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

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

Members of the House of Commons ethics committee have unanimously voted to summon WE Charity co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger to testify. Last week, they declined requests to do so, a fact that MPs from all parties expressed concerns about on Monday. A summons from a Commons committee has legal force, and the motion gives the brothers until Friday to appear. The Commons ethics committee wants to hear from the Kielburger brothers as part of ongoing scrutiny of a federal agreement to have WE manage a now-cancelled student services grant program. But the charity had noted that New Democrat

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

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government will keep its spending focus on emergency aid and won't talk about long-term health-care funding until after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. He says Ottawa needs to keep supporting those hit hard financially by the pandemic, having sent billions in aid to businesses and individuals, as well as to provinces. Speaking at a midday press conference, Trudeau says that short-term view can't yet give way to longer-term concerns about the effect COVID-19 is having on the Canada's provincially run health-care systems. On Thursday, the country's