The year 2022 had many ups and downs for British Columbians.
And while life could be tough at times, there were a number of stories that lifted our spirits, expanded our minds and reaffirmed our belief in the beauty and goodness in the world.
Here are some of the top good news stories that made headlines in B.C. this year.
Ukrainian woman, teenage sons arrive safely in Vancouver after escape from Mariupol
When the war broke out in Ukraine, Ukrainian Canadians living in B.C. were trying to find out any information they could about loved ones back home.
Some were able to start making plans to bring family and friends to B.C.
In April, after fleeing the besieged port city of Mariupol, a Ukrainian woman and her two 13-year-old sons arrived safely in Vancouver.
Victoria Serheiienko has reunited with her best friend, Yuliya Cherman, who is also from Mariupol and who lives in Maple Ridge, for the first time in more than three years, arriving at Vancouver International Airport.
“It’s emotional, so emotional, and we will be crying together,” said Cherman, holding her friend in a tearful hug in the arrivals terminal. “The best thing is, they are alive.
“I still can’t believe it. For me, it’s like a dream, like a daydream. I am just so happy they made it, and I can help them. This is the start of our new life together.”
Seated together, a chance encounter on an Air Canada flight helped B.C. woman find love
It was a real-life romance movie moment for a B.C. woman aboard an Air Canada flight in August 2018 and her story went viral this year.
When Kimberley Bowie sat down in her seat on an Air Canada flight, little did she know it would change the course of her life.
She was on her way back from a last-minute solo trip to Mexico.
“I was leaving a bad relationship behind and had just wanted to disappear for a bit,” she told Global News via email. “When I booked the trip, all I wanted was to get away from my current life and be anonymous, with zero chance of meeting anyone. A relationship of any sort with anyone was about the last thing on my mind.”
Bowie said she noticed a man walking down the aisle and thought he was handsome but he walked past her row, briefly catching her eye as he did.
But after fate sat them together, cupid had lifelong plans for the pair.
They currently live together in Mexico with their dog Rigo.
Celebrating Springer: It’s been 20 years since the orca was captured and released in B.C.
In July, it had been 20 years since teams from British Columbia and Washington state worked together to rescue an orphaned orca named Springer.
She was the first orca to have been captured and then successfully re-integrated into her pod, and the anniversary of her rescue was celebrated with events in Telegraph Cove from July 22 to 24.
Springer is now thriving with two calves of her own – Spirit born in 2013 and Storm born in 2017 – but it was a rough start for the whale.
Global News has been following Springer’s story for two decades and whale experts called her story “inspiring.”
B.C. man collects thousands of rare books, artifacts documenting Sikh history
It’s a collection that has taken almost three decades to build: rare medals, maps, artifacts and volumes of many types of books, some dating as far back as 1696.
Raj Singh Bhandall, the man behind Surrey’s Wanjara Nomad Collections, estimates he has more than 2,000 items in his personal mini museum from all over the world, including India and Afghanistan.
“When anyone asks me, ‘What do you have?’ I always say, ‘Some books,’ but when they slide this door and they enter, they say, ‘This is not what you told us,’” Bhandall told Global News.
“They’re like living objects. There is a story behind them. Every single item has a story.”
Rare white orca calf spotted in B.C. waters for the first time
Whale experts were delighted to note that a rare white orca calf was spotted in B.C. waters in August.
The Pacific Whale Watch Association said a captain for Prince of Whales in Telegraph Cove was on a tour watching Bigg’s transient orcas when he noticed a nearly all-white whale in the pod.
A white orca has been seen several times in California, and even as far south as Tijuana, Mexico, on Oct. 28, 2021, and the captain reached out to Alisa Schulman-Janiger with the California Killer Whale Project.
Schulman-Janiger confirmed that travelling with members of the local T060 and T069 families were CA216C and her white calf, CA216C1, named Frosty.
Frosty was first reported by Monterey Bay Whale Watch in August 2019 but has never been documented in B.C. waters, Pacific Whale Watch said, although the California Killer Whale Project did report the mom, CA216C, was seen near Alert Bay in July 2014 with her family.
