As we bid farewell to 2023, it's time to reflect on the stories that shaped British Columbia over
the past year. From overdose crisis, policing in Surrey, or BC’s housing initiatives, or Canada’s
diplomatic row over murder of Sikh separatist leader in BC, the province has been at the
forefront of both provincial and national headlines, sometimes navigating challenges and
sometimes celebrating triumphs. Here's a recap of the top news stories that captivated British
Columbians in 2023.
The Opioid Crisis
BC battled with drug overdose crisis throughout the year. The province has already recorded
more than 2000 unregulated drug-related deaths in 2023. People were dying every day from
overdose because of an unregulated and highly-toxic drug supply. According to BC Coroner
unregulated drug toxicity is the leading cause of death in British Columbia for persons aged 10
to 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents, and natural disease
combined. The lives of at least 13,112 British Columbians have been lost to unregulated drugs
since the public health emergency was first declared in April 2016.
The province made national headlines when it embarked on a first-in-Canada experiment at the
beginning of this year with the decriminalization of small amounts of certain drugs in an effort to
realign its response to the toxic drug poisoning crisis toward a health-oriented approach. Under
this exemption, adults (18 years and older) in B.C. are not arrested or charged for possessing
small amounts of certain illegal drugs for personal use. The pilot project is scheduled to last until
Jan. 31, 2026. As project enters second year project, the reviews are mixed and province is
making amendments as per requirements.
In September, the Province prohibited the possession of illegal drugs within 15 metres of any
play structure in a playground, a spray or wading pool, or a skate park. According to BC
government, “Decriminalization is just one tool in the Province’s toolbox in the fight against the
toxic drug crisis. The B.C. government is working to build an integrated system of mental-health
and addictions care that works for everyone.”
Policing
Surrey’s transition from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to the Surrey Police
Service made national headlines throughout the year. She narrowly beat Doug McCallum.
McCallum had advocated for and overseen the first steps in the police transition to the SPS.
Locke won the municipal elections on the mandate of keeping the RCMP in Surrey as the police
of jurisdiction. The mayor has been trying to halt the transition to municipal force. The province,
Surrey Police Service and the city went back and forth and prepared reports to support their
cases. BC’s public safety Minister Mike Farnworth rejected city’s corporate report on moving
back to the Surrey RCMP as it failed to demonstrate that moving back to the RCMP will be safe
and not affect other communities throughout the province. The province ordered the city to
move forward with the transition, however Mayor Locke did not bend down to the pressure.
The City filed a petition with the Supreme Court for a judicial review of BC’s order of July 19,
2023 that asked the city to continue with the transition to the Surrey Police Service.
The province then introduced changes to the existing Policing Act which specified that the City
of Surrey must provide policing services through a municipal police department, giving the
minister the authority to cancel the existing agreement between the Province and the City of
Surrey for the RCMP's services and providing government the ability to appoint an administrator
to assume the functions of the Surrey Police Board to manage the Surrey Police Service.
“This takeover of policing by the province will cost Surrey taxpayers hundreds of millions of
dollars, and result in a double-digit, NDP imposed tax increase.” Locke said residents could be
facing a 20 per cent tax hike to change to a municipal force, adding that the costs would not be
a one-time increase but "generational.''
Ironically, the mayor’s only argument for keeping the RCMP in Surrey is to save tax payer’s
money. Whereas the Mayor is being criticized for wasting tax payer’s money in procrastinating
the policing transition from RCMP to Surrey Police Service. Every counter step to stop the
transition is putting an extra burden on Surrey residents as they are paying to maintain two
police forces in one jurisdiction.
Housing legislation
Canadians through out the country grappled with rising mortgages and housing crisis. The BC
government appointed Ravi Kahlon as new housing minister. The BC government’s April 2023
Homes for People (HFP) plan marked an important step forward towards better managing and
regulating housing in the province. Focused on four priorities – unlocking more homes faster;
delivering better, more affordable homes; helping those with the greatest housing need; and
creating a housing market for people, not speculators – the actions in Homes for People
include: offering forgivable loans for homeowners to build and rent secondary suites below
market rates to increase affordable rental supply quickly; building thousands more affordable
homes for renters, Indigenous Peoples on and off reserve, women and children leaving
violence, and building thousands more on-campus student housing units; delivering thousands
of new homes near public transit, and launching BC Builds to use public land to deliver
affordable homes for people; introducing a flipping tax to discourage short-term speculation;
providing an annual income-tested tax credit of up to $400 per year for renters; providing more
homes and supports for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness; streamlining and
modernizing permitting to reduce costs and speed up approvals to get homes built faster; and
strengthening enforcement of short-term rentals.
