How B.C. exporters are surviving the trade war

Darron Kloster / Times Colonist – Mar 23, 2026 / 8:35 am | Story: 605038

With the switch to year-round daylight time in B.C., a Langford councillor is calling for provincial funding for better pathways and lighting on school routes.

Kimberly Guiry said Langford has many areas without sidewalks and street lights, and the daily walk for many students to school will be on wide roads shared with traffic that’s prone to speeding — all while cloaked in darkness and rain right through to February.

The mother of two middle-school-aged daughters wants the province to reinstate its active transportation infrastructure grant program, which was paused pending a review this year.

“I’m hopeful this isn’t a conversation just about Langford, but all the communities across the province that are going to be experiencing this,” said Guiry. “This is a huge shift, particularly in the Victoria and Vancouver areas with very high populations, and the earlier we can all start talking about it, the more we can anticipate and create solutions for the kids.”

Guiry introduced a motion at Langford council last week to ask the province to reopen the grant program, saying city money for projects goes much further when combined with provincial funding. The motion will be discussed at an upcoming council meeting.

She referenced a $1-million grant awarded last year for the construction of a sidewalk and bike lanes along Latoria Road to create a safer route to the new Scianew Stelitkel Elementary School.

Guiry is also asking the province to start a program that provides all students with “visibility resources” such as lights and reflective gear, and to support expansion of the Walking School Bus program run by the Society for Children and Youth of B.C.

The Walking School Bus organizes groups of children who walk to school together under the supervision of one or more adults. The province last year provided $1.1 million for the program at 15 B.C. schools, including Langford’s Millstream Elementary.

Premier David Eby announced the switch to permanent daylight time on March 8, touting reduced disruption from twice-a-year time changes. He said traffic enforcement will be stepped up in the fall, and the province will monitor how the time change affects safety.

But Guiry said increasing enforcement shouldn’t be the only safeguard. “I know kids walk to school in the dark already in some parts of the province, and they’ve been kind of dealing with this, and their communities might have been built [with] that in mind,” said Guiry. “My intention is to be proactive with thoughtful solutions for kids, because this is not within their capacity to anticipate … this is an adult problem that needs an adult solution.”

The Sooke School District, with 15 elementary, five middle and five high schools, said it is preparing for darker mornings in winter. “We recognize that visibility and safety for both pedestrians and drivers will be especially important,” the district said in a statement.

It said planning has already started with neighbouring school districts, the Capital Regional District, ICBC, municipalities and the West Shore RCMP to promote safety awareness, “reinforcing that pedestrian and driver safety is a year-round priority while supporting our community through the transition to permanent daylight time.”

Joanne Kautz-Allard, program director for the Society for Children and Youth of B.C., said the organization is in talks with the province for funding to continue its Walking School Bus program.

She said the time change will add urgency to maintaining and expanding the program. “The kids are going to be going to school in the dark, so we will have to assess what that looks like and provide extra support and training to our walk leaders,” said Kautz-Allard. “Students may need more reflective vests or tags, flashlights.

“We will address those issues and make sure that our walk leaders and the kids in the program are safe and walking to school in safe conditions.”

The program uses both paid and volunteer walk leaders, with a ratio of eight students to one leader. Aside from provincial funding, it’s supported by corporate sponsors, municipalities and TransLink in the Lower Mainland.

The Walking School Bus is used at Craigflower, Keating, Macaulay, Tillicum and Poirier schools in Greater Victoria, as well as Nanaimo’s Uplands Park.

Kautz-Allard said the prospect of darker winter mornings will likely increase interest in the program. She’s urging concerned parents to talk with schools’ parent advisory councils, adding the society can offer tool kits and guidance. She said the Walking School Bus program increases social interaction, provides kids exercise, and reduces traffic congestion around schools.

Guiry said Langford has budgeted $140,000 for 2026, up $20,000 from last year, to help fund the crossing guard program, which the city runs in partnership with the Sooke School District.

Stefan Labbé / BIV – Mar 23, 2026 / 8:29 am | Story: 605037

In a quiet corner of a Vancouver factory, two workers snap together molded plastic, felt and carbon steel with the deceptive simplicity of industrial Lego.

A hydraulic press descends, sealing the stack under 35 tons of pressure. Soon, the crucial component will be added to a utility scale battery destined for the U.S. grid.

The factory floor at Invinity Energy Systems (Canada) Corp. is usually a hive of 15 specialists churning out five shipping-container-sized units at a time.

“The plan is, every day, one goes in and one goes out,” says manufacturing manager Amol Sagare.

But today, that rhythm has been silenced. Most of the factory sits idle under the hum of fluorescent lights.

A year after a wide array of new U.S. tariffs upended global trade, Invinity’s Vancouver facility and its roughly 85 employees are reeling from a collapse in American orders.

