British Columbia's Coroners Service says there's been a sharp increase in deaths among people experiencing homelessness. A statement from the coroners service says the deaths of 342 people experiencing homelessness were reported last year, an increase of almost 140 over the past two years. The coroners service says there were 1,464 deaths of people who were homeless in B.C. in the period between 2015 and 2022, averaging about 183 deaths per year. Most of those deaths were in Vancouver, Victoria and Surrey, BC, and 82 per cent of them were male. However, the coroners service says the number of

The World Health Organization has advocated a ban on all flavored vapes. The World Health Organization has urged governments to ban e-cigarettes on the same lines as tobacco.The United Nations agency said that the time has come to take necessary steps to control them. The World Health Organization cited the study as saying that there is little evidence that vapes have released cigarette butts. The agency said flavored vapes pose a risk to non-smokers, particularly as they may increase nicotine addiction among children and youth. According to the agency, children aged 13 to 15 are using it more

The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales fell in November as the average price of a home sold inched highercompared with a year ago. The association says November home sales fell 0.9 per cent compared with the same month last year. On a seasonally adjusted basis, November home sales were also down 0.9 per cent compared with October this year. The number of newly listed homes fell 1.8 per cent on a month-over-month basis in November. CREA says with new listings down more than sales in November, the national sales-to-new listings ratio rose for the first time since April to come in

Police are seeking an Interpol Red Notice on a Surrey truck driver sentenced to serve 15 years in jail for cocaine smuggling who escaped to India last year. BC RCMP say a Canada-wide warrant has also been issued for Raj Kumar Mehmi, who was sentenced in absentia in November for smuggling 80 kilograms of cocaine across the Pacific Highway crossing from the US. Police say Mehmi was originally arrested by police in 2017 after border agents found 80 bricks of cocaine on a truck owned by the Surrey man. Mehmi was found guilty of trafficking charges in September 2022 but fled to India that Octob

Vancouver residents will have to pay more in residential taxes next year, which is set to increase by 7.5%. According to Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, city staff presented the 2024-2028 Budget Outlook in June. It was projected to grow by 9.5% until the cuts were made. Sim said the council asked staff to figure out the savings after which the increase could be capped at 7.5%. 3% of this will be given to the Vancouver Police Department, whose budget for the year 2024 will be half a billion dollars, i.e. about $472 million. Sim was successful in getting support from the council to support a $100,00

The federal government has announced enrolment details for a new federal dental plan that resembles typical insurance coverage, down to the benefits card patients show at the dentists' office. But dentists say the new government program isn't the same as the insurance people typically get from employers, and patients should be clear about the differences. British Columbia Dental Association president Dr. Robert Wolanski says the government plan is more of a social program than a typical insurance program.Wolanski says that program has some distinct differences from an employer insurance progra

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he chose to reveal a possible link between the Indian government and the killing of a Canadian to "put a chill" on India amid concerns in the Sikh community over safety. In September, Trudeau told the House of Commons there was credible intelligence linking India to the June 18 shooting death of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the parking lot of his gurdwara in Surrey, B.C. Trudeau says in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press that the sombre message he delivered publicly that day was intended as an extra "level of deterrence" to keep Canadians s

Police have arrested a 23-year-old man from Abbotsford, British Columbia, in connection with the shooting incident that happened on Saturday at a tire business in Brampton. The youth has been identified as Tanmanjot Gill. According to police, shots were fired at a tire business in the Clark Boulevard and Rutherford South area of ​​Brampton at approximately 3:37 a.m. Saturday. The second suspect in the case is still at large. Police said that upon receiving the report, officers rushed to the scene where a suspect was arrested. Gill has been charged with half a dozen charges, including rec

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it has detected the presence of avian influenza at a non-poultry, non-commercial location in the central Okanagan. It is now the 52nd place in B-C where the contagious viral infection has been detected at commercial or backyard bird operations since October. This comes after the C-F-I-A confirmed the presence of the flu at a commercial poultry farm in Abbotsford on Saturday. Commonly known as bird flu, avian influenza can affect several species of food producing birds as well as pet birds and wild birds.