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With rising grocery prices for basic produce, food security is an ongoing issue in Nanaimo, particularly in the historically working-class neighbourhoods in south Nanaimo.

Harewood has a long history of combating food insecurity through farming and gardening, going back to the establishment of five acre farms in the area to help coal miners feed their families and make a bit of money when they were out of work. 

Today, Nanaimo Foodshare is one organization that is helping keep that tradition alive at the Five Acres Community Park.

At the start of May, I dropped by Five Acres to talk with some of the volunteers who are getting their hands dirty and fighting food insecurity in our community. You can read more about their efforts in my story below. 

Thank you for reading,

Mick Sweetman

Nanaimo Foodshare gears up for growing season

Education programs for young and old on the farm at Five Acres Community Park contributes to local food security as grocery prices rise.

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On the Island

Gone but not forgotten: Community gathers to mark Red Dress Day

More than 100 people run and walk along the Cowichan River to support families of MMIWG2S+

How the Morrison Creek lamprey helped create a refuge for salmon during hot summers

With summer 2026 set to be one of the hottest on record, this spring-fed Comox Valley waterway remains a crucial fish habitat. The little-known story of its protection began with the Morrison Creek lamprey and a taxonomic mystery.

Council corner

On Monday, following a short special council meeting that adopted financial plan amendments and property tax rates, Nanaimo city council’s governance and priorities committee met to discuss the city’s water supply infrastructure, frontage policies for new developments and the health and housing action plan.

Council heard about the need to shift capital plan priorities for the water supply to address the “South End bottleneck” from south of Harewood Mines Road to Dogwood Road. The capacity for that area is only projected to meet demand for the next five years.

The committee voted to ask for a staff report on transportation guidelines for intersections and to hold a special governance and priorities committee meeting on June 8 on the need for dry supportive housing in Nanaimo. 

Coun. Sheryl Armstrong said she wants to show Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Christine Boyle that there is a need in the community for dry housing. 

Mike Squire, the city’s manager for water resources, told the committee that the current water supply main along the Nanaimo Parkway is made of the same type of concrete pipe that failed on Bowen Road in 2020 as well as in Calgary.

“It's a very catastrophic pipe,” Squire said. “When it does rupture, it can cause significant damage.”

Squire also briefed the committee on the condition of the South Fork Dam, which was built in 1931.

A delegation from the Nanaimo Housing Working Group presented to the committee on its proposal for non-market housing in Nanaimo. The group wants to partner with the city to build 300 to 400 units of workforce housing with 40 per cent below market rents.

City staff also provided an update on the progress of its health and housing action plan.

The committee voted to support an option that would see staff prioritize enhancing complex needs capability, providing capital support to re-establish the Hub daytime drop-in or a navigation centre including purchase or renovation costs. 

The next regular city council meeting will be held on Monday, May 25 at 7 p.m. in the Vancouver Island Conference Centre's Shaw Auditorium. 

In other news

👉 The unemployment rate in Nanaimo was 8.7 per cent in April, the highest it has been since January 2021 and the fourth-highest of all metropolitan areas in Canada. CHEK News has the story.

👉 Bus ads offering a $50,000 reward for information about missing Indigenous woman Lisa Marie Young are now on BC Transit buses across Nanaimo. Young went missing in 2002. The ads are funded by the Lil’ Red Dress Project in Courtenay through sales of red dress pins. CHEK News has the story.

👉 Vancouver Island is at 27 per cent of regular snowpack levels, raising concerns of an early drought and low water levels for streams and rivers on the Island. Nanaimo News Now has the story.

👉 Gabriola Island residents have elected new directors to the Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District. John Rankin, Dimitri Tzotzos, Liz Wallinger and Matt Dow will join the seven-member board which governs the Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department. The Gabriola Sounder has the story.

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