2023 was a busy news cycle many of us soon won鈥檛 forget, filled with record-breaking wildfires, as well as housing and toxic drug crises and global conflicts highlighted through protests here in B.C.
Black Press Media journalists looked through top stories read most by you, our readers, and reviewed the key issues that encapsulated all that was this year:
A historic wildfire season
It was a record year for wildfires in B.C.
With 2.84 million hectares burned from 2,245 wildfires, 2023 saw more than double the last record of 1.35 million set in 2018.
It was during a weekend in August that Premier David Eby declared , saying the situation had 鈥渆volved and deteriorated quite rapidly.鈥� The state of emergency lasted 28 days.
At one point, there were more than 37,000 British Columbians on evacuation alert and 25,000 on evacuation order.
Some of the hardest-hit areas included Kelowna, the Shuswap and the northeastern part of the province. B.C. also welcomed hospital and long-term care after wildfires ripped through communities there.
Firefighters die in line of duty
While wildfires topped the news for most of B.C. and Canada, it was also a deadly year for wildland firefighters.
B.C. Wildfire Service鈥檚 operations director, Cliff Chapman, said in his 21 years in the industry, he鈥檚 鈥渘ever felt the heaviness that we are feeling this season.鈥�
In B.C., six firefighters were killed in the line of duty while a seventh was killed in Alberta and another died in the Northwest Territories.
Devyn Gale, 19, was killed July 13 while working near Revelstoke. She was a third-year firefighter with B.C. Wildfire Service.
Zak Muise, 25, died on July 28 while working on the Donnie Creek wildfire. He was in a remote area, about 150 kilometres north of Fort St. John, when the UTV he was riding on rolled over a steep drop on a gravel road.
Then in September, in a highway crash when heading home after aiding wildfire response efforts in the Vanderhoof area.
Elsewhere in Canada, a firefighter was killed in Alberta and another in the Northwest Territories.
Droughts plague B.C.
B.C. was left parched in 2023. The province entered the year under minor drought conditions, which quickly turned into extreme ones as hot weather triggered an early snowmelt and regular levels of rain refused to fall.
By July, the provincial government said drought conditions had become unprecedented for that time of year. The impacts were far reaching, with wildfires exacerbated, farmers struggling to grow crops and feed livestock and waterways drying up.
The fall season brought some moisture, but not nearly enough to alleviate the issue. British Columbians continued to feel the repercussions into the winter as many ski hills put off their opening for weeks due to a lack of snow.
As 2023 closes out, eight of 叠.颁.鈥檚 34 water basins are still at the two most extreme levels of drought. Only three are experiencing no adverse impacts.
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SOGI 123 protests
Despite SOGI 123, or Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, being a part of school curriculum for seven years, it became the centre of protests 鈥� and counter-protests 鈥� at school board meetings and outside schools in 2023.
Protests led by the 1 Million March 4 Children group saw British Columbians calling for the learning guidelines to be removed from classrooms.
Meanwhile, those in favour argued the program helps keep children of all gender identities safe.
The debate made its way into the B.C. Legislature, with for comparing residential schools to gender and sexuality education in public schools.
BC Ferries chaos
It was rocky sailing once again for BC Ferries in 2023. Staffing shortages and mechanical failures caused countless delays and cancellations, the company鈥檚 booking system crashed on numerous occasions and the union representing BC Ferries workers .
Things got so bad, the province announced in October that it would begin for missed sailings. The details of that are set to be released in spring 2024.
The marine transportation company says it鈥檚 also working to remedy its issues internally. It and president at the start of 2023 鈥� Nicolas Jimenez, formerly of ICBC 鈥� and four new vice presidents in October.
SPCA seizures
Hundreds upon hundreds of animals were found living in deplorable conditions throughout B.C. in 2023. The SPCA seized dogs, cats, cows, bunnies, reptiles, birds and everything in between, anytime it discovered the creatures weren鈥檛 being properly cared for.
The animal cruelty organization reported a range of harmful living conditions, including homes covered in feces, urine and garbage. Many animals were found undernourished and suffering from various health conditions.
In a at a Cawston cattle farm, numerous cows were found dead and several more had to be euthanized.
Throughout the year, owners who were determined to have mistreated their animals were ordered to pay thousands of dollars to the SPCA.
Toxic drug crisis
B.C. began 2023 with the unrolling of its three-year drug decriminalization pilot project. The project, which allows people to carry small amounts of illicit substances on them, is intended to lower their number of interactions with law enforcement and reduce stigma against them.
