It's the last week of semester one, and everyone is coughing. 

Half of the students are in the throes of illness and the other half are next. Everyone collectively wishes they were at home, but alas, there are tests to be taken, presentations to be completed and assignments to be handed in. This is no time to be weak and succumb to the most natural of human afflictions. Staying home means admitting defeat — and taking an academic hit during one of the most crucial periods of the year. Even teachers are coming to school sick, because that lesson plan won’t teach itself. To many, this is just how it has to be; academic gain requires personal sacrifice. But hidden behind every disposable mask and poorly concealed coughing fit is a toxic mindset that our education system has instilled in us.

While our education system outwardly “encourages” students to stay home when ill, this isn’t supported by the protocols and systems that are currently in place. Due to a lack of e-learning infrastructure, an extreme diversity in teacher mindsets on absence guidelines, academic value being placed on attendance, and the semester system, students are almost always penalized, either overtly or indirectly, for missing school, even if it is warranted for health reasons. Indirectly, and most importantly, learning is deeply impacted by being absent as students miss crucial lessons and the opportunity for immediate aid and feedback, leading to gaps in curriculum and difficulty catching up on work and ultimately resulting in poorer academic performance and feelings of burnout, confusion and overwhelm. Absences can also result in grade penalties for late work or missed assignments and tests. 

This leads the majority of students to come to school sick. They don’t really have a choice. Since students can’t exactly schedule their illness for weekends and breaks; they are forced to compromise their health in order to prioritize academic results. Although these systems are allegedly in place to combat chronic absenteeism in school, they end up doing more harm than good by blindly punishing any student absence, regardless of reason. While most students can admit to occasionally faking illness to get out of taking the beep test or writing that essay, justifiable absences taken out of medical necessity are much more common than the rampant truancy that our school systems use to justify penalizing student nonattendance. And it's not like the VSB is unable to create solutions to accommodate absent students, because we all saw how quickly they adjusted to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic — which our education system clearly did not learn any lessons from because we still have the same attendance policies, and same static workload. 

A self-fulfilling prophecy has emerged from the post-pandemic failures of our education system, where students who attend school while ill, due to academic pressure, end up spreading their illness to their peers, who then find themselves in the exact same situation — where being sick is something they can’t “afford.” This fosters an individualist environment inside our classrooms, where it’s everyone for themselves. If you miss school due to illness, you will fall behind. So you disregard everyone around you and attend class when sick, so you can prioritize your success (wearing a disposable mask and then coughing all over everyone doesn’t exactly count as considering others). While aggravating for those who will wake up tomorrow with a sore throat, these students aren’t to blame for the rampant spreading of illness in schools. Our education system has established the idea, through policy and practice, that sickness is an obstacle to productivity, placing academic output over the health of its students and staff, and it has done so in accordance with the values and expectations of our capitalist society. 

For the majority of students, who will become members of the working and middle class, they will have already been conditioned by institutionalized education to accept the idea that rest is contradictory to success — an idea that their future employers will exploit, because that is the only way the free-market economy will continue to function. Rest is the enemy of capitalism. You are promised that if you slave away, working endlessly and tirelessly, you will one day achieve some form of success. You must prioritize work over all else. If one rests, the whole system falls apart. 

Enter “sick days”: the designated number of days your employer allows you to succumb to illness and still be paid. Because how inconvenient would it be for a corporation to continue to have to pay its employees when they are unable to produce for the company's benefit? In the eyes of the ruling class, employees have to earn the right to rest — it is not something they are automatically entitled to. In a capitalist society, your employer has the power to deny you your humanity and exploit your labour capacity for capital gain, forcing you to come to work sick.

In Canada, sick leave is legally required, but differs depending on jurisdiction and employer. Those working in federally-regulated sectors like banking, telecommunications, shipping and transportation, which make up six per cent of the Canadian workforce, earn three days of paid sick leave after working for 30 consecutive days, after which they accrue one paid day per month with a maximum of ten days per year. The remaining 94 per cent of the workforce work in provincially-regulated sectors like retail, construction, manufacturing, social services, education, agriculture, tourism, etc, where sick leave policy varies by province. In British Columbia, workers are entitled to five days of paid sick leave and three days of unpaid sick leave each year after 90 days of work. An employer can offer additional sick days, either as a part of a company policy or in an employment contract, and can also request proof of illness or injury. While our policy is better and more comprehensive than that of our neighbours to the south, who are consistently ranked last in sick leave policy among developed nations, sick leave policy in Canada remains insufficient, inconsistent and is a gaping hole in our country’s social safety net. We still live in a country where workers feel compelled to come to work sick because they need to in order to make a living and get ahead, regardless of the impact it may have on the health of colleagues.

Capitalism thrives by positioning workers against each other, so they turn their attention off of the system that continues to benefit off their degradation. The same goes for our education system. The imminent need to get ahead drives students to blame each other for getting sick, rather than the system that makes it impossible to prioritize one’s health. Hate the game, not the player. In a capitalist system, it is not strategically advantageous to make decisions that benefit the collective. Skipping school when you are sick, so you don’t spread your illness, may positively impact your peers, but the negative personal impacts will likely outweigh this. In social democracies like Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, collective decision making is prioritized, and this impacts sick day policies. By allowing everyone the time and resources to take care of themselves, the collective benefits substantially. 

In Finland, which has been ranked the happiest country in the world for the last eight consecutive years, workers receive full pay for the first 10 days of an illness. After the first 10 days, they can apply for sickness allowance through Kela, the Finnish government’s social security agency, which covers a portion of one’s income for up to 300 work days. Denmark, which was ranked the second happiest country in the world by the World Happiness Project in 2025 and third for education by the World Top 20 Project in 2026, requires that employers pay full sick leave for the first 30 days of an illness. After this, the municipality will cover employee pay for up to 22 weeks in a nine month period. In Switzerland, which was ranked in the top 10 for global happiness, health, education and life expectancy in 2025, has a GDP of $1 trillion and whose citizens have a higher average net worth than anywhere else in the world, the majority of employers have sickness benefit insurance for their employees, which covers  80–100 per cent of one’s salary for 720–730 days of illness over a 900 day period, according to the Swiss government. If your employer does not have sickness benefit insurance, they must pay your full salary for a period of time, which starts at three weeks for the first year of employment and increases with each year of service. 

These countries demonstrate that employee health and humanity do not have to be sacrificed for innovation and capital gain, and that capitalism can function without the exploitation of workers. Comprehensive social safety nets lead to a higher quality of life for all, as well as increased rates of happiness, health and life expectancy. So what’s stopping us from implementing them in the workforce? Not surprisingly, having a healthy, rested workforce who don’t feel pressured to work when sick is not beneficial to the ruling class, who have been able to maximize personal profit to the detriment of employees. Redistribution of the corporate wealth structure erodes the power dynamic that the one per cent has historically used to exploit its workers. Simply put, when people are weakened, they are easier to control. Not only would a societal rest reset increase productivity in the workplace, as workers would be more engaged, efficient, and therefore, innovative, it would also greatly impact our education system by modelling work-life balance.

While adapting to a more flexible learning structure would require time, resources, and input, it would benefit students by allowing them to attend to their health and their education, without sacrificing either. It would allow students the right to be human, rather than simply future pawns of capitalism.

After the BC Conservative’s slim defeat in the 2024 Provincial election and the resignation of leader John Rustad, the role of BC Conservative Party leader is up for grabs. As of Feb. 28, nine candidates are campaigning to become the party leader, with the vote set to happen on May 30.

Although the BC Conservative Party came very close to winning the 2024 provincial election, securing 44 seats, it was not enough to match the New Democratic Party’s (NDP’s) 47 seats, according to CTV News.

At the time, the Conservatives gained support after Kevin Falcon, the leader of the BC United Party (formerly known as the BC Liberals), withdrew from the 2024 election and endorsed John Rustad and the BC Conservative Party. However, the conservatives would wind up losing the election, leading to the resignation of Rustad as leader in December 2025.

Since then, several contenders have thrown their hat in the ring to become the next party leader. According to a Feb. 28 news release from the BC Conservative Party, the nine official candidates include: Bruce Banman, Harman Bhangu, Iain Black, Caroline Elliott, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Yuri Fulmer, Warren Hamm, Darrell Jones and Peter Milobar.

The Vancouver Sun reports that each candidate is campaigning on similar issues like the economy, cost of living, public safety, and DRIPA. DRIPA, short for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, is the enabling legislation for the UN Declaration that sets out the rights of indigenous people around the world. Passed unanimously in 2019, DRIPA has become controversial amid concerns over the Act’s power to order the transfer of provincial land and resources to BC’s indigenous nations. 

