoom at 6 p.m.

April 22 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE) is marking the occasion with a virtual annual general meeting. All are welcome to attend tonight via Zoom starting at 6 p.m.…

Earth Day offers a chance to re-evaluate our path 

Earth Day was born on April 22, 1970—50 years ago. Since then, the human population has more than doubled, from 3.7 billion to almost eight billion.…

Men firing bear bangers on Blackcomb Mountain spook police, public just hours after worst shooting in Canadian history

Police Briefs: Stolen vehicle abandoned in ditch; suspects still on the loose

On the same day the worst mass shooting in Canadian history claimed the lives of 22 victims in Nova Scotia—including an RCMP officer—Sea to Sky police responded to multiple reports of two men dressed in camouflage on Blackcomb Mountain carrying what initially appeared to be rifles. As it turned out, the men, a 52-year-old Coquitlam resident and a 42-year-old Delta resident, were firing bear bangers with a launcher “that looked like a modified rifle” and produced sounds the public mistook for gunshots, police said in a release.…