B.C. Indigenous Relations Minister Scott Fraser is set to meet with Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett today in Victoria amid ongoing rail blockades and protests for Indigenous land rights. The two were invited last week to meet by Gitxsan chief Norm Stephens after members of the First Nation erected a blockade near New Hazelton in support of neighbouring Wet'suwet'en chiefs who oppose a pipeline through their territory. The invitation was also extended to Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs. Today's meeting only involves Fraser and Bennett but they are sending a letter to heredita

The prime minister is calling off a planned trip to the Caribbean this week. His office announced the cancellation less than 24 hours before Justin Trudeau was scheduled to fly to Barbados, where he was expected to sell Canada's bid to get a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Back home, the P-M has been facing harsh criticism in the wake of anti-pipeline protests that have disrupted rail service. He'd been accused of ''running around'' Africa and Europe as protesters opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project blockade rail lines in B-C, Ontario and other parts of the country.

The Rising India Youth Organisation on February 14 paid tribute to soldiers who lost their lives in 2019 Pulwama attack. People lit about 1100 candles at Punjab Universities' students centre. Over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CPRF) personnel were killed and several injured when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist drove an explosive-laden car into a convoy of paramilitary troops. The incident took place on Srinagar-Jammu national highway in Pulwama district.

Abbotsford Police are once again warning the public that a group of so-called distraction thieves is back in town and targeting elderly pedestrians. They say a female suspect got out of a grey vehicle and pushed an elderly woman to the ground before taking a gold chain from her neck and fleeing on Monday. Police say thieves struck again late this morning, when a female suspect got out of a white vehicle and approached another elderly woman, stealing her necklace. They say there appears to be more than one suspect involved and police are concerned by their escalating violence in the incidents

Angry demonstrations have broken out in Mexico City as hundreds of women rage against the gruesome slaying and mutilation of a young woman. The case of Ingrid Escamilla has come to personify frustration over the rising incidence of gender-related killings, or femicides. She was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend, and indignation grew after some media outlets published horrific photos of her skinned corpse. Friday morning, dozens of protesters spray-painted slogans such as ``We won't be silenced'' on the National Palace. Hours later hundreds marched on a media outlet that published the images

Police say pipeline protests outside government offices in Victoria on Friday were peaceful with much of the noise generated by passing motorists honking their car horns in support. Groups of protesters, ranging in numbers from about 20 to 100 people, stood outside numerous government office buildings, chanting slogans and waving placards supporting Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs opposed to the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline in their territories. The scene was much different from Tuesday outside the British Columbia legislature when hundreds blocked entrances to the building, yelling ``

The outbreak of a novel coronavirus is prompting calls in China to ban the sale of wildlife and exotic species. The COVID-19 virus spreading throughout the globe is suspected to have originated in the same type of live animal market that spawned the SARS epidemic in 2002. Now, more than 60-million people are under lockdown in more than a dozen Chinese cities, and the virus has sickened more than eight times more people than SARS.

A fifth case of the novel coronavirus has been presumptively confirmed in British Columbia. Provincial health officer Bonnie Henry says a woman in her 30s returned from Shanghai, China, in the past week through Vancouver's airport before travelling by car to her home in the Interior health region. Henry says the woman wore a mask on the plane and contacted health officials when she had symptoms of an illness before being tested positive Tuesday for the virus called COVID-19. She says officials will be contacting passengers who sat three rows ahead and behind the woman on the aircraft that arr

Thousands who rely on a commuter train to get to work in Vancouver from homes in the Fraser Valley or municipalities east of the city had to find some other mode of transport this morning as a blockade shut down the West Coast Express. Demonstrators supporting the Wet'suwet'en battle against a pipeline on traditional territories set up the blockade yesterday afternoon, forcing cancellation of all eastbound trains. Protesters stayed in place overnight, cancelling westbound trains this morning, but began packing up shortly after the end of the morning rush. TransLink says it has assurances from