Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation, has issued the following statement on the release of Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey for August 2021:"The Labour Force Survey for August shows that B.C. is making great strides in our economic recovery with another 14,400 jobs gained throughout the province – 13,600 of these jobs are among women. All job gains are full-time."B.C. has one of the lowest unemployment rates and a job recovery rate of 101.1%, leading Canada as the only province with employment above pre-pandemic levels for the third straight month."In areas

One of Afghanistan's first two female Olympians is urging Canada to help female athletes escape the country. Friba Rezayee who lives in Vancouver, says her phone lit up with messages from women pleading for help after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last month. Rezayee is also the founder of Women Leaders of Tomorrow, an organization that supports Afghan women with athletic and educational opportunities. The federal government says it has received assurances from the Taliban that Afghan citizens with travel authorization from other countries will be allowed to leave the country, but it warns

An emergency room nurse in Kamloops recalls the emotional toll of a verbal attack she recently faced from a woman at a grocery store after another gruelling workday. Jaime Gallaher says she was still red-eyed from crying at work after anti-vaccination protests outside the ER when a woman swore at her, so she left her carton of milk and went home after breaking down in tears. Experts are raising concern over, moral injury, among health-care workers suddenly targeted after several provinces brought in vaccine passports. Roughly 5,000 people gathered a week earlier outside Vancouver General Hospi

The wildfire situation is continually evolving and the information below is current as of 7 p.m. (Pacific time) on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021.Fires:Wildfires currently burning in B.C.: 208Since April 1, 2021:1,585 wildfires868,619 hectares of area burnedActive fires by fire centre:Cariboo: 25Coastal: 13Kamloops: 57Northwest: 5Prince George: 52Southeast: 56Resources:Firefighters and other personnel currently fighting the fires: 1,418Out-of-province firefighters: 61Helicopters and planes supporting ground crews: 43Evacuations:Evacuation orders: 3 (-1)Evacuation alerts: 13 (-1) Properties:Number of

B.C. is reporting 774 new cases of COVID-19, including three epi-linked cases, for a total of 172,338 cases in the province.There are 5,594 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 164,470 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 262 individuals are in hospital and 130 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation. In the past 24 hours, five new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 1,847.The new deaths include:Fraser Health: threeNorthern Health: oneIsland Health: oneThere have been no new health-care facility outb

In September 2018 the New Westminster Police Department received a report of suspected fraud connected to a New Westminster medical office. The victim claimed that cash was missing from the medical office, and that suspicious large withdrawals were appearing in the bank account connected to the business. The NWPD Major Crime Unit launched an investigation into the missing money and soon took conduct over another investigation involving large withdrawals from another medical office located in Vancouver. In total it is believed approximately $130,000.00 was stolen through both medical offices. A

The British Columbia government is asking residents to provide input on proposed anti-racism legislation as members of marginalized communities say the collection of data will help groups flourish. Rachna Singh, the parliamentary secretary for anti-racism initiatives, says the public feedback will help better identify systemic racism in existing government programs. B.C. residents can share their thoughts through an online government portal until Nov. 30. Singh says systemic racism has led to a mistrust in government programs by marginalized groups. Dr. June Francis, an assistant professor at

The province has released details of its plan to trap and kill dozens of coyotes in Stanley Park over the next two weeks, and the Forest Ministry confirms the cull is underway. It says one coyote was euthanized on Tuesday night and modified foothold traps which minimize the chance of any pain are being used to capture and hold the animals until a provincial wildlife officer arrives to deal with them. The ministry says relocation is not an option, the coyotes are food-conditioned and aggressive, and the stomach contents of each animal will be examined to determine its diet, while all the coyot

Victoria police say they arrested a man last week who they believe has connections to Lower Mainland organized crime groups, and has been the subject of a drug-trafficking investigation since late July. Police say they stopped a vehicle in the 4700 block of Sooke Road, arrested the man and seized cash, drugs and the car. Police say they seized nearly 350 grams of cocaine, more than 260 grams of methamphetamine, nearly 100 grams of fentanyl and nearly 22,000 dollars in cash. They say the street value of these drugs is estimated to be more than 60,000 dollars. Victoria police on Twitter: VicPD'