BC's top doctor says officials are working with faith leaders on a gradual return to in-person religious services, which have mostly been prohibited since November under COVID-19 restrictions. Doctor Bonnie Henry says she knows there are many important dates coming up in different faiths and the province will look at easing the rules to meet their specific needs while ensuring certain safety measures remain in place. She also advised post-secondary institutions to prepare for a full return to on-campus education this fall, with Advanced Education Minister Anne Kang saying the province will cr

Call centres open today across British Columbia to book COVID-19 vaccine appointments for some of the province's most elderly residents.B.C. says the vaccine call centres will open at 7 a.m. at the Fraser, Island, Interior, Northern and Vancouver Coastal health authorities to make appointments for people 90 years and older and Indigenous people who are 65 and older or identify as elders.Health authorities announced dozens of sites Sunday where B.C.'s most elderly residents will go to receive their vaccine.Island Health's pandemic planner Victoria Schmid says people 90 years old and older and I

A manslaughter charge has been laid following an investigation into the death of an off-duty police constable from Abbotsford, B.C. 55 year old Const. Allan Young died in July last year, several days after an altercation with another man while Young was visiting Nelson, B.C. Alex Willness, a 26 year old Castlegar resident, made his first appearance on the manslaughter charge last week and is scheduled to appear in a Nelson courtroom on Tuesday. A statement from the Nelson Police Department says Willness remains in custody. Young was placed on life support and died on July 22, almost a week af

In a statement issued to mark International Women's Day, Premier John Horgan says BC's recovery from COVID-19 must be rooted in equality, with opportunities available to all, regardless of gender or ethnicity. Horgan says BC has taken meaningful strides toward gender equality, but the pandemic has highlighted how much more work is needed. He says data shows women have shouldered much of the pandemic burden, with more women working in the hardest-hit sectors, coping with additional caregiving responsibilities for children or family members and facing a jump in reports of intimate partner and f

Tofino voters elected a new mayor and two councillors in a weekend byelection. Preliminary results posted by the District of Tofino say Dan Law was elected mayor and Cathy Thicke and Jacky Challenger were elected to council. The byelection was triggered by former mayor Josie Osborne's resignation after she was elected in last fall's provincial election as the member of the legislature for the Mid-Island Pacific Rim riding. The council seats became vacant when former councillors Andrea McQuade and Law resigned to run for mayor. District of Tofino on Twitter: Preliminary 2021 By-Election Result

Call centres open today across British Columbia to book COVID-19 vaccine appointments for some of the province's most elderly residents.B.C. says the vaccine call centres will open at 7 a.m. at the Fraser, Island, Interior, Northern and Vancouver Coastal health authorities to make appointments for people 90 years and older and Indigenous people who are 65 and older or identify as elders.Health authorities announced dozens of sites Sunday where B.C.'s most elderly residents will go to receive their vaccine.Island Health's pandemic planner Victoria Schmid says people 90 years old and older and I

British Columbia is reporting 634 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 83,107 cases since the pandemic began in the province. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say in a joint statement there have also been four new fatalities, pushing the death toll from the virus to 1,380 in BC. There are four new cases that are variants of concern, bringing the total to 250, of which 222 are the strain first found in the United Kingdom and 28 are the variant first detected in South Africa. Dr. Henry and Dix say this has been a week of progress, as the province gets r

Two people have been transported to hospital in serious but stable condition after a helicopter crash on Bowen Island, B.C. B.C. Emergency Health Services says in a statement that they received a call at about 10 a.m. Friday morning for reports of a downed helicopter on the island off the coast of West Vancouver. Emergency Health Services says two patients have been airlifted to hospital. Capt. Chelsea Dubeau with the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre says a helicopter was initially sent to help in the rescue, before the call was cancelled. Bowen Island resident Tony Mainwaring, who was the fi

Dentists, teachers and bus drivers are among the essential workers who hope to receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in British Columbia, as a provincial committee determines who should be prioritized for the shot. BC Teachers' Federation president Teri Mooring says her members should be included in the plan expected to be released by the B.C. Immunization Committee by March 18. Mooring says teachers have put in the second-highest number of COVID-19-related claims to WorkSafeBC, behind only health-care workers, and have faced difficult conditions in schools with some of the most lax mask pol