RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki announced her resignation as head of the National Police Force on Wednesday.She said that she will officially exit on March 17.Lucky said that she tried her best during her career to ensure that the RCMP continues to shine in its 150th year.She admitted that together with the senior executive team and RCMP personnel, she modernized the system and addressed several internal challenges.Lucki was appointed to the post in 2018, and was the first woman to hold the role.

Two backcountry skiers are dead after being caught in an avalanche in south central British Columbia.A report from Avalanche Canada says the skiers were on a slope called Potato Peak, south of Tatla Lake, about 750 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.It says both victims were fully buried during the slide that happened Saturday.Search and rescue crews were notified when the victims were reported overdue and their bodies were later recovered from the scene of the avalanche.Avalanche Canada says the area of the slide was highly wind-affected, leaving some parts of the slope thin and rocky, while o

Every community in British Columbia will be eligible for infrastructure grants coming from a one-time $1-billion government fund.Premier David Eby says the money has been set aside in the provincial budget surplus, which was estimated at $5.7 billion last fall.He says he expects the government's Growing Communities Fund grants to help local municipalities improve roads, build arenas and water facilities and improve recreation options for families.The premier says the grants are available to B.C.'s 188 municipalities and regional districts, and can be used to prepare for future growth and build

A First Nation on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island has declared a state of emergency over what its leadership describes as the "unrelating impact of drugs and alcohol" on its members, particularly children and youth.A statement from the Ehattesaht First Nation says six young people have died from drug overdoses in the small village over the past few months.It says the nation's chief and council are calling on officials from the British Columbia and federal governments to sit down with them to help find the resources necessary to create a "survival plan."The nation's council has been try

Former British Columbia premier John Horgan says he is leaving politics, and gave an emotional farewell speech in the legislature.While he didn't give a specific time for his departure, he suggested St. Patrick's Day on March 17 might be a good day to go.Horgan, who's 63, has twice battled cancer, and announced last June that health reasons were forcing him to retire from the premier's job after five years.He did tell members of the house that he was healthy, and thanked all those who supported him during his battle with throat cancer.In his 35-minute speech, he also thanked several members of

The British Columbia government has fined Teck Coal Limited more than $16 million for exceeding pollution thresholds as well as failing to build an active water treatment facility on time at one of its operations in southeastern B.C.The province's natural resources compliance and enforcement database shows three fines were issued at the end of January, including one penalty of nearly $15.5 million as a result of the company's failure to get its Fording River south water treatment facility operational by the December 2018 deadline in its permit.The decision document from the B.C. Environment Mi

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