From pocketbook pains where Greater Victoria residents struggled to pay for necessities like food and housing, to government crackdowns and hopes of once again travelling the Island by train, local stories caught readers’ attention this past year.
Here are the Victoria News website’s top-read stories from 2023.
CFB spouses battle with armed forces over pay
A new payment structure for the military was decried by some local families who said it’d lead to a net loss.
CFB Esquimalt families saw the change as effectively taking a pay cut, spurring a panic among some spouses when the new scheme was announced in the spring.
The armed forces scrapped a monthly payment that offsets costs for things like housing, fuel, groceries and childcare for military families. Its long-awaited replacement only covers housing by tying military housing costs to a member’s wage.
The move aimed to help those in the most need, like lower-ranked members, and rolled out right as a general pay bump was coming for military personnel.
Spouses like Kay Judas said those raises didn’t match up with inflation, as she raised the alarm about her family losing $430 every month under the new structure.
“The military is notorious for not caring about the impact of its decisions on families,” Judas said.
Island Rail Corridor comeback
Trains making a comeback on an almost 300-kilometre corridor of rail lines across the Island hit a setback this year.
The Island Rail Corridor’s owner estimated the cost of reviving rail, including a Langford-Victoria commuter service, would be around $431 million, but said it would add a reliable and green transportation alternative to highway travel.
The federal government waited until the eleventh hour of a court-imposed deadline to say it wouldn’t fund the rail revival in a segment running through a First Nation. That decision returned the lands to the Snaw-Naw-As First Nation, which long-argued that its land was expropriated over a century ago for rail services that have been shuttered for over a decade.
The B.C. and federal governments are now consulting on how to best use the line with the many First Nations whose lands the corridor intersects. As some groups around the Island hope parts of the rail line can be converted into recreational trails, both B.C. and the feds said the corridor still has “strategic transportation importance.”
Cannabis club clash continues
Despite a new home, it was much of the same for Victoria’s Cannabis Buyers Club in 2023 as the B.C. government raided its North Park location in March. The long-running club has been providing higher-strength products to people whose ailments aren’t quelled by less potent medical cannabis that’s approved by the province.
B.C.’s Community Safety Unit seized products with an estimated worth of up to $100,000 during the raid, which was one of multiple enforcement visits in recent years.
Cannabis Buyers Club serves people afflicted by a range of illnesses and conditions, from cancer and chronic pain to epilepsy and arthritis.
“It’s sad. The stuff from government stores is too expensive and I can’t afford it on my pension,” said one customer at the time of the raid.
UVic students dumpster diving for food
University students felt the effects of the cost of living crisis, with some resorting to taking unused food from jobs, dumpster diving and striking up barter economies with others.
A UVic student society survey found two-thirds were experiencing food insecurity, meaning they struggle to afford enough food to eat, despite also working on top of their studies.
“I used to have no problem with affording food, but in the past year or so, it has gotten impossible to afford basic things like fruits and vegetables,” one student said. “Half the reason I decided to get a job serving in a restaurant is because I get a free meal with my shift.
Graduate students accessed the school’s food bank at a disproportionate rate compared to their share of the student body, with some saying they would dumpster dive for good food that’s thrown away.
Museum mammoth painted pink by activists
Woolly, the iconic mammoth display inside the Royal B.C. Museum, was the backdrop for a climate protest in March. A group pressuring the federal government to form a citizens’ assembly on the climate crisis took credit for applying pink paint to the mammoth’s tusks.
Three activists were taken into police custody and the museum said the water-soluble paint was cleaned off, with Woolly seeing no permanent damage.
Family doctor’s pay plight
Well into February, a Victoria-based family doctor said the B.C. government hadn’t paid her for the month of January, and it had her considering leaving the province during a doctor shortage.
The government’s system is designed to reject claims, the physician said as she constantly had to resubmit invoices.
“I spend about a day a week trying to sort out payments that I am not receiving and handling various bureaucratic issues when I could be seeing patients instead,” Dr. Emanuela Tura said.
Based on her time working in Australia, the family doctor said B.C. is way behind when it comes to paying doctors, and that the province’s overall health-care system doesn’t come close to the one down under.
Imminent crackdown on homeless despite inclement conditions
Just hours after the cancellation of an extreme weather response in February, bylaw officers began to confiscate tents and blankets from an unhoused community in Stadacona Park on Pandora Avenue.
Among those impacted was Trent Smith, who described himself as disabled and homeless, and who said he was disappointed by the response during what the city classified as an extreme weather event.
“Bylaw services were out here a quarter after seven this morning (Feb.4), so I just feel that when there is an emergency weather protocol, people shouldn’t be bothered first thing in the morning,” Smith said.
The city said people would ideally use warming centres instead of staying outside during extreme weather, but Smith said he avoids those sites and shelters as he struggles being around heavy drug users.
Smith said the removal of personal belongings is a barrier to progress for many, including himself.
In Opinion
Beyond the news, opinions were popular among readers, who were drawn in by ferry terminal spats and a birthday mishap. Here are some opinion pieces among the most-read stories online.
Couple’s BC Ferry complaints illicit little sympathy
Editor Chris Campbell gets to BC Ferries terminals nice and early, unlike a couple who posted a video to social media of them arguing with a BC Ferries crew.
The couple – despite admitting they were late – demanded a refund after they said ferries staff kicked them off the terminal premises.
The confrontation didn’t evoke much sympathy from those who responded to the video, with some calling the couple’s actions rude and embarrassing.
Campbell echoed those takes, writing: “the rules are the same for everyone. It says quite clearly to not be late. If you’re late, just take the L and wait for the next ferry. Don’t berate the staff for your own failures and also don’t post video of you being a ginormous baby on the internet.
Birthday sign’s wrong recipient gets sued by sign company
A sign company in Victoria that screwed up and then sued someone over it in 2022 was another case Campbell opined on.
The Victoria dispute started after someone hired a local company to make a lawn sign saying “Happy 80th birthday” for a local senior.
The problem started after the company erected the sign on the wrong lawn – a home adjacent to the actual person celebrating the birthday.
The company sought almost $3,000 from the Victoria resident who incorrectly ended up with the sign on her lawn, removed it and bagged it up – damaging it in the process. The company accused the resident of doing so deliberately – saying the homeowner “ripped up” the large sign.
The resident who was being sued ended up countersuing for $3,000, claiming “emotional distress and mental anxiety” due to the incident.
Both claims were dismissed.
“Reading this entire tribunal decision was exhausting,” Campbell wrote. “It’s incredible that people can’t find a way to resolve these situations.”
