As COVID-19 restrictions on non-essential travel within BC are lifted today, police road checks established in the first week of May have also come to an end. RCMP Staff Sergeant Janelle Shoihet says more than 14,000 vehicles were stopped at the checkpoints set up along several highways on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays between May 6th and last weekend. She says just 26 vehicles were told to turn around by police and another 236 voluntarily turned around at the checks established to prevent people from travelling between three regional zones for non-essential reasons. No tickets were handed

The owner of the Budway cannabis dispensary in Vancouver has been ordered to pay 40,000 dollars to Subway for imitating the sandwich chain's branding. The Federal Court ruled the shop was both benefitting from and damaging Subway's brand by infringing on its trademark logo and using a mascot. Justice Nicholas McHaffie described it as ``a submarine sandwich filled with cannabis leaves.'' The pot shop has been ordered to pay 15,000 dollars in damages and 25,000 dollars to cover Subway's legal fees.

BC is reporting 68 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest daily rate since last August, as the province prepares to enter the second stage of its restart plan tomorrow. The new cases announced are among 277 diagnosed since Friday for a total of one-thousand-537 active infections, including 136 people who are in hospital. Another four people have died, pushing the death toll in BC to 1,734. Just over 74 per cent of all eligible residents aged 12 and up have now had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine out of more than four million shots administered overall. Health Minister Adrian Dix and provinci

An inquest begins next week to examine the death in police custody of an 18 year old Indigenous woman just hours after she was airlifted to hospital from RCMP cells in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. Jocelyn George died in June 2016 and a report by the Independent Investigations Office cleared RCMP of wrongdoing, finding her death was due to inflammation of the lining around her heart following toxic drug use. The mother of two young children was held in custody because she seemed intoxicated and, at one point, appeared well enough to be released, but deteriorated after being picked up agai

British Columbians can hit the road again, Premier John Horgan says restrictions are being lifted on travel within the province. Horgan announced the change as he, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and several cabinet ministers confirmed BC is moving to Step Two of its restart plan. That means non-essential travel within the province is allowed, but travel elsewhere in Canada is still not recommended. Starting tomorrow groups of up to 50 can gather outdoors, movie theatres can re-open and sports fans can watch events in person, while masks remain mandatory in indoor public places. Ba

British Columbia's police watchdog says a woman suffered potentially life-threatening injuries after she was pulled over in a traffic stop in Castlegar on Saturday. The Independent Investigations Office says an officer ordered the woman who was riding an electric scooter to pull over late Saturday. The office, which investigates all cases of serious injury or death involving the police, says in a statement that a check turned up an outstanding warrant for the woman's arrest. The office says it has been told an ``interaction'' occurred as the RCMP officer attempted to take the woman into custo

Opponents of old-growth logging on southern Vancouver Island say they've begun a hunger strike in downtown Vancouver. Extinction Rebellion spokesman Zain Haq says the hunger strike is in support of protesters camped near old-growth forest logging areas west of Victoria, which have been the scene of more than 220 arrests in recent weeks at Fairy Creek. Haq says the hunger strikers will refuse food until they can meet with Premier John Horgan, Forests Minister Katrine Conroy and Jonathan Wilkinson, the federal minister of environment and climate change. Last week, the BC government approved the

Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, have issued a joint statement regarding updates on the COVID-19 response in British Columbia:"Today, we are reporting that 75.1% of all adults in B.C. and 73.1% of those 12 and older have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In total, 3,893,581 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 497,932 of which are second doses."We have had 180 new cases of COVID-19, including five epi-linked cases, for a total of 146,176 cases in British Columb

Seven BC mayors have added their support for Vancouver's application to decriminalize small amounts of illicit drugs. They say it's time Ottawa stepped up. The mayors say the ongoing opioid crisis also has harsh effects in their cities and decriminalization could encourage users to seek help. Vancouver has applied to Health Canada for decriminalization of simple possession of 15 different drugs, and has the support of a broad coalition, including Vancouver police, the province, chief coroner and provincial health officer. The mayors of Victoria, Nanaimo, Saanich, Kamloops, New Westminster, Bu