Health officials in British Columbia say they are gearing up for a busy month as the province works on the rollout of its second doses of COVID-19 vaccinations. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say in a joint statement that 72.4 per cent of all adults in B.C. have received a first dose of a vaccine. They say clinics will be busy dealing with second doses as well as the province's vaccination program for those 12 and older. B.C. recorded 183 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, for a total of 145,049 cases since the pandemic began. It's the fourth straight

Statistics Canada says the economy lost 68,000 jobs in May as lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 continued.The losses marked the second consecutive month of declines after 207,000 jobs were lost in April.The unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent in May, little changed from the 8.1 per cent in April because the number of unemployed people in Canada overall stayed relatively steady.What changed is that more people dropped out of the labour force in May, including workers who simply got discouraged and gave up looking for work.The statistics office says there were 49,700 discouraged job-searc

British Columbia residents who received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be able to choose if they want to stay with the same shot or take one of the other options. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says those who received the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this year made ``the right choice'' in getting vaccinated, and helped to ease the COVID-19 caseload in the province. She says research has shown that it is safe and effective to mix and match the COVID-19 vaccine options. Dr. Henry also said the province is having issues maintaining a steady supply of the Moderna vaccine, meaning

Police say a suspect is in custody after customers in a bank in British Columbia refused to obey orders from a shotgun-brandishing robber and tackled him. A statement from Abbotsford police says a man entered the Scotiabank branch just before noon yesterday and ordered customers to the floor. As he threw bags onto a counter and demanded money, police say one customer confronted him and three more stepped up. The four tackled the man, disarmed him and held him until officers arrived minutes later. No one was hurt and Sgt. Judy Bird says a 46-year-old man is facing robbery and firearms-related

Health officials say British Columbia's COVID-19 restart plan will be a slow, cautious progression to normal life, but they acknowledge it may cause anxiety or fear in some people. In a news release Wednesday, Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry say many others are excited about the transition and people will be able to progress along with the restart plan or in a slower, more gradual process. Dix and Henry say people must be mindful of communities that are assessing their own risks and take time to welcome back visitors. They also say businesses will be r

The United Nations Human Rights Office is calling on all levels of Canadian governments to investigate the deaths of Indigenous children at residential schools and to intensity efforts to find those who are missing. A spokeswoman for the human rights office says the detection of what are believed to be 215 bodies of Indigenous children at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., is ``shocking and reopens painful wounds.''Marta Hurtado says Canada must ensure ``prompt and exhaustive investigations'' into the deaths and search any unmarked graves. She says healing will only be possible on

British Columbia health officials say about 70 per cent of eligible adults in the province have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Officials say in a news release that they will be following the National Advisory Committee on Immunization guidelines on mixing and matching vaccines. They say those who got a first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine can now receive either the same one, Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna for their second shot. Officials say more information will be given later this week on second doses for those who received AstraZeneca for their first shot. The provinc

Preliminary reporting released by the BC Coroners Service confirms at least 176 British Columbians were lost to toxic illicit drugs in April, bringing the total number of deaths recorded in 2021 to 680."Once again, we're reminded that the scale of this public health emergency is truly unprecedented," said Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner. "I offer my heartfelt condolences to every family in the province that is experiencing the unimaginable pain of sudden and unexpected loss. Every life lost to toxic drugs in our province is a profound tragedy. Every one of them mattered, and every one of them wil

A retired Supreme Court justice is calling for significant changes to how the Canadian Armed Forces deals with allegations of sexual misconduct following a months-long review of Canada' military justice system. In an at-times scathing report tabled in the House of Commons this morning, Morris Fish says his review confirmed that the nature, extent and human cost of sexual misconduct in the military remains as rampant and destructive as in 2015. That was when fellow retired Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps released her own explosive report that revealed a highly sexualized culture within t