In 2024, the U.S. accounted for 80 per cent of the plant’s output; by last year, that share had cratered to just 20 per cent. While new projects in Hungary, South Korea and Taiwan have provided some relief, they haven’t been enough to bridge the gap.

“It’s enough to keep the lights on but not enough to justify further expansion,” said president Matt Harper.

The Vancouver site saw a 60 per cent revenue drop in 2025, said Harper. That has forced the company to cut around 20 local jobs, despite Invinity’s global sales rising overall (the company also has a facility in Scotland serving European markets).

Founded in Vancouver as Avalon Battery, Invinity was created in 2020 through a merger with U.K.-based redT energy. The deal combined Avalon’s advanced battery technology with the British firm’s established commercial models and reach into European markets.

Since then, the company has built out a low-cost supply chain, with many of the materials the company uses for its batteries—including steel shipping containers, pumps and wiring—made in Chinese factories. Other key components are sourced from across Canada and Europe, among other places.

“It really is a truly global supply chain to build these things,” said Harper.

The batteries are designed to store energy produced at large wind and solar farms, or back up large industrial facilities that have their own power source.

Operating like a rechargeable fuel cell, the battery stores energy in two tanks of liquid electrolyte—one for the positive charge and another for negative.

When a turbine or solar panel sends electricity into the system, it triggers a chemical reaction.

Unlike a solid battery that holds a charge in its plates, Invinity’s system turns the liquid electrolyte into a massive, flowing reservoir of potential power.

When the grid needs power, the battery’s pumps circulate the charged fluid through a cell stack, reversing the chemical reaction and allowing electrons to flow out of the battery as electricity.

The liquid batteries are ideal for long-duration, grid-scale energy storage. The liquid electrolyte is both non-flammable and immensely scalable—if a project needs more storage, you can simply build a bigger tank or add another battery.

And unlike lithium-ion units that wear out after a few thousand cycles, vanadium batteries can be charged and discharged almost indefinitely without losing capacity.

“It can cycle as many times a day as you want it to over decades of service,” said Harper. “It’s the diesel engine of the battery world.”

Originally, the company’s plan was for the Scottish plant to supply European markets while the Vancouver operation would meet North American demand. Harper said the tariffs “significantly reset” those expectations.

Over the past year, the company has investigated how it can realign its global supply chain to meet standards under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). That means eliminating battery components currently under U.S. trade restrictions.

It hasn’t been easy. Most of the world’s vanadium supply comes from China, and moving to a supplier in South Africa risks significant cost increases.

And even if the company eventually gains CUSMA compliance, Harper said he worries that current negotiations to renew the deal could quickly fall apart.

“There’s not more clarity now than there was back then,” he said of the onset of the trade war. “Nobody is certain whether that agreement will exist in six months.”

That uncertainty comes as U.S. companies prepare to open up bidding on renewable energy contracts worth tens of billions of dollars.

“If we miss that scaling jump, we’re going to be out of the market,” said Harper. “We don’t have the luxury of time, unfortunately. We’ve got to get things moving.”

That could mean slowly scaling up core component manufacturing in Vancouver, where labour costs are still relatively favourable and supply chains from the Port of Vancouver—Canada’s largest marine trade corridor—are measured in city blocks.

Invinity is also looking to open up another facility in the U.S. to avoid tariffs altogether. Part of the motivation is to take advantage of tax credits for domestic renewable energy manufactures passed during U.S. president Joe Biden’s administration.

“The tariff situation has added urgency to that,” said Harper. “I would say plans are significantly advanced.”

While Invinity grapples with physical rules of origin for steel and vanadium, other B.C. companies are facing the trade war by turning inward and electing to take a “wait-and-see” approach, according to Mike Chisholm, a Vancouver-based export consultant.

Chisholm said that while many of the companies he works with were shocked by the initial rounds of tariffs, few believe CUSMA is going to change much.

“This really should have been a wake-up call,” he said. “We only rely on one market. There’s a whole world out there.”

Taking a wait and see approach to tariffs

Many companies that partner with manufacturers like PNP Pharmaceuticals Inc. appear to be taking that same cautious approach to tariffs.

Founded in 1999 in Burnaby, B.C., the company has grown to become one of Canada’s largest producers of vitamins, minerals and over-the-counter drugs like antacids and acetaminophen.

Instead of making its own products, PNP works on contract as a silent partner for several global brands spanning Canada, the U.S, Australia and the U.K.

Go to a pharmacy in B.C. and a large portion of the brands you see will have been made in the company’s facility, said Mercede Sakiani, the company’s director of partnerships.

“We’re probably producing 30 per cent of brands in the vitamin aisle,” she said.

When the trade war began, Sakiani said the cost of raw materials from around the world went up. Consider turmeric, which is often shipped from Indian producers to the U.S., where it’s made denser and exported to buyers in places like Canada, she said.

Some of those raw materials have been hit with tariffs ranging from five to 50 per cent—costs Sakiani said have so far been eaten by PNP’s clients.