Notable candidates include former Save on Foods president Darrell Jones,  former BC Liberal MLA Iain Black, businessman Yuri Fulmer, current Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar, and former Vice President of BC United Caroline Elliot. 

Jones is the former president of the Pattison Food Group, which owns Save On Foods. According to Quesnel Cariboo Observer, at a gathering in Surrey on the day he announced his bid, he highlighted some problems in BC that he hopes to tackle in office.

He started by pointing to BC’s affordability crisis.“It’s not just housing, but it’s the pricing of everything from gas to coffee,” said Jones. “We all see that our province is one of the most expensive places to live on planet Earth, and yet our government seems blind to these problems.”

He also believes that crime and the justice system have been out of control under the NDP government, and wants to invest in police and the justice system. "Whether it's random assaults by daily shootings in the Lower Mainland or street disorder across BC, it's clear our province has failed to keep our people safe." 

Finally, he called for DRIPA to be repealed. “Don’t get me wrong. Indigenous people are important, and it’s something that every person in British Columbia takes seriously, but we have created uncertainty for all British Columbians,” he said.  

Iain Black, a former BC Liberal MLA from 2005 to 2011, focuses his campaign on lower taxes, helping small businesses, and less government intervention.

“There are many practical steps the government can take to support small businesses. I’ve done this work before in government, and I know how it can be done better,” Black said, as per his campaign website.

Yuri Fulmer is a businessman who wants the new conservative government to be run with a business mindset. Fulmer plans to focus on what he believes are the main issues for BC voters, and was very clear about leaving everything else out of his campaign.

“We need to coalesce the right of centre around a few issues that are really important to British Columbians [...] And to be honest, we’ve got to zip it on everything else,” Fulmer said in an interview with Business in Vancouver.

Similarly, Fulmer wants to campaign around cost of living, healthcare, the economy and public safety, while leaving social issues he deems unimportant to voters out of his campaign.

Peter Milobar is a former BC United Party member, former city councillor and mayor of Kamloops, and has the most experience in politics out of the ten candidates, with 24 years, according to Business in Vancouver.

Milobar wants to focus on health care, affordability, crime, property rights, and education, with his pitch being “a level of seriousness and focus to the bigger picture” and “not getting caught in the weeds of turning everything into the biggest event of the day based on a various tweet or meme,” as per Business in Vancouver.

Caroline Elliott is another former BC United Party member, having served as the Vice President of the BC United Party. Elliot wants to focus on more job creation, drug treatment, education, and supporting businesses.

Elliott attacked theNDP on several key issues like the economy, cost of living, DRIPA, the education system, public safety, and healthcare on her website. According to Business in Vancouver,she also believes her liberal past shouldn't be a factor when the conservatives decide their new leader, saying she wants to be “really clear on what our principles are, and making sure that anyone who agrees with those principles is absolutely welcome to join the party, regardless of their political past.”

The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) will undergo its first review assessment this July. One of the main focuses of the meeting is whether the Online News Act, which prohibits the sharing of Canadian news on social media without compensation from social media platforms, can be resolved between Canada and the US tech giant Meta. Currently, both sides are in the early process of negotiation. 

After the Online News Act, Meta decided to avoid the fees by blocking every Canadian news outlet on all of its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. Google, on the other hand, has continued to share news in Canada but agreed to pay $100 million to Canadian news outlets, according to CTV News. 

The federal government is still openly seeking a potential agreement to bring news back onto Facebook and Instagram for Canadian residents. On Jan. 28, the spokesperson for federal Culture Minister Marc Miller, Hermine Landry, told CBC, “The door has always been open on our government’s side to discuss these issues. We've been having regular discussions with platforms since the Online News Act was developed. This is nothing new.” 

On the other hand, American Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told a congressional committee in December 2025 that “the Online News Act is a trade irritant because it treats U.S. companies unfairly,” according to CBC. 

During the Canadian news ban on Meta platforms, according to Public Media Alliance, media organizations have lost 43 per cent of public engagement on average.

Smaller news providers in Canada were the most impacted as their business depended greatly on the sharing of content through Meta platforms. The ban resulted in one-third of these organizations becoming inactive, according to Public Media Alliance.

Chuck Lapointe, the CEO of Narcity Media Group, a small online news media company, felt that the ban caused years of careful investment to disappear. “Right away, all of [our media was] blocked and Canadians were not able to see our content,” Lapointe said, according to Digital Context. “That was an immediate hit to revenue.”

According to Digital Context, since 2013, his outlets have gained over three million views, and as soon as the ban started, he “lost 50 per cent of [his] traffic overnight.”

On Feb. 8, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the world celebrated the 60th annual Super Bowl. The New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks competed to win the title of the NFL Super Bowl Champions and receive the Vince Lombardi Trophy, with the Seahawks emerging victorious.  

The Super Bowl was watched by approximately 124.9 million people in the United States across all major broadcast and streaming platforms, according to ESPN. The intense game ended with the Seahawks winning with 29 points and the Patriots losing with 13. 

ESPN reported that the game consisted of the Seahawks running back, Kenneth Walker III, constantly overturning Drake Maye, the Patriot’s quarterback, leading to the Seahawks stealing more touchdowns. The Patriots were scoreless for the first part of the game until wide receiver Mack Hollins was able to score a 35-yard touch-down. However, these plays weren’t enough to secure the Patriots as champions of the Super Bowl. 

Walker received the official Super Bowl MVP award, which is called the Pete Rozelle Trophy. Winning Super Bowl MVP is one of the highest individual honours in the NFL, and he became the first running back to win the award since 1998. Like all members of the winning team, Walker will also receive a Super Bowl championship ring from the Seahawks organization after the season, as is tradition for NFL champions. 

For many, the best part of watching the game was the halftime show. This year, the number one global artist, Bad Bunny, took the stage. With around 90 million monthly listeners on Spotify, he topped charts in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2025. He became the first Puerto Rican rapper to perform and sing entirely in Spanish in the Super Bowl. In the show, he celebrated his culture with many symbolic acts. Bad Bunny made the show very entertaining as he included many interesting props. The show included many special guests, including Cardi B, Ricky Martin, Jessica Alba, and Lady Gaga, who performed her hit song “Die with a Smile.”

Towards the end of his performance, Bad Bunny said, "God Bless America" and then named every country in North, South, and Latin America, including the United States and Canada. A massive billboard displayed in the stadium popped up during the performance and read, "The only thing more powerful than hate is love." 

However, US President Donald Trump publicly criticized the half-time show online. According to USA Today, he wrote on Truth Social on Feb. 8 that “the Super Bowl Halftime Show is terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn't represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence."

In early December 2025, US President Donald Trump’s administration introduced an immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota’s cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, deploying thousands of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to the areas. Throughout the deployment, two US citizens were fatally shot by ICE agents. The operation was met with public resistance and protests, with tensions rising due to the presence of the agents. 

In the first two weeks of the campaign, ICE arrested hundreds, including many Somali Americans. The arrests followed a series of comments Trump made about the Somali community, where he stated that he does not want them in the US, according to CBC.

Minnesota is home to about 84,000 people of Somali descent, which is the largest population of Somalis in the country. Following the raids and arrests, many Somali Americans reported that they felt scared to be outside.

“There’s people that aren’t leaving their house, because they’re scared of being mistaken for someone else and being captured,” an American citizen and member of the Somali community named Farah shared with CBC. 

On Jan. 6, ICE’s presence expanded with about 2,000 more agents deployed across Minnesota. Following this deployment, 37-year-old US Citizen Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent during an enforcement operation on Jan. 7 after refusing to exit her vehicle. 

A video of the altercation was widely shared on social media, showing an ICE agent firing multiple shots through the windshield as Good began reversing her car. On social media, US Vice-President JD Vance shared that the shooting was an act of self-defence; however, The Guardian reported that witnesses and protestors believe the footage of the incident does not support that narrative. Good’s death quickly became a focal point of citizen outrage, sparking an increase in protests across the country. 

Several days after Renee Good was shot, the State of Minnesota, along with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, filed an official lawsuit, asking the federal court to “end the unprecedented surge of DHS agents into the state and declare it unconstitutional and unlawful,” according to CBS. 

“We allege that the surge’s reckless impact on our schools, on our local law enforcement, is a violation of the 10th Amendment and the sovereign laws and powers of the Constitution,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said at a Jan. 12 press conference, according to CBS.

The court refused the motion to end the surge, denying Minnesota’s request for a preliminary injunction. While the lawsuit itself continues to proceed, the goal of blocking deployment was unsuccessful. 

