Vancouver police say a large and ``hostile'' crowd gathered downtown on Halloween night despite COVID-19 restrictions, but officers didn't issue tickets because of safety concerns. Police say in a news release officers were called to the Granville entertainment district Saturday night when a growing crowd of people weren't paying attention to physical distancing rules. It says officers stopped a Range Rover for a traffic violation and those inside ``swarmed'' the police. When the crowd grew to about 30 people, the officers called for backup. Police say one man was arrested for jumping on the

Strong winds tore branches from trees and likely played a part in several outages this morning that cut power to nearly 2,500 customers in the Peace River region of northeastern BC. The region is one of several in the province affected by weather warnings today, including blizzard and winter storm warnings along most of both sides of the BC-Yukon boundary as up to 35 centimetres of snow and powerful winds make travel treacherous there. Rain warnings are up for western Vancouver Island and inland sections of the north coast as meteorologists predict up to 150 millimetres could deluge parts of

A 29 year old Army reservist from BC has been identified as the soldier killed Saturday during a training exercise at a military base in Alberta. The Canadian Armed Forces says Corporal James Choi of the Royal Westminster Regiment in New Westminster was shot late Friday night while taking part in live-fire training at CFB Wainwright. Choi, who was serving alongside members of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at the time, was treated at the scene before being airlifted to an Edmonton hospital. The incident is under investigation.

Vancouver police say they are disappointed after social media posts showed downtown streets crowded with party-goers on Halloween night, apparently flouting COVID-19 safety protocols.Spokesman Const. Jason Doucette says it wasn't possible to try to disperse the alcohol-fuelled crowd or issue tickets due to a number of factors.He says the number of people in downtown grew larger than expected and additional resources were brought in from around the city.Doucette says police made a number of arrests for minor offences, such as causing a disturbance, but there were no reported injuries.He says p

The B.C. government says it will increase surveillance this weekend as an order limiting the number of people who can visit a home is in effect because of COVID-19. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced this week that gatherings are now limited to people in an immediate household, plus their so-called ``safe six''' guests. In a joint statement, Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix are reminding people to make the Halloween weekend safe for everyone by maintaining safe physical distances from one another. They say this is also not the time for large gatherings in homes as the nu

A seven-day search for two mushroom pickers in British Columbia has ended with both found dead. RCMP Sgt. Sascha Banks says the body of 48 year old Peter Oleski was found Thursday by a volunteer search group from the Lil'wat Nation. Search and rescue teams found the body of 21 year old River Leo a short time later. The father and son had set out for a day of mushroom picking last Thursday in the mountains overlooking the community of Pemberton, 150 kilometres north of Vancouver. Members of the Lil'wat Nation, Stl'atl'imx Tribal Police, RCMP, Comox 442 Squadron and dozens of search teams from

A man convicted of first-degree murder has walked away from a prison in British Columbia. The Correctional Service of Canada says Roderick Muchikekwanape was confirmed missing at 10 p.m., Thursday. He was serving a life sentence in the minimum security unit of the Mission Institution, east of Vancouver. A statement from the correctional service says RCMP has issued a warrant for his arrest. Muchikekwanape is 41 years old, six feet tall and 217 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was convicted of the sexual assault and slaying of a 36 year old mother of three in Winnipeg in 1998.

On May 22, 2020, Surrey RCMP issued a public warning advising that high-risk sex offender, Kristjon Olson, was released from custody and would be residing in Surrey. Olson was subject to a court order that required him to follow a number of strict conditions.On September 4, 2020 at approximately 6:30 a.m., the Surrey RCMP Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team, with the assistance of the Surrey RCMP High Risk Target Team (HRTT) and the Vancouver Police Department, arrested Kristjon Olson for breaching a court ordered condition. Surrey RCMP ICE also launched an investigation into additional chi

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the latest death from COVID-19 shows even small social gatherings can be dangerous. Dr. Henry says an 80 year old woman in the Fraser Health region has died after contracting the virus at a small birthday party where a guest did not know they had the virus. She is also reporting 234 new cases of COVID-19 today, pushing the total past 14,000. The province's active caseload also reached a new record high of 2,344. The number of people in hospital decreased by one, to 84, with 24 patients in intensive care or critical care units. Dr. Henry says