An Avalanche Canada expert says a recent cold snap followed by snowfall in British Columbia's south coastal region has resulted in unusual and tricky conditions in mountain areas frequented by backcountry enthusiasts.Ilya Storm says last week's cold winds from the north and east, followed by weekend snowfall, has created slabs of snow that are not bonding well with mountain surfaces, especially in the Whistler area.Whistler RCMP reported two deaths and several injuries after skiers and snowboarders were caught in separate avalanches in the Blackcomb Glacier and Brandywine Bowl areas.Last Decem

Newly tabled gun legislation would allow municipalities to ban handguns through bylaws restricting their possession, storage and transportation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says today the measures will be backed up with serious penalties to enforce these bylaws, including jail time for people who violate municipal rules. Many gun-control advocates have pressed for a national handgun ban, warning that leaving it up to municipalities would create an ineffective patchwork of regulations. As expected, the long-promised bill also proposes a buyback of a wide array of recently banned firearms the

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland is appealing to the official Opposition Conservatives to hasten passage of a COVID-19 relief bill through the House of Commons.The appeal is in a letter from Freeland to Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole in which the deputy prime minister says the Tories are dragging their feet on the proposed legislation for no good reason.Freeland goes on to say the bill should not be "a political football," and asks O'Toole to support its passage to help Canadians struggling during the pandemic.The Liberal government introduced the proposed legislation at the beginnin

The Delhi Police on Tuesday wrote to video-conferencing app Zoom, seeking details of a meeting attended by Poetic Justice Foundation founder MO Dhaliwal that took place ahead of the January 26 violence, concerning the 'toolkit' document case. According to the sources, the Delhi Police has written to Zoom seeking details of participants who attended the meeting ahead of the Republic Day violence during the farmer's tractor rally in the national capital. 'Climate activist' Nikita Jacob, who is involved in the controversial "Toolkit" document case related to farmers' protest, on Monday admitted t

The Senate has acquitted Donald Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, bringing his trial to a close and giving the former president a historic second victory in the court of impeachment.Trump is the first president to be impeached twice, and he is also now twice acquitted as the majority of Republicans defended his actions. The Senate voted 57-43 that Trump is “not guilty” of incitement. Two thirds of the Senate, or 67 votes, was needed for conviction.House Democrats argued that Trump caused the violent attack by repeating for months the false claims that the election wa

British Columbia's top doctor says 47 cases of COVID-19 variants have been identified in the province, including one believed to be linked to Nigeria. Dr. Bonnie Henry says 29 cases are related to a variant first identified in the United Kingdom, 17 are associated with South Africa and the latest one involves a person who travelled to Nigeria and returned to the Interior Health region. Dr. Henry says lab teams in B.C. are working with their counterparts across Canada and internationally to get a better understanding of whether the Nigerian variant that has been identified elsewhere is also ea

The British Columbia government has approved single-use plastics bans in four more communities. Surrey, Nanaimo, Rossland and Esquimalt are the latest municipalities to implement bans based on their particular needs. The province approved similar bylaws in Victoria, Richmond, Saanich, Tofino and Ucluelet last September to prevent waste such as shopping bags and takeout containers from ending up in landfills and the ocean. Environment Minister George Heyman says B.C. continues to work on regulations allowing local governments to place bans on single-use plastics without the need for provincial

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined Canada's top doctors in warning that more infectious COVID-19 variants threaten to spark a third wave, even as he announced Canada would receive millions more vaccine doses than previously expected. Trudeau urged the public to refrain from unnecessary travel and gatherings as the long weekend approached, noting a fast-tracked shipment of millions of COVID-19 vaccines in coming months will not be enough to combat worrisome variants that have overtaken other countries. "Nobody wants a third wave to start, particularly not one comprised of new, more communica

The Surrey RCMP Robbery Unit is requesting the public’s assistance with identifying three suspects involved in a series of robberies where high-end gaming consoles were stolen, throughout the Lower Mainland, three of which occurred in Surrey. Surrey RCMP officers have been working with other Lower Mainland police agencies and have identified one of the four suspects. However, efforts to identify the remaining three suspects have been unsuccessful. Photos and descriptions are being released and police are asking for the public’s help to identify the men.All three suspects are described as S