Then, on Jan. 24, Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis nurse and US citizen, was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin shared that the shooting took place as law enforcement officers were conducting an operation “against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault," according to NBC. 

Federal officials claimed that Pretti had approached and attacked the officers with his gun, while video footage of the incident showed that Pretti had instead been restrained for videoing the agents on his phone, as analyzed by NBC. When officers spotted Pretti’s gun, which he was licensed to carry, they opened fire.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office later ruled his death a homicide, with the cause of death being multiple gunshot wounds. In response to the deaths, around 50,000 protesters took to the streets.

On Feb. 4, White House Border Czar Tom Homan announced a withdrawal of 700 immigration agents from Minneapolis, as per AP News. A week later, on Feb. 12, Homan announced the official end to the ICE enforcement operation. According to the BBC, Homan shared that agents arrested over 4,000 undocumented immigrants, including men who had been convicted of sexual assault.

On Mar. 5, the VPD announced that two youths were facing charges in relation to a stabbing that happened after a basketball game at Eric Hamber Secondary School last month. 

“The B.C. Prosecution service has approved charges of aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose against a 16-year-old, and one count of assault with a weapon against a 15-year-old,” the VPD wrote. Both teens who were charged have been released on court-ordered conditions. 

On Feb. 3, an 18-year-old was stabbed following a basketball game between Eric Hamber and Killarney Secondary School. The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) say they were called out to Eric Hamber Secondary School just before 9:10 PM PT. 

“An 18-year-old boy sustained serious injuries to his arm,” said VPD spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison said in a news conference, as per CityNews Vancouver. “My understanding is he underwent a surgery or significant medical treatment at hospital, and is recovering.” Addison said that the teenager was a former VSB student, but the previous school he attended was not disclosed.

He said that the VPD was also aware of one other victim who “was struck during one of the fights with what [they] believe to be an object, possibly a bike lock.” 

Finally, while the motive of the assault is unknown, Addison said that “there was some tension that arose between the two schools” during the “high-stakes game with playoff implications.”

“Those conflicts spilled over into the hallways of the high school when the game ended and resulted in, unfortunately, this very serious assault,” he said. 

The VPD also said that they were in touch with the VSB about increased police presence at upcoming games, as per CBC. Furthermore, the VPD sent extra school liaison officers to both Killarney and Hamber for the remainder of the week. 

In addition, a VSB spokesperson said that they were “aware” of the serious incident after the basketball game at Hamber, according to CBC. “Additional supports, including counsellors, school liaison police officers and District staff are at the impacted school,” they said. 

Police have set up a web portal for anyone with cell phone video of the fight or the game itself to submit their clips. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to report to the VPD’s youth investigative unit.

The BC government is currently planning to modify the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), despite resistance from Indigenous groups. 

The Declaration Act was unanimously passed by the BC legislature in November 2019 and establishes the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the province’s framework for reconciliation, according to a description from the BC government. British Columbia was the first Canadian province to bring the UN declaration into law.

According to CBC, while speaking at the Natural Resources Forum in Prince George on Jan. 20, BC Premier David Eby said that recent court decisions "have created real confusion about what the Declaration Act is about and what reconciliation means in practice." 

"Reconciliation is the business of government-to-government relationships between the provincial government, the federal government and First Nations governments. It is not for the courts to take over," Eby said. "That's why we're going to amend the Declaration Act in spring to make that intent explicit.”

In December 2025, Premier Eby first hinted at altering DRIPA after the BC Court of Appeal found that the Act was “inconsistent” with the province’s preexisting system of granting mineral rights, as per Global News. Previously, a mineral claim could be registered automatically for a small fee online. However, this process bypassed the outlined duty in DRIPA to consult impacted First Nations beforehand. The BC Court of Appeal ruling determined that the province has a duty to consult First Nations before approving mining operations.

According to CBC, while at a news conference in Surrey, BC, Eby said that "[the decision] potentially puts courts in the driver's seat, instead of British Columbians," he said. He added the government would be reviewing the decision and "if necessary, amend the Declaration Act to ensure that our original intention when we introduced it is clear."

Even before that, Premier Eby faced pressure for the August 2025 ruling by the BC Supreme Court that awarded the Quw'utsun (Cowichan) Nation Aboriginal title over 300 hectares of land in one of the wealthier parts of Richmond, where the Quw'utsun Nations’ summer villages once stood. The Supreme Court also provided the Quw'utsun Nation with fishing rights along the Fraser River. The region spans 150 properties and 750 acres, and is full of large warehouses, multi-million dollar mansions, and wineries. 

According to CBC, while the Quw'utsun nation said that they do not intend to pursue land owned by private owners, the case still raised fears among critics who believe it undermines private land ownership in BC. 

“Reconciliation must respect private property,” Premier Eby told the BC Chamber of Commerce on Dec. 10, 2025, while referring to the BC Supreme Court ruling, as per the Vancouver Sun. “Private, fee-simple property rights are non-negotiable. Whether a family home or an industrial park owned by a business, we will go to the wall to defend private property — full stop.”

“The uncertainty this case creates is toxic to the work we have to do, and the economy we have to grow,” added Eby. 

Many Indigenous groups are frustrated with the idea of altering DRIPA, which protects many of their rights related to land and culture. On Feb. 9, more than 100 First Nations and First Nations organizations released a joint statement directed towards Premier Eby, where they objected to any amendments being made to the Declaration Act. 

“Despite recent court decisions that reaffirm the crucial need to consult and negotiate, a negative narrative has begun to take hold,” the statement reads. “This narrative wrongly blames First Nations for uncertainty while ignoring the historical reality that British Columbia was largely settled without treaties. It replaces facts and experience with fear, and cooperation with division.”

“Recent calls to amend the Declaration Act or appeal court rulings are rooted in this fear-based response,” the statement continued. “They suggest that the framework we have built together is the problem, when in fact it has been part of the solution. These actions would not create certainty — they would slow progress, increase litigation, and grind projects to a halt as First Nations are once again forced to defend our rights and interests through the courts.”

The statement concluded that the BC government can walk two paths: “a path of negotiation, collaboration, and shared prosperity with First Nations and all British Columbians, or a path that takes us backward to a place of uncertainty and conflict that none of us want to revisit.”

As the ski and snowboard season has reached a halfway point, skiers and snowboarders at local mountains are closely monitoring snow conditions. Confidence in a strong winter continues to fade as record-low snowfalls and rising temperatures have led to poor-quality snow across local mountains.

Limited snowfall has resulted in thinner snow bases and fewer open runs, affecting the quality of skiing and snowboarding compared to previous years, according to Vancouver Is Awesome.

Weather patterns can help explain why consistent snowfall hasn’t occurred this season. Specifically, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation is a system used by meteorologists to predict snowfall based on sea-level temperatures and atmospheric pressure. It classifies the year as either an El Niño or a La Niña. El Niño is warmer, and La Niña is cooler, according to the Smithsonian magazine. Historically, almost all near-snowless seasons were predicted as El Niño. 

Contrary to the Lower Mainland, central and northern British Columbia are experiencing an above-average snowfall this season, as reported by the Weather Network. Many powerful storms have been hitting BC in the past few months and have caused unusual weather throughout the province. The colder temperatures in central BC caused snowstorms, while the mountains local to Vancouver experienced rainfall due to warmer temperatures.

While Vancouver is experiencing below-average snowfall, the rest of Canada and parts of the United States have been trapped in a polar vortex with dangerously cold temperatures. On Jan. 24, the temperature in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, reached -43.7°C, which was the community’s coldest temperature in over 42 years, according to the Weather Network.

In response to the poor ski conditions, Vancouver’s North Shore mountains have done whatever they can to keep attracting skiers and snowboarders. The Daily Hive reported that Vancouver’s local mountains opened much later than usual, with Grouse opening on Dec. 19 and Seymour and Cypress opening on Dec. 20. Typically, they open from mid to late November. Even now, only about one-third of the total runs are open every day. 

To help stay open, Grouse and Cypress are utilizing snow-making machinery to create artificial snow even in warm conditions. According to its website, Grouse Mountain has even opened some of its typical summer activities, like the Grouse Grind Trail.

While this relatively snowless winter season is unusual in Vancouver, temperature projections from BC Hydro suggest that it may become increasingly common in the near future. 

BC’s iconic Whistler Blackcomb ski resort is also experiencing climate-related threats. “The bottom of the resort is just going to have more years where there’s no snow at the bottom,” said climatologist Michael Pidwirny in an interview with the Times Colonist. “Whistler will not be a ski resort by 2085. It probably won’t be economical to run it as a ski resort by 2050.”

On Feb. 10, a mass shooting occurred in the small town of Tumbler Ridge, BC. Six children and two adults were killed, and the shooter was found dead at the scene, according to CBC.

