Premier Francois Legault is asking the federal government for 1,000 Canadian Armed Forces members to help in the province's struggling long-term care homes. Despite extensive recruitment efforts, Legault says he was only able to fill half the 2,000 positions needed to overcome a staffing shortfall rendered critical by COVID-19. The Canadian Armed Forces have already committed about 130 medically-trained staff and personnel members to help in care homes, but Legault said the additional people he's requesting won't necessarily have medical qualifications but can help with general tasks. The pro

Surrey RCMP say they have received multiple reports recently of sextortion attempts.Police say most reports were from people who received an email claiming their computer had been hacked and video had been taken of them performing an explicit act.The Mounties say people were told the material would be made public if a fee was not paid using Bitcoin but there is no proof any videos were actually taken.They say fraudsters often cite a current or former password as proof of the hack but people should ignore such emails because the information was likely obtained in a previous data breach.

Police are releasing more details about a British Columbia woman they fear may be the victim of a homicide. Metro Vancouver's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says 45 year old April Parisian was last heard from on March 28 and was declared missing earlier this month.The resident of the Fraser Canyon community of Spuzzum owned a red, 1998 Chevrolet pickup with a camper and may have been with her boyfriend, Paris Margesson, and her brown pug dog. On April 16, police appealed for help and received a tip just hours later that the camper was in the Abbotsford area.Officers tried to speak to a

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is unveiling a $9 billion emergency program aimed at students. It includes a Canada Emergency Student Benefit worth at least $1250 a month from May to August. The benefit can be accessed by those in post-secondary school now, headed to post secondary school in September or anyone who graduated after December 2019.The government is also creating 76,000 job placements for young people in sectors currently dealing with labour shortages.

There are 38,422 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada. Quebec: 20,126 confirmed (including 1,041 deaths, 4,048 resolved) Ontario: 11,735 confirmed (including 622 deaths, 5,806 resolved) Alberta: 3,095 confirmed (including 61 deaths, 1,273 resolved) British Columbia: 1,724 confirmed (including 87 deaths, 1,041 resolved) Nova Scotia: 737 confirmed (including 10 deaths, 286 resolved) Saskatchewan: 320 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 252 resolved) Newfoundland and Labrador: 257 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 194 resolved) Manitoba: 246 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 150 resolved), 9 presumpti

A Halifax area man impersonating an RCMP officer killed 22 people, including a 17 year old, with bodies found in five Nova Scotia communities. RCMP confirm the murders began in Portapique. They say when police arrived they discovered several casualties inside and outside of a home. Police say they are working at 16 specific locations to gather evidence and learn more about what happened. The violence began Saturday night and ended at around noon on Sunday when police shot and killed 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman.

A chicken processing plant in Vancouver has been closed due to an out break of COVID-19. Vancouver Coastal Health says 28 employees at the United Poultry Company plant have tested positive for the virus. It says the plant was shut down yesterday and all employees have been told to self-isolate for 14 days. BC health officials say there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread by meat or the packaging.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is reporting 25 new cases of COVID-19 in BC. She says that increases total cases to 17-hundred and 24. Henry says another resident at a long-term care home in Vancouver Coastal Health has died, raising the death toll in the province to 87. 109 people are in hospital, including 51 in intensive care.

The federal government says it hopes to process 90 per cent of applications for wage subsidies from employers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by May 5. Jean-Yves Duclos, the vice-chair of the cabinet committee on COVID-19, offered the timeline after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this morning that applications for wage support will be open next Monday. However, neither Trudeau nor Duclos could say when money would actually start to flow to employers. Employers whose bottom lines have been hit by the pandemic will be able to apply for the federal government to cover up to 75 per cen