Neuroscience explains why teens are so vulnerable to Big Tech social media platforms Big Tech is facing a ‘Big Tobacco’ moment. To regulate social media effectively, we need to understand the teenage brain.

"A Los Angeles jury has found that #socialmedia company #Meta and video streaming service #YouTube harmed a young user with #addictive design features that led to #mentalhealth distress, including body #dysmorphia, #depression and #suicidal thoughts." theconversation.com/neuroscience...

Physical health youth programs in Campbell River have added mental health benefits - Campbell River Mirror Boxing, cold water cleanses offer paths to improved emotional well-being

"Group and one-on-one counselling, school programs, outdoor camps, art and culture activities and sports all have some measure of both direct and indirect benefits to #mentalhealth for young people." #CampbellRiver #VancouverIsland #BC campbellrivermirror.com/2026/04/02/p...

Online auction to raise funds for trauma counselling begins April 13 - North Island Gazette North Island Survivors’ Healing Society offers more than 240 items available to bid on

"The #NorthIsland Survivors’ Healing Society is holding its annual online auction April 13-15, 2026. The auction helps fund professional #counselling services for community members affected by #trauma and #abuse" #VancouverIsland #BC #BritishColumbia northislandgazette.com/2026/04/04/o...

Glow Gala returns to Victoria to shed light on intimate partner violence - Victoria News The event will raise funds for Victoria Women’s Transition House Society

"Glow Gala [will] place on May 2, with organizers focused on conveying the reality of women who go through intimate partner violence in #Victoria. The event hopes to shed light on the issue & raise funds to provide important services for victims of #domesticviolence." #BC vicnews.com/2026/04/04/g...

Drug user group co-hosting its first author talk in Nanaimo YouTube video by People First Radio

ICYMI

The Nanaimo Area Network of Drug Users is co-hosting Garth Mullins for a talk on his memoir Crackdown in April at Nanaimo's Harbourfront Library

Ann Livingston is helping organize, she spoke with PFR about the event:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSWi...

@vimhs.bsky.social

Mountain Muscox providing support for people who’ve experienced trauma in the backcountry YouTube video by People First Radio

ICYMI

"To see the gentleness, the compassion, the hope holding that happens with our group, is pretty transformative."

Listen:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FIY...

@vimhs.bsky.social

A new initiative in Yellowknife is underway to give haircuts to those experiencing homelessness.

Learn about the network behind the cuts and the conversation that comes with them, tonight on APTN National News.

Watch live: www.youtube.com/@aptnnews

Just in time for #Easter, we have baby chicks - 37 of them, in fact! 🐣❤️ These little darlings (at #ActionsDayProgram) are spreading joy throughout NACL, so stay tuned for more pix of them on the way, along with new ducklings 🐥 that should be hatching early next week! 🥰 #Chicks #Ducklings

Sorry for the short notice, but our April #SocialNight calendar is HERE! 🐰❤️ To kick it off, hop into #Easter with a Craft Night! Join us for a evening of
creativity and springtime fun TONIGHT from 6-8 at 83 Victoria Crescent for just $5, which includes all your supplies PLUS a snack and drink! 🥰👍

Long-time journalist Kathleen Martens spent many years covering MMIWG stories.

She says the National Inquiry seemed destined for failure, but it ended up really helping families and survivors be heard.

Watch the full Face to Face interview: youtu.be/HAz8RBAx-8I

“I’d like to live a happy life,” a Black trans woman declares in this hopeful documentary portrait of her life.
Director Nikolai Ursin’s - Behind Every Good Man (c. 1967) provides a glimpse into the life of an African-American #trans woman.
🏳️‍⚧️🖤🏳️‍🌈

Take part in shaping the East Van Safety Plan Vancouver at Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society on April 13th from 5:00-7:30 PM! This event is open to community members living or working in East Vancouver.

➡️RSVP on Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.ca/e/east-van-s...

Autism Is No Tragedy | The Tyee When autistic people are understood and supported, we have tremendous potential. Here are reasons to be hopeful for the next generation.

"Improved diagnostic criteria and a growing #neurodiversity movement have proven that #autism is not the tragedy we were led to believe it was. My son is now 17, a high school senior in a mainstream class." #comment #opinion #personalstory thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026...

Residential ‘school’ survivors reunited with childhood art, hidden for decades: ‘They’ve survived, the same as all of us’ When a priest reputedly ordered a teacher to destroy children's paintings, he instead hid them at home — now the pieces are seeing the light of day

"Nearly 60 pieces of art from six decades ago are a reminder that children’s creativity could not be suppressed by colonizers’ attempts to strip them of their culture. The rare collection, created by students of MacKay Indian Residential School in the 1960s..." indiginews.com/arts/residen...

Claims for Indian Hospitals Settlements Now Open | Ha-Shilth-Sa Newspaper The application period for those that were patients of a Federal Indian Hospital has now opened. In Canada, Federal Indian Hospitals were a network of facilities operated by the Government of Canada b...

"Racially segregated, Canadian Federal Indian Hospitals started out as a TB hospital for First Nations people, but many suffered abuses or were victims of medical experimentation there. Thousands of #FirstNations, #Inuit, and #Métis were sent to Indian Hospitals" www.hashilthsa.com/news/2026-04...

B.C. man calling on feds to declare dementia a national health emergency - Nanaimo News Bulletin ‘Dementia is not a partisan issue. It affects the entire Canadian family,’ Ivan Scott says

" #SouthSurrey resident and talk radio host Ivan Scott is calling on the federal government to formally declare #dementia to be a national health emergency" #mentalhealth #BritishColumbia #BC #Canada nanaimobulletin.com/2026/04/01/b...