According to a statement released on Feb. 11 by the Tumbler Ridge Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the RCMP received a call at 1:20 PM GMT about an active shooter at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. Local police arrived at the scene within two minutes of the call and were met with active gunfire.

Within minutes of entering the school, officers found the individual believed to be the shooter deceased from a self-inflicted injury. The suspect was identified as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, a Tumbler Ridge resident who dropped out of school four years ago and had a history of mental-health interactions with the police.

The RCMP also found one teacher and five students dead at the scene. The victims included 39-year-old education assistant Shannda Aviugana-Durand, 12-year-old Kylie May Smith, 12-year-old Ticaria Lampert, 12-year-old Zoey Benoit, 12-year-old Abel Mwansa, and 12-year-old Ezekiel Schofield. According to CityNews Vancouver, police have said the killings were random, with victims found in a stairwell and the library.

Two others, 39-year-old Jennifer Jacobs and 11-year-old Emmett Jacobs, identified as the mother and half-brother of Van Rootselaar, were later found dead in the shooter’s home. The RCMP say Van Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother in their family home before opening fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. 

“We are devastated by the loss of life and the profound impact this tragedy has had on families, students, staff, and our entire district and region. Our community has been shaken by this tragedy,” said Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka in a statement on Feb. 11, as per CNN. Krakowka also thanked the “brave teachers, administrators, students, and first responders.”

According to CTV News, the town hosted a candlelight vigil on Feb. 11. Residents placed teddy bears, flowers, candles, framed photos, and other mementos at the base of a tree outside of the local community centre, on a hill overlooking the school. Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka spoke at the gathering, calling the community “one big family,” and encouraging residents to reach out and support each other, as per CTV News. 

Furthermore, members of parliament in Ottawa held a moment of silence for victims of the Tumbler Ridge shooting on Feb. 11. Flags at federal buildings were also flown at half-mast for seven days.

Then, the BC government declared Feb. 12 a provincial day of mourning to honour the victims of the Tumble Ridge shooting. The legislative assembly stood for a moment of silence at 12:00 PM PT in honour of the Tumbler Ridge victims, families, and community. 

On Feb. 13, another vigil was held in front of the Tumbler Ridge town hall, where hundreds of residents gathered to honour the lives lost and support each other. This vigil was also attended by several Canadian political leaders — including Prime Minister Mark Carney, Opposition Leader Pierre Pollievre, and BC Premier David Eby —  who spoke about the resilience and grace of the community, according to CBC.

From Jan. 22 to Jan. 24, Hamber hosted its 15th annual Midtown Showdown, a senior basketball tournament consisting of 22 teams from across British Columbia. First hosted in 2011, Midtown has grown into more than just a basketball tournament; it has become a community event. The Leadership 12 class was placed in charge of much of the tournament’s organization, which included coordinating hosts and scorekeepers, selling snacks at the concession, and running the halftime shows. 

Ashley Warren (12) was a part of the leadership class and also co-ran the Hamber Athletics Instagram account. She explained how she stayed at Midtown for the duration of the three-day tournament, “constantly making posts for the account like Player of the Game, final scores, and upcoming games.” Her role was to keep the school updated and involved in the tournament as much as possible.

Leadership students also ran halftime shows, which were used to get students in the crowd involved in the tournament. At all games held during school hours, students were pulled from the bleachers during halftime for a chance to compete for prizes of Hamber merchandise. Additionally, the Cheer Club put on performances during halftime and stayed on the sidelines to support both the Senior Girls and Senior Boys teams during their games. These events gave all Hamber students the chance to appreciate Midtown, even for those who aren’t basketball fans. 

Warren also commented on the environment at the tournament and was happy to see all the people who came out to support. She was surprised to see as many people as she did at evening games or on the weekend, but the busiest times were during the school day. “Classes got to come down, and it was super loud and chaotic at times,” Warren explained, but she also shared how the chaos made the tournament all the more fun.

Riley Tam (12), a player on the Senior Boys Basketball team, also enjoyed the bustling environment of Midtown. “We had pretty much the whole school involved,” Tam said. For him, that made Midtown special compared to other tournaments that the team attended throughout this season. “I noticed that at other schools, they often don't do that as much. So I think the fact that Hamber does that is pretty cool.”

Senior Girls Basketball player Esha Sadra (12) was in agreement and explained how Midtown stood out to her compared to others she’s attended in her two years on the senior team. “People at Hamber have so much spirit, and the amount of support we have is so important,” she shared. It was one of the last times she got to play on the Hamber court, and she shared that it was the best sendoff for her. “There’s so much energy from the crowd, and everyone’s having fun and is engaged [in the tournament].” 

Tam echoed this sentiment. “You feed off the crowd noise as the game starts,” he explained, adding that the crowd at Midtown was the biggest number of people he had ever played in front of. Sadra shared that her favourite part of the whole tournament was playing in front of the Hamber crowd during the semifinals. “People were yelling and cheering and banging drums,” she said, which added to the intensity of the very close game. “Even though we lost by two points, it still felt like we won because of the support we had from the crowd,” she shared. 

Warren also saw the support of fans throughout all three days of the tournament, as she saw tons of people come and go from the gyms. “Even on the Saturday, a lot of people came out to watch the finals,” she noted. The Senior Boys Basketball team played in the finals of the tournament and came up just short, placing second overall. The Senior Girls Basketball team placed fourth overall.

The winter months have thawed out, and springtime is upon us, ushering in a season of renewal and new beginnings — or perhaps a new habit? Whether you haven’t touched a book in months or inhale pages like oxygen, you are bound to find something of interest on this list. Reading is one of the most beneficial pastimes that you can do for yourself! It’s a great form of escapism, a way to improve vocabulary, and maybe you can get one step closer to fixing that attention span. Below are just a few great picks to help you fall in love with reading this spring. Happy reading! 

The Idiot by Elif Batuman 

The Idiot is a semi-autobiographical novel in which Elif Batuman uses her character Selin Karadağ, a Turkish American immigrant, to retell her academic and social journey through her time at Harvard. Selin grapples with identity and self-discovery as she makes her way through university, forming relationships and even experiencing an unrequited infatuation for Ivan, a fellow student. The book is set in 1995, when using email as a form of communication first became popular. Selin wrestles with the concept of language as she mistakes her online exchanges with Ivan for real-life intimacy and grapples with language barriers between Turkish and English. Her struggles still feel relevant in this new dawn of technology and the emergence of AI. Selin’s anxiety is raw and relatable. What I found most striking about the novel is that one of the only characters that maintains a persistent presence throughout the book is Selin herself. The fact that many of the other characters don’t remain present throughout the novel serves as a pertinent reminder that people come and go; change is constant and inevitable, and it shapes us as human beings. Batuman’s dry sense of humour laced through Selin makes it very difficult not to root for her character. The Idiot is an addictive piece of literature.

Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson

Are you craving a perfectly paced, slow-burning fantasy with a world that swallows you whole? Well, crave no more! Dance of Thieves is your next read. This YA enemies-to-lovers fantasy follows Jase, head of the menacing Ballenger outlaw family, and Kazi, a street-thief-turned-guard for the newly-appointed Queen Zezelia of Hell’s Gate. The Ballengers act as an autonomous power, rebuking the queen’s sovereignty and creating a delicious tension between Jase and Kazi. Kazi is sent on a mission to investigate the family’s alleged fraud; however, their paths cross after they are kidnapped by labour traffickers. Their proximity and mutual enemy forces them to fight together for freedom. If you haven’t read anything in a while, I highly recommend Dance of Thieves as it is a great page-turner, and easy to read in a sitting. If this book leaves you wanting more, luckily for you, there is a sequel.  

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney 

Beautiful World, Where Are You follows a complex, multi-layered friendship between two young women, Eileen and Alice. The novel is semi-epistolary and consists of an exchange of emails between Eileen and Alice. Both characters grapple with the idea of existence, let alone finding love in a world so seemingly “bleek” and “unliveable.” Through their friendship and respective “romantic” relationships, they discover how much beauty you can find in the people around you in unexpected places. The quote, “I was sitting half asleep in the back of a taxi, remembering strangely that wherever I go, you are with me, and so is he, and that as long as you both live the world will be beautiful to me,” resonated deeply with me.  Beautiful World, Where Are You will make you laugh aloud, scream, and maybe tear up a little — or, at the very least, I guarantee you will close it with a smile on your face.