“Definitely, their costs have gone up,” she said.

The domestic market has also shifted. Many Canadian nutraceutical brands have grown large enough to expand south, so that before the trade war, PNP’s production was split evenly between Canada and the U.S.

With the threat of tariffs hanging over their head, Sakiani said a lot of PNP’s clients initially considered moving production to the U.S., only to later double down on the domestic market over fears of a Canadian consumer backlash.

“It’s better for our economy. It’s better for their brand for sure,” she said. “If it’s made in the U.S., you’re already losing as a [Canadian] brand.”

Meanwhile, PNP’s overall revenue has slipped as economic uncertainty cools consumer spending on nutraceuticals—a category among the first to be cut from household budgets.

Overseas expansion is no easier. According to Sakiani, the primary barrier is regulatory: securing government approval for new drugs and supplements in foreign markets is a slow, complex process.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for China if that door opens for us,” she said. “But the shift isn’t that quick.”

In the interim, PNP is focusing on supplying the domestic market and avoiding any “huge strategic moves” while the threat of U.S. tariffs hangs over their clients.

“For them, it’s a wait and see,” Sakiani said. “Everything is different.”

Diversifying beyond the U.S. market

Other B.C. firms not yet hit by tariffs are taking the opposite approach. Instead of waiting out trade disputes, they are aggressively moving to protect their U.S. footprints while fast-tracking expansion into Asia and Europe.

Since it began operations off B.C.’s coast more than two decades ago, Golden Eagle Sable Fish LP has focused on providing a high-end product to elite chefs around the world.

For years, about two-thirds of its customers were in the U.S., with the rest spread out across Japan, Canada, Europe and Singapore.

In early 2025, Golden Eagle was told it would be hit by an initial wave of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The company immediately went into emergency mode, said director of market innovation Jade Berg.

“There was a lot of uncertainty. There were a lot of ‘what ifs.’ There were a lot of meetings with U.S. distributors,” he said.

It has taken the company years of trial and error to streamline its production process. Unlike farmed salmon, sablefish—marketed as black cod—remain largely undomesticated and relatively elusive to researchers: adults live in deep ocean waters, often around 450 metres below the surface, where they spawn before larvae drift to the surface to feed.

To mimic those conditions, the company reproduces a low-light environment at its hatchery on Salt Spring Island, and has created what Berg says is the largest zooplankton “live feed room” in North America.

After two to three months, the fish are sent to an ocean-based farm in Vancouver Island’s Kyuquot Sound where they mature for another two years through a partnership with a local First Nation. Altogether, it takes about two and a half years to go from “egg to plate,” as the company puts it.

“We are the only ones in the world doing this,” said Berg.

Backed by its parent company, the Aquilini Investment Group, the novel design has exempted Golden Eagle from Canada’s plans to phase out open-net pen salmon farms.

The company has also gained widespread international recognition for its sustainable practices. Native to B.C. waters, sable fish are also not affected by deadly algae blooms or contagions that affect farmed salmon, said Berg.

Golden Eagle also claims to be the only fin fish farm in North America recommended and certified by both OceanWise and the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program.

The development of its infrastructure has come at a cost, with the company’s fish fetching prices 30 to 40 per cent more than wild-caught options.

Still, the company claims weekly harvests give it a logistical edge, allowing it to guarantee a consistent, year-round supply for its customers.

Because the farm operates in a strictly controlled environment, the sablefish can be eaten raw without being frozen—a fresh sushi-grade product that sets it apart from its wild competition. That’s allowed some chefs to experiment with dry-aging the fish for up to three weeks, said Berg.

“It creates a blank canvas out of it. That’s alluring for a chef,” he said.

Ultimately, the company’s fully Canadian supply chain was deemed compliant under CUSMA rules of origin. That allowed it to avoid the initial round of tariffs in 2025.

Threatening new tariffs despite U.S. Supreme Court ruling

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a large portion of the Trump administration’s earlier tariffs issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The relief was short-lived. Just hours after the court curbed the president’s initial tariff powers, the administration pivoted to a different legal tool—Section 122—threatening a new 15 per cent tax.

Between the threat of new tariffs and the instability of CUSMA negotiations, Berg said the company saw a clear signal: it was time to activate expansion plans in Singapore, Europe and Japan.

Canadian export data is increasingly showing a move away from U.S. markets. Data released in March show the Port of Vancouver’s exports to the U.S. fell six per cent in 2025, while shipments to other markets—led by China, Japan and South Korea—grew 17 per cent.

Golden Eagle hopes to add to that number. First, it has to overcome some hurdles. While Japan is the company’s oldest importer, the market has been less willing to pay premium prices for sable fish because of its relatively anemic economic growth and weakening currency.

At one point, U.S. customers were willing to pay about 29 per cent more for the fish than those in Japan, though that gap has recently closed to about 17 per cent, Berg said.

