Police in Victoria are asking for help from the public who may know something about the beheading of a royal statue and a recent rash of graffiti in the city. There were numerous acts of spray-paint vandalism on Tuesday which targeted businesses and public and city-owned property.Police say in a statement that the graffiti specifically references Beacon Hill Park, the site of a long-running tent encampment.They're also asking for help recovering the head removed from a statue of the Queen located in the same park. Officers were called to the area near the park's petting zoo on Wednesday for re

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says rising case numbers and test positivity rates mean it's soon to lift COVID-19 restrictions. Dr. Henry says BC has seen its rolling seven-day average case numbers rise and there's potential to see rapid growth in cases if residents aren't careful. She adds BC is ramping up screening for variants of concern and aims to be testing 100 per cent of all COVID-positive samples starting next week to see if they're likely variants that should be sent on for further study. Dr. Henry reported 395 new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 78,673 cases in British

The Trudeau government is keeping mum on why the newly-minted chief of defence staff is being investigated for misconduct. Admiral Art McDonald has stepped aside for now. In the House of Commons today, Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole tried, but failed, to get answers about the investigation -- and whether there are any other probes going on in the military. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland acknowledged the investigation in the House of Commons, but revealed no details. She would only say the government takes misconduct allegations seriously. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan revealed lat

Lady Gaga's dog walker was shot and two of the singer's French bulldogs were stolen in Hollywood during an armed robbery, police said. The singer is offering a $500,000 reward. The dog walker was shot once Wednesday night and is expected to survive his injuries, according to Los Angeles Police Capt. Jonathan Tippett, commanding officer of the department's elite Robbery-Homicide Division. The man was walking three of Lady Gaga's dogs at the time but one escaped. That dog has been recovered safely. Tippett told The Associated Press that the dogs belong to pop star Lady Gaga. It's not yet clear

The British Columbia Court of Appeal has revealed its reasons for allowing two men found guilty of the first-degree murders of six people in an apartment building in Surrey, B.C., a new hearing to argue an abuse of process. The ruling last month quashed the convictions of Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston in the so-called "Surrey Six" case but stopped short of ordering a new trial. The Appeal Court released a brief statement announcing the decision in January, saying lawyers needed time to redact the reasons for judgment to protect confidential information, and the edited reasons were relea

The union representing thousands of transit operators in Metro Vancouver says it has no confidence that it will get answers to questions about a major data breach that affected workers. Unifor says the transit authority has been slow to reveal information about December's cyberattack. Unifor president Jerry Dias says he's urging TransLink to take a collaborative approach to problem-solving. TransLink spokeswoman Jill Drews says affected employees began receiving personal notification letters specific to their situation and how they were affected, which were not shared with the union. UNIFOR o

The World Health Organization's Europe unit is reporting that about one in 10 people who contracted COVID-19 continue to show "persistent ill health" 12 weeks after infection. Dr. Hans Kluge, the head of WHO Europe, says much about so-called "long COVID" remains unknown, but the "burden is real, and it is significant." In a policy brief released on Thursday, WHO Europe urged policymakers to do more to acknowledge and treat long COVID, which can bring severe fatigue, chest pain, heart inflammation, headache, forgetfulness, depression, loss of smell, recurrent fever, diarrhea and ringing in the

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday reiterated that the central government is ready to talk to protesting farmers at any time. While speaking to the media here, Tomar said that the farmer unions, which have been protesting against the farm laws for nearly three months, have not given their feedback on the centre's proposal of putting the farm laws on hold for 1.5 years. "We have held 12 rounds of talks with the farmers. We are ready to talk to farmers anytime. We can't implement the farm laws as the matter is with Supreme Court. The Supreme Court constituted committee i

The Canadian Armed Forces is reeling this morning with news chief of the defence staff Admiral Art McDonald is being investigated for misconduct.Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan revealed late last night McDonald has voluntarily stepped aside while military police investigate.The stunning development comes just over a month after McDonald took over as commander of the Canadian military from Gen. Jonathan Vance, who is also under investigation after allegations of inappropriate behaviour.Vance has denied any wrongdoing and McDonald has not commented.Former naval reservist Marie-Claude Gagnon, who