Totem pole project at B.C. jail helping inmates carve out new futures
A project at the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre is helping inmates heal by working on a totem pole.
The group was transforming a 340-year-old cedar log featuring figures that represent strength, healing, community and family.
“We all need a little healing here. If you think about it, we’re here because we did something wrong, or something traumatizing happened to us and we took a wrong path,” Roger Der, one of the inmates participating in the Pole Project at the correctional centre, told Global News.
“This is a way of stepping towards that right path.”
The project began last summer and involves inmates spending one day per week learning traditional carving techniques from master carver Tsawout artist Tom LaFortune, his brother Aubrey and Max Henry, the facility’s Indigenous Cultural Liaison.
“We’re all human,” LaFortune said.
Merchants donate $8,800 to beloved Chinatown security guard who was attacked
In late August, merchants in Vancouver’s Chinatown raised $8,800 for a beloved security guard who was assaulted earlier in the month.
Harold Johnson, 64, suffered a black eye, a broken cheekbone, a broken nose and head trauma when he was attacked by a stranger after taking photos in an alley near the Chinese Cultural Centre on Aug. 12.
A suspect has been charged with one count of assault in the case.
In a short cheque presentation ceremony, the Vancouver Chinatown Merchant Association’s Tracy To said an attack on Johnson is “an attack on Chinatown.”
“What you have done for our community — it’s not just walking the beat and keeping the streets safe, but you’re also looking out for us and telling us what to look out for around our buildings,” she told Global News.
Global BC cameraman shares his ‘miracle’ recovery after cardiac arrest while jogging
This story hit close to home for Global News employees.
In the spring, a Global BC camera operator suffered a cardiac arrest and “technically” died for about 30 minutes.
Cliff Shim was jogging in downtown Vancouver with his dog Bowser around 11 p.m. on April 7 when his heart suddenly stopped beating and he collapsed. He normally runs along the seawall, he explained, but decided to go downtown that night for a “change of scenery.”
“It’s definitely a miracle that I’m here today,” Shim said outside St. Paul’s Hospital, where more than two dozen staff cared for him over several weeks.
“Had I been on the seawall there’s a very good chance there would have been nobody there, but because I was downtown a bystander was able to come along and give me a hand.”
105-year-old Kelowna, B.C. dad and 80-year-old daughter not letting age slow them down
A Kelowna senior isn’t letting his age get the better of him. At 105 years old, Herb Reimche isn’t slowing down.
Almost every day, Reimche goes for rides on his scooter and explores the city he’s called home since 1939.
“There’s nothing much else I can do. I get by with a scooter, it’s my life out,” said Reimche.
He used to go for rides alone, until last year when his 80-year-old daughter got a scooter of her own.
“I’ve never used one before. I drive a car but never used one of these so it was a little bit getting used to, but now it’s fun and I’m always glad to be able to go with my dad,” said Reimche’s daughter, Twyla Gimbel.
The pair try to go for daily rides, which sometimes include watching planes leave the runway.
Cat lost for months treks across Vancouver Island, leading to ‘purrfect reunion’
Christmas came early for one B.C. family when they were reunited with their beloved cat named Hobbes.
The tabby had been lost for about three-and-a-half months at Kennedy Lake, which is not far from Ucluelet on Vancouver Island’s west coast, the SPCA’s Nanaimo branch said on its Facebook page.
Hobbes was with his family on a road trip when he was spooked out of their truck by a dog, the group said.
His heartbroken owners camped at the lake for a week looking for the cat, but were eventually forced to give up and return to their home in Victoria.
The resilient little feline incredibly made his way all the way across the island to the Nanaimo area — some 166 kilometres — where he wandered into someone’s home.
B.C. breakdancer wins world championship, sets eyes on 2024 Olympic debut
Breakdancing or ‘breaking’ is set to make its Olympic debut in 2024, and a Vancouver man who recently claimed a gold medal at the sport’s recent world championship is poised to be a contender.
Philip Kim just beat out more than 250 competitors to win his first World Breaking Championship, which also led to his first taste of fame.
“I had a lot of people coming up, asking for signatures and pictures, which is very new for me,” Kim, who is also known as Phil Wizard, told Global’s This is BC.