Morvern Callar by Alan Warner 

Following her boyfriend’s abrupt death, 21-year-old Morvern claims his manuscript as her own, publishes it, and uses the money to flee to Spain, seeking a new beginning away from her damp and dreary life in Scotland. Although the novel is set in the stream-of-consciousness style, it feels like Morvern is keeping the reader at arm's length rather than revealing her true emotional state; her thoughts mostly consist of more mundane and ordinary things. She somehow draws a strange boundary around her inner life. Warner is obviously very intentional with this, striking a case of unreliable narration and a sense of numbness and detachment tied to his character. The mere notion you get of her character is based almost entirely on outside perceptions; she is proclaimed a “tragic orphan” by some, a “hedonistic psychopath” by others, and even an "opportunist grifter.” The wide range of how other people perceive her is slightly unsettling. If you are looking to try something new, this psychological, artfully done novel is transcendent of time and sure to be the best use of your time.

The Grammy Awards — widely regarded as music’s biggest night — represent one of the highest honours in the global music industry. Presented annually by the Recording Academy, the awards recognize outstanding artistic, technical, and creative achievements across a diverse range of musical genres, celebrating excellence and innovation from artists around the world.

In 2026, the celebration returned with the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, hosted by Trevor Noah on Feb. 1 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The ceremony honoured recordings released between Aug. 31, 2024, and Aug. 30, 2025, and was broadcast live to audiences worldwide, bringing together artists, industry leaders, and fans in a shared celebration of musical achievement.

Bad Bunny Makes History with Album of the Year

Bad Bunny made history at the Grammy Awards, becoming the first artist to win Album of the Year with a fully Spanish-language project. His album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, earned the night’s top honour, a landmark moment that underscored the global reach of Latin music and the growing influence of música urbana within the Recording Academy.

Beyond the historic win, the Puerto Rican superstar used the Grammys’ biggest stage to deliver pointed remarks on immigration and humanity, referencing recent ICE raids in American cities. While accepting the award for Best Música Urbana Album, Bad Bunny stood up for immigrant communities. “We’re not savage,” he said, according to NPR. “We’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.” He then celebrated his roots, dedicating the award to his homeland and fans worldwide.

Kendrick Lamar Surpasses Jay-Z’s Record

Kendrick Lamar made Grammy history at the 2026 awards, becoming the most-awarded rapper in the ceremony’s history and surpassing Jay-Z’s long-standing record. With a dominant showing on Sunday night, Lamar collected multiple trophies that pushed his career total to 27 Grammys, eclipsing Jay-Z’s previous record of 25.

Lamar’s wins this year included Best Rap Album for GNX, Best Rap Song for “tv off (feat. Lefty Gunplay),” Best Melodic Rap Performance for “Luther” with SZA, and Best Rap Performance for his feature on Clipse’s “Chains & Whips.” He also claimed one of the night’s highest honors, Record of the Year, for “Luther,” marking his second consecutive win in the category.

The achievement caps back-to-back banner years for Lamar. After winning five Grammys in 2025 — including both Song of the Year and Record of the Year for “Not Like Us” — Lamar collected five more trophies in 2026, solidifying his position as the most decorated rapper in Grammy history. His continued dominance underscores a career defined by critical acclaim, commercial success, and enduring cultural influence.

Billie Eilish Wins Song of the Year, Makes Anti-ICE Statement During Acceptance Speech

Billie Eilish won Song of the Year at the 2026 Grammy Awards for “Wildflower,” using one of the ceremony’s most prestigious moments to deliver a pointed message on immigration and human rights. Presented by Carole King, the award recognized the track’s songwriting and emotional resonance in a competitive field that included nominees from Lady Gaga, Doechii, Rosé and Bruno Mars, Bad Bunny, and Kendrick Lamar with SZA.

Eilish accepted the honor alongside her brother and longtime collaborator Finneas O’Connell, with both wearing “ICE Out” pins onstage. In her speech, Eilish condemned ICE raids and urged solidarity with immigrant communities. “No one is illegal on stolen land,” she said as per Variety, calling on audiences to continue protesting and speaking out. “Our voices really do matter, and the people matter.” As she exited the stage, Eilish punctuated her remarks with a blunt declaration: “F— ICE.”

Released as the fourth single from Eilish’s 2024 album Hit Me Hard and Soft, “Wildflower” marked her 10th Grammy win overall. The victory adds to a growing list of top songwriting honors for Eilish, who previously won Song of the Year for “Bad Guy” in 2020 and again in 2024 for “What Was I Made For?” from the movie Barbie. She also won Album of the Year for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? in 2020.

Eilish’s remarks echoed a broader theme of the night, as several artists used the Grammy stage to address political and humanitarian concerns alongside their musical achievements.

Lady Gaga Wins Best Pop Vocal Album

Lady Gaga’s Grammy win this year was less of a comeback than a reaffirmation of her staying power. Taking home Best Pop Vocal Album for Mayhem, Gaga distinguished herself in a pop field increasingly shaped by fleeting trends, reminding the industry of the value of vision, discipline, and risk. The album marks a confident return to her theatrical roots, pairing high-gloss bombast with meticulous control and showcasing an artist fully attuned to her strengths — and unafraid to push them further.

The Grammy victory came over a competitive field that included Justin Bieber (Swag), Miley Cyrus (Something Beautiful), Teddy Swims (I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy [Part 2]) and last year’s winner, Sabrina Carpenter (Man’s Best Friend). The win signaled recognition not just of commercial success, but of sustained artistic intent and craftsmanship.

Gaga’s presence onstage echoed the qualities that define Mayhem: confident, dramatic, and unapologetically maximalist. While much of contemporary pop chases virality, Mayhem thrives on structure and texture, drawing from dance-pop, industrial elements, and classic Gaga melodrama without tipping into nostalgia. The album’s Grammy win positioned Gaga as one of the few pop artists able to evolve without abandoning her core identity.

Accepting the award, Gaga reflected on her long career and the collaborative process behind the album. “I’ve been making music since I was a little girl, and every time I’m here I still feel like I have to pinch myself,” she said as per Yahoo Entertainment, thanking her partner, Michael Polansky, along with producers Andrew Watt, Cirkut and Gesaffelstein. She also used the moment to encourage women in music to advocate for themselves in studio environments. “Always fight for your ideas, fight for your songs, fight for yourself as a producer,” Gaga said, according to E! News. “Make sure that you are heard loudly.”

More than a single-night victory, the award reinforced Gaga’s place as a defining pop figure of her generation. In a year dominated by younger voices and genre-blurring newcomers, the Recording Academy’s recognition of Mayhem served as a reminder that longevity in pop — when paired with reinvention — remains not only possible, but worthy of celebration.

Olivia Dean Wins Best New Artist

Olivia Dean cemented her breakout year at the 2026 Grammy Awards, winning Best New Artist and confirming her rise as one of pop’s most compelling new voices.

The 26-year-old singer-songwriter entered the night as a strong contender, buoyed by the success of soulful, romantic tracks such as “Man I Need” and “So Easy (To Fall In Love),” which became international hits. Known for her warm tone and emotionally direct songwriting, Dean has built momentum through steady touring and a growing global fan base drawn to her understated, intimate style.

She emerged victorious in a competitive field that included Lola Young and Leon Thomas, joining a lineage of artists for whom the Best New Artist award has marked the beginning of sustained mainstream success.

In her acceptance speech, Dean reflected on her family’s story and the broader themes of the evening. “I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant,” she said. “I’m a product of bravery, and I think those people ought to be celebrated.”

In a ceremony filled with historic wins and political statements, Dean’s moment felt quietly powerful — a recognition of classic musicianship and thoughtful songwriting in an industry often driven by spectacle. With the Grammy win, she moves from a rising talent to a firmly established presence on the global stage.

At approximately 2:00 AM on Jan. 3, US forces launched a military incursion into Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, forcefully taking Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores de Maduro, into custody and detaining them at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York. 

In a midday news conference from his Mar-a-Lago residence, US President Donald Trump said that Maduro and Flores would now face criminal court proceedings tied to a 2020 indictment from the US Department of Justice that outlined federal charges against them. US Attorney General Pam Bondi outlined in an X post that Maduro has been charged with “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.”

This capture was part of a military operation codenamed “Operation Absolute Resolve.” The operation took the US several months to plan, with undercover officers being sent in by the CIA as early as August, as per BBC. 

"This thing worked like clockwork. That doesn't happen often," said David Fitzgerald, a former Latin America Chief of Operations for the CIA, according to BBC. "It is not the military tactics that drive the operation, but the intelligence." 

As reported by BBC, 150 military aircrafts were involved in the operation, with helicopters flying approximately 100 feet above the terrain to get to Maduro’s compound. One helicopter was hit, but there were no US casualties. Rather, according to CNBC, a Pentagon official confirmed that seven US service members were injured during the raid, including Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover, who received the Medal of Honor during Trump’s State of the Union address. On the other hand, Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello reported that the operation left over 100 dead, as per CNBC.

