BCFeb 20, 2020
Independent Investigations Office has cleared officers of any wrongdoing in the death of a UBC student
The Independent Investigations Office has cleared officers in the RCMP's University of B.C. detachment of any wrongdoing in the death of a UBC student two weeks ago. The student had been arrested early in the morning on February 5th and was briefly held at the UBC detachment but was released about 2:30 a.m. and taken back to his residence on campus. Just hours later a security guard found the unnamed student dead under the Lions Gate Bridge. The office, which examines all incidents of police involved death or serious injury in B.C., says the student's death was not the result of RCMP action o
WorldFeb 20, 2020
German gunman calling for genocide kills 9 people, PM Trudeau shares grief
Authorities say a 43-year-old German who posted a rant calling for the ``complete extermination'' of various races and cultures shot and killed nine people, most of them Turkish, in an attack on a hookah bar and other sites in suburban Frankfurt. Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that the shootings exposed the ``poison'' of racism in Germany. The bloodshed comes amid growing concerns about far-right violence in Germany and stepped-up efforts from authorities to crack down on it. Justin Trudeau's tweet: Canada condemns last night’s terrible attack in Germany. We must stand united agains
CanadaFeb 20, 2020
François-Philippe Champagne tweets about Canadian flight departing from Japan
Healthy Canadians were issued face masks and coloured wrist bands before they left the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan to board buses that took them to Tokyo's airport. They have spent weeks under quarantine for the novel coronavirus, and will face a further quarantine at a Nav Canada facility in Cornwall, Ontario. The ship has seen the largest outbreak of the virus outside China, with 634 passengers testing positive, including 47 Canadians who will have to remain in Japan for treatment. François-Philippe Champagne's tweet: The Canadian flight departing #Tokyo is wheels up. M
BCFeb 20, 2020
Vancouver Fire says smoking caused the city's first fatal fire of 2020
A man with mobility challenges has died after being trapped in his burning home in Vancouver. Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services says in a statement that the fire broke out Sunday evening in a home on the city's west side. Crews found the 55-year-old victim in the home as they arrived. He had been badly burned and was rushed to hospital but the statement says he did not survive. Investigators say the fire was caused by smoking materials. The man's death marks the first fatal fire in Vancouver in 2020.
CanadaFeb 20, 2020
Blair says RCMP have met Wet'suwet'en conditions
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says the RCMP in British Columbia has offered to move its officers to a town away from the area where traditional leaders of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation have been opposing a pipeline project on their territory.Blair said on Parliament Hill Thursday morning he believes this move meets the conditions set by the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and that barricades set up in solidarity with that nation should come down."I believe the time has come now for the barricades to come down," Blair said before a cabinet meeting."We have met the condition that those who ar
WorldFeb 20, 2020
Canadians aboard coronavirus-ridden cruise ship to return home tonight
Healthy Canadians from the Diamond Princess cruise ship will shortly be heading home, according to Canada's foreign affairs minister, after weeks under quarantine for the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19.The ship, docked in Yokohama, Japan, contained the largest outbreak of the virus outside China, with hundreds of passengers having tested positive. Among the infected are 47 Canadians who will have to remain in Japan for treatment.Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Wednesday that passengers would be screened before boarding a chartered flight Thursday evening, Japan time.T
CanadaFeb 20, 2020
Deadly crash that involved about 200 vehicles near Montreal
Two people are dead in a crash that involved about 200 vehicles on Highway 15 in La Prairie south of Montreal. The confirmation comes from the Surete du Quebec, which says the victims are two people who were trapped in the wreckage near a diesel spill. Whiteout conditions likely triggered the massive pileup that sent a dozen people to hospital with minor to serious injuries. The crash occurred around 12:30 p-m on a stretch of the highway that runs along the St. Lawrence River. Quebec Transport Minister Francois Bonnardel says the pileup took place in an area where heavy winds come off the riv
CanadaFeb 20, 2020
Francois-Philippe Champagne: Process of taking chartered Canadian jet to start today
Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says Canadians who want to leave Japan where they were stuck on board a quarantined cruise ship, can begin the process of taking a chartered jet today evening.
That could mean they will be back in Canada on Friday, when they will be taken to a hotel in Cornwall, Ontario for another two-weeks' isolation.
About 500 healthy passengers have been allowed to leave the Diamond Princess.
The 47 Canadians who have symptoms of COVID-19 will have to stay in Japan for treatment.
BCFeb 20, 2020
First person to be found positive for COVID-19, now fully recovered
B.C.'s medical health officer, Doctor Bonnie Henry, says the first person in the province who developed a case of the new coronavirus after returning from a trip to China earlier this year is now fully recovered and out of isolation. Five cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in this province since the outbreak began late last year in China and Henry says four of the five other sufferers are also likely to be declared free of the disease when tests are expected to come back negative later this week. She says B.C.'s most recent case a woman identified in the Interior Health region on Friday re