A Toronto woman says she's devastated after seven members of her family were killed in the massive earthquake that hit parts of Syria and Turkey earlier this week.Aya Hammoud, who came to Canada as a refugee in 2017, says her grandfather, his wife, her four cousins and their mother died when the quake destroyed their apartment building in the Syrian city of Harem, near the country's border with Turkey.Hammoud, 24, says rescue teams have recovered the bodies of her grandfather and his wife, but the bodies of her cousins, who were all under the age of 13, and their mother remain under the rubble

British Columbia's minister of post-secondary education says she is undergoing chemotherapy after a scan revealed cancer had returned.Selina Robinson told the B.C. legislature that she got the news on Jan. 27.Robinson, who was replaced as the finance minister in December, says she is ``confident'' that she will be fine, but it was hard to tell her father and children that she has cancer again.Robinson has previously shared her 2006 diagnosis about a ``rare form of intestinal cancer'' in a post on social media.The member of the legislature for Coquitlam-Maillardville says she's undergoing a ``f

Donations are pouring into a Vancouver warehouse for those affected by Monday's devastating earthquake in Turkey, but a volunteer organizer says the country could most benefit from professional search and rescue teams."The next 72 hours is crucial," said Cansoy Gurocak, who was one of dozens of volunteers dealing with donations of food, clothing, tents, sleeping bags, diapers and other goods in a fundraising event that was quickly co-ordinated by the Canadian Turkish Educational and Cultural Foundation.Both Turkey and Syria were rocked Monday by the massive quake, setting off international aid

The British Columbia government has introduced legislation to make September 30 as a paid statutory holiday marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.Labour Minister Harry Bains introduced a bill in the legislature today, saying the holiday will be observed this September and every September 30 afterwards.The decision comes after a call to action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, that asked the federal government to establish a day to honour residential school survivors, their families and communities.In case the legislation passes as expected, B.C. will join Prince Edwar

The Law Society of Alberta has voted in favour of keeping a requirement for its members to complete a course on Indigenous history and culture. Almost 3,500 lawyers voted on the motion, which would have struck down the society's right to require such courses. Last week, 51 lawyers signed a petition calling that right into question, with some of the signatories calling the required course political indoctrination. In the end, their petition was defeated by a roughly three-to-one margin. That means lawyers will continue to have to take the course as a condition of practising law in Alberta. Brit

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says home sales in January were down more than half from a year earlier and down 21 per cent from December.The board says sales for the month totaled 1,022, down 55 percent from January.The number of home resales last month was also 42.9 percent below the 10-year January sales average.The board blamed the lackluster month on mortgage rates, which rose faster than last year.The combined benchmark price for the region was more than $1.1 million, according to the board.The total number of homes currently listed for sale on its listing service is 7,478, a

B.C. Green leader Sonia Furstenau announced today that the party has nominated former Nelson city councillor Nicole Charlwood as its candidate for Nelson-Creston in the next provincial election. "It is my pleasure to share that the B.C. Green Party has nominated Nicole Charlwood as our candidate for Nelson-Creston," Furstenau announced. "Nicole is a former Nelson city councillor and an extraordinary community advocate. She has so much to offer this riding as a B.C. Green MLA and I look forward to working with her in the legislature after the next election." "Politics in B.C. has been polarize

Be wary of scammers asking for bail money. An 87-year-old was tricked this week into sending $3,500 by courier to someone posing as her grandson and claiming to be in jail. We managed to intercept the package before it arrived, but many others haven't been so lucky. Last year alone, 56 victims lost more than $700,000 combined in Vancouver after scammers convinced them to hand over cash for bail money. If someone claiming to be police or a family member phones asking for bail money, it's a scam. Call police immediately.

The lead investigator in the search for unmarked graves at a former residential institution near the Williams Lake First Nation in central British Columbia says the latest phase of their work has uncovered 66 additional ``reflections,'' indicating children's graves. Whitney Spearing told a news conference that the results of Phase 2 of their investigation show there were crimes committed against children associated with the Catholic operation of St. Joseph's Mission. Spearing says that in addition to the reflections found in a technical survey, their interviews with survivors and archival rec