Eviction saga highlights effect of treating housing as commodity: UVic prof Estair Van Wagner said the letter of the law was followed in Mark Plank’s high-profile eviction case, but not the “human rights element.”

"The near-eviction of a 63-year-old #Victoria renter due to missed rent-increase payments brings home the impact of treating #housing “as a #commodity instead of a #home,” says a University of Victoria associate law professor" #VancouverIsland #BC @uvic.ca www.timescolonist.com/local-news/e...

All #2S/LGBTQIA+ Olders and Elders deserve fulfilling and dignified later years.
#DignitySeniors Society is dedicated to affecting systemic change that creates culturally appropriate services for
2S/LGBTQIA+ #seniors.
Visit our website to learn more: www.dignityseniors.org

Honoured to be blanketed by the Port Alberni Friendship Centre Board on Tuesday. Their leadership, from culture to housing to life-saving tiny homes, is incredible. Proud to help secure historic 5-year funding so they can keep changing lives. I’ll keep fighting alongside you.

What a serene setting! Here’s JS from #PortsmouthRoadHome enjoying a recent candlelight concert! 🕯️🎶🥰🥰🥰 #Music #Candles #Lovely

Have seniors become the new screenagers? | CBC Radio Sherry Bagnato isn’t a millennial or a screenager. She’s a 67-year-old retired Toronto mother of two, and her phone habits have flipped the script at home. Now, she admits, it’s her adult children tel...

“I wake up in the morning, and the first thing I do is check my phone for messages,” Bagnato told The Current’s Matt Galloway. “After breakfast, after I take the dog for a walk, I come back in and I’m on my phone — for the rest of the day.” #socialmedia #seniors #Canada www.cbc.ca/radio/thecur...

New Westminster Requires a Cool Room in Rental Units to Save Lives | The Tyee A new bylaw calls on landlords to provide at least one room that stays at or below 26 C in extreme heat.

"Five years after a deadly #heatdome claimed the lives of 33 #NewWestminster residents... city council has passed a bylaw requiring landlords to ensure at least one room in every unit in a multi-family rental building stays at or below 26 C" #BC #BritishColumbia #Canada thetyee.ca/News/2026/04...

Saanich therapy centre sees growing demand as men struggle in silence - Saanich News Men’s Therapy Centre offers trauma-focused counselling for men and their families

"A #Saanich -based #counselling centre for #men is raising awareness that the more men suppress their feelings, the more complicated their #mentalhealth will be ...men are less likely to seek help because of society’s perception of #therapy" #VancouverIsland #BC saanichnews.com/2026/04/01/s...

Senior Citizens Society receives donation from Port Hardy Legion - North Island Gazette The Society provides services and events for Centre members and area seniors

"The Hardy Bay Senior’s Centre was the recipient of a donation from the local Royal Canadian Legion. ...The Society offers programming and services to the region’s senior population." #PortHardy #VancouverIsland #NorthIsland #BC #BritishColumbia northislandgazette.com/2026/03/31/s...

More Than You Might Think – Inside the North Island Crisis and Counselling Centre - North Island Gazette Crisis centre has grown into the largest charitable non-profit organization north of Campbell River

"In communities like ours on the #NorthIsland, support matters. It shows up in quiet moments — when someone reaches out, when a family finds stability, or when a person simply feels seen. Those moments say a lot about who we are" #PortHardy #VancouverIsland #BC northislandgazette.com/2026/04/01/m...

Hospital auxiliary hands over $1 million for hospital care, comfort and equipment - Nanaimo News Bulletin Money raised from thrift and gift shops sales and more than 50,000 volunteer hours

" #Nanaimo Hospital Auxiliary...volunteers and staff plus representatives from Nanaimo Hospital Foundation and #BC Cancer Centre Nanaimo, packed Beban Park Social Centre to hear updates about the services and patient care equipment the auxiliary raises money for." nanaimobulletin.com/2026/04/01/h...

B.C. attorney general pushing for social media age restrictions - Nanaimo News Bulletin Niki Sharma is urging federal counterparts to develop restriction similar to Australia

" #BC Attorney General Niki Sharma says she is urging the federal government to limit #socialmedia access for #minors by introducing similar restrictions to those enacted in #Australia last year." #youth #mentalhealth #BritishColumbia #Canada nanaimobulletin.com/2026/03/31/b...

TBIs and Homelessness: An open letter by Brain Trust - Vancouver Island Free Daily An open letter by Brain Trust executive director Amanda McFarlane

"Evidence shows that over half of people experiencing #homelessness are living with acquired or traumatic #braininjury — injuries that often occurred before they became #homeless." #TBI #ABI #comment #commentary #BC #BritishColumbia #Canada vancouverislandfreedaily.com/2026/03/31/t...

Victoria man facing eviction over missed rent-increase payments allowed to stay Mark Plank, who does not own a computer or a smartphone, had been facing eviction from his home of five years for failing to pay a rent increase he was notified about only through email.

"Plank and his property manager, Andrew Békés, arrived together...outside the CHEK News building on Kings Road to announce that an agreement had been reached over the weekend to allow Plank to stay in his Cook Street Village studio apartment" #Victoria #BC www.timescolonist.com/local-news/a...

Provincial adviser for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside admits he underestimated task YouTube video by CBC British Columbia

"Former #Vancouver mayor and #BC chief coroner Larry Campbell, who was appointed by the province to serve as an adviser and oversee the government's approach to Vancouver's #DowntownEastside, has had his contract extended by six months." #DTES #BritishColumbia #Canada youtu.be/6bIyMnKA-z0