The British Columbia government is expanding supports for former youth in care as part of a cross-government approach to target the root causes of homelessness.Several cabinet ministers gathered for a news conference to share details of $633 million first announced in Budget 2022 for supports over three years for people experiencing homelessness.Mitzi Dean, minister of children and family development, says $35 million over three years will help former youth in care, almost half of whom experience homelessness at some point in their lives.It will help cover an unconditional one-year income supp

A Burnaby RCMP investigation has resulted in two charges against an employee at a Burnaby skincare business, and police are urging any others with information to come forward.An investigation was launched in 2019 after a victim reported to police that she was sexually assaulted during treatment at a business operating as Fab Skin Care at 5481 Kingsway in Burnaby.In 2021, a second victim who underwent treatment by the same practitioner at the clinic also came forward to police, allowing Burnaby RCMP’s Child Abuse and Sexual Offence Unit (CASO) to gather additional evidence.On March 14, 2022 4

British Columbia is reporting another eight deaths due to COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 2,953.Hospitalization numbers continue to drop in the province, with 329 people in hospital Wednesday compared with 345 a day earlier while 51 people are in intensive care.Surrey Memorial Hospital is reporting a new outbreak.There are nine facilities with ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks, most of them in long-term care homes.Nearly 91 per cent of eligible people aged 12 and up have had their second vaccine and 56.8 per cent of those have had a third dose.Since December 2020, almost 11.5 million doses of va

Three people have now been charged after The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia’s (CFSEU-BC’s) Joint Illegal Gaming Investigation Team (JIGIT) conducted an investigation into an illegal gaming house.In October 2020, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) responded to a residence in the 200 block of W. 45th Ave, after receiving a 911 call. When VPD officers arrived, evidence of an alleged illegal gaming house was observed.CFSEU-BC’s JIGIT was immediately engaged and began an investigation into the alleged illegal gaming house activity and executed several search w

British Columbia's housing minister says a new method for collecting data on homelessness is the first of its kind in Canada and will help the province tackle the issue. David Eby says the government used anonymized data from multiple ministry databases to paint a picture of homelessness across B.C. in 2019 that found trends like high per capita rates in northern rural communities and among men. The report shows that just over half of people experienced homelessness temporarily rather than on a chronic basis. Eby says the province previously relied on data from point-in-time counts in 25 comm

On March 16, 2022, at 3:17 a.m., Surrey RCMP responded to the report of shots fired at a residence in the 11200-block of Lansdowne Drive. Police attended and located evidence consistent with a shooting. A 17-year-old youth who is known to police suffered non-life threatening injuries. They were transported to hospital and have since been released. The Surrey RCMP General Investigation Unit has taken conduct of the investigation. The investigation is in the early stages, but all indications are that it was targeted. The shooting does not appear to be linked to the Lower Mainland gang conflict."

Surrey RCMP is informing the public that three youths who allegedly stole a parcel from a porch were identified, arrested and referred to extrajudicial measures. On March 4, 2022, Surrey RCMP received a report of a theft of package from a residence located in 8600-block of 156 Street. Police attended and learned that a package containing items such as designer jackets, shoes, sunglasses and t-shirts was stolen.Surrey RCMP Frontline officer’s investigation led to the arrest of 3 youths, who have since been released from custody. The majority of the items stolen have been returned to their rig

There's no relief in sight from climbing prices across the country as Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate hit 5.7 per cent last month, the highest in more than 30 years, and the second straight month above five per cent. Economists say gas prices, grocery costs and housing expenses all contributed to the leap from January's setting of 5.1 per cent. In BC, inflation jumped four-tenths of a point to 4.7 per cent, tying this province and Saskatchewan for the lowest cost of living increase in Canada, but rates are still up sharply in most areas. Victoria saw its rate soar seven basis

B.C. is reporting 237 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 352,965 cases in the province.Note: The numbers of new and total cases are provisional due to a delayed data refresh.The new cases include:Fraser Health: 70Vancouver Coastal Health: 40Interior Health: 69Northern Health: 24Island Health: 34People who reside outside of Canada: zeroThere are 345 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 and 50 are in intensive care.In the past 24 hours, no new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 2,946.There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks. The outbreaks at Mission Creek Landin