For years, high-end fish markets and sushi chains have made up the largest part of the company’s Japanese buyers. Now, Golden Eagle is moving to court elite chefs in Canada and the U.S., and through their networks, tap into colleagues at Michelin-star restaurants across Japan and Europe.

To do that, Berg has launched a social media competition challenging U.S. chefs to reinvent farmed sable fish. The contest has so far drawn 150 applicants, which will be whittled down to a dozen finalists for a showdown this spring.

In May, two winners will be paired with Canadian Michelin-starred chefs for an all-expenses-paid trip in B.C., where they will get a behind-the-scenes tour of the company’s hatchery and deep-water facilities.

Getting the word out and redeveloping existing markets has been made easier by the company’s already influential list of buyers, Berg said.

Golden Eagle’s sable fish has already been sold in several notable local restaurants, including Michelin-star winners Published on Main and St. Lawrence in Vancouver.

Other culinary destinations that serve the company’s fish include the wildly expensive Masa in New York City; Restaurant Lafleur in Frankfurt; Chicago’s Alinea, where food is presented as performance art; and SOLA, a Michelin-starred establishment in London’s Soho district serving Pacific West Coast-inspired cuisine.

Berg aims to leverage high-profile U.S. partnerships to build the global credibility needed to reach elite kitchens anywhere in the world. At the same time, the company is betting that its unique product will convince U.S. chefs to absorb potential price hikes if tariffs eventually hit.

“We’re trying to be as proactive as possible,” Berg said.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press – Mar 22, 2026 / 5:14 pm | Story: 604979

Two hikers among a group of 14 from different parts of Metro Vancouver had to be rescued and hospitalized, with one in critical condition, after falling in steep, snowy terrain during a trek near Lions Bay, B.C.

Maria Masiar, a manager with Lions Bay Search and Rescue, said the group of people in their 40s and 50s was descending from the summit of Brunswick Mountain around midday Saturday, when a woman slipped and fell between 10 and 30 metres.

Masiar said a tree eventually stopped her fall, and two other members of the group, including the organizer of the hike, tried to reach her to help.

They too lost control, and one of the men continued to slide down the mountain, coming to rest in snowpack just above a waterfall.

“He basically got wedged … and it’s extraordinary, because you can see what is below, and he got very lucky in that sense,” Masiar said in an interview.

The man was in critical condition at the time of his rescue, and Masiar said she could not provide any update or information about his injuries.

The rescue effort involved two helicopters and a rope system, with the Lions Bay team calling its counterpart based on Metro Vancouver’s North Shore to help.

Conditions were treacherous on Saturday, as the snowpack was saturated with moisture from last week’s atmospheric river event. It then froze, forming crusty layers before starting to melt again in the daylight, Masiar said.

The upper parts of the mountain are exposed, “and certainly in winter conditions right now, it’s full mountaineering terrain requiring crampons and ice axes,” she said.

Masiar said the hikers were wearing micro spikes on their feet and using hiking poles, and those who fell were not carrying equipment to help them come to a halt.

Two in the group managed to reach the man and woman who fell, staying with them until rescue crews arrived, she said. All four were eventually extracted by helicopter, while the rest of the group made its own way down the mountain.

A social media post from North Shore Rescue said an emergency room doctor was among those lowered down to the seriously injured man, while Lions Bay team members secured the woman who was provided first aid and taken to hospital.

Photos taken from a helicopter and posted by the team show the hikers fell down a steep, snow-covered slope dotted with trees and rocky outcroppings.

The members of the hiking group came from different locations in Metro Vancouver and met on a fairly regular basis, Masiar said.

She said it may be sunny and warm in the city at this time of year, but conditions are still wintry and dangerous in alpine areas.

Masiar urged anyone heading into the mountains to be prepared with the appropriate equipment and be aware of the current conditions.

If someone does fall, the recommendation from the search and rescue team is to stay in one place and call for help, she added.

The Canadian Press – Mar 22, 2026 / 3:37 pm | Story: 604966

British Columbia’s river forecaster has rescinded the high streamflow advisories that covered southern parts of the province after heavy rains last week.

There are no more active flood advisories, and a bulletin from the B.C. River Forecast Centre says waters continue to recede from rainfall and snowmelt during the multi-day atmospheric river weather system.

The update issued Sunday says flows in some larger and lake-fed river systems remain elevated, but they’re expected to continue easing this week.

The centre notes some mid-week precipitation may cause minor, temporary increases in flows within smaller systems.

An earlier update from the forecaster said the weather system brought between 40 to 300 millimetres of precipitation to the south coast before easing Friday.

Environment Canada figures show Coquitlam, B.C., recorded 151 millimetres of rain between Wednesday and Friday, and crews continue to clean up a mudslide north of the city that forced the evacuation of eight residents by helicopter on Thursday.