The efficacy of the project has yet to be measured, but many advocates and experts spent the year pushing for a different type of change: safer supply. A BC Coroners Service death review panel recommended in November that the province introduce non-prescription access to safer supply, so fewer people have to depend on toxic drugs sold on the street. The province immediately rejected the suggestion.
While the BC Coroners Service has not yet released death tolls for the final two months of the year, 2,039 people died from the unregulated, toxic drug supply in the first 10 months, amounting to six to seven lives lost a day. It continues to be the leading cause of death for British Columbians aged 10 to 59.
Housing
Whether it was rising rates on a mortgage, unaffordable rentals, the threat of eviction, or outright homelessness, British Columbians had housing on their minds in 2023.
Both rental and housing prices continued to be some of the highest in North America, and a general shortage of each left people clinging on to what they had or desperately trying to find something if they didn鈥檛.
Rates of homelessness jumped and the public regularly heard from people who were struggling to hold onto shelter.
In response, the provincial government took a number of unprecedented steps, each receiving mixed reactions. It set specific for individual municipalities, and development regulations to allow for more units on single-home lots, pushed for more , looked at issuing designs to expedite the process, and to more communities.
The total impacts of these possible solutions likely won鈥檛 be seen until 2024 and 2025.
Protests for Palestine
British Columbians are vocal about global events and issues, and this year was no exception.
The historic Israel-Palestine conflict made global headlines in October, after Hamas militant groups staged an attack on south Israel. In the nearly three months since then, the Israeli military鈥檚 retaliation has killed more than 21,800 Palestinians.
In B.C., pro-Palestine groups demonstrated on the streets of many cities 鈥� including outside a Vancouver restaurant as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ate inside 鈥� demanding a ceasefire.
As well, calls to end anti-Semitism and hate have been highlighted by Jewish Canadians, as well as Premier David Eby.
Drug crimes
Drug busts were a hot topic in B.C. in 2023, with search warrants turning up stashes of illicit substances, weapons and cash throughout the province. 叠.颁.鈥檚 anti-gang agency, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit was happy to report numerous arrests of alleged drug traffickers, as well as the removal of drugs such as fentanyl from the black market.
The investigations also netted several guilty pleas from gang members, such as full patch Hells Angels member in September and Brothers Keepers member in October.
Federal policing units also played a part in intercepting organized crime in B.C. Last March, they turned up , which was valued at $600,000 and estimated to be capable of producing 262 million doses of the drug. They also seized a pill pressing machine capable of producing 60,000 pills per hour.
Reconciliation on a global scale
A homecoming celebration in a northern B.C. village for a memorial totem pole after an absence of almost 100 years highlighted the reckoning of Indigenous artifact ownership and repatriation on a global level.
The House of Ni鈥檌sjoohl memorial totem, on display in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh since 1930, was returned to its ancestral Nisga鈥檃 Nation village home in the remote Nass Valley.
In an interview with Black Press Media, Indigenous Education and Governance Canada Research Chair Amy Parent highlighted the historical significance of this event at the time.
鈥淚t means everything to our family,鈥� Parent said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like bringing home a dear grandparent that鈥檚 almost in their 90s and have never met that鈥檚 been imprisoned in a European museum for over 90 years.鈥�
This wasn鈥檛 the only important artifact to be returned in 2023: A First Nations house post was returned to its home of the Gitxaala Nation, including spending the last two decades in storage at Harvard University.
Plane crashes
There were nearly a dozen small plane and helicopter crashes in B.C. this year, with 鈥� and one being misidentified as a crash by RCMP, while the pilot remains missing four months after a helicopter crash.
Back in August, a helicopter went down in the Shuswap region, . There were four people in total in the helicopter, but one person who is believed to be the pilot, remains missing after leaving the scene prior to police arriving.
In October, three people were killed when . Two of the victims were later identified as , both 25 years old and from Mumbai.
Two people were rescued from Harrison Lake in August after crashing in their float plane. The plane ultimately .
A small plane crashed into a Surrey field in June, leading to a grass fire. A friend of the pilot said the man was about the crash.
And, finally, a plane wreck at first 鈥渃onfirmed鈥� by RCMP to be a decades-old crash was actually the .
Restaurants closures
Restaurants across Canada were dealt another year of post-pandemic hardships with new data released this year showing that half of restaurants are either losing money or breaking even.
Restaurants Canada said in October that 75 per cent of table-service restaurants and 51 per cent of quick-service food options were still in debt due to the pandemic.
In B.C., numerous restaurants closed this year due to rising rent, labour shortages and food costs 鈥� many that were staples in local communities.
In an interview with Global 亚洲天堂, BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association CEO Ian Tostenson said as many as 2,000 restaurants could be shuttered by spring.
