B-C Emergency Health says paramedics responded to more than 24-thousand overdose calls across the province last year, which amounts to an average of 66 calls each day. The health service says up until 2015, overdose calls in B-C fluctuated from 10 to 15-thousand each year, but by 2017 the number exceeded 23-thousand. It says this year's calls represent a two per cent increase ove 2018 and Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria continue to see the highest number of calls. There were nearly 86-hundred calls in Vancouver, an increase of eight per cent over the year before.

An inquest will begin into the death of a 49-year-old Nanaimo man three years after he was fatally shot by police.Craig Ford was walking through a residential area of the city carrying a knife in June 2016 when officers arrived. The office that examines all cases of police-involved injury or death later ruled the shooting was justified because Ford repeatedly refused orders to drop the knife and advanced toward officers. The inquest into his death -- which is mandatory -- will begin on July 27th in Nanaimo.

A senior Vancouver police officer has been ordered dismissed from the force for discreditable conduct after an inappropriate relationship with a junior constable who died by suicide. The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner says in a statement the order was made against Sgt. Dave Van Patten but he can request a review of the decision. It says Const. Nicole Chan killed herself last January and the police complaint commissioner ordered an investigation, which was conducted by the New Westminster police. The statement says the investigation revealed Van Patten was in an inappropriate relat

A 14-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon for throwing coffee in the faces of two men in Regina last summer. The act caught media attention in July when a video was posted on Facebook. The men, who were not hurt, were in a parking lot near a Walmart and a Winners store. The Crown prosecutor described the attack as unprovoked and degrading. The youth was given a conditional discharge, eight months of probation and 20 hours of community service. He is also required to make written apologies to the men.

In an exclusive interview on Connect FM’s Sver Wala Show, Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum criticized former councillors Jack Hundial and Brenda Locke for what he called a “flip-flop” on the city’s controversial policing transition. McCallum told Connect News Team, at our studios, that both councillors previously supported replacing the RCMP with a municipal police force before the last municipal election but changed their position after being elected. It’s very unusual to see elected officials reverse themselves so dramatically,” McCallum said. “It’s only natural that three council

R-C-M-P in Surrey have issued a warning about a new scam reported by people who used Whatsapp believing they were booking low-cost airline tickets. The Mounties say the flights between India and Vancouver were advertised on Punjabi T-V and newspapers. But they say two separate victims have reported their credit card data was stolen and used after they were directed to provide the information to book a flight via Whatsapp. Police say they are looking to identify the individuals involved but people should never provide personal or credit card details via mobile apps to an unknown third party.

The RCMP says British Columbia's police watchdog is investigating a police-involved shooting that resulted in a man's death in the Shuswap region. They say Mounties in Salmon Arm received a complaint at around 6:40 p.m. Tuesday that someone had severely damaged property at a home in Tappen, about 90 kilometres east of Kamloops. Officers located a male suspect at a neighbouring residence, set up a containment perimeter and called the RCMP's Emergency Response Team after an attempted arrest was called off due to the level of risk. Police say officers used a chemical agent in an attempt to force

New investments in the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) for sonography and cardiovascular perfusion programs will mean more graduates and better health care for people in British Columbia. Students, health-care workers and patients have been calling on government to increase sonography training across the province for years, and we are answering that call with new and expanded programs in Northern B.C., Vancouver Island and now the Lower Mainland. Melanie Mark, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training, said investing in BCIT so more students can train for dynamic an

Premier John Horgan says the province is mourning the tragic loss of life in the devastating plane crash in Iran.British Columbians are among the 63 Canadian victims on the Boeing flight that went down near Tehran minutes after takeoff, killing all 176 people on board.A Vancouver-based Iranian-Canadian organization says a Vancouver engineer, his wife and their 15-year-old son were on board the flight enroute to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.The niece of a North Vancouver couple who were award-winning doctors in Iran says they were also killed while returning from a visit with family.Horgan say