The Canadian Press – Mar 22, 2026 / 10:35 am | Story: 604943

Police say homicide investigators are taking control of the probe into a man’s death in Surrey on Saturday, and a suspect has been arrested.

A statement from the Surrey Police Service says RCMP officers with the Surrey Provincial Operations Support Unit were called to help paramedics and firefighters responding to an injured and unresponsive man in the 9800 block of Foxglove Drive, a short distance from the Mounties’ “E” Division headquarters.

Police say paramedics tried to save the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

While the investigation is in its early stages, police say it appears to be an isolated incident, with a suspect taken into custody.

Police say the BC Prosecution Service has yet to approve charges.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press – Mar 22, 2026 / 7:50 am | Story: 604936

An affidavit filed by Rosita Fatemi said her meeting with Arezou Soltani and Mehdi Ahmadzadeh Razavi took place in a parking lot in the Park Royal mall in West Vancouver, the heart of British Columbia’s Iranian community.

The document said she and her two fellow founding directors of a B.C. non-profit society opposed to the Iranian regime were there to discuss a lawsuit filed by another activist, Masood Masjoody, who had accused Soltani and Razavi of being aligned with the dictatorship.

Razavi had accused her at the meeting of communicating with Masjoody, and took her phone without her consent when she tried to refute the accusation, her affidavit says.

During the same meeting, Fatemi alleges that Soltani wanted to know how to “silence” someone, in a way that would “look natural.”

“She also asked me for a drug substance to ‘get rid of him.’ Based on the context of the discussion, I understood her to be referring to the plaintiff (Masjoody) and causing him to be murdered,” she said.

The affidavit was filed in Masjoody’s lawsuit against Soltani, Razavi, the foundation and others on Jan. 28.

Five days later, Masjoody was reported missing by his neighbours in Burnaby and on March 6, his remains were discovered in Mission.

Razavi and Soltani have now been charged with first-degree murder in his death, although police have not said how he died.

Homicide investigators said when contacted days after the announcement of murder charges that police were initially unaware of the allegations contained in Fatemi’s affidavit.

The circumstances preceding the mathematician’s death play out in a sprawling legal record that is a result of Masjoody’s many lawsuits, that kept the courts so occupied that he was branded a “vexatious litigant” by a judge, castigated for wasting precious court resources.

Masjoody was an outspoken critic of both Iran’s Islamic regime and the royalist faction of the diaspora community, which supports the exiled former crown prince Reza Pahlavi, who is now jockeying to lead the country should the Iranian administration topple as a result of U.S. and Israeli bombing campaigns.

Pahlavi too was a target of legal action by Masjoody, who accused him of defamation. In an affidavit, Pahlavi denied even knowing Masjoody, and denied involvement in any harassment, defamation or “conspiracy” against him.

Masjoody had launched several lawsuits in recent years, alleging he was the victim of harassment and defamation, and his eccentric legal antics saw him clash with former colleagues at Simon Fraser University, judges, lawyers, media and others in the anti-Iranian regime activist community, including Razavi and Soltani.

The non-profit society, the Canadian Iranian Wakuppers Foundation, is registered to Soltani’s home address in North Vancouver, a short drive from Park Royal just over the boundary with West Vancouver.

A white Mercedes sedan sat parked outside the home during a recent visit, where no one answered the door.

Uncollected mail protruded from the mailbox and a small, festive gift bag had been left outside the front door.

Fatemi, a naturopathic doctor, also lives in North Vancouver high in the hills of the upper Lonsdale area, where a pre-revolution lion and sun flag drooped in the rain on a flagpole affixed to her home’s garage.

A man who answered the door said she wasn’t home and that she did not want to speak about her affidavit.

The foundation’s constitution says it was incorporated for the purposes of “identifying and exposing the individuals, organizations and activities affiliated with the Islamic regime of Iran; who not only undermine democracy and violate human rights in Iran but also invade Canadian borders.”

“Supporting people affected by the Islamic regime of Iran in Canada. Raising awareness about the influence and activities of individuals and organizations affiliated with the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which promotes radical Islamic theocracy and endangers democracy and human rights in Canada.”

The foundation’s documents, obtained by The Canadian Press, show it was formed in June 2023, but Fatemi’s affidavit says she hasn’t been involved in its day-to-day operations since late 2023.

Masjoody had filed several lawsuits in B.C. prior to his death, and the foundation, Soltani and Razavi were among numerous defendants named in his multiple legal actions in recent years.

Sgt. Freda Fong, spokeswoman for B.C.’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said police were aware of Masjoody’s disputes with the suspects.

“It’s on the public record that there are ongoing civil disputes as well as exchanges on social media platform involving the victim as well as the accused,” Fong said on March 14 at a Surrey, B.C., news conference. “Whether or not that forms a motive of the homicide, it is still under investigation.”