On Jan. 5, Maduro pleaded not guilty to the narcotic charges in Manhattan federal court. "I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country," Maduro said in Spanish through an interpreter, according to Reuters. Flores de Maduro also pleaded not guilty. Their next court date is set for March 17.

According to AP News, on Jan. 28, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee Meeting that the US will retain control of Venezuela’s oil revenue in the short term to ensure the money goes toward stabilizing Venezuela. Rubio added that the interim leaders of Venezuela will submit a budget each month outlining their financial needs. 

“The funds from [oil sales] will be deposited into an account that we will have oversight over,” Rubio said, according to AP News, adding that the US Treasury would control the process. Venezuela, he said, “will spend that money for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.” 

The US military operation has ignited intense legal and ethical controversy, with critics arguing it violated fundamental principles of sovereignty and international law. 

In an X post, President of the UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock responded to the US military’s capture of Maduro by stating that “the UN Charter is not optional — it is our guiding framework.” She added that Article 2 of the UN Charter stipulates that all Members of the United Nations, including the US, shall “refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.” 

“A peaceful, safe, and just world for everyone is only possible if the rule of law prevails instead of might makes right,” she added.

Amnesty International has also condemned the intervention. “The US military operation in Venezuela constitutes a clear violation of the UN Charter,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, according to the Amnesty International website. “It is an act of aggression that endangers civilians and tears apart the guardrails of international law. Not only was the Trump administration’s use of force illegal, but it could encourage unlawful actions by other states and herald similar future actions by the USA.” 

Days after the operation took place, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board noted that the justification the US used to take control of Venezuela could potentially be used, for example, in a takeover of Taiwan by China.

On the other hand, according to Reuters, on Jan. 4, the US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, defended the legality of the US military operation by citing Article 51 of the UN Charter, which says that nothing "shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations."

"In this case, you have a drug kingpin, an illegitimate leader indicted in the United

States, coordinating with the likes of China, Russia, Iran, terrorist groups like Hezbollah, pumping drugs, thugs, and weapons into the United States of America, threatening to invade its neighbors," Waltz said, according to Fox News.

This year was not the first time that President Trump considered action against Maduro and Venezuela. Several sources and one-time Trump supporters, now vocal detractors, such as former US Secretary of State John Bolton and Former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, have alleged that during Trump’s first term in office, he considered invading Venezuela. According to Workers World, in his 2019 memoir, McCabe wrote that he recalled Trump stating that Venezuela was “the country we should be going to war with, they have all that oil, and they’re right on our back door.” 

In recent years, tension between the US and Venezuela has risen. In 2024, the Biden administration tightened trade sanctions on Venezuela. Furthermore, in addition to keeping close ties with Nicaragua and Cuba, in the last several years, Venezuela has strengthened its ties with US adversaries, particularly China, Russia, and Iran. 

Then, in 2025, both Maduro and Trump were inaugurated into office, Maduro for his third time and Trump for his second. However, Trump said he did not consider Maduro to be a legitimate democratically elected ruler. According to the Carter Center for Democracy, the only independent group allowed to monitor Venezuela's presidential election, Maduro’s opponent received 67 per cent of the vote before being forced to flee the country.

According to CNN, only days into his second term, Trump announced mass deportations for many US migrants, including Venezuelans, whom he considered to be criminals, and labelled the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization. Maduro clapped back; he rejected the notion that Venezuelan migrants were criminals and said that his administration had already dismantled Tren de Aragua, but did not provide any evidence to back up this claim. 

In March 2025, the US labelled more than 200 Venezuelan migrants as criminals and deported them to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador, as per CNN. Venezuela criticized the move as a “kidnapping” and demanded their return. In July 2025, Washington and Caracas reached an agreement to exchange detainees: the US gave the 200 migrants back to Venezuela, while Venezuela sent 10 detained Americans back to the US, as per CNN. 

However, tensions rose again in September 2025 when President Trump deployed military aircraft and ships to the Caribbean with the stated purpose of intercepting potential drug smuggling vessels. By mid-December, at least 30 boats had been destroyed in transit, resulting in the deaths of 100 people, which Maduro labelled as illegal, as per CNN. 

Then, in December 2025, President Trump ordered a “total blockade” of US-sanctioned oil tankers; with that, the US Coast Guard began intercepting all vessels leaving or arriving at the Venezuelan coast. On Dec. 12, according to CNN, President Trump said that military ground action would soon begin in Venezuela to protect the American youth from drug traffickers. Then, in late December, the US government carried out a drone strike on a remote dock of a Venezuelan port believed to be storing drugs for the Tren de Aragua gang. Finally, on Jan. 3, Operation Absolute Resolve commenced.

When the TV show Heated Rivalry premiered on Nov. 28, 2025, it took the internet by storm, telling a heartwarming queer love story following two rival hockey players. The show, which is based off of Rachel Reid's Game Changers novel series, weaves Canadian culture and imagery throughout the story. It was also partially subsidized by the government of Canada and streams on Crave, a Canadian streaming platform. In a time when LGBTQ+ rights are being threatened, Heated Rivalry paints Canada as an inclusive and progressive country. It brings in viewers looking for a cognitive escape, adding appeal and making the show popular throughout the continent, and even worldwide. 

The show follows Shane Hollander, a Canadian native rising star player, and Ilya Rosanov, a Russian hockey player with an optimistic future in Major League Hockey (the show’s fictional equivalent to the NHL). The show spans a timeline of nine years as it follows Shane and Ilya’s early careers playing on rival teams: the Montreal Metros was Shane's team, and the Boston Raiders was Ilya’s team. Viewers watch the growing “heated rivalry” between the teams, while behind closed doors, they explore their sexual identity and forge a romantic relationship together.

Following the initial launch of the show, Heated Rivalry was quick to gain traction online. The practically overnight success of the show launched stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams into the public eye, and fans were quick to praise the show and cast online. Many Canadian fans expressed online that they were proud to have their tax dollars go towards a show that promoted diversity like Heated Rivalry.

In Canada, there is a program called the Canadian Media Fund (CMF), which is directly connected to the federal government. This is what makes it possible for the show to be funded by the government and Canadian taxes. This fund has a budget of money that is distributed to Canadian film projects like Heated Rivalry, and was created to help finance and develop projects of all audiovisual mediums that are made in Canada. The hope is to keep Canadian storytelling and art alive against dominant production companies in the United States. Producer Brendan Brady shared in a podcast interview that the show had a budget of just under $3 million Canadian per episode. The CMF contributed around $3.1 million to Heated Rivalry, which was a significant portion of their overall budget. 

Heated Rivalry has also sparked a lot of conversations about queer spaces in sports, especially with hockey. There is a lack of representation of gay hockey players in the NHL, even though there have been openly gay hockey players in the league in the past.

“There's a homophobic slur or some type of slur said every time a team enters a locker room,” Brock McGillis, one of the first openly gay professional hockey players, shared in a Q&A with CBC. He had a successful career in minor league hockey, and after coming out in 2016, he pursued activism for mental health and inclusivity in sports. 

The show helped highlight gay representation in sports in the same way that many organizations like You Can Play aim to achieve. You Can Play is an organization aiming to make sports an inclusive space for anyone who is a part of the LGBTQ+ community. They do this by partnering with sports organizations, ranging from professional to youth, and implementing custom programs catered to the organization’s needs. 

Heated Rivalry has also inspired some real-life athletes to come out. Jesse Kortuem, a beer league hockey player who grew up playing hockey in Minneapolis, but quit due to a lack of inclusivity in the sport, took to Facebook to share his coming out and how Heated Rivalry influenced it. He gave praise to the Cutting Edge Hockey Club, Vancouver’s 2SLGBTQIA+ hockey association. “Wearing [the Cutting Edge Hockey Club] jersey that represents both my sport and my community felt like a bridge being built over a gap I had lived with for decades,” he said. 

On Jan 29, Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a speech recognizing the cast and crew of Heated Rivalry at the Canadian Media Producers Association's (CMPA) annual Prime Time conference gala in Ottawa. Carney praised the show and its creators for choosing to produce in Canada, even if that meant a smaller budget. Studios in the United States were interested in director Jacob Tierney's vision but wanted to “tone it down,” as Carney shared in his speech. Production in Canada meant that the story would be told the way it was intended by Reid and Tierney. In his speech, Carney called the show “a true made-in-Canada phenomenon." He went on to cement how well the show reflects the principles held by Canadians, sharing that, “A fundamental Canadian value is that people should be able to be whoever they want to be, to love whoever they want to love.”

