The federal government is doling out more cash in B.C. this time to help the growth and innovation of 10 Vancouver-based companies.Harjit Sajjan, the minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, announced eight companies will receive just over $16 million from a federal scale-up and productivity fund.Nearly $10 million from a jobs and growth fund will be split by two other companies and the government says businesses benefiting from the cash include one using bioprinting technology to find treatments for incurable diseases.The statement from Sajjan's office says

A Vancouver parent has launched a proposed class-action lawsuit against the makers of Fortnite, saying the popular video game is designed to be "as addictive as possible" for children.In the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Friday, the plaintiff identified only as A.B. says her son downloaded Fortnite in 2018 and "developed an adverse dependence on the game."The statement of claim says the game incorporates a number of intentional design choices such as offering rewards for completing challenges and making frequent updates, which encourages players to return repeatedly.The statement say

Bus service across most of B.C.'s Fraser Valley, from Abbotsford to Hope, has been halted by a strike.More than 200 members of CUPE Local 561 walked off the job, affecting all bus service in Abbotsford, Mission, Agassiz-Harrison, Chilliwack and Hope, although essential HandiDart trips can still be booked. The union says its members, who work for a company that contracts service to BC Transit, have no pension and make 32 per cent less than bus drivers and other staff elsewhere in Metro Vancouver's transit system.Talks between the two sides collapsed last week and the union says BC Transit and i

Police say they have arrested a man in Nanaimo, B.C., who was allegedly threatening people with a toy bow and arrow that had a syringe with a needle attached to the arrow's tip.Mounties say they were called to the parking lot of the Port Place Mall in the Vancouver Island city on Monday after the man was reportedly threatening people with a stick and the toy bow and arrow.Police say the arrow "appeared to have" a hypodermic needle attached to the end, and the man was taken into custody after a brief foot chase and struggle with officers.RCMP say the 32-year-old man now faces charges of assault

A pigeon wearing a tiny empty backpack has been captured inside a federal prison in British Columbia, in what a union official says was likely another plan by inmates to smuggle drugs.The discovery at the Matsqui prison in the Fraser Valley comes just a few months after another pigeon was captured carrying a bird-size backpack full of crystal methamphetamine at the Pacific Institution right next door.John Randle, the Pacific regional president at the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, says the latest pigeon's pack was made of blue jeans and bedsheets, materials easily available to inmate

RCMP in British Columbia say they've disrupted major organized crime groups that are flooding the streets with toxic drugs in two separate investigations involving transnational drug production and distribution operations.Police in Surrey, B.C., announced the seizure of a massive cache of precursor chemicals used to make the powerful opioid fentanyl and MDMA, also known as ecstasy.Police say they executed several search warrants in late February across Metro Vancouver, leading to the arrests of a man and woman and the seizure of the chemicals in addition to luxury cars, electronics, watches an

Authorities in British Columbia are investigating after 17 wild horses were shot in what Mounties are calling a "disheartening act."The RCMP say in a news release that Tk’emlups Rural RCMP received a report of several dead horses found about 65 kilometres west of Kamloops, near Walhachin, B.C., on Friday.Police say the RCMP’s Forensic Identification Section carefully examined the scene, along with a veterinarian and a livestock investigator.They say the animals appear to have been from a herd of feral horses that frequent that area.RCMP say the motive has not yet been confirmed and the inv

Anyone who has been in foster care in B.C. and is at least 19 years old, will soon be eligible for a post-secondary tuition waiver. The B.C. government says the 2017 program that waives tuition fees for foster care recipients aged 19 to 26 will be expanded next August to remove the upper age cap. To be eligible, students must be undergraduates studying full or part time at a B-C public, post-secondary institution, the Native Education College or with one of 10 approved trades-training providers. Just under 2000 people have had tuition fees waived since the program launched six years ago, an

As of April 3, 2023, BC Public Service employees will no longer be required to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19.The decision to rescind the policy was made based on the high level of vaccination among public-service employees and the current state of the pandemic.More than 98% of employees met the requirement, which helped keep everyone safe.Rescinding the vaccination policy means a small number of employees on administrative leave due to non-compliance will be provided the opportunity to return to the workplace.The Public Service Agency has provided direction to ministries and wi