Fong said in an emailed statement that homicide investigators only became involved after he went missing, and before that “had no knowledge of Mr. Masjoody or any alleged plot against him.”

“Once we took over the case, over the course of our investigation, we came across an abundance of disputes including those over social media as well as the material in the civil claims,” Fong said.

Masjoody alleged in court documents that he had called police and opened multiple files with Burnaby and North Vancouver RCMP in connection with his lawsuits.

Burnaby RCMP and North Vancouver RCMP did not respond to a request for comment.

Soltani and Razavi made a brief court appearance by video in Vancouver on March 16, and they’re due back in court on March 25.

The Canadian Press – Mar 21, 2026 / 12:25 pm | Story: 604845

British Columbia’s river forecaster has downgraded the flood watch advisory that had spanned the province’s south coast as rain deluged the region last week.

A bulletin from the B.C. River Forecast Centre says the multi-day atmospheric river system brought a range of 40 to 300 millimetres of precipitation to the region.

It says the heaviest rainfall was recorded around Howe Sound, the North Shore and Coast mountains and the Fraser Valley.

While snow initially fell in mid- and high-elevation areas, the centre says warming temperatures led to snowmelt and runoff later in the week.

But it says rain eased Friday and the return of cooler temperatures has reduced snowmelt.

A lower-level high streamflow advisory now spans B.C.’s south coast along with the Lillooet River near Pemberton, the Fraser Valley and the Skagit and Similkameen regions.

Luke Faulks / Pique Newsmagazine – Mar 20, 2026 / 5:39 pm | Story: 604771

A rockslide that forced the closure of Whistler Mountain’s Peak Express Chair last week is not an isolated incident, but part of a much larger and ongoing geological story playing out across the Sea to Sky’s mountains.

No one was injured in the early morning March 12 slide, which occurred while the resort was closed. But the event has drawn attention from geologists who say it offers a rare, visible glimpse into the forces that have shaped—and continue to reshape—the Sea to Sky corridor over millions of years.

A landscape shaped by four forces

The Whistler rockslide fits into a broader geological framework known as the Fire & Ice Aspiring GeoRegion, which interprets the region through four key processes: mountain-building, glaciation, volcanism and collapse.

Steve Quane, PhD and head geologist at the Sea to Sky Fire & Ice GeoRegion, explains the slide is an example of the fourth and final pillar of a mountain’s lifecycle. He sums it up: “You have mountains built up, glaciers leaving, weather working away at them, and things collapsing down into the valleys.”

Mountain-building in the region is driven by tectonic activity along the West Coast, where plates converge and push the land upward. Even today, the Coast Mountains where Whistler is nestled are still rising, while erosion works to wear them down.

Glaciation has sculpted the landscape over the past two million years, carving valleys and steepening slopes. In British Columbia, alpine glaciers continue to form and retreat at higher elevations, while continental ice sheets dominated during past ice ages.

Volcanism is central to Whistler’s origin. The mountain itself is part of an ancient volcanic system—formed by eruptions of magma that created layers of lava flows and volcanic rock.

And finally, collapse—the process most visible in last week’s event—refers to both gradual erosion and sudden failures like rockslides and landslides.

Fault line in the mountain

Near the slide is a visible boundary between two very different types of rock. Quane suggests that may have been the culprit of the Whistler slide.

Whistler Peak is composed of ancient volcanic rocks alongside sedimentary shale formed in shallow ocean environments where fine sediments accumulated over time. Where these materials meet, they form a transition zone that can represent a structural weak point, known as “geologic contact.”

“And so that is an inherent weakness,” Quane explained, with the caveat that any investigation of the slide won’t be possible until after the snow melts away. “[You] have this boundary area where these rocks could be weaker at that spot, and that could have been where it failed.”

That contrast between volcanic rock and shale matters. The volcanic rock is crystalline and tends to fracture into blocky chunks, while shale breaks along flat bedding planes—essentially thin layers that can shear more easily under stress.

“The rock [does] kind of shear off easier along those bedding planes,” Quane explained, noting shale slopes can behave like stacked plates prone to sliding. It’s those stacked plates that may have given way in the March 12 slide.

No obvious trigger

Despite speculation about immediate causes, Quane said rockslides like the one on Whistler Peak rarely hinge on a single dramatic trigger; instead, they’re the culmination of long-term processes, like freeze-thaw cycles, water infiltration, and gravity.

“You have this competition between gravity [and] weathering,” Quane said. “As soon as some part of that rock gets weaker than the force of gravity, it’ll slide.”

In the alpine environment, those weakening forces are relentless. Temperatures on Whistler Peak can swing dramatically, allowing water to seep into cracks, freeze, expand and gradually pry the rock apart over time.

Another factor increasingly shaping slope stability is climate change. As glaciers retreat across the Coast Mountains, they remove a key source of support for steep slopes—a process known as “toe slope support.”

“Those glaciers will support the slopes, and so if you take that support away, you start to see more landslides,” Quane said.

