Canada is promising to establish 10 new Indigenous-led federal marine protected areas as IMPAC5, a global summit on ocean conservation, kicks off Friday in Vancouver.

International scientists and environmental groups are urging Canada to join the tide of nations calling for a pause on deep-sea mining over worries a potential gold rush could destroy species and ecosystems before they are even discovered.

“People aren’t getting the care that they need, and workers feel like they’re not delivering the care they were trained to deliver," said federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh on input from residents and medical professionals on health care during his Vancouver Island tour.

The funding will drive numerous immediate measures to stabilize health care in the region but won’t immediately reverse current overnight emergency room closures in Port Hardy or Alert Bay.

Critics and supporters of West Coast fish farms are at odds over a recent Fisheries and Oceans Canada study suggesting sea lice infestations among juvenile wild salmon aren’t strongly tied to aquaculture operations. 

The upcoming IMPAC5 conference in Vancouver is an opportunity to chart the path to meet world leaders' promise last month to protect 30 per cent of the planet's land and waters by 2030, says federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray.

A First Nation and conservationists striving to protect the trove of large orange coral fans are cautiously optimistic that Fisheries and Oceans Canada will put an interim fishing moratorium in place to protect the fragile ecosystem.

Ottawa has to stop letting local port authorities do the heavy lifting in preventing cruise ships from dumping billions of litres of corrosive wastewater along the B.C. coast, environmentalists say.

Oceans are overlooked despite their outsized role in buffering the effects of global warming. We dive into how the planet — and Canada — needs to step up to prevent climate and biodiversity collapse.

It's not clear who are the winners and losers in the future of the commercial salmon fishery as Ottawa transforms an industry once the backbone of the coast. But trends suggest those with the deepest pockets will come out on top, industry experts say.

“I love those planes because to me, the sound of those engines is the sound of going home," says Bella Bella resident Josh Carpenter about flying on the historic Grumman Goose to his remote coastal community for the holidays.

The privately owned Link Island, a biodiversity jewel in the Salish Sea, has been gifted to protect and shelter some of B.C.'s rarest species and ecosystems.

Fish harvesters are "deeply disappointed" after DFO released the details of its commercial licence buyback plan to protect plummeting Pacific salmon stocks Wednesday.

“I can’t think of anything more hopeful than getting involved in rewilding and restoration projects," says teacher Sheldon Etheridge on Quadra Island's school wetland project, which will be an outdoor classroom and mitigate climate change in the community.