Cases of COVID-19 variants are on the rise, with Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec reporting the highest numbers of the new, more contagious strains. Chief public health officer Doctor Theresa Tam says there have been more than 5,100 confirmed variant cases, the majority involving the strain first identified in the United Kingdom. The majority of those cases involve the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom, which Tam says is responsible for 638 of the 655 cases of variants confirmed since March 18. The growing number is prompting concerns of a third wave of the p

Debbie Baptiste says she was never going to let the RCMP's response to the 2016 shooting death of her son be swept under the rug. A police watchdog's report into the death of the 22 year old Indigenous man on a Saskatchewan farm determined officers treated Baptiste so insensitively when they notified her of his death that it amounted to discrimination. Colten Boushie died in August of 2016 when the SUV he was riding in went onto farmer Gerald Stanley's property near Biggar, Saskatchewan. A review of the RCMP response by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission found officers discriminat

There is silence out of Beijing on what happened to Canadian Michael Kovrig when he was put on trial on spying charges. The day ended with no announcement about the status of the proceedings, which are being held behind closed doors. Canadian Embassy officials were barred from the courthouse, as they were on Friday for the trial of Michael Spavor. Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau says the government is deeply troubled by the total lack of transparency. He also thanked diplomats from 26 countries who turned up at the courthouse to show their solidarity with Canada. Marc Garneau on Twitter

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the passage of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Lok Sabha as "an insult to the people of Delhi".Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of cheating the people of Delhi, Kejriwal alleged that the bill effectively takes away powers from those who were voted by people and gives powers to those who were defeated.The bill was brought in parliament last week, three years after a constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled on the dispute between Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the Lieutena

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has identified the victims of a double homicide on Friday in Richmond, B.C. The homicide team says 25-year-old Chaten Dhindsa and 23-year-old Joban Dhindsa were brothers and were known to police.The team says Richmond RCMP responded at 4:45 a.m. Friday to assist with a structure fire, but once the blaze was extinguished, two bodies were found inside the home.Police say the injuries sustained by the two men were consistent with a homicide and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team assumed conduct of the file.Det. Lara Jansen says this is believed

British Columbia officials say the province will use "every last drop" of available vaccine in its parallel COVID-19 vaccination programs. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has allowed health authorities to target outbreaks and help front-line workers, as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are used for B.C.'s age-based vaccine rollout. B.C. reported 737 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 90,786. The province also reported two new COVID-19-related deaths, for a t

The RCMP say two bodies were found inside a home in Richmond, B.C., that was on fire early Friday morning. The Mounties say in a news release officers were assisting with traffic control around the fire at the residence when the bodies were found. They say the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has been called to work in partnership with the RCMP in Richmond. Police say they're currently gathering evidence. They released no further details. Anyone with information about the investigation is urged to contact the homicide team or Crime Stoppers. IHIT on Twitter: #IHIT has been deployed to t

Finland has claimed top spot in the World Happiness Report for the fourth year in a row. Canada has slipped in the rankings from 11th to 15th place. The UN's annual report says COVID-19 brought a year of fear and anxiety, loneliness and lockdown, illness and death, but has not crushed people's spirits. European countries occupied nine of the top 10 spots on the list of the world's happiest countries, with New Zealand rounding out the group. The happiest countries from previous years remained at the top, with the top five being Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Netherlands.

Police say cryptocurrency scams cost victims in the Vancouver-area about $2 million in just one week and investigators believe the frauds are becoming more common. Vancouver police Const. Tania Visintin says she knows of at least four active cases where large amounts of money have been lost. She says a single victim was defrauded of more than $500,000 in a separate case last year when suspects pretending to be Service Canada representatives convinced them their Social Insurance Number had been compromised. Visintin says police believe the number of scams is growing and the total is under-repor