In the Sea to Sky corridor, where glaciers have been receding for decades, that shift is now intersecting with already steep, fractured terrain.

The result of all those pressures is what Quane describes as “long, long, long [periods] with the occasional perturbation where you have a landslide”—events that may appear sudden but are decades or centuries in the making.

Mountains still on the rise

While erosion and collapse are constantly reshaping Whistler’s slopes, the mountains themselves are still actively growing—driven by forces deep beneath the Earth’s surface.

Off the West Coast of British Columbia, the Juan de Fuca plate is being forced beneath the North American plate in a process known as subduction. That continuous pressure pushes the crust upward, helping build the Coast Mountains over some 250 million years. This tectonic convergence is responsible for both the region’s mountain-building and its chain of volcanoes stretching from B.C. through Washington and Oregon.

At the same time, a second, less visible process is also lifting the landscape: isostatic rebound.

During the last Ice Age, the Sea to Sky region was buried under glaciers up to two kilometres thick. The immense weight of that ice compressed the Earth’s crust. Now, as those glaciers retreat, the land is slowly springing back upward.

“Imagine squeezing on a racketball. That squeezing would have been the one or two kilometres thick of ice,” Quane said. “Now all that ice is gone, [the land is] slowly decompressing.”

Together, these forces mean the Coast Mountains exist in a constant push and pull: tectonics and rebound driving them upward, while weathering, glaciers and gravity tear them down.

That tension, Quane explains, helps explain why the Sea to Sky corridor is defined by steep, jagged peaks—unlike older mountain ranges like the Appalachians on the East Coast of the continent, where tectonic activity has long since stopped and erosion has smoothed the landscape.

‘A landscape in motion’

The Whistler slide is part of a broader pattern across the Sea to Sky corridor, where steep terrain, heavy precipitation and active geology combine to create what Quane and the Fire & Ice GeoRegion describes as “a landscape in motion.”

“It is happening all the time,” he said of rockfalls and landslides, noting they are simply more notable when they occur near infrastructure or populated areas.

Hiking around the Sea to Sky area, he added, provides evidence of the massive historical rockfalls that helped shape the region—including the recent closure of the Stawamus Chief and the historic 2010 landslide at Mount Meager.

Those examples help underscore how dynamic the region remains—even if the slides themselves are comparatively minor in the grand schedule of mountain-building and glacial recession.

“It’s really about perspective,” Quane said. “This is a big deal for us, [but] in geology, this is a very small event.”

The Fire & Ice GeoRegion has put together a video that digs deeper into the forces shaping the Sea to Sky.

The Canadian Press – Mar 20, 2026 / 5:29 pm | Story: 604646

Sandbags, dikes, and stacks of giants rocks appear to be doing their job holding back the Chilliwack River from flooding parts of Fraser Valley in British Columbia after days of rain soaked southern parts of the province.

A local state of emergency has been declared in the Fraser Valley for the Chilliwack area, where evacuation alerts covered just under 40 homes on Friday.

The Fraser Valley Regional District said in a statement that the prolonged rainfall has raised the potential harms to people, property, infrastructure and the environment.

District director Patti MacAhonic said efforts to shore up the rise of the river are starting to pay off.

“I think people are feeling more hopeful than they did at first,” she said.

Photos provided show an excavator working among large boulders that have been stacked along the riverbank.

MacAhonic said the river is supposed to peak around 1 a.m. Saturday, and if current projections hold true, she thinks that the area will be able “to ride this one out.”

The district said the state of emergency will remain in effect until the threat to public safety is resolved and that residents of properties under alert should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

Most of the rainfall warnings has been lifted in the province by Friday afternoon, although Environment Canada noted heavy rain, combined with mountain snow melt, could lead to bloated river systems and the potential for flooding.

A rain warning covering the Trans-Canada Highway — Eagle Pass to Rogers Pass, Kootenay Lake and Arrow Lakes — Slocan Lake areas remained, but the weather office said it was expected to subside by Friday evening “when the atmospheric river gives way and a cold front passes.”

A wind warning remains up for parts of B.C.’s Interior, with gusts up to 90 km/h before they ease Friday night.

The BC River Forecast Centre issued a flood watch for rivers and streams in the Fraser Valley, Metro Vancouver, Howe Sound and the Sea-to-Sky corridor and the Sunshine Coast, saying the last few days of rainfall arrive on top of previous totals, while freezing levels remain elevated, contributing to snowmelt.

High streamflow advisories were also posted on Friday for much of the southern part of B.C., including the Boundary Region, West and East Kootenay, and parts of the Upper Columbia River.

Similar advisories remain up for the Central Coast and all of Vancouver Island.

A high streamflow advisory means that river levels are rising or are expected to rise rapidly, but that no major flooding is expected.

No parts of the province are under a flood warning, which means that river levels have exceeded bankfull or will exceed bankfull imminently, and that flooding will occur.

