British Columbia is activating its provincial pandemic plan to deal with the novel coronavirus.Health Minister Adrian Dix says the province is ready to use emergency powers to protect the population, health workers, and the health system's capacity to help patients with other problems.Dix says the B.C. government is also preparing for how it will function if large numbers of public employees get sick.The plan is to be ready to operate under an outbreak that lasts up to four months.Premier John Horgan says a committee of deputy ministers will oversee B.C.'s COVID-19 response, and the province n

British Columbia will work with First Nations to restore their legal practices and structures under an agreement signed today that aims to reduce the number of Indigenous people sent to jail. Attorney General David Eby says the agreement with the First Nations Justice Council is historic and will make a difference to Indigenous people for generations. He says about 30 per cent of inmates in B.C.'s jails and prisons are from First Nations, but they comprise less than four per cent of the province's total population. Eby says his ministry and the council will work together to implement the stra

An elementary school northeast of Prince George is closed again today as crews clean up following a train derailment yesterday morning, barely 200 metres from the school grounds. Canadian National confirms 27 cars jumped the tracks and what is described as ``a small amount'' of petroleum coke, a non-hazardous product of the refining process, spilled into a nearby creek. CN says environmental experts and regulatory officials are overseeing that clean up, while the Transportation Safety Board will lead an investigation into the cause of the crash. None of the workers on the train, and no staff

A judge has found a man guilty of second degree murder and aggravated assault in an attack more than three years ago on two students at a British Columbia high school. Defence lawyer Martin Peters had argued in December that Gabriel Klein did not have the intent to kill a 13 year old girl on Nov. 1, 2016, when he walked into the rotunda of Abbotsford Secondary School. He urged Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the B.C. Supreme Court to find his client guilty of manslaughter, but she found Klein guilty of second-degree murder today. Letisha Reimer died after being stabbed 14 times and

A man charged in a more than three decade old Vernon murder case has been sentenced after a plea deal on a lesser charge.Paramjit Singh Bogarh had been charged with murdering his wife, Saminder in 1986.But he pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact for lying to police to help his brother escape to India after the killing.Bogarh was given a five year prison sentence after a joint submission by Crown and defence, with two more years to serve after credit for time served.

British Columbia has announced eight new cases of COVID-19, but the provincial health officer says the additional cases are not surprising. Dr. Bonnie Henry says four of the new cases are people with close household contacts of previously announced cases. Two other cases involve people who recently returned from Iran, a woman in her 50s and a man in his 60s who live in the same household. Henry says a resident of Seattle visiting family in B.C. has also tested positive. She says the other case was picked up through the province's ongoing influenza testing, and officials are now trying to dete

About 20 rail cars have gone off the tracks in a small northern BC community, but Canadian National Railway says there is no danger to public safety. The company is not saying what the cars were carrying. It says there are no fires, leaks or injuries as a result of the derailment in Giscome, northeast of Prince George. CN says its crews are responding, the cause of the derailment is under investigation and it will provide more updates as information becomes available.

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.

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