BCMar 05, 2020
New case of COVID-19, Total of confirmed cases in B.C. reaches 13
 There's a new case of COVID-19 in British Columbia. That brings the total of confirmed cases in Canada to 34. Provincial Health Officer Doctor Bonnie Henry made the announcement. She says the latest person who is ill is a woman in her 80s and she is in critical condition. Henry says they are checking on any contacts the woman might have had with others. 
BCMar 04, 2020
Manslaughter charge laid in death of man at Vancouver homeless camp
 Vancouver police say a man has been charged in the homicide of a 62 year old man at a homeless camp in the Downtown Eastside. Police say 50-year-old Glen Martin has been charged with manslaughter in the death of Jesus Cristobal-Esteban. Const. Tania Visintin says in a news release that Cristobal-Esteban suffered a serious head injury in an altercation on Jan. 1 and was taken to hospital where he died the next day. The death was Vancouver's first homicide of 2020 and the police department has expressed concerns about the level of violence at the camp in Oppenheimer Park. Last week the police s
BCMar 04, 2020
TSB: Undetected cracks responsible for an Enbridge natural gas pipeline explosion 
 The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says undetected cracks were responsible for an Enbridge natural gas pipeline rupture that resulted in an explosion and fire northeast of Prince George, B.C. in October 2018. No one was injured in the incident but 125 people had to be evacuated and the outage led to province wide natural gas shortages. Safety board lead investigator Jennifer Philopoulos says Enbridge subsidiary Westcoast Energy, the pipeline operator, was aware of the risk but its plan to manage that risk turned out to be insufficient. 
BCMar 04, 2020
New Westminster Police release new footage of missing woman Nirla Sharma
Police in New Westminster have released new video surveillance footage of a woman who has been missing for more than a week.A news release says 44 year old Nirla Sharma was recorded in the Queensborough Landing business area in the early hours of February 24th, the morning of her disappearance.Police say images circulated widely last week were actually of a different person, not Sharma.They are asking anyone with dash cam footage who was driving in the area to come forward.
BCMar 04, 2020
3 more cases of the novel coronavirus in B.C.
 Three more cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in British Columbia, bringing the total of people infected to 12 in the province. Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, says the two women and one man are linked to travel to Iran. She says one of the women is in her 30s and was infected in a household linked to the eighth case in BC, which involved travel to Iran. Henry says the most important advice she can offer is for people to wash their hands to prevent infection as COVID-19 spreads around the world. Health Minister Adrian Dix says the first five cases in BC were l
BCMar 03, 2020
B.C. announces 5 days of paid leave for workers fleeing domestic and sexual violence
 The B.C. government has announced five days of paid leave for workers fleeing domestic and sexual violence. The ministries of labour, finance and the gender equity office made the announcement this morning in Victoria. The new legislation also covers parents of a child or dependent impacted by domestic or sexual violence. Tracy Porteous, the executive director of the Ending Violence Association of British Columbia says survivors of such violence face many difficulties but having informed and respectful people and processes in place to offer assistance will give them time to heal. 
BCMar 03, 2020
9th confirmed case of COVID-19 in BC is a man who recently returned from Iran
 Another case of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, has been identified in British Columbia. B.C.'s provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, says the man, in his 50's, returned from Iran last week and began to feel ill. He is in isolation at home in the Fraser Health region and Henry says he, his family and close contacts are all being monitored. Ontario reported two more cases of the virus this morning and those, along with the latest B.C. case, have pushed the total number of COVID-19 illnesses in Canada to 30. 
BCMar 03, 2020
Vancouver police cruisers, fleeing car, damaged at end of early morning chase
Police say one man suffered minor injuries when his car and several police cruisers collided numerous times at the end of a brief pursuit in Vancouver.It happened just after 2 a.m. when Const. Tania Visintin says officers tried to pull over a suspicious vehicle believed to be linked to break-ins on the city's west side. Visintin says in an email that the driver sped away, ignoring the lights and sirens.The 38 year old Vancouver man was stopped a short distance away after what Visintin describes as "a number of collisions" with the cruisers.The car and cruisers were badly damaged but Visintin s
BCMar 03, 2020
Woman wins discrimination complaint against former landlord over smudging ceremonies
A landlord who accused his former tenant of smoking pot when she was actually burning sage has been ordered to pay her more than $23,000.Crystal Smith filed a discrimination complaint against Parminder Mohan after he tried to evict her in 2017 and made derogatory comments about her Indigenous background.The BC Human Rights Tribunal has determined the mother of two never should have been harassed for performing smudging ceremonies in her Burnaby home.The spiritual cleansing is a cultural tradition.