Local search and rescue crews in Coquitlam had to evacuate eight residents and three pets by helicopter after a mudslide on Thursday.

Ian Cunnings, who oversaw the efforts, said in an interview Friday that it was not safe to rescue the residents trapped on the other side of the slide by foot, because of the pile of debris.

He said the rented helicopter lifted evacuees up about 45 metres using a fixed line hanging off the chopper.

A member of the search and rescue team accompanied each evacuee as they were taken up off their properties, he said.

Coquitlam Search and Rescue said on social media that the entire evacuation lasted around six hours, but Cunnings said each helicopter ride was “quite short, maybe one or two minutes.”

The city said in a statement Friday that no additional landslides have been observed, and no further evacuations have taken place.

Deputy Fire Chief Chris Fox said cleanup of the affected area will get underway, as rainfall eases and a geotechnical team will assess the slide area.

“Residents are reminded to avoid the area, and follow all directions from emergency personnel,” he said.

Avalanche Canada labelled much of southern B.C. as a moderate to high avalanche risk on Friday, saying “heavy rain and high freezing levels will continue to create very dangerous conditions.”

A part of the B-C Rockies along its boundary with Alberta was flagged as an extreme avalanche danger.

Environment Canada said the rain came along with an unseasonable warm air mass that also resulted in several daily high temperature records.

The weather station in Coquitlam recorded 133 millimetres of rain as of Friday morning, while Maple Ridge saw 124 millimetres and Burnaby Mountain recorded 118 millimetres.

The temperature in Kamloops on Thursday reached 21.2, a notch above the record sent on the same day in 1947, while it was more than a degree warmer in Summerland at 19.5 C than the last record broken in 1928.

Commuter service on the West Coast Express was temporarily suspended on Thursday because of a mudslide in Maple Ridge, B.C., but returned to normal Friday.

Meteorologist Brian Proctor said the atmospheric river system is expected to move out Friday, but the province will need a prolonged period of dry weather for conditions to stabilize.

The Canadian Press – Mar 20, 2026 / 3:45 pm | Story: 604744

A new four-year agreement between British Columbia’s roughly 27,000 community health workers and the province has been ratified by union members, with more than 91 per cent voting in favour of the deal.

The Community Bargaining Association, which represents seven unions covering workers in home support, shelters, supportive housing and other operations, says the new deal comes into effect on April 1 and expires on March 31, 2029.

The tentative deal between the unions and the Health Employers Association of British Columbia was announced in February, after the last agreement expired almost a year ago.

The association says the deal includes a three per cent annual wage increase for each year of the deal, as well as improvements in weekend and afternoon premium pay, stronger workplace safety and more predictable scheduling for workers.

BC General Employees’ Union, whose members make up 60 per cent of the seven unions represented by the Community Bargaining Association, says the new agreement closes “long-standing pay gaps” with other health workers in the province.

Union vice president Scott De Long says the negotiations were “never just about money,” adding that the agreement addresses “care gaps” affecting all British Columbians who rely on health-care services.

The Canadian Press – Mar 20, 2026 / 12:49 pm | Story: 604708

The 12-year-old girl seriously injured in the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., is undergoing a fourth surgery, this time to repair her fractured skull.

Maya Gebala’s mother, Cia Edmonds, posted on social media that the latest surgery is to place a prosthetic piece in the girl’s skull where she was shot on Feb. 10.

Edmonds says in the post that her daughter still cannot talk or move her right side, but she can move her left hand and leg and is able to stare at her mother with her uninjured eye.

She says there is concern about a possible new infection but says she knows her daughter “is fighting” to recover.

Gebala was shot three times when the attacker went into Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, killing five other students and a teacher’s aide.

Edmonds says in her post that it’s been a “roller-coaster of set backs, infections and surgeries,” but Maya appears to be back on track again.

Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press – Mar 20, 2026 / 11:08 am | Story: 604686

A University of British Columbia researcher says invasive grasses are creeping into burnt landscapes years after wildfires and could fuel massive future fires that put people’s lives at risk.

Jennifer Grenz, an assistant professor in the department of forest resources management, co-authored a study that focuses on the aftermath of the McKay Creek wildfire, a 46,000 hectare fire that burned near Lillooet in 2021 during the record-breaking heat dome.

The study, published this month in the journal “Fire Ecology,” took place in B.C.’s southern Interior, a region that includes dry forests and grassland.

Grenz says that while native plants were slow to recover, invasive grasses like cheatgrass are starting to grow into lower-elevation areas where people live.

She says the cheatgrass dries out quickly and acts like kindling, creating a “fuel highway” that causes fire to spread faster, and noted that similar grasses contributed to deadly wildfires in Hawaii in 2023.

Grenz says the grasses could lead to the next major wildfire in B.C., and recommends the province create its own department with a dedicated budget to tackle invasive plants.