Advocates and premiers have been calling on the federal government to delay loan repayments for the Canada Emergency Business Account program launched at the height of COVID-19. The Trudeau government already delayed payment deadlines from December to mid-January.
An estimated 123,800 businesses relied on this pandemic program, according to the B.C. government.
Policing in B.C.
Once again, Surrey鈥檚 policing transition dominated provincial news. The now-five-year saga has led to a back and forth between the City of Surrey and the province, specifically Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth.
In April, Farnworth to the Surrey Police Service from the Surrey RCMP. Mayor Brenda Locke then went back and forth with Farnworth over a redacted report, accusing him of .
, Farnworth ordered the city to moved forward with its transition. In October, he introduced legislation, updating the process to 鈥渞emove uncertainty鈥� when a municipality decides to change their police of jurisdiction, and a month later he temporarily suspended the Surrey Police Board.
The saga is still playing out, with the city filing a B.C. Supreme Court challenge against Farnworth鈥檚 July decision.
Through all of that, Farnworth has been asked repeatedly if now is the time for B.C. to move away from the RCMP and switch to .
That discussion stemmed from the 2022 report aimed at transforming 叠.颁.鈥檚 Police Act. It provided 11 recommendations, including a move to a provincial police service, that were set to see discussions . That has since been delayed to spring 2024.
Sikh attack
What began as a shooting in Surrey in June has led to souring international relationships between Canada and India.
Surrey RCMP was called to the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara on for a report of a shooting in the temple鈥檚 parking lot. The victim was the gurdwara鈥檚 president, 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a vocal advocate for an independent Sikh state of Khalistan in India.
Three months later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons there was intelligence linking agents of India鈥檚 government to Nijjar鈥檚 death. In the weeks after Trudeau鈥檚 allegations, India told Canada to , India put for Canadian nationals and .
叠.颁.鈥檚 continues to investigate the killing, with the most recent update in . U.S. prosecutors also claim Nijjar鈥檚 shooting is planned in Canada and the United States.
Highway 5 fatalities
叠.颁.鈥檚 Highway 5 continues to be a deadly strip of road. The thoroughfare, which connects Kamloops to Alberta, sees dozens of crashes every year, many of which were fatal in 2023.
The mayors of Barriere and Clearwater made throughout the year to B.C. officials to address the highway鈥檚 lack of safety. They said they need more signage, more variable speed zones, better emergency detours and reflective line painting and more passing lanes.
The ministry of transportation says it is undertaking an engineering review of the highway to determine how safety may be improved.
叠.颁.鈥檚 alert system
Emergency alerts were quite literally a hot topic in 2023, from heat warnings to wildfire evacuations.
When the province back in November, it noted B.C. had issued 24 emergency alerts for wildfire evacuations in 2023. It was in 2022 that B.C. announced the system would be expanded to wildfires and flooding, as well as the launch of the BC Heat Alert and Response System. The heat alert system has three tiers: .
But the emergency alert system isn鈥檛 just for weather-related warnings. Police use the system for Amber Alerts and other public emergencies.
This year the Surrey RCMP issued two Amber Alerts: one lasting barely two hours and another stretching more than a week that led to two people being charged with abduction.
Overpass crashes
Seventeen.
That鈥檚 how many commercial trucks hit overpasses in B.C. in 2023.
The most recent hit was a Highway 99 overpass in Delta on Dec. 28, leading to the province suspending the trucking company鈥檚 safety certificate. It was Chohan Freight Forwarders Ltd.鈥檚 sixth time hitting an overpass in two years.
The suspension is the first one since Transportation Minister Rob Fleming announced on Dec. 14 that the province will implement for companies and drivers with repeat offences, adding longer suspensions and possible loss of their operating certificate.
Highway 4 challenges
The only highway connecting the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island was dealt a number of blows throughout the year.
Highway 4, connecting Tofino and Ucluelet with the rest of the Island via Port Alberni, has been the subject of delays and concerns for years, but in 2023 a long-lasting fire and numerous closures has led to calls for a secondary route.
along the route at Cameron Lake Bluff on June 6, closing a portion of the highway between Port Alberni and Parksville. had to be brought in to support commercial vehicles travelling along a rural detour route. Highway 4 fully reopened to two-way traffic on Aug. 31.
The ongoing closures through the summer 鈥� a busy tourism season for Tofino and Ucluelet 鈥� brought about for the disaster assistance programs. The Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce estimated the initial closure cost West Coast businesses .
But the closures didn鈥檛 stop after the summer wildfires. Most recently, the highway was over Christmas and Boxing Day following a rock slide.
