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I'm Hollie Ferguson – an editor, journalist and communications specialist based in B.C.

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As a multi-media journalist and editor, I tell stories using photos, videos and good old- fashioned writing.

I enjoy covering stories about human rights, community initiatives and local people.

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Victoria ‘stop the sweeps’ rally calls on city to stop seizing personal belongings

Victoria ‘stop the sweeps’ rally calls on city to stop seizing personal belongings

Just hours after the cancellation of an extreme weather response, City of Victoria bylaw officers began to confiscate tents and blankets from an unhoused community in Stadacona Park on Pandora Avenue.

Trent Smith, who describes himself as a disabled person who is homeless, said he was in the park at 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 4 when bylaw officers arrived with officers from the Victoria Police Department and began breaking down unoccupied tents.

“There was a tent with nobody in it and they took that right away and they took half of another guy’s stuff, and left him with whatever,” he said. “They ended up taking a truck load full from one of the campers.”

Trent Smith stands in front of a pile of leaves he raked in Stadacona Park, where he lives.

Iranian protests

This project required source cultivation, continuous monitoring of global events and on-site reporting.

Protesters call for action on Iran with hunger strike at the B.C. legislature

University of Victoria students join global rally to amplify the voice of Iranians

Iranians in Victoria rally against government killings, in support of women

Protesters in downtown Victoria show solidarity with Iranian women and others protesting Mullahs

Victoria students raiding dumpsters, using food banks and bartering for meals

University students are feeling the effects of the cost of living crisis, with some resorting to taking unused food from jobs, dumpster diving and striking up barter economies with others.

Izzy Adachi, the director of campaigns and community relations for the University of Victoria’s Student Society (UVSS) said a survey completed in December 2022 found 63.8 per cent of students who responded said they are experiencing food insecurity, meaning they struggle to afford enough food to eat.

This has had a huge impact on the student food bank at UVic, which is already facing $135,000 deficit.

While some respondents were full-time students, a majority of those who said they were experiencing food insecurity had part-time, full-time or several jobs.

“The majority of students are working and they’re still struggling,” Adachi said.

Victoria addiction treatment and recovery options are limited, creating gaps in care

People who use drugs are facing barriers to treatment when seeking recovery – many have been around for years while others cropped up during COVID-19.

Dangerous compounds lurking in an unchecked supply are only exacerbating the need for more harm reduction and better access to addiction care, said Guy Felicella, a Vancouver-based advocate who credits harm reduction like drug checking and safe-use spaces for saving his life.

The system, he said, isn’t keeping up with the toxic drug supply.

“We just need to give people the opportunity so that when they are ready, we are ready,” he said. “That is the quintessential factor in people moving forward.”

The things he said British Columbia needs more of – and less of – could save countless lives, giving people who are addicted to drugs a chance at a life that isn’t centered around using. Such problems as long waitlists, doctor shortages, medication stigma and payment processes, however, are holding people down, Felicella said.

RELATED: Recovery for youth who use drugs looks different - here’s how one program in Victoria does it

Guy Felicella

Melanie Vogel becomes the first woman to complete a coast-to-coast-to-coast hike on the Trans Canada Trail

“People would just constantly invite me in. I was no stranger to them, so it seemed."

Melanie Vogel

A protest supporting Old Growth protections draws hundreds

Members of First Nations embrace as they lead hundreds through the streets of downtown Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, to protest the logging of Old Growth trees in the province and on First Nations land.

Environmental alliance calls for end to Fracking

Hossein Reyhani protests deaths in iran with hungar strike

As B.C. premier David Eby swore in his cabinet at government house in Victoria, chants of "Premier Eby: End Fracking," could be heard outside.

The protestors said they were there to remind the new premier of his climate goals and promises.

Hossein Reyhani was just one of the many Iranian Canadians trying to bring awareness to the acts of violence committed against women, journalists and protestors in Iran.

In December, he staged a sit-in and hunger strike on the steps of the parliament building in Victoria, B.C.