Mick Sweetman, Author at The Discourse.

Luminous Paths artist Mauro Dalla Costa standing in front of an art installation in a park.

Lighting up Nanaimo’s future

By Mick Sweetman ● Nanaimo ● January 21, 2025

Luminous Paths art event celebrates 150th anniversary of the City of Nanaimo

Photo of RVs parked in the Living Forest Oceanside Campground under trees and an ocean sunset.

The best places to camp near Nanaimo

By Mick Sweetman ● Nanaimo ● January 16, 2025

From beautiful ocean beaches to stunning waterfalls and forests and amazing lakes here are the best places to camp near Nanaimo.

Poster for The Stand showing people from the Haida nation blocking a road.

Q&A: The Stand’s filmmaker on the relevance of the 1985 Haida Gwaii blockade today

By Mick Sweetman ● Nanaimo ● January 14, 2025

Haida director Chris Auchter says the pivotal story of the blockade teaches us to ‘treat each other with respect’

VIU women's basketball team forward Harriette Mackenzie plays defence.

VIU basketball team supports trans teammate, boycotts games at bible college

By Mick Sweetman ● Nanaimo ● January 9, 2025

Team says safety of trans athletes is at risk and calls on league to take concrete action

Photo of a man with a beard wearing a ball cap and a shirt with a bald eagle.

Atticus Mercredi talks about Prophecy Club’s ‘angry Indigenous music’

By Mick Sweetman ● Nanaimo ● January 7, 2025

Prophecy Club’s new Mushum EP has been well received by Island audiences.

Year-round drop-in centre for people who are unhoused in Nanaimo to open in January

By Mick Sweetman ● Nanaimo ● December 19, 2024

Councillors and city staff say that a permanent, purpose built building and provincial funding is needed for a long-term sustainable service.

Photo of a man speaking into a microphone while wearing a sign reading C.U.P.W. on strike.

Why Nanaimo postal workers are striking

By Mick Sweetman ● Nanaimo ● December 12, 2024

Canada Post workers say they want to protect their benefits but the company says it needs financial sustainability.

Photo of a bearded man with glasses standing in front of a bookshelf smiling.

Q&A: Nanaimo’s poet laureate Neil Surkan on the radical act of reflection

By Mick Sweetman ● Nanaimo ● December 3, 2024

Surkan explains how Nanaimo’s outdoors inform his poetry and his goal as the new poet laureate for 2024-2026.

Dancers from the Rhythm Dance Academy in Ladysmith wearing reindeer horns and lights took to the streets show off some festive routines .

In photos: Ladysmith Light Up 2024

By Mick Sweetman ● Nanaimo ● December 2, 2024

From a Star Wars-themed Christmas sweater to vintage tractors and firetrucks, here’s what you may have missed at Ladysmith’s Light Up Parade.

Sue Fichtler lost her son Evan to a fatal overdose in 2022. She was at the opening of a pop-up overdose prevention site across the street from the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital with Moms Stop the Harm on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024 to call for more services for people who use drugs. Photo by Mick Sweetman / The Discourse.

Patient overdose death at Nanaimo hospital ‘didn’t have to happen,’ doctor says

By Mick Sweetman ● Nanaimo ● November 21, 2024

The night after an unsanctioned Overdose Prevention Site was barred from setting up on Nanaimo Regional General Hospital property, a patient died in an ER washroom.

Mick Sweetman

Lighting up Nanaimo’s future

The best places to camp near Nanaimo

Q&A: The Stand’s filmmaker on the relevance of the 1985 Haida Gwaii blockade today

VIU basketball team supports trans teammate, boycotts games at bible college

Atticus Mercredi talks about Prophecy Club’s ‘angry Indigenous music’

Year-round drop-in centre for people who are unhoused in Nanaimo to open in January

Why Nanaimo postal workers are striking

Q&A: Nanaimo’s poet laureate Neil Surkan on the radical act of reflection

In photos: Ladysmith Light Up 2024

Patient overdose death at Nanaimo hospital ‘didn’t have to happen,’ doctor says

Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society name change to Ballenas ‘in discussion’ for years,’ says CEO

10 ways to better support tenants with vulnerabilities due to income, age or disabilities

‘I want it to stop’: Tenants and advocates allege bullying by non-profit housing provider

Q and A: What are vulnerable tenants rights in non-profit housing?

Who will protect low-income seniors from dying in extreme heat?

Seniors left in distress — or dead — for days in Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society units

Mick Sweetman

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