Hundreds of scheduled surgeries in British Columbia have been postponed as the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals reaches a new peak. Health Minister Adrian Dix says 1,750 surgeries at nine affected hospitals in the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health regions have been delayed. There are 502 people in hospital and more than 160 of those are in intensive care units. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says pressure on B.C.'s health-care system is ``immense'' right now. The government is also asking specially trained health workers who are now in community settings to return to int

The man fatally shot outside a sports complex in Langley, B.C., has been identified by police as a longtime gang associate targeted in what investigators believe is an intensifying gangland conflict that has simmered for almost two decades. The victim of Wednesday's shooting is 46 year old Todd Gouwenberg and although police have not yet found an obvious motive for his slaying, they say it was targeted. Assistant Comm. Manny Mann, chief officer of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, the south coast agency focused on gang conflict, says Gouwenberg had been connected to the United Nat

The interim leader of the B.C. Liberal party says reports of money laundering at casinos had the attention of the government when she was the minister in charge of gaming a decade ago. But Shirley Bond says civil forfeiture, gang violence and gambling addiction were also big issues during those 11 months as part of her duties as the solicitor general and minister of public safety. She told the Cullen commission today that she never discussed reports of millions of dollars of suspicious cash at casinos being linked to money laundering and organized crime with former premier Christy Clark. Clar

The BC Centre for Disease Control and its public health lab are reviewing the genetic sequencing of what they are now calling a ``variant of interest'' that has made its way to this province. A statement from the Ministry of Health says 39 COVID-19 cases involving the B.1.617 variant first identified in India were found in B-C by April 4th, but the strain was not then considered a variant of concern or a variant under investigation. The statement says the ministry should be able to provide an update by later this week on the number and severity of cases linked to the latest variant. Quebec id

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge is expected to deliver her decision today over whether a man who stabbed two high school students is not criminally responsible because he had a mental disorder. Gabriel Klein was convicted last year for the murder of 13-year-old Letisha Reimer and the aggravated assault of her friend in the rotunda of Abbotsford Senior Secondary in 2016.Klein, who has schizophrenia, applied for a hearing over criminal responsibility as sentencing was set to begin in September and he later testified that he believed he was stabbing a witch and a monster.His lawyer has ar

Police say a man has been killed in a shooting this morning outside the Langley Sportsplex. Sergeant Frank Jang of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says it's "infuriating" that people are shooting one another in broad daylight. No further details are being provided about the second deadly shooting during daylight hours in Metro Vancouver this week. A man was also fatally shot near the basketball court at Town Centre Park in Coquitlam at about 6:30 p-m on Monday while 40 to 50 people were there. IHIT on Twitter: IHIT is being deployed to #LangleyBC for a fatal shooting at the Langley

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 862 new cases, for a total of 121,751 cases in British Columbia. "There are 8,906 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 13,135 people under public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 111,039 people who tested positive have recovered. "Of the active cases, 483 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 163 of whom are in intens

Surrey RCMP is pleased to welcome Constable Sarbjit Sangha to our Communications and Media Relations Unit as Media Relations Officer. Cst. Sangha joins the Media Relations Unit from the Surrey RCMP Drug Unit where she has spent the past 10 years as an investigator, most recently focussing on proceeds of crime investigations. She has spent her entire 14-year career in Surrey working Frontline patrols and Major Crime. Born in Punjab, she immigrated to Canada in 1997, where she learned English and pursued the dream she had since she was a little girl of becoming a police officer. Cst. Sangha is

The BC Wildfire Service says a wildfire in the southern Interior is still burning out of control. The service says 42 firefighters were at the scene yesterday, 18 kilometres northwest of Merritt. Two helicopters and two pieces of heavy equipment are also being used to bring the one-square-kilometre fire under control. An evacuation alert issued Sunday by the Thompson Nicola Regional District remains in place, affecting 54 properties in Canford and the Miller Estates Subdivision. BC Wildfire Service on Twitter: The #BCWildfire Service continues to respond to the Petit Creek wildfire (K60293).