Canada India diplomatic standoff
The province of BC made international headlines when Hardeep Singh Nijjar, president of
Surrey, BC gurdwara was shot dead in his truck by two masked gunmen. Nijjar was a vocal
Khalistan supporter. Following the shooting, hundreds of Nijjar supporters took to the streets in
BC, Toronto, along with a handful others in cities like London, Melbourne and San Francisco, to
protest against the Indian government, which they believe is responsible for his death. While
Canadian law enforcement agencies are still investigating, in September Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau stood up in the parliament and made a bombshell announcement alleging Indian
government involvement in the shooting of Nijjar. He said that Canadian intelligence had
identified "credible allegations" of a link between his death and agents of the Indian state.
Trudeau’s announcement sparked diplomatic stand-off between the two countries. It also
brought Indian government under international radar. The Indian government denied any hand
in the murder. Canada announced it has paused talks on a landmark free-trade agreement with
India in September, and at a G20 meeting between the two countries, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi accused Canada of not doing enough to quell "anti-India" sentiments on Canadian soil.
New Delhi also halted visa services to Canada but later decided to resume services. Justin
Trudeau had also accused New Delhi of violating the Vienna Convention by “kicking out"
diplomats at a time when his country had reached out to the former and other global partners to
get to the bottom of the murder. In an interview with the Financial Times, PM Modi said, “If
someone gives us any information, we would definitely look into it".
BC’s worst Wildfires season
The province faced one of its most challenging wildfire seasons in recent memory. Devastating
wildfires swept through several regions, prompting evacuations and putting firefighting
resources to the test. More than 2.84 million hectares of forest and land was burned, tens of
thousands of people forced to evacuate, hundreds of homes and structures lost or damaged,
impacts to cultural values, ecological values, infrastructure and local economies, indirect
economic impacts to agriculture, tourism and other weather-dependent businesses,
unquantifiable impacts to people’s health and wellbeing. Many local non profit organizations like
Surrey’s Guru Nanak Food Bank (GNFB) provided vital assistance to the Central Okanagan
Food Bank during these challenging times.
This season was emotionally challenging and will always be remembered for the tragic loss of
six members of B.C.’s wildland firefighting community. A comprehensive and progressive
emergency management framework was introduced this fall through the Emergency and
Disaster Management Act, along with the announcement of the expert task force on
emergencies, with representatives from First Nations, local governments, provincial government
and more.
Anti-SOGI protests
Thousands took to the streets BC-wide to demonstrate their opposition and support for
imparting SOGI 123 curriculum in Canadian schools. SOGI 123 stands for Sexual Orientation
and Gender Identity. According to SOGI website, “SOGI-inclusive education is about students
having conversations about the SOGI diversity in society and the importance of treating
everyone with dignity and respect.” Anti-SOGI protests were organized under banner 1 Million
March 4 Children, advocating for the elimination of SOGI curriculum in schools.
They termed SOGI-inclusive education policies, as “the sexualization and indoctrination of our
children in schools.” There is no specific SOGI curriculum in B.C., however K-12 students
have subjects around human rights, respecting diversity, and responding to
discrimination. Politicians, public figures, and education boards across the country released
statements condemning the protests as being hateful and permissive of violence against
LGBTQIA+ people.
Healthcare crisis
BC’s premier David Eby and health Minister Adrian Dix broke ground on the second promised hospital.
While many welcomed the news, many called it an insufficient effort compared to the rapidly growing
population of Surrey. Surrey’s new hospital will be built beside the Kwantlen Polytechnic University campus at
5500 180 Street. The new Surrey hospital will have inpatient beds, an emergency department, operating rooms,
laboratory and diagnostic services, and outpatient services, with a state-of-the-art BC Cancer Care Centre. Dr.
Randeep Gill, an Emergency Room physician at Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH) who
has been advocating for more healthcare funding South of the Fraser, in an interview
with The Link has appreciated these efforts but contended that they fall short of
resolving the crisis. Despite the promised new hospital with over 150 acute care beds,
he insisted that this won't suffice for the province's fastest-growing community. Dr. Gill
emphasized that Surrey remains at 300 percent less capacity than Vancouver while
dealing with an increasing immigrant and at-risk population. Gill organized a rally on
September 9 th to put a spotlight on five critical healthcare issues in the region like
unbalanced resource allocation between the north and south of the Fraser; insufficient
bed capacity and inadequate hospital infrastructure; lack of a health services plan
aligned with demographics and evidence-based requirements; limited access to primary
and community care services, including a shortage of family doctors; and inadequate
funding for specialized tertiary services like cardiac, trauma, maternity, pediatric,
interventional radiology, and diagnostics.
