The Aquatic Centre to make a splash this week

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Nanaimo recreation department services reopen

Nanaimo's recreation department is hoping to make a splash this week, with the reopening of indoor rec centres and the Aquatic Centre. The region's rec centres and pools were closed in March, due to COVID-19. The city's manager of aquatics says there has been a lot of interest in Thursday's reopening of the Aquatic Center. Kathy Gonzales says she's been hearing from competitive sports teams, families and many others.

"The one group I hear the most from would be mostly seniors and people looking for access for rehabilitation and range of motion type activities, and people with mobility issues in general"—Manager of Aquatics, Kathy Gonzales

Gonzales says although the pool got the official go-ahead from the province in mid-June, a lot of organizational work followed to ensure a safe reopening. Plans had to be approved by both city and local health officials. Gonzales says changes might still be made throughout this opening week, and she's asking people to be patient.

"The COVID-plans seems to be fluid with COVID and constantly changing and so we ask for patience and understanding while we are working through the changes and figuring out what needs to be done to and how we can keep offering great services to the community."—Kathy Gonzales

There will be public swims but pre-registration is required since the number of swimmers will be limited to 20. There are no swimming lessons being offered yet and there are no immediate plans to reopen the pool at Beban Park. Other rec activities including skating, drop-in sports, weight room workouts and pottery sessions are starting up as well. All sessions must be pre-registered and pre-paid up to 72 hours in advance. This new system to limit participants is to comply with the Provincial Mass Gathering Order and to give staff time to clean and sanitize the facilities between sessions.

RCMP handout fines to four Americans dawdling through the province

RCMP in B.C. have handed out fines to four Americans for dawdling on their way through the province. A police spokesperson told the Associated Press it started with a call about a suspicious vehicle with an Alaskan license plate in Vancouver last month. Dawn Roberts says police concluded the four Alaskans were not on the most direct path from Alaska to Washington State. They had been in BC for longer than the allowed time. Roberts says the driver and three passengers were fined $500 each for violating an emergency order. They were escorted to the Peace Arch Border Crossing. Roberts says they did not pose a health risk and similar situations have so far, been rare.
Vancouver Island will be the first region in B.C. to convert to LED lighting along provincial highways and roadways. The Minister of Transportation says the new lighting will improve visibility for drivers and benefit the environment. Claire Trevena says besides providing better visibility, LED lights will use less energy and reduce maintenance costs. There are 24,000 lighting fixtures that will be converted throughout BC. It will save the province $2 million dollars a year.