From warehouse sales to contractor work, Hamber students have worked in a wide range of environments. Students recently spoke to The Nest about their various part-time gigs, explaining the different tasks they perform, how they got hired for their positions, and what they love about them.

Work at Nat Bailey Stadium

If you love the excitement of sports games, consider a job at Nat Bailey Stadium! Sophie Jung (12) has worked as a concession vendor there and was assigned to many different stands, including coffee and mini donuts. Her tasks included keeping the stand clean and stocking it with candy bags and chips. She was paid $17.85 an hour, plus extra for tips, which fluctuated by day. In particular, she enjoyed the social environment at work. 

“I’d say the best part of my job was working with my friends, [since] I was lucky enough to be with my best friends,” said Jung.

Work at Cactus Club Cafe

Alternatively, if you’d prefer to work indoors, try applying for a job at a restaurant. Jung also works as a hostess at Cactus Club Cafe. Her tasks include taking customers to their tables, clearing dishes, cleaning tables, and setting tables with new cutlery. 

“The best part of my job is meeting people from all over the world,” shared Jung. She makes $17.85 an hour, plus an extra $1.80 an hour from tips. 

Work at a warehouse sale

Vancouver hosts multiple warehouse sales during the summer, including Aritzia’s in late August. Krista Shum (11) got a job at the Tentree warehouse sale last summer, working the floor and assisting customers.

 “I got [the job] through a coach, as it was to help with cheer tuition,” she shared. “The best part was meeting new people my age!” 

She worked approximately 20 hours in total, earning $20 an hour restocking clothes and assisting at checkout. Shum also had a 30-minute lunch break at Tentree headquarters, with lunch provided.

Work as a Contractor

For those who prefer outdoor work, consider a job where you’ll be out in nature! Kosta Nojkovic (12) works as the main climber and arborist at a private contracting company, where his pay varies depending on the contract. 

He was trained by the company’s lead climber and continues to learn from his more experienced colleagues. Nojkovic’s typical tasks include removing hazardous trees and pruning healthy ones. 

“I work about 8 to 14 hour days depending on the contract, and sometimes longer if it's an emergency,” he shared. His favorite part of the job is seeing homeowners’ reactions after disassembling a hazardous tree from above their house.

Work at the PNE

A job at the PNE is perfect for those who love the busy atmosphere of amusement parks. Edward Hughes (10) worked as a ticket scanner this past summer and loved meeting and working with new people. He got the job through an Instagram ad, and his role included scanning tickets for park entry, access to rides, and attendance at concerts. 

He made $19.81 per hour, with a 15-minute paid break on shifts shorter than 5 hours, and a 30-minute unpaid break for shifts longer than 5 hours. Other positions available at the PNE include Candy Attendant, VIP Chalet Concierge, and Rides Attendant — all roles that require good customer service skills.

Whether by working at a warehouse sale, cutting down fallen trees, or scanning tickets at the PNE, landing a job has many benefits. According to a study from the UBC Sauder School of Business, students who work part-time or summer jobs are more likely to have better prospects and earn more money later in their careers.

On Dec. 28, 2025, in response to Iran’s worsening economy, citizens began protesting in what would become the nation’s most violent uprising in decades. In addition, tens of thousands of protesters, journalists, and lawyers were imprisoned in secret detention centers across the nation.

Iranian state TV said on Dec. 28, 2025, that 3,117 people have been killed, as reported by CBC. However, some human rights organizations have estimated the death toll to be in the tens of thousands. For instance, as of Feb. 23, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has verified 7,007 deaths, of which 236 were children. An additional 11,744 cases are currently under investigation. Furthermore, according to a network of over 80 Iranian medical professionals interviewed by The Guardian, the death toll could “exceed 30,000,” as “all publicly cited death tolls represent a severe underestimation.” 

According to Amnesty International, the protests started with shopkeepers in the capital city of Tehran, who closed their shops and launched demonstrations in the streets in response to the nation’s soaring inflation and skyrocketing prices of everyday goods. The rial, Iran’s official currency, had plunged to a record low against the US dollar, Amnesty claims, due to years of international sanctions, economic mismanagement, and inadequate handling of environmental degradation. 

As more and more people joined the protests, they became increasingly political, with many calling for an end to the current regime, which has been in place since a 1979 coup. The protests spread to every one of Iran’s 31 provinces, and there may have been as many as five million demonstrators, as per Iran International.

On Jan. 8, as the protests intensified, Iran blocked internet access for the general public, which restricted information flow and the ability to collect evidence. Police proceeded to kill thousands of protesters, mostly in a two-day crackdown on protests from Jan. 8-9, according to Iran International.

According to The Guardian, testimony from morgues, graveyards, and hospitals across Iran reveals a concerted effort by Iranian authorities to conceal the scale of the casualties. The Guardian cites bodies being transported in ice-cream vans and meat trucks, rushed mass burials of unclaimed and unidentified bodies, and hundreds of corpses disappearing from Iran’s forensic facilities.

Civilian reports collected by HRANA and news agencies reveal that Iranian authorities also held several crackdowns at memorial ceremonies. Testimony from HRANA recounts how 18-year-old Arian Nabati was shot in the head, heart, and side while attending a 40th-day memorial ceremony for those killed in the protests in Mashhad on Feb. 17. He did not survive, and his family was prohibited from holding a public ceremony. The New York Times reported that “another video showed large crowds screaming as they fled smoke and detonations near a cemetery in Abdanan.”

Additionally, HRANA states that 41,880 people have been arrested as of Jan. 26, and that 245 cases of forced confessions have been broadcast. According to Amnesty International, Iranian authorities have seized protesters, journalists, and lawyers during nighttime home raids, at checkpoints, in workplaces, and from hospitals. In addition, detainees’ families, activists, and journalists have told Amnesty International that “the authorities are routinely refusing to provide any information about the fate and whereabouts of many of those detained, thereby subjecting them to enforced disappearance and placing them at heightened risk of torture and other ill-treatment.”

According to the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), detainees are denied access to lawyers and family members, and are often held unofficially in warehouses and abandoned buildings operating outside Iran’s legal detention framework. The CHRI has called these “black box detention sites […] among the gravest concerns documented.” Furthermore, Amnesty International collected testimony from sources reporting ill-treatment during detentions, including “beatings, sexual violence, threats of summary executions, and deliberate denial of adequate food, water, and medical care.”

The protests ceased on Jan. 9, but unrest remains. The government continued to rely on regular armed patrol units, enforced curfews, and the threat of the death penalty, Amnesty International reported. According to an HRANA report, at least 2,063 people were executed in 2025 without a fair trial, a 119 per cent increase from 2024. 

Maryam Alemzadeh, an associate professor of the history and politics of Iran at the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera that “even if this round of protests is repressed by extreme violence, another could emerge in no time until a radical shift occurs.”

On Jan. 16, two dozen wildfires began to blaze large swaths of land across central and southern Chile, causing homes and forests to be destroyed, infrastructure to be irreversibly damaged, and at least 18 deaths. According to Chilean security minister Luis Cordero, 21,000 acres of land were burned and over 50,000 residents were forced to evacuate, as per The Guardian. 

These blazing wildfires broke out amid a sweltering heatwave in south-central Chile; in some regions, temperatures topped 38°C, according to NASA. This extreme weather, paired with gusty winds, hampered firefighters’ attempts to extinguish the flames, The Guardian reported. 

Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe on Jan. 18 in the central Biobío region and the neighbouring Ñuble region, which allowed the government to deploy the army to these areas. The fire affected over 74,000 acres of land, according to Chile’s National Forestry Corporation. However, some local officials reported that help from the government did not arrive quickly on Jan. 18. Instead, help was nowhere in sight. 

“A community is burning, and there is no [government] presence,” Rodrigo Vera, the mayor of Penco, a town in Biobío, said, according to The Guardian. “How can a minister do nothing but call me to tell me that the military is going to arrive at some point?” 

The scope of the fires was massive. They engulfed most of Penco, and witnesses reported that charred bodies were found across fields, in homes, along roads, and in cars. Some of the largest fires have ravaged forests bordering Concepción, a city by the coast. Disaster officials say that at least 250 homes were destroyed, according to the BBC.

However, residents in Penco said that the fires were completely unexpected. “Many people didn’t evacuate,” John Guzmán, a resident of Penco, told The Guardian. “They stayed in their houses because they thought the fire would stop at the edge of the forest [...] It was completely out of control.” 

After the destruction, Boric announced that, although the government has “all of its resources mobilized to fight the fires,” people should nonetheless pay attention to all fire warnings or evacuation orders. 

