Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is easing restrictions on outdoor gatherings but keeping them in place for those indoors. Dr. Henry says up to 10 people will now be allowed to gather outdoors but people should stick to the same group and continue to follow public safety measures such as social distancing. She says other restrictions need to remain in place because COVID-19 is still circulating in communities, particularly in the Lower Mainland. Dr. Henry also announced bars and restaurants must stop selling liquor at 8 pm on St. Patrick's Day. B.C. reports 569 new cases of COVID-19

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose in the House of Commons Thursday, one year after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, and said March 11, 2020 will always be marked by a before and an after. Since the pandemic began, 2.5 million people around the world have died due to COVID-19, with more than 22,000 of them in Canada. ``For families and close ones, each death has a before and an after,'' Trudeau said.``Since the great wars of the 20th century, there is a sentence we often evoke, and it's a sentence that we can bring back for those that we lost this year during the pandemic: We will rem

BC is reporting 531 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death. Health officials say there are 4,861active cases in the province. 244 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, including 66 in intensive care. There are 51 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants of concern, for a total of 627 cases. BC Health Minister Adrian Dix says vast improvements have been made in the province's vaccine roll out since a rough start on Monday, which means they can now accelerate the pace. Health authorities first started booking appointments for people 90 years and older as well as for Indigenous people

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his office knew there was an allegation of sexual misconduct against then-defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance in 2018. But Trudeau says he and others in government did not know the specifics of the allegation until a Global News report last month. The prime minister made the comments this afternoon in the House of Commons, confirming that then-military ombudsman Gary Walbourne spoke to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan about an allegation against Vance in March 2018. Trudeau says his office knew that Sajjan had directed Walbourne to take the allegation to "indepe

A Manitoba man who rammed a gate at Rideau Hall before arming himself and heading on foot toward Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's home last July was sentenced today to six years in prison. Corey Hurren, a 46 year old sausage-maker and military reservist, had faced 21 weapons charges and one of threatening the prime minister. He pleaded guilty last month to seven weapons charges related to possession of prohibited or restricted firearms "for a purpose contrary to the public peace" and one charge of mischief by wilfully causing $100,000 worth of damage to the Rideau Hall gate. In delivering the

Health officials say COVID-19 outbreaks remain stubbornly frequent in one northwestern British Columbia city and are prompting a new approach to vaccinations. Northern Health, the Ministry of Health and the Provincial Health Officer say the entire community of Prince Rupert and nearby Port Edward will be immunized over the next three weeks. The first clinics for roughly 12,000 Prince Rupert-area residents begin Monday and continue until April 1. Those eligible can dial a dedicated phone line and appointments will be assigned based on age, with vaccinations for the city's oldest residents star

The Bank of Canada is keeping its key interest rate target on hold at 0.25 per cent, saying economic conditions still require it even if things are going better than anticipated.In a statement, the central bank says it expects economic growth in the first quarter of 2021 to be positive, as opposed to its previous forecast in January for a contraction to start the year.The bank's senior decision-makers say resilience in the economy has to do with consumers and businesses adapting to new rounds of lockdowns and restrictions.The statement also points to a stronger-than-expected housing market as

BC health officials say it's been one year since the first person in the province has died as a result of COVID-19, and since then there's been almost 1,400 other deaths. A joint statement from Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is reporting 550 new cases today and another two deaths. There are almost 5,000 active cases and of those, 249 people are in hospital, 68 of them in intensive care. There's been another 182 new cases linked to variants of concern for a total of 576 cases, many of them connected to the strain first found in the United Kingdom. Mor

British Columbians eligible to make a COVID-19 vaccination appointment are being urged to keep trying if they failed to get through Monday on phone lines overwhelmed by calls.The Health Ministry confirms just under 15,000 appointments were booked on the first day residents over the age of 90 or Indigenous elders over 65 could make appointments.Only Fraser Health offered an online option for booking appointments and 8,722 were made there, while the Interior and Vancouver Island health authorities each recorded just under 2,500 bookings and residents in the north made just over 1,000.The minist