Organizers of an unofficial worldwide referendum on Punjabi independence have added a question to the ballot in British Columbia asking if India's high commissioner was responsible for the killing of a prominent provincial Sikh leader in June.The group Sikhs for Justice, which has been staging a series of non-binding votes in several countries on the independence issue, says the first stage of balloting in B.C. on Sunday attracted more than 135,000 voters.It says the second stage will be held on Oct. 29 and will add a second question about whether High Commissioner Sanjay Verma was responsible

RCMP say they've arrested a youth after a bear-spray attack on a Sikh teenager who was riding a bus in Kelowna, B.C.Corp. Michael Gauthier with Kelowna RCMP says in a statement that video shows the suspect assaulting and spraying the victim during an attack that took place both on and off a B.C. Transit bus on Monday.Gauthier says the suspect remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a bail hearing.In a previous statement, the Kelowna detachment said the 17-year-old Sikh student had been attacked by another teenage male and the motive was unknown.The World Sikh Organi

British Columbia has banned the use of illegal drugs on playgrounds, spray pools, wading pools and skate parks.The British Columbia government says it has received approval from Health Canada to ban the possession and use of illegal drugs in certain public places where families and children gather.In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction said that the ban will come into effect from September 18.It shall be illegal to possess drugs within 15 meters of a playground, wading pool or skate park.Police will be able to enforce the B.C. Controlled Drugs and Substances Ac

A case of assault on a 17-year-old Sikh student has come to light in Kelowna on Monday.The incident occurred when the student was pepper-sprayed while returning home from school on a BC Transit bus.The attack is said to have happened at a bus stop at the intersection of Rutland Road and Robson Road in Okanagan City around 4 p.m.Police said that the student was attacked by another teenager after an argument in the bus.The teenage suspect has been identified.The World Sikh Organization of Canada has issued a statement condemning the attack.The organization said the victim had just arrived in Can

A new hospital and cancer center has been announced in Surrey.Premier David Eby and Health Minister Adrian Dix made the announcement on Tuesday morning while laying the foundation stone.The new hospital will be built on 176th Street in the Cloverdale area near the Kwantlen Polytechnic University campus.Eby said this second hospital in Surrey will not only improve the health of people living in the region but will also change many lives.He said that people living in Surrey have been asking for this hospital for a long time and although the new hospital will be ready in 2029 at a cost of $2.88 b

British Columbia Premier David Eby says he is "white hot" angry over the day release of a man from a forensic psychiatric hospital before he was arrested for a triple stabbing in Vancouver's Chinatown.Eby says the decision to release this man is beyond his comprehension.He wants to get to the bottom of how this all happened.Eby calls the violence "horrific".He says Blair Evan Donnelly stabbed his daughter in 2006, was sent to a psychiatric hospital, then released in 2009, and then stabbed someone else.The Premier wonders how the man was released a second time before Sunday's attack and he will

The latest evacuation order issued due to a wildfire in British Columbia covers a rural area north of Prince George in a region straddling the boundaries of two regional governments. The regional districts of Fraser-Fort George and Bulkley-Nechako issued the order Monday night as the 10-square kilometre Ocock Lake blaze moves toward properties in the Noonlang Lake area, about 150 kilometres north of Prince George.The order is the only one issued in B.C. in the last 24 hours, but several other orders and alerts have been ended or downgraded over the same period, including orders covering 25 hom

Premier David Eby says B.C. is launching a task force to provide rapid and effective ideas about how to handle climate emergencies such as wildfires, heat, drought and floods.Eby made the announcement today before touring southern Interior wildfire zones and visiting an emergency operations centre in Salmon Arm.Eby says B.C. doesn't have the luxury of time as it seeks solutions and the task force findings will be integrated with the public service, B.C. Wildfire Service and emergency response teams so proposals can be implemented right away. The premier says all the crises are scary to contemp

British Columbia is experiencing a spike in COVID-19 numbers, with cases, test positivity, hospitalizations and deaths all up in recent weeks.The BC Centre for Disease Control says in a monthly report that 447 people tested positive in tests funded by the province's medical services plan in the week ending Sept. 2, more than triple the 133 cases in the week ending Aug. 12.Positivity doubled to about 18 per cent in the same period.The increase in COVID-19 numbers comes after the detection of Canada's first known case of the BA. 2.86 variant last month in B.C., but the centre says that remains t