British Columbia's top doctor says 47 cases of COVID-19 variants have been identified in the province, including one believed to be linked to Nigeria. Dr. Bonnie Henry says 29 cases are related to a variant first identified in the United Kingdom, 17 are associated with South Africa and the latest one involves a person who travelled to Nigeria and returned to the Interior Health region. Dr. Henry says lab teams in B.C. are working with their counterparts across Canada and internationally to get a better understanding of whether the Nigerian variant that has been identified elsewhere is also ea

The British Columbia government has approved single-use plastics bans in four more communities. Surrey, Nanaimo, Rossland and Esquimalt are the latest municipalities to implement bans based on their particular needs. The province approved similar bylaws in Victoria, Richmond, Saanich, Tofino and Ucluelet last September to prevent waste such as shopping bags and takeout containers from ending up in landfills and the ocean. Environment Minister George Heyman says B.C. continues to work on regulations allowing local governments to place bans on single-use plastics without the need for provincial

The Surrey RCMP Robbery Unit is requesting the public’s assistance with identifying three suspects involved in a series of robberies where high-end gaming consoles were stolen, throughout the Lower Mainland, three of which occurred in Surrey. Surrey RCMP officers have been working with other Lower Mainland police agencies and have identified one of the four suspects. However, efforts to identify the remaining three suspects have been unsuccessful. Photos and descriptions are being released and police are asking for the public’s help to identify the men.All three suspects are described as S

Charges were approved Thursday by the BC Prosecution Service against a Vancouver man following a Vancouver Police sexual assault investigation."Thankfully this woman didn’t sustain any physical injuries from the assault and she was able to call police immediately after the incident occurred," says Constable Tania Visintin, VPD. The female victim had a massage booked at a business near West Broadway Avenue and Macdonald Street on February 10. It is alleged the unlicensed male massage practitioner assaulted her while she was laying on the massage table."We hope this result can bring peace to t

Vancouver Police seized numerous weapons and tactical items from a suite in a building near Yew Street and West 37th Avenue last month following a domestic dispute investigation. "This extensive seizure is concerning," says Constable Tania Visintin, VPD. "These are very dangerous weapons and we are pleased they are off the street and in police custody." Officers responded to a 9-1-1 call about an alleged domestic dispute the morning of January 26. A witness had told police they had heard a man and woman yelling for 45 minutes. When officers arrived on scene to speak to the couple, they observe

Homicide detectives confirm they are responding to a deadly attack in a residential area of southeast Burnaby, B.C. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says in a social media post that a man was fatally shot just after 10 p.m. Thursday. No other details have been released and police have not said if the case is considered targeted. The shooting occurred near the same Burnaby park where 32-year-old Chris Kenworthy was found dead from gunshot wounds on Feb. 3. Kenworthy's slaying was one of two that occurred within 12 hours in Metro Vancouver, and investigators have said both those attac

Two men are dead and one man has been rescued after a tugboat incident on British Columbia's north coast. The RCMP say at 12:40 a.m. Thursday, the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre received an emergency beacon from a tugboat in the Gardner Canal near Kemano, about 75 kilometres southeast of Kitimat. An RCMP West Coast Marine vessel stationed in Hartley Bay responded and found the first dead man, before the Canadian Coast Guard assisted and found the second dead man. The Mounties say one man was spotted by a private helicopter on the shore and has been transported to local hospital. B.C. Emerg

Two skiers have been rescued in a military helicopter northeast of Squamish, B.C., after one of them suffered a leg injury. Squamish Search and Rescue manager Tyler Duncan says the pair had been camping and skiing in the Mamquam Lake area but one of them fell and was unable to ski out. Duncan says a local helicopter could not fly in frigid temperatures so a military helicopter was requested from CFB Comox. He says the men were well-prepared and experienced skiers who called for help using a satellite communication device. Duncan says they are both from Squamish and were transported to the loc

British Columbia's top doctor and health minister say the overdose crisis is as important as the COVID-19 pandemic the province has been dealing with for over a year. Dr. Bonnie Henry and Adrian Dix say there's no vaccine to help end the deaths associated with toxic opioids that contributed to a record 1,713 fatalities in 2020. They say in a joint statement that another 1,278 people have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began last year. Nine more deaths have been recorded in the province and 449 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 72,305 cases. Dr. Henry and Dix say nearly 160,000 dose