“I want to stress to everybody that as soon as they receive alerts, take notice and evacuate immediately,” Boric said, according to the New York Times. “Do not wait, because the fires can move quickly.” On Jan. 18, according to the BBC, he said that death tolls are expected to increase. 

Cordero also worries that new fires may pop up throughout the region due to high temperatures, according to CNN. However, it isn’t just humans who have been impacted by the wildfires. Cats, dogs, and other pets were also affected, according to reporting from AP News. Police canine brigades and teams of volunteers worked together to provide first aid to pets caught in the flames. After days trapped beneath debris, many came into makeshift clinics with burned whiskers and paws, and were thirsty or injured.

Stranger Things, one of the defining science fiction series of the last decade, released its finale on Dec. 31, 2025. Since then, the show has spent seven consecutive weeks on the top 10 most popular charts on Netflix, and received an outpouring of both support and criticism from the public. Some fans believed that the finale was a perfect farewell, while others say it was an utter disappointment, with a rushed, low-stakes plot.

I felt that the storyline was well-connected to the past seasons; the creators even mentioned how they wanted to capture the essence of Season 1 and include that feeling in the new season. 

There were also a lot of mini-heart attack moments that nearly made me faint, but that’s just the fun of the show. Those moments made me remember the fear and anticipation I had when Stranger Things first came out as a new Netflix series. There was a lot going on with the finale, and it’s the kind of show that makes you scream at the TV.

Additionally, there were a lot of funny moments that you would never expect, especially with the context of the show. 

However, if I had to criticize the new finale, it would be related to the writing and the plot. The writing could have been better in a number of ways. 

The creators seemed to add new elements last minute, which ended up rushing the ending. The buildup to the final battle also dragged on for so long, while the actual battle itself was quick and easy. 

I also felt that the main characters had too much plot armour, as if they used side characters as human shields. More could have happened to the main characters.

However, the rest of the plot was beautifully and emotionally executed. The end provided closure for the fans, specifically by explaining what will happen next to the characters, seeing as they’re now moving on with their lives.

It made for a sentimental ending, knowing that, even though the characters are separating to their own chapters in life, they’re still going to be connected to each other. The final chapter uses nostalgia and high anticipation to dramatize the elevated stakes of the ending, which I quite enjoyed. Overall, I thought that the finale was heartfelt, nostalgic, funny, and high-stress, with only a few bumps in the writing.

Although the show is finished, it has started a reign of influence on music charts around the world. Joe Keery, the actor for Steve Harrington, wrote a song called “End of Beginning” under the pseudonym Djo, which was dedicated to the show. As of early 2026, his song has spiked globally to the #1 song on the Billboard Music and Spotify charts after the release of the finale, likely due to emotional attachment from fans who simply cannot let the show go.

From Feb. 2 to Feb. 16, more than 6,000 emergency dispatchers and ambulance paramedics voted in a strike vote conducted by their union, the Ambulance Paramedics of British Columbia (APBC). Ultimately, the paramedics voted in favour of striking. However, before job action began, the union agreed to a tentative agreement with its employer.      

The union says that BC’s ambulance service is understaffed, especially in rural areas and Indigenous communities. Last November, Lillooet, Mission, Delta, Williams Lake, and Chetwynd, among other communities, faced temporary ER closures due to staffing shortages, and in total, the APBC says 250 temporary hospital and emergency room closures happened in 2025. “We’re sending out paramedics across the province to keep communities staffed and covered, but with every closure, it’s harder for them to keep the system moving,” said Union president Jason Jackson in a news release, as per CBC.

“This isn’t something that we wanted. We know the realities of a strike,” Tait said, according to City News. He added that the union had done absolutely everything it could to avoid having to consider job action. “We’ve bent over backwards to give the government more time to help to find efficiencies in our contract to save money, but at the end of the day, you need two people that are willing to negotiate to get a contract done.”

Jackson agreed that a strike is “always a last resort,” as per CHEK News, but the current situation for workers is also not acceptable. 

 “Not only does [the] government’s offer fail to address the serious challenges we face, but it also doesn’t even live up to what other public sector workers have already been guaranteed [...],” he shared in an APBC statement.

The APBC said that once an essential services order issued by the Labour Relations Board is in place, workers will be in a position to legally strike. The Labour Relations Board is an independent organization that has authority under the Labour Relations Code to decide applications and provide mediation services. An essential services order issued by the Labour Relations Board designates which services are essential and sets minimum staffing levels in response to a labour dispute. According to the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC), the paramedics’ employer, this order will “prevent immediate and serious danger to the health of the public in the case of any job action.”

Tait said that since paramedics provide an essential service, they won’t fully “walk off the job” during strike action. Instead, the union will use rolling striking action, The Daily Hive reported.

Eighty per cent of all paramedics and first responders in the union participated in the strike vote, with 97 per cent voting in favour of job action. 

However, after extensive negotiation, the APBC reached an agreement with BC Emergency Health Services, the Health Employers Association of BC, and the provincial government on Feb. 20.

According to a statement from the APBC, “throughout bargaining, APBC emphasized the need for meaningful improvements to mental health and wellness supports, benefits, wages, and training.”

The HEABC also supports the tentative agreement, saying in a statement that it will "protect and strengthen critical services in B.C.’s public sector,” and support "labour stability" and the provincial government’s "efforts to find operational efficiencies that preserve front-line services.”

The APBC will have a province-wide tour, where details of the agreement will be presented to more than 6,000 paramedics and dispatchers ahead of a ratification vote.

Humans across the globe are warned from a young age about the importance of time and how little of it we possess. Every year, the world inches closer and closer to global disaster, and this year, the Doomsday Clock only further proves that daunting thought. This year, the Doomsday Clock is set to 85 seconds until midnight, which is the shortest amount of time that has ever been left, symbolizing that humanity is closer than ever to reaching the hypothetical “apocalypse.” 

The Doomsday Clock is a universally recognized indicator of the “world’s vulnerability to global catastrophe caused by man-made technology,” according to its creators, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, or the Bulletin, is an independent, non-profit media organization founded in 1945 by the scientists who helped develop the world’s first atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project. 

The Bulletin created the Doomsday Clock in 1947 to alert the public of how close they are to destroying the world in a nuclear war; the amount of time humanity has left before self-destructing is represented by the number of minutes or seconds there are until midnight, which is a symbol for the apocalypse. At the time of its creation, the clock was set to seven minutes before midnight. 

The Doomsday Clock doesn’t follow a strict formula every year to determine how much time we have until midnight. Instead, it is determined by the expert assessments of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board (SASB), which consists of “global leaders with a specific focus on nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies.”

This year, the SASB took into account the dangers of nuclear war, climate change, the misuse of biotechnology, and the potential threat of artificial intelligence when estimating humanity’s proximity to the apocalypse. 

In a statement released on Jan. 27, SASB argued that there has been an increase in active nuclear threats and aggressive geopolitics, from the increasing numbers of nuclear warheads and platforms in China to the US’ plan to deploy a new, multi-layered defense system known as the Golden Dome that will include space-based interceptors. Furthermore, the nearly 60-year-old arms treaty between the world’s two largest nuclear countries, the United States and Russia, expired on Feb. 5. The treaty, called the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), previously limited the number of strategic nuclear warheads deployed by the US and Russia.

Furthermore, the SASB pointed to the world’s failure to take feasible steps toward international agreements to fight against climate change.

Additionally, the SASB warns of the dangers of new bio-technology, citing threats including state-sponsored biological weapons programs and the rapid degradation of US public health infrastructure and expertise, which reduces the ability of the US and other nations to respond to biological threats. 

Finally, the SASB points to new risks that have materialized with the recent rise of artificial intelligence. “The AI revolution has the potential to accelerate the existing chaos and dysfunction in the world’s information ecosystem, supercharging mis- and disinformation campaigns and undermining the fact-based public discussions required to address urgent major threats like nuclear war, pandemics, and climate change,” SASB cautioned.

Overall, SASB concluded that “our current trajectory is unsustainable. National leaders — particularly those in the United States, Russia, and China —  must take the lead in finding a path away from the brink. Citizens must insist they do so.”

However, whilst the Doomsday Clock is a strong symbolic figure, it does have its limitations. 

“It’s an imperfect metaphor,” Dr. Michael Mann, Presidential Distinguished Professor in the department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, told CNN in 2022. He believes that the clock oversimplifies complex global issues by combining them into a single time metaphor, as the various risks to humanity accounted for by the clock all have different characteristics and occur within different timescales. However, he added that the clock “remains an important rhetorical device that reminds us, year after year, of the tenuousness of our current existence on this planet.”